James Potter And The Morrigan Web (27 page)

The six students approached the railing over which Rose’s cardigan had blown.

Ralph frowned thoughtfully. “Can’t the rest of us just return and then send somebody back with two green rings?”

“They don’t work that way,” Zane shook his head. “They’re made in pairs. The green rings only work with their golden counterparts. Separated, they’re just jewellery.”

James squinted over the ledge, seeking any sign of Rose’s lost cardigan. “At least no one else can use her green ring if they find her sweater, right?”

“Right,” Zane agreed. “But if we don’t find it, Rose is going to have to walk home. And it’s a hell of a long way to the Aleron on foot.”

“This is all
her
fault,” James said suddenly, turning and glaring at Nastasia. “She took off before we all agreed to come. She’ll probably pop straight back without another thought.”

A sincerely hurt look crossed Nastasia’s face. James was so surprised to see it that he felt rather bad about blaming her. The look, however, was gone almost as soon as it had appeared.

“I didn’t make anyone come along,” she proclaimed loftily. “I’m the adventurous type. I can’t help it.”

Ralph turned to Rose with a pained expression. “Why couldn’t you just keep your ring in your pocket like everyone else?”

“That cardigan contained the only pockets I have!” she hissed. “You try running around in a skirt and see where you stick things!”

“Yeah!” Zane said with sudden enthusiasm.

“This is all very entertaining,” Scorpius interjected, “but the clock is ticking and we aren’t any closer to finding Rose’s ring. Might I suggest we head down and form a search party?”

James sighed. “Right. There’s no point in bickering. I’ll stay with Rose to help her find her ring. The rest of you can head back if you want.”

“No way,” Ralph said immediately. “We stick together. Rose was right. We’re all in this together.”

“I’m not going anywhere without Rosie,” Zane agreed. “This was my idea, after all.”

Scorpius nodded curtly, and then turned to Nastasia.

“Oh, what fun would it be if I left now?” she announced in a suddenly sulky voice. James was secretly gratified to see that she was capable of being disgruntled.

“Fine,” Scorpius said, turning toward the mezzanine and the elevators beyond. “Down we go.”

Zane shook his head. “The elevators are no good. The street level is all locked up inside and out. The magical security perimeter was set up by Professor Jackson himself. There’s no way out through the building.”

“So what are we going to do?” Ralph shrugged helplessly. “Jump?”

“No,” James said, turning toward the further roofline and pointing. “We fly!”

Rose approached the few dark broomsticks that remained in the rooftop rack. “But that would be like stealing. Wouldn’t it?”

“Nooo,” Zane assured her heartily. “No, it’s called ‘commandeering.’ This is an emergency after all. We can return them when we’re done.”

Rose glanced aside at him suspiciously. “You
like
the idea of flying those brooms over the ledge, don’t you?”

“Don’t be silly,” Zane replied unconvincingly. “Tough times call for tough measures and all that. It’s a dirty job. Damn the torpedoes. Ooo! This one’s an Aventidore! Got its own slipstream generator and everything!”

“Zane!” Rose scolded. “This is very serious!”

“Right,” Zane agreed, not taking his eyes from the broom. “Very serious. Totally. But still. This one’s mine.”

James peered closely at the broom, noticing again the impish shape perched on the end. “What’s that thing, anyway?”

Zane shrugged. “I don’t know. Hood ornament, maybe?” He reached for it, grabbing the sleek black broom from its rack just as Scorpius called out a sudden warning. His words were drowned out by an ear-splitting shriek from the broom itself.

“THIEF!” the broom blared in a shrill falsetto voice. “THIEF! UNATHORIZED POSSESSION! WHOOP! WHOOP! CALL POLICE! NOTIFY OWNER! CONTACT INSURANCE AGENCY! WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!”

“That’s a personal alarm gargoyle!” Scorpius shouted over the wailing broom. He pointed at the impish shape perched on the end, which had cupped its tiny hands to the sides of its wide mouth. “What are you, a total bumpkin?”

“Ah,” Zane nodded, trying to sound casual while shouting over the blaring imp. “Nice feature! There’s got to be a way to shut it off somehow.”

He began to poke and prod at the imp, as if looking for a button. The imp slapped at his hand, then began to giggle angrily.

“Knock it off!” it demanded. “This is serious! I’m being stolen! THIEF! NOTIFY POLICE! WHOOP! WHEEOOO!”

“We’re not thieves!” Rose cried, leaning close to the imp with her hands over her ears. “And your owner isn’t anywhere nearby! The whole city’s been evacuated! There’s no one here! No police, no anybody!”

The imp glared at her suspiciously. “LIKELY STORY, LADY!” it blared, its shrill voice echoing around the rooftop. “THAT’S JUST WHAT YOU’D LIKE ME TO BELIEVE, ISN’T IT?”

“We could prove it,” Nastasia conceded thoughtfully. “Just chuck it off the roof, Zane, and let it see for itself.”

“Now let’s not be hasty!” The imp admonished, raising both of its hands, palms out. “I’m just doin’ a job here, Pinkie! No need to damage the merchandise!”

“Look,” Scorpius said, addressing the imp. “We aren’t stealing you. We’re just borrowing you for a bit of an emergency. My father has one of you installed on his own broom, and I know for a fact that you’re especially hexed to assist in any and all emergencies. Then again,” he stood back and cocked his head thoughtfully. “Perhaps that’s just the Genie Five Hundred series.”

“The
Genie Five Hundred series
!?” the imp scoffed, crossing its arms haughtily. “That’s strictly aftermarket dwarf charm stuff! Not even real imp!
I’m
a two hundred Drummel factory option. Just try me, bucko.”

“I don’t know,” Zane said, concealing a half smile. “I bet you can’t even get us down from this roof.”

The imp rolled its bulbous yellow eyes. “Nice reverse psychology, Sigmund. WHOOP! WHOOP! I’M BEING STOLEN BY AN IDIOT WITH NO IMAGINATION!”

“Hold up!” Ralph called out, interrupting the imp as it drew another deep breath. “This really is an emergency. We’re stuck here unless we can all get down from this roof and find our only way back. You’re the only one that can help us, but you can’t fly us all down anyway. Can you turn off the alarm gargoyles on these other couple of brooms as well?”

The imp still had its chest inflated, prepared to continue whooping. In a strained voice, it asked, “You sure this is a real emergency?”

“Please,” Rose said seriously. “I’m stranded here if I can’t get down and find what I’ve lost. We’ll bring you right back here when we’re done.”

“If we can,” Nastasia added reasonably. The imp glared at her, apparently remembering her threat to toss it over the side. Finally, it exhaled harshly and shook its head.

“Fine,” it agreed reluctantly. “But I’m hexed with a photographic memory and I am going to report each and every one of you if things get hinky. Hey! The rest of you! Command over-ride yellow: riders in need of assistance.”

The other two remaining brooms each emitted a sort of squawking bleat. The imps crouched on the handles stirred to life and eyed the students with a mixture of suspicion and eagerness. One of them was lithe and silvery blue with a tiny wedge-shaped head and glowing, pupil-less eyes. The other was very fat, pink, and adorned with a pair of fluffy white wings.

“Oooh,” the pink one said in a bubbly voice, “A real emergency! Shall I locate the nearest florist?”

“Cupid series,” the first imp muttered under its breath. “Great.”

“Yay!” the Cupid clapped its chubby hands. “An adventure!”

Zane held up the Aventidore. “Dibs on this one!” To Rose, he muttered, “Say shotgun.”

“Shotgun!” Rose proclaimed immediately, sidling up next to him.

James glared at her, not entirely sure what that meant but knowing it would probably result in him flying the Cupid broom. He glanced aside and saw Scorpius snatch the blue broom from the rack. Its silvery imp coiled lithely on the end.

“I’m with Scorpius,” Ralph said sheepishly, glancing back at the pink broom. “I don’t think that thing could hold me up anyway.”

Nastasia grinned and took her place next to James. “You want me to drive?” she asked sweetly, glancing up at him and batting her eyes.

James sighed and shook his head. He reached for the Cupid broom. Like the others, it was mostly black, although it bore neat pink pinstripes down both sides and had dried roses threaded into its tail.

“You two look simply adorable,” the Cupid insisted as James reluctantly mounted the broom and Nastasia threw her arms around his shoulders. “And just look!” it went on, pointing at Nastasia’s hair. “We match! How perfectly scrumptious!”

“Yeah,” Nastasia grinned, her voice very loud in James’ ear. “It’s scrumptious, isn’t it, James?”

James felt his face heat with a confused rush of embarrassment, fear, and a few other emotions he couldn’t immediately identify.

“Wind’s blowing that way,” Zane announced, pointing out over the length of the avenue below. “Let’s follow it and keep a sharp eye out. Rose’s sweater must have fallen down there in the street somewhere. Let’s get low enough to search for it. Got it, Impy?”

“Don’t push it,” the Aventidore imp growled in resignation.

James clutched his broom. “Let’s go! Everybody stay together.”

“I’ll look up starting times for any good shows at the Moxy Mage!” The Cupid cried in an inspired voice.

With that, the three brooms, each weighed down with two riders, kicked off from the roof and lofted out into the whickering wind over dizzying heights. Immediately, they angled down and began a slaloming descent into the shadows of the skyscrapers.

“You’re drifting right!” Nastasia barked in James’ ear, renewing her grip on his shoulders. “And you’re dropping too fast! Where’d you learn to fly?”

“Just shut it, I’m trying to concentrate,” James called tersely. “And do you have to hold on so hard? You’re going to squeeze my head off.”

“You fly better and maybe I’ll loosen up. Look out!”

James swerved to the left as a flagpole swept past, jutting from the side of a nearby skyscraper.

Nastasia nearly climbed onto his shoulders as he sped up. “There’s a whole row of them!” she squealed. “Not so close! What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for Rose’s cardigan, you big git! It might be hung up on anything! Get off me! I can hardly see!”

“Lover’s quarrel,” the Cupid chided with a cluck of its tongue. “I could arrange an appointment for his and hers pedicures? How romantic would that be? Answer: very!”

“Shut up!” both James and Nastasia commanded simultaneously.

The three brooms continued to drift downward, seesawing back and forth between canyons of glass and steel.

In the lead, Zane called back, “Anybody see anything?”

“We have to get lower still,” Scorpius announced, shaking his head in frustration. “It could have blown anywhere: under any of those abandoned cars, or on top of an awning, anything.”

“Blast it all,” Rose cursed to herself. “If only I could just perform an
Accio
spell!”

Ralph brightened. “That’s a great idea! Why don’t you do it?”

Rose glanced back at him as if he was a total idiot. “Because my wand is
also
in the pocket of my cardigan!”

“And none of us knows it well enough to summon it ourselves,” Scorpius sighed. “There’s nothing for it but to keep--”

“What’s that?” Nastasia interrupted, stabbing out an arm and pointing toward a nearby roof. James glanced to the right, following her gesture. The roof was sliding past, rising as they descended. Something was moving through the collection of old air conditioning units and snaking ducts. With a stumbling lunge, it leapt out into the sunlight.

“It’s a woman!” Rose cried, shaking Zane’s shoulders atop their broom. “What’s she doing here?”

It was indeed a woman. Her dirty blonde hair was stringy, whipped by the wind so that it formed a wild strew around her head and her haunted, bright eyes. James knew instinctively that she was a Muggle, and yet when she saw them-- six young people flying along on brooms three hundred feet over the avenue-- she did not so much as blink. She lurched toward them, her shoes slipping frantically on the tar-paper roof.

“Help,” she gasped hoarsely. There was movement behind her now. Dark shapes flitted through the rooftop vents, angling swiftly toward her. James barely had time to see them before his broom descended below the line of the roof, obscuring his view.

As James swept past, the woman glanced back at her pursuers. She moaned in terror, and then, to James’ complete shock, she leapt.

“No!” Rose cried.

But the woman was not jumping to her death. She had aimed for James’ broom. Flailing desperately, she tackled both him and Nastasia, one arm around each of their necks, clinging desperately. The broom slewed sickeningly to the left, nearly turning over completely, and began to drop in a steep spiral.

“Too heavy!” the Cupid wailed. “Exceeding weight limit by forty percent! No love triangles!”

“Grab her!” James shouted, struggling to regain control of the broom as its descent steepened.

“Are you crazy?!” Nastasia shrieked into the rushing wind. “We can’t hold her up!”

“Well we can’t throw her off!”

“We’ll crash if we don’t!” Nastasia, James realized, was trying to pry the woman’s arm from around her neck. The woman moaned, seemingly too weak to hold on much longer anyway.

“Nastasia!” James cried. “Stop! Hold onto her! We’ll make it!”

A shape swooped past them, buffeting them with its passage. James glanced hectically aside and saw Zane struggling to match their descent. Behind him, Rose hung on for dear life, her lips pressed into a thin line of terror.

Zane pointed downward and hollered something.

“What!?” James cried, struggling futilely to hold the broomstick upright.

Zane leaned aside and called out again, “Aim for the awnings!”

James boggled at him, and then turned his attention to the avenue that was roaring up beneath him. A broad green awning spanned the building on his left side. James nodded understanding and lunged hard left, dragging the failing broom with him.