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

I saw a dead body once and I was itching to see what was inside. I’ve practised doing stitches on oranges. It’s not much fun when there’s no actual gore to worry about, though. Not very realistic.’

Lizzy, who was still looking somewhat green about the gills, muttered to herself, ‘Blood oranges. Betcha.’

I smiled slightly. ‘Well, it makes you a handy person to have around, Cath. I still don’t know how you got mixed up with Max, but you’re very welcome to stay here with us if you want. Or we can find a way to get you out of the city and back to your family.’

Cath’s expression closed off. ‘I don’t have any family.’ She drew her shoulders back and glared, as if expecting me to castigate her for losing them. When I reached over and squeezed her arm, she softened. ‘I’d like to stay here if I may.’

‘The more the merrier.’ I shrugged. ‘Before he passed out, Monroe said that this Madrona had stopped the apocalypse from happening. Maybe everything’s going to be alright now.’

Lizzy twitched uncomfortably and scratched her side. ‘It doesn’t feel like everything’s going to be alright.’ She lifted up her T-shirt, revealing a patch of downy fur.

I stiffened. ‘Are you…?’

She shook her head. ‘I think I’ve got it under control for now. But I still feel prickly.’

‘Like the magic is still there.’

She nodded.

I sighed. ‘I feel the same.’

Cath stared at her. ‘Are you a werewolf too?’

‘Not exactly.’

She looked at me. ‘Are you a werewolf?’

‘I’m a normal human,’ I assured her. I sighed. ‘But, yeah, no matter what Monroe said, it does feel like nothing’s changed much. And the blue hue is really weird.’

This time it was Lizzy’s turn to stare. ‘What blue hue?’

‘Go outside and have a look,’ I said. ‘It’s like everything has a blue veil over it.’

She frowned and stood up, before going to peer out of the window. ‘I can’t see anything.’

Cath joined her. ‘Neither can I. I didn’t notice anything like that when I was outside either. There was a flash of blue when we were running away from the supermarket, but it didn’t last long.’

‘You’re not looking properly.’ I pointed. ‘Check the moon. It’s not white. It’s more like … cerulean. You can see the colour clinging to the buildings as well, like some kind of fog.’ Neither of them said anything. ‘Come on!’ I urged. ‘You must be able to see it.’

‘No,’ Cath said. ‘I can’t see a thing.’

‘Me neither,’ Lizzy added. She chewed on her bottom lip. ‘Think about everything that’s happened, Charley. I don’t think you’re a normal human being at all. You’re really strong.’

‘You made everyone in the supermarket collapse,’ Cath agreed.

‘Not to mention that the rats avoided you, and the fire missed the house, and you stopped the trees from growing by shouting at them.’

‘It was that weird magical doodah thing that Madrona the faery planted on me,’ I argued. I didn’t put much force into my words, however. They were right: I was different now. I knew I was different. In the same way that Lizzy had instinctively known that the other werewolves had been killed, I knew that something fundamental had altered inside me. The question was what.

I looked at the blue veil shrouding the night.

‘I met a dragon,’ I said hesitantly. ‘An actual honest-to-goodness, size-of-a-house, flying dragon.’

‘You realise that under any other circumstances, I’d be calling the men in white coats?’ Lizzy pointed out.

I grinned slightly. ‘Yeah. Kinda nuts, huh? I think he was flying off to fight with Madrona. And probably with Monroe, too. He headed over to Castlefield. Maybe if I can find him, I can get some answers.’ I glanced at the half-dead werewolf. ‘Until Monroe comes round, we’ve got no other way of finding out what’s happened. He said that Madrona had gone but I don’t know where.’ I shrugged. ‘Knowledge is power.’

Lizzy wrinkled her nose. ‘Seems kinda risky to head out again.’

My grin widened and my eyes danced. ‘It does, doesn’t it? But this is my kind of risk.’

Chapter Eleven

Despite my blasé words, I was rather nervous when I stepped out of the house again. I’d left Cath and Lizzy behind to put away our fresh supplies and keep an eye on Monroe, who hadn’t stirred since his stilted conversation with me. I’d swung a backpack over my shoulder after stuffing a bottle of water and a handful of muesli bars inside it. It was hardly the breakfast of champions, but it would do for now. Goodness knows how long I’d be out for. It was important to be at least semi-prepared.

In the cold, harsh light of day, the city looked completely desolate. I might have managed to halt the crazy growth of the trees on my street but, without the cover of darkness I’d previously enjoyed, it was easy to see where warped Nature had taken over. There were houses with monstrous trees growing out of their roofs. The roads and pavements had massive fissures and gaping holes where gigantic roots had forced their way through. There were burst pipes, water gushing from some and sewage gurgling from others. The reek was so bad that I had to cover my mouth and nose with my hand.

Of course, the trees weren’t the only things that had caused damage. The carcasses of thousands of dead locusts littered the streets and angry black pockmarks from the destructive fire rain were visible everywhere.

Apart from the odd bird keening overhead and the occasional whirr of an army helicopter, there were no sounds. I supposed that was a good thing: it meant that Max and his army of spotty teenagers were far away. No doubt they were busy raiding other supermarkets and wholesalers. I pursed my lips. Once things returned to normal, he was not going to be cast in a favourable light. He’d get his comeuppance; I’d make sure of it.

I was tempted to return to the supermarket to retrieve my neighbour’s bike but I didn’t want to bump into