City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

‘Would you like a bullet, Charley?’ he enquired. His eyes gleamed. ‘Or shall I use magic? Perhaps that would be more appropriate. I do like a bit of poetic justice.’

I thrust out both hands in the direction of Monroe’s two captors. My magic smacked into the centre of their chests and they were thrown backwards, hitting the wall with a thump. Barrett snarled and he squeezed the trigger on the gun. Before the bullet could be loosed, however, Monroe crashed into him. Both men tumbled to the ground.

Unable to do anything to help their employer for fear of inadvertently hurting him, the other three rushed at me. I rolled away but one caught my ankles and yanked me towards him. I snapped magic out in his direction, catching him smack-bang on the chin. He screamed and collapsed.

The other two were far cannier. They lunged for my arms, taking one each and pinning me down. Magic trickled out of my fingertips again and I felt their hold on me tightening as they both exhaled with sudden pain. But they weren’t letting go and the angle they were holding me at made it nigh-on impossible for me to do much else.

Plumes of purple magic were billowing out of Barrett. Each time one hit Monroe’s naked body, he grimaced with pain but he wasn’t giving up. The intense concentration on his face meant he would fight to the very end. We both would.

To succeed in a game of cards you usually have to work in small increments. Raise the bet bit by bit. Don’t play your best hand all at once but lure your opponent in. To throw everything onto the table would be metaphorical suicide. Sometimes, however, when you’re desperate that’s what it takes.

As Monroe gasped in pain yet again and swung more weakly for Barrett, I knew what I had to do. And I knew that Monroe would approve. This wasn’t only about me and him; it wasn’t about Julian or whether he was still alive or not. This wasn’t even about the enclave. It was about the entire world. If someone like Barrett took control of the magic, what ensued would be terrible for everyone, not just those of us in Manchester. Barrett was already giddy with the power and his delusions of grandeur were close to becoming a reality.

The two bastards holding me down might have pinned me so that I could do them little damage but attacking them wasn’t my only hand. I thought of Barrett’s admission that he’d been responsible for my near miss with the chimney stack. Unluckily for him, I was capable of learning from both the best and the worst.

I twisted my wrists so I could angle my fingertips upwards enough for my plan to work. Then I tilted my head back and looked up at the splintered hole in the floor above and the glimmer of stars in the night sky. I twisted my neck towards the rest of the building, which was hanging together by little more than a structural thread.

‘I’m sorry, Monroe,’ I said. ‘I love you.’ I didn’t check to see whether he heard me or not. I simply took a deep breath and then I blasted out enough magic to bring the whole thing crashing down on our heads.

Chapter Twenty-Six

If it wasn’t for the agonising pain throbbing through my entire body, attacking my limbs and my spine and my head – even my big toe, goddammit – I’d have believed I was dead. Everything hurt so much that I almost wished I were.

‘You’re lucky that we got here so quickly and pulled you out,’ Alora said, her voice drifting over to me from the left.

I coughed and wheezed. It seemed as if half of the damned building was in my lungs. ‘Mon…’ I tried. I couldn’t get the word out. ‘Mon…’

‘Hush.’ She knelt down and placed a cooling hand on my brow. ‘He’s out too. He’s okay. Everyone’s out, in fact. We’re trying to patch up the other wolf. I’m not sure yet if he’ll make it, but he’s fighting.’

Her words filtered slowly through my brain. I tried to make sense of them. Something soft and warm flung itself at me and I cried out in pain. Lucy squeaked in alarm and started to nuzzle at my chest.

‘You should thank her,’ Alora told me. ‘Your little shadow beast is the one who came and got us. She saved your lives.’

With excruciating lack of speed, I turned my head and stared at the pile of rubble. There was little remaining of the building we’d just been in. I supposed we’d been fortunate that we were near the top when it had collapsed.

I groaned as another series of shooting pains screeched through me. Perhaps bringing the building down hadn’t been my best idea.

‘Help me up,’ I whispered.

‘I don’t think…’

I set my jaw. ‘Help me up.’

Hands reached for me and gently pulled me to my feet. I held Lucy in the crook of one arm and leaned against the sturdier of the two bogles while I looked round. People were everywhere – and not just bogles. I spotted several prone bodies, their identikit dark clothes marking them out as Barrett’s men. Then I saw Barrett himself, a ring of wolves round him all with expressions that suggested if he so much as twitched they’d rip him to pieces.

Cath, along with both doctors from the enclave, was kneeling by what looked like Julian. There were clusters of others all over the place. Where the fuck was Monroe? Until I saw him with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe he was alright.

‘I’m here, sunshine.’

I whipped round, moving far too quickly for my poor damaged body to cope with. The ensuing dizziness and renewed surge of pain made my knees buckle. Monroe, draped in a threadbare blanket, jumped towards me to help the bogles hold me up. His own ravaged body wasn’t up to the task and he stumbled against us, almost sending us