Page 5 of A Skirl of Sorcery (The Cat Lady Chronicles #3)

Chapter

Five

We returned to our earlier silence. I didn’t know what Keres was thinking but, for my part, I was musing on different ways I could have approached Slasher to make her see that her reaction to the ban sith was unmerited. Thus far, I was coming up short.

As soon as my garden gate came into view, I spotted She Who Loves Sunbeams. My old darling was stretched out on the top of the wall and living up to her name. Dave, meanwhile, was standing in his garden with a mug of tea, scowling up at the blue cloudless sky as if its very existence offended him.

I glanced at Keres’ stoic face. Uh-oh. There was no way Dave would manage to keep his mouth shut about my latest house guest. This could get ugly.

Tiddles scampered ahead and vaulted over the gate into the garden. She Who Loves Sunbeams lifted up her head and yawned. Her nose twitched and she glanced at me, then her gaze landed on Keres. Her whiskers quivered and, in an instant, she was on all four paws and arching her back.

I stiffened. My old cat was laid back: she didn’t react to werewolves, she could rarely be bothered to bat a paw at passing wildlife, and she enjoyed a placid, carefree life.

I had never seen her arch her back like this, and I had to do a double take to ensure I wasn’t seeing things.

There was no doubting it: She Who Loves Sunbeams was terrified of Keres.

‘Wait here,’ I muttered to the ban sith and hurried forward. ‘Darling,’ I said, ‘there’s nothing to be afraid of.’

I wasn’t sure She Who Loves Sunbeams heard me. Her pupils were enlarged, wide black circles that indicated every ounce of the fear that was currently attacking her. I stroked her, trying to smooth her hackles but it didn’t work.

In the end, I scooped her up and carried her through the garden and into the house. Once Keres was settled in the empty flat upstairs, I’d let She Who Loves Sunbeams outside again. It seemed safest for everyone if she was contained, but I couldn’t deny how much her reaction worried me.

I dropped her onto her favourite cushion, repositioning it slightly so that a shaft of sunlight fell in from the window. She gave me a long, baleful look of reproach and curled up into a ball, still huffing.

‘I don’t understand,’ I said softly, trying not to allow my concern get the better of me. ‘You’ve been close to ban siths before and you understand what they’re about. You know they’re not to be feared, so why did you react to this one?’

She Who Loves Sunbeams buried her head in her paws and refused to look at me. I frowned at her for a moment then left her in peace. Perhaps she’d feel up to communicating more later.

I checked on the other cats, who were all asleep.

I was beginning to suspect that their reaction to Keres would be similar.

Next I cast around until I located Tiddles, who had already found her own spot underneath the kitchen table.

‘Alright,’ I said. ‘What’s the deal with Keres? Why don’t you like her?’

Tiddles wasn’t feeling any more inclined to answer me than She Who Loves Sunbeams.

‘I know I didn’t listen to you before,’ I told her. ‘But I’m listening now.’

From Tiddles’ sigh, it was far too little too late.

I gave up and left her alone. I would have to warn Keres again to stay as far away from the cats as possible.

If She Who Loves Sunbeams reacted so badly, I couldn’t begin to imagine what She Without An Ear might do.

She was a war-mongering moggy who rarely allowed an opportunity for a cat fight to pass her by.

I headed outside and my stomach dropped when I saw that Keres had engaged Dave in conversation. My grumpy neighbour would give her short shrift; if the likes of Arthur Dinsbury and Slasher hated Keres on sight, Dave would certainly be no different.

I prepared yet again to defend the ban sith as I strode towards them.

‘You know Barton Road?’ Keres was asking.

Dave nodded vigorously. ‘Know it? Once upon a time, I could have told you the names of every single resident on that street.’

My mouth dropped open.

‘Number thirty-two?’ Keres said, arching an eyebrow.

‘Agnes Johnson,’ Dave told her without missing a beat.

‘That’s my nan.’

‘Old Nessie is your grandmother?’

She nodded. ‘Great-gran. Yep.’

‘It’s a small world. How is she doing?’

The smile that had finally lit up Keres’ face vanished. ‘She passed away last year.’

Dave’s shoulders dropped. ‘Oh. I’m sorry.’

‘She had a good innings,’ Keres said. ‘She was a hundred and two.’

‘Good for her,’ he murmured. He doffed an imaginary cap in her direction. ‘You ever want to reminisce about old times, you knock on my door, you hear? Don’t hesitate. I’ve always got a cup of tea for Nessie Johnson’s great-granddaughter.’

Keres blinked rapidly. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

‘Any time.’ He turned away and went inside his house, leaving me staring after him.

‘Your neighbour is friendly,’ Keres said to me.

My jaw was working soundlessly.

‘He’s very chatty and he has kind eyes.’

I found my voice. ‘Yes,’ I managed. ‘Dave’s a real sweetheart.’ I pointed to the set of stone steps leading upstairs. ‘Come on. The flat is this way.’

It didn’t take long to show Keres around.

The flat was a small one-bedroom affair with basic furniture but it was comfortable enough.

The front door had been repaired since the last tenant, Nick, had departed and I’d paid extra to ensure it was reinforced against further intrusions by nasty people.

It wasn’t the Ritz, but Keres would be safe there.

‘If you need anything,’ I told her, ‘let me know.’

‘Thank you,’ she whispered. She seemed to mean it. She was more relaxed after her chat with Dave and was gratifyingly pleased with her surroundings.

Whatever had brought her to Mallory and then to me, she was clearly in need of a long rest so I left her to it, promising to check on her later.

I suspected that Keres was the sort of person who wouldn’t ask for water if she were on fire; it would be a fine balance to ensure she had everything she needed without appearing intrusive.

As soon as I returned to my garden I went straight to Dave, who was still in his garden scowling at a particularly gnarly patch of silphium.

I folded my arms and waited. After several beats had passed, he spoke.

‘You’ll have to tell me what you want,’ he grunted.

‘I can’t read your mind so I don’t know what’s wrong. ’

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ I replied. ‘But you know what I want from you.’

‘I thought that ginger wolf of yours was ready to satisfy your physical needs but I can oblige, if you insist.’ He wiggled his eyebrows in vigorous amusement.

Under any other circumstances, I’d have smirked and offered a snarky comment but I wasn’t feeling particularly inclined to humour. Thankfully, he sensed that. He sighed and met my gaze. ‘You want to know about the ban siths.’

I nodded. ‘I do. I didn’t realise you knew any of them.’

Dave drew his brows together in his familiar grimace. ‘I didn’t always live in this glorious manor.’ He waved a hand at the ramshackle house behind him. ‘When I was a lot younger, I lived on Barton Road.’

I watched him carefully. ‘Where the ban sith community is located.’

‘Yep.’ He shrugged. ‘It was all I could afford at the time – if I’d had a choice, I would have gone elsewhere.’ He scowled deeply. ‘In the end it was the best thing I ever did.’

I tried – and failed – to picture what a younger version of Dave would have looked like. ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Why was it the best thing?’

‘They welcomed me and looked out for me, Old Nessie most of all.’

Keres’ great-grandmother. I tilted my head and waited for him to continue.

‘She was a good woman and she worked hard, too. She had the longest ban sith success record of anyone I’ve ever known.

If Nessie turned up at your door and started shrieking, you paid attention.

’ His mouth turned down. ‘She looked after me – the whole community did. They still check in on me from time to time.’

My surprise must have shown because he went on with an uncharacteristic flash of amusement, ‘They’re discreet.’

Hmm; they would have to be very discreet to visit Dave without me noticing. But I wasn’t infallible, and unless I was in feline form I didn’t have the nocturnal skills of a ban sith. ‘They’re a tight-knit community?’ I asked.

‘They look after their own and anyone else who needs it. I owe them a lot.’ His voice was deep and reflective. I’d never heard him talk like this before.

‘How long did you live on Barton Road?’

‘Long enough to know that they’re amongst the most decent people you’ll find in Coldstream.’

All of which begged the question why Keres had chosen to leave them. ‘Have you ever heard of a ban sith losing their powers?’

Dave took a long moment before answering. ‘No,’ he said finally. ‘I haven’t.’

‘If one did lose their powers, what do you think the other ban siths would do?’

This time, he replied instantly. ‘They’d close ranks and look after that person whether they recovered or not.’

‘They wouldn’t kick them out? Make them leave because they no longer belong?’

His response was unequivocal. ‘Not a chance.’

I turned and gazed up at the windows of the upper flat. Despite my initial misgivings Keres seemed like a decent sort, but the cats’ reaction to her and the fact that she’d left the safety of her own community sent prickles of apprehension rippling through me.

All Mallory had asked was that I provide the young ban sith with a place to stay, but I’d already decided that I couldn’t leave it at that. Keres was in my home and I had a duty of care to both my cats and my neighbours to make sure they were safe, especially if I was defending Keres’ presence.

My blood contract with Mallory meant that I had to allow Keres to stay but I couldn’t take her on blind faith, even though I was beginning to like her and I wanted to help her. She wouldn’t answer any of my questions or satisfy my anxious curiosity – but I had more avenues to explore.

I considered making another attempt to discuss Keres with my furry family but discarded the thought quickly; cats were stubborn wee bastards when they wanted to be.

Instead I told all five of them to stay inside then grabbed my bag, checked that Keres was still upstairs in the flat and went out again.

There were several places I could go to gain answers without demanding them from the ban sith herself.

It was unlikely I’d find many ban siths out and about at this time of day, so I didn’t head straight for Barton Road; instead I jumped off the tram at the closest stop to Migden, a well-heeled suburb of Coldstream.

This was a neighbourhood I knew far better than the one where the ban siths resided.

I’d never had cause to visit the Barton Road neighbourhood when I was working as an assassin for EEL; in fact, when I’d started as a baby assassin at least two of my more experienced colleagues had told me to avoid ban siths if I could.

I’d always assumed that was because having a woman shrieking for hours outside the house of a person who’d been placed under contract to be killed could cause no end of problems for the killer.

I hadn’t questioned that advice at the time, an oversight that I now intended to remedy.

I marched down the street and into a wide, tree-lined cul-de-sac.

The house I was heading for was far grander than my own; its occupant had done well with the stock market and made a series of canny investments that had allowed her to purchase it.

Well, that was what she told everyone; the truth was somewhat more complicated and involved an aptitude for wielding lethal poisons.

The window boxes contained several varieties of deadly nightshade, laburnum and hemlock. I knocked on the front door and waited. It didn’t take long for Louise to answer.

It was eight years since I’d last seen her.

Socialising with other ex-assassins wasn’t a particularly wise move so we tended to leave each other alone once we’d left the business Once upon a time she and I had been close, and we’d worked together on at least three contracts that had required our combined skills. We’d always been friendly.

I felt a flicker of warmth when I saw her familiar face. Apart from a few extra grey hairs and faint wrinkles around her eyes, she looked the same as always.

Pleasingly, she didn’t appear remotely surprised at my unannounced arrival. ‘Kit! It’s so wonderful to see you!’ She stretched out her arms and pulled me into a tight hug.

She smelled of cinnamon and warmth, and I was immediately transported back to a time when my younger self had relied on her.

Louise had been there when I’d sobbed after completing my first assassination contract; she’d understood that my tears were both celebratory and tragic all at the same time.

She’d supported me when I’d refused to complete a contract on a local politician who was being targeted by one of his political rivals.

She’d guided me through the ups and downs of my previous life and I’d missed her when she’d retired. I hadn’t realised how much.

‘It’s good to see you too,’ I mumbled into her shoulder. Although I was a middle-aged woman, for a moment I felt like a kid again.

She pulled back and examined me. ‘You look good,’ she said finally. ‘Healthy. Happy.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m assuming this is a social call. You retired – what? Three years ago?’

‘Closer to four years now,’ I admitted.

‘Are you finding much to occupy your time?’

I smiled. ‘I’m keeping busy. That’s why this isn’t entirely a social call. I was hoping to pick your brains about something.’

Louise smiled back at me. ‘Then you’d better come inside.’