The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf (89 page)

“Like a secret meeting? Are we spies?”

“No,” said Dominil. “Please come with me.”

Dominil led Vex to the kitchen, leaving Daniel and Moonglow puzzled.

“I have something unpleasant to tell you,” said Dominil.

“What?”

“Your boyfriend Pete. His motivation in pursuing a relationship with you is largely to make me jealous. This is a foolish endeavor. I have no interest in him.”

Vex laughed. “Don't be silly, Dominil. Why would you say such a silly thing?”

“I'm under an obligation to inform you. It doesn't matter to me whether you believe it or not. But as proof, if you desire it, I called Pete and made a date with him tomorrow night. He was very eager. I will not be making an appearance.”

With that Dominil departed, walking calmly out the front door.

Vex ran back into the living room, laughing. “Dominil's gone mad,” she said. “You won't believe what she just said! She thinks Pete is only going out with me to make her jealous! Isn't that the silliest thing you've ever heard?” She looked at Daniel, Kalix and Moonglow, sitting on the couch. “Why aren't you laughing?” she demanded.

There was a long pause, ever more awkward than that generated by Dominil's arrival.

“Well . . .” began Daniel.

There was another silence.

“Don't tell me you believe it?” cried Vex. “It's the most stupid thing ever.

Moonglow, you don't think it's true, do you?” Moonglow looked at the floor.

“Kalix?” said Vex.

Kalix looked at the floor, and also tried to hide behind Daniel.

“I can't believe this!” cried Vex. “What sort of friends are you? Dominil makes some mad accusations against my boyfriend and you all think it's true!” Vex was rapidly becoming very agitated. “I'll show you!” she cried. She took out her phone. “Dominil had some story about making a date with him tomorrow.”

Vex called her boyfriend. “Hello, Pete! I've missed you this week!
What are we doing tomorrow?”

There was a pause. A slight wrinkle appeared on Vex's forehead.

“What do you mean you can't see me? We arranged to go to the cinema.”

There was a longer pause. Vex's brow became furrowed. “You have to visit your grandmother in hospital? Really? Well, OK.” She ended the phone call. “He has to visit his grandmother in hospital.”

Daniel, Moonglow and Kalix were still looking at the floor. Vex stared at them for a while, then looked at herself in the mirror above the fireplace. She teased out a few strands of hair. “I need to bleach it again,” she said. “I can see some dark roots.”

Vex turned swiftly toward her friends. “Would everybody stop staring at the floor?”

“I think I'll make some tea,” said Moonglow.

“Don't run away and make tea!” cried Vex. “Is this true? Does Pete really not like me? He said he did.” Vex was suddenly filled by a crushing feeling of humiliation which she'd never encountered before. “Does everyone know about this?”

“We suspected,” said Daniel. “Because that's what the twins thought.”

“Oh.” Vex looked bewildered. “Well, this really sucks.” She began to glow, a faint trace of orange becoming visible over her dark skin. “I can't believe this. This is the worst thing ever. I get a stupid boyfriend who pretends he likes me and really he's only using me to make someone else jealous!”

The orange glow became more noticeable.

“And this is right after
Nagasaki Night Fight Boom Boom Girl
was such a letdown! I really hate it!” Vex clenched her fists. “I am so angry with everything!”

The young Fire Elemental stretched out her arms to indicate how angry she was, and then, to everyone's astonishment, a bolt of red flame shot out from her hand. It hit the wall like a laser, and pierced the brick, leaving the wallpaper on fire.

Vex froze. She looked at her hand in wonder, amazed at what had happened.

“Congratulations, niece,” said the Fire Queen, materializing smoothly in the room. She snapped her fingers, extinguishing the flames. “I am sorry, Moonglow, for yet another piece of household damage. I will pay for repairs.”

She turned to Agrivex. “It seems that you have finally learned how to
produce fire. I will not send you to Arch-wizard Krathrank.”

“Oh,” said Vex. She was still stunned. “That's good I suppose.” A tear trickled from her eye, sizzling as it made its way down her cheek. “I lost my boyfriend.”

“Nothing could have been better for teaching you fire,” said Malveria. “A disastrous relationship will benefit you greatly in the end.”

“It doesn't feel like a benefit.”

The Fire Queen looked toward Moonglow.

“I'll make tea,” said Moonglow.

“Excellent,” said Malveria. “We shall drink tea, Agrivex, and you may eat biscuits, and tell us of your hatred for Pete. Afterward you will come back to the palace, and share a bottle of wine with myself, Iskiline and Gruselvere. The pain of your boyfriend disaster will soon fade, but your new powers of fire will remain.”

CHAPTER 180

“Markus can't resign as Thane,” said Verasa. “The Thane is appointed for life.”

Clan Secretary Rainal studied the letter, handwritten on the thick, cream-colored stationery used by the clan for official business.

“He says he's resigning.”

“He can't.”

“He's left the castle.”

“I expect he's in Edinburgh,” said the Mistress of the Werewolves. Markus's letter of resignation had come as a severe shock, but she was refusing to let it show. “He just needs time to sort out his thoughts.”

There was little indication as to what Markus's thoughts may have been in the brief note he'd sent to Rainal, but Verasa knew why Markus had resigned. He'd been humiliated to the point where he no longer felt able to continue as leader of the MacRinnalchs.

“It's preposterous,” she said. “I won't see my son driven from the clan by these false rumors.”

Rainal didn't reply. He'd heard Verasa's vehement denials and he wasn't going to contradict her. Privately, he believed the rumors. He'd watched the fight from the battlements, and he remembered clearly how
Wallace's strength had suddenly deserted him, just when it seemed he would defeat Markus.

“What are we going to tell the clan?” he asked.

“Nothing. I'll go to Edinburgh and bring Markus back.”

“What about the council meeting?”

“Meeting?” said Verasa. “We don't have enough council members for a meeting.”

Baron MacGregor had announced his intention of leaving. The MacGregors would take no further part on the confederation of the werewolf clans. The MacAllisters had not yet taken such a drastic step, but Baron MacAllister was in mourning for his sister and would not attend the forthcoming meeting. Whether he would attend any other remained to be seen. Thrix was apparently still too ill to travel. Decembrius was also too unwell to attend. With the habitual absence of Butix, Delix, Marwanis and Kalix, the Great Council no longer had enough members to function.

“Even if we coaxed Great Mother Dulupina from her chambers, we'd still only have eight out of seventeen.” The Mistress of the Werewolves couldn't remember the last time a council meeting had been cancelled for lack of attendees. “And now, of all times. With Sarapen back.”

Rainal scanned the Mistress of the Werewolves' features for some sign of her thoughts about the unexpected return of her eldest son. They'd never been close and they'd ended up as bitter enemies. But on this, Verasa was guarding her feelings.

“Do you think Sarapen will try for the Thaneship?” he asked.

“There's no
Thaneship
for Sarapen to try for. Markus is Thane.” Verasa put Markus's letter in her pocket. “Don't mention this to anyone. Is Dominil here yet?”

“She should be arriving at the castle any minute.”

Verasa had informed Dominil that there was unlikely to be a council meeting, but Dominil had expressed her intention of coming to the castle anyway. She wanted to make a report on the attack, which, she felt, was due to the clan.

“There are a lot of relatives waiting to hear what she has to say,” said Rainal. The families of Eskandor, Barra and Feargan all wanted to know how they'd died. Dominil might be in for a difficult time.

“She's not one to shirk her duties, I'll give her that,” said the Mistress of the Werewolves.

“She seems like the only one who's fully recovered. Where do you want to meet her?”

“Show her here,” she said. “There's no point refusing to receive her when she's the only one who can tell us what happened in London. And we need to know everything about Sarapen.”

Rainal paused as he was leaving. “Are you going to tell Dominil about the motion to remove her?”

“I'm not sure. I don't suppose I have to, if there isn't going to be a council meeting this month.”

Baron MacPhee had tabled a motion proposing that Dominil be removed from the council because of her laudanum addiction. He wasn't the only one who was unhappy with her continued presence. Feelings against her had grown after the deaths in London. There was some antipathy against Thrix as well, but she was the Thane's sister, and too well connected to be assailed. Dominil was a different matter. She'd never been popular.

“It would be best if you told her,” advised Rainal. “She'll hear it from someone else anyway. Eskandor's father is furious about his son's death. I've asked the guards on duty to make sure there's no trouble.”

CHAPTER 181

Kalix wanted to contact Manny but her nerve failed her.

He asked me to call. It won't be humiliating. I should do it
.

Kalix started to dial his number, but gave up halfway through. She couldn't face it. What if she called and he'd changed his mind about wanting to talk to her? She was too fearful of rejection to take the chance.

After much consideration, she'd decided, almost, that she didn't believe that Manny had spied on her for the werewolf hunters.

“I don't think he'd do that. If he really was related to them, it was just a coincidence.”

It struck the young werewolf that if she lacked the nerve to call Manny, it might be easier to just knock at his door. Once she actually saw his face, her nervousness might vanish.

Kalix set out almost immediately, hurrying to Kennington tube station, carried on by a wave of enthusiasm for her plan. The enthusiasm lasted almost all the way to Oxford Circus, where it evaporated.

This is stupid, thought Kalix. I'm planning to knock on his door?
He'll just tell me to get lost. He's probably got another girlfriend by now anyway. She'll be there and it will just be humiliating.

Kalix got off the tube train and walked through a tunnel to the platform where she could catch a train back home.

What a waste of time, she thought, and cursed herself for her cowardice. She realized it was no use. She just lacked the nerve to contact Manny.

Maybe he'll call me sometime, she thought, as she sat on the train home, her gaze fixed firmly on the floor.

Kalix arrived home to find Moonglow loading clothes into the washing machine. It was a small machine, fitted snugly beside the sink in their small kitchen.

“Hi, Kalix.”

“I was going to call Manny but I lost my nerve,” said Kalix.

“Oh. I'm sorry.”

“I thought it might be easier to just visit him but I lost my nerve again.”

Kalix looked depressed.

“Maybe he'll call you,” said Moonglow.

“Maybe. Probably not.”

“Well, don't give up,” said Moonglow. “Sometimes relationships just have to wait until the time is right.”

Kalix felt vaguely cheered by Moonglow's words. Perhaps the time would be right in a little while. She might get to see Manny again.

CHAPTER 182

Dominil walked into the park by Ladbroke Grove in the early hours of the morning. She checked to see that she was unobserved then changed into her werewolf shape. Her senses were immediately sharpened. She followed a werewolf scent into a clump of trees in the middle of the park.

“Hello, Sarapen.”

The huge werewolf was sitting with his back to a tree. He rose to greet her. “I wasn't expecting you to contact me,” he said.

“I guessed you'd be staying in one of the clan properties.”

Sarapen nodded. The MacRinnalchs owned property in London. As an exile, Sarapen shouldn't have been using any of it, though Dominil didn't care that he was. They sat down together, with their backs to a tree.

“That was some fight,” said Sarapen. “You're still a great fighter.”