City of Magic: The Complete Series Helen Harper (fox in socks read aloud TXT) 📖

to discuss some potential, uh, issues that may be on the horizon.’ I hesitated to call them problems just yet. They weren’t problems. Yet. ‘And to ask you a question or two.’

Alora’s brow furrowed. ‘Go on.’

Clearly we weren’t about to be invited in for tea to discuss these issues. Relations might be relatively good but we still weren’t considered fully trustworthy. That was okay; I could understand why Alora felt that way. ‘We’ve been noticing some unusual activity from the … local wildlife.’

The little bogle woman nodded. The two males by her side didn’t even blink. ‘The monsters are roaming further into the city in search of food.’

‘Uh, yeah.’

She gazed at me. ‘This is not news.’

No, I supposed it wasn’t. ‘We’re trying to come up with a solution,’ I told her, because I was sure that we would. ‘We don’t want anyone to get hurt because the beasties are ravenous.’

Alora’s expression didn’t change. ‘You mean like the beastie you’re carrying around in your backpack?’

I opened my mouth to try and explain Lucy’s presence but Alora broke in, her face softening. ‘You don’t know much about bogles, do you, enchantress?’

It had been a while since anyone had called me that. These days we were all enchanters and enchantresses. That was how much the magic that permeated the Mancunian atmosphere had affected us all.

I scratched my head. ‘No, I guess not.’

‘We were here long before you were. We have also served many purposes.’ She pointed at the bogle next to her, whose hair was a brighter shade of red than Monroe’s, especially when contrasted with his green skin. ‘James here, for example. His ancestors were tattie bogles.’

I frowned. ‘Uh…’

‘Scarecrows, to all intents and purposes. In generations gone by, his family kept creatures out of potato fields.’ Alora smiled benignly. ‘We have no fear of the other magical creatures in Manchester, not the ones you are referring to. They will not encroach on our lands.’

‘Is this something you could teach the rest of us?’ Anna asked.

She pursed her lips. ‘It’s in our blood so I’m not sure it’s teachable. But I’m sure we can send a few of our people to your community to offer some tips.’

I was genuinely surprised. ‘Really?’

Alora nodded. ‘Really.’ She folded her arms across her chest. ‘But this isn’t why you’re here right now. Tell me what else is going on.’

There was no prevaricating where the bogles were concerned. I pushed back my hair and met her eyes. ‘A flock of carrier pigeons passed over the city this morning. We can’t be completely certain, but we think they were holding messages for us – for any survivors in Manchester. We didn’t manage to catch any of them to actually read the messages but something strange happened when we were at the Travotel. It might have been to do with Lucy. She was in an old car and somehow the radio started working. The DJ was talking about Fabian Barrett, the billionaire. Apparently he’s making plans to enter the city. I realise it sounds strange but I’m pretty certain we didn’t hallucinate it…’

Alora raised her hand and, realising I was babbling, I fell silent. ‘Lucy?’ she asked.

‘The baby shadow beast in my backpack.’

Alora craned her neck round. ‘It looks like a male to me.’

‘Lucy’s short for Lucifer.’ I had no idea why I told her that. Now I sounded like a lunatic.

To my surprise, Alora nodded. ‘Covering all gender bases, were you?’

‘Uh, yeah.’

‘We’ve not studied the shadow beasts much,’ she said, ‘but our understanding is that they emit electrical impulses from time to time. That may have started your car radio working. Obviously, as they are magical creatures, the shadow beasts’ energy is different to what you might expect. If someone could harness that energy…’ She shrugged. ‘It’s unlikely because essentially they are wild animals.’

Wow. I used to pride myself on being on a fount of knowledge but when it came to this magical new-world stuff, I was always going to be on the back foot. ‘That’s useful to know,’ I told her. I meant it.

‘Yes, yes.’ Alora glanced at the other two bogles by her side. Some unspoken agreement seemed to pass between them before James, the supposed tattie bogle, spoke up.

‘We saw the pigeons too, although we did not note that they were carrying messages. They did not fly directly overhead and, while we recognised their flight path was unusual, we were not in a position to investigate further. If we had known what they were, be assured that we would have done so.’

I inclined my head. ‘I understand. We were all taken unawares. With any luck, Fabian Barrett – if indeed it was him who did this – will send out more. Or he will come up with a better plan to communicate with us.’

‘I have heard of this Fabian person,’ Alora sniffed. ‘Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.’

‘I think he’s English,’ Anna said.

‘You know what I mean.’ Alora frowned.

I met her eyes. ‘We all have supply problems. We’re all dealing with the threat of severe food and medicine shortages. We could do with a benevolent billionaire on our side.’

‘Maybe,’ she returned, holding my gaze, ‘we need to be more self-sufficient.’

Easier said than done. ‘There’s no shame in accepting help,’ I told her.

‘Mmm.’ She sniffed. ‘If he does enter Manchester, we do not wish to get involved. Do not tell him about us.’

‘We won’t.’

Her gaze hardened. ‘I mean it.’

I held up my hands. ‘I didn’t tell anyone about you last time, even though you thought I did. I’ll make sure word gets around and your community is not mentioned.’ I shrugged. ‘It might all come to nought.’

The bogle’s expression was dark. ‘We shall see,’ she said enigmatically. Then she whirled away with her two bodyguards in her wake. Our audience was over.

Chapter Eight

Our conversation with Alora might have been short, and she had played her cards close to her chest about both the pigeons and Fabian Barrett, but her desire to keep the bogles separate and secret