Zach’s frown deepened. “Everyone on the Council is either a Custodian or former Custodian. They’re all a similar age, with similar backgrounds. They choose each other to sit on the Council, then they vote for each other and agree with each other; completely locked in the old ways. We might as well go back to having an Archdderwydd and be done.”
They both shuddered. The Order had tried having one person in charge once, in the early decades of the Roman conquest of Britain. It hadn’t worked well for anyone—especially when the Archdderwydd had ignored the advice of the Seers, rejected the cautions of the Guardians and Healers, and decided to fight the Romans head-on at Anglesey. They had lost multiple Dru-vid in one terrible day. Since then, the Council had been made up of a triad each of Seers, Healers and Guardians; all with equal votes.
“We’re stagnating as we are,” Zach continued. “Nothing has changed, Kay. Not even since….” Zach left the rest of the sentence hanging, but Kay knew what he hadn’t said. Nothing had changed since his mother had died.
She covered his hand with hers and lowered her voice. “They should have done more.”
“My mother died. Your Granddad. Even James’s aunt. And they did nothing. The Healers tried their best, I know they did, but after she got her cancer diagnosis, they refused to do any more.” Zach’s voice grew rough. “The Council told them to keep her comfortable. That’s it. They’re so focused on keeping their secrets, they wouldn’t risk someone noticing, even if it meant her life.” His hand clenched under hers. “There has to be a better way.”
“Yeah,” Kay agreed quietly. Zach was right. It was a conversation they were having more and more often.
They sat together, lost in their own thoughts until Zach’s phone buzzed, and he glanced down to scroll through his messages. “Sorry, Kay. David’s asked me to grab a book for him while we’re here. Do you mind if I leave you for a few minutes and run to Waterstones?”
“No problem. Let’s get the bill and I’ll come with you.”
“Nah, I don’t want us to lose our table. I can see at least two couples circling the square. I’ll just be a few minutes. Why don’t you order dessert for both of us? I’ll have the tiramisu.”
Kay smiled as Zach jumped up and strode away. He’d been choosing the tiramisu as long as she’d known him.
She sat quietly, a strange tension humming along her nerves as she watched the Friday evening crowds milling through the square. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she took it out to see a message from Elizabeth. Are you there?
2 min away.
Go down to Bond Street and watch the buses.
What am I looking for?
I don’t know exactly. Something dark, I think. You’ll know when you see it.
Kay looked around for Zach—he was supposed to be her backup—but she couldn’t see him anywhere in the crowd. Bollocks. Why did he have to disappear at exactly the moment she needed him?
She dug out some cash to leave on the table and made her way back toward the crowds, hoping to bump into Zach coming the other way. Otherwise, she was going to have to investigate on her own after all.
She walked a little way down the busy street, and then leaned against the Gap store window, watching the crowds and the row of big red London buses crawling down the road. The buses were moving far more slowly than the pedestrians swarming around them.
She took out her phone and was just about to start texting Zach to let him know where she was when she noticed two burly men in the bus shelter across the road. They were standing side by side a little way from a seated woman. Both had their hands stuffed into the pockets of big puffy jackets, and they both wore their hoods up casting their faces into darkness.
Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have given them more than a glance, but there was a strange gloomy pool around them as if they stood in a deep shadow. And the shadow was moving, slowly swirling and undulating in a way that immediately caught her attention.
It was the kind of Shadow that she could see, but which would be invisible to the crowds of ordinary people pushing their way down the street. The kind of Shadow that should not be there, and definitely should not be behaving like that.
She shoved her phone back in her pocket and stalked closer, needing to see exactly what was going on. The road was packed, but she ducked between taxis and ran behind a Land Rover, narrowly avoiding a cyclist who turned around and flashed her the finger.
Kay looked down the road, assessing. The next bus was about two minutes away. Not enough time to find Zach. She jogged faster, spinning into the shelter in front of the men, but staying back from the gloomy pool of Shadow and its strangely dark energy.
The shelter was lit from above and the stark light gleamed on the sheen of sweat dripping down both men’s faces, the whites of their panic-wide eyes contrasted with the sludgy Shadow swirling at their feet. One of the men lifted his hand and scratched his throat, drawing Kay’s eyes to a strange black tattoo half-hidden by his hood. It looped around in whirls across his skin toward the back of his neck, its long winding arms wrapping around his throat. The tattoo almost seemed to be moving, black tentacles creeping up his neck and along his jaw. Moving like a Shadow.
Kay had never seen a Shadow behave anything like it. It was a dark, twisted thing vibrating with power. The kind of Shadow that students whispered about at college, but no one in authority ever acknowledged. And worse—it seemed to have embedded itself in the man’s skin.
She ran her eyes desperately over the crowd. Where the hell was Zach? She couldn’t see him anywhere. She was alone, but she couldn’t leave.
She stepped forward directly in front of the pair. “Can I help you?”
Both pairs of eyes swiveled toward her, the men’s pale faces staying eerily still. Neither of them answered.
“Hello. Can you hear me?” she asked more firmly.
Still nothing.
