The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf (74 page)

“I'm sorry, Malveria. When this is all over, I'll design you the best clothes you've ever seen.”

“If you are still alive. Who knows what you may meet in their headquarters? What armaments the hunters may have? It is madness to rush in.”

“It won't matter what armaments they have. We're going to take them by surprise. Don't underestimate twenty werewolves. Once we break in we'll be through that building in seconds.”

“What if they receive warning?”

“How?”

“I don't know. But what if Kabachetka decides to visit? She might sense you coming.”

“I doubt Kabachetka will be there,” Thrix said. “I don't think she socializes with the Guild. Anyway, she'll probably be at the H&M launch.”

“Wearing her pitiful new outfits from her hopeless new designer,” said Malveria, and was temporarily cheered by the thought of Kabachetka and her fashion failures. She quickly became gloomy again. “I don't like any of this. If I meet Donatella Versace I will not be able to concentrate at all, knowing that you are risking your life not far away. It will quite spoil my evening.”

CHAPTER 142

On the day Kalix was due to hide the flower in the Guild's headquarters, the weather changed. The temperature dropped, the sky turned gray and heavy rain poured down on London. Kalix pushed her bike to the end of the street. Dominil was waiting there in her car.

“Poor weather for cycling,” said Kalix.

Dominil didn't reply. She quickly stashed Kalix's bike in the boot of the car, and handed Kalix a bundle of clothes as they drove off. Kalix struggled into them, dressing herself in the yellow jacket and cycling shorts. She tucked her long ponytail inside the jacket.

“This is the package you're to deliver.” Dominil handed a parcel to Kalix. It was the size of a shoebox, and quite heavy. “I picked it up from Merchant MacDoig this morning.”

“What's in it?”

“Silver bullets.”

They drove on toward the center of town.

“I'd have thought they'd get more silver bullets than this,” said Kalix when next they stopped at traffic lights.

“They have plenty,” said Dominil. “This is a special batch. They have soft cones, specially adapted to explode inside a werewolf's body.”

Kalix looked at the package, and winced. “Maybe we shouldn't deliver them.”

“It's the only way to get you inside.”

Traffic moved more slowly in the rain. It took them a while to negotiate the bridge over the river. They passed the Houses of Parliament in silence. There were a few protesters on the other side of the road. Kalix gazed at them but she couldn't read their placards. They drove up Regent Street, still moving slowly. There was a very large queue outside the Apple Store.

“What's that for?” asked Kalix.

“They've released a new iPad,” Dominil told her. “I picked mine up first thing this morning.”

They crossed over Oxford Street, heading for Gloucester Place. Kalix was calm, as she always was facing danger.

“I'll drop you off here,” said Dominil in the street parallel to Gloucester Place. “So you can cycle there, as a courier would.”

“OK,” said Kalix. She put on her goggles and cycling helmet, picked up the package and a clipboard Dominil gave her, and stepped out of the car. Dominil slipped out as well and swiftly took Kalix's bicycle from the boot.

“Thrix is parked on the next corner,” said Dominil.

“Why?”

“Because I can't park outside the Guild's building. I'll drive round the block, but if I'm not in sight when you come out, get into Thrix's car and she'll take you away.”

“OK.”

The rain poured down. It was a very poor day for cycling. Kalix mounted her bike without much confidence. Dominil drove off without a word. Kalix maneuvered the bike toward Gloucester Place. She hadn't ridden in the rain before and the downpour made her nervous. She felt like she was going to fall off. It was a relief when she arrived at the Guild's headquarters and she could step off the bike. She noticed Thrix's car on
the corner, but didn't acknowledge it.

Kalix locked her bike to nearby railings, as Dominil had told her to, maintaining the pretense that she was a courier. She glanced briefly at the building then approached it confidently. She held her breath as she pushed the small buzzer on the wall, wondering if an alarm might sound. Her pendant should hide her from anything, but Kalix had gathered from listening to Dominil and Thrix that they didn't quite know what powers might be contained within the stone dwarves' house.

“Yes?” came a voice through the small metal intercom.

“Parcel delivery,” said Kalix. She wondered if she should have tried to disguise her Scottish accent. It was something no one had thought about. It was too late now. The door buzzed and Kalix pushed it open: she was the first werewolf ever to enter the headquarters of the Avenaris Guild. Inside she found herself in a small hallway, her progress blocked by a thick glass door. Behind the door a uniformed security guard examined her. Apparently seeing nothing amiss, he pressed another buzzer and the door opened. Kalix walked into a larger foyer than she'd expected. There was dark wooden wainscoting around the foyer, giving it the appearance of an old country house rather than a modern office. There were dark wooden chairs in the foyer too, and a thick brown carpet, worn with age. An elderly man with gray hair sat behind a dark wooden desk. As Kalix advanced toward him she heard the security guard locking the door behind her. She was now locked in the Guild's building, in daytime when she couldn't transform, with two strong doors between her and the street outside, and werewolf hunters all around. Kalix walked up to the man behind the desk and handed him the parcel in silence.

“What's this?” he asked.

Kalix handed over her clipboard so as he could sign for the package. There were already signatures there. Dominil had forged them earlier, making an authentic-looking document.

The man frowned. “Wait here a moment,” he said. He stood up and walked from his desk, disappearing through the dark wooden door behind him. Kalix felt a twinge of worry. She glanced around to see if the security guard was watching her. He was. There seemed no opportunity for planting the flower without being seen. Kalix cursed silently to herself. She somehow hadn't anticipated that there would be two people watching her. The gray-haired man came back into the foyer, followed by a younger man. He was wearing a dark gray suit and looked to Kalix like an executive. He studied Kalix's clipboard.

“We weren't expecting this.”

Kalix shrugged and attempted to look bored. She didn't suppose a cycle courier would really be that interested in the parcels she was delivering. The man in the suit picked up the parcel and stared at it. He shrugged, then shook his head.

“MacDoig. He should have retired years ago.”

With that, he accepted the pen that Kalix was holding out, and signed for the parcel. At that moment the outside buzzer sounded again. Kalix glanced swiftly over her shoulder. Through the glass door she could just make out two figures at the entrance. The security guard was approaching the glass door to study the new visitors. Kalix took her chance. As she took back the clipboard and pen she dropped the pen deliberately and reached down quickly as if to snatch it up. As she did so she tucked the small purple flower under the carpet, managing the operation so smoothly that no suspicions were aroused. Without saying a word she headed back toward the front door. The security man held it open for her and she kept her head down as she passed the two strangers who'd just entered the building.

“I'm due at the training ground,” she heard one of them say.

The glass door shut behind her, the front door opened, and Kalix was free. She resisted the urge to run, and walked calmly toward her bike. She fumbled for a moment as she attempted to unlock it, but managed it quickly enough. The rain was coming down even harder, making her goggles almost impossible to see through. Kalix struggled on for only a few yards before coming to a halt. She took off the goggles to wipe them.

“Alex?” said someone, right beside her on the pavement.

Kalix jerked her head around, startled to be recognized. It was Manny. He was standing in the rain, accompanied by an older man with a coat over his suit and a briefcase in his hand. Kalix, previously calm, felt her heart begin to pound. Manny was the last person she had expected to meet and she was at a complete loss as to how to react.

“Alex? What are you doing here? On a bike?”

“I'm a courier,” said Kalix.

“Since when?”

“I just started.”

Kalix and Manny looked at each other as the rain poured down. Cars drove past, splashing water onto the pavement.

“You picked bad weather,” said Manny, who was obviously feeling just as awkward as Kalix. Kalix nodded. She wanted to cycle off, but
feared she would fall off the bike in the rain. The strangeness of the situation was bringing on her anxiety, quite strongly.

“Are you going to introduce me?” said the man who accompanied Manny.

“This is Alex,” said Manny. “Alex, this is my brother John.”

John nodded and smiled. Kalix guessed by his expression that Manny had told his brother about her. He probably knew she'd slept with someone else. She felt humiliated, and her anxiety became worse.

John studied Kalix for a few seconds, then spoke to his young brother.

“I'm almost at the office. I'll leave you here. I'll see you at your show.”

With a courteous nod to Kalix, he walked off up the street. There was another moment of silence.

“I tried to call you,” said Kalix.

“I know.”

Kalix longed to say something profound, or even something sensible, but knew she wouldn't be able to. She wasn't capable of dealing with complex emotions in the street, on a bike, in the rain, without warning. She put her foot on the pedal to cycle off.

“Call me again,” said Manny.

“OK,” said Kalix, and cycled away. She tried to hold the bike steady as she approached the nearest turn. At the corner she looked round to see if Manny was still watching. He was. Kalix had reached Thrix's car but she cycled past so Manny wouldn't see her dismount. Thrix, who'd been watching events from her car, pulled out from the curb and drove after Kalix. A little way along the side road Kalix halted. Thrix halted too, stopping traffic. There were a few horns sounded as they put Kalix's bike in the boot then drove off.

“How did it go?” asked Thrix.

“I hid the flower.”

“Well done. Who was that you met?”

“Manny. My ex-boyfriend.”

Thrix didn't comment. She had had an earpiece in her left ear, connected to her mobile phone. She touched a button on the phone, dialing Dominil's number.

“I've picked up Kalix. She planted the flower.”

“Good,” said Dominil. “I'm not far behind you, I can see your car. I'll meet you at your apartment.”

Thrix and Kalix drove in silence toward Knightsbridge. Kalix was lost in thought. She didn't notice how wet she was, and she hardly thought
of the dangerous mission she'd just completed. She was thinking about Manny, and how strange it had been to meet him in the street, and how uncomfortable it had felt. Now that she was leaving the scene her anxiety was diminishing. She wished she'd thought of something better to say.
Manny had said she should call him again. Did he really mean that?

Thrix was also deep in thought. She'd seen Kalix talking to Manny, and she'd seen the man who was with Manny. She'd also seen something that Kalix had not. After he left Kalix and Manny he'd gone straight into the headquarters of the Avenaris Guild. That gave Thrix a lot to think about as she drove home.

CHAPTER 143

Strands of Daniel's hair hung over his eyes. He liked the effect but it did make it difficult to see. It was a complex balancing act between aesthetics and practicality. He was standing in front of the wall mirror in the living room, trying to get it right, when Vex came downstairs, singing a song about her boots.

“Glacier Boots, glacier boots, I like my glacier boots, I can walk right over glaciers in my great big glacier boots.”

It was quite a tuneful song. Agrivex had a pleasant singing voice.

“I like my glacier boots,” she said.

“So I gathered,” said Daniel. “Off to see Pete?”

Vex nodded, and her face lit up.

“Please don't say ‘It's so nice to have a boyfriend, you should get a girlfriend,'” said Daniel.

“I'm not that tactless.”

Vex joined Daniel in front of the mirror, and began pushing strands of her hair around. Her bleached-blonde afro was now so impressive that people would stop in the street and stare, and draw their friends' attention to the girl whose skinny little body seemed suspended between her huge hair and huge boots. While shopping in Camden she'd been stopped on numerous occasions by tourists wanting to take her picture, and there was a photo of her in the current edition of a hip-hop fanzine in an article on ethnic street fashion.