I gritted my teeth. ‘That’s what you called it.’
‘Yes,’ he said quietly. ‘I suppose I did.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Look. Things are different right now. We’re working on a way to make them better again. I don’t know why your friend has been so badly affected by it, but the concentration of magic is strong and it probably overtook her in one surge. I’ve never seen anyone affected quite like that before and shift with such violence.’
I took a step back, folding my arms over my chest as I absorbed his words. There was nothing in his face to suggest he was lying to me. ‘So you’ve seen people do this before,’ I said. ‘You’ve seen people…’
‘Shift,’ he said helpfully.
‘Fine,’ I snapped. ‘Shift.’
Monroe nodded. ‘I have.’ His posture remained relaxed but I detected a faint tightening around his eyes. Ah-ha.
‘You do this, don’t you?’ I watched him. ‘You … shift.’
His body grew more tense and a muscle in his jaw throbbed as he looked away from me. ‘I do. Not like her but I do something similar.’ He took a threatening step towards me, his earlier arrogance returning. ‘But if you think that you can tell others about her and about me, you’ll find a world of pain coming your way. We don’t give up our secrets gladly. You whisper a word about this and…’
Good grief. ‘Do you really think I’d endanger Lizzy by revealing what happened to her? That I’d film her and put it on YouTube for the world to see?’
Monroe sneered. His fear that I’d reveal the truth about Lizzy – and apparently about him – to the world was affecting him more than he wanted me to realise. ‘I don’t know you. There’s been little that I’ve seen so far that suggests you’re trustworthy. Or intelligent.’
So he was resorting to pointless insults; he really was concerned that I’d blab all about him. While I might understand where his barbs were coming from and why, that didn’t mean his words didn’t anger me. I curled my hands in fists. It didn’t help that his clever eyes noted my movement and amusement flashed across his face.
‘You don’t know anything about me.’
He snorted. ‘I know enough. The sort of woman who dyes her hair blue isn’t the sort of woman to be taken seriously.’
Now he was trying to goad me. I took a deep breath and calmed myself. Emotion wasn’t going to be my friend here, I had to focus on cold, hard logic. ‘How many of you are there? People like you and Lizzy who … shift?’
Monroe bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile. ‘Lots.’
Was that meant to be intimidating. ‘Madrona? Does she do it too?’
He shook his head. ‘She’s something different.’
‘And why is she here? Why are you both really here?’
His smile grew. ‘To retrieve what is ours and save the world.’
I glared. I had nothing of theirs – although Madrona had sneaked upstairs for a reason. Maybe it was something that I hadn’t noticed, left behind by one of the previous owners.
‘Stop worrying your pretty head about it,’ Monroe continued. ‘In no time at all, Manchester will return to normal and your life, whatever it may be, will continue as before. Lizzy can come with me. We’ll look after her.’
Whoa. Wait a goddarned minute. ‘No.’ I shook my head vehemently. ‘She’s not going anywhere with you.’
He smirked as if I were nothing more a mere trivial amusement and what I said was not to be taken seriously. ‘She might transform again at any point. It’s vital she comes with me and my team so we can keep her safe.’
Safe? There was nothing about him that suggested safety. ‘She’s my housemate. Unless she says that she wants to go with you, she’s staying here where she belongs.’
His expression was implacable. ‘She’ll be safer with us than with you.’
‘Hello? Have you got your head buried in your ego? Have you seen what’s going on outside? The army has issued a declaration. No one is supposed to leave their homes unless otherwise directed or in an absolute emergency.’ As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew they were pointless. Monroe wasn’t the type of man – or creature – who cared what a few soldiers might command. His arched eyebrow proved it.
‘You don’t think that transforming into a bunyip is an absolute emergency?’ he enquired. ‘What constitutes an emergency in your book? Is it when you run out of hair dye?’
I like to think of myself as someone who errs on the side of calm; what makes me such a good gambler is separating logic from emotion. But I was getting close to seriously losing it with this idiot. Monroe was too closely wrapped up with his magic shenanigans for Lizzy to be remotely safe with him. And if he insulted me once more, I was liable to swing for him.
All of a sudden another voice broke in. ‘Hey! I found the toilet!’ Madrona sang out from the stairs. ‘I had a lovely long pee,’ she told us, as if oblivious to the heightened tension in the air. ‘Now I feel much better. How is Lizzy doing?’
Welcome the distraction, Charley, I told myself. I turned away from Monroe and glanced at her. She looked incredibly pleased with herself. ‘See for yourself,’ I said.
Madrona hopped down the last few steps and looked into the living room. The relief on her face when she saw Lizzy made me relax a little. As annoying as Monroe was, I couldn’t shake the sensation that these were actually the good guys. But what had the green-eyed woman found upstairs that had made her so happy?
‘Are you okay?’ she called out to Lizzy.
My normally chatty housemate was incapable of saying much. ‘Mmm.’
‘Lizzy,’ Monroe said, ‘why don’t you get some clothes and come with me? I’ll keep you safe.’
‘I hate to put a spanner in the works,’ Madrona interjected, ‘but we
