Page 70 of Monstrous Travels as Wicked as Sin

The two fell silent, awaiting Percy’s approval, but all he said was, “And?”

“An-and,” Leo stuttered. “And that’s about it. Which is a lot, for ten minutes of yes or no?—”

“Jesus Christ, I know all that,” Percy spat. “Isn’t it obvious? Haven’t you been paying attention at all?”

“If she’s been stuck in a pub the whole time,” Althea protested, “what did you think she’d know?”

Percy’s eyes were like two pools of molten iron when he ground out, “I want to know why she opened her stupid basement when I told her not to, and why she’s terrified of whatever’s inside Joe.”

“Well, you might have asked us to ask that, then,” Althea snapped.

“It’s not my job to ask, it’s your job to anticipate,” Percy shot.

Althea opened her mouth and took a very deep breath, but Leo hurriedly cut her off. “I don’t know why Cleo opened up her weird basement, but obviously she did, and when she went down there, this thing, whatever’s got Joe, took over her. It marched her over to the pub, and swapped Molly into Cleo’s body on the spot. It—it and Molly—were waiting that whole time for someone to open that wall. It willingly returned to the basement once it got Molly out of the skull. It’s in league with her. That’s why Cleo’s scared of it.”

Percy grasped his face with both hands and smacked a kiss against his cheek. “You beautiful boy!” Leo coloured to the tips of his ears, his boyish smile spreading clear across his face, while Percy went on excitedly, “I can work with this. Where’s my gun?”

“Right here.” Leo, Althea saw, had been keeping the firearm in his pocket for some time. At the library? On the tube?

He handed it over to Percy, who checked it was loaded in an easy, familiar movement, before saying, “I want you both out on the street with me. Keep a watch and let me know if you see anyone coming.”

It was around two o’clock in the afternoon, and with another hour or so before children would start trickling home from school, the dangerous street was deserted. All except for thelookout at the house next door, leaning back on a crumbling stone balustrade, who noticed the three spill out, and who mostly kept his leering gaze stuck to Althea. “Slut.”

Percy raised his weapon with the kind of steady arm that let the watchman know he’d used a gun before. “Make a sound and you’re dead.” He tilted his head towards their own door. “I want you to shift something for me. I’ll tell you all the details once we’re inside.”

“Nah, man?—”

“Did he just say something?” Percy asked. “Because that’s the kind of thing that gets you shot.”

Leo chuckled. “Pretty sure he did.”

Althea, who hadn’t been expecting to kidnap anyone, asshole or not, stayed quiet, wondering what would happen next.

“In,” Percy directed.

With his best swagger, and another one-over of Althea, the man trod down the stairs and into the building.

“Upstairs.” Percy kept a sensible distance, jogging a little closer at the top to stop him getting the jump when they rounded the corner. “Open that door.”

For most people, discovering a bound man in a derelict building is an unnerving vision. For the red-haired criminal, it was a relief, plain and simple. He changed from wary prey to salesman on sight. “Alive like this? I’ll do it for a hundred quid. If you want me to work him over first, throw in another fifty.”

“Sit down,” said Percy, kicking the bedroom door closed in Leo’s and Althea’s faces.

The man pulled the chair back, threw himself into it, and assessed Joe. “If it’s just the body, same price. If you want me to kill him for you, that’s gonna cost you five hundred.”

“Five hundred for a hit?” Percy asked, shock mingling with exasperation in his tone.

The watchman offered a displeased wrinkle of his scabbed lips. “I could do four hundred. But I’m not going any lower than that. Not unless you’ve got a pair.”

Percy tsked his beautiful tongue. “Is it any wonder the rest of us can’t make a decent living with you lot undercutting the competition?”

“The fuck?”

Percy aimed his gun at the man’s head, and he said to the beast, “I know you’re working with Molly Tulloch. And do you know what? I don’t care. You go to her, you kill people with her, you do what you like, but you do it without Joe. This here,” he shoved his gun towards the silenced and bewildered man, “is your golden ticket. He won’t be missed. Walk him out of here and I’ll give you money to get you where you want to go. I’ll give you directions. I’ll buy you a fucking flight. This is it. Out of Joe.”

Joe’s body gave one slight shrug of the chained shoulders, and a bored, “No.”

A strangled gasp of frustration ground out of Percy as he pressed the cold length of the gun’s barrel to his own temple, shouting, “What do you want? You want a body? A host? Here’s a body! It can be any body, surely. Why do you need Joe’s body?”

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