Fated

something specific instead of leaving it all up to Arachne. Oh well.

‘What was that about?’ Luna asked curiously, her voice muffled from the wall and the curtains between us.

I started to undress. ‘Arachne gets upset about the state I leave my clothes in.’

‘It doesn’t happen often, does it?’

‘No.’ I hesitated, mentally counting. ‘Not really.’ I counted again. ‘Okay, maybe. But I only get clothes from her when I’m going to meet a lot of other mages.’

‘You mean like now?’

‘Yeah, like—’

I stopped and turned my attention to my new outfit. Laid out on the table it looked like a dinner jacket, although there was something a little different about it. I picked up the shirt.

‘Alex?’

‘Uh-huh?’

‘Is it okay if I come to the ball with you? I won’t get in your way.’

The shirt was causing me problems. I didn’t answer straightaway, and Luna took my silence as a sign that I needed more persuading. ‘I mean, if those people are going to be looking for me, a crowded ball would be a good place to be, right? It’d be harder for them to try anything with lots of other mages around. And some of the people might have information. I could help you find things out.’

I finished with the trousers and held up the tie, running it through my fingers. ‘Arachne told you to say that, didn’t she?’

Luna went quiet. I shook my head and started putting the tie on. ‘She’s really taken a shine to you.’

‘So, um—’

‘You can come.’

‘Really?’ I could hear the excitement in Luna’s voice. ‘Great!’

I shook my head, but I didn’t smile. What I really wanted to ask was why she was so excited to be going. Luna wasn’t stupid; she had to realise that a gathering of mages would make for a dangerous night out. But it wasn’t the right time to ask.

A faint scuttling sound alerted me that Arachne was back. ‘All ready?’ she called, and brushed the curtain aside to come in. Arachne’s always been a little hazy on human ideas of privacy. She looked me up and down approvingly. ‘Good.’

I turned to take a look at myself in the mirror. Putting it on, the outfit had looked like a dinner jacket. Wearing it, it still looked like a dinner jacket, but it was … different, somehow. The figure looking back at me looked smart, elegant. It was hard to put your finger on it, but if I’d seen a picture of myself I might not have recognised who it was.

‘Well?’

I took a last look, then nodded. ‘I like it.’

‘Well, at least you have some taste.’ Arachne handed me a white ribbon. ‘Tie this on the lapel.’

I looked at the thing curiously. It was more than just an accessory; I could feel magic radiating from it, with the subtle weave of Arachne’s signature, but it seemed passive, rather than active. ‘What does it do?’

‘Oh, I think you should be able to work that out.’ She moved round to where Luna was changing, and I heard her asking Luna which one she liked best.

I walked out into the central chamber, studying the ribbon with a frown, searching through futures. There was something about the weave that I recognised, something that made me think of chance magic, inverted. But it wasn’t a spell I’d ever seen, unless … My eyes widened suddenly. Oh …

‘All ready?’ Arachne’s voice called. ‘Come on, Alex, are you watching?’ I looked up in surprise just as a girl stepped out from behind the curtain.

It was Luna, but for a moment I didn’t recognise her. She was wearing a dress of white and green that left her arms and shoulders bare, spiralling down in layers to cover her feet. The cloth shimmered slightly as she moved, the pale green and the snow-white reflecting the light around her. A gauzy shawl was wrapped around her arms, and she’d tied her hair up with a pair of white ribbons, leaving her neck bare.

‘What do you think?’ Luna asked. She sounded a little nervous, but she was smiling.

I stared at her for a few seconds before answering. ‘Not bad.’

Arachne snorted. ‘Don’t listen to him, dear. You look perfect. A few more touches and you’ll be all ready to go.’

The sun had set by the time we finally said goodbye, and as we walked out of Arachne’s lair I could see the first stars shining in the sky above. The air had cooled, and around us, Hampstead Heath was quiet. ‘Had a good time?’ I said as we walked out into the gully.

‘I had a great time.’ Luna was smiling; you would never have thought that only a few hours ago she’d been scared of being left with Arachne. ‘Is she named after the weaver? The one from the Greek myth?’

‘If I had to guess, I’d say it was the myth that was named after her.’

Luna looked at me for a second before her eyes went wide as she got it. ‘But that was – how long ago?’

‘Two, three thousand years?’ I shrugged. ‘I’ve never asked.’

The Heath was fast emptying of people, and here in the densest part, it was all but deserted. As the light faded