World equivalent of the tunnel to Daemonic. Just another forgotten part of the city. People probably never even gave it as second glance as they ran or cycled past, or shot baskets at the shuttered gate.
He hesitated, feeling a surge of anger. If Morgan and Eve hadn’t made it out, he’d come back here and tear those bars down.
He’d force his way in, find a way back to them somehow
…
His hands shook.
Perhaps the wolf wasn’t buried so deeply after all.
“Morgan? Eve?”
Cameron’s voice echoed back from the deserted shop. It had been a vain hope they’d both be waiting, full of stories about their adventures.
Still, it wasn’t as if he was without resources… He’d learnt so much running the business this past year. There were people and daemons he could talk to, bookshe could consult. All sorts of things! He’d track down Morgan and Eve, rescue them if he had to, respond to the Court summons, take on Mr Grey and Dr Black…
He sank into the chair, momentarily overwhelmed. Where to begin?
On the corner of the desk, the lump that had been Mr Grey’s chin squatted. It seemed bigger than he remembered, and he couldn’t shake the uncanny notion it was watching him.
What connection did it have to the Greys on the train?
He prodded it with a pencil and it pulsed damply.
He moved to the storeroom, returning with a fresh set of clothes and a covered plate. He scoffed the stale cake from below the cover, recharging some vital energy, but his real goal was the lid. With a swift motion, he clapped the patterned dome down over the lump.
“That’ll teach you to sit and look at me with… no eyes.”
A message light blinked from the answerphone and he eagerly thumbed a button, hoping for news. It triggered a long series of clicks.
“– Cam! It’s Amy! Have you
still
not got a new mobile? Seriously? Who doesn’t have a mobile? Well, you don’t obviously; otherwise I wouldn’t be leaving you this message… Anyway, I had to let you know, she got it! My old mum’s gone and got the job! So we’re gonna be moving through to Edinburgh. Can you believe it? Not right away – I’m gonna have to stay with my nan till term’s over, but this summer – boom! This town isn’t going to know what hit it! And we can go to the same school again –”
There was a garbled sound and the message judderedto a halt. He opened the lid of the machine and a cassette ejected, spewing yards of tape. Like nearly everything else in the shop, the answerphone was years out of date.
“Oh Amy. You broke the phone. You talked it to death.”
They’d been friends for ages, growing up in Cauldlockheart, back when life was simple and he’d lived with his dad. Cameron had been awkward and uninterested in sport, preferring daydreams about guitars and bands; Amy big and bolshy, with a lilting Scots-Italian accent and a refusal to back down in a fight. Seeing less of her was the one thing he regretted about leaving that gloomy town.
He began the laborious process of detangling the tape. Somehow, that felt easier to deal with than his real problems…
He’d never found a way to explain his new life to Amy. No matter how great she was, she was still only human – and human without Inheritance at that. She had no idea the Parallel even existed. One of the most terrifying moments he’d had was coming back from a trading mission to find her unexpectedly in the shop, deep in conversation with Eve.
“We’ve been discussing your faults,” Eve said brightly. “Which are numerous.”
“What are you doing here? How did you even find this place?”
“Weird and arcane powers!” Amy flared her eyes and made witchy movements with her hands. “Also known as Google. I put in ‘record shop’, ‘Edinburgh’ and ‘scary old woman’ and there was a surprisingly long page. Loads of people going on about stuff they’d found here,and some pretty bizarre rumours too… Eve’s told me everything.”
“She has?” Cameron shot an
He hesitated, feeling a surge of anger. If Morgan and Eve hadn’t made it out, he’d come back here and tear those bars down.
He’d force his way in, find a way back to them somehow
…
His hands shook.
Perhaps the wolf wasn’t buried so deeply after all.
“Morgan? Eve?”
Cameron’s voice echoed back from the deserted shop. It had been a vain hope they’d both be waiting, full of stories about their adventures.
Still, it wasn’t as if he was without resources… He’d learnt so much running the business this past year. There were people and daemons he could talk to, bookshe could consult. All sorts of things! He’d track down Morgan and Eve, rescue them if he had to, respond to the Court summons, take on Mr Grey and Dr Black…
He sank into the chair, momentarily overwhelmed. Where to begin?
On the corner of the desk, the lump that had been Mr Grey’s chin squatted. It seemed bigger than he remembered, and he couldn’t shake the uncanny notion it was watching him.
What connection did it have to the Greys on the train?
He prodded it with a pencil and it pulsed damply.
He moved to the storeroom, returning with a fresh set of clothes and a covered plate. He scoffed the stale cake from below the cover, recharging some vital energy, but his real goal was the lid. With a swift motion, he clapped the patterned dome down over the lump.
“That’ll teach you to sit and look at me with… no eyes.”
A message light blinked from the answerphone and he eagerly thumbed a button, hoping for news. It triggered a long series of clicks.
“– Cam! It’s Amy! Have you
still
not got a new mobile? Seriously? Who doesn’t have a mobile? Well, you don’t obviously; otherwise I wouldn’t be leaving you this message… Anyway, I had to let you know, she got it! My old mum’s gone and got the job! So we’re gonna be moving through to Edinburgh. Can you believe it? Not right away – I’m gonna have to stay with my nan till term’s over, but this summer – boom! This town isn’t going to know what hit it! And we can go to the same school again –”
There was a garbled sound and the message judderedto a halt. He opened the lid of the machine and a cassette ejected, spewing yards of tape. Like nearly everything else in the shop, the answerphone was years out of date.
“Oh Amy. You broke the phone. You talked it to death.”
They’d been friends for ages, growing up in Cauldlockheart, back when life was simple and he’d lived with his dad. Cameron had been awkward and uninterested in sport, preferring daydreams about guitars and bands; Amy big and bolshy, with a lilting Scots-Italian accent and a refusal to back down in a fight. Seeing less of her was the one thing he regretted about leaving that gloomy town.
He began the laborious process of detangling the tape. Somehow, that felt easier to deal with than his real problems…
He’d never found a way to explain his new life to Amy. No matter how great she was, she was still only human – and human without Inheritance at that. She had no idea the Parallel even existed. One of the most terrifying moments he’d had was coming back from a trading mission to find her unexpectedly in the shop, deep in conversation with Eve.
“We’ve been discussing your faults,” Eve said brightly. “Which are numerous.”
“What are you doing here? How did you even find this place?”
“Weird and arcane powers!” Amy flared her eyes and made witchy movements with her hands. “Also known as Google. I put in ‘record shop’, ‘Edinburgh’ and ‘scary old woman’ and there was a surprisingly long page. Loads of people going on about stuff they’d found here,and some pretty bizarre rumours too… Eve’s told me everything.”
“She has?” Cameron shot an
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