Magenta Mine (Invertary 3)

“Like it’s something we aren’t used to.” Megan snorted. “We’ve been at war with them since we were born.” She looked around the bar. “In case anyone is interested, the girls are winning.”

There was a cheer. Once people turned their attention back to their food and each other, Magenta leaned in towards the twins. She kept her voice low so that Lake, Josh and Mitch couldn’t hear them and tell tales to Matt. “I’m taking off for the mine for a few days until this calms down. It’s the one place Harry won’t look for me.”

“Good thinking,” Claire said. “We’re going to spend some time with our parents. Matt won’t do anything there.”

“Well, he can try, but Mum will lecture him for about a year,” Megan said. “He’s ten years older than us; he’s supposed to look out for us.” She beamed. “It’s my favourite lecture. Matt glowers, but he’s immobilised.”

“Okay, let’s head back to the house and pick up our gear before the boys hunt us down.” Magenta stood and tugged down her black leather mini-dress. It had silver studs around the neckline and a silver chain around the waist. With her thigh-high black leather platform boots and fishnet tights, she was going for a dominatrix-like don’t-mess-with-me vibe. So far, so good.

“That was brilliant,” Megan said on a sigh. “It’s been years since we pulled a prank on Harry. I miss this.”

“Me too,” said Claire. “Being mature can really suck sometimes.”

Magenta bit back a laugh. She didn’t think the twins had to worry. They, along with her, were in no danger of being called mature any time soon.

17

The three women charged up the path that led to the old terraced house they shared. The house was small: two bedrooms and a bath upstairs, living room and dining kitchen downstairs. The reason it worked for the three of them was that the owners had added a conservatory to the back of the house. They used that space as their living room, and Magenta claimed the room at the front of the house as her bedroom. That left one bedroom each for the twins, which was perfect, because no one would survive if they had to share a room.

The twins ran for the stairs. “Meet you back here in a minute,” Claire called over her shoulder.

“I need to get changed and grab my gear pack. Won’t be long.” Magenta threw open the door to her room and strode to her wardrobe. She had her dress halfway over her head when the door slammed. Squealing, she pulled the dress back down and spun towards the noise. Harry was leaning against her door.

His arms were crossed over his chest and his ankles were lazily crossed in front of him. If it wasn’t for the determination in his eyes, she would have thought he was perfectly happy to be there.

“Freaking hell, Harry, you’ve turned into a Peeping Tom now?”

“To be a Peeping Tom, I’d have to hide. Do I look like I’m hiding?” He spread his arms wide.

No. He was taking up far too much space to be anything but very, very visible. The sight of him in her room was enough to distract Magenta from her normal reaction—anger. She had to resort to faking it.

“Wha

t are you doing here?” she snapped, and hoped it sounded genuine.

“You spent time in my room. Only fair I get to spend time in yours.” He reached into his back pocket, pulled something out and threw it at her. “Fido wanted his mummy.”

She caught the toy rat. Against her better judgment, a smile fought to escape. “Fido?”

He shuddered. “Better than Plaguemeister.”

A ruckus in the hall snatched Magenta’s attention away from Harry.

“You can’t do this,” one of the twins shouted.

“Breaking and entering. Vandalising a police officer’s house. Stealing a key from our mother. Attempted murder.” Matt’s voice was steel.

“Attempted murder?” someone screeched.

“You tried to kill Harry. He damn near had a heart attack.”

“No he didn’t. We watched the whole thing in the pub. There was no heart attack, but he did nearly pee his pants.”

The idiots giggled. Even Magenta rolled her eyes.

“Ow, let go, Don Don.”

“No. You two are going to spend the night in a nice cold cell. Might give you some time to consider a change in behaviour.”