by Tim Hehir
‘It has to be the river,’ said Julius. He grabbed Emily’s hand. ‘There’s no other way.’
‘I can’t bleeding swim,’ she cried.
Julius snatched the spinning watch and put it into his pocket.
‘Neither can I,’ he said.
CHAPTER 12
Saturday June 30th 1832
4:02 AM
Julius and Emily scrambled to the river side of the roof and leapt over the advancing soulcatchers. Julius’s legs kept running through the air as if they were trying to keep him up.
Splash. He hit the water and kicked out with his arms and legs hoping to ward off the man-eating fish. Was he still holding Emily’s hand? He didn’t know. He only knew that he couldn’t breathe.
His foot hit something. He pushed up. Something was pulling him down—was it Emily’s hand? Yes, it was. He didn’t know if his eyes were open or closed—all was black. Was he being eaten alive yet?
His foot touched something again. This time he used his grip on Emily’s hand to pull her closer. He felt her other arm wrap around him. He pushed up with both legs as if he wanted to jump to the moon. Up they went.
Julius broke through the surface. The night sounds exploded around him. He opened his mouth to suck in the air, and the river water rushed in. Julius felt himself going down. Had the fish started eating him yet? He still couldn’t tell.
He felt Emily’s arm around his neck. Her grip tightened and he felt the reassuring sensation of something solid and in control. He was being pulled up to the surface. He spluttered out some water and gulped in a mouthful of air before he went under again.
He grabbed at Emily. She was steady in the water, like a warm, soft rock. Julius pulled on her shoulder and came up for air. He breathed, a whole lungful this time.
Emily was holding onto something to keep her up. Julius reached for it too and touched solid wood. He hugged it tight. He had never in his life been so pleased to meet a fallen branch. He made a mental note to be more appreciative of trees from now on.
‘You all right, ’iggins?’ said Emily.
He gurgled something and coughed up water. He hugged the branch while he got used to breathing again. He could hear Emily doing the same.
It still did not feel like he was being eaten alive. He moved his legs to check them. They were still there. He hoped Emily’s were too.
‘Got to get on dry land, ’iggins,’ she spluttered.
‘I know. Man-eating fish,’ said Julius. ‘Are you all in one piece?’
‘I fink so.’
He felt Emily’s arm wrap around him from behind.
‘Move,’ she said.
Julius pulled himself along the branch until his feet touched the riverbed. Then he dragged himself and Emily towards the bank. He could see the dark outline of the clergyman waving them into shore.
Julius fell onto the bank with Emily still clinging to his back and lay there exhausted.
‘Get up, quickly. You must leave the island now,’ said the clergyman. ‘The soulcatchers can sense that you’re not one of us.’
Julius rolled onto his back and stared up at the stars as the clergyman looked down at him.
‘I’m alive,’ said Julius.
‘Congratulations,’ said Emily.
‘Thank you.’
Then Julius remembered the pocketwatch. He patted his sodden shorts. It was still there. He wrapped his hand around it. It was wet but he could feel its tick-tock in his hand and through his body.
Safe and sound, Higgins. Safe and sound.
‘Are you listening to me?’ said the clergyman.
‘Wot you mean, “not one of us”?’ asked Emily.
‘Not carrying the soulcatcher seeds in your blood,’ said the clergyman. ‘You must go back to you own village.’
‘’ow do we do that then, gov?’ Emily asked.
‘I have a canoe,’ said the clergyman. ‘Leave now, but steer clear of the men on the far shore. Darwin is a good fellow but Skinner has no scruples. He is an orchid hunter.’
‘We saw ’im try to kidnap a nippa?’ said Emily.
‘Yes, he wanted to take the child back to England to parade before his orchid collector friends. He wanted to show the child go mad and sprout flowers from his mouth, and to watch his soul being taken by the soulcatcher. Come quickly, I’ll take you to the canoe.’
‘Sure fing, gov,’ said Emily, getting up from the mud.
The clergyman led Julius and Emily upstream, along the riverbank.
‘Hurry, now. Hurry. You must not come here again,’ he said as he they went. ‘This island is damned. We are damned. Do you understand?’
‘No, I don’t fink so,’ said Emily.
‘Our souls are taken by the soulcatchers. Never to be released. You wouldn’t like that to happen to you, would you?’ said the clergyman.
‘No, not on your nellie, gov,’ said Emily.
They walked on. Following the river’s edge.
‘Here we are,’ said the clergyman. He set about sweeping leaves and twigs away from a canoe. Julius helped him to pull it out over the water.
‘Now go, quickly,’ said the clergyman. ‘Ask you parents to whip you as soon as you get home. It will do you good.’
‘Sure fing, gov,’ said Emily.
Julius climbed into the front of the canoe and Emily behind him while the clergyman held it steady. They grabbed the paddles from under the seats.
‘Off you go, and God be with you,’ said the clergyman. ‘Don’t come back or I’ll whip you myself.’
He pushed the canoe out onto the water.
It wobbled, almost capsizing. ‘Steady,’ said Julius. ‘One paddle on each side like Darwin and Skinner did it.’
‘Aye, aye, cap’n,’ said Emily, dipping the paddle into the water like it was a soup ladle.
They zigzagged their way into the current.
Dawn was on its way. The forest sounds were changing again and the shades of black and charcoal were turning to dark-greens and browns.
‘I fink we should get ’ome for our whipping, ’iggins, don’t you?’ said Emily.
Julius turned around to answer her, nearly tipping the canoe.
‘Oi, careful,’ said Emily. ‘Don’t give them fish a second go at us.’
‘Sorry,’ said Julius. ‘We’ll steer for the other side and keep watch on Darwin and Skinner.’
‘Aye, aye.’
Julius and Emily pulled into the shore and crept along the riverbank to Darwin’s camp. They crouched in the undergrowth and watched.
After a while Skinner stirred. He sat up and rubbed his neck. Then he glanced over at Darwin lying fast asleep on his side under a blanket. With great care Skinner laid his own blanket aside and stood up. He drank silently from a canteen. Then, in his bare feet, he crept over to a leather satchel and undid the buckles.
‘Wot’s ’e up to?’ whispered Emily, close to Julius’s ear.
Skinner took a specimen jar from the satchel and glanced at Darwin.
‘Wot’s in the jar?’ asked Emily.
‘I’m not sure,’ whispered Julius.
Skinner moved towards Darwin. He knelt and carefully lifted the blanket away. Then he slowly unscrewed the lid of the jar and held it out as if he was going to pour something over Darwin.
‘No,’ shouted Julius. He ran from his hiding place waving his arms. Skinner turned in surprise and Darwin woke with a jolt, knocking the jar out of Skinner’s hand. Skinner rolled back and the soulcatcher inside fell out and latched onto his face.
Skinner screamed and writhed on the ground clawing at the orchid. He managed to catch it and fling it at the dead campfire. Emily picked up a piece of firewood and pounded it into a green and red pulp.
‘That’s for your mates last night,’ she said to it.
Red lines cut across Skinner’s face where the soulcatcher’s tendrils had cut into his skin. He said something Julius did not understand. Darwin leapt to his feet and said something back.
What s
trange language are they speaking, Higgins?
Skinner scrambled to his knees and covered his face with his hands. When he took them away they were smeared with blood. A look of complete incomprehension filled his face and quickly turned to rage. He glared at Julius and Emily. Then he lunged at Darwin, who jumped aside. Skinner fell into the campfire. The cold ashes rose up in a cloud, covering his face and hands. Darwin said something which, again, Julius did not understand.
Of course, that’s it, Higgins. You only understand the native language.
Skinner sobbed and mumbled to himself, ignoring Darwin.
‘Wot’s going on, ’iggins?’ said Emily. ‘Why don’t Darwin speak English proper?’
‘He does,’ said Julius. ‘It’s us. Remember, when we time-jumped here, the forest wrapped its atoms around our consciousnesses and made local versions of us. So that means we’re speaking the local language, but it sounds like English to us because we can understand it.’
‘But the clergyman,’ said Emily. ‘’e spoke to us.’
‘Yes, but in the native language,’ said Julius. ‘When he spoke to Darwin and Skinner it was in English.’
Skinner shouted something at Darwin, who shouted back.
‘I fink they’ve fallen out,’ said Emily. ‘Must ’ave been somefing Skinner said.’
Skinner glared at Emily through his ashen mask.
‘Step away, Emily,’ said Julius.
Then Skinner glared at Julius. He said something that sounded like a threat.
‘’e’s not ’appy wiv you, ’iggins,’ said Emily.
‘We should go now,’ said Julius. ‘I think we’ve done what we were supposed—’
Skinner roared like a wounded animal and ran at Julius. Julius stepped back and tripped.
‘Oi,’ shouted Emily. Skinner turned to her as she swung her piece of firewood like a cricket bat. It hit Skinner square on the side of the head. He fell like a rag doll and lay motionless on the riverbank.
Emily dropped the wood.
Darwin ran to Skinner and rolled him over.
‘I didn’t mean to do ’im in,’ said Emily. ‘Honest.’
‘It’s all right,’ said Julius. ‘He’s breathing.’
Darwin sat back and slumped his shoulders. His face was crumpled in anguish.
‘Don’t cry, Mr Darwin,’ said Emily. ‘’e ain’t dead or naffing.’
‘He can’t understand you, Emily,’ said Julius.
Across the river Julius saw the clergyman watching them. A line of small children stood behind him, all staring blankly.
‘We’ve got an audience,’ said Julius. ‘We should go now, Emily.’
Darwin saw them too. He stared, bereft, muttering to himself.
‘We can’t go till ’e draws us in ’is diary,’ said Emily. She ran to Darwin’s bag and rummaged through it. Darwin did not appear to notice or if he did he didn’t care.
She came back with the diary and a pencil.
‘Emily, stop,’ said Julius. ‘You can’t make it happen. You can’t tell him to draw our picture.’
‘Why not?’ said Emily. ‘Darwin owes us ’is bleeding life. That’s worth a poxy drawing.’
‘This isn’t the way time travel is supposed to work,’ said Julius. ‘If we give him the idea draw the pictures we’ll be altering the past. He has to come up with idea for himself.’
‘But we’ve already altered the past, ’iggins,’ said Emily. ‘Because of us, it was Skinner wot got seeded instead of Darwin. Now Darwin can come to London and get ’is diary stolen by me, and that’s ’ow we’ll know all about Tock, and all about—’
‘Yes, I know, I know,’ said Julius. ‘Let me think.’
‘While you’re doing that Darwin can draw our picture,’ said Emily. ‘I ain’t never ’ad no one draw me before,’ She turned to Darwin. ‘It’ll ’elp you take you mind off fings,’ she said.
She pointed to his diary and mimed drawing her face. Darwin looked at her as if in a daze.
‘Go on,’ she said coaxingly. ‘It’ll do you good.’
Slowly, Darwin reached out and took the diary and motioned her to sit opposite him.
His face took on an expression of earnest concentration as he drew her portrait. Julius watched over Darwin’s shoulder, listening to the scratch of the pencil on the page.
Darwin was a skilled artist. He captured Emily’s smile perfectly with a few deft strokes.
‘That’s ace,’ said Emily, when she saw it. ‘Your turn, ’iggins.’
Julius sat for his portrait next. When Darwin showed him the finished result Julius saw a worried looking native boy looking back at him.
‘Emily,’ said Julius. ‘We have to go now. We can’t risk altering anything else.’
They said goodbye to Darwin and waved to the children on the far bank. The children just stared back blankly.
CHAPTER 13
Saturday 20th January 1838
1:35 PM
Julius and Emily held hands around the pocketwatch as it spun through space and time. Julius tried to gather his thoughts. They had created a loop in the timeline. But had they done it correctly? The only way to find out was to go back to their own present to see if it was the same as they had left it. What if they landed in an altered present? What could they do to put it right?
It felt like only a few minutes before everything went black.
Julius was falling. He landed on a soft chair and bounced off it. He opened his eyes and looked round.
Emily landed on Mr Higgins’ chair. She righted herself and slumped into it.
The pocketwatch flew into Julius’s hand.
‘That was…’ she said. She looked around the dusty parlour, lost for words. ‘You look like ’iggins again,’ she said.
Julius checked the clock on the mantel.
‘We’ve only been gone a few minutes,’ he said.
‘Everyfing looks the same?’ she said. ‘That means we did it right, don’t it?’
Julius felt a shiver run through him. He had forgotten what it was like to be cold. Emily was right, everything looked the same. The same crumbs on the tablecloth. The same books stacked by his grandfather’s chair.
How would you know if you’ve altered the timeline, Higgins?
The fire was almost out. Julius dropped a couple of coals onto it and stared at the flames licking around the fresh fuel.
What now, Higgins?
He tried to recall the Village of the Soulcatchers. It seemed so far away.
‘What you finking about?’ said Emily.
‘The child sitting on her mother’s lap.’
‘Oh…’
‘Do you really think Clara could be my mother?’ said Julius.
‘Don’t see why not?’
‘Do you miss your mother, Emily?’
‘You don’t miss wot you never ’ad,’ she said.
‘No. I suppose not.’
‘Wot’s this?’ said Emily. She picked up a scrap of card near the fire poker. ‘It looks like a calling card,’ she said. She blew the coal dust off it and read it.
Tiberius Tock
Alchemist–Explorer–Orchidologist
Between the Walls
‘That’s it, Emily,’ said Julius. ‘That’s where Tock’s taken Grandfather.’ He sprang up and went to the wall where the damp circle had been. ‘“Between the walls.” He must have taken Grandfather through here.’
‘Can we go after ’im?’ said Emily.
‘I think so,’ said Julius. ‘Professor Fox used the pocketwatch to move between realms during the Springheel case.’
‘Come on then, wot we waiting for?’ said Emily.
‘For me to work out how to do it.’
‘Well. Get on wiv it, then, ’iggins.’
Concentrate, Higgins. Concentrate. Let the pocketwatch guide you.
The professor had spun the watch and tapped it and blue light had shone out, forming a dome. Julius spun the pocketwatch and tapped it.
A sphere of bl
ue light grew until it formed a dome around them. Looking through it, the parlour appeared as many shades of luminous blue.
Julius tapped it again. In his mind he saw a tunnel made of light, stretching through the wall into another world. The pocketwatch opened out, the cogs and wheels whirled silently, and the blue dome stretched out, just as he had imagined. The wall dissolved and the tunnel of light stretched out beyond it.
Julius felt Emily’s hand grab his forearm. He stared ahead, trying to make out the hazy shapes at the end of the tunnel of light.
Emily’s fingers dug into his arm.
Here goes, Higgins.
They walked through the wall.
‘’iggins?’ said Emily.
‘Shush. I’m concentrating.’
A ghost-like image of a beach and an expanse of sea began to appear at the other end of the tunnel. Above them a wide sky opened up.
‘You ain’t ’arf full of surprises, ’iggins,’ said Emily.
She gripped his arm tighter. Julius could smell and feel a faint salty breeze. It was a bright sunny day. In the distance he could hear a harmonium or a hurdygurdy. He didn’t recognise the tune.
Julius looked up, shielding his eyes and blinking at the blue sky above. White shapes flew past. When his eyes grew accustomed to the brightness he realised that the shapes were seagulls.
Over the promenade’s ornate railing was a beach of white sand, and beyond that a flat, turquoise sea.
‘Look over there,’ said Emily. ‘It’s like a bleeding toyshop.’
Julius looked around. All kinds of automatons were strolling along a promenade as if they were pets. They were all made of brass and copper with the most intricate workings. They were painted in colourful patterns or dressed in beautifully tailored suits and dresses. There were two-legged clockwork creatures like little elves, four-legged ones like dogs or cats, six- and eight-legged ones resembling beetles and spiders. They were all being led by people wearing brightly striped clothes. Some of the women held parasols, and the men wore hats with wide brims. Sometimes, when one automaton met another, they strained on their leads to sniff each other or shake hands or embrace.
