The Sunken City Trilogy Page 21

  “I asked if I should check over there.” He was pointing across the road, to a hair salon, a café and a clothes shop that looked like an art gallery.

  “Considering the boy gave me the exact address of this betting shop,” Casaria said, “what would you hope to achieve by volunteering to search a different location?”

  Gumg shrank in shame, but Casaria froze, spotting a flash of movement in the window above the café. Gumg and Landon followed his gaze. Too late to duck out of view, Pax merely stared back.

  Pax tucked Letty into her inside coat pocket and hurried down the stairs to find Casaria and his two goons in the door. Casaria stopped rigidly, the leather jacket and tatty suit pair behind him forming an impassable wall. The clerk behind the counter opened his mouth to welcome the men but said nothing as the strangeness of the scene grabbed him.

  “It’s more than a little worrying to find you here, Pax,” Casaria said.

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Pax started indignantly. Her instincts took over. “You came looking for me after what I said? Seriously?” She pulled towards him, fists clenched, every bit the victim of a stalker. “I told you to leave me alone. How’d you find me? Have you been tracking my phone?”

  “Please, Pax,” Casaria answered. “They might buy it, but I’m no idiot. Meeting a friend, were you?”

  “You need to step the fuck back.” Pax raised her voice. “And what’s this?” She gestured to the two men, aware of the counter clerk watching them. “Backup, in case I didn’t want to come with you?”

  “Excuse me…” The clerk tried to intervene, his voice cracking at a high pitch, as though he’d chosen that moment to hit puberty.

  Casaria glanced at him, affecting a forced smile. “She’s unstable. We’ll take care of this.”

  “What is this, Casaria?” said the bigger man, in the threadbare suit. “Who is she?”

  “Apparently she’s our ticket to the Fae.”

  “Am I shit,” Pax snarled. She took a step towards them, making for the door. “You need to leave me alone.” The two men instinctively stepped aside, but Casaria stood his ground, and moved to grab her shoulder. She jumped back, raising a fist. “Don’t touch me, you prick!”

  “Where’s this friend of yours?” Casaria said confidently. “Too small for us to see?”

  Pax kept her fist raised.

  “Landon,” Casaria said. “Got your faeometer on you?”

  “Over there.” Pax pointed past Casaria’s shoulder.

  “Huh?”

  “My friend. He is over there. In the betting shop.”

  The others followed her gesture, but Casaria stayed fixed on Pax. “I thought you’d be better at bluffing, given your –”

  “Tran!” Pax shouted, waving. Casaria turned, spotting the man leaving the shop on the other side of the road. Tran waved heartily back as he ventured into the street, his golden hair flopping about his face. With Casaria momentarily dumbstruck, Pax pushed past and ran out.

  “You’re still here,” Tran said merrily, approaching her.

  “Yeah,” Pax said. “Ran into some acquaintances.” She lowered her voice. “Not exactly welcome.” Tran frowned slightly.

  Casaria and the other two edged out onto the pavement behind her, Landon rummaging in his pockets. Casaria was sizing the man up. “Good friend of Pax’s, are you?”

  “Sure.” Tran grinned, showing his bleached teeth. “And you are...?”

  “I really do need to go.” Pax smiled sweetly at him, the sort of smile that crossed her face only when she was working. “Send me that address and I’ll see you later.”

  “Definitely, most definitely. You run along.”

  “You start to get the idea,” Landon said in a disgruntled tone, shuffling around the group, “that this is why you needed help, Casaria.”

  Casaria looked from his colleague back to Pax, his eyes saying he hated every inch of human fibre that surrounded him. “Pax, you can’t just –”

  “Leave me the hell alone, all right?” Pax snapped, and moved to leave. The moment Casaria took a step after her, Tran stepped in the way and placed a hand on his chest. Pax kept going, giving them a backwards glance to make sure this played out.

  “There a problem, pal?” Tran asked. He was taller than Casaria by a head, wider by a shoulder, and open to dealing with troublesome squirts. Casaria was grinning, though, like he welcomed the challenge.

  “It doesn’t concern you.”

  “Leave them alone, for Christ’s sake,” Landon said, starting to cross the road. He had a tracking device out, like Casaria’s from the day before, and he was shaking it to get it to work.

  Pax continued, heading for the Underground station. She heard Casaria move, and Tran moving in step with him. The guy in leathers suggested, in a nasal tone, “Maybe we should get back to it, huh?”

  The tracking device beeped.

  Pax stopped in the middle of the road, everyone going quiet behind her.

  It beeped again.

  Pax didn’t look back. They’d be exchanging concerned looks. It beeped again and she took a step away. Careful. Then another. A gap in the beeps this time. Slower.

  “I knew it,” Casaria said quietly. “She has it on her.”

  Pax ran.

  “Stop her!”

  Hearing the footfalls of Landon close behind her, she flung a fist back without looking and connected with his face. He stumbled and grunted a curse as she broke away. Pounding over the pavement towards the Underground, she heard the leather jacket shout, “I got her!” She threw a quick look back and ducked as she saw the gun, the man’s legs spread ready to shoot. Someone screamed. Casaria bowled into him from the side, throwing his aim off. The shot went high and wide, the noise sending bystanders diving for cover. Pax watched in shock as Casaria chopped the leather jacket’s neck. The man fell down in splutters.

  Pax was all but at the Underground station now. Landon was steadying himself in the middle of the road, clutching a bloody nose, any semblance of giving chase gone, and Tran was next to Casaria, startled still. Casaria gave Tran a sideways look, then his eyes rested on her again. He raised a pointing finger. “Pax! Stop!”

  “No, you stop!” Tran shouted stupidly, leaping at him. Casaria ducked the hulking man’s grasp and swung a punch into his temple. The blow knocked Tran onto his delicately chiselled teeth. Pax winced as he rocked back onto his knees, upright just in time for Casaria to catch him with a punch square to the other temple. This one toppled him.

  Pax bolted, all but diving down the Underground steps. She shoved through a gathering of people hiding from the sound of the gunshot. She vaulted the barriers and glanced back as she sprinted onto the platform. A train was rolling into the station, and Casaria hadn’t caught up.

  8

  Pax struggled to breathe as the train moved, sinking deep into the seat and closing her eyes as she panted. Sweat dripped down the back of her neck. No chance of showering that off any time soon. Letty shifted in her pocket, and Pax quickly checked for fellow passengers: an older couple stared unashamedly her way; a young man was listening to a stereo a few seats down; a man in a shirt was checking out a girl standing further down the aisle, over his magazine. Pax opened her coat and whispered, “Not here...too many people.”

  Letty shoved the pocket opening outwards slightly so she could see up, her face stern. “Get off this fucking train,” she hissed. “Right now.”

  Pax covered her mouth and ducked. “They’ll catch up at the next station.”

  “You brought a Fae underground, we’ve got bigger problems than those arseholes!”

  Pax pulled her coat closed again, putting a hand to her chest to hold Letty closer to her, muffling her protests. She looked up and around. The next stop was a five-minute drive for the others, at most. How dangerous could it be to keep going? As she thought it, the train slowed. The lights dimmed, then came back brighter. They dimmed again, almost to darkness, as the train screeched to a halt.

  The o
ther passengers looked around, more curious than concerned. The older couple turned their attention away as the man mumbled about forgetting to water a hydrangea.

  Pax stood and walked down the carriage, brushing past magazine man and moving close to the door. Looking back, she saw the other passengers starting to yawn. The lights came back up, a little brighter, and there was a spark of blue light somewhere outside. The sort that railways randomly throw out, she told herself. She flinched as part of Letty’s tiny form jabbed at her through the pocket, punching or kicking at her.

  Blue light flickered at the end of the train carriage with a cackle of sparks. Pax jumped back, remembering the thing that had chased her and Casaria, earning a disapproving look from the magazine man. The other passengers had slumped, eyelids drooping. The young man with the stereo rolled his head back against the seat. The lights went out.

  “Oh bollocks,” Pax uttered.

  “Happens all the time,” the magazine man said. Was that supposed to be comforting or scolding? The lights came back up as she glared at him; he caught her eye and looked away.

  The train started moving as the blue lights flickered around it again. It continued rattling along the tracks, too slow for Pax’s tastes. It rolled into the next station, the platform opening up in light. The moment the doors opened, Pax charged out, glancing back only briefly to see the tunnel flickering as though lit by vast blue candlelight. No one else noticed or cared.

  She sprinted out of the station, up the stairs, through the barriers and out onto the street, a carbon copy of the place she’d left behind. Checking for Casaria’s car, Pax turned away from the road to run down a side street. She went on for two more blocks before turning again, into an alley that cut towards an open green area, then she finally stopped.

  She leant forward, gagging on her own saliva, put her hands on her knees and cursed. As she hung in exhausted relief, the fairy in her pocket started shoving at her again. Pax half walked, half swayed to a bench and slumped down. There was no one else in the park, but Pax wasn’t sure she cared anyway. She lifted Letty out of her pocket and opened her hand in front of her face. Letty clambered to her feet and steadied herself in the middle of Pax’s palm. Her fists were balled tight and her eyes bulged with anger.

  “Don’t you ever do something like that again,” the fairy said.

  Pax spat out some phlegm. “What? Save you from those nutters?”

  “What’d I tell you about the Sunken City? We go down there, the creatures come at us in an instant. The berserker could’ve travelled the full length of Ordshaw to get to us just there.”

  “It didn’t though, did it,” Pax said. Letty folded her arms. “Get us, I mean.”

  “They knew where we were,” Letty huffed.

  “But they weren’t expecting us,” Pax noted, before the fairy could blame her.

  Letty nodded. “Rufaizu gave the place up. Guess I should’ve expected it, given how much of a louse his father was.”

  Pax took that in. At least that meant Rufaizu was okay, if he’d been able to tip off the Ministry to the Fae’s location. He was alive, anyway. He was safer than her. She said, “They know where I live, too. That makes me homeless right now. Homeless and an enemy of the state. Fuck. My cash is in the apartment, what am I supposed to do?” In her frustration, she shifted on the bench and Letty had to steady herself on Pax’s hand.

  “Oi! Settle down!” Letty said. “You’re gonna take me to my boys, that’s what you’re gonna do. Figure yourself out after.”

  “Figure myself out?” Pax gaped at her. “That’s all you’ve got?”

  “Sorry I don’t have plans for hiding humans from the Ministry. In case you didn’t notice, I’m out on my arse with a wing missing, which gives me bigger problems of my own.”

  “I’m in this mess because of you!”

  “Oh please. You’d be dead if not for me. Here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna jump on a bus to the warehouse district, I’m gonna tell you where to get off, and we’re gonna check the abandoned research centre building.”

  “And then?”

  “We part ways. Most likely, you start hightailing it as far from Ordshaw as possible.”

  “Hightailing it?” Pax shot back. “All right. Counter-offer, we go back to mine and you sneak in to get my cash for me. Then we figure out a plan together.”

  “Not going to happen. They’re looking for me the same as you.”

  “Except you’re decidedly less conspicuous. And seeing that I’m your ride around this city, I don’t see you having much choice.”

  Letty held her gaze, testing her, seeing how serious she was. She nodded slowly and crouched down, opening the bag that she had taken from the betting shop. As she delved in, she said, “Okay. Here’s my final offer.” She drew back holding a chunky metal pistol. Chunky compared to her, at least; it was the size and shape of a plug fuse. “You take me to where I’ve got to go and I don’t scatter your brains.”

  Pax didn’t respond at once. It was hard to feel threatened by such a diminutive figure with such an insignificant weapon, even with the strength of Letty’s conviction. “You realise you’re standing in my hand, right? I could squash you like a bug.”

  “Bet you all the cash in Ordshaw you’re not quicker than a bullet.”

  Pax paused again. “And I’m supposed to believe that thing works?”

  “You believe Apothel’s dead, don’t you?”

  “Right.” Pax tried to think quickly. “So shoot me, where does that leave you?”

  “Without having to worry about loose ends, for starters.” Letty toed the bag at her feet. “I got all I needed at our stop. Even if I can’t fly, I’ve got dust, I can stay hidden. I don’t need you, Pax. But if your life’s worth something, you can still help me.”

  “Just like that?” Pax said.

  “Just like that,” Letty replied coldly.

  So much for bonding. Pax said, “And when you get to where you’re going...”

  “I’m good for my word, same as you. You can walk. But that’s where this ends. Now get moving. I’ll have this on you every step of the way.”

  Pax took a deep breath, eyes fixed on the fairy. She said, finally, “For such a small person you’re a massive bitch, you know that?”

  Along the quiet journey, on more than one occasion Pax considered taking her chances. With Letty in her pocket, she could slap a hand against her and potentially incapacitate her. But all the fairy had to do was pull the trigger. And Pax also suspected that Fae people were stronger than they looked. Their small size did not necessarily make them frail; it didn’t seem to have the expected effect on the volume of her voice, after all.

  Having spent most of her physical energy running from Casaria, and her mental energy on fresh feelings of animosity towards her companion, the effort of sparking a new fight with Letty didn’t seem worth it. A few bus rides and she would be rid of her, no more fuss. With that resolved in her head, she tried to plan her next course of action.

  They would definitely be monitoring her apartment, but whatever she wanted to do she needed her money. And her passport, if it came to that. Why couldn’t they be like all the other government agencies she knew of – slow and ineffective? The government agents she crossed had to be the ones who carried guns and shot people to solve problems. Whatever happened to receiving a strongly worded letter in the post ten weeks after an infraction?

  Her mind was wandering. She looked out the window and saw that they were passing through Ten Gardens. It wouldn’t be far from here.

  The most sensible option was her original plan, which she resented Letty for not going along with. If an inconspicuous patsy could get into her apartment for her, she could avoid the Ministry and get away safely. And go where? Back to London? Abroad? Home for a thick slice of humble pie? She sighed. Home might not be so bad after all this. At least she’d see Albie again. He’d appreciate what she’d been through. He might even believe it.

  Passing the ivy-dotte
d facades of renovated townhouses, where a group of eclectic adults were making music from pots, pans and a guitar, Pax swallowed those thoughts. She didn’t want to leave Ordshaw. It had been her home for long enough that she felt she owned a piece of the city. It was hers. From the abandoned industrial behemoths to the allotment shacks, part of it belonged to her, and part of her belonged to it. It didn’t matter that she woke as the rest of the city slept, or that she followed her own path while they slaved within the system, she was still a part of it all, in her own way. She wanted to stay a part of it. And she wanted to protect it, if that’s what it came to. The words slipped out of her mouth: “I don’t want to leave.”

  She felt Letty shift in her pocket, but the fairy said nothing.

  The bus passed a street vendor trying to convince a smartly dressed couple to buy a ceramic pig. They didn’t look interested, but he was giving it everything he had, hands waving and mouth flapping.

  There was another option. The money in her apartment wouldn’t get her far, but the device that the Ministry and the Fae were willing to kill for might.

  Pax took her phone from her pocket. A present from Bees’ friend, Howling Jowls Jones, who’d insisted it was untraceable. That had been important to her once, probably for imaginary reasons; it was a godsend now. It was unregistered, contained none of her personal details and used a series of masking programs to access calls and the internet. She brought up Bees’ number and hesitated before ringing.

  Was it safe?

  “Letty?” she said quietly, not caring that there was a handful of other passengers who might or might not be able to hear. It would look like she was making a call, and given the fairy’s small voice, it would sound like her responses came from the phone. Letty didn’t answer. “Letty? It’s okay to talk.”

  “Is it fuck.”

  “I’m on my phone.”

  “They can trace that shit, you idiot.”

  “That’s my question. How did you get my phone number?” Silence from the pocket. Pax kept staring at the phone. “It’s not registered.”