Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952) (14 page)

“Alex?”

“Uhhuh?”

“Is it okay if I come to the ball with you? I won’t get in your way.”

The shirt was causing me problems. I didn’t answer straightaway, and Luna took my silence as a sign that I needed more persuading. “I mean, if those people are going to be looking for me, a crowded ball would be a good place to be, right? It’d be harder for them to try anything with lots of other mages around. And some of the people might have information. I could help you find things out.”

I finished with the trousers and held up the tie, running it through my fingers. “Arachne told you to say that, didn’t she?”

Luna went quiet. I shook my head and started putting the tie on. “She’s really taken a shine to you.”

“So, um—”

“You can come.”

“Really?” I could hear the excitement in Luna’s voice. “Great!”

I shook my head, but I didn’t smile. What I really wanted to ask was why she was so excited to be going. Luna wasn’t stupid; she had to realise that a gathering of mages would make for a dangerous night out. But it wasn’t the right time to ask.

A faint scuttling sound alerted me that Arachne was back. “All ready?” she called, and brushed the curtain aside to come in. Arachne’s always been a little hazy on human ideas of privacy. She looked me up and down approvingly. “Good.”

I turned to take a look at myself in the mirror. When I put it on, the outfit had looked like a dinner jacket. Now that I was wearing it, it still looked like a dinner jacket, but it was…different, somehow. The figure looking back at me looked smart, elegant. It was hard to put your finger on it, but if I’d seen a picture of myself I might not have recognised who it was.

“Well?”

I took a last look, then nodded. “I like it.”

“Well, at least you have some taste.” Arachne handed me a white ribbon. “Tie this on the lapel.”

I looked at the thing curiously. It was more than just an accessory; I could feel magic radiating from it, with the subtle weave of Arachne’s signature, but it seemed passive rather than active. “What does it do?”

“Oh, I think you should be able to work that out.” She moved round to where Luna was changing, and I heard her asking Luna which one she liked best.

I walked out into the central chamber, studying the ribbon with a frown, searching through futures. There was something about the weave that I recognised, something that made me think of chance magic, inverted. But it wasn’t a spell I’d ever seen, unless…My eyes widened suddenly.
Oh…

“All ready?” Arachne’s voice called. “Come on, Alex, are you watching?” I looked up in surprise just as a girl stepped out from behind the curtain.

It was Luna, but for a moment I didn’t recognise her. She was wearing a dress of white and green that left her arms and shoulders bare, spiralling down in layers to cover her feet. The cloth shimmered slightly as she moved, the pale green and the snow white reflecting the light around her. A gauzy shawl was wrapped around her arms, and she’d tied her hair up with a pair of white ribbons, leaving her neck bare.

“What do you think?” Luna asked. She sounded a little nervous, but she was smiling.

I stared at her for a few seconds before answering. “Not bad.”

Arachne snorted. “Don’t listen to him, dear. You look perfect. A few more touches and you’ll be all ready to go.”

T
he sun had set by the time we finally said good-bye, and as we walked out of Arachne’s lair I could see the first stars shining in the sky above. The air had cooled, and
around us, Hampstead Heath was quiet. “Had a good time?” I said as we walked out into the gully.

“I had a great time.” Luna was smiling; you would never have thought that only a few hours ago she’d been scared of being left with Arachne. “Is she named after the weaver? The one from the Greek myth?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say it was the myth that was named after her.”

Luna looked at me for a second before her eyes went wide as she got it. “But that was—how long ago?”

“Two, three thousand years?” I shrugged. “I’ve never asked.”

The Heath was fast emptying of people, and here in the densest part, it was all but deserted. As the light faded from the evening sky we walked to a ridge and into a grove of trees. I took the glass rod and recited the incantation. “What are you doing?” Luna asked curiously.

“Calling us a ride.” I grinned. “An air elemental called Starbreeze. Be nice to her.”

Starbreeze must have been close; I’d hardly finished speaking before she sprang up in front of me in an invisible rush of wind. “Hi, Alex!”

Luna jumped as the voice came out of midair, and Starbreeze pointed at her. “Ooh! Who’s that?”

“This is Luna,” I said. “Could you go visible for a second?”

“Okay!” Luna jumped again as, to her eyes, Starbreeze seemed to materialise out of thin air right in front of her. Today Starbreeze had decided to look like a woman in her thirties, with long hair and clothes woven of mist. She floated closer and stared at Luna in interest, studying her clothes. “Pretty.”

“Um, pleased to meet you,” Luna said, recovering. She stepped back and Starbreeze floated closer, then whirled in a circle around her, faster than Luna could turn.

“Starbreeze, we need to go to the tower at Canary Wharf,” I said. “Can you take us there?”

Starbreeze stopped whirling and brightened. “Oh, the ball! I want to go there!” She vanished in a puff of wind,
leaving us alone in the grove. “Starbreeze!” I yelled after her.
“Starbreeze!”

Starbreeze reappeared in the blink of an eye, visible again. “Hi, Alex! Ooh!” She pointed at Luna. “Who’s that?”

I sighed. “Could you take us to Canary Wharf?
Us
.”

“Okay!” Starbreeze swept forward over us, and I felt my body start to transform. Then suddenly it stopped, and I was standing on the grass again.

I looked around in surprise; that had never happened before. Starbreeze had zipped away, and was floating at a safe distance, pointing at Luna. She looked upset. “Don’t want to take her.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“
She’s
wrong.” Starbreeze shivered slightly. “Hurts.”

Luna sighed. She’d been keyed up, excited, but now the animation faded from her body. “It’s me. I know.”

“It’s all right.”

Luna shook her head. “It’s okay, I should have known.” She gave me a half smile. “You go ahead. I’ll meet you there.”

“Oh, I think we can do better than that.” I held out my arm. “Take my hand.”

Luna looked down, then up at me. “Um, what are you doing?”

“Arachne’s very old and very wise,” I said. “Your curse can’t hurt her. And right now it can’t hurt me, either.” I took the ribbon hanging from my lapel, held it up so she could see. “As long as this is still white, I’m safe. So”—I smiled—“ready to go?”

Luna looked at me for a long moment, very still. When she spoke, her voice was suddenly cold. “Are you making fun of me?”

I stared at her. “What?”

“I can’t touch anyone. You know that. If this is a joke—”

“Luna!” I touched my fingers to the ribbon. “Arachne made this specially for you. It’s the same spell as your curse, but inverted; it absorbs it. As long as you’re near it, Starbreeze’ll be fine, and so will I.”

Luna’s mask wavered, and I saw she was uncertain. She looked from me to Starbreeze, still floating off to one side. I held out my hand and she took one hesitant step forward, almost within arm’s length. Then she gave a shiver and backed away, shaking her head. “No.”

I dropped my hand. “Luna, it’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that! How can you tell?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I can see the future?” I stopped and took a deep breath. Being snarky wasn’t going to help. “I know you can’t see how this thing works. But trust me, it does.”

Luna shook her head.

“Look, I thought you were getting on with Arachne? She obviously likes you; she wouldn’t go to this much trouble for anyone. Take her word for it.”

“No.”

“Goddamn it! What are you planning to do, sit here all night?”

Luna shook her head again. Her face had firmed, and her voice was steady. “I’ll get there on my own. It was at Canary Wharf, right? I can find my way.”

“No, you
can’t
. You won’t make it halfway across London before Cinder and Khazad and that woman find you, and your curse can’t protect you from
one
Dark mage, much less three!”

“I guess I’ll have to take the chance.”

“It’s not a chance! You’re as good as dead if you go out there!”

“And
you’re
as good as dead if I touch you!”

I stopped, staring. Luna glared at me, then caught her breath as she realised what she’d just said. She closed her eyes, inhaled, and straightened her back. When she opened her eyes, she looked calm again. “Thank you for trying, really. But it’s fine.”

“That’s it, isn’t it?” I said slowly. “You’re afraid.”

Luna went still, then shook herself. “It’s okay,” she said levelly. “You go with Starbreeze.”

“You’re scared of what’ll happen.” I gave a short laugh. “Look, you don’t need to worry. It’ll be fine.”

Luna stared at me. “You think it’s funny?”

“No.” I caught myself. “Look, there’s nothing to be scared of—”

“You don’t know that.” There was an edge in Luna’s voice.

“Yes, I do.”

“You don’t know everything.”

“I know enough about this—”

“Shut up!”

I rocked back, and Luna took a pace forward, glaring at me. “You always think you know everything. You don’t! You don’t know what it’s like, you’ve never
felt
what it’s like. Stop acting like you do!”

I stared. I’d never seen Luna like this. She’d never before even raised her voice. “Luna—”

“
Stop it!
Stop telling me what to do! I don’t want your—I don’t want—” Luna’s voice wobbled and she swallowed. I took a step forward, but she jumped back, glaring at me. “No! Stay away from me!”

I took a deep breath. Luna stared at me, fighting back tears, and I tried to figure out what I needed to say. “Look,” I said at last. “You’ve always trusted me so far. Trust me now.”

“No! I haven’t— I mean—” Luna turned away, running a hand through her hair, breathing fast. “I can’t, I— You don’t know what you’re asking. I can’t get close, I—”

“If Arachne says something works, it works. You won’t hurt me.”

Luna drew in a shaky breath. “Alex, you don’t know what it’s like. The only way I can live is if I tell myself it has to be this way. If I let myself—” She realised what she was saying and put a hand to her mouth, fright in her eyes.

I looked at Luna, standing alone and frightened on the hillside, and finally understood. All I could feel now was pity. I held out my hand to her. “Luna—”

But as Luna recognised the expression in my eyes, she finally snapped. “Stop looking at me like that!
Stop feeling
sorry for me!
” She took a step back. “I’m not going to the ball. I don’t want to be with you. Get away from me!”

I tried to keep my voice calm. “It’s okay—”

“Shut up!”
Luna shouted. “I’m sick of you and I’m sick of your
stupid
magic and I’m sick of you pretending you know everything. I don’t want you to teach me anything anymore.
Leave me alone!
”

You’ve probably figured out by now that I’m not the most tolerant of people. I have a really low bar for how much crap I’ll take from others, and I especially hate getting pushed around by people I’m trying to help. Probably one of the reasons I can never get a girlfriend, but that’s another story. The sensible part of me knew that Luna was just saying these things to try to make me lose my temper. Trouble was, it was working. I sucked in a breath and, out of sight, flexed my left hand, clenching it into a fist, then letting it relax. When I spoke, my voice even sounded calm. Mostly. “Let’s get one thing clear,” I said. “I am not leaving you out here with a bunch of Dark mages hunting you.”

“It’s not your choice!”

“Yes, it is,” I snapped. “I don’t care how stupid you’re acting, I’m not going to let you kill yourself.”

“Try and stop me.” Luna’s eyes were wide, and she was breathing fast. She was standing a few paces away, half turned and poised to run. It would take only one more push to make her flee, and I had the nasty feeling that in the state she was in, she might just be able to outrun me. I took a breath and went still. “You know what?” I said as I let my leg muscles coil. “Fine.”

I was on Luna before she had the chance for more than a yelp. She tried to spring back, but I got one hand on her wrist and the other around her shoulders. And as I did, I came into range of her curse. To my mage’s sight, Luna’s curse is a silver-grey mist, following her like a cloud. As soon as I started towards her, it had stretched out towards me, silvery tendrils reaching out eagerly. If I didn’t trust Arachne so well, I don’t think I’d have had the nerve to make the jump.

But the tendrils never reached my body. As they touched my clothes, they twisted downwards, curving away to soak into the ribbon like water into a sponge. Silver mist poured steadily from Luna, flowing off my clothes like water off a duck’s back. The ribbon absorbed it all, and as I watched, its corners began to darken. Around that point, though, I stopped having any attention to spare.