Fated

For a moment the two of them stood there, Rachel with her arm outstretched, Khazad hunched and ready to spring. Then Khazad took a step back. He shot a vicious look at me and stalked away.

The light at Rachel’s palm winked out and she walked to me. ‘Once we’re inside, you get rid of these,’ she said, tapping her bracelet. Her voice was ordinary, as if she’d already forgotten about Khazad. ‘In exchange we keep you alive.’

I nodded slowly. ‘Agreed.’

Rachel was studying me, her head tilted. ‘You’ve seen her again,’ she said in sudden interest.

‘Um …’

‘She comes more often when you’re here.’ Rachel laughed suddenly. ‘You didn’t know that, did you?’

I met Rachel’s eyes. There was a curious distant look in them, and all of a sudden I was scared, really scared. I’d called Rachel crazy on top of Canary Wharf, then forgotten about it once I’d recognised her in the mansion, but I’d been right. Rachel really was crazy. Not all the way, but far enough. Lots of people think ‘mad’ means funny, but real madness isn’t funny, it’s terrifying. Looking into the spinning futures, I saw Rachel doing a hundred different things, and I had absolutely no way of knowing which she’d choose. ‘Rachel?’ I said carefully. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘That’s not my name any more,’ Rachel said absently, looking over my shoulder.

Rachel was standing just a few feet in front of me, eyes fixed attentively on something a little way past. If she struck from this distance, her beam would go right through me and the tree behind. I stood very still and didn’t make any sudden movements. ‘Deleo.’

Rachel suddenly turned back to me, her eyes alight. ‘Yes!’ She smiled happily. ‘I had to do that. You see that, right?’

‘Um, I think so.’

‘I mean, it’s not like I could just leave!’ Rachel laughed, then frowned. ‘But she won’t go away.’ Her frown cleared. ‘She’s been quiet, though. It must be because of you.’ She smiled. ‘She always liked you. She wouldn’t say it, but I knew. Why don’t you carry on?’

I had absolutely no idea what Rachel was talking about. I tried to think of what to say. ‘Ra— Deleo. Onyx is going to be back.’

‘Onyx?’ Rachel’s brow furrowed for a moment, then cleared again. ‘Oh, he doesn’t matter.’ She smiled to herself again, then her eyes seemed to snap back into focus. ‘Make sure you’re ready to get rid of these.’ She raised her right wrist with the bracelet. ‘We have to see her again, don’t we?’

An instant later Onyx emerged from the trees, and I slumped in relief. The fact that I was relieved at having Onyx show up was scary in itself. He beckoned to me and Rachel, and we followed, Rachel smiling as if at some private joke.

‘So where the fuck are they?’ Khazad demanded.

We were in London again, having returned to the city in the evening twilight. Right now we were above a tourist shop in Great Russell Street, in the living room and kitchen of a second-floor flat. The flat looked recently occupied and I tried to stop myself from thinking about what might have happened to the owners.

The flat’s windows faced north, overlooking the front courtyard of the British Museum, and we’d been standing by the windows watching the museum for over two hours. Night had long since fallen, and the sky was dark, the stars drowned out by the city’s glow. Buses, cars and taxis buzzed past on the street, and a steady flow of shoppers and tourists filled the pavement, but the British Museum itself was silent. Not a single person had gone in or out.

‘Why’s no one there?’ Cinder rumbled.

Because it’s a trap, I thought silently. Luna had delivered her message.

‘Because it’s a trap.’ Rachel said. She glared at Onyx.

I sighed inwardly. Freaking Council. Luna had given them everything they’d needed to lay a perfect ambush and they’d managed to screw it up. There should have been guards, people coming and going, the occasional mage keeping up a pretence. Instead they’d kept their entire guard force hidden inside the museum … and in the process made their ambush so obvious that they might as well have stuck up a warning sign. This is what happens when politicians get put in charge of battle plans.

‘I said it’s a trap,’ Rachel demanded when Onyx didn’t answer. She was focused again, staring at Onyx. Khazad and Cinder stayed silent. ‘Did you hear me?’

Onyx made a slight gesture with his fingers. Black energy wreathed the bracelet at Rachel’s wrist, and she jerked, crashing to the floor as her legs spasmed and losing her breath in a strangled gasp. Rachel looked up, her eyes wild with fury, and sea-green light gathered at her hands.