"That is a little harsh," Shavi said.
"Might teach 'em to appreciate life a bit more."
"I still don't get why you're helping us." Church sipped on the hot, invigorating liquid.
"That's because you're a moron." The Bone Inspector threw the remainder of his bread to a group of ravens that had ventured fearlessly into the camp.
"I can see why you and the old git get on so well," Laura said under her breath. "Both graduates of the Finishing School for Irritating, Miserable Bastards."
Shavi pushed out his chair and stretched his legs. "I would guess the Bone Inspector is simply following his office as a guardian of the land's old places. If the End of Everything happens on the morning after Samhain, there will not be many old places to guard."
"Well, aren't you the smarty-pants." The Bone Inspector was watching the ravens intently. "Ready for carrion," he mused.
"Carry On to the End of the World, maybe," Laura said. "With Kenneth Williams as the dark god Balor and Charles Hawtrey as the Guardian of the Old Places."
The Bone Inspector eyed her so darkly Laura realised she couldn't chide him in the same way that she toyed with Tom.
Shavi was laughing. "Oh, yes. And you would be Barbara Windsor," he said to Laura. "And Church would be Sid James-"
"Bwah hah hah," Church said flatly. "So what's going to happen after we've stuffed our faces?"
"In half an hour there will be a meeting to outline the strategy," Tom said. "As the spearhead of the attack, we must be there."
"The generals sending the disposables in first?" Veitch said sourly.
"Something like that," Tom replied. "They have their agenda and we have ours. As long as we are not swayed, who cares what their motivations are?"
"But they have the Wish-Hex." Church made the comment quietly so none of the gods could hear.
"Yes," Tom said, "which is why we shall have our own meeting first."
After the meal they wandered off separately, agreeing to meet fifteen minutes later. Ruth had not gone far when her arm was grabbed sharply enough to cause her pain. She whirled angrily. It was Veitch. She could tell instantly from his threatening expression what was on his mind.
"You couldn't wait to get off with him, could you?" There was pain in his voice beneath the anger.
"I'm sorry you're upset, Ryan, but-"
"Upset? I'm upset when my team loses on a Saturday. This is like a kick in the bollocks, and another one in the face for good luck."
She bowed her head, sorry to see him so hurt. "I didn't want you-"
"No, you didn't want me. I put my life on the line in Scotland-for you. Not for all this end of the world bollocks. I couldn't care less if the whole miserable place went belly-up tomorrow. But, you… " He shook his head, his long hair falling across his face. "I nearly died for you. I took risks to get down herefor you."
She was shocked to see the rage lighting in his face; there was a seething glow in his hooded eyes. "You've got so much anger in you! Were you always like this?"
Her words appeared to strike him hard. He rubbed at his temples furiously. "Stop talking about that!"
"I tried to be honest to you about how I felt, Ryan. I think you're a good man. I admire you. But there was never going to be anything between us."
"Never?" She flinched as he bunched his fist but instead he smashed it into his side. There were tears of hurt in his eyes.
She went to comfort him, but he backed away. "Ryan, don't hate Church and don't hate me. We love each other. And we both care about you, really."
"You're only saying that to keep me on the team. Afraid I'll go running off to join the other side?"
"Don't be stupid! None of us would ever think that. You said you always wanted to be a hero. Well, you are, Ryan. You are. And everyone here respects you."
He looked away towards the horizon, blinking off the tears. "Yeah…"
"That must mean something?"
He nodded. "But not enough. I always thought it was the most important thing. I've never had that… never had any respect." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "One of them was talking about how they'd all learned something important from all this shit. Well, I have too. I've learnt you're the most important thing to me, and if I can't have you I might as well be dead. So I can go into this with no fear 'cause I've got nothing to lose. They'll remember me as the biggest bleedin' hero of all by the end of it." The anger disappeared briefly and all she could see was the face of a hurt child, but then he turned sharply on his heel and marched away.
She called after him, but he didn't look back.
They met in their tent while the Tuatha De Danann were away making their preparations for battle, although Baccharus and Niamh were there, much to Veitch's suspicion. The first thing they did was distribute the Quadrillax. Church kept the Sword and took the Wayfinder lantern, while Ruth reaffirmed her hold on the Spear. Veitch agreed to carry the Stone ofFal and Shavi took the Cauldron in a pack on his back. Laura was happy to have nothing to do with any of them.
"If the Wish-Hex is here, its location has been kept from us," Niamh said when they had gathered around the table. "Those of us who believe in the destiny of mankind would never allow such a thing to be used, and certainly never in this form, adulterated by the Night Walkers."
"It would be good," Tom said, "if all your brethren felt the same way. But many believe this is too good an opportunity to pass by: two irritants wiped out in one fell swoop."
"And the prime position in the evolutionary pile secured for the Tuatha De Danann," Church noted. "We need you to find out where the Wish-Hex is being kept, and when it will be used," he said to Baccharus and Niamh. "We'll have to find some way to neutralise it."
"The aim would be to unleash the Wish-Hex in the core of the Night Walkers' lair, close to the Heart of Shadows," Niamh said. "The Night Walkers are more resilient than Fragile Creatures. They need to be closer to the release."
"We just get wiped out in the plague fallout," Church said bitterly.
"We will uncover the intention and pass it on to you as soon as we can," Niamh said. "We understand what is at stake."
Veitch appeared not to have been listening, and had spent the meeting carving his name into the wooden table with his knife. Then he said, "I'm worried we're spreading ourselves too thin," and Church realised the Londoner had instead been carefully weighing all the strategies. "We'll be driving forward on more than one front, and this thing will be coming up behind. We're not going to be in a position to split our attention."
"What are you saying?" Church asked.
"Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me."
Church thought for a moment. "It might help if one of us found a back way in."
"What do you mean?" Veitch said.
"I've been thinking about this… about a lot of things. There's been important stuff that's been there right in our face before and we missed it." He turned to Ruth. "Like Maurice Gibbons."
"The civil servant who was murdered under Albert Bridge the night we met. So?"
"We got so wrapped up in what he discovered, we never thought about how-"
"He saw one of the Fomorii changing-'
"But why was he under Albert Bridge on that particular night?"
She opened her mouth to answer him, but no words came. "Okay, smartypants."
"Why was that Night Walker there too?"
Her eyes narrowed. "You've already worn out your dramatic buildup, Church."
"The Fomorii were already building their base under London. And Gibbons had somehow found one of the entrances to it. He was investigating when that thing came out and killed him."
Veitch was already ahead of them. "So if we could get to it, we might be able to get straight into their base before they know it!"