I needed him at Inchkeith. We scraped our way out
of that disaster, but I’m feeling far less confident now that I’m huddled in his shop with some terrified Hidden Folk.
“We have to break Murrey out of wherever she’s got him,” I say, my voice low and deep and angry. Murrey may be a Vampire, a creature that stories will call fearsome and wicked, but he is one of the gentlest people I have ever known – second only to Marley. “Where’s she keeping him?”
“We don’t know, none of us do,” another Hulder says. “Anyone who stands up to the Fae…”
She does not need to finish the sentence.
“Where’s Freddy?” I ask, turning back to Erica. “Have you seen him?”
“Barely,” she says. “But I have his address. Hidden Folk wouldn’t dare go there, but you—”
“Write it down for me,” I say, getting to my feet and nodding at Marley. He also stands while Erica dashes to the shop counter, snatching a scrap of paper and a pen. As she scribbles, I take another look outside and onto the street.
“You’re lucky,” Erica finally says, handing over the address, “to have powers. To have any power. Use it for the people in this room.”
She gives me a stern look, one that makes me want to glance away. I take the scrap of paper and mutter my thanks, before slipping out of the shop, Marley in my wake.
“Where are we headed?” he asks, and I flinch at how silent the street is. No cars, no people, no revellers coming out of Frankenstein’s or ghost tours visiting the kirk. I read the address to him, and he takes the paper from me.
“We can go past the flat,” he says quietly.
“Marley.”
He stops, a few steps ahead of me. He did hear me say his name, but he doesn’t turn around. I don’t feel brave enough to say what I’m thinking and so we set off in silence, down Candlemaker Row to the edge of the Grassmarket, the human one that’s above ground. Aunt Leanna’s shop, and the flat she and Marley lived in, is there.
We are the only people around as we stand before it. The window is broken. A shattered comet upon the glass. The interior is ransacked and dark. I grab Marley’s hand and we stand there, just staring at it.
“I hate them,” he finally says. Soft. The lightest touch of venom.
“I know,” I say back.
“I’m tired of all this. Of living with their bullying.
“I know. But we need to find Freddy, we can’t
stay here.”
“Who says he’s on our side, he’s a Siren.”
“Marley.” The reproach in my voice is fragile. “Come on. We can’t do that.”
“Do what, use common sense?”
“It’s not common sense to say someone is bad because of what they are. He can’t help what he is. He’s always been a good friend to us.”
If things were less serious, Marley would normally make a joke about me and Freddy fancying each other, but he doesn’t . For once, I miss the teasing. Things feel so heavy all of a sudden.
“Let’s go then,” he says, dejectedly.
We leave, heading for the New Town address. We leave behind the shop with so many amazing memories of our family, now ransacked and broken.
*
“I don’t want to go in.”
Marley states this as we stand on the doorstep of a house by the water. The one Erica’s scrap of paper has led us to. I stare at him.
“Why?”
Marley kicks a stone along the street and shrugs. “Just don’t want to see him.”
“It’s dangerous for you to be on—”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll be with Blue. Whistle if you need us.”
“Marley—”
He is already setting off down the street, in the direction of where we left Blue. I watch him go, a little horrified. I envision some of the Fae snatching him up. I’m about to call his name when I remember just how dead and empty the streets have become. My voice
will echo, and I instinctively know that this is not a good thing.
I knock instead. I’m vaguely aware of how timid a knock it is. Lacking the urgency that this increasingly serious situation needs.
Freddy opens the door regardless, looking completely shocked to see me.
“Can I come in?”
