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

‘The phone’s dead,’ Lizzy said. ‘I already tried.’

‘Then these two better get their damned radios working again.’ The odds on that seemed astronomical but if I didn’t do something right now, Mulroney would. And I trusted me more than I trusted him.

I threw open the door and stepped out. ‘I have what you want!’ I shouted, raising my voice as loudly as I could.

In the end, my yelling didn’t matter. My words were swallowed up in a sudden buzzing roar. The sky darkened again and, out of nowhere, insects swarmed past, flying through the air with vengeful intent. I yelped and ran back inside.

The sound was immense. I’d thought that the fighting was bad enough, but it was nothing on these creatures.

‘What the fuck are those?’ Mulroney shouted.

‘Some kind of flying insect.’ I could barely hear myself speak. ‘I’ve never seen anything like them before.’

From upstairs there was the sound of crashing furniture. My stomach dropped. My bedroom window was wide open. If those things were inside… I swallowed. Panicking, I pushed past Mulroney, Anna and Lizzy and ran, taking the steps three at a time.

My room was filled with them. The cloud was so dark and so dense that I couldn’t see the wall opposite. Trying to contain the problem, I slammed the bedroom door shut behind me and started waving my arms around frantically in a bid to get the bastards to fly back out again. The house creaked and groaned, as if the insects inside were too much for it to bear. ‘I’m trying,’ I muttered. ‘I’m trying.’

Deciding that I needed something to flap, I threw myself towards the bed, my fingers scrabbling for a pillow or a sheet or something. I rolled, my eyes squeezed shut to protect my vision. When I opened one eye again, feeling the soft mattress underneath me, I realised I was safe. The insects were circling round the bed rather than flying over it.

Of course. Whatever that sphere thing was that Madrona had taken back, it must have been in the pocket of my cleaning apron – my cleaning apron that was now screwed up on a corner of the bed. The magic, which had been contained within the mysterious object, was obviously still lingering in the atmosphere. At least it meant I had an insect-free oasis to start from.

Grabbing the nearest pillow, I whacked at the air – and the insects – hoping that I could encourage them to get the hell out of my damned house. ‘Leave!’ I screeched. ‘Get back to where you came from.’

The buzzing sound rose furiously, as if they were pissed off at me. They could be as angry as they wanted to be; I was here first. And there was no way I was leaving.

I thrust the pillow out again and again, my movements growing more frantic. ‘Get out! Get out! Get the fuck out!’ But several of the beasties caught the edge of the fabric and, before I knew it, the pillow was being ripped out of my hands. I gave an inarticulate cry of frustration and threw out my hands to snatch it again. The wee flying bastards darted away from me.

Pausing long enough to remember the rats, I tried the same movement again but again the insects zoomed away, continuing their vicious buzzing as if to spite me. I drew in a breath and threw myself forward. ‘Leave!’ I flapped my arms towards the window. There was no chance this was ever going to work.

Except it did.

Little by little, the creatures started to dissipate, escaping out of the window to freedom. Even the buzzing seemed to subside. In seconds, the room was all but empty, apart from the odd one or two that were trapped under furniture or in the folds of my laundry pile.

I didn’t waste any time; I ran to the window and pushed it shut, sealing the house against the world. Then, panting, I hunkered down and grabbed hold of one of the insects, pinching it between my finger and thumb and staring at it.

The bedroom door swung open. Lizzy stood there, her skin as pale as before but with a calmer expression in her eyes. ‘They’ve gone,’ she said. ‘As quickly as they arrived, they’ve gone.’

‘Good,’ I said grimly. I held the insect up for her to see.

Lizzy peered closer. ‘It’s a locust.’

I blinked. ‘Seriously? A locust? Here?’

She shifted her weight uneasily. ‘I’m not saying it makes any sense, Charley. I’m saying that’s what that is. I’ve seen them before. Besides, I turned into a monster. That doesn’t make any sense either.’

‘You weren’t a monster,’ I told her. ‘You were a bunyip.’ I hesitated. ‘You are a bunyip.’ Whatever that was.

Lizzy blanched but I had to hand it to her; she was acting impressively stoic about it all. I reached over and gave her a quick, tight hug. ‘Don’t worry,’ I murmured. ‘We’ll deal with it.’

She sniffed. ‘I’m so glad you’re my friend.’

I pulled back and grinned at her. ‘Always.’

I walked over the window, opening it a fraction before tossing the locust out. As I did so, I spotted the trees, now stripped bare of all their foliage. Despite their crazy growing streak earlier, there wasn’t a single leaf or patch of green to be seen. Damn. Those things really were locusts. A whole plague of them.

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. Madrona’s magical object, whatever it was, might have gone with her but apparently some of its essence remained – otherwise how could I have herded the locusts out?

I ran my hands up and down my arms; I felt the same as I always had. I glanced in the nearby mirror; I looked the same as I always had. And yet… I bit my lip. Maybe there was even more going on here than met the eye.

Lizzy raised a questioning eyebrow in my direction.

‘Come on,’ I said grimly. ‘Let’s see what’s going on outside.’

Chapter Eight

My once-sleepy street looked like a war zone,