Shattered by Magic Page 19

  “You can keep it,” he says warily, waving a hand at me to take it away.

  “Sorry,” I say, giving them all a weak smile.

  “Nothing to be sorry for,” Marco says, patting me on the shoulder. “What was it you said to Tilly back there? ‘When something bad happens, we don’t just give up. We find a way to take the bad thing and turn it into something good.’”

  “Did I say that?”

  “Yep, we all heard it. It was quite inspirational, really. You should really consider writing a blog,” Jer says with a sincere expression on his face.

  “I might even have some title suggestions for you,” Lou adds.

  “How about, ‘My Life with Augurs’?” Marco suggests.

  “All right, all right. Thanks, guys.” I shake my head and give them all a real smile this time. Who needs enemies when you have friends that have your back and can make you feel like a pillock at the same time?

  “Now that we’ve gotten past that awkward moment, boys, remember that blue car that was following us yesterday on the way to Marvin’s?” Lou says, interrupting my happier thoughts and glancing in the rearview mirror when we reach a set of traffic lights.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Er, he’s behind us again.”

  I flip round in my seat to scrutinise the car behind us, but the night conceals any faces, and I can only make out two people in the front seats.

  Jer groans. “Bloody hell. Can we catch a break?”

  “Whoever it is, they’ve got backup. Can you lose them?”

  “I can try, but it’s 3:00 a.m. There isn’t much traffic to lose them in.”

  “Dammit. We don’t have time for a detour, either,” I say, flipping round in my seat and letting the stalkers know full well that I can see them.

  “Why don’t we try to shake them at a red light?” Marco suggests, turning around in the back with me, while Lou attempts to speed up as the next set of lights turns amber.

  The gap between us and the stalkers widens after the second set of lights, and when Lou overtakes a night bus and zips down a side street, it looks like we’ve lost them again.

  “Y’know, I don’t think these guys are all that good at car chases,” Jer comments when I announce that we’re all clear.

  “Noobs.” Marco laughs as we settle back in our seats.

  If the Magic Circle have something they want to say to us, it’ll have to wait.

  But our faces fall when we pull up outside Dr. Lindhurst’s house in North Finchley, only to find the blue sedan parked outside.

  “You’re joking. How in the hell did they know where we were going?” Marco says when we spot it.

  I get a sinking feeling in my stomach, but we’ve come all this way now, and I’m not about to turn back.

  “Whoever it is, we can handle it,” I say, letting Lou park and slipping out of the car as quietly as I can. I approach the stalker’s vehicle cautiously, trying to use nearby streetlamps to see how many people might be inside, but the windows are tinted, and it’s pretty dark. I give it a wide berth and come round to the front, bending over and trying to creep along the pavement until I can get a view of the front, only to find that it’s empty. I stand up straight, looking up and down the deserted street for any sign, but nothing appears.

  “Where are they?” Lou whispers into the quiet night.

  I look at the tall town houses that surround us. There are no lights on in any of them, except Dr. Lindhurst’s. I nod towards the doctor’s house, and we approach it cautiously.

  “She could be in trouble,” I say, and the others nod in agreement.

  “Want me to blow the doors open?” Lou says, cracking her knuckles.

  “No, too much noise. Jer, can you pick the lock?”

  Jer pulls a face. “Only if I have to. Can’t we just ring the bell?”

  Light spills out onto the pavement where we stand as the door opens, and I look up to find the doctor staring at us.

  “Having a meeting, are we? Well, if it’s all the same to you I’d rather you came inside,” she says cheerily.

  Not in danger, then. We share a look between ourselves and step into the house silently.

  “Sorry to trouble you so late, Doc,” I say apologetically. She looks like she’s been dragged out of bed, and although she hasn’t complained, I feel bad for disturbing her.

  “Och, don’t worry. Someone beat you to it,” she says, leading us into a living room. My stomach does a backflip when I see three figures sitting in the dim light.

  “Hello, Curtis,” Miss Banks says, uncrossing her legs and getting up from a plush armchair to greet me. I must look like I’ve seen a ghost, because she gives me one of her almost-smiles.

  “Wha—”

  “All in good time,” she says, cutting off my question and leaving me befuddled while she greets Jer, Lou, and Marco.

  Sunglasses Steve, still wearing his Ray Bans, nods at us but says nothing and stands stoically in the corner.

  “Crossley!” I exclaim when he steps out of the shadows. My instinct is to give him a bear hug, but then I remember that I’m not in the ATU’s good graces right now, so I put out a hand instead, and he walks across the room to shake it, giving me a grim smile.

  “I couldn’t let you do something else stupid without having your back,” he says, shrugging.

  “And Angeles?” I ask, searching his face for any sign of remorse.

  “She’s none the wiser. She thinks Miss Banks is out of the city and that I’m on a field op.”

  “You followed us this morning on the way to Marvin’s?” Lou says to Miss Banks.

  “That’s right. I was suspended almost immediately after Munday escaped. No one had time to give me a disciplinary hearing with everything going on, so I slipped away and tried to find you all, thinking that Angeles might dismiss you at the first chance she got.”

  “She pretty much did. It was kind of a one-strike-and-you’re-out situation, and it only took me a couple of hours to blow it,” I say, looking at Crossley sheepishly. “And you?” I ask him.

  “I approached Miss Banks. After Angeles fired you all, I felt terrible, like I’d let you down.“

  “No, Cross, we messed up, not you,” Jer says kindly.

  Crossley shakes his head, but he doesn’t elaborate any further.

  “You’re not here to arrest us, then?” Marco asks worriedly.

  “Oh, no, Marco, not at all. We’re here to help you,” Miss Banks replies. The surprise on his face is reflected in mine.

  “You’d really do that?”

  “Of course. I take responsibility for getting Ella kidnapped as much as you do, Curtis. I think it’s time to put an end to all this, don’t you?”

  Crossley and even Steve nod along with her. The doctor smiles wearily when I look at her.

  “I’m helping too, by the way. God knows you’ll need it,” she adds, her face creasing into a grin.

  A combination of relief and gratitude flood through me as I look around at the people in the room. I don’t know what I did to deserve their help, but the hope that I’ve been repressing for weeks is fighting its way to the surface again. I try to explain why we came to Dr. Lindhurst’s in the first place.

  “How much have you all figured out?”

  “Angeles was pretty quick to tell Crossley about your disappearance off the satellites. When we worked out that it was the same house that we’d been surveilling up until the house emptied out last year, we decided to pay your friend Marvin a visit ourselves,” Banks says, looking over at Crossley, who fills in the rest.

  “He was clearing out when we arrived and wasn’t best pleased to see us, but we managed to press him for a little information before letting him go. He gave me a copy of everything he’d given to you, and when I realised that Angeles had sent four tactical teams to the wrong location, I was about to pull them out, but then it occurred to me that you’d no doubt be getting yourself into trouble and preparing to go there yourself.” He gives me an eye roll w
ith his smile. He knows me too well, it seems.

  “I tried to tell Angeles, but she wouldn’t listen. It looks like the the Duke is holed up not far from the site of the old Facility, but by the time they worked out that they were in the wrong place, it would be too late,” I explain.

  “They’ve already finished the formula,” Lou adds.

  Crossly sucks in air through his teeth and gives a worrying look to Miss Banks, who taps a finger on her chin thoughtfully before finally responding. “I suppose you’ve been trying to work out a way to approach the location yourself?”

  “We’ve done better than that,” Lou boasts, “we’ve got ourselves a little team together.”

  Crossley makes a few noises of appreciation and smiles proudly.

  “We came here to ask the Doctor for some supplies.” I glance at Lindhurst, who nods in agreement.

  “That much I can do, lad. But we’re coming with you,” she says firmly.

  “I really appreciate the sentiment, but my team consists entirely of Augurs. There’s no way in hell they’re going to work with you all, as much as I need your help.” I omit the fact that Edward and Tilley are also part of the team. No need to add extra complications right now.

  “Nonsense. We’re saving a city, Curtis. There’s no question as to whether or not your Augur friends will be able to act with impunity,” Banks says, a frown creasing her perfect brow.

  “You mean if they use their powers, you won’t have them arrested?”

  “Of course not. If need be, I’ll make them temporary ATU members, just like I did with you all originally.”

  Jer scoffs but says nothing. We all know how that worked out for us, two months down the line and still working for the ATU on our temporary contracts.

  “And Ella?” I add, trying not to let my voice betray any emotion.

  “What about her?”

  “Angeles wants to arrest her almost as much as she wants the Duke and Munday. I need to know she’ll be kept out of it.” I hold Miss Banks’s gaze without wavering. Whatever Ella’s feelings are towards me now, I definitely can’t have her in an Augur prison.

  “Ella is an unfortunate victim of a violent kidnapping. She has been traumatised and no doubt will have some form of Stockholm Syndrome after all this time, so yes, she’ll be absolved of any part she had to play in this formula being created.”

  I let go of the breath I’ve been holding and nod. I’d like to believe that’s all it is. I can’t begin to understand the psychological effects that being kidnapped must be having on her. If Miss Banks will give her a get-out-of-jail-free pass, I’ll take it without further explanation.

  “So, if you all rock up in the morning and find me surrounded by a team of Augurs who all use their abilities in front of you, you won’t clap them in chains at the first opportunity?”

  “Of course not, no more than I would do that to Jer, Lou, and Marco,” she says, looking at them. I turn to face my friends, looking at each of them for any sign of protest, but no one says anything. Jer shrugs, although he looks uncomfortable, while Lou and Marco give me the briefest of nods.

  “Alright, here’s the situation: From what we can tell, Munday has finished the formula to keep Augurs at full power for longer and without the need for energy transfer. He’s used Ella’s blood in the formula itself, so we’re guessing it as good as mimics her ability. We know that Mulberry was still going eight hours after taking a dose, so it must be working, and that means we have a team of regular Augurs up against a bigger number of suped-up Augurs.”

  Crossley gives a low whistle and glances worriedly at Miss Banks, who presses her lips into a thin line as she calculates our odds of success.

  “Tell me about your team,” she replies, whipping out her phone to make notes as she usually does.

  I give her a rundown of everyone’s abilities, or what I understand of them, including Plague’s vomit-inducing power and Prunella’s shadow manipulation. I’m still not sure how a telepath like Gloria is going to help us, nor the more benign David and Mumbe, but I add them, too.

  “You’ve done well, Curtis. I’m impressed.” Crossley smiles.

  “Don’t be, yet. We’re just getting started. The Duke wants my aunt Tilly to help him bring the drug into the city. What he is about to find out is that we have both Tilly and Edward working with us too,” I say, dropping my voice to a whisper as I mention their involvement.

  Miss Banks’s thumbs pause in her typing, and her eyebrows raise, examining me from over the top of her phone. “You kept that quiet.”

  “I wanted to make sure everyone helping would get immunity first,” I reply, not even bothering to sound sorry about it.

  Lindhurst snorts and laughs heartily. “He’s been in the ATU long enough, I think, Miss Banks, you have to admit.” She pats me on the back from behind and I feel reassured that the doctor at least is on my side.

  “So, what do you think Clarence will do now that his best mule is out of the picture?” Miss Banks continues, not looking half as amused as the rest of us.

  “Tilly reckons he has a contingency plan for everything. No doubt, trucks are being loaded up with the drug as we speak, and they’ll be driven in convoy into the city if need be, although I don’t know where to yet.”

  “You want to intercept them along the way?” Crossley suggests.

  “I want to use Tilly to take us all to the lab site and try to shut it down before those lorries even leave. I think we’ll have enough time, if we’re lucky, but it would be even better to have ATU agents stationed along the main routes to intercept them if anything goes wrong.”

  “A luxury we currently don’t have,” Miss Banks says grimly.

  The finer points of my plan are laid out and questioned, while Miss Banks and Sunglasses Steve arrange weapons and radios to be delivered to the neighbourhood watch bunker.

  “You’ve become quite the little freedom fighter since I saw you yesterday,” Lindhurst says, with a mix of admiration and endearment.

  “Well, we’re twenty-one freedom fighters, split into ramshackle teams, against maybe dozens of erratic, powerful, drug-addicted Augurs.”

  “Not amazing odds, but we’ve faced worse,” Miss Banks says, looking at Steve. He nods, and his upper lip twitches slightly, which I assume is his version of a smile.

  “Curtis, take this.” She hands me a shiny new phone. “My number is already in there, and I’ll call you on it as soon as we’re ready to do a drop-off.”

  “How did you... Never mind,” I say, taking it gratefully.

  I briefly wonder what Enzo will think of a bunch of agents turning up, but I dismiss the thought. For all he knows, we’re still with the ATU. What more can he expect?

  As we pull away from the doctor’s house, I look back at the lit windows, the only house awake on this quiet street, and an unfamiliar feeling of warmth runs through me.

  “That went so much better than I thought it would,” Lou says as we make our way back to Beryl’s.

  “Yep. Who would have thought that straight-laced Miss Banks would rebel against the system and help a bunch of random Augurs save the city?” Jer chuckles as he drapes his arm across the back of Lou’s seat, looking more relaxed than I’ve seen in days.

  “I would,” I say, grinning in the darkness. “Think about it. She effectively built the ATU up to what it is now in no time at all. She put us in the direct line of fire of the Duke. She employed a bunch of random teenage Augurs, and me, to fight back against him. Now she gets suspended, and rather than hide in shame, she comes and finds us and offers her help.”

  “So, you’re saying she’s crazy?”

  “Pretty much. Either that, or she’s insanely persistent. Nothing seems to stop her.”

  Marco murmurs an agreement. “You sound like you admire that,” he adds.

  “I think I do. I mean, this situation is beyond mental, for sure, but where would we be without her? If she hadn’t picked us up from Tilly’s all those weeks ago, do you think we wou
ld have gone head-first into fighting the Magic Circle—and won?”

  The car falls silent, as everyone already knows the answer to that one. Ella’s idea to bait the Magic Circle into the open would have ended up in disaster, possibly worse that what we’re facing today.

  An idea occurs to me on the drive back. With my new phone in hand, I access the email address that Marvin set me up with and reply back to it, hoping that he’ll bother to check it.

  “What are you doing?” Marco asks, looking over at my rapidly typing fingers.

  “Asking Marvin to forward all that dirt to Matthew Avers,” I reply without pausing.

  “The reporter?” Jer remarks, without bothering to hide his disdain.

  I sigh as I fire off the last few words. “Yes, the reporter. I know we don’t like him, but if there’s any chance he can use all that information we got to expose the Duke, then it might be another form of attack on his plan. I’ve no idea if Marvin will help, but it’s worth a try.”

  “Clever,” Lou says admiringly. “Very clever.”

  When we pull up outside the club, the streets are almost deserted, and the bunker is quiet, only one or two heads turning to greet us when we come in. Shapes huddle up on the sofa and chairs, most of them having found a spot to doze while they wait for us.

  “Where are the others?” I ask Edward, who sits at the table, fidgeting.

  “The ones who live nearby went to change and prepare,” Tilly whispers from one of the seemingly empty chairs.

  “How’d it go?” Edward asks.

  “Better than I expected. We have an additional four team members who are way more qualified than us to deal with the situation, and we have supplies on their way.”

  “Augurs?” Tilly asks hopefully.

  “Colleagues,” I reply tactfully, catching Edward’s grimace.

  “Don’t worry. We’re all exempt from being arrested so long as everything goes according to plan,” Lou jokes, but I give her a warning look when I sense a couple of ears prick up.

  I answer questions from anyone who is awake enough to ask them, until I grow more tired than I’m willing to admit. When my head droops, Lou sends me to curl up in an armchair and catch a power nap until the supplies arrive, and I begrudgingly oblige.