beat, sheathing his knife with a dramatic flourish. ‘ We are not joining you . It’s the other way around.’ He strode off, pausing briefly to look over his shoulder at them. ‘And, Romeo and Juliet, just so you know – I’m in charge.’
Chapter 17
The one called Cyrus, the one who couldn’t take his eyes off Evie, the one who thought he could actually fight a Shadow Warrior and win, was beginning to really irritate Lucas.
They had followed him back to his so-called hide-out. Though it was less a hide-out and more an apartment that a small child had been given free rein to decorate. It was downtown, in a warehouse not three blocks from the building The Tipping Point had occupied for the night. They had entered through a small metal door, crossed a dusty abandoned workshop, and taken a cranking goods lift to the top floor. The grille had pulled back to reveal a high-ceilinged loft space. Windows filled two walls. Exposed brickwork had been spray-painted with what Lucas assumed was an ironic attempt at graffiti art – at least, he hoped it was ironic. A kitchen took up one end of the space and an open doorway led through to a hallway that had several other doors coming off it. The floors were wood, sanded down and smooth underfoot, strewn with beanbags and items of furniture Lucas wasn’t sure were for sitting on or for eating off or just for looking at. An air-hockey table took up one corner of the room, a trampoline another. The ceiling was latticed by metal air vents and pipes, over which ropes had been slung, as well as several punch bags, making it look like an ape enclosure at a zoo.
‘Work-out space,’ Cyrus had said, nodding his head up at the ceiling when they walked in.
Lucas hadn’t replied. He hadn’t said a word yet in fact. Sometime soon he thought he and Cyrus were going to have a falling out, so he was trying to restrain himself until that time came.
Evie’s hand was still in his. He kept noticing the three rogue Hunters staring at them and their linked hands, as if something unfathomable, like a unicorn, had appeared in the room and they had to keep checking that it was real. The girl, Risper’s sister he’d figured, was the one to watch. Her dark eyes kept tracking to him every time she thought that he wasn’t looking. But he saw her. And possibly he was just suspicious but he wasn’t about to let his guard down where she was concerned. There was an edge to her that he was sure was lethally sharp and given the slightest provocation she’d strike. The boy Ash looked like a fighter – as in a real fighter – someone who would probably make him break a sweat, even while he was invisible. The boy had instincts, he could tell from the way he moved and the way he listened, his head pricking up at even the slightest sound that the others weren’t noticing. He was the quietest, the most contained emotionally too – hard to read. But Lucas didn’t sense any immediate threat from him. At least, not yet.
He’d been wary at first of coming back with them, but what choice had they had? Flic and the others had disappeared without even a goodbye, and he knew that door was shut. There was no going back. He felt a momentary twinge of regret and maybe anger that it had ended that way with Flic but there was nothing he could do about it now. He and Evie seemed to have reached a tentative truce with these self-styled rogue Hunters. Not that he had any faith in it holding. Given the choice, he would have preferred to strike out on his own with Evie because now he felt like he was having to watch his back from every direction. But they needed to figure out the prophecy and fulfil it, and the only person who might be able to help them, other than Grace, who seemed to be missing in action, was Cyrus’s mother. Scorpio’s law , as they said in the realms.
The three rogue Hunters were facing them. There were no invitations to make themselves at home or to take a seat. He waited, Evie brushing up
Chapter 17
The one called Cyrus, the one who couldn’t take his eyes off Evie, the one who thought he could actually fight a Shadow Warrior and win, was beginning to really irritate Lucas.
They had followed him back to his so-called hide-out. Though it was less a hide-out and more an apartment that a small child had been given free rein to decorate. It was downtown, in a warehouse not three blocks from the building The Tipping Point had occupied for the night. They had entered through a small metal door, crossed a dusty abandoned workshop, and taken a cranking goods lift to the top floor. The grille had pulled back to reveal a high-ceilinged loft space. Windows filled two walls. Exposed brickwork had been spray-painted with what Lucas assumed was an ironic attempt at graffiti art – at least, he hoped it was ironic. A kitchen took up one end of the space and an open doorway led through to a hallway that had several other doors coming off it. The floors were wood, sanded down and smooth underfoot, strewn with beanbags and items of furniture Lucas wasn’t sure were for sitting on or for eating off or just for looking at. An air-hockey table took up one corner of the room, a trampoline another. The ceiling was latticed by metal air vents and pipes, over which ropes had been slung, as well as several punch bags, making it look like an ape enclosure at a zoo.
‘Work-out space,’ Cyrus had said, nodding his head up at the ceiling when they walked in.
Lucas hadn’t replied. He hadn’t said a word yet in fact. Sometime soon he thought he and Cyrus were going to have a falling out, so he was trying to restrain himself until that time came.
Evie’s hand was still in his. He kept noticing the three rogue Hunters staring at them and their linked hands, as if something unfathomable, like a unicorn, had appeared in the room and they had to keep checking that it was real. The girl, Risper’s sister he’d figured, was the one to watch. Her dark eyes kept tracking to him every time she thought that he wasn’t looking. But he saw her. And possibly he was just suspicious but he wasn’t about to let his guard down where she was concerned. There was an edge to her that he was sure was lethally sharp and given the slightest provocation she’d strike. The boy Ash looked like a fighter – as in a real fighter – someone who would probably make him break a sweat, even while he was invisible. The boy had instincts, he could tell from the way he moved and the way he listened, his head pricking up at even the slightest sound that the others weren’t noticing. He was the quietest, the most contained emotionally too – hard to read. But Lucas didn’t sense any immediate threat from him. At least, not yet.
He’d been wary at first of coming back with them, but what choice had they had? Flic and the others had disappeared without even a goodbye, and he knew that door was shut. There was no going back. He felt a momentary twinge of regret and maybe anger that it had ended that way with Flic but there was nothing he could do about it now. He and Evie seemed to have reached a tentative truce with these self-styled rogue Hunters. Not that he had any faith in it holding. Given the choice, he would have preferred to strike out on his own with Evie because now he felt like he was having to watch his back from every direction. But they needed to figure out the prophecy and fulfil it, and the only person who might be able to help them, other than Grace, who seemed to be missing in action, was Cyrus’s mother. Scorpio’s law , as they said in the realms.
The three rogue Hunters were facing them. There were no invitations to make themselves at home or to take a seat. He waited, Evie brushing up
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