43 AURORA
I shift slightly and see the storm has stopped, but condensation is running down the little trailer windows like it’s still raining.
I can’t tell what time it is, but sometime early in the morning.
It’s also a reminder that I really need to pee.
London is wrapped around me like a blanket, and my body feels hotter than last night’s baked potatoes.
Carefully unraveling myself, it only takes two steps and I’m in the narrow corridor. I can hear movement, someone else is up, but business first.
Bliss.
After washing my hands and splashing water on my face I head into the main body of the double-wide. The door to the outside is cracked open. Pushing it wider, I see Taliesin standing outside in the long grass. He turns as the door squeaks, eyes softening when he sees me. “Morning, Princess.”
“Good morning. Did you sleep at all?” I shiver slightly in the crisp morning air.
He grimaces. “Seeing as Francois claimed a bedroom for himself, I didn’t do too badly on the sofa-bed with Basil and Sky.”
That makes me frown. “I’ll talk to him. We need a bed rotation so everyone gets proper rest. Though…” I look around the misty field. “How long do you think we’ll be staying here?”
He comes over and takes my hand. “Let’s make coffee and try and figure that out.”
“I’ll do it.”
Opal had given us her large jar of instant, so I set the water to boil. Basil and Sky aren’t stirring, and I don’t want to wake them, so, grabbing a blanket, I take the mugs, and nudge the door open with my knee.
A dozen yards away is a lopsided wooden picnic bench surrounded by frozen soil and dead weeds. Tally wipes off the bench-seat and we sit, the heat from the coffee swirling up in fragrant steam. I unfold the blanket so it covers both our shoulders.
It’s so quiet and peaceful out here. Just the soft whisper of the winter winds moving through the long grass. A crow caws as a bright blue bird darts in front of us.
“What’s that?” I follow the creature with my eyes.
“A Steller’s jay,” Tally tells me. “Beautiful to look at, but a devil to other birds. Steals their eggs.”
Yeah, that tracks. Just like that Director-bitch from the manor.
Tally nudges my shoulder. “If you look into the brush, there’s a black-tail deer,” he says in an undertone.
“How can you tell the difference between an actual animal and a person who has shifted into one?” I murmur, watching the deer amble around, nudging at a bush. It looks totally relaxed apart from the ears, which swivel around like London’s.
“It’s a combination of things. Smell, energy. You’ve shifted now, can’t you sense that’s a real deer?”
Inhaling, I frown. “I’m not sure, but it’s not like I’ve exactly got to grips with turning into air. What the fuck is that all about anyway?”
“We talked about it when you were resting at the farm. Francois and my dad both think you’re a Sylph.”
Sylph?
‘Sylph.’ I roll the word over my tongue. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“Dad got out ‘S’ book from his encyclopedia set.” He grins at me. “He’s had this massive twenty-six book collection all my life. Me and Mom take the piss, they’re so out of date, but every time one comes in useful, Dad lights up like a Christmas Tree.”
That makes me smile. I love getting a little glimpse into Tally’s home life. “So, don’t keep me in suspense; what did you learn?”
“Well, babe, seems you are like an air-nymph? You can control the wind and air pressure. Conjure up storms, make tornadoes, which was amazing to watch by the way, and even manipulate the air to suffocate people, so remind me never to make you mad.”
Huh. An air nymph.
“I think I like this better than being a dragon. Though dragon-fire could come in handy.”
“Who needs flames when you can summon lightning? I can’t wait to see the shit you get up to once you’ve full control over your gift.”
He’s right. Excitement bubbles in my belly.
I can fly, I can turn fucking invisible.
Shit, I’m way better than a clumsy, heavy dragon.
Releasing my hands from the coffee mug, I concentrate for a few seconds, then push a swirl of air towards a pile of dead leaves.
They instantly start to lift from the ground, twisting around and around in a little whirlwind.
“Think I could twist someone’s head around like that? Easy way to break a neck.”
“Vicious,” Tally grins, leaning in and kissing my temple. “I like it.”
I lean into his chest, watching the little leaves scatter back into the frozen mud as I let go of the magic. This feels so good, so right.
So fucking peaceful.
I actually don’t think I’ve ever experienced a moment like this, where I felt truly at peace.
The world is still, letting us breathe for a minute.
Psych.
Gareth's cell phone in Tally’s pocket starts to ring. He pulls it out. “It’s a blocked number.”
We meet eyes. “Think it’s safe to answer?”
“Got to risk it. It could be the Unbound.” Tally hits the green button. “Yes?”
I can’t hear anything from the other end. “One second,” Tally says, then puts the phone on the table, pressing the speakerphone option. “You’re on speaker, Rory is here,” he says.
“Rory? Can you hear me?”
The voice on the other end is stern. My brother.
“Hey, Cosmo.”
His voice snaps at me through the tiny speaker. “What the fuck, Rory? Have you lost your mind? Breaking out of Quo? Killing guards? Civilians? What the fuck is going on?”
What the fuck? I look at Tally, my mouth falling open. He takes over the conversation for me.
“This is Taliesin. First off, how about you fucking ask about your sister’s welfare before jumping to any conclusions?” he growls. “Secondly, the only people killed were rapists, murderers or traffickers. If you’ve got a problem with that, then you’re a total fucking disappointment.”
Not going to lie, Tally ripping Cosmo a new one is making me swoon. No one ever talks to Cosmo Drakeward that way.
“He’s right. Stop being a dick just because you’ve been worried.
” A girl’s voice sounds through the phone.
“Hey, Rory? This is Theo. Are you safe? How can we help?
" I look at Tally and see a strange expression on his face.
Oh yeah—Theo is the half-sister he just learned about.
That must be a head-fuck. “Rory?” Theo asks again.
"We saw Gareth had been calling, but we just came back from Shanghai.”
China?
“Sorry, yeah, I’m OK, but we need help desperately.” I go on to fill her in about the warden, his canaries, and Sky being handed over to the Grieves. I follow that up with everything we’ve encountered since our escape.
“So, the Grieves’ private island needs raiding,” I tell Theo.
“Though we set the mansion on fire, so that will make things easier. And The Carnivàle may be at the bottom of the ocean, not sure. But Menage Manor?” My voice cracks slightly.
“That’s the priority. So many people need help.
Not just trafficked kids, but men and women who have been turned into slaves. ”
“The Unbound is headed that way too,” Tally adds. “So you’d better make sure they don’t get fucked by your soldiers. The resistance has done nothing but try and help.”
There’s a lot of murmuring, and maybe bickering going on at Theo’s end.
“This is Alexis Feniks,” an accented voice says after a couple of minutes. “I’ll hand pick a team for Menage Manor, with instructions to not interfere with the Unbound.”
“Good,” Tally grunts.
“And as for the rest, your information is just what we needed. Now we are on the World Magic Organization board as peace-ambassadors, it should give us the power to get Quo investigated. How widespread is the corruption?”
I get Tally to take over, and he explains the Quo Reformare abuses of power from the top down.
“Girls having to suck the warden’s cock to prevent getting worse treatment in the yard?
Kids as young as sixteen getting sentenced to years for just trying to eat?
Fuck that. You say you’re on the WMO now—so get the whole damn place shut down. ”
The line goes dead quiet for a very long beat.
It’s Cosmo who breaks the silence to speak again. The aggressive bark is replaced by the slightly defeated tone. “Sorry, Rory. Fuck. I just…I’ve been worried, and the lack of information has been killing me. We’re on it now, you can relax. We’ll take care of everything.”
That makes an almost hysterical laugh well up from my belly.
“We can relax now? Because big-brother is going to save the day? Fuck off, Cosmo. You can sit in your ivory tower and order troops around, but I’m out in the wilderness with two…
” I think of London, “...no, three victims of that fucking trafficking ring. The kids are traumatized, we have a sack of potatoes and some instant coffee to keep us going, and guards sweeping all of Ashgrave trying to find us.”
It’s great that Cosmo is now aware of everything, but I doubt he has the slightest inkling of what our situation actually means. Like, we only have half a roll of toilet paper.
And we forgot to bring the charger for this phone.
“Listen, Rory,” Theo cuts in, her voice firm.
“It’s not going to be quick and easy to round everyone up.
You need to keep yourself, and those around you safe.
” Her voice lowers slightly as she talks to someone else.
“Can we find them a safehouse? How can we help?” There is more muffled conversation.
Alexis Feniks comes back on the line. “Do not give us your precise location, we can’t be sure this line is secure. But we will arrange a drop of supplies to keep you going. And an encrypted satellite phone. But where should we…” his voice trails away.
“Are you close to…my mother’s home?” Theo butts in to ask.
Mother?
Right. Opal. That’s clever. If anyone is listening, they’ll have no idea who Theo is talking about.
“Yeah, fifteen miles out,” Taliesin replies.
“OK. To the south?”
“West.”
“One second.” More muttering.
I frown at Tally. “How are we supposed to tell them where to drop the supplies if we can’t give them a location?”
He furrows his brow, and I can see his mind wrangling the problem.
“Rory?” Cosmo.
“Yeah.”
“Remember you had that doll that father threw on the fire as a punishment?”
“Of course, like I’d ever forget that,” I huff.
“There is a place with the same name as your doll to the west of Theo’s mom’s place.”
My mind whirrs. My doll was called Abby.
An Abbey.
“OK, I get it.”
“I’ll send someone to have supplies there by nightfall.”
Some of the tension leaves my body. “Make sure you add fucking TP to the supplies,” I tell him, then think for a second. “And clothes for a twelve year old boy, fourteen year old girl, me and three large men.”
“Three large men? What the fuck, Rory?”
Twat.
Just to mess with him I add, “and a jumbo box of condoms.”