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

Monroe and I exchanged looks. Maybe it had been some kind of bizarre osmosis. Maybe Nimue was part of the water cycle. Who the hell knew? If she didn’t know, then we certainly couldn’t work it out.

‘We can’t get you back to the sea,’ I said, ‘even if we wanted to. We’re trapped here in the city too.’ In a manner of speaking.

Nimue tossed her hair and sniffed. ‘I don’t want to return to the ocean.’ She spread her arms wide. ‘Here I have power. The magic is in the water and it’s making me stronger by the day.’ She licked her lips in a disturbingly predatorial fashion. ‘But somewhere other than this grey bathtub would be better.’

I was desperate to ask her how she knew what a bathtub was. Or a werewolf. But this wasn’t the time for curiosity, so I managed to bite my tongue.

Nimue, it appeared, knew exactly what I was thinking. ‘Do you think I’m stupid?’ she spat. ‘I know your kind. I’ve eaten your kind. And I can survive out of water for a time if need be. I’ve traversed the boards of your cruise ships and your yachts and your steamers.’ Her face took on a dreamy quality. ‘There were times when they were far easier to sink than they are now. Good times.’

I felt rather sick but Monroe was fascinated. ‘You can transform your tail into legs?’

I glared at him. He raised his shoulders. ‘I’m a shapeshifter,’ he said. ‘It’s professional interest.’

Nimue blew air out impatiently. ‘What do you think this is? A fucking fairy tale?’ She swam towards us, cutting through the blood with frightening speed and ease. When she reached the edge of the reservoir and was terrifyingly close to Monroe and me, she raised herself off the surface with zero effort. Blood slid from her pale skin. Then she waddled out completely.

My mouth dropped open. As the blood dissipated and soaked into the ground, her tail became fully visible. She walked – if walking is what you could call her movements – towards us on her tail fins. She wasn’t fast, and I reckoned a turtle could probably beat her in a race, but she could definitely move on solid earth. I swallowed my astonishment and gazed at the rest of her. Her tail was an extraordinary thing to behold. It was covered in shimmering scales of every hue and colour. She didn’t appear to have any genitals; instead the scales melted into her flat stomach where fish gave way to skin. Standing like that, Nimue towered over both of us.

She cupped her naked breasts in both hands and purred in Monroe’s direction. ‘Do you like what you see?’

He met her challenge full on. ‘You’re not my type,’ he murmured with a nonchalant air that I could only admire.

Something flashed in Nimue’s eyes. ‘I’m prettier than her.’

‘No,’ he said simply. ‘You’re not.’

He was wrong. I am completely, one hundred percent heterosexual but even I found Nimue’s form alluring. I nearly reached out to touch her, unable to help myself and desperately curious to know whether her tail was slimy to the touch. Then I pulled back. Despite her loneliness and her beauty Nimue was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a predator. A predator who swam in blood.

Apparently unimpressed at Monroe’s lack of immediate devotion, Nimue’s lip curled. ‘You’re lying. But that’s okay. Regardless of your foolish untruths and untrustworthy nature, you will take me to this place, this Boggart Hole. I command it.’

I shook off the last dregs of my amazement. ‘I don’t see why we should.’

She drew herself up and glared. ‘Because I am telling you to.’

‘Quid pro quo, sweetheart,’ Monroe said. ‘Return the reservoir to its natural state and we might consider helping you. I brought a car. We can transport you there if you do what we need first.’

The mermaid rolled her eyes then she snapped her fingers. As if a giant bottle of dye had been emptied, the liquid behind her changed colour, transforming from viscous red to murky blue. You’d think it would have taken a while to achieve but no; it was as easy as that. For Nimue, anyway.

‘I only changed the water because I was bored,’ she said. ‘And,’ she added with a smirk at me, ‘it was fun watching you trying to change it back to its original state. I knew you’d keep returning if I kept changing it. The first time was an accident. The other times have just been for fun.’ She opened her mouth, revealing jagged teeth that I suspected could tear through any kind of flesh in an instant.

I resisted the temptation to slap her. ‘We all need a little entertainment in our lives,’ I said.

If Nimue was disappointed that I didn’t rise to her bait, she didn’t show it. ‘Well?’ she demanded. ‘Are we leaving now?’

Monroe looked at me. I didn’t particularly like the idea of transporting her by car. Being in a small space with Nimue didn’t bode well – and the odds of successfully knocking her out were stacked against us.

‘Sure,’ I said, hoping my voice didn’t betray me. ‘I guess we can manage that.’

Chapter Three

I used to have many daydreams where I fantasised about how my future might turn out, but I can guarantee that none of them ever involved being squashed into a little car with a werewolf and a mermaid.

The magic in the air meant that the more technologically advanced a vehicle was, the less likely it was to run reliably. It’s the same reason why the small group of electricians I had working on small generators, which in theory could give us power, had yet to succeed. So far magic superseded just about everything else.

Monroe’s car of choice was a virtual rust bucket with sunken seats and very little room inside. It screamed discomfort even before we piled in, and it didn’t help that Nimue seemed to be going to particular lengths to draw attention to herself. She