His school tie tucked into his jacket pocket. That cruel, cool smile.
“He betrayed us, Basil.” I feel the old anger—the old everything—rising up in my throat.
“And he was stricken,” my nephew says.
“Because he was a betrayer,” I say.
“Because he was a vampire,” Baz says, and I can’t help it—that word still makes me recoil.
It wasn’t supposed to be me, Natasha. Telling this boy how to make his way in the world. I’m no good at this. Look at me. Thirty-seven years old, rolling my own joints in my dressing gown, eating bikkies for breakfast whenever I manage to get up—I’m a disgrace.
What would you say to him if you were here?
No … Never mind. I know what you’d say—and you’re wrong.
That’s one way I’ve bettered you. I was weak enough to give your son a chance. And look at him now—he may be dead, but he isn’t lost. He’s dark as pitch and sharp as a blade, and he’s full of your magic. He’s a bonfire. He’d make you proud, Tasha.
“You’re not going to be stricken, Basil,” I tell him. “Is that what this is about? No one knows about you, and even if they find out—which they won’t—they’ll know we can’t spare you. The Families are finally ready to strike back at the Mage. It’s all happening.”
He licks his bottom lip and looks out my little window. The sun’s still out, and I know it bothers him, even if he won’t complain. I unhook the curtain, and my kitchen falls into shadow.
“Is he still alive?” Baz asks. “Nicodemus?”
“I think so. In a matter of speaking. I haven’t heard any different.”
“Would you have heard?”
There’s a pack of fags on the table. I light one with my wand and take a few good drags, tapping the ash out on my saucer. “You know that the Families use my London connections.…”
“What does that mean, Fiona?”
“I talk to people here who no one else wants to. Undesirables. I’m not worried about getting my hands dirty now and then.”
Then, sister, he cocks one of your eyebrows at me.
I spit out some smoke. “Pfft. Not like that, you perv.”
“So Nicodemus is an undesirable,” he says.
“We’re not permitted to talk about him. It’s mage law.”
“Would you cut me off so easily?”
“Oh, fuck, Baz, you know I wouldn’t. What are you on about?”
“I can’t help but be curious.” He leans towards me over the table. “Is he alive? Does he hunt? Has he aged? Has he Turned anyone?”
“Nicodemus Petty doesn’t have any answers for you, boyo.” I’m jabbing my cigarette at him, so I put it out before I accidentally torch him. “He’s a two-bit gangster—a third-tier thug in a Guy Ritchie movie. He thought he was going to be the über-mage, but he ended up shooting dice in the back room of some vampire bar in Covent Garden. He threw his whole life away, and hurt everyone who loved him—and there’s nothing you can learn from him, Basil. Other than how to be a shitty vampire.”
Baz’s eyebrow is still raised. He drinks the rest of my tea. “Fine,” he says. “You’ve made your point.”
“Good. Go home and study.”
“I’m on break.”
“Go home and figure out how to take down the Mage.”
“I told you. I’m going dancing.”
I look at his suit again and his shiny black shoes. “Basil. Have you met a bloke?”
He smiles, and he’s made of trouble. We should have dropped him in the Thames in a bag of stones. We should have left him out for the fairies.
“Something like that.”
57
AGATHA
I’m sitting at Penelope’s counter, spreading pink icing on another gingerbread lady.
“Why do the gingerbread girls have to wear pink?” Penny asks.
“Why should the gingerbread girls feel like they shouldn’t wear pink?” I say. “I like pink.”
“Only because you’ve been conditioned to like it by Barbies and gendered Lego.”
“Lay off, Penny. I’ve never played with Lego.”
Hanging out with Penny is actually going better than I thought. When she cornered me in the courtyard before we left for break, I thought she was going to chew me out for abandoning Simon.
“Hey,” she said, “I heard that Simon isn’t coming over for Christmas.”
“Because we’re not dating anymore, Penelope. Happy?”
“Generally,” she said, “but not because you broke up.”
It’s impossible to end a conversation with Penny. You can be rude, you can ignore her—she’s unshakable.
“Agatha,” she said, “do you honestly think I want to be