Phoenie nodded. “I know for a fact that you’re not affiliated with Godhand. Indeed, I believe you were just this weekend added to their ‘black book’ of possible heretics. Certain other sources have also suggested to me that you might have had some involvement with breaking up a shady operation underneath the World’s End nightclub?”

“Oh, well, no, I’m not doing anything like that. I was just trying to protect my friends from…” Phantasia paused for thought, “…from bad people?”

I’ve really got to be careful with this girl!

Phoenie wrote down some quick notes then began tapping the end of her pen on the table. “Right, I heard something about that. Bad people, you say?”

Phantasia could feel all of Phoenie’s senses focused on her, probing her every expression and noticing ever nuance of her body language (not that it would do her much good, she thought, her not being human and all).

“They were hurting innocent people,”

“Hurting them? How?”

“Something to do with drugs?”

Phoenie scribbled down some notes. “Hard drugs? It’s not unusual for Ravens to meddle with the softer substances, after all.”

Phantasia nodded. “Hard drugs,”

Best to play along. She’s no Water faerie. She can’t tell if I’m lying.

“So, are you suggesting there’s no truth to the rumours a cult of shamans had summoned a creature called a ‘leansídhe’ to feed off the spiritual energy of young Ravens seduced into forming blood pacts in return for transitory moments of ecstasy?”

Phantasia, who had been practising her ‘innocent’ smile, faltered. Phoenie noticed and s smug grin spread across her face. Her pen clattered to the table and she jumped up, sending the chair crashing into the cabinet behind her. “Please, tell me if you saw any ghosts or monsters or magic! Is there a gateway to Hell beneath the Industrial Zone? I must know!”

“Eh, well, I’m – I’m not entirely sure!” Okay, this girl knows way too much! “Maybe if you believe in that sort of thing. I just helped my friends out because they were being used by some bad men. With hard drugs. That’s all!”

Phoenie collapsed back in her chair and sighed in disappointment. She picked up her pen and scratched out a half-hearted note, before dropping it back on the table. She looked lost in thought as she rubbed her temple, but then the act dropped and she looked up at Phantasia with a knowing smile on her face,

“What about the weekend? Did you encounter anything then? I heard you were seen around the old gallery? Rumours say there’ve been suspicious things going on around there too,”

“Well, I saw a friend…” said Phantasia, worried by the look on victory in Phoenie’s dark eyes. Her hand had slipped below the desk and was fumbling around in her bag.

“Really? Interesting…” she said, making notes with her other hand, “Ms Celeste, I think we need to talk. Seriously. No more acting innocent.”

She thrust an image in Phantasia’s face. After a second, the colours began to form distinct shapes. Blurry auras surrounded the indistinct shapes of dishevelled houses, as if the photograph had been taken through a filter or, rather more accurately Phantasia thought, as if the photograph had somehow taken an image incorporating the lowest levels of the astral plane. One dark aura stood out among the rest. It looked vaguely humanoid, with long arms and legs that were locked in mid-flight. Tendrils of reddish energy trailed from its cruel mouth and eyes, as if it were siphoning off mana from another source. Which, of course, it was. This was the exact same entity Phantasia had chased from the gallery. The same entity that had fed on the Hawks’ envy. An entity that was invisible to normal human eyesight.

“This is a ‘leansídhe’,” stated Phoenie.

***

Chapter 10
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