The Curse of the Wolf Girl (61 page)

Malveria, only moments before an equally confident figure, wilted as the princess approached.

“Malveria,” drawled the princess, sounding to Thrix’s ears unnecessarily exotic. “How lovely to see you.”

Kabachetka glanced briefly in the direction of her ankles. Malveria’s eyes followed. She bit her lip. The Abukenti shoes were undeniably fabulous.

The princess smiled, and, deciding that no more words were necessary, moved serenely on, followed by several admires and a crowd of photographers.

“How did she manage to get hold of the shoes?” Malveria moaned.

Thrix glanced at her own high heels. She’d loved them when she put them on a few hours ago, but now they looked dull and clumsy. “I hate these shoes,” she muttered.

“Mine are far worse,” sighed Malveria, eyeing her own stilettos with loathing. “What was I thinking when I selected them?”

Thrix and Malveria slouched to the side of the room, dispirited by the appearance of Princess Kabachetka in her priceless Abukenti shoes. They took a seat on one of the antique couches placed there by Markus and his interior decorators.

“How terrible this is,” sighed Malveria. “When Beau DeMortalis learns of it, he will be very cutting, I know it.” A stray flame flickered from her index finger.

“Control your flames, Malveria! This is a human event, remember. Apart from a few werewolves.”

Thrix waved to a waiter, who ignored her. She twitched her lips, muttering a discreet spell, and the waiter felt a violent tug on his sleeve, propelling him towards her. He arrived in confusion, not quite knowing how he’d gotten here. Thrix took two glasses of champagne from the tray and, after a moment’s reflection, two more. She kept two for herself and handed the others to Malveria. “We’ll just have to drink our way through the evening.”

Malveria nodded and started on the champagne with the air of a defeated woman.

At that moment, Captain Easterly arrived, handsome in his formal attire.

“I brought you some champagne. I see you have some already…two glasses each…should I get rid of this?”

“Just hand it over,” said Thrix, sharply, and she grabbed for the glass. Malveria did likewise.

Easterly looked baffled. “Five minutes ago you were both cheerful. What happened?”

Thrix explained about the shoes. Easterly was sympathetic, which was fortunate. An unsympathetic response would have caused the enchantress to end the relationship there and then.

“Don’t worry,” said Easterly, comfortingly. “So she got the shoes first. She doesn’t look that good in them.”

“She will undoubtedly be photographed as a Fashionable Party Person for
Vogue
,” said Malveria, who was particularly crushed by the thought.

Her companion Iskiline arrived from the bar in the next room, looking flustered. She was unused to her surroundings and had found it difficult placing her order. She looked in some confusion at Malveria and Thrix, each of whom held three glasses of champagne.

“Should I take these back?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Malveria, sharply, and reached for the glass.

The advisory council of the Hiyasta were pleased to learn that Commander Agripath had moved additional troops to the outskirts of the Great Volcano. It was slightly irregular, as they had received no formal order from the Fire Queen, but Malveria had failed to take measures to replace the defenses left short by the withdrawal of Duchess Gargamond’s regiment. It was slightly galling for the council to receive this information from Distikka. The queen’s advisor seemed to be doing everything these days, but at least it was done.

“I don’t know what Queen Malveria was thinking of by allowing Gargamond to withdraw her troops,” complained the Minister for Lava. “The Great Volcano has been vulnerable in the past weeks; it’s high time the gaps were plugged.”

There was general agreement around the council table. The volcano had been left poorly defended.

Only First Minister Xakthan seemed to disapprove. “No troops should be moved in that area without express orders from the queen,” he pointed out. “It’s very irregular and possibly illegal.”

“The queen left me with full responsibility for the defense of the realm,” said Distikka.

* * *

First Minister Xakthan remained uncomfortable. He didn’t like it that troops were being moved while the queen was away, and he had a suspicion that there was more to the relationship between Distikka and the commander than they acknowledged. He returned to his office and sent for the head of his intelligence services.

The head of the intelligence services, by now on Distikka’s payroll, assured the first minister that there was nothing to be concerned about. Distikka’s relationship with the commander was strictly professional.

First Minister Xakthan was not completely reassured. He couldn’t say why, but many years in the world of Hiyasta politics had given him a nose for trouble. He discreetly arranged for Queen Malveria’s personal guard to be moved closer to the slopes of the volcano. They were a small force but completely loyal, and they were all experienced warriors.

Kalix bought a one-way ticket to Edinburgh. As the train left King’s Cross station, she was sitting on her own, and though it was crowded, no one took the seat next to her. Kalix looked too mad, dirty, and altogether strange for anyone to want to spend five hours next to her. Her eyes were both sunken and wild. Her beauty had faded under the weight of her anxiety. Her cheap, slightly ragged clothes, not so noticeable on the streets of London, stood out painfully in comparison to those of her fellow travelers. The guard who strolled up and down the aisle took a long look at her. He checked again on her several times, waiting to see if she did anything odd that might require him to take action, but Kalix just sat there, staring down at the small table in front of her, hardly moving, rarely blinking, lost in some world of her own. Occasionally her lips moved, and an expression of anger floated across her features. Other passengers stared at her, but Kalix was oblivious to them. She was focused entirely on confronting Dominil. The more she anticipated it, the more violent her rage became. Dominil had killed Gawain and then lied about it. Kalix was determined to kill her in revenge.

Blood trickled down the inside of her arm where Kalix had put a cut through the letter she’d inscribed there. Though the people around her couldn’t smell the blood the way a werewolf would have, they could sense that something was deeply wrong.

Halfway through the journey, the child in the facing seat abruptly started crying, unnerved by Kalix’s disturbing presence. The child’s mother shot a hostile glance at Kalix then took her child, her luggage, and herself off to another carriage, so that in the crowded train, Kalix now sat completely alone. People no longer stared at her but shrank from even acknowledging the presence of the crazed young girl who’d sat for hours, unmoving, grim-faced, dirty, occasionally muttering to herself under her breath. On one occasion, Kalix bared her teeth, and that was disturbing too. When she twisted her face in an expression of rage, people wondered if it was time to call the guard or perhaps leave the carriage altogether to get away from her unsettling presence.

Vex felt dissatisfied. More than dissatisfied, she felt agitated. She took a can of beer from the fridge, opened it, and sat down to watch an episode of
Doctor Who
. But even that didn’t soothe her mind, though she was a fan of the show. “Kalix shouldn’t have gone off to Edinburgh. Something bad will happen. And she’ll miss her exam.”

Vex wondered if she should be doing something. What that might be, she had no idea. Daniel and Moonglow weren’t around. They’d gone to the movies last night and still hadn’t returned. Vex sipped her beer and puzzled over what she might do. She couldn’t ask her aunt for help; Malveria was in Edinburgh. Besides, she’d forbidden Agrivex to go anywhere till she’d taken her exam, on pain of being thrown into the Great Volcano.

“I can’t follow Kalix to Edinburgh,” thought the young Fire Elemental. “I’ll miss my exam, and then I’ll be dragged back to the palace in disgrace.”

Vex looked round at her surroundings. The small living room, like the rest of the flat, was cheaply furnished and showing its age. But it was comfy too, and hospitable. It felt like home. Vex didn’t want to be dragged back to the palace. She liked living with Daniel and Moonglow and Kalix.

“But Kalix will probably be killed by her clan or a hunter or something.”

The program started again, and Vex managed not to think about anything till the next commercial break.

“Even if I did want to follow Kalix, I can’t,” she told herself. “I don’t know where Edinburgh is, and I couldn’t get there if I did. Kalix took every penny from the house, so I can’t get a train ticket. It’s too far for me to travel through space. Aunt Malvie’s right; I am the worst teleporter in the Hiyasta nation.”

Vex felt slightly depressed and wished she’d worked a bit harder on improving her traveling skills. She sank in the couch rather gloomily and felt hopeless in the face of adversity. It was a new feeling for her, and one she didn’t like. She picked up the control and flicked through the channels, hoping for a new episode of
Tokyo Top Pop Boom-Boom Girl
to divert her attention. There weren’t any new episodes, only repeats. However, as the theme music started to play, a strange feeling stirred her spirit.

“Tokyo Top Pop Boom-Boom Girl wouldn’t just give up like this,” she thought. “She’d do something heroic.”

Vex finished her beer and hurried upstairs to her room where she put on her favorite
Tokyo Top Pop Boom-Boom Girl
T-shirt, a trusty pair of boots, and her mittens.

“What else would I need for a journey?” she wondered. “I’ve never packed for a journey before.”

Vex filled up a carrier bag with some underwear, another pair of boots, and two more T-shirts. “That should do it. Now, where is Edinburgh?”

Vex hurried from her attic downstairs to Daniel’s room. She had a vague idea she’d seen Daniel looking at a map when he’d been about to drive home to his parents’ house. It was hard to find anything in Daniel’s room, it being almost as chaotic as Vex’s. Fortunately Daniel had left his road map of the British Isles on the table next to his computer. Vex tucked it in her bag, went back to the living room, and wrote a note.

“Kalix has gone to Edinburgh to kill Dominil. I’ve gone to Edinburgh to save Kalix. Vex”

After some consideration, she drew a gold star underneath, reasoning that it was a well-presented note. With that, she concentrated as hard as she could and dematerialized, off on her journey to Scotland.

Decembrius woke up feeling less depressed than he had for a long time. His desire for Kalix had been so strong it had been affecting his moods and behavior. In the first dim seconds of consciousness, he turned over in bed to put his arm round her, but as he came awake, he realized she’d gone. Decembrius was disappointed. He’d wanted to wake up and find Kalix beside him. He rose and walked naked into the small living room. The first thing he saw was his wallet lying open on the table. He checked it and found that it was empty. Kalix had stolen his money. Beside the empty wallet was his bottle of MacRinnalch whisky, which Kalix appeared to have finished. Decembrius stared at the empty wallet and bottle for a few moments then burst out laughing. “She sleeps with me, probably only to get information, then leaves in the middle of the night, robbing me in the process. You have to admire her for being single-minded.”

Decembrius laughed again and felt that he liked Kalix more than ever. There was no one else like her in the clan. No one so spirited or so beautiful. Would she have reached her home yet? Probably. Decembrius wanted to talk to her and wondered if he should phone. Kalix had never actually given him her phone number, but Decembrius had craftily taken a note of it when he’d visited to help her study.

He hesitated. If he phoned now, he might seem needy. Cloying, even. Suddenly, his head was filled with a vision of blood flowing down an old staircase. Decembrius slumped onto the couch, holding his head till the vision departed. Though he’d been having this sort of experience most of his life, it was always draining.

“What did that mean?” he wondered. “Blood flowing down an old staircase?”

The phone rang.

“Is Kalix there?” a girl asked.

“No, who’s this?”

“Moonglow. Who lives with Kalix. I’m worried.” Moonglow told Decembrius about Vex’s note.

“You just let her go off to Edinburgh? I thought you were supposed to be looking after her?”

“We weren’t here,” protested Moonglow, though she did feel guilty about letting Kalix leave. It had been a mistake to visit friends and stay over at their house. They shouldn’t have left Kalix on her own.

“Can you help?”

“I’ll try,” replied Decembrius, and he put the phone down.

Decembrius cursed. He should have realized that this was going to happen and taken care to prevent Kalix from leaving, but their lovemaking had sent him into a deep sleep. He grinned at the memory of their time together. “Kalix was keen enough, even if she didn’t want to admit it.” He stopped grinning. “Now she’s going to Scotland, and the clan will most probably kill her.”

He hurried to get ready. Decembrius was too vain to rush out of the house entirely unprepared and brushed his hair in front of a mirror and cleaned his teeth. He put on the radio, rejected the first pre-set station and the second, found the Sex Pistols on a third, and let it play while he dressed.

“‘Pretty Vacant,’” he mused. “Would that be me or Kalix?”

Inspecting himself in the mirror, he was satisfied with his appearance. There was a tiny smear of eyeliner at the corner of his eye. He could fix it on the way to Edinburgh. He threw a few clothes in a bag and then hurried out of the flat, ready to drive to London.