“Well.” She shrugs with both arms. “I’m not the Book, am I.”
“You called him a ‘two-bit gangster.’ You said he was shitty, even for a vampire!”
“I was angry,” she says. “But the truth is … he makes me happy. He always did.” She huffs. “Are you going to turn me in?”
“Does he still drink people?”
“No…” She rocks her head from side to side, like she’s equivocating.
“Not in the traditional sense.”
“Are you going to let him Turn you?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Your mother would roll over in her grave!”
As soon as she says it, she winces at me. “Don’t worry,” she says gently.
“I’m not going to cop your look.”
“This is outrageous, Fiona, even for you. Is it happening soon?”
Her hands are on her hips. She looks like she’s trying to decide whether to be honest with me. “Yeah,” she says, after a moment. “I think so.”
“Well…” I shake my head and roll my eyes, giving in. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Thanks, Basil.”
“I can’t believe you tried to rob my mother’s grave!”
“Ah, she wouldn’t have missed it! The ring wasn’t there, anyway. Or at least I couldn’t find it. Not in her rooms, either.”
I make one last appeal: “I know I didn’t know her, but I really don’t think my mother would want you to marry Nico.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t. But she isn’t here, Baz. My mum and dad are gone, too. And I can’t—We’ve got to make decisions for the living. You know?”
I do.
When I get back to Snow’s flat, the new sofa has been delivered, and the three of them are christening it with sandwich crumbs.
Simon smiles at me. His hair is wet. “Shepard got breakfast. We saved you some.”
I shake my head. “I have to go … do something.”
“But you just got back.”
“I know,” I say. I can’t talk to Snow about this. It’s too much. “But I have something else now. To do. I just came back for my phone, and—”
“Great snakes!” Bunce exclaims. “That’s the tape recorder, isn’t it?”
I look up at her, speechless. Fucking Bunce.
“What tape recorder?” Snow asks.
She turns to him and points her thumb at me. “Don’t you remember when Baz attacked you with a tape recorder? Fifth year. Out on the Lawn.”
“Shit,” Simon says to me. “That’s it! The one you used on Philippa.” He’s on his feet, reaching for it.
“Simon, no!” I shout. “Don’t touch it!”
64
SIMON
The tape recorder is sitting on the floor, where my coffee table would be if I had one. Baz is on the sofa, looking somehow paler than usual. I’m rubbing his back. I can’t stop touching him, to be honest, even though this definitely isn’t the time.
“But you didn’t steal Philippa’s voice,” Penny says. She’s sitting on his other side. Shepard moved to the arm of the sofa to make room. “Miss Possibelf said it would come back.”
I nod. “The Mage said so, too.”
“Right,” Baz says, kneading his forehead, “the Mage definitely, always told you the truth. Philippa never got her voice back! She’s living in Smith’s compound, waiting for him to fix her.”
“You saw her?” Penny asks.
“Yes. ” He looks at me. “We both did—the girl who answered the door, the one who doesn’t talk.”
“The cute one? With the short hair?”
Baz groans.
“I thought her name was Pippa,” I say.
“Philippa still can’t talk?” Penelope’s appalled. “Oh, that’s awful. That means her magic never came back.”
“Yeah, I know, ” Baz says, like he’s in pain.
“Wait,” Shepard says to Penny, “you can’t do magic if you can’t talk?”
“Well, you can’t go to Watford,” she explains. “In the old days, you couldn’t even get in with a stutter.”
Shepard shakes his head. “There must be magicians who do magic without speaking…”
“I’ve heard it’s possible. I’m surprised you don’t know a whole crew of them.”
Baz is back to holding his head.