The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf (57 page)

“Honesty would be a terrible mistake,” said Vex.

Moonglow glared at her flatmates. “I don't like the way you're both advising Kalix to lie like it's the most natural thing in the world. Lying isn't good, you know. If Manny slept with someone else, wouldn't you want Kalix to know?”

“That's different,” said Daniel. “Kalix is our friend. We'd want her to know stuff about Manny. That doesn't mean we want Manny to know stuff about her.”

They were interrupted by a small electronic bleep. Kalix took her phone from her pocket. She looked at it and sighed.

“Message from Manny?”

“He says he's looking forward to seeing me.”

Kalix curled up on the couch again. Vex got to her feet and stood in front of the mirror, pushing her hair into shape with her fingers.

“Well, I'd love to stay here and watch Kalix falling apart with guilt and Daniel bragging about his nights of passion, but I'm due at the palace tonight, so I've just got time for a quick visit to Pete before I go.”

“Is your aunt still making you visit that arch-wizard?” asked Moonglow.

Agrivex scowled. “Yes. Unless I learn to control my fire.”

“How's that going?”

“Hopeless. I can't do it. But I'm not going to some prison camp with Old Krabby. Aunt Malvie will cheer up and forget all about it when the next part of my super-cunning plan gets underway.”

Vex was immediately cheerful again. “I'll see you all in a few days. Kalix, don't do anything stupid like tell your boyfriend the truth. Bye!”

With that, Vex hurried from the house, heading for the tube station and a trip to North London to see Pete.

“They seem to be getting on well,” said Moonglow. She absent-mindedly placed her hand on Kalix's head, and almost patted her. “Sorry,” she said immediately, withdrawing her hand.

“It's all right,” muttered Kalix. “It's not really a big insult for werewolves. I just made that up. I must be one of these people that tells lies all the time. What's the word for that?”

“Pathological,” said Moonglow. “But you're really not like that.”

Daniel poured more tea into his John Lennon mug. He yawned. “I didn't get any sleep last night. Gezinka was quite energetic—”

“Maybe you should start lying about a few things,” said Moonglow. “Or at least concealing the truth.” She picked up the tray and took it to the kitchen.

“I knew she'd be jealous,” said Daniel, and sounded pleased about it.

Kalix wasn't listening. She was staring at the text message from Manny, leaving Daniel to lapse into his fantasy of Moonglow being eaten up with jealousy over his night with Gezinka and confessing her love for him, something which he half expected to happen as soon as Moonglow returned from the kitchen.

CHAPTER 109

Two days after the ball, Dominil arranged to meet Thrix in Marylebone Library. She was waiting in the reference section when her cousin arrived. Thrix was unsettled by her surroundings.

“Did we have to meet in a library?”

“Why shouldn't we?” asked Dominil.

“Aren't there any bars or restaurants around here?”

“There are plenty. But we're not here to eat or drink.”

Thrix lowered her voice in response to several hostile glances from other occupants of the reference section. “I feel uncomfortable,” she whispered. “Can we go somewhere I don't have to whisper?”

They walked past a series of posters encouraging children to read and arrived at the glass doors that led out onto the main street.

“So why are we here?” asked Thrix.

“We're at the top of Gloucester Place. I believe the Guild's headquarters is on this road.”

Thrix forgot her discomfort. “You do? Why?”

“While in the Empress's suite I read her handmaiden Alchet's diary.” Dominil lied quite smoothly to her cousin. She would have preferred to tell her that the information had come from Sarapen, but felt obliged to keep her promise not to let Thrix know he was still alive.

“There were several entries mentioning Gloucester Place. I believe
these entries relate to visits to the Guild.”

“The Empress just left that lying around?”

“She thought her sorcery would keep out any intruder.”

“Then let's find them,” said Thrix, and stepped through the glass doors into Gloucester Place.

“That may not be easy,” said Dominil. “It's a long road. It runs all the way down to Oxford Street. I've walked its length before and never noticed anything that made me think of the Guild. Have you learned any more about the Maynista's ‘House That Can't Be Found'?”

“Not much. Do you really think the Guild's headquarters was built by a stone dwarf?”

“It's possible,” said Dominil. “It would explain our inability to locate it. It would be good to learn more about the subject.”

“I've asked Malveria to look into it but for some reason she's not keen. As far as I can gather, it would exist the same as any other building. You can see it, and walk into it. You just can't find it by sorcery. Or on the internet, apparently.” Thrix gazed down the long street. It was mostly Georgian, large terraced houses, the ground floor faced with white marble and the three upper floors all of brown stone. “Most of these houses look the same.”

“They do. But I have more information.” Dominil drew a sheet of paper from her leather satchel.

“Why do you have such a fashionable item?” asked Thrix.

“Pardon?”

“Your leather satchel. It's been all over the magazines this summer.”

Dominil looked at her plain, functional satchel. “I had no idea it was fashionable. I bought it because it was practical.”

She showed Thrix the sheet of paper. “Vex stole this from Adviser Bakmer. It appears to be some notes he's made, perhaps prior to writing them in his own diary. Look here.” Dominil indicated a scrawled line in the notes. “Distikka off to red house again. Always worming her way in with the Empress.”

“Red house?”

“The entry appears on the same day as Alchet's entry about Gloucester Road. ‘Red house' may be a code word for the Guild's headquarters.”

Thrix didn't look convinced, but shrugged. “OK, it's good enough for me. Let's find a red house in Gloucester Place.” She paused. “The ball was two days ago. Did you just learn all this?”

“No, I knew as soon as I saw the documents.”

“Then why didn't you call me right away?”

They were interrupted by a siren as an ambulance made its way through the dense traffic. Dominil waited for the noise to subside.

“I thought I'd give you a day to recover.”

“What do you mean?” said Thrix. “I didn't need time to recover.”

“Malveria had to take you home after the ball.”

“I briefly used too much power. I was fine the next morning.”

Dominil examined Thrix. Her cousin seemed healthy enough, but Dominil wasn't sure. There was a certain look in her eyes that Dominil didn't like. She turned her attention back to the long road in front of them.

“I examined Gloucester Place as carefully as I could with satellite maps and I couldn't see anything that looked like a red house. But perhaps we'll find something. Red curtains, or a red door.”

“Enough talking,” said Thrix. “Let's go.”

“If we find their headquarters we're not charging in to attack them. We'll notify the Great Council, and take it from there.”

Thrix's frown deepened. “I'm not liking this so much.”

“I knew you wouldn't. But it's time for you to start acting responsibly.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean you've been acting irresponsibly.”

“I've been acting irresponsibly?”

“Yes. You killed those hunters with little thought for the consequences. Had Kalix not quickly brought Queen Malveria to the scene to dispose of the bodies, they might well have been found. That would have led to police, publicity and everything the MacRinnalch Clan strives to avoid. Besides which, there's no telling what the Empress may have done had she learned of it.”

“I can't believe this,” said Thrix angrily. “You're actually criticizing me for killing hunters?”

“With some forethought you could have baffled the hunters and led them away to some quiet spot. Killing them in the middle of the gardens was highly irresponsible.”

“We were in the bushes. No one could see. I admit my power dropped after that and I couldn't get rid of the bodies. But the Guild don't bother about leaving bodies when they target werewolves.”

They walked on down the pavement. The afternoon was warm, much warmer than usual for the last days of summer.

“I'm not the one who takes laudanum,” muttered Thrix. “How irresponsible is that?”

“I've heard more than enough about that,” said Dominil. She began to study the houses around them, but Thrix seemed unwilling to let the disagreement drop.

“What would you expect me to do if hunters appeared right now? Just let them shoot you?”

“I've managed to take care of myself quite satisfactorily so far,” said Dominil.

“Really? How's your laudanum intake these days?”

“Carefully measured, as ever.” Dominil halted, and looked Thrix in the eye. “Is there any particular reason for this hostility?”

Thrix glared back at her. She seemed on the verge of an angry retort, but controlled herself. “I'm sorry. I haven't felt right since Minerva was killed. I've been getting these terrible moods. Anything can set me off.”

Dominil nodded. “Let's search.”

The Scottish werewolf cousins walked on in the sunshine along Gloucester Place, looking for their enemies' headquarters.

CHAPTER 110

Dominil and Thrix walked south, all the way down Gloucester Place. They didn't pass any red houses and they didn't find the Guild's headquarters. Dominil was thoughtful as she looked back along the street.

“I saw nothing that gave any hint of the Guild. Thrix, will you pay attention?”

Thrix was studying her reflection in the window of a shop selling expensive Chinese antiques.

“Are these extensions still looking natural? I can feel something at the back. Can you see where it joins?”

“This is not the time for worrying about your hair.”

“Any time is fine for worrying about your hair. Is there something wrong at the back?”

“The extensions are fine. There is no sign of artificiality.”

“Good. You need to take a lot of care with extensions.”

“Are you seeking to infuriate me?”

Thrix turned to her cousin. “No, I'm just being vain about my hair. That's not a crime. You're vain about your hair too.”

“I am not.”

“Oh really?” Thrix was amused. “You walk around with that huge white main and you claim you're not vain about it? I've never seen it anything other than perfectly brushed and conditioned.”

“I take normal steps to maintain it.”

“Dominil, if you weren't vain about it you'd have cut it short years ago. Much more practical, and you love being practical. You'd have dyed it some normal color too. Make you much less identifiable to the hunters.”

“I refuse to change my appearance for the sake of werewolf hunters.”

“So you won't admit to even the tiniest bit of vanity?”

Dominil considered this. “Perhaps a little. Having settled this matter, could we get back to looking for the Guild? We should walk back up the opposite pavement.”

Thrix shrugged. “All right. Though it's a fairly boring road, for the center of London.”

“I noticed some blue plaques,” said Dominil. “I always like them.”

“Blue plaques?”

“Signs placed by English Heritage commemorating notable people who lived in these houses. You are aware of them?

“Vaguely,” said Thrix.

“There were four. For Sir Gerald Kelly, Rupert Edward Dawson, William Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.”

They crossed the road at a zebra crossing and began to walk back up the other side.

“Are they famous?” asked Thrix.

“Famous? Sir Gerard Kelly was quite a well-known painter in his day. I wouldn't say he was famous. I don't care for his portraits. Rupert Edward Dawson was once a renowned political essayist but I don't think his renown has lingered.”

“Good,” said Thrix. “I've never heard of them.”

“But the other two are well known. Wilkie Collins was a Victorian novelist, often cited as one of the originators of the detective genre. Elizabeth Barrett Browning you will of course be familiar with.”