by Eric Vall
“Holy moly,” Valerie gasped. “I thought she would never leave.”
But right as the blonde phased into view with flushed cheeks, and exhilaration burning in her blue eyes, the floorboards outside of the door creaked.
Chapter Four
Valerie’s hands slammed out, gripped each of us by the shoulders, and pulled us all into a tight huddle for the second time. In an instant, Rian to my right and Daisy to my left faded from view, and all four of us listened to a single voice just outside of the doorway. I already knew that it was the Duchess, she was speaking in a whisper, I glanced over my shoulder where Valerie should’ve been, and murmured to all my women.
“I think we’re going to have to sneak past her,” I breathed. “We need to get out of here before she goes to the stables and notices my wagon… she’ll recognize it immediately.”
“Okay, Charles,” Valerie whispered. “We’ll follow after you.”
I nodded even though they couldn’t see me, tightened my hands on their forearms, stepped forward, tested the wooden floorboard, and then slipped through the door frame. Edony’s back faced us, and the blonde stared down the darkened hallway with a glossy look in her eyes. I’d seen this expression before, and I assumed that the Duchess was thinking hard about something. Her delicate, gloved hands clutched at her cane, and every few seconds, her fingers clenched around the crook of the cane.
I opened my lips, took a soft breath, gripped my hands on my women tighter, pressed myself against the wall opposite of Edony, and then crept along it. I kept my eyes glued to the aristocrat, my heart hammered in my chest, and sweat trickled down the sides of my cheeks. If she caught us now, after everything she’d already seen in Ortensia’s room, all four of us would surely be executed in the streets by daybreak. I’m not sure what they’d do with A.B., probably toss him out like trash, or something like that, and I couldn’t let any of that happen.
My women and I squeezed past Edony, and the blonde didn’t notice us at all. Her arched eyebrows twitched at the tips, a single vein in the middle of her forehead throbbed with her heartbeat, but other than that, her stoic face looked absolutely calm. We were about to step around her when the Duchess suddenly turned, brushed forward toward the open doorway, and then pressed a hand to the wooden frame.
“I need to summon Lucien,” the Duchess whispered. “He’ll help me go through her room, and find anything that has to do with our experiments… if any of those bumbling idiot constables find them first… I’m ruined. Think, Edony, think… can you really tell everyone that Ortensia killed herself? Will that information get back to the Queen? No… no, it won’t, no one in the city except for me is in contact with the Queen. Yes, that’ll work perfectly, goddamnit, I need to get Lucien over here.”
“Lucien?” Valerie whispered into my ear. “That name sounds familiar.”
“It was in the diary,” Daisy murmured. “It’s the name of the scientist that Edony hired to replace Charles.”
Edony’s head whipped in our direction, we fell deathly silent, and the blonde’s violet eyes slashed through the air where we stood. The Duchess’ eyes met mine, I stopped breathing, and for a moment, I believed that I wasn’t invisible anymore, somehow, Valerie’s power had stopped working. Edony’s plump lips pressed into a firm line, her eyes fell to the floor, and she whispered something under her breath that I couldn’t hear from this far away.
“That was a close one,” A.B. hissed. “Let’s get out of here. Tonight was so crazy, I don’t think I’ll ask to leave the house for a year or two. I’ve had enough excitement for one brain.”
I nodded, even though the brain couldn’t see me, held onto Rian and Daisy tightly, and then crept down the hall toward the stairs. Once we reached the doors, I glanced over my shoulder, made sure that Edony was inside of Ortensia’s room, and then swung open the door. I glanced down the stairwell, breathed a sigh of relief, and then finally let go of both of my women. Daisy, Valerie, and Rian phased back into view, and all of them slumped against the wall.
“That was so close,” the feline-woman bleated. “I thought for sure that she was going to catch us! That last time, oh science! I thought she saw you even though I was still touching you, Charles.”
“I know,” I grunted. “I thought the same thing. We’re not home free yet, we still need to get out to the carriage house, and into the wagon, but that might be tougher than we think. Constables will be coming back from patrol, those two that left will be somewhere out there, but not only that, a few constables have to have woken up from all that noise. We need to be extra careful, everyone understand? Just because we got away from Edony, doesn’t mean that we’re in the clear just yet.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Daisy muttered. “This place gives me the creeps, especially since we know that Edony’s hanging around.”
I nodded, held out my hand to Valerie and gripped onto her. Daisy pressed a hand to her feline sister’s shoulder, and Rian took the blonde’s other hand. We disappeared from view within seconds after Valerie activated her power, and we slowly moved down the stairs in a unit. Once we reached the bottom floor, I opened it a sliver, peeked out, glanced around the darkened corridor, and then pulled on Valerie’s hand.
No constables moved out in the hall, but as we passed a few doors, loud rustlings and bangs could be heard from inside. I assumed that it was coming time for the second shift change, and we needed to get out of there before the halls, common room, and carriage house were filled with constables. Sure, we could avoid one or two women moving up and down the hall, but ten or more? We’d be bumped into and found out within minutes of entering into the corridor, and we couldn’t let that happen.
I turned my head every few seconds to listen to the soft, muted rustlings inside of each constable’s room, it seemed that only five of them were up and about, but even then, that put us at risk.
“We have to hurry,” I hissed over my shoulder. “Valerie, can you keep your power activated while we run?”
“Oh, of course!” the feline-woman giggled. “I’ve practiced a lot with my power, and I can do almost anything with it activated; jumping, rolling, leaping, cartwheels, running, and climbing, all the things I normally do.”
“Alright, everyone,” I grumbled. “We’re going to race down the hall, if all of the constables come out while we’re sneaking, it’s all over. If we run, they’ll maybe come out if they hear us, but they won’t see us or accidentally touch us. We’re going on three… two… one!”
I pushed off, held tightly to Valerie’s hand, gripped Rian’s in my own, and pulled all of them after me. Our feet pounded against the scarlet carpet runner down the middle of the floor, but they didn’t make as much sound as I suspected, just light thumping. Right as we reached the mouth of the hall, I whipped my head behind us, a single door swung open, and a confused-looking constable leaned her head out. The woman glanced both ways, frowned, shrugged, and then slammed the door shut.
The four of us didn’t stop there, if we paused for a moment, there was a high chance that we’d be caught. All four of us came around the corner, forced our funning bodies toward the front door, and then slid to a stop in front of it. My three women panted airily behind me, but I ignored the sounds, gripped the door handle, opened it a tiny amount, and then peered out into the darkness. Like when we came in, no one moved around the stables, or the gravel drive, I pressed my lips into a firm line, threw the door open, and then raced toward the carriage house.
The sky was a bit brighter compared to when we went in, and I wondered how much time had passed, but I couldn’t let that distract me. We had to get into the stable, uncover the wagon, hop inside, and then leave. I was torn between jumping into the driver’s seat and roaring out of there, but if anyone were awake, we’d be spotted immediately. I dropped Valerie’s hand once we raced underneath the roof of the stable, all four of us bent forward, and panted hard.
I kept my eyes glued on to the windows of the dormitory, more lights were on inside, bu
t there were no silhouettes of constables there. I lowered myself closer to the ground, crept toward the stall where we’d left our horses and wagon, gripped the edge of the tarp, and slowly pulled it off. Our horses glanced over their broad shoulders at the sound, snorted softly, and then beat at the ground with their hooves almost as if they understood our urgency.
I offered a hand to Rian, helped her up into the bed of the wagon, turned, gripped Valerie by the waist, and lifted her up into the back of the cart. Then, I turned, held Daisy by the forearm, dragged her to the driver’s seat, lifted her up, and rested her there. I climbed up after her, held the reins in my hands, and guided our wagon backward. My heart hammered in my chest, and every few seconds, I glanced over my shoulder, and checked the windows above us.
The Duchess was here, and that made me even more anxious than I would’ve been if she wasn’t. My women and I could handle a few constables, but if the Duchess found us… we’d be nothing more than bloody smudges against the gravel. I’d seen what she could do with her powers, and I didn’t want to experience it for myself.
I pulled back on the reins, angled them a bit downward, and signaled the horses to back up. They obeyed my commands, whinnied softly, and then slowly pushed the wagon out onto the gravel drive. This was our moment of truth, this was the point where anyone could come out of the dormitory and see us, but not only that, if we were too loud, those above us could look out their windows and see us.
“Alright,” I whispered. “Here we go, keep an eye on the windows and doors. Let me know if you see anyone… especially the Duchess.”
“I would activate my power…” Valerie whispered. “But it doesn’t work on inanimate objects, it only works on me, other people, and the clothes they’re wearing.”
“No, it’s alright,” I soothed. “We knew this was going to be a difficult task, we’ll get through it even if they do see us.”
I’d managed to get the wagon out of the stall and turned around in the gravel drive, but we had to pass by the side and front of the dormitory on the way home. I slapped the reins against the horses’ backs, forced them forward, and then aimed my eyes up toward the windows above our heads. We crept along, both Rian and Valerie had covered themselves with the tarp from earlier, and Daisy sat with her back pressed against me. I could hear the brunette’s breathing, it came in and out in soft rasps, but her eyes scanned the rows of white windows as we passed them. When I rested my hand against her shoulder, her skin was clammy with a thin layer of cold sweat, and she turned to glance back at me.
“Are you alright?” I asked. “Did you see something?”
“No,” the bear-girl whispered. “I’m just… ready to be home. Charles?”
“Yes?” I murmured.
“Why do you think that the Duchess constantly suspects you?” Daisy urged. “There was no way she knew that we were there, but she still found some way to connect you to the crime… Have you done anything besides the breach of contract to make her feel this way?”
“No, not that I know of,” I answered. “My only interactions with her were the first time I met her out on the street, then she contracted me, and then she set me up in the manor. I never gave her any reason to believe that I was involved with crimes or anything nefarious. Maybe it’s just… her jumping to conclusions? She thought that I killed Delphine, so maybe it’s her first reaction when something bad happens.”
“But you were absolved of that,” the gorgeous brunette shook her head. “We killed Milton to make it look like he was the one who murdered Delphine, so to the Duchess, you had no hand in that.”
“You’re right,” I nodded. “I mean, there’s no denying it, I killed both of them, but it looked as if Milton killed Delphine, so there should be no reason why the Duchess would suspect me so much.”
“She’s obsessed with you,” Daisy muttered. “I want to know why, though… If it has to do with your contract, it’s been so long, and she should be over it by now, or at least, you’d think she’d be? Aristocrats sign and break contracts every single day, why is she so obsessed with yours? Is she simply enraged that you dared to defy her, or is it something deeper? Something more profound and painful inside of her? The more I ask myself what could she want from you, I become more and more confused. There’s no reason why she should suspect you, or instantly think of you when she walks into a room.”
“We’ll never know, I guess,” I snorted. “Not unless she comes out and says it to us, which will never happen because, of course, it’s Edony.”
“I want to get into her head,” the brunette girl chuckled. “Root around through her thoughts and memories and find out why she’s so obsessed with you.”
“Maybe she likes Charles,” Valerie giggled through the tarp.
“No way,” I snorted. “There is no way that’s true. She probably thinks that I’m this evil scientist and doctor who’s going around killing the citizens of Edenhart.”
“Who is also a brute sympathizer,” Daisy nodded. “And has a Mistress that is also a brute sympathizer. I’m almost surprised that Ortensia didn’t have a picture of me up on that wall with Josephine.”
“She did,” I breathed. “Next to mine, though, I doubt she meant it as a harlot connection. Rian, do you remember putting up those things on the wall?”
“Nope,” the imp-woman sighed. “I remember a few things here and there, but not the full memory. Everything comes in pieces, maybe one day I’ll understand everything that Ortensia did, but right now, it’s all a jumbled mess.”
“It’s alright,” I murmured. “If you can’t remember, it’s not your fault.”
I moved my eyes over the windows, slammed them down toward the brick-paved street, and then turned the reins in my hands. The horses responded immediately, shifted out onto the road, and the wheels below us clattered softly onto the brick.
“There’s Edony’s carriage,” I mumbled. “She must still be inside… I wonder if she’s looking for something particular or just going through Ortensia’s things wildly.”
“What do you think she’d be looking for?” the feline-woman asked.
“Probably evidence,” I whispered. “As she said, if any of the constables find something suspicious, they’ll go to the Queen, not the Duchess. She needs to get everything that has to do with her experiments out of that room and back to the duchy.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we took it all,” Rian giggled. “There isn’t anything left there for her to find, she’ll just be shuffling through meaningless Chief Constable papers for the rest of the night.”
I warily watched the carriage as we passed by, glanced up at the windows above our head, breathed in slowly, and then turned my head down the road. In just a few more seconds, we’d be past the dormitory, around a corner, and out of sight, if only we could reach it before anyone appeared out of the building. I held my breath, kept my face straightforward, but peeked out of the corner of my eye toward the doors. Right as we reached the corner, the front doors of the dormitory crashed open with the sizzle of electricity, Edony stalked out with stacks of paperwork stuffed under her arm, and as she neared the carriage we had just passed, she threw her free hand back over her shoulder.
A single, jagged bolt of lightning raced through the air, stabbed into the door of the carriage, and then exploded into flames. Smoke obscured the street from view for a moment, and then a loud clatter came after. My eyes widened in fear, my hands instinctively gripped onto the reins out of shock. The door to the carriage laid on its side, broken into three pieces, propped against the concrete gutter, and blazed with blue fire. Edony barely glanced at it, yelled up to her driver, slid inside of the carriage, and disappeared from view.
“Time to get out of here,” I grunted.
I gripped the reins tighter in my fist, slapped the leather straps against the horses’ backs, and roared down the street in the opposite direction. I wouldn’t have been more worried about the noise, but I was sure that Edony was preoccupied with whatever had ange
red her, and she wouldn’t have noticed our wagon speeding away.
I let all of the air out of my lungs, threw my head back, stared up at the sparkling stars dotted against the night sky, and let out a peal of laughter. We’d done it, we’d actually done it, we’d snuck into the constables’ dormitory, strung up Ortensia’s body, stolen all of the evidence, and escaped out into the night without being caught. There were a few moments here and there where I thought we were going to be discovered for sure, but no, all I had to do was trust in Valerie’s powers, and guide them through.
“Wait,” I grunted. “That reminds me… Valerie? How did you manage to do that with your power? How could you lend it to us like that?”
“Well, it took determination, lots of practice, and…” the feline-woman giggled. “Sheer luck. I want to say it was something I’d practiced hundreds of times and mastered, but… I’d only done it a few times and even then… it barely worked. I just closed my eyes, activated my power, and threw all of my concentration into it, maybe it has something to do with you being there, Charles. That’s the only difference between the times I tried, and this one…”
“Charles is our good luck charm,” Rian bubbled. “We’ll just keep him around and nothing will go wrong.”
“Maybe it has something to do with my blood?” I asked. “All of you hold a minuscule amount of my blood in your bodies from the initial experiment, maybe that’s the reason it worked?”
“Whatever it was,” Daisy smiled. “It was unbelievable, and I’m so proud of you, Valerie, your power is growing stronger and stronger by each day.”
“Thank you!” the feline-woman crooned. “I’ve been practicing every day, and hopefully, someday in the future, I’ll be able to turn those around invisible without Charles being there! That’d be so useful!”
“Charles,” the imp-woman breathed. “Do you think that Edony will come after us now? Since she suspects us?”
