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

As soon as I finished speaking, two women swung into view at the far end of the corridor. They stared at us in shock and then spun round to run. Anna and I didn’t hesitate but sprinted across the short distance towards the pair. I slammed into one, knocking her into the wall and pressing my arm against her back to stop her from escaping. Anna grabbed the other woman’s collar and threw her to the floor.

I could sense that the woman I was holding was about to scream. We didn’t need more of Max’s troops descending upon us. I flicked my fingers and, somehow, her mouth sealed shut. I grabbed her shoulders and yanked her round to face me while her companion craned her neck sideways, her eyes widening in horror as she saw her friend struggle and panic.

‘Breathe through your nose!’ I whispered urgently, staring down at my hands and then at my horrified captive. What the hell had I done to her?

Her nostrils flared. She was still freaking out, her head shaking from side to side and her body trembling. Her cheeks were growing redder by the second and her very eyeballs seemed to bulge and writhe. I gestured towards her with one swift, frantic movement and again I felt the surge as a single bolt of magic spurted forward.

Suddenly the woman’s legs gave way and she was gasping for air, her mouth wide open as I tried to keep her upright.

‘What did you do?’ her companion demanded. ‘What the fuck did you do?’

Bloody good question. I shook myself. No more. Until I knew exactly what I was capable of, I couldn’t use any magic at all. It wasn’t Timmons’ warning that was worrying me now, it was the fact that I could potentially stop someone from breathing without intending to.

Anna’s expression was closed. She pointed at a door and raised her eyebrows. I nodded and bundled the woman inside. Anna and her prisoner followed. The moment both women were inside, they backed away to the window in a bid to get themselves as far away from me as possible.

‘We’ll stay here. We’ll be quiet,’ the first woman said, her voice a whisper.

Her friend who’d almost suffocated bobbed her head vigorously. ‘We don’t want to be here anyway. We thought Lord Max would be safe to stay with. He said he’d give us protection in return for…’ She choked off what she’d been about to say.

Anger descended on me. I stared grimly at them, not sure what to say any more. Fortunately, Anna spoke instead. ‘Make any noise or alert anyone, and the enchantress will finish what she started.’

I jumped. No, I wouldn’t; I wasn’t raising my hands against another person, not for anything. Not until I knew what I was doing. Before I could disagree, however, Anna grabbed my elbow and propelled me out of the room. ‘What was that?’ she demanded, once the door closed behind us.

I held my hands to my burning cheeks. ‘I don’t know,’ I muttered. ‘I didn’t want to hurt her, I wanted to keep her quiet.’

She gave me a long, hard look. ‘That magic shit you’ve got is terrifying.’ She gave a faint smile. ‘But it might be what we need.’

My stomach dropped, more out of fear that she might be right than anything else. It felt like I was holding the best hand of my life but playing my cards could be the end of me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. Stop fretting, Charley, I told myself in no uncertain terms. I could debrief and de-angst later. ‘We have to get moving,’ I said. ‘I’m glad you made it here without any problems.’

‘You were right,’ she said. ‘There were only a few people here on guard. It was a piece of cake to slip through the net and gain access. I’d have found you sooner, but we got involved with a few stragglers and they put up a bit of a fight. It wasn’t easy keeping the noise to a minimum while we put them down. Monroe is down the hall finishing up. I suspect Lord Max is downstairs.’ She glanced at the closed door. ‘We should lock them in.’

I shook my head. I’d seen the expression in the women’s eyes; they’d be too scared to move for several minutes. That was more than enough time for us to make our move. ‘There’s no key,’ I said. ‘And we have to get going. Come on.’

I let Anna lead the way past several other large rooms until we reached a plain, unvarnished door. She gave three sharp knocks and entered.

When I saw what was inside, I gaped. Anna had been right; both she and Monroe had certainly been busy. There was a full baker’s dozen trussed up in various positions around the room.

Monroe was bending over one figure, tying an intricate knot round them to hold them in place. He glanced up, his eyes catching mine. For the briefest second, his expression lightened, satisfaction in his gaze, then he nodded and the moment was over. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘You made it. You took your time.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘You try taking a fist to your head that knocks you unconscious and getting up again in a hurry.’

Monroe’s jaw clenched. ‘He did that to you?’

It shouldn’t have warmed me that he felt fury on my behalf, but it did. ‘He was making a point. And I’m fine now. Julie’s already inside. We’d better get down there before she decides to drink him dry.’

Monroe snorted. ‘That could only be a good thing.’

‘We’re not going to kill him. We’re the good guys.’

‘If you say so,’ Anna murmured quietly.

I shot her a narrow-eyed look. ‘I do say so. Let’s stick to the plan. Get downstairs, get Max, and put a stop to all this once and for all.’

‘And we’ll all live happily ever after?’ Monroe enquired.

‘Someone’s got to,’ I said.