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

possessed a whole wealth of information that I’d garnered throughout my gambling career. I had laid bets on all manner of things over the years and the most successful ones had been where I’d used my knowledge and hard facts to predict the outcomes.

One thing I knew for sure was that sound travelled faster in water than in air. The mermaid seemed to be on her own and there certainly wasn’t much in the way of action going on out here. Given the choice between swimming around a pool of blood and ignoring the only visitors who’d shown up for weeks or earwigging on their conversation, I knew which option I’d plump for.

I also doubted that even if mermaids did eat humans, our flesh was their sole source of food. Drowned bodies washed up on shore and they didn’t all disappear into the hungry mouths of mermaids. Our little tailed temptress probably ate fish most of the time. I doubted there were many of those in the reservoir, certainly not now it was tainted. She was probably bored and definitely hungry. Now that I could work with.

I touched Monroe’s arm and raised my eyebrows meaningfully. ‘Put yourself in her shoes. It can’t be easy for her being here. I don’t know why she’d choose this place to live when there are so many other good spots with the same, if not better, concentration of magic. Some of my lot were out fishing in the canal and caught some tasty carp. Surely there are other places where she could get a reliable food source and potential company.’

I glanced at the surface of the reservoir and spotted the faintest undulations that didn’t look entirely natural. Yeah. She was listening.

Monroe’s expression cleared as he caught on. ‘You know, I once heard Madrona chatting about just such a place. It doesn’t only have fish, it’s got ducks too.’

‘Aw,’ I said. ‘I like ducks. Where is this place?’

‘Boggart Hole. Traditionally it was a magical spot even before the apocalypse. I don’t know where it is because I don’t know Manchester all that well, but…’

‘I know Boggart Hole,’ I interrupted. ‘The lake there is large and it’s fed by various streams and rivers so you wouldn’t feel trapped if you had to stay in water to survive. If I were a mermaid,’ I said pointedly, ‘I’d be somewhere like that instead of somewhere concrete and dull like here.’

The corners of Monroe’s mouth tugged upwards. ‘But you’re not a mermaid. Neither am I.’

‘Obviously.’

His smile grew. ‘Obviously. Maybe that lass down there prefers it here. We can’t speak for the preferences of mermaids.’

‘I guess not. Shame though.’

‘Indeed.’ He pushed back his hair. ‘It doesn’t look like she’ll come out and talk to us. We should probably just go.’

‘Yeah.’ I sighed. ‘I wish she’d let us help her but you can’t force anything on anyone. It has to be her decision to chat.’ I paused. ‘She might be afraid that we’d hurt her. You are a werewolf, after all.’

‘And you’re an enchantress.’ He grinned. ‘The enchantress.’ His eyes held mine and, for an odd moment, I forgot entirely that we were putting on a performance. His gaze dropped to my mouth. I leaned in and…

‘I’m not fucking scared of a werewolf!’

Monroe and I pulled away from each other and returned our attention to the reservoir. Bobbing there, and with an extraordinarily irate expression on her face, was the mermaid herself.

I gave my body a little shake and re-focused. ‘Of course you’re not,’ I soothed with hopefully the right hint of patronising gentleness.

She glared at me. ‘What’s an enchantress anyway?’

I curtsied in her direction. ‘I am. A baby enchantress, at least. I’m still learning.’

‘Bully for you,’ she sneered.

‘I’m Charley,’ I said. ‘This is Monroe.’ I tugged at his sleeve. ‘It was nice to meet you. Don’t worry. We’ll leave you in peace and put up warning signs so that no one else comes close.’

Monroe nodded in agreement and we both turned as if to depart.

‘Oi!’ the mermaid yelled. ‘Where are you going?’

Monroe evinced surprise, glancing at her over his shoulder. ‘You don’t want to talk to us, so it seems better to leave you alone.’

She wrinkled her nose. ‘I don’t talk to wankers,’ she said. ‘But maybe you two aren’t as annoying as I first thought.’

‘You tried to get him to join you in … there,’ I reminded her, narrowly avoiding calling the reservoir something hopelessly derogatory. ‘He could have drowned.’

Various expressions flitted across her face as she searched for an appropriate answer. ‘Well,’ she said finally, ‘he didn’t, did he? He’s perfectly fine. No harm done.’

‘Guess not.’ I flashed her a smile. ‘Nice meeting you.’ I turned away again.

‘Wait!’ There was a pleading note underlying her imperious command. ‘You don’t have to leave straight away. You can stay a while. I don’t mind chatting for a bit.’ She cleared her throat. ‘My name is Nimue.’

Monroe started beside me. ‘Lady of the Lake,’ he murmured to me.

‘That’s right!’ Nimue yelled. ‘That’s what I am.’

I took a moment to cast a quick, disparaging glance around her ‘lake’. She caught it – just as I’d hoped she would. ‘Beggars can’t be choosers,’ she muttered.

Taking the opportunity to angle in more real conversation than screeching shouts, I gave her an interested look. This time I wasn’t even acting. ‘How did you get here?’

‘I felt the magic,’ she said. ‘It called to me. I was miles and miles away in the ocean but the magic tugged and yanked and…’ She sighed. ‘I didn’t plan it. I didn’t mean to end up here.’

‘You swam here?’ Monroe’s disbelief was obvious and not surprising, given that Manchester wasn’t on the coast. That would have been some miraculous kind of swim.

‘No, you furry moron,’ she snapped. ‘The magic carried me here. I let myself feel it from the depths and, in doing so, it overtook me. Before I knew it, I was here in this pit.’ She looked around in disgust. ‘I can’t explain how it happened. It