The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf (11 page)

“But you're a computer genius,” said Kalix. “Can't you do something with that?”

“There are a lot of computer geniuses. Plenty of them remain unsuccessful.”

“You're a good artist too. And you can translate Latin.”

“Once more, these are not immediately translatable into a viable career. It's a failure of mine that I don't seem able to decide what to do. And being a werewolf, job opportunities are limited. Possibly I haven't broken away from the clan's influence yet, which is another fault.”

Kalix was surprised to hear Dominil describe herself so negatively. In Kalix's experience, Dominil was the most competent werewolf in the clan, as well as the most intelligent.

“Helping Yum Yum Sugary Snacks helps fill in the time. And it occurred to me that somewhere in the middle of the computer work I'm doing for them, and the design work, and the music contacts, I might find myself a career I'd be able to tolerate.”

Kalix was on the point of asking Dominil if she needed a career. Most of the leading families of the MacRinnalchs were wealthy. Dominil's father Tupan was an important werewolf at Castle MacRinnalch, a brother of the old Thane. But she remembered hearing from the twins that Tupan was not generous with his money, so she kept silent.

A stewardess pushed a trolley up the aisle. Dominil bought two cups of tea and two miniature bottles of whisky.

“Should we be drinking?” said Kalix.

“Possibly not. But it can't do much harm. I'm really not looking forward to this any more than you.”

Dominil and Kalix drank their whisky straight off, then sipped their tea as the plane approached the airport at Inverness. Kalix risked sneaking a look at her journal, guarding it carefully so her companion wouldn't see. She'd made her first addition to werewolf improvement list, putting a small tick next to
get on better with people
, and another tick beside
stop being so anxious
.
Kalix had managed to go to the cinema and attend her party without panicking. She'd felt some anxiety, but it was definitely less than she once would have experienced. She felt it deserved a tick. She'd also managed to talk to people at the party and had been, for her, quite sociable. The only negative aspect had been her disagreement with Decembrius. That surely hadn't been her fault. She did have to get up early in the morning. If Decembrius got in a bad mood about that, she couldn't help it. All things considered, Kalix thought she'd made a good start on her werewolf improvement plan.

She glanced at another item on the list. Stop using laudanum. She was about to attempt that, much quicker than she'd anticipated when she first made the list. Kalix wasn't feeling very confident about it.

CHAPTER 16

After the party, Moonglow slept late. She would have slept later had Vex not crashed into her room shortly after midday and jumped on her bed.

“Hi, Moonglow, are you awake?”

“No,” grunted Moonglow.

Vex bounced around a few times. “Are you awake now? Do you want some tea?”

“All right, I'll have some tea.”

“I didn't bring any tea,” admitted Vex. “But I've got big news! I have a boyfriend!”

“I have a hangover.”

“Not as bad as Daniel's,” chortled Vex. “He threw a shoe at me!”

Moonglow sat up in bed. “You're not going to go away, are you?”

Vex grinned. “I have a boyfriend!”

“OK,” said Moonglow, through dry lips. “Tell me about it.”

“It's Pete. The guitarist from Yum Yum Sugary Snacks.”

Moonglow felt some stirrings of interest, despite her dry mouth and slight nausea. “How did this happen?”

“Well, we were talking and dancing and stuff and then we were drinking and then everyone else seemed to be falling asleep so we were drinking some more and then I asked him if he'd liked to see my collection of Hello Kitty T-shirts and then we just sort of ended up in my bed.” Vex grinned,
very broadly. Her hair was a chaotic mess of jagged blonde spikes, pointing in all directions. “So now he's my boyfriend!”

“You mean you slept together?”

Vex nodded and looked pleased. Moonglow did her best to look pleased too, though she was far from certain that a drunken encounter with a guitarist really counted as having a boyfriend.

“When he left this morning he said he'd call me.”

“That's nice,” said Moonglow.

Vex rose from Moonglow's bed, threw open the curtains and danced around the room.

“I really think it's time I had a boyfriend. And he likes everything I like! He's a big fan of
Tokyo Top Pop Boom Boom Girl
.” Vex paused and frowned. “Well, I think he is. My memory's a bit hazy.”

To Moonglow's distress, Vex sat on her bed again.

“He's really nice looking. And he plays guitar in my favorite band! I can't wait to see him play onstage again now that he's my boyfriend.”

“When's he going to call you?” asked Moonglow.

“He didn't say. Soon, probably. Any minute, I expect. I wonder if Daniel's feeling any better? I really want to tell him about my boyfriend!”

Vex hurried out of Moonglow's bedroom. Moonglow shook her head, then struggled to rise. She wrapped herself in her black dressing gown and made her way carefully downstairs. Beauty and Delicious were sleeping on the living room floor, on a bed made from cushions and spare duvets that Moonglow had made up for them. The twins had crawled into it only a few hours ago, very unsteadily. Now, having changed back to human while they slept, as the dawn arrived, they looked peaceful, with their pink and blue hair splayed out over their cushions and onto the carpet. The cat had settled down with them but woke as Moonglow crept by and followed her to the kitchen.

“You love sleeping with werewolves, don't you?” said Moonglow. She opened a tin of cat food and filled the cat's bowl before putting the kettle on. As she waited for it to boil, Moonglow reflected on their party. It had gone well, as far as she could remember. Kalix had seemed to enjoy herself, apart from the brief hostility between her and Decembrius. That had passed quickly, though Decembrius had spent the rest of the night sulking. So had Daniel. But Beauty, Delicious and Vex had created enough of a party atmosphere for anyone. As a celebration for Kalix's birthday, it had been a success.

There were some heavy, stumbling footsteps outside the kitchen.
Daniel appeared, wearing an ancient T-shirt and a crumpled pair of dark khaki shorts. His hair, which he'd grown longer in recent months, was plastered to his forehead.

“I'm going to kill Vex,” he mumbled.

“Maybe you should have tea first?” said Moonglow.

“OK. But then I'm really going to kill her.” Daniel sat on the kitchen floor, resting his back against a cabinet. “I feel terrible. Vex woke me up and started babbling about her boyfriend. I hate him already and I don't even know who he is.”

“It's Pete.”

“The guitarist? Isn't he meant to be in love with Dominil or something?”

Moonglow shrugged.

“I think I'm going to be sick,” said Daniel. “Is the tea ready?”

Moonglow poured boiling water from the kettle into the teapot, but by the time she'd hunted out two clean mugs, Daniel had left the kitchen in a hurry, looking unwell.

At least that wasn't too uncomfortable, thought Moonglow. She hadn't been looking forward to her first encounter with Daniel after rejecting his advances in the cinema. Perhaps it was fortunate that the encounter had occurred while Daniel was feeling so poorly.

But he won't have a hangover forever, Moonglow realized. It's still going to be awkward later.

Moonglow felt dissatisfied. Now she was going to feel uncomfortable in her own house. What had Daniel been thinking about, trying to kiss her unexpectedly like that? No wonder she'd pushed him off. It was lucky the film had been entertaining and occupied everyone's attention. Otherwise Moonglow and Daniel might have found themselves with a large audience for their uncomfortable love scene.

“No doubt everyone's heard about it by now.” Moonglow knew there was no chance of the incident being politely ignored. Vex would have inevitably learned all about it and told everyone.

“They're probably discussing it in Malveria's palace at this moment.” Moonglow sighed. She took her tea and headed swiftly upstairs to her room, hoping to avoid Vex. Moonglow didn't feel like enduring another long description from the young Fire Elemental about how good it was to have a boyfriend.

I bet he never calls her anyway, she thought, and then felt a little ashamed for thinking mean thoughts.

CHAPTER 17

Old Minerva MacRinnalch's mountain stood at one end of Glen Marbauch, a deep, glacial valley in a very remote part of the Scottish Highlands. At the other end of the glen was the tiny village of Marbauch, containing only a few cottages and a single shop. Dominil had booked two rooms in a tiny bed-and-breakfast. After successfully negotiating the long drive from Inverness, she halted the car before reaching the village.

The two werewolves looked along the valley. It was raining and, in the distance, under the gray sky, Mount Marbauch looked steep, dark and not welcoming.

“Maybe we should have gone to a clinic,” said Kalix.

“Too late now,” replied Dominil. “Anyway, we can't. The standard treatments for addiction don't agree with werewolf physiology.”

“I know,” sighed Kalix. “I was really sick after I took methadone.”

“Who gave you that?”

“No one. One time when I couldn't afford laudanum I broke into a chemist and stole it.”

Kalix gazed at the mountain, and her heart sank even further. The gray slopes were impressive in their way. Inspiring even, as scenery. But as a place to undergo treatment for addiction, Kalix couldn't help thinking they'd made a terrible mistake.

“Do we have to climb it?”

“Minerva will meet us at the foot. I understand there's a pathway to the top.”

“Is it a steep path? Can you fall off?” Kalix's was feeling more and more depressed. She was at least relieved to hear there was a path. She'd had a vision of herself struggling up the mountain with ropes and didn't think she could manage it.

They parked outside the small bed-and-breakfast. There were a few other houses in the distance; hardly enough to qualify as even a village. A few hours ago in London, it had been warm and sunny, but here the rain fell steadily and there was a cold wind. Kalix shivered. She had poor resistance to the elements, much less than would have been expected from a werewolf. It was part of the effect that the drug had on her system.

Dominil wondered if the locals knew that a powerful werewolf sorcerer lived at the far end of the glen. If they did, might they also suspect
that she and Kalix were werewolves too? If the landlady did suspect anything, she didn't show it. While she couldn't hide her surprise at the sight of Dominil's icy white hair, she greeted the pair convivially.

“We get a lot of walkers around these parts in the summer,” she said. “Are you here for the scenery?”

“Yes,” said Dominil. “We like to get back to Scotland when we can.”

Dominil didn't sound Scottish. She'd abandoned her accent at Oxford. Kalix still had a strong accent, undiluted by her time in London.

Their rooms were clean and comfortable, as Minerva had assured Dominil they would be. Minerva had seemed very knowledgeable about the local area, and Dominil wondered again if the people here knew about her unusual nature.

Kalix was tired after the flight. “What time are we meant to meet Minerva?”

“At dawn,” said Dominil. “We'll have to set off early.”

Kalix yawned. “I'm not used to these early mornings.”

“Students never are.”

Kalix was surprised to hear herself described as a student. She supposed she was. She'd be going back to college soon. But her college was a remedial establishment, helping people with poor learning skills. Dominil had two first-class degrees from Oxford. Kalix didn't feel like a student in her company.

“Did you like the Runaways film?”

“It was interesting,” said Dominil noncommittally. “I wondered if it might give me any hints on how to manage a band. At least it gave me some idea how not to.”

Kalix asked her cousin what she planned to do next for Yum Yum Sugary Snacks.

“I'm thinking about trying to get them a place on a tour, supporting some band with a reasonable fan base. That would do them good. We've played three gigs in London since that debacle in Edinburgh, and they've gone much better. I think they could cope with a support slot. I'm told that if I could persuade a well-known producer to work on their demo, that would help too. Though I'm not sure any producer would work with the twins, given their bad reputation.”

Kalix went off early to her room, leaving Dominil sitting next to her window with her laptop computer open in front of her. As night fell and the moon appeared, Dominil took on her werewolf shape quite smoothly and remained at her computer. It was an accepted fact of life among the
MacRinnalchs that as a werewolf, you couldn't work a keyboard, but Dominil, through determined practice, had almost mastered the art. It meant picking out one key at a time, slowly, with her werewolf claws, but she could do it.