at once,” Patrick insisted. “This place is no longer secure, and Elaine’s safety is all that matters now.”
Well that was me told. And since nobody else had strong opinions on the subject, we set off as soon as we’d finished our tea. Well, as soon as we’d finished our tea and Sofia and Flick had done the washing up because they—to be fair absolutely rightly—pointed out that leaving dirty cups lying around in a house that would probably be empty until the summer of next year was a major dick move. Anyway, once that minor detail was dealt with it was get in the car and back on the road.
With Tara gone there was only one car for five of us, and since Elaine had to ride beside Patrick because of their intensely true love and unbreakable eternal bond that was definitely more eternal than the eternal bonds he’d had with Yelena, Sofia, or me, I wound up having to squeeze in the back with the undergraduates. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, and Patrick was still playing Claire de fucking Lune on a loop, but what with the five hour drive and the sheer amount of exhausting shit that had happened to me, I managed to fall asleep almost immediately.
Under a bridge in an unreal city, the Witch-Queen of London sat on her swing of red threads, looking out over the water.
“What shall we ever do?” she asked.
“I’ve found the grail,” I told her. “At least, I think I have. She’s more of a person than a cup.”
“I am waiting,” Nimue said. “Suspended in a place between. Waiting for somebody to touch the scale and tip the balance.”
That had been a total non-sequitur and honestly this was getting more frustrating by the second. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”
“No,” she said. “It is not.”
I turned and walked away, stalking through overgrown rubble and hoping that fucking giraffe wouldn’t come back. What was it with the weird animals anyway? Stupid magic and its stupid layers of metaphor.
On the wreckage of a red-brick pub I found the woman who had once been Nana King dealing cards and moving little pegs around a cribbage board.
“Fifteen-two,” she said. “Fifteen-four, and one for his nob.”
I didn’t even ask.
“So you found the grail?” Her smile was inviting, cruel.
“What’s it to you?”
“Nothing now. Not since you killed me—don’t think I’ve forgotten that, my girl. If young Arty had lived then she’d have been for him, but as it is”—she shrugged—“do what you like with her. You’ll need to spill her blood in a silver bowl if you want to wake your friend. Maybe better to let her die instead.”
I’d foolishly hoped that there wouldn’t be any more magic bullshit to wade through. “And you’re telling me this why?”
She cackled. She’d always been a bit of a cackler. “Because we’re connected now, you and me. I can’t keep nothing from you. Not since you stuck that spike in my heart. Besides, I like to watch you twist.”
“You think I’m twisting?”
“I think you’re spinning like a sparrow on a string, my dear. And how will it go, I wonder? Will you cut the girl open to save your friend? Will you cut down your friend to spare the girl’s blood and the queen’s suffering? Or will you walk away, make the choice that is no choice at all, crawl back into your hole and never come out?”
Those all sounded like shit options. “Man, I wish this was one of those kiss-the-princess type of curses instead of one of those bleed-a-person-into-a-bowl type of curses.”
“Be careful what you wish for. Kisses are promises, and promises can come back to haunt you.”
She had a point. On both counts. “Well, it’s been—something, talking to you. Although, no offence, but I was hoping you’d have been burning in hell by now.”
“That will come,” she replied. “For both of us.”
Great. Then again, she was evil. She was probably trying to psych me out. I walked away.
“Fear death by water, Kate Kane. If you remember nothing else, remember that.”
I did my best to ignore her. I’d managed to avoid drowning so far, after all.
My path turned upwards, over scree and shale and something that might once have been the supports of a bridge across the river that now ran behind me, though I did not remember crossing it.
The green lady stood at the summit, staring past me at the water.
“You are close,” she said. “Very close.”
“An evil old woman told me I’d have to bleed out a