by Jadyn Chase
I heaved back roaring in pain and smashed my temple into the hanger rail. I bellowed in fury. At that moment, Jackie yanked the door open and flooded the compartment with light. He grabbed my sleeve and towed me out.
“Bollocks! You really are as helpless as a blind rat, aren’t you? Here! Take your clothes off before you kill yourself.”
He started to peel my jacket off, but I bolted away, more in fear that he would actually physically undress me than anything else. “Get off, you! I can dress myself.”
“Do it, then,” he ordered.
He strolled back to his brother and resumed his place leaning against the desk. Then followed the most humiliating indignity of all. I had to take off my clothes under their withering sneers and put on the ghastly substitutes they offered me.
I kept my underwear on, thank Heaven, and they didn’t try to make me take it off. When I pulled my trousers off and stood before them attired only in my linens, Jake exploded in shrieking laughter. He clutched his arm over his stomach and doubled over choking and spluttering.
Jackie bit back a grin and lowered his eyes, but anyone could see he enjoyed the spectacle as much as his brother. I narrowed my eyes at them both pulling on the clothes. I hated them with pure, unforgiving passion. I didn’t care how kind and helpful they were. How dare they laugh at me—me, a gentleman! I vowed to pay them back somehow.
I shall spare you a detailed description of the clothing I put on. The memory pains me to recall it even now. Suffice to say that I did, in the end, cover my nakedness in a guise suitably freakish to fool anyone who happened upon me.
I straightened up in front of my tormentors, but I felt only half a man in this get-up. Jackie nodded his approval. “Much better. Now come on. You’ve dithered around here long enough. It’s seven o’clock. We’ll get up to the Castle and see what’s what.”
He opened the door and he and Jake led the way outside. I followed as best I could and caught up with them in the yard. “How are we going to get there?”
“We’ll drive you.” The brothers approached another curious contraption parked in front of the house. I hadn’t remarked its presence when I arrived in the dead of night.
Jake advanced on the thing. He opened a door and slid into a seat behind what looked like the pilot’s wheel of a ship. Four wheels held the object off the ground, but I didn’t see any harness for the horses.
He did something to it, and it belched to life. It vibrated and the most atrocious sound came out of it. I backed away in dread. “What on Earth is that thing?”
“It’s a car!” Jake thundered from inside. “Get in.”
Jackie waved me forward, but at that moment, a booming male voice rumbled from the nearby house. “You boys have chores to do before you go anywhere.”
Jackie whipped around fast. He covered the ground in a flash and seized me by the shoulders. “It’s Dad! Quick! Hide before he sees you!”
He shoved me toward the barn. I had to scramble to prevent him from pushing me over. I staggered to the building and he gave me one final almighty shove to force me behind it. He didn’t follow and I didn’t see where he went.
He pushed me so hard I lost my footing and fell flat on my face. A bunch of sheep just so happened to be lying around between the building and a wooden fence. They leapt to their feet bleating and running into the boards.
I bounded up to make a run for it, but the instant I put my foot on the ground, a stabbing pain blasted into my heel. I would have screamed, but what should have been sound erupted out of me in a new and unforeseen way.
Pain and fear and frustration boiled in a molten stew of frustration and rage. Before I could stop it, it erupted out of my mouth in place of the yell my human brain wanted to make. Instead, my whole skin blasted away in a myriad of tiny fragments and left nothing but this catastrophic fermented volcano of fury and protest.
Until that moment, I could convince myself I was handling the shock of my circumstances with gentlemanly grace and composure. No more. The injury to my foot—whatever it was—simply gave voice to a volatile revolt against everything that happened since I woke up.
Why did this have to happen to me? What was going to happen to me? Why did I find myself suddenly transported from comfort and confidence to withering shame and torment? I couldn’t even continue to call myself a gentleman.
All in a minute, my mind ceased to be capable of answering these questions. I no longer cared to. I only wished to vent my colossal wrath and aggravation on the world in any way I could.
Blood pounded behind my eyes. My brain submerged under an ocean of irrational ferocity and murderous intent. I roared my challenge to the only audience who would hear it, which at that moment turned out to be the sheep.
4
Alexander
“Cor! Alex!” The voice punched into my brain and startled me awake. I heaved upright staring everywhere at once.
I blinked at the two faces staring down at me. They looked familiar, but I couldn’t place them.
“Blimey, mate!” one of them whispered. “What the fuck happened to you?”
The other one jabbed his comrade with his elbow. “He don’t remember us. Maybe he’s lost his blinkin’ memory.”
“Well, that would be the bloody capper, wouldn’t it?” the other snapped. “Oi! Alex! What’s the fucking matter with ya? What are you doing in there and where are your clothes?”
I looked down at myself and my stomach tumbled. I would say it tumbled into my shoes except that I wasn’t wearing any. I wasn’t wearing anything—not a solitary stitch.
I swallowed hard. The taller one squatted down and rested a rifle on its butt next to his foot. “Listen here, Alex. It’s us. It’s Jake and Jackie Whitlock. Don’t you remember? We had tea and lemon cake in our cave. Remember?”
It started to come back. I clamped my eyes shut and did my best not to disintegrate into a thousand pieces. I couldn’t be lying here stark naked in front of a pair of armed strangers in…..Oh, dear God! It was true. I was lying in the bushes.
The short one held out his hand. “Come on, Alex, old sod. We’ll get you inside and cleaned up. Jesus effin’ Christ, you gave us a turn!”
I didn’t want to touch him in my state. I didn’t want anyone looking at me or even knowing I was alive, but I couldn’t stay like this. Mud and muck discolored my skin and my head swam in a fog of uncertainty.
I shut my eyes and put out my hand. He grasped my wrist and hauled me to my feet. I lurched into the open and immediately tried to cover my nakedness with my bare hands.
“Not to worry,” Jackie murmured. “Dad’s gone to town for the morning. He won’t be back ‘til lunch at the earliest.”
I glanced around the farmyard. Sun brightened the area. It looked different in daylight, but in a flash, the memory came back—all except what happened after I lost my temper. I spotted a scattered collection of bloody carcasses between the barn and the fence. Tufts of wool fluttered in the breeze. “What the dickens happened here?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Jake replied. “Right after you disappeared, we heard a kerfuffle break out behind the barn. We came over and found all these sheep dead. Dad thinks it’s dogs gone wild in the neighborhood that done it. He sent us out to hunt the blighters down, but if it is neighborhood dogs, they’ll all be back in their own yards by now getting petted by their masters’ kids and being told what sweet, lovely pets they are. It’s always the way.”
Enough of his story sounded familiar that it should have explained something about what happened, but I couldn’t put it together.
They started toward the barn. I saw the door leading to their cave and I began to relax. I would be safe in there. These two considerate young men would make sure nothing happened to me. They would ensure I got whatever I needed to….to do whatever I was going to do.
I almost shut my eyes in pure relief. I knew where I was and I knew where I was going. I didn’t have to understand anything or accomplish a
nything.
Jackie went in front and Jake brought up the rear. Jackie passed his rifle to his left hand, put out his right, and slid back the barn door. At that moment, a cow came trotting from inside. It plunged through the door and bumped into Jackie.
Before he could react, the beast knocked into his knees and threw him off balance. He toppled toward the wall and would have smashed his head in. At the last second, he dropped his gun and braced himself against the corner.
The gun slammed butt downward in the dirt and discharged. A blaze of powder and flame spouted from the muzzle. Something touched my chest. Quicker than I could think, the whole horrible reaction cascaded through me. It blasted me apart faster than last time.
I launched into the air growing bigger and bigger. I couldn’t understand it. I looked down on the scene from above the barn roof, but that made no sense.
Jake and Jackie scuttled out of the way and the cow took off running for the hills. Another fountain of uncontrollable fury discharged from my mouth. I sprayed unadulterated rage and destruction on everything around me. I didn’t care who or what I destroyed.
A monstrous tornado of fire jetted from my mouth. I wanted to burn down the whole world, but at that moment, I spotted Jake and Jackie cowering in abject terror against the barn. They huddled close together like two petrified children and I suppose that was all they ever really were.
By a heroic effort, I tilted my head to one side to avoid incinerating them on the spot. A forgotten part of my brain recognized them and the barn as my one and only sanctuary in this world. I couldn’t destroy that.
I pivoted my head sideways by a fraction of an inch and unloaded my fire on the fence and a nearby shed. They went up in flame and the licks of heat and devastation flailed their wicked arms to the sky.
The next minute, I rose above it all. My soul traveled far, far away from all this and never looked back.
5
Alexander
I came to myself in almost the exact same position as last time. I lay naked on my back with mud and dirt plastered across my bare chest. A sunny blue sky stretched beyond leafy foliage above my head.
I didn’t remember much about what happened, but I remembered Jake and Jackie cringing in fear before me. Everything else seemed strange and unrealistic.
Voices roused me from my hiding place. When I peeked through the branches, whom should I see but Jake and Jackie themselves. They sauntered over grassy fields murmuring to each other in an undertone.
I jumped up, but I dared not show myself. I dreaded anyone seeing me. I hissed through the shrubbery. “Jake! Jackie! Over here!”
They didn’t hear me. They heard only their whispered conversation and continued on their way. This wouldn’t do. If I hoped to attract their notice, I would have to make more noise.
“Jake!” I called. “Jackie!”
They stopped and looked around. I had to call a third time before they realized where the sound was coming from.
They tiptoed toward the bushes, but they didn’t approach. “Alex? Is that you?”
“It’s me, lads!” I breathed. “Can you help me? I’m…. I’m in a bit of a bind.”
Jackie scratched the back of his head. “I’ll say you are.”
“What the cripes are you doing, Alex?” Jake exclaimed. “All that time you were in our cave you never told us.”
“Told you what?” I countered. “You know all about me coming from 1840. What could be worse than that?”
The two of them blinked at me from several feet away. “You’re a dragon, Alex. We both saw you. You needn’t try to deny it.”
I tried to shake those words out of my head. “Piffle! I’m no such thing. I’m simply…. I’m simply lost….in time, that is. Nothing more.”
Jackie shook his head. Their demeanor really began to give me a terrible feeling. “We both saw you, Alex. You changed right in front of us. That gun went off and shot you in the chest. You should have been dead, but instead, you changed into a dragon. You burned down the fence and the shed. We saw the whole thing. You’re….” He stole a glance at his brother before returning to gape at me. “You’re not human.”
I opened my mouth to argue….and stopped. Could he be right? Could that be what happened to me both times? Did I? Could I?
When Jake spoke again, he barely dared give voice above a whisper. “You have got a serious fucking problem, mate.”
I fully agreed with him. What was I to do? I couldn’t spend the rest of my life in these bushes. I didn’t have the first clue what to do about my predicament.
Jackie saved me. He glanced over his shoulder toward the farm in the distance. “We have to get you out of here. We have to find you some clothes and…..You can’t stay here.”
“What do we do with him?” Jake frowned at me like some attraction at the circus.
Jackie shook his head. The longer this interview went on, the more frightened I became—of myself more than anything else. “I dunno. Come on. Let’s go. We’ve got a straight run to the cave from here. I’ll get a change of Dad’s clothes. Then we’re getting in the bloody car and getting the fuck out of here. You can’t stay here.”
I submitted to their assessment. From start to finish, they proved themselves loyal and resourceful friends. I placed myself entirely in their hands. Jackie held out his hand to me and helped me out of the bushes. I didn’t dare to argue. I even passed far beyond caring about appearing naked before these two.
The three of us hustled back to the cave. Jake stood guard over me in the office while Jackie dashed to the house. He returned in a moment and I put on what he gave me without a squeak of derision. I didn’t give a toss anymore what I looked like as long as I was dressed and out of danger.
Once I attired myself in the local garb, the twins scanned me up and down. Jake gave a clipped nod. “You’ll do.”
Jackie opened the door. They cast wary glances back and forth and in front and behind. Then we all made a push for the car. I hated to go near the thing, but if they thought it was right, I could go along with it.
Jackie shoved me into the rear seat while he and Jake took the front. Jake started the thing. It reverberated with a funny sort of hum. Then it started moving. I admit I cried out in alarm, but they behaved with such a casual disregard for all safety that I had no choice but to submit.
The object swiveled around and puttered out of the yard. It hit the road and rumbled back to Dover. I couldn’t stop staring at everything around me. The scene resembled something out of a nightmare. More of these cars purred everywhere going faster than any reasonable person would allow.
Jake drove into town and parked his vehicle on the street. The twins had to haul me out by main force before I would leave the confines of my seat. They stood me up on the footpath and Jackie brushed me off, though I wasn’t dirty.
“Now listen very carefully, Alex,” he growled. “We’re going in that shop over there to talk to a friend of ours about this. I don’t want to hear no flap from you about nothing once we get inside. Don’t go telling nobody who you are nor where you come from nor any of that tripe. Just keep your lip zipped. Do you hear?”
I didn’t understand much of what he said beyond the need to keep my true identity hidden. I nodded. “I understand, Jackie. You can count on me to maintain appearances.”
He didn’t smile or joke now. I had never seen him so stern and I didn’t care for it at all. I much preferred him casual and friendly. Jake, too, kept his features hard and watchful at all times. They reminded me of military men on assignment all of a sudden instead of farm boys out for a lark.
Jackie smacked his hand against my chest. “I certainly hope for your sake that you do. If anything goes wrong while you’re in town, it’s your hide they’ll come looking to stake out, not ours.” Without another word, he stormed around me and made for the shop. Jake went with him and left me to tag along.
The sign over the door read, Sagittarius, in curly writing. Who on Earth would name a shop that?<
br />
We walked into a dense fog of fragrant incense smoke. Shelves displayed crystals and gemstones of all kinds, though most appeared to be of the semi-precious variety rather than precious.
A lot of other rubbish cluttered the room, but a beautiful girl behind the counter attracted my attention away from it. The moment I laid eyes on her, I found myself drawn to her. “Good morning. How do you do?”
Her delicate lips curled up in a smile. “Good morning to you. What can I do for you?”
I cocked my head. “You have a strange accent. You’re not from Kent, I’ll wager.”
She laughed and tossed her long brown hair over her shoulders. “You’re right. I’m from America.”
“America!” I gasped. “My word! How do you come to be so far from home?”
Before she could answer, Jackie barged between us. He shot me a vicious glare and bared his teeth while answering over his shoulder. “We need your help, Rosie. We have a mystery to solve and we know you’re the one to help us solve it.”
She turned to face him. “A mystery! Well, that sounds interesting. What are the clues?”
Jake joined his brother at the counter. They barricaded themselves between me and the girl, but I could still see her shining countenance over their heads. Her wavy, chocolate-brown tresses framed the most entrancing brown eyes set in milk-white skin. Her crimson lips continually twitched upwards just waiting for any opportunity to smile.
She polished some smoothed amethyst beads on the counter. Her slender hands moved in a graceful dance under and over each other, but her sparkling eyes never left her listeners.
Jake counted off on his fingers. “Here are the clues. We’ve got Henry Mackenzie Shelton and his family disappearing from the Great Armour Hall in Dover Castle in 1840.”
“Yeah?” she prompted.
“Then we’ve got evidence that they weren’t killed or drowned or anything else, but that they were alive and well after the fact. They only fell asleep and someone stashed their living bodies in a hidden part of the Castle.”
