the phone and returned it to Mercy. She opened her mouth to explain but Mercy cut in.
“Don’t worry, I heard.”
“Okay, if there is any danger then throw the journal back through the protective barrier.”
Mercy swatted the air. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this. I’m a trained badass, remember?”
“Oh, of course,” said Patience with a sly smile. She left Mercy sat outside the study reading the journal.
She could tell that she was less than happy at being left behind while they got to see all the action, but it was necessary. And if someone did come looking for the journal then she would need her skills to defend it.
Grim was already waiting outside by the time Patience made it out, so she climbed in and they set off without hesitation.
8
THE RED HERRING
For the entire journey, Patience played through the same conversation in her head. Each time she repeated it, she felt that it got worse. How was she going to tell him that she had magic, and that she lied?
Grim parked the car in as dangerous a way as she thought possible. Then as he turned to get out, she put her hand on his shoulder and stopped him. “Wait.”
“What is it?” he said, “we’re in a bit of a hurry.”
Patience took a deep breath. “I have to tell you something.”
“No no,” he said, “you don’t need to tell me that I am the greatest.... I already know that.”
“Grim,” she snapped, “this is serious.”
“I was being serious.” Unfortunately she knew that he actually was.
“Anyway, there is something that I haven’t been telling you. Mercy found out about it and said that I shouldn’t keep it from you any longer.”
“Yes?”
She took another long, lingering breath and chose one of the methods of telling him at random. “My uncle left a ring with that letter, a magical ring. You know, a wand, and then Mercy taught me how to use it.”
“I see.”
“But I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to be mad and take it away. I couldn’t just be dropped back into the mortal world again, not after seeing the good, the bad and the ugly of the magical world – the ugly being you by the way.”
Grim looked sternly. “You really shouldn’t insult the person you’re trying to explain something to.”
“Sorry,” she said, “please forgive me.”
“It’s okay, I’m used to you insulting me by now.”
“No I meant about the ring.”
Grim chuckled. “Oh yeah that, whatever, it doesn’t really matter.”
“What?”
“I dunno why you were worried, I half expected it to happen eventually anyway. Who cares? Just don’t use it in front of mortals, or on me. Sorted.” A wide smile creased her face. She felt like leaping towards him and wrapping her hands around his waist, but then he would make a joke about her being clingy. So, she got out the car and looked at the building.
It was a mortal pub which was situated on a long, narrow street which looked suspiciously empty for a night time in Bristol. Where were all the students and random drunkards that had nothing better to do on their evenings?
“Why are we here?” asked Patience.
Grim considered his reply. “I realised a very fatal detail we happened to look over, well you didn’t, but we didn’t persevere on it enough. So, the sinister six.”
“Actually,” said Patience, “now they’re called the fearsome five.”
“Exactly, Kensuke said that one of their members quit the group. I was thinking, maybe he didn’t want to do the job, he might not have been happy with it.”
“So, you tracked down that missing member to this pub, The Red Herring.”
“I know, it’s not an encouraging name,” he said, “but we have to try.” They entered the pub. It wasn’t that busy, filled with men with beer bellies drinking their life away, and one family sat in the corner who looked like they had lost their memory as to how they got there.
Grim approached a man she didn’t know. He looked tough. His face was plastered with thick bandages that held back the harsh flow of blood, his eyes were thin and cold like ice. Not to mention his muscled arm was tattooed with a skull. Could he get any tougher looking if he tried?
“Hello there,” said Grim, ignoring the muscles and the chilling death stare, “can I just-”
“I know you, little man,” said Tough Man.
Little man, Grim, replied. “Have I annoyed you in a past life? Please, tell me that we were both kittens and our owner loved me more. I would be an adorable kitten.”
The man rolled up his sleeves even more, as though that was a sign that he was about to prove his toughness. “Well, you’re annoying me now in this life, so I’m going to wring your little kitten neck like a bathroom sponge.”
“That is a lovely metaphor,” said Grim, backing away, “it was a metaphor wasn’t it? Anyway, do you really have to take it out on the kitten, just because I was cuter.”
The man reared back his arm and sent a hammer-like fist soaring into Grim’s jaw, knocking him onto the ground with a gigantic thud. “Smasher will smash,” cried the man.
Oh good, thought Patience, the man’s name is Smasher, is it even possible for him to proclaim his strength in any more ways?
The entire bar emptied of people, good, now she didn’t have to worry about them seeing anything which might alert them to the existence of sorcerers.
She watched as Grim was scraped up off the floor, tossed against the bar and kneed in the chest. He glanced at her with a look of ‘are you just going to stand there’. She sighed, letting the energy flow into her ring finger before a flame erupted from her hand. She tossed it at Smasher, but it hit his back and fizzled out.
He turned to glare at her. “The little sorcerer has magic, how cute.”
“Well by definition,” said Patience, “a sorcerer would have magic, otherwise they wouldn’t be a sorcerer, they would be a mortal. It’s like exclaiming that a cheese grater can grate cheese. Of course it bloody can, it’s a cheese grater.”
Smasher seemed to think for a moment, unable to comprehend what she was getting at. To be fair, she was struggling with it herself.
Once he had given up, he held out his hands and aimed for her throat. She vaulted over the bar, snatched a glass bottle from the side, and flung it into his face. Glass shards cut into him but he brushed them off with little more than a grunt. She hopped back over, grabbed a chair and held it up like it was the most deadly weapon in the world.
“Don’t come any closer,” she cried, narrowing her eyes to try and compete with his scary look.
His scarred face twisted into a mocking smile. “What are you going to do? Hit me with it.”
Grim appeared behind him holding a babies highchair. He swung it, hitting the back of Smasher’s neck and snapping it in two – the chair, not his neck. This only angered Smasher even more.
“Little man has come back to play,” he said.
“I’m sure the women love you,” said Grim, “you’re such a people person.” Grim was pushed against the bar, a flurry of fists flying in at surprisingly high speeds. Patience had a chance. She once again cornered the energy in her body and honed it into her fingers, they began to tingle. She rushed forward, jumping onto a table and diving off of it towards the ground. At the last minute she manipulated the wind beneath her to toss her back into the air like a cannon so that she landed onto Smasher’s back.
Wow, wind manipulation as well, that time it was instinctive.
He writhed around for a moment trying to get her off, but his arms were too short to reach her – he must have a really hard time scratching his back.
Patience climbed forward and wrapped his neck into the crevice of the joint between elbow and upper arm, tensing until his air way was blocked. He began to panic, scurrying around trying to grab her, but she twisted out of his reach. He
backed up against a wall and drove her into it, taking the breath from her body.
She maintained her grip until he collapsed onto the ground, probably unconscious, maybe dead. No.
Definitely unconscious.
When he came round again he didn’t make any sudden movements, he just lay there groaning in pain.
“Why are you still here?” he moaned.
Patience cut in before Grim could. “Is Smasher your real name?”
“No, it’s Gerald.” She stifled a giggle. Not such a tough name as SMASHER.
Grim glared at her before returning his gaze to..... Gerald. “You were a member of the sinister six, were you not?”
“I was. Are you going to arrest me?”
Grim smiled. “Not yet. I want to make a deal with you. Tell me everything you know and I might consider letting you walk free.”
“I dunno nuthin,”
“Oh, I think you do,” said Grim, “well I hope you do. We met your boss, Kensuke.”
“That little rat faced toad.” Very contradictory, yet fairly true, Patience reckoned.
“Anyway, we believe he was working for a man named Mr Big, can you tell us anything about why you left or what the job was?”
Gerald sighed. “Kensuke told us that we had a job, to go after this little girl, to find something out from her or something.”
“You don’t like beating up little girls?” asked Patience, chuckling slightly.
“Not when they fight back,” he groaned, “but that’s not why I left. He said it was to try and find the Lamina... you know that really powerful weapon. Some kind of ending the world apocalypse plan, or something. I didn’t want the world to end, so I quit. What fun is