The Antics of Evangeline: Collection 1: Mystery and Mayhem in steampunk Melbourne

by Madeleine D'Este

  Evangeline gathered her breath and considered her next move.

  She did not have long to think.

  "And who are you?" said a voice coming out of the dark.

  Chapter 17

  Evangeline scrambled to her feet.

  "Who are you?"

  The man was thin and bald with an elongated face. Not quite the alchemist she expected, he looked more like a dour pastor.

  "I am here to stop you," she said defiantly.

  The man cocked his head with an amused expression.

  "And how were you planning to do that?"

  Evangeline was lost for words. The sullen man had immediately found a fault in her plan. All her efforts had been focused on locating the Alchemist and she'd completely neglected to plan out what to do once she found him.

  Lightning cracked behind them as the raindrops battered on the tin roof.

  "Come with me." He gripped Evangeline by the elbow. "Ma'am does not appreciate young girls snooping around."

  He dragged her through open French doors and into a bookshelf lined gentleman's study. The man tugged Evangeline through another door, along the hallway and down a set of stairs into a grand entrance foyer with a cavernous ceiling.

  He shoved her through a doorway. She fell onto her hands and knees on a plush oriental rug, into a parlour with ruby-red flocked wallpaper and a tinkling crystal chandelier. An angular woman with jet black hair, wearing an azure blue gown lay on a chaise lounge, a book on her lap and a glass of sherry in her hand.

  "What have you brought me, Strode?"

  With a smirk, the woman closed her book, placing it on a mahogany occasional table.

  "She deposited herself on the first floor, ma'am. Did you hear the rumpus?"

  "Ah, yes. How rude." She spoke with a clipped upper class accent. Her cheekbones jutting from her face like pyramids. "And she's ruining my rug."

  "Sorry, ma'am."

  Strode stood close behind Evangeline as she struggled to her feet. He thrust her forward again onto her knees.

  "Explain yourself, girl," he said.

  The woman inspected Evangeline from head to toe. It was then Evangeline noticed every surface in the room was covered in gold. Edging the sherry glass, embossing the carved furniture legs, the woman's necklace, dangling from her ears, a gold statuette on the mantelpiece.

  "I am here to stop you."

  The woman laughed throatily and heartily.

  "Now, my little reformed street urchin. How did you propose to do that? I have your friend. The little Chinese firecracker put up quite a fight. I have been waiting for you."

  Evangeline stared, mouth open.

  "You underestimate me, little girl. I sensed your pathetic nuummite crystal before you approached."

  Evangeline floundered. She grabbed at her head for the atervis monocle. It must have slipped off as she flew through the air. The Professor would be most displeased.

  "Who are you?"

  "Lady Violetta Breckenridge-Rice. Descendant of the great Alchemist Nicolas Flamel. I am here to make my fortune in this backward little colony filled with money and fools."

  "But you have failed," Evangeline said, her eyes scouring the room for a weapon or an escape route. She could easily slip past this man and woman, but she needed a little more information from the Lady Alchemist before she made her departure. Where could she be hiding Mei?

  "A minor setback."

  "But the police are onto you."

  "My young friend. Those nincompoops are not my concern. I'll be long gone before they get anywhere close. There is more money to be made in Sydney or Hobart Town."

  "If you're leaving, I expect you are going to let me go?"

  "Of course not. You and your little Oriental friend cannot be allowed to blab to the rest of the world."

  The iron front gate groaned and loud footsteps clattered onto the front tile verandah. Lady Breckenridge-Rice and Strode froze and listened. The doorbell rang. Bing. Bong.

  Lady Breckenridge-Rice rushed to the mantelpiece and tugged on a velvet rope. An enormous man emerged from a side door, his head wide like a ram. He was easily thrice Evangeline's size. She opened her mouth to scream. Before a single sound escaped, the giant clamped a huge hand over her mouth, stinking of onions.

  "Brawby. Put her down in the cellar with the other."

  Brawby nodded, and flung Evangeline over his shoulder, her drenched hair slapping against his back like a wet mop. She directed a swift kick to his kidneys with the toe of her boot. But Brawby did not even flinch.

  He carried her through the side door into a narrow servant's passage, dimly lit and unpainted, then down a set of rickety wooden steps. Each step groaned under their weight as they descended underground.

  The giant flipped Evangeline off his shoulder and onto the ground in front of a row of cages. The cellar was dank, dark and damp, spreading the entire length of the mansion.

  "Mei," Evangeline called.

  Mei ran to the front of her cage. Evangeline held out her hand before Brawby slapped it back, grunting. He pulled a ring of keys from his belt and unlocked another cage away from Mei, throwing Evangeline inside. He fastened the lock behind her and disappeared back into the darkness.

  "Mei. Are you hurt?"

  "Sick of this cage but I'm fine."

  "I heard you put up a fight." Evangeline grinned.

  "It was a trap. They were waiting for me in the street. But I didn't go quietly."

  "She is more powerful than I thought," Evangeline confessed.

  "What are we going to do?"

  Evangeline did not know.

  Chapter 18

  Evangeline scooted to the front of her cage and inspected the lock. There was no key cylinder on the inside. She reached through the cage bars and with her fingers, traced the keyhole. She grinned, the cage would not contain her for long.

  She plucked her trusty hairpin from her bedraggled hair and threaded her arm through the bars of the cage. The angle was awkward, she could only maintain a grip on the pin with the tips of her fingers. She swivelled the pin backwards and forwards, trying to catch the lock but her fingers began to cramp. Evangeline grimaced as the cramp grew worse and her fingers seized up. She pulled back her hand to stretch but the hairpin slipped out of her fingers, clattering onto the floor. She sighed with heavy shoulders before plucking a second pin from her hair.

  This time was no different. Her fingers cramped again and the pin dropped from her grasp.

  Muffled voices and footsteps creaked on the floorboards above. Who was the mysterious visitor?

  "What's happenin'?" Mei whispered.

  Evangeline could feel Mei's anticipation weighing on her. She must find a way out.

  "Ah ha."

  Inspiration struck and Evangeline grabbed for the screwdriver inside her boot. The weightier handle was more comfortable in her hand but the head was larger and less deft.

  She struggled, right then left, up then down, tearing at the lock from all sides. Finally, the head of the tool met its mark and the mechanism clicked open.

  Mei heard the noise of the opening lock and cheered. Evangeline grinned.

  "Ready?"

  "Hurry," Mei said.

  Evangeline tugged the unlocked door.

  But nothing happened.

  The door stayed fastened shut.

  Confused, Evangeline tugged harder. Perhaps her clumsy tool work had wrecked the lock. She reached around again and felt that the lock was open. But the cage door was firmly closed.

  Perhaps there was a second lock. She searched but saw nothing.

  "Why are you waitin'?" Mei cried.

  "The lock is open. I don't understand."

  She stopped for a moment to think. Of course, her escape would not be so easy. Lady Breckenridge-Rice was not only an alchemist. She knew how to manipulate dark energy. She had cast glamours over the shop assistants at Snodgrass & Sons and the goldsmiths. There must be a spell over the cage.

  "Can you smell somethin
'?" Mei said. The sound of fear in her voice.

  Evangeline sniffed the air.

  Smoke.

  A fire somewhere within the house.

  "Hurry," Mei said again.

  Evangeline sat back on her haunches. What did she know about magic? Nothing. She swallowed back tears of frustration and her growing feeling of defeat and concentrated with all her might.

  Evangeline had escaped her stepfather and found the Professor. Travelled across the world to a new life in the Colonies. She had overcome so many obstacles in her life. A little spell was not going to stop her now. The power of determination welled within her.

  She was only seventeen. There was so much more to do and see. Her life would not end in the cellar of an East Melbourne mansion. She would make the Professor and her Uncles proud. She would save Mei and herself. Her mother, Peggy, was watching over her.

  Her determination was so strong, she could sense it crackling through her fingertips. So strongly, she swore her fingers glowed with amber light. Perhaps it was a vision caused by a mixture of gaslight and fire smoke but Evangeline knew within her heart, within her soul, this was not going to be the end.

  With all her will, her courage and might, she tugged at the door one more time.

  This time the door opened effortlessly, as though perfectly oiled. The door practically opened itself.

  Mei burst into applause.

  "How did you do that?"

  Evangeline sat inside the cage for a moment, bewildered.

  "I think it was magic."

  "Ballocks," Mei replied. "Get me out of 'ere."

  Evangeline jumped out and headed to Mei's cage. With three swift clicks of her screwdriver, she unlatched the lock and pushed. But the same thing happened. The lock was open, but the door was closed.

  Mei groaned in frustration. The scent of smoke grew stronger, Evangeline felt the tickle of ash in the back of her throat.

  Evangeline stood back and tried to gather up the same feelings. She had broken the spell once, she could do it again. She breathed deeply, gathering up all her determination, picturing her mother's face, evoking the power again. Her fingers began to tingle and the cage and Mei's expectant face took on an amber glow. What was this strange feeling?

  Evangeline drew all her strength again, clutched at the door and pulled. The door swung open with ease.

  "Hoorah," Mei yelled, scurrying out of the cage.

  The friends embraced, bouncing up and down in a joyful jig.

  "Let's get out of here." Evangeline giggled.

  There would be plenty of time to talk when they were back home safely.

  The two girls ran up the rickety stairs into the dark corridor. The servants' passage was lined with identical unknown doors.

  "Which way?" Evangeline asked

  Mei coughed and doubled over. Smoke hung thick in the air.

  They kept moving, following the passage, hoping they were heading away from the fire.

  "This one."

  Evangeline picked a door at random.

  "Ouch!"

  The door handle scorched Evangeline's fingers, the brass white hot.

  They ran back down to the passage to another door, Mei touched the door with the back of her hand, testing for heat.

  "It's safe," Mei said.

  The second door opened to a heavy curtain and back into the parlour. The room was deserted, smoke crawling along the floor like a fog. There was no sign of the Alchemist, Lady Breckenridge-Rice and her henchmen.

  "This way," Evangeline shouted, her hand covering her nose and mouth with her sleeve.

  They tore through the parlour and into the foyer, heading for the front door. Mei grabbed for the door-knob, then they heard a wheezing groan above their heads.

  The ornate ceiling fell, crashing to the ground.

  Chapter 19

  Flaming timber beams crashed around them. Embers and sparks flew in all directions in a cloud of white plaster dust. Evangeline and Mei were trapped. Burning beams now blocking their path to the front door and the way back into the parlour.

  "Bravo, little girls." Lady Breckenridge-Rice applauded from the first floor landing. "I am quite impressed with your gumption. It's such a shame that your endeavours will come to nothing."

  Mei and Evangeline stood defiantly as the heat intensified around them. Lady Breckenridge-Rice started descending the stairs towards the front door.

  "Sorry I can't stay and chat, little girls but Melbourne has suddenly become very tiresome."

  The Lady Alchemist took a few more steps down the stairs.

  "The fire will take care of you and any evidence of my operations. I shall fade away into the background like I always do."

  The flaming beams blocked Evangeline's way out but Lady Breckenridge-Rice had a clear path through the fire to the front door.

  "I must admit this has been a pleasure, my little urchin. The world is such a small place."

  The Lady Alchemist leaned over the balustrade with a smirk on her angular face.

  "Yes, I know who you really are. I can see through your fine new clothes."

  Evangeline frowned.

  "How can you know?"

  "One meets the most interesting people," the Lady Alchemist said, taking another step towards the front door.

  "We have to stop her," Mei said. "She'll get away."

  The flames were closing in, licking at them from all directions. Evangeline stared up at the smirking Lady Alchemist. There was one only way they could stop her.

  "Tornado?" Evangeline yelled over the roar of the flames.

  "Side kick would be better," Mei said. "Yi. Er. San."

  Mei and Evangeline kicked in unison. Their right feet slamming into the wooden staircase below Lady Breckenridge-Rice.

  "What on earth?" the Lady Alchemist exclaimed, pulling back from the railing.

  But their attack had little impact on the carpentry.

  "Again," Mei called.

  Evangeline took a deep breath and grinned at her friend.

  They jumped forward and kicked again. This time, the wood buckled under the force of their strike and the staircase shook like an earthquake. Lady Breckenridge-Rice swayed on her feet and clutched for the balustrade.

  "No," she yowled.

  "Yes!" Evangeline said, pointing to a particularly bent beam. "Once more. Right there."

  Evangeline and Mei pushed forward one more time and with an all-mighty blow, the supporting beam crumpled. The section of stairs tumbled forward, thrusting the caterwauling Lady Alchemist to the ground with a crash of wood, fire and dust.

  Mei and Evangeline whooped with glee but there was no time to celebrate. The fire was closing in on all sides.

  "How do we get out?" Evangeline implored.

  "Flying lotus." Mei pointed to the front door. "Come on, circus girl."

  With a grin, Evangeline and Mei took a run up and leapt straight into the air. Together, they cleared the burning beam and landed with a flourish by the front door.

  "Next time, trousers," Evangeline said as she noticed her singed hems.

  They wrenched open the front door, ran onto Wellington Parade and into the fresh air, not looking back until they reached the safety of Fitzroy Gardens. By then the blaze was lighting up the night sky and the streets rang with the bells of the Volunteer Fire Brigade.

  Without another word, Evangeline and Mei brushed the dust and ash from their clothes and headed home wearily, hand in hand.

  Chapter 20

  The morning sun was streaming through her thin lace curtains when Evangeline finally opened her eyes. At her washstand, she scrubbed the soot from last night's adventure off her face. Her hair still scented with smoke, she pinned it back with a secret smile, indulging in last night's triumph for a moment. She had rescued Mei and foiled the mysterious Lady Breckenridge-Rice.

  But the more intriguing mystery was the energy which freed them from the cages. The amber glow flowing from her own fingertips. Where had it come from? Could she sum
mon the energy again? What if the energy was dark?

  Her stomach rumbled and her thoughts moved to more pressing needs. Breakfast.

  Her whole family was at the breakfast table when she entered the conservatory. On the trip down the stairs, Evangeline decided to keep the tale of the Alchemist to herself. It was not quite the triumph she had envisaged. She had imagined herself handing over the Alchemist to the police personally. If she explained last night's adventures, the Professor, her Uncles and Miss Plockton would only worry and banish her to her room until she was thirty-five.

  "Our Sleeping Beauty," Augie said as she slipped into the spare chair. Miss Plockton appeared with the tea pot and a rack of grilled toast.

  "We have some wonderful news," Miss Plockton said as she filled Evangeline's cup. "Miss Fang returned last night."

  "How wonderful," Evangeline gasped, clutching at her heart. "I must go and see her now."

  "Our prayers were answered." Miss Plockton squeezed out a little smile and perhaps the barest flicker of a wink. "Sit. I am sure the Professor will let you visit Mei later. First, give her some time with her family."

  Evangeline nodded.

  Edmund looked up from the morning issue of The Argus.

  "The fire last night was a house on Wellington Parade," he said. "They suspect lightning."

  "The storm was quite fierce," said the Professor.

  "The house was burned to the ground," Edmund said. "But listen to this. In the hours before the fire, a witness reported seeing a strange girl with one eye flying through the air."

  The Professor and Augie chortled and snorted. Evangeline pretended to laugh with them as she reached for a piece of toast, remembering the old man in the laneway.

  "A Spring heeled Jacqueline?" the Professor guffawed. "Here in Melbourne? Who would have thought?"

  "Some old fool was on the lash." Edmund shook his head.

  "But what about the poor people inside? Did they escape?" Augie said.

  Edmund rustled the pages.

  "There is no mention of injuries or loss of life. The occupants must be safe and well."