Brass Carriages and Glass Hearts

by Nancy Campbell Allen

  “I do not like it.”

  “Remain. Here.”

  She scowled. “Go, Oliver, and if something happens to you, I shall never, ever forgive you.”

  With a final stern look at Gus, he left the room and locked the door behind him.

  Emme looked at the closed door for a few moments before picking up the telephone. She called the hotel’s front desk and asked if any rooms remained rented under Sir Ronald’s name. The attendant informed her that the O’Sheas had retained one room on the sixth floor should they decide later to stay in town. As Sir Ronald’s stepdaughter, she requested a key to the room be delivered immediately.

  She hung up the phone and relayed the news to Gus. “We must go to that room. Perhaps Madeline left something behind that will give me a clue about what happened this morning.”

  “Forgive me for asking, but have you considered that Miss Madeline may be acting on behalf of her sister?” Gus looked as though he would rather broach any other subject.

  “You think Maddie is manipulating me?” Emme couldn’t believe that. She wouldn’t believe it.

  “I am not suggesting it as a fact, Miss Emmeline. I only wonder—I do not know your family at all, but from an outside perspective . . . She is hiding something significant. I do not know the nature of it, only that I sense it.”

  Emme frowned. “She mentioned something Lysette knows, something ruinous . . .” She paused. “I would be very surprised to learn Maddie works in subterfuge.” She grasped her crutch and did her best to pace about the room.

  Gus paced opposite Emme, occasionally peering through the closed, heavy drapes.

  She glanced at the clock on the mantel for what seemed the millionth time. The minutes ticked by, and Oliver hadn’t returned.

  At a knock on the door, Gus answered it and accepted the key from the employee. Emme joined him at the door, and when Gus hesitated, she said, “I am going to that room, Gus. You may join me or wait here.”

  He capitulated quickly and followed her down the corridor to the elevator. They rode up in silence, and Emme was anxious. When they reached the sixth floor, they found the room in question. Their knocking was met with silence, so Emme took the key from Gus and opened the door.

  The room was dark, and after switching on a lamp, Emme saw that it looked completely uninhabited.

  “Hello?” She spoke to the empty room as if expecting a response.

  She heard a thump coming from the bathing room, and with a quick look at Gus, crossed the room. The door was locked, and at Emme’s urging, Gus shouldered it open. He entered the room first and caught his breath.

  “Oh, Miss O’Shea!”

  Emme shoved into the room and saw Madeline, her hands tied behind her back and secured to a thick water pipe, her ankles bound, her mouth gagged. Her hair was down and in tangles, and she wore only a white shirt and a simple skirt.

  “Maddie!” Emme dropped to her side and pulled at the gag. “Untie her feet, Gus,” she said as she fumbled with the knot at the back of the cloth until it finally loosened. She pushed away strands of Madeline’s beautiful hair and murmured an apology.

  Maddie sobbed with relief, and as Gus moved behind her to untie her hands, Emme cupped her cheeks. “What happened?”

  Maddie tried to speak but coughed roughly.

  Gus gently released Maddie’s arms, and she pulled them around her middle, rubbing briskly.

  Emme grabbed a glass from a counter in the bathing room and filled it with water. “Did Lysette do this to you?” She handed her the water and sat next to her on the floor.

  She nodded and swallowed a gulp of water too quickly, choking and sputtering, before she was able to say, “Yes. I discovered their plans.” Her aqua eyes widened. “What hour is it? It cannot be midnight yet but must be close.”

  Emme nodded. “We’ve an hour until midnight. Why?”

  Gus helped Madeline and then Emme to stand. Madeline threaded her arm through Emme’s and guided her from the bathroom with a quiet grunt of pain. “We can make it to the lodge and into the woods before then. We must. Emme, they have abducted shifters.”

  Emme’s heart pounded in her throat. A horrible notion formed in her head, too horrible to believe. “What do you mean?”

  “They have abducted at least six people, perhaps more, and locked them in a cage Sir Ronald has built on the property. I only know of its location because Lysette lured me out there weeks ago. Called it a ‘dungeon.’”

  Emme’s head spun with questions. “The abducted people—they are shifters?”

  Madeline nodded and looked quickly around the room, her lips tightening. “They’ve taken my things, of course. She meant for me to die.” She urged Emme and Gus toward the door. “We must hurry. The dungeon door will automatically open five minutes before midnight. Hopefully, the abductees do not begin shifting early.”

  Emme’s mouth dropped at the implication. “Some people do! And I’m assuming, of course, they have kidnapped predatory shifters?”

  Madeline nodded and ushered her into the corridor and toward the elevator. “The most satisfying big game of all, apparently.”

  “Miss O’Shea, are we to understand that your father, sister, and members of a government committee make sport of hunting people after midnight when they shift?” Gus sounded horrified.

  She nodded, and they stepped into the elevator. Gus closed the door, and Madeline pushed the button for the main level. “I must go now, straightaway. I’ll have the stables bring a fast auto-curricle. You remain here, Emme.” Madeline rubbed her forehead with a shaking hand. “I only hope—” she whispered. “Time, not enough time . . .” She stretched her arms and legs, wincing.

  “Maddie, you cannot go alone!”

  “Where is the detective?” Madeline looked at the two of them as though only then realizing Oliver was missing.

  Emme closed her eyes. “Looking for his vampire brother. And he has been gone much too long.” She paused. Madeline shivered violently, though she was clearly trying to hold herself still. “Are you cold, Maddie? Here, take my jacket.”

  “No, no. I . . .” She coughed and trembled again. “It’s happened only twice. I am still adjusting—” She coughed again and gagged. She drew in a breath through her nose and out through her mouth.

  Emme narrowed her eyes. “What has only happened twice? Maddie, has someone hurt you?” She glanced at Gus, who looked away, and whispered, “Are you with child?”

  “What? No!” Madeline’s brow creased even as her eyes widened in shock. “No, I . . .”

  Emme glanced at Gus and, remembering his earlier concern about Madeline’s loyalties, quickly opened herself to the young woman’s aura.

  She was nearly blinded by the anxiety and fear swirling in blues and dark greens emanating from her stepsister. There was no malice or deception to be had, but so much terror Emme was swamped by it. There was an additional glow on the fringes, something she only saw when working with the Shifting community, and she stared at Madeline, stunned.

  “Oh, Maddie. Is this what Lysette knows? That you’re a shifter?”

  Maddie’s eyes widened, and she shook her head quickly. “How do you . . . No! No, no, she doesn’t—please, Emmeline, you mustn’t tell her. She will kill me.”

  Emme took her stepsister’s hand; it was cold. “Of course I would never breathe a word.”

  Madeline’s aqua eyes filled with tears she furtively wiped away. “I—it makes sense now, so many things.”

  “Does your father know?”

  Maddie sniffed in derision. “He’s not my father.”

  The elevator came to a bumpy halt at the main level, and they exited into the corridor.

  Emme turned to Gus. “This is what we must do. Oliver wouldn’t have stayed away so long without sending a message. Something isn’t right.” Her heart pounded as the words flew from her m
outh. “You must find him. Alert Sam and Daniel. I will accompany Madeline to the hunting lodge, so I need you to inform the authorities immediately about what is happening there. Insist they send someone right away—several someones.”

  Madeline shook her head. “You should stay here. I can manage now. There is one other at the lodge who knows what I . . . what I am—what I do.”

  Emme ignored her. “Gus, as soon as you find Oliver, bring him to the lodge. Also notify Chief-Inspector Conley.” She fired off the last bit as she guided Maddie to the doors, leaving Gus in the lobby.

  Fumbling with the crutch slowed her down, so she tossed it aside when they exited the hotel. A quick look over her shoulder showed Gus running to get help, and Madeline quickly requested an auto-curricle from a doorman.

  The earlier storm continued still. Rain fell steadily, and lightning flashed in the distance.

  Emme told the employee they were Sir Ronald’s family, at which point he jumped into action and whistled to a ’ton standing near a line of empty vehicles. While they waited for the curricle to circle around, Emme clutched Madeline’s arm and rubbed her back.

  “I’ll drive,” Emme said, and Madeline nodded. They clambered inside the vehicle, and Emme released the brake. The small two-seater lurched forward and swung hard to the left before Emme righted it, swerving out of the way of startled attendants.

  “You’ve driven before?” Maddie asked.

  “Yes. Every curricle is different, though.” She glanced at her stepsister as they pulled away from the hotel entrance and headed down the street. Traffic was light due to the late hour, but many Summit revelers apparently celebrated until the early hours. The rain made the whole business trickier, and she fumbled until she found a switch to power the glass-wiper blades.

  “Maddie, what do you mean Sir Ronald isn’t your father?”

  Maddie took a shuddering breath. “Seven months ago, Lysette was searching for something in his room and found a letter he’d hidden. It was from Sir Ronald’s sister, who begged him to take her infant daughter, who shared the same birthday as his own newborn. His wife had just died in childbirth, and since a nanny would raise his daughter, why not two?” Maddie winced. “The letter stated that her baby had been born out of wedlock, and since the parents of the baby’s father refused to acknowledge the relationship, she didn’t know what else to do. The baby was illegitimate, of course, and if Sir Ronald would take her, she wouldn’t be a bastard in society’s eyes.”

  Emme maneuvered the vehicle carefully down the street, avoiding singing pub-goers and vehicles that couldn’t seem to find the correct side of the road. She glanced at Madeline and then back at the road. “What happened to Sir Ronald’s sister?”

  “I do not know. She said he owed her this favor because of all the times she had covered for his misdeeds through the years. And that she had named her baby ‘Madeline,’ after their great-grandmother.” Madeline bit her lip as tears gathered again.

  “Oh, Maddie.” Emme turned from the busy street onto a quieter one and followed Maddie’s instructions to turn again to the right. “I am so sorry. Lysette has been holding this information to keep you under her thumb, yes?”

  “She boosts herself up high by standing on me. But I am finished.” Maddie shuddered, wrapping her arms tightly around her torso. “When this is over, I am going to leave. Find my real mother.”

  Emme looked at Maddie in shock until Maddie shrieked and pointed; Emme swerved to avoid colliding with a stone gate and quickly steered back onto the road. “How can I help? Do you need money?”

  Maddie shook her head. “I’ve been saving. Please do not alert anyone of this until I’m gone.”

  “I’ll not breathe a word of it. But you must promise to communicate with me.” The road opened up as they moved farther away from the center of town, and before long, Emme was able to pick up speed. “Where is she—your mother? Do you know?”

  “The letter said she’d been in Venice.”

  Emme nodded, and they rode in silence for a time. She wanted desperately to ask Maddie about her Shifting condition. Which form did she take when she Shifted? She settled for a less obtrusive question. “You mentioned someone at the lodge knowing of your Shifting.”

  Maddie nodded, but her eyes were troubled. “I did not believe I could trust him, but he reasoned it out on his own.”

  “Who?”

  “Mr. Crowe.”

  Emme stared. “Nigel Crowe?”

  Madeline pointed again at the street, and Emme jerked out of the path of a scuttling creature. “He said he recognized something in me, something that reminded him of someone else he once knew. A nontraditional shifter.” She closed her mouth and winced. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not discuss it.”

  “Of course. Please know, though, I have a good listening ear. Isla, too. She would be a wonderful resource.”

  The small auto-curricle raced through the night, away from city lights, and Emme was obliged to drive by moonlight.

  Maddie pulled a pocket watch from her skirt and released a slow breath. “Twenty minutes—if we are fortunate.”

  Emme pushed the car to its limit, and they rode in silence; the only sounds came from the car mechanisms and the steady patter of rain. They eventually wound down the heavily wooded road leading to the family hunting lodge. The huge structure came into view, lit dimly from the interior due to the late hour. She squinted into the darkness, spotting several of her stepfather’s guests gathered at the back lawn, some with lanterns, most with umbrellas or coverings, and nearly all with weapons that glinted in the torchlight.

  She pulled the vehicle to the roadside under the trees a distance from the wide front doors. They were ill-prepared for the weather, which grew colder by the minute. Madeline ran quickly around the car to Emme and grasped her arm. “I must retrieve the dungeon keys. I know where Sir Ronald keeps an extra set. We shall have to take a horse through the woods, as it isn’t accessible by auto-curricle.”

  They dashed and limped through the rain, and Maddie nudged Emme toward the stables. “Wait here for me. I’ll be five minutes.”

  Emme hid in the shadows, and true to her word, Madeline quickly returned. She handed Emme a jacket and thrust her arms into another. She patted her pockets, and a muffled clunk sounded from the keys within.

  They skirted the main portion of the garage, and Madeline shoved her behind a barrel when a groom crossed their path. When they were alone again, Maddie quickly pulled out her telescriber and punched in a message.

  “Who are you messaging?”

  Madeline’s eyes were wide with fear and determination. “Hopefully, an ally.”

  They slipped into the stalls where the natural horses were kept, hiding again when a groom called out an answer to someone on the other side of the building. He left the horse he’d been guiding, grumbling about constant interruptions when he had work to do, and slowly ambled away.

  “You take that horse,” Madeline whispered, pointing to the animal the groom had just left. “I can ride my own horse bareback.”

  As Madeline fetched her mount, Emme moved to the side of the saddled horse. After a few clumsy attempts with fingers that were cold and wet, she managed to pull herself into the saddle, gasping in pain. The stirrups were too long, and she hurriedly adjusted them, grimacing at the condition of her plaster cast, which was wet and muddy.

  Maddie emerged from the stall on her mare. “Follow me,” she said, and as Emme drew alongside her, added, “I’ll lead you there, but I may have to get to the lake, if . . . if . . .”

  Emme blinked. The lake? She reached over, squeezing Maddie’s hand as they moved forward. “It will be fine. You’ll have time.” She hoped desperately she was right.

  Emme fell into line behind her stepsister, following her breakneck pace and feeling a combination of shame and amazement that she’d been so unaware of Maddie’s ac
complishments. She spent so much time away from the family that the only time she actually saw her quiet stepsister was when they were all together and Maddie was literally in Lysette’s shadow, likely not cowed but cleverly keeping herself safe.

  They wound through the trees, and Emme held her breath as the pain in her ankle exploded. They moved at a pace that made adjusting her foot in the stirrup impossible, and she clenched her teeth to keep from crying out. She shifted and leaned low over the animal’s neck, murmuring quietly, trying to let it have its head, and hoping it would freely follow Madeline’s mare. The horse seemed to understand and put up with Emme’s miserable grasping as it followed the other horse deeper into the woods.

  The forest was dark and cold, and the rain continued to fall in steady sheets. The ground was saturated, and the horses’ hooves threw mud behind them as they thundered through the trees and foliage. Madeline occasionally slowed and turned, and after a while, produced a small Tesla torch from her jacket pocket. She switched it on, took a quick look at their location, and then turned her mare again. She switched the light back off, and Emme knew she was avoiding the hunters who had spread out over the acreage. Logic dictated that the hunters would be a fair pace behind, as they were on foot, but Emme’s sense of dread remained.

  The horror of what her stepfamily was doing made her ill to the point of nausea. She couldn’t think about it completely, could only hope Madeline would lead her to the place where they could free the imprisoned people before they began to shift. The cruelty of it and the utter humiliation inflicted upon the victims made Emme so angry that tears formed in her eyes.

  Madeline veered sharply to the left, around a berm hidden in a thicket, and quickly dismounted. Emme followed, limping to her side at a metal gate that was covered with vines and leaves. Both women breathed heavily, and as Emme gulped and tried to calm her racing heart, she heard faint shouts coming from the other side of the gate.

  Madeline again produced her torch, handing it to Emme. Emme shined the light on the gate, finding the locking mechanism. Madeline pulled a pair of large keys from her pocket and with shaking hands tried the lock. Neither one seemed to fit, and Madeline gasped in desperation. She looked up as though searching for the moon, and Emme knew they were nearly out of time.