Fated: An Alex Verus Novel (13 page)

But despite all he’d done for me, Helikaon and I never became master and apprentice, and now I remembered why. There was a coldness to him, a distance, which I was repulsed by and yet envied him for. I knew that the way Helikaon shut out others gave him a clarity of vision I couldn’t match, but I still couldn’t bring myself to share it. I’d fled to my shop in Camden, stayed away from other mages, but I hadn’t stayed detached. I’d made friends: Arachne, Starbreeze, Luna. Did that make me a worse diviner than him, or had I gained something as well?

By the time I made it back to Hampstead Heath, the sun was a red glow in the western sky. I leant against the tree, thinking, looking at the branches above me. Their tips were glowing red in the sunset, the contrast vivid against the blue sky. The earth was still warm from the day’s sunlight, the Heath gradually becoming quieter as more and more people turned their footsteps towards home.

For the first time I seriously considered taking Helikaon’s
advice. What if I did as he said and walked away? I’d be safe again, just as I had been since I escaped from Richard’s mansion …

Did you?

The thought startled me. I came to a stop, wondering where that had come from. I
was
safe, always had been, since then. I’d kept away from other mages, kept to myself. I wasn’t in danger any more. If I left I could stay that way.

But even as I imagined leaving, I realised I wasn’t going to do it. When I’d been in greatest need, Lyle and everyone else from the Council had abandoned me. If I ran now, I’d be doing the same thing to Luna that they’d done to me. I shook off my doubts and reached up to open the tree.

It’s always risky introducing two people who’ve never met. You can never be quite sure how they’ll get on, especially when one’s human and the other looks like the star of a high-budget horror movie. So I was pretty nervous as I returned to Arachne’s chamber. I couldn’t help thinking of all the things that could have gone wrong: Luna panicking and running off alone, Arachne losing her temper with Luna and kicking her out. So far Luna had been bearing up well, but it was a lot to absorb in a very short time. What if being left alone with Arachne had been one shock too many?

Lost in thought, I didn’t recognise the sound I was hearing at first. When I did, I slowed, puzzled, then turned the last corner and walked in.

Luna was laughing, though her voice was distant. I couldn’t see her, but from the sound she was in one of the small side chambers to the far left of the room. Arachne was in the centre, working at a table. ‘There, you see?’
Arachne said. She was working on a dress in white and green, altering something in its design. She worked with all four front legs at once, needles and scissors moving so fast I couldn’t follow what she was doing. ‘Now, I think your instincts were right the first time. Pale colours look much better on you. I’ve taken out the green, so why don’t you give it another try?’

‘Okay!’ Luna said from across the room. ‘I really like the pink one as well though.’

‘It does set off your skin … I’ll keep it out just in case. Oh, hello, Alex.’

‘Hey.’ There was a pile of dresses on the sofa nearest to the changing rooms. ‘Been busy?’

‘Hi, Alex!’ Luna called from behind the curtain. Her voice was muffled, as though she was pulling something over her head. ‘Have you seen these clothes? They’re amazing!’

I grinned at Arachne. ‘Arachnophobia’s no match for shopping, huh?’

‘Don’t be graceless,’ Arachne said, and glided across the room to pass the dress over the top of the curtain. Luna’s bare arms reached over to take it. ‘Here you go, dear. Have a look at both while I see to Alex.’ Arachne drew the curtain back from another side chamber. ‘Now, Alex, before you put these on, I want you to promise you’ll take
care
of them.’

‘Sure.’

‘I mean it. You hang them up properly, have them washed in that funny way, what’s it called—?’

‘Dry-cleaned.’

‘—and don’t get them slashed or dissolved or chewed up or burned.’

‘It hasn’t happened
that
many times.’

‘Oh really? What about the first set I made for you?’

‘That was
ten years ago
! Would you have even noticed if it had been me that didn’t come back instead of the clothes?’

‘It was a full wardrobe. Some of my best work, too. With a little work they’d still fit …’

‘Look, you know what happened there. I couldn’t exactly have gone and asked for them back.’

‘And the outfit I made you for Unicorn’s Run. Have you any idea how hard it is to get blood out of silk? Then there were the ceremonial robes for the investment ceremony. You said to make it fire-resistant, and I did. I even told you exactly what temperature it would tolerate. And then—’

‘I didn’t say fire-
resistant
, I said fire
proof
. Besides, that thing with the inferno elemental was
not
my fault.’

‘What are you two talking about?’ Luna called from behind the curtain.

‘Nothing,’ Arachne and I said at exactly the same moment, then looked at each other.

‘I think it’d be a good idea if she went with you to the ball,’ Arachne said.

I blinked. I’d been trying to decide the same thing but … ‘A mage’s ball isn’t exactly the safest place for a newbie.’

‘She has to learn sometime. Besides, Alex, I think you should have a talk with the girl. You aren’t doing her any favours by sheltering her.’

Before I could ask Arachne what she meant she’d scuttled away into her private chambers. I shrugged, then went into the changing room and took a look at the outfit laid out on the table. I probably should have asked for something specific instead of leaving it all up to Arachne. Oh well.

‘What was that about?’ Luna asked curiously, her voice muffled from the wall and the curtains between us.

I started to undress. ‘Arachne gets upset about the state I leave my clothes in.’

‘It doesn’t happen often, does it?’

‘No.’ I hesitated, mentally counting. ‘Not really.’ I counted again. ‘Okay, maybe. But I only get clothes from her when I’m going to meet a lot of other mages.’

‘You mean like now?’

‘Yeah, like—’

I stopped and turned my attention to my new outfit. Laid out on the table it looked like a dinner jacket, although there was something a little different about it. I picked up the shirt.

‘Alex?’

‘Uh-huh?’

‘Is it okay if I come to the ball with you? I won’t get in your way.’

The shirt was causing me problems. I didn’t answer straightaway, and Luna took my silence as a sign that I needed more persuading. ‘I mean, if those people are going to be looking for me, a crowded ball would be a good place to be, right? It’d be harder for them to try anything with lots of other mages around. And some of the people might have information. I could help you find things out.’

I finished with the trousers and held up the tie, running it through my fingers. ‘Arachne told you to say that, didn’t she?’

Luna went quiet. I shook my head and started putting the tie on. ‘She’s really taken a shine to you.’

‘So, um—’

‘You can come.’

‘Really?’ I could hear the excitement in Luna’s voice. ‘Great!’

I shook my head, but I didn’t smile. What I really wanted to ask was why she was so excited to be going. Luna wasn’t stupid; she had to realise that a gathering of mages would make for a dangerous night out. But it wasn’t the right time to ask.

A faint scuttling sound alerted me that Arachne was back. ‘All ready?’ she called, and brushed the curtain aside to come in. Arachne’s always been a little hazy on human ideas of privacy. She looked me up and down approvingly. ‘Good.’

I turned to take a look at myself in the mirror. Putting it on, the outfit had looked like a dinner jacket. Wearing it, it still looked like a dinner jacket, but it was … different, somehow. The figure looking back at me looked smart, elegant. It was hard to put your finger on it, but if I’d seen a picture of myself I might not have recognised who it was.

‘Well?’

I took a last look, then nodded. ‘I like it.’

‘Well, at least you have some taste.’ Arachne handed me a white ribbon. ‘Tie this on the lapel.’

I looked at the thing curiously. It was more than just an accessory; I could feel magic radiating from it, with the subtle weave of Arachne’s signature, but it seemed passive, rather than active. ‘What does it do?’

‘Oh, I think you should be able to work that out.’ She moved round to where Luna was changing, and I heard her asking Luna which one she liked best.

I walked out into the central chamber, studying the ribbon with a frown, searching through futures. There was something
about the weave that I recognised, something that made me think of chance magic, inverted. But it wasn’t a spell I’d ever seen, unless … My eyes widened suddenly.
Oh …

‘All ready?’ Arachne’s voice called. ‘Come on, Alex, are you watching?’ I looked up in surprise just as a girl stepped out from behind the curtain.

It was Luna, but for a moment I didn’t recognise her. She was wearing a dress of white and green that left her arms and shoulders bare, spiralling down in layers to cover her feet. The cloth shimmered slightly as she moved, the pale green and the snow-white reflecting the light around her. A gauzy shawl was wrapped around her arms, and she’d tied her hair up with a pair of white ribbons, leaving her neck bare.

‘What do you think?’ Luna asked. She sounded a little nervous, but she was smiling.

I stared at her for a few seconds before answering. ‘Not bad.’

Arachne snorted. ‘Don’t listen to him, dear. You look perfect. A few more touches and you’ll be all ready to go.’

The sun had set by the time we finally said goodbye, and as we walked out of Arachne’s lair I could see the first stars shining in the sky above. The air had cooled, and around us, Hampstead Heath was quiet. ‘Had a good time?’ I said as we walked out into the gully.

‘I had a great time.’ Luna was smiling; you would never have thought that only a few hours ago she’d been scared of being left with Arachne. ‘Is she named after the weaver? The one from the Greek myth?’

‘If I had to guess, I’d say it was the myth that was named after her.’

Luna looked at me for a second before her eyes went wide as she got it. ‘But that was – how long ago?’

‘Two, three thousand years?’ I shrugged. ‘I’ve never asked.’

The Heath was fast emptying of people, and here in the densest part, it was all but deserted. As the light faded from the evening sky we walked to a ridge and into a grove of trees. I took the glass rod and recited the incantation. ‘What are you doing?’ Luna asked curiously.

‘Calling us a ride.’ I grinned. ‘An air elemental called Starbreeze. Be nice to her.’

Starbreeze must have been close; I’d hardly finished speaking before she sprang up in front of me in an invisible rush of wind. ‘Hi, Alex!’

Luna jumped as the voice came out of mid-air, and Starbreeze pointed at her. ‘Ooh! Who’s that?’

‘This is Luna,’ I said. ‘Could you go visible for a second?’

‘Okay!’ Luna jumped again as, to her eyes, Starbreeze seemed to materialise out of thin air right in front of her. Today Starbreeze had decided to look like a woman in her thirties, with long hair and clothes woven of mist. She floated closer and stared at Luna in interest, studying her clothes. ‘Pretty.’

‘Um, pleased to meet you,’ Luna said, recovering. She stepped back and Starbreeze floated closer, then whirled in a circle around her, faster than Luna could turn.

‘Starbreeze, we need to go to the tower at Canary Wharf,’ I said. ‘Can you take us there?’

Starbreeze stopped whirling and brightened. ‘Oh, the ball! I want to go there!’ She vanished in a puff of wind, leaving us alone in the grove. ‘Starbreeze!’ I yelled after her. ‘
Starbreeze!
’

Starbreeze reappeared in the blink of an eye, visible again. ‘Hi, Alex! Ooh!’ She pointed at Luna. ‘Who’s that?’

I sighed. ‘Could you take us to Canary Wharf?
Us
.’

‘Okay!’ Starbreeze swept forward over us, and I felt my body start to transform. Then suddenly it stopped, and I was standing on the grass again.

I looked around in surprise; that had never happened before. Starbreeze had zipped away, and was floating at a safe distance, pointing at Luna. She looked upset. ‘Don’t want to take her.’

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.

‘
She’s
wrong.’ Starbreeze shivered slightly. ‘Hurts.’

Luna sighed. She’d been keyed up, excited, but now the animation faded from her body. ‘It’s me. I know.’

‘It’s all right.’

Luna shook her head. ‘It’s okay, I should have known.’ She gave me a half-smile. ‘You go ahead. I’ll meet you there.’

‘Oh, I think we can do better than that.’ I held out my arm. ‘Take my hand.’

Luna looked down, then up at me. ‘Um, what are you doing?’

‘Arachne’s very old and very wise,’ I said. ‘Your curse can’t hurt her. And right now it can’t hurt me either.’ I took the ribbon hanging from my lapel, held it up so she could see. ‘As long as this is still white, I’m safe. So,’ I smiled, ‘ready to go?’