the—Finn get OFF of me! It’s just Lucida!” I cried, wriggling fruitlessly while he processed this information for himself. Then, with one fluid motion he was on his feet, and I was left to mutter mutinously and massage my upper arms, which he had clamped in a vice-like hold in his haste to fling me to the ground.
“Sorry it took me so long to get away, my lovelies,” Lucida said, closing the door shut behind her, though not before scanning the corridor carefully to be sure she hadn’t been followed. “Fairhaven is in a right state, and I had quite a few arses to kiss and tasks to complete before I could get away.” She didn’t even break her stride, but proceeded straight across the room to the window leading to the fire escape. She jerked the curtain back and glared intently into the street below for a solid minute. Then she took out a cell phone, pressed a few buttons, flipped it over, pulled out the battery and the memory card, and flung it out the window. We heard it shatter in the dumpster below with a hollow clang.
“You seen anyone about?” she asked Finn, eyes still trained on the street.
“No,” Finn said. “No loiterers, and no repeat walk-bys except for the typical commuters. You got the descriptions of the men I sent with the photos?”
“Yes. They’d be hard to miss, but then again, I wouldn’t expect them to be back. They’d have to be thick to send the same men they’d sent before, and I know they aren’t thick. Marion, on the other hand…” She rolled her eyes.
“What about her?” I asked.
“Well, she’s just part of it, really. Fairhaven is a right mess, and I’m not just talking about the fire damage. The whole infrastructure has gone tits up. The Council is fighting like mad over whether to reinstate Finvarra, and they can’t agree what to do about you lot. Some of them think it’s best to just let you disappear; out of sight, out of mind. Others want to track you down so they can keep you under their watchful eye, locked up tight in the dungeon. And then there’s a small but pretty vocal minority who want to…” She drew a theatrical finger across her throat with a horrible squelching noise. “They think the only way to avoid the prophecy is to make sure you aren’t alive to fulfill it. Logical, sure, but just a bit controversial. Whatever else we may get up to, murder is not one of our usual pursuits.”
She paused in her explanation, apparently just to enjoy the horrified looks on our faces at the news that Council members wanted to murder us.
“That’s not really a shock, is it? Surely we all realize that things are deadly serious at this point,” she said, smirking.
I swallowed. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s just… hearing it out loud like that…”
“Well, no use dancing around the facts, love,” Lucida said. She took one last peek through the curtains, and then walked over to the kitchen, where she perched on the counter and helped herself to a box of chocolate biscuits. “Anyway, Marion is one of that minority, of course, but that’s not the real problem. She’s always had it out for you two. No, the real problem is her attitude toward the Necromancers.”
“You mean the fact that she refuses to believe that they’re back or that they pose any kind of real threat to the Durupinen?” I asked.
“Right in one,” Lucida said. “Fairhaven has never been so vulnerable, from the inside and the outside, and there’s a good chance the Necromancers are going to look for you there. If they come across the place in its current state of disarray, they may try to attack, regardless of whether you’re there, just to take advantage of the opportunity. Everyone needs to be on their guard. I needed to find a way to warn the Council about the Necromancers without them realizing that I’m helping you hide. It wasn’t easy, but I laid a fake trail in one of the locations we Trackers have been searching for you.”
“How did you do that?” Hannah
“Sorry it took me so long to get away, my lovelies,” Lucida said, closing the door shut behind her, though not before scanning the corridor carefully to be sure she hadn’t been followed. “Fairhaven is in a right state, and I had quite a few arses to kiss and tasks to complete before I could get away.” She didn’t even break her stride, but proceeded straight across the room to the window leading to the fire escape. She jerked the curtain back and glared intently into the street below for a solid minute. Then she took out a cell phone, pressed a few buttons, flipped it over, pulled out the battery and the memory card, and flung it out the window. We heard it shatter in the dumpster below with a hollow clang.
“You seen anyone about?” she asked Finn, eyes still trained on the street.
“No,” Finn said. “No loiterers, and no repeat walk-bys except for the typical commuters. You got the descriptions of the men I sent with the photos?”
“Yes. They’d be hard to miss, but then again, I wouldn’t expect them to be back. They’d have to be thick to send the same men they’d sent before, and I know they aren’t thick. Marion, on the other hand…” She rolled her eyes.
“What about her?” I asked.
“Well, she’s just part of it, really. Fairhaven is a right mess, and I’m not just talking about the fire damage. The whole infrastructure has gone tits up. The Council is fighting like mad over whether to reinstate Finvarra, and they can’t agree what to do about you lot. Some of them think it’s best to just let you disappear; out of sight, out of mind. Others want to track you down so they can keep you under their watchful eye, locked up tight in the dungeon. And then there’s a small but pretty vocal minority who want to…” She drew a theatrical finger across her throat with a horrible squelching noise. “They think the only way to avoid the prophecy is to make sure you aren’t alive to fulfill it. Logical, sure, but just a bit controversial. Whatever else we may get up to, murder is not one of our usual pursuits.”
She paused in her explanation, apparently just to enjoy the horrified looks on our faces at the news that Council members wanted to murder us.
“That’s not really a shock, is it? Surely we all realize that things are deadly serious at this point,” she said, smirking.
I swallowed. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s just… hearing it out loud like that…”
“Well, no use dancing around the facts, love,” Lucida said. She took one last peek through the curtains, and then walked over to the kitchen, where she perched on the counter and helped herself to a box of chocolate biscuits. “Anyway, Marion is one of that minority, of course, but that’s not the real problem. She’s always had it out for you two. No, the real problem is her attitude toward the Necromancers.”
“You mean the fact that she refuses to believe that they’re back or that they pose any kind of real threat to the Durupinen?” I asked.
“Right in one,” Lucida said. “Fairhaven has never been so vulnerable, from the inside and the outside, and there’s a good chance the Necromancers are going to look for you there. If they come across the place in its current state of disarray, they may try to attack, regardless of whether you’re there, just to take advantage of the opportunity. Everyone needs to be on their guard. I needed to find a way to warn the Council about the Necromancers without them realizing that I’m helping you hide. It wasn’t easy, but I laid a fake trail in one of the locations we Trackers have been searching for you.”
“How did you do that?” Hannah
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