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

I tsked loudly.

Greenie coughed. ‘You have to come with me.’

‘See? He is taking us to his leader,’ Monroe said.

‘You’re an idiot.’

Desperately trying to reassert control, Greenie lifted the sword until the very tip of the blade was brushing against my temple. Monroe’s eyes flashed with anger before his bizarre sense of humour reasserted itself and he started to grin again.

‘You’ll walk in front of me. Twenty paces. And,’ Greenie uttered with hard finality, ‘you’ll do exactly what I say.’

Monroe looped his arm round mine and pulled me with him. ‘Yessir!’ He dragged me with him, doing exactly as he’d been ordered. That was unexpected.

Once we were some distance ahead, Monroe dipped his head. ‘I don’t know who he is, but he’s only a kid. He’s more scared than anything.’

‘Keep walking!’ Greenie yelled from behind.

‘I know that,’ I hissed to Monroe.

‘He’s not a looter because his trainers are old. His clothes have been patched up, no doubt because there’s someone out there who cares enough about him to spend hours bent over a needle and thread. He’s probably from the community that cleared the roads around here and we probably want to get on their good side. I was trying to keep the situation calm and I think I succeeded. I was prepared to take him down but, once I started looking at him properly, I realised that we’re not in any real danger. It’s important to pay attention to the little details, Charlotte. It could save lives.’

‘Turn left!’ Greenie shouted at us.

We followed the path round while I tried my best not to punch Monroe in the arm. ‘I know all that,’ I whispered to him. ‘I saw all those details.’

He let out a quiet snort of disbelief. ‘You were making things worse, not better.’

‘You were the one who was acting all threatening and scary. I’m not the big bad wolf here, Monroe. You are.’

He smiled. ‘You’re just annoyed that I’m taking control of the situation and avoiding a fight. He knows who we are and he’s not approached us before now. That means his kind are more interested in peace than war. That’s what we all want. We have to be careful to turn this situation to our advantage rather than cause further problems.’

The worst thing was that Monroe was one hundred percent right and his approach was what I was aiming for initially. He was explaining my own strategy to me – except that I hadn’t done as good a job as I’d thought of locking away my own stress. My mouth had ruined my strategy before I even got started.

‘I used humour to deflect the tension,’ Monroe said proudly. ‘I’ve still got it. I didn’t rule my pack with authoritarian control, you know. I was a good leader.’

I sniffed. ‘It was bad humour.’

He smirked. ‘It was better than continuing with your suggestion that I yank out his insides. Diplomacy, Charlotte. You should think about it some time. It has its place.’

Forget the green dude with the big sword, it was Monroe I was going to kill first. ‘You threatened to rip out his throat!’

‘Yes, but that was before I saw who he really was and used my wits and intelligence to get us out of this situation without bloodshed.’

‘He’s behind us waving a sword at our backs. Bloodshed could still ensue.’ I had no idea why I was arguing because I agreed with Monroe’s assessment of the situation.

‘Not today.’ And with another serene smile, he released my arm and put his hands in his pockets and started to whistle.

I sighed to myself. Yeah. I really did need a holiday.

Greenie marshalled us into a neat cul-de-sac. There was no doubt it was occupied. For a start, doors banged up and down the street, and there were worried calls as children were ushered inside from their gardens when we approached. Secondly, the entire place looked pretty much untouched by the magical apocalypse. There was evidence that things had been patched up, with darker spots on the road where potholes had been filled in and new tiles on the roofs of the houses where no doubt the fire rain that had attacked us had penetrated. Whoever had done these things had done a remarkably good job. I should know: I’d spent weeks overseeing the same sort of work in my own neighbourhood and it didn’t look anything like as good as this.

We had walked about halfway down the road when Greenie shouted at us to halt. I wondered if he would actually slice us with that blade if we ignored his command; for a moment, I was tempted to test him and see. Monroe was playing the role of good wolf, however, and slid to an easy stop. I had no good reason not to do the same.

A door opened to our right and another green face appeared. This one belonged to a woman. She had the sort of expression that I tended to associate with motherly types – exhausted but happy. All the same, when she walked towards us her shoulders betrayed her tension.

‘Good afternoon,’ she said. Her accent was Manchester through and through. I even spotted a tattoo on her wrist of a bee – the symbol of the city. Whatever manner of creature she really was, she was a part of Manchester as much as I was. Perhaps more so.

Greenie marched up behind us. I noted that he’d sheathed the sword; that suggested he trusted in the strength and power of the woman in front of us and no longer required weaponry to hold us in place.

‘I caught these two out by Boggart Hole,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t easy to bring them in but I managed it. The wolf is smart but the enchantress is a hothead.’

I normally prided myself on my poker face but Greenie’s words provoked a reaction that I couldn’t hide. My eyes widened and an irritated huff escaped my