Dominil was tempted to text back, telling Albermarle she was going to kill him the first chance she got. Tormenting her with unwanted text messages while she was already being tormented by a love-sick guitarist was surely the last straw. She restrained her urge.

"Who was that from?" asked Pete.

"No one."

"Oh. Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

They carried some more equipment inside.

"So who was the text from?"

"It's really not your business."

"Could we go out together sometime?"

Dominil turned to shout at the rest of the band. "Are you going to hang around out there all day? Get that equipment indoors, and be quick about it!"

CHAPTER 153.

Decembrius regained consciousness, crawled back into his flat, washed the blood off his face, then set out for Edinburgh. He had no money for a train or plane ticket, but he had petrol in his tank so he drove. The journey through North London was frustratingly slow, but when he reached the freeway the traffic was less, and he made reasonably good time up the M1. He knew he could cover the distance in eight or nine hours if there were no serious delays. His inner werewolf strength and his desire to save Kalix carried him through the start of his journey, but by the time he'd reached Northampton, he was starting to flag. The Douglas-MacPhees had beaten him badly, and he ached all over. He had a raging thirst, and his head pounded unpleasantly. He tried to keep a steady pace, ignoring his discomfort, but by the time he neared Leeds, he knew he couldn't carry on. No matter how urgently Decembrius wanted to reach the capital of Scotland, he wasn't going to get there like this. He was more likely to lose control of his car and crash.

As the sun went down, Decembrius pulled into a service station. He used the change in his pockets to put a small amount of petrol into the engine and bought a bottle of water from the store. The clerk looked at the livid bruises on his face but didn't comment.

Decembrius returned to his parked car, drank the water, and then decided that he had to take something of a risk. It was ingrained into all MacRinnalch werewolves from the earliest age that they were never to transform while there was a chance that they might be seen, but this was an emergency. He moved his car to the furthest part of the compound, locked the doors, took off his coat, draped it over his head, curled up in the seat, and changed into his werewolf form. As the familiar shape descended on him, he immediately felt his strength returning. He closed his eyes to sleep for a little while as a werewolf and regain his strength.

Decembrius was not the only one having a difficult time reaching Edinburgh. Vex, with a bag of T-shirts in one hand and a map in the other, was attempting to negotiate the British Isles, despite her poor teleporting skills and her complete lack of any sense of direction.

"Is this Edinburgh?" she asked a stranger, hopefully, after materializing in an alleyway and wandering out onto the main street.

"Edinburgh? This is Southampton."

"Is that near Edinburgh?"

"It's about as far away as you can get."

"Oh."

Vex realized she'd traveled in the wrong direction. It was very confusing. Her aunt had made a path for her from the palace, through the dimensions, to Moonglow's flat, but everywhere else all looked the same. Vex attempted to point herself in the right direction, slipped back into the space between dimensions, and teleported again. She popped back into existence several hundred feet in the air and began plummeting towards the ground.

"This is troubling," she thought, and dived back into nether space. Some minutes later, she managed to land by the road side in an unknown town. She approached an elderly lady at a bus stop.

"Is this Edinburgh?"

"This if Cardiff," replied the elderly lady. "You're in Wales."

Agrivex walked off glumly.

"This is difficult," she thought. "Maybe I should give up."

She remembered Kalix rescuing her from the bullies at college and how much she didn't want Kalix to be arrested and thrown into a dungeon at the castle and then probably killed and eaten by her savage clan. Vex resolved to keep on going. Not bothering to check if anyone could see her, she popped out of existence again, clutching her map, and hoping for the best.

CHAPTER 154.

The enchantress was despondent.

"Don't worry about the shoes," said Captain Easterly. "So what if that woman Kabachetka gets her picture in Vogue? Soon you'll be dominating the magazine when your collection hits the high streets."

"My collection is never going to hit the high streets."

"People are going to buy your clothes if I have to bully the entire staff at my magazine to write about you in every issue for the next six months."

Thrix almost laughed. "You write for a men's magazine."

"Doesn't matter. My family owns the magazine. I'll get it done. Don't worry; I'll sort it out for you. I know that buyer at Eldridges, she doesn't scare me. I'll work something out with her."

Easterly and Thrix had taken a seat in the reception hall, waiting, along with many others, for the performance to begin.

Easterly curled a strand of her hair around his finger. "You're so beautiful."

Thrix's eyes became misty. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too," said Easterly.

She kissed Captain Easterly, quite passionately, though they were in a room full of people, most of them on their best behavior before the opera started.

In the private area behind the stage, the Fire Queen was not faring so well. Everywhere she went, the dreadful Princess Kabachetka seemed to follow her, tormenting her with her new Abukenti shoes. Malveria could hardly bear it. Making matters worse, the princess was accompanied by some dreadful Hainusta woman with a screeching voice and another Elemental who, Malveria thought, may have been her brother. She bridled. What was Kabachetka doing, inflicting her dreadful Hainusta family on this civilized gathering? Humans would not wish their gatherings to be infected with Hainusta. And nor would werewolves, she was sure. Yet Kabachetka was swanning around from one group to another, batting her ridiculous eyelashes in all directions and generally being a menace. Malveria could not imagine why anyone would be taking pictures of her, though it seemed to be happening constantly.

Malveria made up her mind to confront her and put her in her place but quickly realized it was hopeless. Kabachetka was armed with the best shoes in the room, and there was nothing Malveria could do about it. No matter how barbed a comment the queen might make, it would not puncture the princess. Malveria knew she would lose the encounter. She took a glass of champagne from a waiter, downed it swiftly, took another, and walked away from Kabachetka and her admirers. Finding herself in front of a door marked Private - Performers Only, Malveria whispered a word, causing the door to open, and went through unobserved.

Mr. Felicori, in conversation with his vocal coach, was surprised to find Malveria appearing as if from nowhere by his side. "Eh...delightful to see you. Wasn't that door locked?"

"A wise precaution," said Malveria. "Strong measures are needed to keep Kabachetka at bay."

"Yes...I am just making some final preparations-"

"Of course, don't let me interrupt."

"I need to concentrate-"

"Absolutely. A superb singer such as yourself cannot be continually disturbed by fake-blond princesses tramping through your dressing room every minute, boasting about their footwear. A little wine?"

Malveria settled down comfortably on one of the couches in Mr. Felicori's nicely appointed dressing room and sighed. "Life seems like a terrible trial, I must confess. I did not expect to be outflanked by Kabachetka, yet here she is, her feet clad in a superior fashion, being photographed at this very minute for a piece in the Vogue Fashionable Party People page. When DeMortalis learns of it, he will be very cutting."

Malveria took out a tiny lace handkerchief and dabbed her eyes while Mr. Felicori and his vocal coach looked on, completely bewildered.

CHAPTER 155.

Alone at her small table in the crowded train, Kalix drifted off into a very uncomfortable sleep, full of bad dreams and intrusions from the outside world. Laudanum coursed through her veins, as well as the last of the whisky she'd taken from Decembrius. Her mind went back to the night she'd spent with him. She woke briefly to think that she didn't like him any better now. Or perhaps she did. She didn't want to think about it now. Kalix was too fixated on revenge. She drifted off to sleep again, this time leaning forward and sprawling over the table so that her hair splayed everywhere. While this still seemed like strange behavior, it was a relief to those on the opposite side of the aisle who no longer had to look nervously at the young's girl's maddened features, which had been upsetting them for the past 250 miles.

Kalix half-dreamed and half-imagined that she was Baby Wolf in the forest and Robber Wolf rescued her from the huntsmen who'd captured her. She woke up startled, looking around for hunters, then realized it was a dream. The thought of Baby Wolf being rescued by Robber Wolf brought a brief ray of sunshine into her troubled soul. A moment later, a cart from the buffet car was pushed noisily through the carriage, with a caterer offering tea and coffee, and Kalix snarled angrily at the woman, confusing her for a second with Moonglow, who was always trying to force her to eat. The travelers around Kalix tried to ignore this further piece of antisocial behavior and checked their watches, longing to arrive in Edinburgh and be free of their uncongenial traveling companion.

When the train finally pulled into Waverly Station in Edinburgh, Kalix rose swiftly. As she headed towards the door, people stepped out of the way as if she might be contagious. Kalix walked through the turnstile, handing her crumpled ticket to a bored-looking attendant, then walked swiftly through the concourse. She had to push her way through a crowd who'd gathered round a stall offering free cupcakes, advertising a local bakery. Someone actually thrust a small cake into her hand. Kalix mangled it in her palm and dropped it on the concourse. Several pigeons, wheeling about in the space below the great transparent panels of the station roof, descended swiftly to squabble over the crumbs. Kalix ignored them and picked up her pace, barging through the crowd. Two transport policemen looked at her curiously but didn't interfere.

As she emerged from the station, night was falling, and the fog was thickening. She pulled a scrap of paper from the deep pockets of her coat. The flier gave the location of the gig where she'd find Dominil. Kalix had been in Edinburgh several times as a girl and knew where she was going. She marched swiftly through the city, looking neither left nor right, snarling occasionally at pedestrians who blocked her way on the street. Blood now dripped from inside the sleeve of her coat onto her hand, the result of the wounds she'd self-inflicted and scratched again on the journey. The letter "N" on her arm was now completely obliterated. Kalix had given up pretending to be normal.

CHAPTER 156.

Decembrius made a strong recovery. His sleep had cost him an hour in journey time, but the bold move of taking on his werewolf form completely revived him. He felt well. Promising himself that he'd be revenged on the Douglas-MacPhees sometime, he put his car into gear and rejoined the freeway.

"Time to rescue that idiot Kalix," he muttered and grinned. He liked the idea of rescuing Kalix.

He presumed that she'd be heading for the Yum Yum Sugary Snacks gig. That's where Dominil would be. There might be a few younger werewolves at the gig, Decembrius supposed, but no one who was senior in the clan. Any of the older werewolves who'd chosen to leave their homelands for Edinburgh this weekend would most probably have gone to Andamair House to support the Mistress of the Werewolves. That was fortunate for Kalix. If she did run into any senior members of the clan, they'd certainly attempt to detain her and take her back to the castle. Kalix might be allowed, through the influence of her mother, to exist quietly in London, but they wouldn't put up with her impudence in appearing back in Scotland.

As a member of the Great Council, Decembrius himself might find himself criticized for going to the gig rather than the opera, but he didn't care. What could they do? Expel him from the council? Decembrius knew he was unsuitable to be on the council anyway. Let them expel him. His bravado was temporarily reduced by the thought of what his mother would say. Decembrius didn't exactly fear Lucia but hated it when she lectured him, as she undoubtedly would were he banished from the council. She'd never let him hear the end of it. Decembrius dismissed thoughts of his mother and drove on, as fast as he dared, without attracting unwanted attention from the occasional police car that sat on the shoulder. Being pulled over for speeding was the last thing he needed. He wasn't sure what time Kalix had caught the train, but he'd be lucky if he reached the gig in time.

"Don't kill Dominil, Kalix," he muttered. "The MacRinnalchs will never forgive you. You'll have to flee the country."

Musing that fleeing the country with Kalix didn't seem like that bad an idea, he pulled out into the right-hand lane, sped past several articulated trucks, and found himself now only eighty miles from Edinburgh, and making good time.

CHAPTER 157.

As the doors to the auditorium opened and the crowd in the outside rooms began to file in to hear the performance, Princess Kabachetka managed to isolate Captain Easterly for a few moments of snatched conversation. "Easterly, is everything in order?"

"Yes."

"You must be sure to strike quickly. At the start of the performance, I will cause Queen Malveria to be stranded between dimensions. Soon afterwards the enchantress will lose her powers. You must kill her quickly, in case the queen returns."

"I know the plan."

The princess smiled and looked happier than Easterly had ever seen her.

"Do you require more of my power?"

Easterly shook his head. "I have enough."

The princess touched his arm anyway, and he felt some heat flow into his body. "Just in case. It would not do for the enchantress to discover you at the last minute. It is fortunate you encountered me, Easterly. Without my powers, you could not have concealed yourself from her sorcery. You would have been discovered as a hunter and killed."

"I suppose so."

"You know the enchantress would kill you instantly were she to discover the truth?"

Easterly made no reply.

Princess Kabachetka's eyes narrowed. She still had her doubts about Easterly. "When I am heir to the Hainusta throne and Distikka is ruler of the Hiyasta, you will have many powerful friends. Or many powerful enemies, if you get things wrong."

"I won't get things wrong. And who do you think you're threatening anyway? You think you scare me, Princess?"

The princess laughed. "Not as much as I should. But that's because you don't fully appreciate my power. Kill the enchantress when the chance arrives, Easterly, and we shall all be happy. Now excuse me, my ridiculous brother and his appalling consort are approaching, and I must take them into the auditorium. I trust that my appearance in these splendid shoes had the desired effect on the enchantress and the Fire Queen?"

"They were upset."