The Chosen

by Theresa Meyers

  The ivy crawling up the great brick walls of Bostwick House shivered slightly in the warm evening breeze. The muddy scent of the Thames contrasted with the floral freshness of summer roses and lilies in bloom on the grounds. Against the twilight, lights blazed in a few of the windows; the human presence making the house seem welcoming enough at a second glance. “With six aunts and four uncles, there’s always someone home at Bostwick House,” he grumbled.

  “You have a large family, don’t you?”

  “Too large. And far too nosy.”

  “I always thought a large family would be a comforting thing.”

  “Not when you are trying to maintain secrecy.”

  Rather than walking her up the front steps, Marley steered her toward the side of the house and indicated the bright glow of light coming from the basement windows. “This way.” He led her around the side of the house. “For the sake of propriety, it’s best if we use the outside entrance to the basement. It’ll cause fewer questions later, I assure you.”

  “You don’t like your family knowing what you’re up to, do you?”

  Marley offered her a good-natured, lopsided smile. “If you lived with them, you’d understand; it’s less complicated this way.”

  Sephie nodded. Anything would be good as long as they got indoors quickly. The prickling of the small hairs on the back of her neck told her Darkin were close. “Whatever you wish. You certainly understand them better than I do. But let’s hurry.”

  Marley grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Trust me, if I were to walk in with you in tow, they’d immediately begin peppering us with questions about when we were going to announce our engagement. And it would be doubly hard to explain why I’m alone with another man’s intended without spilling an awful lot of your father’s secrets and upsetting a family blissfully unaware of Darkin in the process.”

  Eyes narrowing, Sephie glanced around as if suddenly aware that they were alone in the semi-darkness. Marley tightened his fingers around hers to reassure her. She was safe with him. She’d always be safe with him. But he now had enemies he didn’t know or understand. These Darkin, whatever they were, were dangerous. He’d seen Hargrieve’s reaction to them. But how could he possibly hope to build a weapon against something he didn’t know how to fight? He glanced at Sephie as they opened the gate in the wrought iron fence. He might not know about the Darkin, but she certainly did. And as brilliant and gifted as she was, she could help him formulate not just weapons, but a plan for altering his electrostatic power generator into the electric shot cannon Lord Hargrieve had requested.

  “We’d best get inside now,” she said softly. “It isn’t safe to linger out here in the open too long.”

  He should have let go of her hand, but he didn’t. But in his defense, she didn’t seem eager to let go of him, either. “This way,” he said, leading her back around the gravel path through the lush, half-overgrown garden, filled with the fragrance of lilies and roses and freshly cut grass. Crickets chirped in the warm evening air. A perfect summer night, if they hadn’t been running from Darkin.

  They came to what looked like a potting shed overgrown with climbing red roses. Their heavy sweetness infused the air and disguised the odors of ozone and chemicals that came from the lab below. He and Thadeus had planned it that way to ensure no little cousins inadvertently found the secret back entrance to their laboratory. They figured if it looked like it might involve hard work with rakes, hoes, and clippers, the little ones were likely to stay away. So far they’d been right.

  He pulled his key from his pocket and opened the lock on the door. The familiar scents of potting moss, earth, and lye filled the air. The potting shed was dark, but there in the floor one could see the outline of a large square indicating the trapdoor. Marley pulled her inside. There was hardly enough room with the two of them in the confines of the little shed to open the trapdoor. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to stand closer to me if we’re to open the door.”

  She gave him a saucy smile, her pretty teeth white in the gloom. “You say that as if you think I’ll mind.”

  Marley swallowed hard. He’d enjoyed kissing her, but it muddled his thinking, and now was not the time for being wobbly about the brainbox. It was best if he didn’t lead her on—or give in to further temptation himself.

  She moved until she was right next to him. The warmth of her, noticeable even in the heat of a summer evening, made him positive he had too many clothes on for comfort.

  Focus, man. Focus.

  He crouched down, fingers brushing the floor, feeling for the recessed metal latch in the wood. He found it and gave a great pull, lifting the trapdoor and letting the light of the tunnel connecting the shed to the laboratory in the basement fill the shed.

  “Careful. The steps can be slippery if they’re damp.” He held her hand tightly as he helped her navigate the steep descent of the stone steps leading down into the tunnel.

  As soon as they were clear, he pulled the door shut over them.

  “This is extraordinary,” she murmured, her voice echoing as she ran her fingertips over the stone walls and walked beside him down the hallway, wide and tall enough to accommodate a horse-drawn carriage. The temperature was slightly cooler than above, and the hall was lit by the ambient glow coming from the arc lamp in the laboratory just up ahead.

  He walked side by side with her, enjoying the moment of being able to hold her hand in his. Mixed with the familiar must of the damp stone was the sharp tang of ozone, a by-product from some of his experimentation. She turned and glanced at him. “Did you and your cousin build all this?”

  Marley shook his head. “We added and modified, but some of these tunnels have been here for ages. The Turlocks tend to be a creative lot. My cousin Thadeus and I used to get lost for hours mapping out the hidden rooms and passages in the house when we were children.”

  “And your mother didn’t mind?”

  “She always encouraged our curious nature.”

  She gave a great sigh as they reached the bend that turned the tunnel toward the house. “I wish I could say the same. My father has kept me practically under his boot heel since I could toddle.”

  “Probably with good reason. It looks as though what he fights is very dangerous.”

  She stopped and locked gazes with him. “But that’s just it. I know the dangers better than most, so why not let me fight against them with my mechanical creations rather than just relegating me to record kee—”

  A great grinding clunk cut off what she was saying. The sound was followed by a whirring then another clunk.

  “Blast!”

  “What is it?”

  “Thad must have left Binky on guard.”

  “Binky?”

  Just then a gigantic mechanical construct, its shoulders wide enough to stretch from one side of the tunnel to the other, its head nearly grazing the roof, with hands the size of wheelbarrows, came lumbering into the space before them, its red glowing eyes fixed firmly on the two of them.

  “You two named that monstrosity Binky?” Most women would have run at the sight of the mechanical creation, but Sephie stood her ground, her eyes narrowing as if she was picking it apart and assessing it. “Why Binky?”

  “Thadeus thought it funny. He once had a stuffed toy rabbit named Binky.”

  “Your cousin has an unusual sense of humor, doesn’t he?”

  Marley didn’t get to answer. “Who goes there?” The tinny mechanical voice scratched and vibrated out the words.

  “Halt, Binky.”

  “Who goes there?” it repeated.

  “Sassafras,” Marley said sharply.

  Whirrr. Clunk. The construct kept coming toward them, its massive hands raised and poised either to mash them flat into the floor or crush them to paste against the wall. “Bloody hell, Thadeus has changed the password.”

  Her eyes grew a little wide. “What will it do?”

  “Try to kill us most likely.” He frowned. “Pumpernickel.” Whir
rr. Clunk. “Kipper.” Whirrr. Clunk. They backed up a step toward the stairs. “Spotted Dick.” Whirrr. Clunk.

  “I think you’re just angering it now.”

  “Let me think. What other dish would Thadeus order?”

  “Those are your passwords? Food?”

  “He’s a growing boy,” Marley shot back.

  Whirr. Clunk. Rechetchetchet. The construct took a swing at them, and Marley shoved Sephie to the side of the tunnel just in time to keep from being smashed. Rock dust coated his glasses and hair, and particles of stone stung his skin. He gathered her in close beside him, trying to spare her the worst of the debris. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded, grabbing ahold of his shirt. “Think of the password before that thing kills us!”

  Gears whirred and clicked as Binky raised his massive fist again. Rechetchetchet. They were out of room to retreat. The man-sized hammer of a fist hit the top of the tunnel’s arc and began to swing downward toward their skulls.

  Chapter 6

  They were out of time and in danger of dying at the massive mechanical hands of his own creation before they ever reached his laboratory.

  If Thadeus’s favorite foods weren’t working as passwords to stop his monstrosity, perhaps Marley needed to think of something Thad hated.

  “Haggis!” Marley shouted.

  His construct’s massive metal arm froze in mid motion. Marley sagged with relief against the stone wall and breathed a silent prayer, his pulse so hard it throbbed behind his eyeballs.

  “Welcome home, sir,” Binky ground out as he stiffened to attention.

  “Guard the back entrance,” Marley instructed. “Unless it’s family, kill anything and anyone that gets through.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He was going to have words with Thadeus once he got hold of the blighter. What could have possibly made him think changing the password and activating Binky in attack mode while he was in the lab would be a good idea?

  They scooted past Binky and headed for the laboratory. Sephie kept throwing worried glances over her shoulder. “You’re certain it won’t malfunction and sneak up on us from behind?”

  “There’d be no sneaking about it. And I’m as certain as I can be about a mechanical thing. There’s always a chance it will fail, but if we stopped every time there was a chance of failure, we’d never succeed.”

  They rounded the corner into the main laboratory. Thadeus was nowhere in sight. The small hairs on the back of Marley’s neck rose—and from the lack of crackling sound Marley knew the phenomenon wasn’t caused by an electromagnetic field.

  “Thadeus? Thad, are you here?” he called out.

  No one answered. That worried him. It wasn’t like his cousin.

  “Perhaps he’s gone upstairs to have dinner with your family,” Sephie suggested.

  “Not this close to a breakthrough. He’s as driven as I am. We’ll work through the night and use the voice tube to have meals sent down on the dumbwaiter. I wouldn’t have even come out of the lab myself at this juncture, except that your father insisted.” And now he knew why. Darkin. Fascinating to consider—academically at least—the possibility of dark forces swirling around humankind on this earthly plane.

  Sephie gasped, which made him whip around.

  “What’s wrong?”

  But she wasn’t in danger from another of his inventions; instead, her eyes grew round with wonder. “These are amazing!” she said as she pressed her fingers to the glass doors of his curiosity cabinet and gazed at row after row of the little mechanical constructs he and Thadeus had created for the younger cousins.

  Marley had never brought anyone into his lab before. Sephie’s excitement and wonder were infectious, momentarily distracting him from the more pressing matter of drubbing his cousin once he found him.

  She flitted from one cabinet of creations to the next, inspecting them as if they were cabinets of fantastical wonders at the South Kensington Museum in the heart of London. “So intricate and artistic. You and your cousin really do have a flair for making things lifelike.”

  “You’re kind.”

  She turned and stared at him. “Your tone suggests I’m coddling a child. And I think we both know you are hardly that.” A twinkle in her blue eyes made his gut contract with longing. “Father said you make weapons as well.”

  Marley nodded. “He’s asked me to make some for the Legion.”

  Her brow furrowed slightly. “I know. That’s why he asked me to go and look at your work and assess it at the exhibition.”

  Marley stopped for a moment and stared at her. “You were spying on me for the Legion?”

  She nodded and worried her lip between her teeth, giving a dainty shrug of her shoulders. “You aren’t mad at me, are you?”

  Marley sighed and shook his head, then started chuckling. “No, but I do find it funny. You’re far more than you appear to be, aren’t you?”

  Her eyes glittered, and for a second Marley wasn’t certain if she was about to cry. The thought that he might make her cry struck him like a physical blow to the gut. “You’re the first man to really appreciate all my skills.”

  He reached over and brushed the back of his hand over her cheek. “How could I be angry when I find you so intensely fascinating?”

  Her lips spread into a tremulous smile. “Thank you for that.”

  “Anything for you, my lady,” he said with sincerity. The moment grew too tense, and Marley turned away. “Now where were we? Ah yes, weapons.”

  He took her hand and steered her toward his armory within the lab. “I’m afraid the collection I have isn’t extensive.” The collection included the modified Amanarath crossbow from Germany he’d refitted to reload bolts automatically, a few long-range pistols he’d augmented with special sighting scopes that gave the user tremendous range, and a wrist weapon that housed a series of Oriental throwing stars. “Weapons aren’t normally my focus. My efforts thus far have been trained on flight and the use of electricity.”

  “These are very good. I should very much like it if you’d make me a gun.” Her finger traced over the sharp tips of the bolts in the Amanarath crossbow.

  “You shoot?”

  She nodded. “You didn’t really think all a Hunter’s daughter knew how to do was serve tea, did you?”

  He gave her a lopsided grin. “I knew there was more to you than that the moment you stepped across the velvet ropes and began to tinker with my machine.”

  A blush infused her cheeks. “You make it sound very risqué.”

  His smile got even bigger. “What kind of gun would you like?”

  Sephie clasped her hands together. “You’re very good with electricity, and you’re the only inventor I can think of who could create such a thing. What I’d really like is a gun powered by a Tesla coil. One that shoots bolts of electricity rather than bullets or arrows.”

  “A Tesla coil shooter . . .” Marley murmured. “I hadn’t ever thought of applying electricity in that manner, but it has potential.”

  Her broad smile lit up the room, making the very air seem to sparkle. His heart twisted. Marley realized he’d give anything to see her smile like that every day for the rest of his life.

  “I’ll be happy to work on one for you. But it might have to wait for a few months. Thadeus and I are planning to test our great airborne electrical transmission enhancement machine, and we must finish it. In the meantime, I’m being a horrible host. May I order tea? I know I could use something after our greeting from Binky.”

  “Yes, please. Tea would be lovely.” She tilted her head to one side as he went to the voice tube that led to the kitchens upstairs and ordered tea for the two of them.

  “Is the invention you and Thadeus are testing the one my father is so interested in?”

  Marley nodded as he returned to the edge of his work desk. “I’m planning on testing it in North Umbria.”

  “Where exactly?”

  “Ullswater.”

  “That’s a fair
ly large lake. In fact, it borders one side of one of the family’s country estates.”

  A tight knot swelled in Marley’s throat. “It does?”

  She nodded.

  He had best be certain the invention would work. The last thing he wanted to do was anger Lord Hargrieve or any of his relations.

  A small brass bell rang three times, providing a very welcome distraction. “That should be the tea. Cook is most excellent about making sure there’s always something about for Thadeus and me no matter what time of day it is.”

  He walked over to the wall and slid up the wooden door of the dumbwaiter. Inside the wooden contraption sat a silver tea service and three china plates on two trays, one heaped with sandwiches, one with scones, clotted cream, and strawberry jam, and another with sliced fruit and boiled eggs. He picked up the trays, balancing them two on each arm as he carried them over to his workbench.

  The back of Sephie’s mouth began to ache and water, and her stomach took the opportunity to growl. She pressed her hand to her stomach to quiet it. She’d missed any chance of having something to eat when Frobisher had rudely shown up uninvited at their home that morning, as he did far too often.

  He usually consumed everything from the tea tray, leaving her little besides the comfort of a cup of hot Earl Grey tea.

  She picked up one of the sandwiches and bit in, enjoying the crisp, fresh taste of the cucumber and the green bite of the watercress, along with the sweetness of the soft butter. It was simple enough fare, but she was hungry and so it tasted as good as any of the fourteen-course meals her father had their staff serve on important occasions.

  Marley poured her a cup of tea and added a generous helping of sugar. “I didn’t ask, but I hope you like your tea sweet. It’s how I take it.”

  She offered him a grateful smile. “It’s perfect.” It could have been the weakest, most pathetic cup of tea in the realm and she would have thought it special, only because he’d poured it for her. It had been a very long time since a man had treated her as something other than a featherheaded female or—worse—a china doll to be wrapped in tissue and cosseted away in a drawer for fear of breaking it. Marley was attentive, yet believed in her strengths and reveled in her intellect. Sephie decided he was a most unusual man. Brilliant, but with a tender heart, and a fierceness when it came to protecting others.