Watford Tales

The Fandango

Simon

I wake to that dry feel. The Suck. The Humdrum. Moonlight is streaming in the window, and Baz is curled naked against me. I shake him awake and he opens his eyes and I see that he feels it too.

I'm out of bed and looking out the window. I hear Baz behind me, pulling on his trousers and reaching for his wand. The Humdrum is below in the snowy moonlit yard, bouncing his red rubber ball. Eating a mint Aero bar.

He waves up at me as if he's greeting an old friend. "Look I can eat now," he says, like I should be happy for him.

"Those'll rot your teeth," I say. I remember how much I loved those mint Aeros when I was little. They were like the best thing my life could offer me, back then.

He shrugs. "D'you think maybe some day I'll get wings like yours?" he says. I feel a tingle in the back of my shoulders where my wings were and shudder. The suck of him is getting stronger, I can see little pricks of blood coming out on my skin, and hear Baz gasp, involuntarily behind me. Shit. This could get ugly.

"What are you doing here?" I ask. I put my hand on my thigh and call for my sword, and feel it's reassuring weight in my hand. Not that I think it's really going to help me in this situation.

"Sent here," he says. "Sent by Dad. He wants you to come join us, you know."

I don't know what to do. If I go off, I'll probably just put a huge hole right in the middle of Watford. How is he getting in here anyway? He never could before. Maybe we can use the Ladybird spell again. I go to take Baz's hand in mine and find I'm frozen, caught in a gravitational field so strong I can't move against it.

The Humdrum laughs. "I get stronger, every time," he says happily, and takes a big bite of his candy bar. "You might as well join us. You are us, really."

"I'm not," I say. I'm thinking I could just let him take me, wherever they're hiding. At least I'll get the threat away from Watford. At least I'll figure out how to find them. I feel Baz's breath on my shoulder. With an incredible effort I reach behind me and curl my pinky around his.

I'm just getting ready to say, "Okay, then, take me with you," when a flash of white comes shooting from the ramparts and hits the Humdrum in the back and knocks him over. I hear a high clear voice "Scaramouche, Scaramouche, Can you do the fandango?"

The Insidious Humdrum gets up. He's got castanets in his hands and he's doing this weird leaping, hopping dance with a furious look on his face, the castanets tapping out a crazy fierce rhythm that echoes off the stones of the buildings in the frozen night air. I can move again. Baz is grabbing my hand and holding out his wand. I feel the magic flowing into him and he's spelling the Humdrum away. It only takes one verse of the Ladybird rhyme and the Humdrum is flying over the Wavering Wood, his feet dancing in the air, the sound of castanets echoing crazily among the trees.

When he's gone I look over at the ramparts and there's Agatha. She's in her white night dress and a white cloak. Her blond hair is spread out like a halo all around her, and she's holding her wand with a thunderstruck look on her face.

********

The next morning Agatha sits with Niall and me on the train to London. Which is great because even though Niall has proven himself to be halfway decent, he and I have very little to say to each other. Agatha and he keep the conversation going for a steady two hours, gossiping about other students, discussing the various members of the Coven, followed by a long discussion about riding which really leaves me in the dust. I mostly stare out the window and try to think about everything; Penny, the Humdrum, the Mage, and where all this is going. Last night was bad, too close. Next time the Humdrum comes he's going to be even stronger and I'm going to be out of options. If it hadn't been for Agatha I don't know what would have happened.