Ella
Worlds to be explored
The next morning my brain refused to co-operate with my body's desire to sleep late. My body rose early from bed like one of Elizabeth's mindless vermin. I needed to tell Charlotte what occurred before she heard it as local gossip. I owed her that much for the tiny glimpses of humanity she showed me over the years.
"What are you doing?" Alice muttered from her narrow bed. She grabbed a pillow and held it over her face, fending off a feeble ray of early sun.
"I have to go see Charlotte before the village is afire with the news." I nudged Alice over with my knee and then sat on a sliver of space. I peeled away a corner of pillow and met her bleary, amber gaze. "Will you be all right on your own, or do you want me to send Magda up?"
Alice reached out and clasped my hand in hers. "I'll be fine with a few more hours sleep. It's not dark anymore and the infernal noise has gone away."
I was surprised her internment hadn't driven her insane. A hive’s low moan worked its way into your bones, agitated your mind, and set your teeth on edge. Silence was bliss by comparison, and Alice endured it for nearly a week.
"Sleep as long as you need. I'll be back this evening." A full day beckoned after I delivered my news to Charlotte, but there was always room for more tasks on my list.
I recalled Alice's words about wanting something more from life and I was going to help her however I could. For starters, I’d sack her as a housemaid and find a way to put her on a political path. Alice certainly hadn't set her sights on an easy goal. Politics was still the domain of men. The few rights accorded to women in that sphere went to those married, over thirty, and usually noble. But the world had changed during the war and vermin plague. Women took up working roles and new avenues were opening to us. If anyone could help further change, Alice was that woman. I needed to talk to Seth about Alice's career options. Given he rubbed shoulders with government types, he would have a far better idea than I about where to start in politics.
I padded downstairs to my bedroom, dressed, and then carried on through the house to the kitchen. Magda hummed as she worked. Henry and Stewart sat at the table, eating their breakfast.
"What would you like, love?" Magda asked with a glance over her shoulder.
My body rebelled at the idea of food. It might be better to face Charlotte on an empty stomach. I took one step toward the back door and froze when Henry fixed me with his stare and shook his head.
Magda pointed to an empty seat with a wooden spoon. "Sit and eat something. No one will be awake at the manse yet."
"Tea and toast, please." I screwed up my face at Henry. How did he know where I was headed?
Henry rolled his eyes at me as though my actions were obvious. Then he went back to doodling one handed, filling in all the white space on the newspaper. I slid the front section from under his pencil and scanned the headlines as I chewed buttered toast.
There were reports of Turned activity in our cities and in different countries, but no mention of my defeat of the vermin queen and her horrific monster. Not that there would have been so soon; it wasn't like we took a reporter and a photographer to record events. Maybe we should do that next time, or perhaps Seth could procure one of the crews for the new moving pictures. I quite fancied seeing my exploits as a newsreel to be shown to audiences around the world.
After a brief breakfast, I took Trusty the motorcycle to the village. The roar of the engine stopped me being alone in my head as the rattle and hum vibrated through every part of me. I switched off the engine at the side of the road and took the lime chip path slowly, trying to collect my thoughts. As I stood on the doorstep of the manse under the flowering banksia rose, my mind froze. What was the proper etiquette for telling someone you had beheaded their mother? After years of abuse and torment, I felt nothing except relief to finally have Elizabeth gone from my life. Yet I was keenly aware that she had been Charlotte's mother, and my step-sister had loved her.
I rapped on the door with my knuckles and waited. A rattle preceded the door opening. The smile on Charlotte's face faded on seeing me.
"Ella." One word, no greeting or bland how are you? She kept one hand on the door frame and blocked the scant open space.
This was going to be awkward.
"Hello Charlotte. You're looking well." Her dress was covered with a clean apron, and while her eyes seemed slightly less haunted to me, she still looked lost. I wished I could help her find herself, but unlike Alice, my gut said Charlotte's path had to be walked alone.
"What do you want, Ella? I have a busy day." A faint smile touched her lips and broke some of the ice on the frozen pond that yawned between us. At least she was civil. Beneath the wariness, warmth lingered in her eyes. I hoped I wasn't the only one who thought of what we could have been—sisters.
I swallowed. Confessing this was as hard as telling Seth how much I loved him. "Last night we found where the Turned army had set up camp, and leading them were Elizabeth and Louise."
Emotion flared in Charlotte's eyes. Joy. Hope. And then as quickly, she damped it down and the resignation of old returned to her face. Her fingers tightened around the edge of the door. "Are they dead?"
"Elizabeth is, yes. I'm so sorry." A storm brewed in my stomach. I was glad to rid Elizabeth's evil taint from the world, but it pained me to hurt Charlotte. I knew what it was like to lose your mother.
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. "And Louise?"
"The War Office is working with Louise and they have retained her services. She is Turned but has retained her intelligence, unlike the others. She will further our knowledge of them." I tried to make it sound less horrible than it really was. Louise wouldn't be coming home for Christmas.
A single tear ran down Charlotte's cheek. "I know you hated them, but they were the only family I ever had."
I reached out and laid my hand over hers. "Whatever I feel is irrelevant. I am so sorry, Charlotte, that events ended like this. I hope one day you can forgive me and we might be friends."
She didn't answer. She simply shut the door and left me staring at the cast iron knocker.
"I'm sorry," I whispered again. Then I headed back to Trusty, waiting at the end of the path. I hoped Charlotte would grieve, move on with her life, and one day admit me as a friend. We might never be true sisters, but I would always stand by her. I took some comfort from knowing she had resistance to the vermin infestation because she survived the original infection. As did Magda.
"No rest for the wicked," I said as I slung my leg over Trusty and kicked the starter. I had too much work to fret about Charlotte. Seth would be back late that afternoon after depositing Louise in her new home. In his absence, I was taking over control of the Somerset defensive.
For the first time, I parked Trusty out front of Serenity House and barrelled straight through the main entrance. My boldness even caught Warrens off guard. The butler paused for a split second, the closest I ever came to surprising him.
"Morning, Warrens," I called out as I mentally ran through my list to decide what task was the most pressing.
He smiled in my direction. "Good morning, Miss Jeffrey. I have started going through our library and am accumulating everything we have about Millicent deMage and the history of Serenity House."
"Thank you, Warrens. I'll be needing coffee today, please. I can't fall asleep on the job." I doubted if even coffee would be strong enough to keep me running. My body longed for bed and a couple of days sleep.
I walked through the double doors to Seth's office and surveyed the base of Somerset operations. Reports from every corner of the region continued to pour in, and they were crafted into paper mountains, balanced on the desk and tables. The steady clatter of typewriter keys came from next door, where we housed the secretarial pool and filing cabinets for more reports and paper.
Lieutenant Bain stood at the topographical map, a clutch of papers in his hand as he surveyed the markers. He looked up and a smile warmed his face. "Good morning, Miss Jeffrey. The new hive has been cleaned out and should be ready for inspection once the smoke clears. It's still rather eye watering down there."
"Oh, brilliant. Perhaps we could head over to investigate tomorrow?" I wanted to know how much coffee the lieutenant drank to look so perky and awake when he probably had far less sleep than me.
"Of course. Where would you like to start this morning?" He laid the papers down and gave me his full attention.
Briefly I wondered about throwing him in Alice's path if things with Frank never resolved themselves. Except he seemed too… nice. Not that Alice didn't deserve nice. It was more that Alice needed a fellow with an edge who would resist her amber eyes. I suspected Bain would melt into a puddle if Alice turned her formidable charms onto him. My friend needed a challenge, not a bath mat to stand on.
I pressed a hand to my forehead and tried to concentrate on one thing at a time. Ideas gambolled like spring lambs in my head. I finally realised that I simply could not tackle every necessary task myself. Delegation didn't come naturally to me, but I was willing to give it a try. "First, can you set one of the office staff to pulling everything they can on Aleister Crowley?"
He frowned as he placed the name. "The Satanist?"
"Yes. There was a rumour that he started the pandemic, and his supporters have been heard to claim they are immune to the bite or scratch of a Turned. I want to know the origins of those rumours as well as what he is supposed to be up to. Ask your contacts at the War Office what files they have on him, too. He must be on their watch list with his outlandish claims." The idea of evil intent being behind so many deaths made my skin crawl. I preferred a scientific explanation that I could see and understand, but there were too many coincidences not to research every possible avenue. The War Office would outwardly mock the idea of the Satanist being involved, but I would lay money on some secret memos exploring whether it was at all possible.
Bain pulled a pad from his jacket pocket and started writing up a list. "What else?"
"Last night Jake demonstrated that the vermin didn't pay him any attention, and Elizabeth didn't want Charlotte because of her ‘taint’. I think those who survived the original pandemic are unpalatable to the Turned. We need to make a list of who survived, and then find out which of them have subsequently had any interactions with the Turned."
Bain made rapid notes in his neat hand. "What if we find original influenza survivors who were subsequently Turned?"
Well, that would be annoying. "Then we cross that off our list as a potential avenue to protect people. But we won't know until we track what happened to the survivors and interview them."
Warrens appeared with a silver tray holding a delicious smelling brew. Having fought a jabberwocky, I decided to continue my brave streak and tackle another monster. "Could you put that in the library, please?" I asked the butler. "I am going to make a start on the history of the house." Fortified by coffee, I was going to crack open Millicent's diaries and confront the woman who gave me the shivers. The time had come to either find solid evidence against Millicent or discard her involvement as a flight of fancy.
Warrens retreated with the tray. I waited until the doors closed before adding to Bain's list. "Lieutenant, there is one other task that I would like you to undertake personally, if it's not too much trouble."
"Of course." His expression was so open and friendly, no wonder he put people at ease. Apart from his holstered sidearm, there was nothing threatening about the lieutenant, and he exuded an air that welcomed a confidence.
Just the skill I needed for a rather delicate mission. I needed someone to coax forth information from our shattered clergyman. "Reverend Mason used to keep lists of the villagers who survived their battle with the original infection. Could you see if he still has them?"
The pencil scratched over paper. Then I voiced my last request.
"There is another, even more delicate subject I want you to ask him about. He used to have a keen interest in witches and their local history. If he is up to it, see if he can dig anything up on the rumours about Millicent deMage."
The pencil paused and Lieutenant Bain raised an eyebrow. "Witches? Of course." He finished his notes and tucked the little book back into his jacket pocket.
Charlotte might prefer the lieutenant's presence at the manse over mine. My news about her family did not go over well, and I didn't want to antagonise her further by monopolising Mr Mason's time. I considered it a peace offering, to send her the quiet and affable Bain.