Chapter 18 Seraphine

Chapter 18 Seraphine

In a bid to put the horrors of yesterday behind them, Bibi asked Sera to accompany her on her next job. A small Break not far from the Hollows and better still, it paid well. Enough to cover next month's room and board, and to keep Sera in good standing with Madame Mercure and the other Cloaks.

They set out before sundown, Sera casing their surroundings to make sure Ransom wasn't lying in wait somewhere. But the sun was melting along the cracked rooftops, and the Dagger was nowhere to be seen. No monsters, either. She blew out a breath as they passed through the gate, leaving the grounds of House Armand.

‘Don't worry,' said Bibi, turning to wave up at Val, who was watching them morosely from the window of the upstairs room where she was still resting her ankle. ‘Whatever happens this evening, it can't possibly be worse than Villa Roman.'

Sera snorted. ‘You are a master of perspective, Bibi.'

They wandered on, chatting as the narrow grey streets of the Hollows gave way to pretty squares lined with yellow-leaved trees and beautiful pale-stone buildings. When the sun set, they donned their cloaks, losing themselves in the shadows that crawled up the sides of those buildings and pooled beneath the awnings of bistros they passed by.

Sera's eyes darted all the while, watching the alleys and rooftops for a tell-tale glimmer of silver. She was so distracted by thoughts of Ransom that she didn't notice Pippin was tracking her until his wet nose tickled her ankle.

Sera yelped, leaping from a shadow to scoop him up. He darted out of reach.

‘Get back here!' she shouted, but Bibi tugged on her arm.

‘Don't make a scene,' she hissed, dragging her back into the shadows. ‘We're trying to be inconspicuous, remember?' Their hurried footsteps were already too loud on the deserted streets. If they weren't careful, they'd round the next corner and run into a nightguard, or a monster, or a Dagger.

‘He's supposed to be at home with Val. Not tracking me .' Sera groaned. ‘He'll give us away.'

‘He's fine,' said Bibi. ‘No one will look twice at a terrier. And anyway, we're almost there.'

There was a small apothecary on a back street behind Merchant's Way. According to Madame Mercure, it was owned by a sour-faced man called Clement, who had fled the city after the first sighting of a monster several weeks ago. His sister, Clarice had approached House Armand with the job when she discovered he was not coming back any time soon.

‘You never told me what we're looking for,' said Sera as they turned down a lane that was all too similar to the one Ransom had dragged her into yesterday. But the Dagger wasn't here. If he was, Pippin would surely catch his scent and right now he was trotting out in front, wagging his little tail as though he knew exactly where to go. ‘Is it coin? Some kind of fancy herb?'

Bibi cleared her throat. ‘Actually, it's ashes.'

Sera slowed. ‘Ashes?'

‘Lulu's ashes, to be exact. Their beloved childhood cat,' Bibi went on, as if that wasn't the most absurd thing she'd ever said. ‘Clarice says Clement stole the urn from her during a fight five years ago and she wants it back. It used to sit on her mantlepiece.'

Sera stood still a moment. ‘People are weird.'

Bibi gave a snort of agreement.

At the end of the lane, they came to a narrow green shopfront with a small cloudy window hung with tassels. Pippin reared up to sniff the flower box on the sill. He whimpered, coming to sit on Sera's feet. She saw then what had unsettled him. The trough wasn't full of flowers but heartsbane, the blood-red berries bulging from thin, thorny stalks.

‘Poison,' muttered Sera, recalling the time she had picked a bush of heartsbane out in the plains, thinking they were redcurrants, only for Lorenzo to slap them out of her hands a half-second before she ate one. ‘I wonder how many birds old Clement's killed with those.'

‘At least now we don't have to feel bad about robbing him,' said Bibi lightly, though, as far as Sera knew, she never felt bad about robbing anyone. Sera stood back, watching the alley while Bibi went to work on the locked door. It yielded easily. She slipped her arm through the gap to dislodge the chain, and in a matter of seconds they were inside.

They crept through the cramped shop like mischievous ghosts, between rickety wooden shelves stuffed with all manner of herbs and spices that climbed all the way to the ceiling. It didn't take long to find poor Lulu, whose ashes were kept in a cat-shaped silver urn. It stood on a high shelf behind the till. Sera clambered onto the cluttered countertop, while Bibi stood at the shop window, peering out through the tassels.

‘There's shouting outside.'

Pippin paced the shop floor, growling.

Sera tried not to think of monsters as she rose to her tiptoes, reaching for the topmost shelf. The shouting got louder, closer. A chorus of screams followed, raising the hairs on her arm. The urn almost toppled as she dislodged it, but she caught it in both hands, the counter trembling as she fought to regain her balance.

Pippin's growls became barks as Sera climbed down, passing the urn to Bibi as she went to wrangle Pip. He was pawing at the door, like he was desperate to investigate those terrified screams. Or perhaps he sensed something in the apothecary's shop that they had not.

Sera and Bibi exchanged a loaded glance, before hightailing it out of there. While Bibi locked the door behind them, Sera dumped the trough of heartsbane into a nearby bin. By the time they finished, Pippin was already at the bright end of the lane. The screams were getting further away but the approaching thunder of hoofprints meant the nightguards were coming. Perhaps they were looking to catch a monster, too, and had been alerted by the screams.

While Bibi struggled to tuck the urn under her cloak, Pippin darted from the alley. Instead of turning left for the Hollows, he turned right, running towards the oncoming clatter of hooves.

Sera took off at a sprint, flying out of the lane like a bat. Pippin was halfway to the street, running headlong at all those horses like he was going to fight them off. Saint s, there were so many. At least forty mounted nightguards galloping down Merchant's Way, all of them riding too hard to spot the terrier darting right into their path.

‘Pip!' Sera screamed, shrugging off her cloak to run faster, but it was too late to grab him. Too late for the horses to stop, even as a handful reared up in alarm.

Pippin froze, caught in the midst of a stampede as the horses closed around him, blocking him from Sera's view. She could only watch in wide-eyed horror as the horses thundered on, kicking up plumes of dust as they went, their white coats gleaming in the falling dark. She was about to launch herself into the fray when she spotted a cloud of shadows swirling right in the heart of the stampede.

A tornado of starless night, as hard and unyielding as any wall.

The horses parted around it, afraid of the swirling dark and the monster lurking within. Even the nightguards stiffened, kicking their heels and urging their steeds to gallop faster, harder, looking everywhere but at that wedge of darkness that refused to budge. It was like a boulder in the road, parting the king's horses into twin rivers of white until the last of them had passed. Then there was nothing left but the echo of their frantic hoofbeats and the dust swirling in their wake as they rode on towards the harbour.

Sera stood on the side of the street, staring at the blackness that had swallowed Pippin. It remained, even after the nightguards had moved on. Her eyes swam as she stumbled towards it, one hand outstretched in a silent plea, the other rising to cup her necklace. Please do something , she begged it. Please help me save him.

The shape shifted as she drew nearer, falling away in great black rivulets to reveal a hunched figure. A man, Sera realized, with a gasp of relief. Not a monster. As he stood up, he cast aside the last of his shadows, surrendering the shield he had fashioned. He raised his chin, revealing the gleaming silver eyes she had come to know far too well.

Ransom stared at her and she at him, nothing between them now but the clouds of their breath.

Pippin trembled in his arms.

Sera's heart hitched. She tried to sound brave, but her voice broke when she said, ‘Please don't hurt him.'

The Dagger blinked, then frowned. ‘What would be the point of saving him, only to hurt him?'

She swallowed thickly. She didn't know what kind of trick this was, but she refused to believe it was an act of kindness. Not from the Dagger who had killed her mother, then tried to kill her. She squeezed her necklace, silently begging for its protection, but it only offered a dim pulse of warmth.

‘Please,' she said again. Her heart was a drum pounding in her chest. She was going to be sick if he didn't set Pip down. She was going to cry, her knees already threatening to buckle. ‘Leave him out of this.'

Slowly, so slowly, as if he was trying not to startle her, the Dagger set Pippin down. If Sera hadn't witnessed the gentleness with which Ransom placed him on the street, she wouldn't have believed him capable of it.

Pippin bolted towards her, and she rushed to scoop him up, pressing her face into his scruff. The Dagger watched her all the while, shadows absently wreathing his ankles and crawling up his legs.

When Bibi's voice rang out behind her, Sera forced herself to speak. ‘What do you want?' she demanded.

His eyebrows rose. ‘Is that how you usually say thank you?'

She took a step away from him. He let her do it. She took another, slow and careful. And then a third.

‘Consider this a peace offering, spitfire,' he said, casually digging those violent hands into his pockets. ‘Next time, we're going to talk about that antidote.'

Sera frowned at the word. Not power. Not magic. Antidote . She wanted to call after him, but the Dagger was already gone, melting into the night as though he had never been there at all.