people. This pack had a fifth suit beyond the familiar cups, wands, swords and coins — ravens. ‘Eaters of the dead, messengers of the gods,’ Niamh had told him. The fifth suit was usually denied to humans because it had the ability to contact higher powers. To examine the workings of Existence.
The cards had helped save his life. In the moment of his greatest need, they had allowed a point of contact with mysterious beings far higher up the scale than the Tuatha De Danann who had hinted at a great role for Church in some sprawling, mysterious scheme.
Since then he had repeatedly tried to use the cards to contact those higher powers without even a glimmer of success, but somehow, he was sure there was a trick he was missing. He laid them out on the bed in the spread he had seen Niamh using. Three cards in and he knew the situation had changed. Each of the cards was a raven. He continued to turn over the cards. All ravens. An involuntary shiver rippled through him, the uneasy sensation of brushing against the unknown. As he laid the final card, a jolt of energy leaped from the image of the raven into his fingers and he recoiled sharply. With anticipation, he waited for something else to happen, but there was nothing beyond an odd feeling permeating the room.
A knock at the door made him start. Shavi came in, looking exhausted.
‘I have conducted three consecutive rituals. The residents of the Invisible World can be unpleasant, troublesome, and will not give out even the smallest and most inconsequential piece of information unless they are backed into a corner.’ Shavi sat on the end of the bed and ran his fingers through his long hair. The rituals of contact took so much out of him sometimes that he could not even stand afterwards, yet he never complained. ‘Yet I truly believe they do not know where our two mysterious targets are, and that troubles me.’
‘Stands to reason that if they’re a threat to the Void, they’re going to be well hidden.’
‘There has to be a way of locating them. We just have not found it yet.’
‘We could cross over to the Otherworld. Try to find someone there who could help.’
‘Yes. Perhaps your friend Niamh.’
The mention of her name flushed Church with hope. Niamh had helped him in his darkest moment, and he had repaid her by saving her life. He wondered if he should tell the others about his near-hallucinatory experience when he had shifted the Axis of Existence, changing the course of history. Niamh and Tom now lived when they should have died. Yet it felt too monumental to express, and so unreal that the facts of what had truly happened were elusive. Perhaps it had all been a dream and Tom and Niamh were still dead. But if they had survived, he had achieved something remarkable, and perhaps paid Niamh back for the centuries of love she had offered him that he had never returned.
Shavi went to the window and looked over the wet rooftops of North London. ‘I wonder where Hunter is. I hope he is safe,’ he mused.
As he turned the matter over in his mind, Church decided on a compromise. ‘We send Mallory, Sophie and Caitlin to Otherworld. They can ask Niamh to help — she’ll understand if I’m not there. The Extinction Shears are with the Market of Wishful Spirit over there, the Keys are over here. It makes sense for us to split up. And they can hook up with all the other Brothers and Sisters of Dragons in T’ir n’a n’Og.’
‘The ones you saved from this world?’
‘The ones I saved from Veitch.’
‘I still do not understand how he could go from being one of us … one of the Five, a champion of Life … to causing slaughter on such a grand scale.’
‘We were all screwed up to some degree, but Veitch was worse. Somehow the Void twisted his own insecurities into something awful.’
‘And he always loved Ruth.’
Church flinched; there it was.
Shavi read Church’s thoughts. ‘Veitch is dead now. We do not have to worry about him any more.’
‘He made sure his legacy would stick around for ever,’ Church said bitterly.
Shavi clapped an arm around Church’s shoulders. ‘We are together now. Stronger than we ever were alone. We must not forget that. I will tell the others of your plan.’
As Shavi left, Ruth returned from her shower, naturally attractive with a scrubbed face and her hair pulled back. Church opened the window and they kneeled before it. The clouds had started to clear and the moon illuminated a silvery path across the wet rooftops.
Ruth rested an arm across his shoulders. ‘It’s a grim world out there. You really think we can make a difference?’
‘We did once. We brought the magic back when the world needed it. That was one battle in a much bigger war, and there will be victories and set-backs, but-’
‘We can do it again.’
A shooting star blazed across the quadrant of sky visible between the clouds. Church had a vague impression of seeing one before in a similar situation, but it was lost in his fractured memory.
‘I think we need to make the most of what we’ve got here and now,’ he said. ‘We’ll deal with what’s to come when we get there.’
4
‘You feel it, too. That sense of being disconnected.’ Sophie sat cross-legged on the bed.
Mallory couldn’t take his eyes off her. She had an entrancing, ethereal quality that was completely mysterious to him, yet at the same time strangely familiar. After so long being denied contact with her in the Steelguard offices, the mix was heady and compelling.
‘What are you smiling at?’ she asked.
‘Nothing. We’ve just been dragged out of our lives and told we’re the ultimate sleeper agents. “Disconnected” doesn’t even begin to cover it.’
Caitlin turned from the window where she had been keeping watch. Her eyes gleamed. ‘Isn’t this better?’ She gave an excited laugh. ‘I think there’s something wrong with me. All this danger, and I’m just buzzing! This beats repping beauty products up and down the country.’
‘When I was cleaning toilets I used to dream of repping beauty products.’ Mallory studied Caitlin’s face. Behind the sparkle of her excitement, there was a shadow of abiding sadness.
‘Oh, you two have had it so hard,’ Sophie said. ‘Try living with several million pounds of someone else’s money hanging over your conscience.’
Shavi interrupted them. ‘Church has decided on a plan of action,’ he said, ‘but it will mean the three of you operating alone.’
‘Seriously, who put him in charge?’ Mallory asked.
‘Existence.’ Shavi smiled. ‘Besides, he has earned it.’
Shavi carefully explained about the Far Lands and how it was possible to cross over at certain points, before fielding their incredulous questions. Once acceptance had set in, he detailed what was expected of them. ‘Are you ready to take on the responsibility?’ he asked.
‘You might think your little group has the monopoly on the hero thing,’ Mallory said, ‘but we’re going to be better.’
‘Ah, a competitive spirit. That should add an edge to the proceedings,’ Shavi said, without even a hint of competition in return.
‘Hang on.’ Caitlin had returned to the window. ‘Something’s happening outside.’
5
With her iPod on, Laura sang out loudly. All the others were worried about what lay ahead. Not her. Going out in a blaze of glory was better than spending her days flipping burgers and filling her nights with drugs and sex in a futile attempt to find some kind of meaning in her life.
