by P M Cole
“How you end up in all this mess? Why’d they think you killed the Prime Minister?”
A number of explanations ran through my mind, none of which would make any sense to the middle-aged man sitting opposite me. “Because I was there. I was invited by the Lord—” I noticed scepticism creeping across the innkeepers face. “I mean I was a maid—” His expression relaxed. “I saw some people fighting and I ran. Now they are blaming me for it.”
He nodded. “That’s how those types do. I’m sorry you are mixed up in all this Cog. When I 'eard them sandwich men shouting about a girl called Cog and what you were meant to have done, I knew it weren’t true. Lies! I said to the missus.” A noise came from behind him. “Speak of the devil, what you got for the young lass?”
I noticed he turned awkwardly, his arm hardly moving.
Mrs Ballingsworth stepped into the room with a hessian sack. “Got some potatoes, carrots, cabbage, a bit of bread. No meat I’m afraid. It’s hard to come by with most of the markets closed due to the weather.”
I took it from her with a smile and a thank you. “You can’t move your hand?” I said to Mr Ballingsworth.
He frowned. “Nah, it’s good ’n broken. They wanted to take it completely, but I wasn’t having any of it!” His wife’s face was pale and sad in the flickering light.
“Since his injury, times been tough for us,” she said. “We ain’t been able to keep the lights or heating on for most of the day so we can’t take any more in, and those that are still ere are just about keeping us in food. If this weather don’t—” She started to cry.
“Come on woman, you be strong. Don’t be crying in front of this young miss, she’s got real troubles!”
I looked back at his blue hand and wrist. “I’ve got no right to ask you to trust me. But if you do, then I know someone who can fix your hand.”
Mrs Ballingsworth sniffed, producing a tissue from her dress, and patting her nose with it. “A doctor?”
“We can’t afford any doctors,” said Mr Ballingsworth.
“Umm, yes, a doctor. One of London’s finest.” They both looked confused. “He’s my friend. He’s been helping me hide. I know if I asked him, he could heal your hand. Would you want that? Please think of it as payment for the food.”
The husband and wife looked at each other, each one nodding.
“Good! He’s at my shop. Wait here, and I’ll be right back!”
A short while later Daniel and I were back in the hallway, Mr and Mrs Ballingsworth both sat in silence.
“Good day sir,” said Daniel. “My name is Daniel and Cor… Cog here has asked me to look at your arm which you broke some weeks ago?”
Mr Ballingsworth nodded. “They wanted to cut it off.”
Daniel knelt in front of the innkeeper. “May I?” he said, placing his hand on Mr Ballingsworth’s arm, who nodded. Daniel looked up at me. “Perhaps you could tell Mrs Ballingsworth what you intend to do with the shop once this unsightly business has been cleared up.”
I could tell he wanted me to distract her. I moved off to the side, so she was facing away from what Daniel was about to do. “Ah, yes… I would like to expand beyond just selling clocks and repairing them. There are so many new inventions from the contentment and America that I could sell. I’m sure—” A glow came from beneath Daniel's hand. She went to look back. “— And I would like to invest in your inn!” She looked at me confused, but at least she wasn’t looking at Daniel.
“You have m—”
“My hand!” said Mr Ballingsworth. His wife, double confused, looked at him. Daniel stood as Mr Ballingsworth flexed his fingers, and colour flooded back into his hand.
Mrs Ballingsworth's mouth fell open. “I don’t understand…”
I smiled, taking Daniel's arm in mine. “He really is an extraordinary doctor. Best in London!”
“It works! My hand it works!” shouted Mr Ballingsworth pulling the sling from his shoulder and swinging his arm around. Mrs Ballingsworth got to her feet and they embraced.
“OK, we really should be going now,” I said stepping back to the door.
“But… we should give you more,” said Mrs Ballingsworth.
“We have enough.”
Mrs Ballingsworth stepped forward and hugged me, while her husband shook Daniel's hand.
“If you ever need somewhere to stay, to hide away. You come back alright?” she said.
I smiled. “I will.” I opened the door and we both walked back out into the early morning frost.
*****
Charlotte took a large slurp of the broth I had made from the vegetables. A large basin sat atop a grill over the fire, now mostly empty. It was good to see colour in her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes, despite her displeasure at me leaving the shop.
“Silly girl, you could have been spotted!… good broth though. At least you can cook.” She sighed. “Damn shame we had to leave the dirigible behind.”
“I’ll build you a better one.”
She smiled, took another sip, then looked around the room. “So, this is where a Titan spent his time…”
“I know it’s not much to look at, but he seemed happy here.” The image of him disintegrating in front of my eyes, seated exactly where Charlotte was, made me shiver. She must have noticed I was suffering from an unpleasant memory, and leaned forward, placing her hand on mine. “I’m sure being your guardian was part of that happiness.”
I smiled and went to speak again when I noticed a figure walking across the back yard. My heart leapt but then I saw it was a red-faced Mrs Ballingsworth doing her best to move quickly over the icy cobbles. I walked to the rear door and opened it.
“The coppers are closing down the… roads around… us,” she said out of breath. “I think someone saw you!”
The sound of footsteps descending the stairs behind me, heralded Lucas’s appearance. “I’ve been watching from the top floor. There are police wagons moving into the nearby streets. We have to leave!”
“Thank you!” I said to Mrs Ballingsworth, stepping back inside.
“Will you be alright?”
“We’ll be OK, but please leave before they see you here!”
She nodded, turned, and hurried back the way she came.
I grabbed handfuls of snow, quickly throwing it on the fire, then locked the door.
Colin was at the top of the basement stairs. “Let’s go.”
“Where’s Charlotte?” I said, noticing she was nowhere to be seen.
“She’s downstairs with the others.”
I moved down to the basement as quickly as I could, extinguished the lamps, and put on my coat, placing Auto inside it.
I then moved into the sewer and closed the wooden partition behind me. The sound of boots in the alley above echoed around the damp walls, followed by the distant sound of heavy knocks.
“Come on!” shouted Colin, leading us away.
I went to follow when I stopped and looked back at the circular gap in the wall to my basement room. Closing my eyes, I felt the metal fragments and pipes on the other side of the wall and pulled them across the door to the sewer. I then turned and caught up with the others. “Where we going?”
“We just need to get a few streets over, then we’re going back to the surface!” shouted Lucas over his shoulder.
We scurried along in the gloom, shafts of light momentarily lighting our path, then we stopped at a ladder.
“This should do it,” said Colin.
“I’ll go first,” said Lucas.
Colin jumped onto the ladder. “I’m faster.” He climbed to the top and with a little effort pushed the cover up and to the side. Snow fell past him and he crept upwards. “Looks clear. Everyone up here.”
He climbed out and beckoned to Charlotte who brushed off Lucas’s attempt to help her, and promptly floated upwards and out of the hole.
“I need to learn how to do that,” said Daniel. He then climbed up, then me, and finally Lucas. We were in a side street, with shop
s that were all closed. Shouts and horses could be heard back in the direction we came from.
I made sure my scarf covered my face with just enough space for my eyes. “We’re a mile or two from the shop. Now what?” I asked.
“Now I find us a carriage,” said Lucas. “Wait here.”
I inhaled a breath. My fear of carriages had subsided, but I still hated being in them. But with the police nearby I didn’t fancy trying to walk our way back to the Palace.
We moved into a recess of a cobblers, while Lucas disappeared around the corner and into a wider thoroughfare.
A man in a grey coat walked past at the opposite end of the street making us all push even further against the shop's door.
“So, you two have fun last night?” said Charlotte. Despite the scarf covering my reddening face she still saw my eyes widen and laughed. “Oh, you are young, you should be having fun! Especially with things how they are! Just be careful, if you know what I mean!”
I was lost for words but smiled beneath the cloth covering my face.
Two horses then a carriage came around the corner and stopped just in front of us. The side door opened, and Lucas stepped down. “Bit of a tight fit, but he will take us to Wraith Manor.”
“Wraith Manor?” I said. “We have to return to the Palace; they might be under attack!”
Charlotte walked up the steps. “Which is precisely why we cannot return there.”
I looked at Colin who shrugged his shoulders.
“Come now, we have some way to go,” said Lucas, waving me inside.
I gave in and climbed up the steps and sat on the far side near the window. Daniel, Colin, and Lucas got in as well, and he closed the door.
“I have told the driver to head south first before moving west. We don’t want to move back towards the police cordon,” said Lucas.
“But Dax and the others will not know of our fate!” I said.
“We will find a way to get a message to them,” said Lucas.
The world outside started to move. We travelled south then west through Covent Garden, then Piccadilly Circus. Each time I saw a poster with my face I had to look away. Eventually, I had enough, and went to pull the curtain across the window.
Lucas leaned forward. “What do you want people to think, that we’re Vampires?” He smiled. “No. If you do that, we will look suspicious to people outside.”
I sighed; he was right. Instead I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes.
CHAPTER SIX
I staggered forward through a world of uniform colour. Ash grey and black. My lungs were heavy with dust as I looked at a street of rubble. Piles of bricks, wooden and iron beams were scattered around while carcasses of horses rotted in the heat. Above, a misty white sun shimmered against a yellow sky.
I walked to what remained of a wall and looked at a torn poster on the brickwork. Again, my likeness was printed, but the notice given to passers-by was different.
‘God’s daughter fails to stop the end of everything. Bomb destroys city.’
I traced my finger over the print, taking some of the ink with me.
This is wrong. Everything about this place is wrong. I have to be dreaming.
A gust of wind suddenly picked up, stirring up a cloud of dust, making me cough, and I covered my mouth looking for refuge, but then I saw them. Just shadows at first, but then their true form started to emerge from the gloom. Creatures which did not belong in this realm, but now called it their home. Some had wings similar to the Furies, others were covered in fur, all were crawling over and between the scraps of what used to be.
The sound of horses echoed around the street. A carriage was coming. He was looking for me. Wanting to return me to the palace under the earth—
A noise behind made me spin around to a blur and a flash of claw. I looked down at the bloodstain growing across my shirt.
I opened my eyes with a jolt, then doubled over in pain. Colin was sitting opposite me as before, his eyes also sprung open. Before I could ask what was happening, I realised Charlotte and Lucas were equally in pain.
“What’s happening!” I cried.
“It’s Dax… we’re feeling what he is…”
I looked at the white fields and hedgerows passing by. “We have to go to the Palace, help him!”
Lucas gritted his teeth. “We can’t. We’re almost at—” He let out a partial breath, “—my home. There’s nothing we can do for him now.”
I sat back, shaking my head, the pain reducing. I wanted this journey over with.
Lucas sat back as well, taking a breath. “The driver said we will have to walk the final few miles on foot as the roads are blocked.”
I nodded and a frustrated silence fell upon everyone in the carriage. I remembered my dream and the poster. Ever since this hellish adventure had started a month before, my dreams had been different than my usual nightmares, deeper, more exotic. Less memory and more a window onto some strange alternative future for us all. I wondered if the burgeoning of my abilities had connected me somehow to Hades' madness, or maybe…
No.
I pushed the idea away. He was my father, but that trick of fate was our only connection.
The carriage bumped to a stop. A pleasant-looking snow-covered cottage was visible outside.
Lucas opened the door and disappeared around the front, while those around me woke up and stretched.
We all got out and stood at a junction as the carriage turned and trundled away. Auto chirped from within my coat. I opened it, pulled him from the pocket, and let him fly up in to the grey.
Lucas looked in a number of directions and at the hedges around us, then to the wall of snow which rose to our waists and blocked most of the possible routes. “Unfortunately, it might be more difficult to get to the manor than I thought.”
‘W…h…e…r…e…?’ Auto chirped circling above.
“We’re going to Wraith manor. Lucas’s home,” I said.
“It’s remarkable that he can communicate with Morse code,” said Daniel.
“Yes, it happened by—”
I jolted upright with an idea.
“Are you OK?” he said.
I turned to Lucas. “I know how we can find out what’s happening at the Palace.”
Daniel nodded, already predicting my idea.
“We can send Auto!” I said.
“Can he fly that far?” questioned Charlotte.
“How far is it? We are already on the right side of the river. It’s just ten or so miles to our east, correct?”
Lucas nodded. “It might work if someone understands Morse there.”
“There actually might be a better way to use your little mechanical bird,” said Charlotte.
“Ah…” said Lucas. “Yes, transmortation.”
The three non-magic users looked at Lucas for an explanation. He briefly waved his hand. “I’ll explain when we are at the manor, but right now we need some way to get there…”
“Sooner rather than later, Lucas,” said Charlotte. “I’m not spending my whole day on this road.”
A sound made us all turn to face the cottage, and the door opened. A man walked up the pathway. “You folk—” His eyes widened on seeing Lucas, who appeared nonplussed in return. “Mr Wraith? Of the manor?”
“Umm…yes?”
The man appeared unsure how to continue. “I… thought you were… umm, detained by the authorities in London, sir?”
Lucas threw his arms out. “I’m free! They let me out.”
The man smiled. “Oh…” A woman with a baby in her arms appeared in the doorway. The man looked back at her. “It’s Mr Wraith! He’s back from his time in the clink!”
Lucas produced his best smile and walked towards the man and the gate at the end of the path. “I’m trying to keep my presence here a secret for the time being, so I would appreciate it if you did not share the news of my return just yet.”
“Er… of course. I understand.” Confusion returned to the man’s
face. “Why are you out here though?”
“I appear to have misjudged the condition of the lanes. I had hoped we could walk the rest of the way.”
“Oh, I see. Yes, the snowfall has been relentless. Was snowing all night. Well…” He scratched his chin. “I could get old Nell to pull you all up to the manor, if you don’t mind riding in the back of a hay cart?”
This time Lucas’s smile was real, as was all of ours.
The ride to the main gates of the manor was bumpy but thankfully not too long. Lucas gave the farmer a shilling for his trouble, saying he should stop by the manor at some point in the future, and then opened the gates and we walked up the path, which seemed oddly devoid of snow. I presumed magic had something to do with it.
I was glad to be back. It was the only place I now felt safe, but that was mostly because of its distance from London and Grayton manor.
We ascended the stone steps to the arched entrance, and Lucas slipped his hand behind one of the statues, retrieving a key, which he opened the door with. We then walked inside.
“I’ll get the fires burning,” said Lucas.
“You want me to find wood?” said Colin.
“Yes, thank you.”
Charlotte looked at the paintings on the walls, paying special attention to Lucas’s former wife and child. She visibly sighed.
“You knew Lucas’s family?” I said.
She nodded. Then looked away. “It was a long time ago. We were all different people then.” She moved off down a dark corridor. “I’m in need of the bathroom.”
I noticed Daniel standing nearby.
“A remarkable house,” he said, studying the stone arches and grand staircase. “I grew up in another manor, Grayton, but this home feel’s more...”
“Alive?”
He smiled. “Perhaps that is it.”
“You didn’t live in that dwelling underground?”
“No, that was a more recent development. He felt we needed a place where we would be better protected from our enemies… whoever they were. That is why all of us, Grace, Cassandra were so wary of you and especially after what happened in the grounds of the manor. We believed his lies…”
