A deep growl emanated from Winter’s chest and he reached for my hand, squeezing my fingers. ‘That sounds like the sort of test I would enjoy.’
I snorted. ‘You’re Raphael Winter. Is there any kind of test you don’t enjoy?’
He considered. ‘My sister used to make me take tests to find out what kind of fairy-tale prince I was most like, or how many children and wives I would end up with. I didn’t enjoy those very much.’
Tarquin’s door re-opened and he stuck his head out. ‘I’m Prince Charming,’ he yelled. ‘You can’t have that one.’ The door closed again.
Winter and I exchanged looks. ‘I beg to differ,’ I whispered.
He smiled. Unfortunately, the moment had passed and both of us knew it. ‘Let’s try out those spells some other time,’ he said.
‘It’s a date.’ I sighed. A future date, when we didn’t have serial killers to worry about. ‘Just what the hell is going on? Clare was adamant that she didn’t want anything to do with the Order and neither did her coven. If the others had put in an application to join up, she would have mentioned it. She made a point of saying that her magic wasn’t strong enough and that she hated the Order. This has got to be Blackbeard’s doing. But to what end? What is he really up to? Is he…’ My voice trailed off.
‘Trying to find a way to sneak into the Order himself?’ Winter finished for me. ‘It does sound like it, doesn’t it?’
‘We know he hates witches,’ I said softly. ‘If that’s what he’s trying to do, it’s not because he wants to make new friends.’
We shared a look of mutual dismay. ‘No,’ Winter agreed. ‘It’s definitely not.’
Chapter Thirteen
It didn’t take a genius to realise that Eve hadn’t imagined the smell. I didn’t even have to open my front door to notice the reek – and there was no denying what it was.
Winter glanced at me. ‘Is that…?’
‘Cat pee?’ I opened the door to fully appreciate the eye-watering effect. ‘Oh, yes.’
He looked embarrassed. ‘I’m so sorry. Princess Parma Periwinkle is never normally like that.’
‘Don’t apologise. I’d lay money on this all being down to Brutus.’
For a moment Winter looked puzzled then his face cleared. ‘The phone call earlier. This is what you were on about.’
I nodded grimly. Yeah. Talk about rubbing your nose in it.
Princess was nowhere to be seen. Brutus, however, was sitting on the windowsill and staring outside. I marched over. ‘What gives?’
He didn’t so much as twitch.
‘Brutus,’ I said, in my best stern voice, ‘why have you been peeing in here?’
‘I’m so sorry, Ivy!’ Eve appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in overalls and holding a spray bottle. ‘I’ve gone through a litre of this stuff trying to get rid of the smell and clean it all up but I can’t seem to find it all. Poor Brutus has really gone to town.’
My eyebrows flew up. Poor Brutus? ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘I wouldn’t feel too sorry for him. He knew exactly what he was doing.’ I glared at his back. He still didn’t turn around but I was fairly certain that there was a whisker quiver. He was probably suppressing a feline belly laugh.
‘He obviously missed you.’
‘We were only away for one night,’ I pointed out. ‘And he had you.’
‘And Princess Parma Periwinkle,’ Winter added.
‘All the same…’
‘Don’t worry about it, Eve,’ I told her. ‘It was very kind of you to try and clean up but I’ll sort this out.’ I looked around. ‘You could have used magic, you know.’
She seemed taken aback. ‘But that would have been a waste of energy.’
My mouth dropped open in astonishment. Winter looked away, trying not to laugh. ‘Elbow grease never did anyone any harm, Ivy,’ he said, with barely suppressed mirth.
I took the spray bottle from Eve and passed it to him. ‘Go on, then. You are really into your cleaning, you can sort this out.’
‘I can’t. I have to call the Order and warn them about what’s going on. If Blackbeard is trying to gain entry, they need to know straight away.’ He hurried out of the room.
I sighed. ‘Two days ago all he wanted to do was clean. I should have stayed ill for a bit longer.’
Eve looked almost as amused as Winter had. ‘Who’s Blackbeard?’ she asked.
I grimaced. ‘Long story.’
Brutus got to his feet and stretched out before turning towards us and yawning pointedly. ‘Bitch,’ he hissed.
‘I’m going home,’ Eve said hastily.
I waved a hand at her. ‘Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.’
She flashed me a quick smile then departed almost as quickly as Winter. I glared at Brutus. ‘You made everyone run away.’
I could swear he shrugged. Jumping down from the windowsill, he padded towards me, coiling himself around my legs. ‘Bitch,’ he said again.
I crouched down and scratched him behind his ears. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean to leave you behind. I didn’t think we’d be away overnight. I did miss you a lot.’
Brutus sniffed and gave me a head butt. He let out the tiniest purr.
‘You shouldn’t have done that in here, though. We all live here. It’s not just your home.’ Remembering how my old geography teacher had managed to make me feel guilty when I’d used to magic instead of brain power to complete my earthquake project, and had got not just the entire school but the entire town evacuated because of dangerous tremors, I pasted on a suitably serious but sad expression. ‘I expected more from you. It’s not that I’m surprised, Brutus. It’s that I’m disappointed.’
His head drooped as if in apology. ‘Miaow.’
I wiggled a finger in my ear. ‘Pardon?’
Brutus slowly looked up at me, his yellow eyes wide and limpid. ‘Brutus sorry.’ He rubbed himself against my leg once again, although this time there was a hint of desperation to the action. I nodded, satisfied. Brutus understood that what he’d done was wrong and that he shouldn’t do it again. It was the best I could ask for. He tilted his head to one side and blinked slowly at me. For a big cat, he could do cute when he wanted to.
‘I wouldn’t have stayed away if it wasn’t important,’ I told him. ‘And you had Eve. You like her. And Princess Parma Periwinkle.’
His tail began to flick dangerously from side to side. ‘Love Ivy,’ he said.
My heart melted. Eve was right, he’d missed me. Abandoning all pretence that I wasn’t his slave, I did the one thing that I’d promised myself I wouldn’t. ‘Before I go looking for the pee which you’ve left behind, would you like some food? Some tuna treats?’
Brutus purred. Yeah, no surprise there then.
I got him what I’d promised and, while he gobbled the treats down at breakneck speed, I flicked out a quick rune to dim the natural light in my flat. With my other hand, I created a rune for blacklight. It was the fastest way to locate where exactly Brutus had peed. There were probably just a few spatters somewhere in the corner. I just had to… My mouth dropped open.
Winter, wandering back in, stopped in his tracks and stared at the wall. ‘Is that…?’