Norma snorted. “Oh, tell her whatever she wants to know. She’s too clever for her own good.”
Given permission, Vini said, “That all sounds right.”
Rufus elaborated. “She came down to the basement a few months ago. We thought she was some old lady at first. We were about to take her energy and kill her when she started speaking out loud. She said that she was Fabian, and she hoped that her brothers were listening. She explained who she was, and what she was planning. She told us that her memories had only just returned, and she really missed us.” He was getting teary-eyed as he recollected this.
“You knew all along that I was Fabian’s granddaughter, then?” Harriet asked, feeling breathless. “From the first time I came to the basement and traded my phone for information, you knew I was your great-niece.”
“We didn’t expect to see you that soon,” Rufus said. “You surprised us. You definitely have the family blood. Fabian told us that she’d leave a few days between the two deaths, to make sure they looked like accidents. Otherwise the building would have been overrun with police for weeks and weeks. So once you died, we started preparing for Fabian. But you turned up in the basement the very next day, asking us for a trade. We took the opportunity to get things ready for him.”
“Her,” Norma interjected. “If you please. It has become a bit of a habit. It’s been a long time since I was a man, now.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Rufus said. “For her. We decided to use you to make a bit of a disturbance upstairs. You did very well, Harriet. Even without any training, you were more trouble than we could have ever imagined.”
“We’ve been guiding you from the very beginning, so you were ready when the time came. We made sure you knew how to kill and take powers, how to fight back. You’ve made us so proud.”
Harriet rubbed her temples. They’d been systematically stripping away her humanity ever since she’d arrived in the building, turning her into the monster that Norma had been crafting since Harriet was a child.
“You’re just like Fabian, you know,” Vini added. “You’re definitely one of us!”
Harriet went cold.
“I am not,” Harriet said severely. “Not in a thousand years.”
Norma had been smiling at Rufus. At this, her smile turned thin as she looked at Harriet. “Oh, dear. Well, it seems that a decision needs to be made now, doesn’t it?”
Chapter 25
RIMA
Hidden in the rafters of the roof, Rima couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They had crept through the walls of the building, searching each floor until they found the Tricksters on the rooftop. To her surprise, Norma had appeared, hugging Rufus affectionately. Harriet was there too, standing by her grandmother with a fraught, terrified expression.
“Let’s attack them,” Kasper hissed, lunging forward like he was about to leap out onto the roof.
“Wait!” Rima said, grabbing his arm in exasperation. “Let’s just listen first. I want to hear what they’re saying.”
“I want to fight,” Kasper mumbled.
Felix snorted, ignoring him completely. Kasper and Felix weren’t talking to each other. She couldn’t believe that after all that build-up, their relationship had lasted only a few hours. They were already in the awkward exes phase.
Rima strained to hear what Norma was discussing with the Tricksters, keeping her hand on Cody’s scruff. If the fox wandered off, she would be consumed by an energy-hungry ghost from the basement.
She heard “Fabian”, and frowned. Why was Norma discussing Leah’s husband? This conversation didn’t make any sense. Then with a start, Rima understood: Norma was Fabian, somehow. He’d come back.
She turned to Leah who, judging by the colour she had turned, also understood. “Leah, it’s OK. We’re going to kill her. I promise. You never have to speak to him again. You can stay out of sight if you want to.”
Leah shook her head, tight-lipped. “This isn’t going to work. We might have had a chance when it was just the two of them. But I’ve tried before, Rima. I’ve never managed to defeat the Tricksters when they’re all working together. They’re too strong.”
Above them, Rufus and Vini were hugging Norma. Harriet had drifted closer, still looking uncomfortable. She clearly hadn’t known any of this either, which was at least some comfort.
Rima frantically wracked her brain for a plan. If this turned into a fight, their main advantage was Leah’s ritual to leach away energy. But they only had Harriet’s eyelid. Rather than fighting, they would need to focus on darting in to steal some hair or skin from the other three too.
Perhaps Rima could fly in as a small bird or insect, and bite the Tricksters and Norma? She might be able to take some hair while they were talking.
“Does this mean Leah is Harriet’s step-grandma?” Kasper said, looking awestruck.
When Rima frowned at him, he leaned in to whisper to Claudia, “The evil one is your new niece!”
Claudia reared her head up, trying to look over Leah’s shoulder. Leah supported her head, so she could see. Rima wondered if Claudia remembered her father. What was she feeling about his return right now, if she was as intelligent as Rima had suspected she was?
Suddenly, the discussion on the roof ended, and Norma raised her voice. “Are you with us, or are you against us, Harriet? I’m sick of pandering to you. Decide, once and for all. If you want to be part of this family, then you will never mention your parents after today. Otherwise, I don’t want to see your face again.”
Harriet looked like she was thinking deeply, which sent dread through Rima. What would happen if she agreed? The four of them were like some strange boy band, all with matching snow-white hair.
“What’s it going to be, Harriet?” Norma asked.
Rima couldn’t even begin to guess what she was going to decide. Based
