Chapter 10 #2
We moved carefully for a full twenty-five metres, scanning every section of the tunnel.
There was nothing to see but I wasn’t out of options yet.
I reached into my backpack and pulled out a second spell pouch.
I might have only one dose of Captain Montgomery’s embargoed echo spell but this was the perfect opportunity to use it.
Anything it revealed wouldn’t count as usable evidence but I wasn’t seeking to legally pursue whoever had conjured up the monster.
If I found them, I had other plans that didn’t extend to using the laws of the land no matter what blood contract I’d signed in the Bureaucratic Suite.
When my safety was threatened for no good reason, all bets were off.
I opened the pouch and scattered its contents onto the ground in front of me, then I stepped back and waited. I motioned to She Without An Ear to do the same. ‘It might take a few moments to work,’ I whispered. ‘We have to be patient and…’
As She Without An Ear hissed and flattened her one ear against her head, I felt my hackles rise. Sheesh. Although I’d already witnessed Montgomery’s demonstration in the classroom, the power of the spell was still impressive.
The echo spell worked backwards to reveal three-dimensional reflections of the most recent people who had passed this way.
The first ‘echoes’ were of me and She Without An Ear.
I squinted then nodded approvingly. I certainly looked the part of middle-aged cat lady – slightly unkempt, with shapeless clothing and frizzy purple hair.
There was something satisfying about realising that I looked exactly the same as I imagined.
She Without An Ear was considerably less thrilled. She was so alarmed by the facsimile of herself that she hissed, spat and raised a threatening paw. ‘That’s you,’ I said as I reached down and stroked her in a bid to keep her calm. ‘Best not to touch. I’m not sure what will happen if you do.’
For once she heeded my warning. She dropped her paw, though she remained on edge and continued to hiss even when the images changed. Four bats flapped by silently. I watched them without interest; they didn’t pause and whatever business they were on had nothing to do with me.
The bats were followed by two vamps who were strolling hand in hand.
From the way their heads dipped towards each other, they were only interested in each other and I immediately discounted them.
Several more vampires passed by but again there was nothing untoward about their actions.
As far as I could tell, they were just moving from one place to another.
I waited patiently. Something good would emerge, I was sure of it.
Twenty-nine vampires crossed the spell’s path, including one fellow who went back and forth three times with a harried expression on his gaunt face, before I saw someone interesting.
A hooded figure, shoulders hunched, darted rapidly down the tunnel.
When he paused to look over his shoulder, I saw his face.
I raised my eyebrows. ‘That’s no vampire,’ I murmured aloud.
She Without An Ear continued to hiss. She’d maintained her aggression towards the echoes for several minutes and showed no sign of stopping. If nothing else, she was impressively tenacious.
‘Hush,’ I said absently as I committed the man’s features to memory.
He had a thin face, brown hair and a ridiculous droopy moustache that did nothing for his face.
Although he might have been marked and have permission to be in the depths of the Understream, there was a furtiveness about his movements that made me think he wasn’t supposed to be here.
He also had a clammy, ash-grey pallor to his skin that usually meant only one thing: he was a thrall – and Lady Penelope had made it clear that thralls were not allowed in the Understream.
I didn’t know why the vampires had to deny their loyal servants access to these tunnels.
Most people turned thrall because they wanted to become vampires; they happily donated their blood to their masters and mistresses and spent year upon year undertaking scutwork.
It stood to reason that if daylight hours were forbidden to you, you would have servants who could withstand the sun’s glare.
However, many vampires chose to forego thralls.
Perhaps human servants often proved to be more trouble than they were worth.
That someone who looked like a thrall was wandering around down here was suspicious enough to stir my interest.
The thrall vanished and was replaced by another wandering vamp who was marching at high speed. I gave her echo a cursory glance then stiffened as another figure appeared behind her. Again this was no vampire, not even close.
She Without An Ear abruptly stopped hissing in favour of a full-throated purr.
‘What is it about that damned Maine Coon that you find so appealing?’ I demanded, but she didn’t deign to answer.
The handsome silver cat sauntered past, tail high and ears pricked.
I reminded myself that he wasn’t really there and that this was merely a reflection of what had happened hours before, but the coincidence of his appearance first at my house above ground, then at the market and now here was enough to make me suspicious.
And that was nothing compared to what I felt when I registered who was following the cat.
Trilby’s echo showed someone without a care in the world. Their hands were in their pockets and, if I wasn’t mistaken, they were whistling. I couldn’t hear anything but the shape of their mouth suggested they were blithely wandering down the tunnel to the sound of their own offbeat music.
My eyes narrowed. Don’t jump to conclusions, Kit, I told myself sternly. Trilby is probably heading towards the clocktower entrance you came through, even though they told you otherwise last night. This means nothing.
I forced myself to relax – but then Trilby came to an abrupt halt.
I froze. What were they doing? I had no way of knowing what time they’d been here – the echo spell didn’t provide time stamps.
Trilby couldn’t have been the one to conjure up that monster. Could they?
I waited, my heart in my mouth. There was so much I didn’t know about the mysterious Danksville black-market trader, and the more I learned the less I really knew, but my sense of betrayal if they turned out to be responsible for my attack would be extraordinary.
Every muscle in my body was rigid. And then Trilby’s echo lifted their head and looked directly at me.
I jerked involuntarily as they plastered a slow grin on their face and raised their hand in greeting. ‘Trilby?’ I whispered, unable to help myself.
They answered with a wink, then turned and continued walking past the spell’s sphere of influence. They vanished – and I was left reeling. ‘What the actual fuck?’
She Without An Ear miaowed.
I repeated my question with greater emphasis. ‘What the actual fuck?’ Naturally, there was no answer.
A beat later I squinted as another vampire appeared before the bright light cast by the spell blinked out and we were plunged into darkness.
I cursed under my breath and scrabbled around in my bag for another pinch of the light spell, but as my fingers curled around the spell pouch I heard voices from up ahead.
I grimaced. I didn’t have any more echo spells to recast so this was my one and only chance to discover who had set the monster on me, and I was blowing it because I couldn’t see what was happening.
If I magicked up more light, though, the owners of those voices would notice me. It was a dilemma.
I considered my options before erring on the side of caution.
While I’d been granted permission to investigate the Understream, it would be prudent to conceal my presence until I knew their identities.
Besides, that final vampire I’d glimpsed in the echo spell might prove to be the one I’d been waiting for.
I was almost certain it had been Anthony; not only was he the worms’ caregiver, he’d also refused to speak to me because he’d been so disgusted by my presence.
Hmm. A shifty thrall, a suspicious cat, Trilby, and Anthony the people hater. The plot was suddenly thickening.