The Britannia School

 

 

EVELINE STOOD IN front of the locked door in the abandoned part of the school, gripping the key so hard it cut into her hand.

What if Mama wasn’t there? What if it had been a dream? What if she had been betrayed?

There had been no sign of Liu when she returned to the school, nothing.

There was no light under the door.

Come on, Sparrow.

Carefully, she opened the door. She blinked in the gloom; the shutters were closed, it was impossible to tell if there was anyone in the room. “Mama?” she whispered. “Are you there?”

“Eveline?”

“Oh, Mama! Mama, did you not see the candle? I made sure there was one here...” Eveline crept towards the table, found the candle and lit it.

It showed Mama seated in the room’s single chair – an ancient thing of wormy wood and cracked leather, with horsehair stuffing showing through its gaping fissures like the scalp of a poorly-buried corpse. She was huddled into the back of the chair, her hands gripping the arms. She watched Eveline as she locked the door and went to the window. “You can open the shutters, Mama, this wall faces a corner, no-one would see.” She hauled the shutters open, wincing as they creaked, despite her careful earlier application of oil. “I know, they’re so noisy, but we’re right at the end of the house, no-one comes here. So long as there’s no noise you’ll be fine. Did Liu explain what this place is? I’m sorry it’s not nicer, but it won’t be long, we’ll have a place of our own and then... Liu did explain? The Chinee fella who brought you home? He’s all right, he is. He looked after you, did he? I told him he was to...” She realised she was babbling, and forced herself to stop.

Mama was staring out of the window. It was raining. The way the window faced, the only view was of brickwork, a cracked drainpipe, and a fern growing by the drain, with a narrow slice of grey sky above it. Water ran steadily down the pipe, inside and out, gurgling.

The room smelled of damp and rats and emptiness.

“Mama?”

“I’m sorry,” Mama said. “Will you come where I can see you? I just...”

Eveline walked slowly over to the chair.

“My Eveline?”

“Yes, Mama.”

“You’ve grown so. I always thought of you as a little girl. Foolish... come here, my love. Let me look at you properly. I was in such a mazed state... are you in trouble, Eveline?”

“Not if no-one finds out.”

“They will, you know. They’re bound to notice even such an insignificant person as myself escaping.”

“I know. But they won’t know it’s me, will they?”

“Well, who else would come for me?”

Eveline felt cold. It was true. She’d been so panicked at the thought of being sent to Shanghai that she’d rushed it. Rushed a plan, like a fool, and now she’d brought her mother right here to her own hearth where anyone looking for her would find her.

But did anyone know she was here: her, Eveline Duchen? Apart from Holmforth. And Holmforth, like everyone else, must think her mother was dead.

“I’m sorry, Mama. I... I just wanted you out. I didn’t think.”

“Oh, my love, I’m glad to be out, but I don’t think our troubles are over just yet. Tell me, where is Charlotte?”

The question she had been dreading, and for once in her life she had no slick answer ready. There could be no trickery here, no sliding away.

“She’s dead, Mama. She’s dead, and it’s my fault.”

“Dead. Charlotte.”

“Yes. We... I ran away. I took her with me. I thought... but it was cold and we... the woods... I couldn’t... oh, Mama, I’m sorry!”

Then she was on her knees with her face buried in Mama’s skirts, sobbing. She didn’t know if Mama would turn her away, open the door, denounce her... but to confess, at last, to say it out loud to the one person in the world who would care, even if she never forgave her – there was a dreadful, tearing relief in it.

Eventually she became aware of a sensation she had not felt for a long time.

Mama was stroking her hair.

Eventually she got enough control of herself to tell the rest.

She didn’t look at Mama for much of it. She rested her head against Mama’s knees, and told her the barest bones of it. She didn’t tell Mama about the road, about the men who had tried to catch her – and the ones who had succeeded. She did tell her about Ma Pether, as someone who took her in.

She said, “She taught me things, helped me. She’s not respectable, but... and the things she taught me, they’re not, either, mostly. I don’t mean... well. I’ve had to do some things. Stealing.”

Silence, still, from Mama. Then a sigh.

Eveline forced herself to look up. “Mama?”

She was crying, silently, tears tracking the lines on her face. “I was afraid... when she wasn’t with you. And she was so young, and not well... Oh, Eveline.”

“I’m sorry, Mama.”

“No. No, don’t say that. I failed you. I failed you both.”

“No!” Eveline leapt to her feet. “You didn’t. You never did. It was Uncle James, he had you put away. It was all his fault. He wanted to steal your work, didn’t he? But you can get it back, Mama. It’s all here! All your machines.”

“They’re here? Eveline, I don’t understand. What is this place?”

“It’s a sort of school. It’s run by the government, so it’s respectable. And if I can just do what they want, I’ll get an allowance. And a pension. Only they don’t know about you. And the man who brought me here, Mr Holmforth, I don’t trust him. If he gets to know about you... see, that’s why I asked Liu to hide you away up here. I know it’s not very nice.”

“My dear, I’ve been in an asylum. I am hardly used to luxury.”

“Was it terrible?”

“At first, yes. I tried to tell them... but no-one listened. I was so worried about you both...” Her face twisted horribly, and it was a moment before she could go on. “After a while, I became resigned, I suppose. I wrote letters, once they knew I could be trusted with pen and paper. I don’t suppose you received them.”

“No, Mama. He told us you were dead.” Oh, how she hated Uncle James. How she wished he were still alive, so that she could destroy him, break him into little pieces, take everything from him, make him see what a wretched, miserable creature he was.

“Yes, you told me. I’m sorry, Eveline. My memory... in any case, they kept us occupied. Laundry.” She attempted a smile. “I became rather more skilled at laundering shirts than I ever was at home.”

“They made you do laundry?”

“It was thought better to keep us occupied. Laundry and stitching for the women, woodworking and so forth for the men. I made the mistake of asking to do some of the men’s work. It was considered a sign of relapse.” She shuddered.

“You weren’t allowed to do your own work?”

“Oh, no. James and his doctor friends, they made sure of that. They said it was what had sent me into my distressed state and that I should under no circumstances be permitted to attempt anything. What I did, I managed in secret, with scraps... My dear, tell me, please, do you know what happened to the work? You say it’s here, all my machines, and my notes?”

“Yes. And I don’t think it’s been used, at all. Uncle James must have tried to use it, I think, or at least to get money from it. I think that’s how Holmforth found out about him – but everyone except Holmforth seems to think it’s just an idea, something that doesn’t really work. That’s why Holmforth – he’s the man who brought me here – he wanted me to use it, he thinks because Uncle James could do Etherics, I mean, he believed Uncle James was the one – he thinks it means I could too. Only I can’t.”

“Oh, that stupid idea! It’s a science! Not something you inherit, like the colour of your hair! One studies. One learns. But... Eveline, what does he want you to do?”

“He wants me to go to Shanghai.”

“What? Where?”

“Shanghai. It’s in China. Well it’s sort of in China. Anyway, he’s got something there he thinks works by Etherics and he wants me to go and do something with it.”

“Eveline.” Mama leaned forward and took Eveline’s hands in her own. “My pet, do you know what it is, this thing?”

“I don’t know, Mama. But I have to learn. I hoped you could help me. Because I got your notes, but I’m not that good, and some of it I don’t understand at all.”

“Oh, Eveline, no.”

“Mama?”

“No. Eveline, no, you can’t. Not without knowing what they want it for.”

“I don’t understand,” Eveline said.

“Your Uncle James, he thought... Eveline, how much do you understand about Etherics?

“Almost nothing,” Eveline said.

“Listen. Do you remember that the sounds made you happy?”

“Yes...”

“Yes. That is what they were for. I tried to make some experiments in the hospital, but my resources were so limited, and I had to be so careful... but in any case. Etherics are intended to create positive mental states, Eveline. To soothe troubled minds, and heal broken ones. That is their function. But James... James thought it could be used against people. You understand? Not for healing, but as a weapon. I didn’t know if it was even possible, I’d never taken my researches in that direction, nor would I, but I couldn’t risk it. That’s why I started hiding my notes. And then, of course, I was taken away. This man, Holmforth...”

“Yes, Mama.”

“He works for the government.”

“Yes, Mama.”

“I don’t know, Eveline. You say you don’t trust him. You think, if he got this into his hands, it would be used for good, or...”

Eveline bit her lip. “It would be used for the Empire,” she said.

“And what would that mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“I can’t risk it, Eveline. I can’t.”

“But if I don’t do what he wants, I may get thrown out. Then... there won’t be any money, or anything. I don’t know what will happen.”

Mama glanced at the shuttered window, and shivered. “No. Oh, dear. Where should we go? What skills I had...” She looked down at her hands, red and swollen from doing laundry. “And with no references...”

“Mama, did I do wrong? Taking you out of that place?”

She hesitated just a fraction too long before she said, “Not wrong, my pet. You were just impulsive. You always were.” Then she tried to smile. “And if you hadn’t, I would have gone on thinking I’d lost you. Come here.”

Eveline let herself be hugged, but her brain was whirring and clicking like one of the Etheric machines, creating not happiness but only more trouble, more fear and confusion. What could she do? Should she try and persuade Mama to help her do what Holmforth wanted? What was it to them if the thing was used as a weapon in the Empire’s endless wars? She thought of Liu. The Empire had done dreadful things in his country – but so had the people who ran it, too. If she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do what Holmforth wanted, what would happen to Mama? If she got thrown out of the school she would have to find somewhere safe for them both, but with what? If she stayed... perhaps she could persuade Holmforth to let her complete her training, at least.

She pulled away. “Mama, I have to go, I daren’t be late to supper. I’ll bring you something. Lock yourself in, and don’t make a sound.” She gave her mother the key, and a quick kiss, and scurried away.

It was a windy night; the old building creaked and moaned so that she stopped, at one point, convinced she’d heard footsteps along the corridor. No-one appeared, and she crept back to the main house, carefully locking the connecting door behind her.

 

 

WHEN SHE PICKED up her supper fork, there was something beneath it – a tiny square of paper. She shuffled it into her pocket. When she got a moment, she investigated it further – it proved, as she suspected, to be a note.

Meet me in the Old Barn, after supper. Liu.

Easier said than done, she thought. At least supper tonight was chops. How she’d smuggle it to her mother when it was stew... she’d just have to get herself put on kitchen duty again.

She asked Miss Cairngrim for permission to do extra work in the Old Barn. Miss Cairngrim glowered.

“Mr Holmforth asked that I work especially hard on this project, Miss Cairngrim.”

“I am aware of that. However, this is disruptive of the school’s routine.”

“Yes, Miss Cairngrim. Miss Cairngrim?”

“What is it?”

“He said if I do well he might give some money to the school.”

“And why did he not tell me this himself?”

“I don’t know as I oughta say, Miss Cairngrim.”

“Tell me this instant!”

“Well, he said he had a bet with one of the others that he could prove this school was useful, and not just a storage-house for by-blows. What’s a by-blow, Miss Cairngrim?”

“That is a disgusting phrase and I do not wish to hear you repeat it!”

“No, Miss Cairngrim.”

“I will send for Thomas to chain the dogs, and I will escort you to the barn. You will be locked in. I will be back in one hour to let you out.”

“Yes, Miss Cairngrim.”

It was a bit of a risk, but she was fairly sure that Miss Cairngrim wouldn’t repeat that to Holmforth. In fact, she might be inclined to drop hints about how well Eveline was doing.

Miss Cairngrim had no sooner locked the barn than Liu climbed swiftly down the ladder out of the hayloft.

“Eveline! I am very glad you could come, I must discuss something with you.”

“What is it, Liu?”

“Is your mother well?”

“Oh, I think so. At least... Oh, and thank you for the bedding.” He had scavenged, from somewhere, a decent mattress and some warm blankets for her.

“Is something wrong? You are unhappy.”

“I’m just worried. I hadn’t thought about things properly. They might send people to look for Mama, and they might work out it was me got her out, and... and now Mama don’t want me to work on this.” She gestured at the mechanisms, gleaming mellowly in the lamplight.

“Oh. And what do you plan to do?”

“I don’t know! I can’t exactly force her to help, can I? Not after everything she’s had to put up with. But if I don’t do what Holmforth wants, I’ll be out on me ear, and her with me, and maybe people after us both. Oh, it’s such a mess.” She slumped down on one of the ancient chairs and tugged her fingers through her hair, pulling out the pins. “What’m I to do?”

“Do you know why your mother does not wish you to do this?”

Eveline sighed. “She thinks this, Etherics, could maybe be used against people. She thinks that’s what Holmforth wants it for.”

“I don’t know if it could be used against people, Lady Sparrow,” he said. “But it could be used against the Folk. And that... that would be very bad indeed.”

“What?”

“The Folk. The Shining Ones, the Fair Folk, the People of the Crepuscular.”

“I know who the Folk are, Liu, I just don’t know what you’re gabbing on about. What d’you mean it could be used on ’em?”

Liu dropped into the straw, folding his legs neatly under him. “Remember you asked me to distract Mister Holmforth for two hours the day we rescued your mother out of the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I pretended to be someone interested in what he was doing in Shanghai. Someone in the government.”

“And he believed you?”

“I can be very persuasive.”

“You musta been! Who did he think you were?”

Liu shrugged. “Someone who appreciates his singular talents more than his current superior, a man called Forbes-Cresswell. But this is not really to the point. What is, is that this machine he has found creates noises of a very particular quality. They are painful and damaging to people... to Folk. That is why he wants you, Lady Sparrow. He wants you so that he can start a war.”

“A war? A war with the Folk? But why? I thought he was half-Folk himself?”

“He is.” Liu hesitated for a moment. “What would be your feeling on a war with the Folk, Lady Sparrow?”

“I don’t know. It’s not my business, is it?”

“It is if you can prevent it.”

“Don’t see how.”

“Refuse to do what Holmforth asks of you. It won’t be enough, it will only delay things, but perhaps it will give time for a solution to be found.”

“If I don’t do what he wants, I’m done for. And so’s my mama.”

“If you do, the consequences could be terrible.”

“There’s always a war on somewhere. What’s it got to do with me?”

“You do not care that people will be killed?”

Eveline hunched her shoulders. “Course I care. I don’t want anyone dying. But it’s only a machine,” she said. “One machine. That’s hardly going to do much, is it? I mean, whatever it is he thinks it can do, even if I can get it to work, it’s one thing. All they have to do is break it, and there ain’t no problem, is there? It won’t be a war.”

“Firstly, who do you think would be in the machine? You. You will be the immediate target of anything they do.”

“In it? What do you mean, in it?” She gestured at the machines that stood on the bench. “I couldn’t get in one of them.”

“This machine is much larger. It is operated by someone sitting within it. And even if you survive the encounter... it is much worse than that, Eveline.”

“Why?”

“They will know that it is possible. That humans can be a threat to them.”

“What’s so bad about that?”

“Oh, Lady Sparrow. You really have no idea. How do you think the Folk see you?”

“I don’t know. Never thought about it.”

“Yes, you have.”

“Don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes,” Liu said, “you do. I have seen the look in your eyes when they are named. You have no love for them, do you? Do you desire your own vengeance?”

“I just want to be left alone. Get somewhere safe for me and Mama and be comfortable, no Folk, no Holmforth, no people messing in my life, that’s it.”

“I do not believe you,” he said. “You would be bored in a week.”

“Don’t matter what you believe.”

“Perhaps not. But there are things I do not have to believe – things that I know. I know that if the Folk see humans as a threat, they will crush you. Completely, and without hesitation. You are little or nothing to them. A moment’s amusement. A source of Gifts, and entertainment – but that is all.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Why do you hate them, Eveline?”

“I don’t hate them. Just don’t trust them, is all.”

“And why is that?”

“Not your business, is it?”

“Please,” he said, and she looked at him, hearing real desperation in his voice. “Please listen to me, Lady Sparrow. Your distrust is justified far more than you think. They will destroy humanity if for one moment they see it as a threat. And they will unite to do it. The Folk of your country and the Folk of mine, of every land. This is the one thing that could create an alliance, after a thousand thousand years of rivalry, if only for a moment. And a moment is all they would need. Against such an alliance, your people would be dust on the wind.”

“I don’t believe you. They don’t care about us one way or the other. They hardly even hang around any more.”

“The noise of the cities, the factories, the airships – they find all this unpleasant, and they have no need to come here, unless it amuses them. But that will not stop them.”

“Still don’t see how one machine could be a threat.”

“Because it shows the potential. If humanity can create such a thing once, they can do it again. They would rather see every city on earth wiped out. And make no mistake, they could do it.”

“How?”

“They are very old, and very powerful. They have everything they need; they need never go hungry, never do without anything. That is why they have this game of Gifts. They give each other gifts of intense subtlety, it is a vast and complex game of position and superiority. That is the only place where humans truly matter to them – as a source of these Gifts.” He tilted his head. “Of course, they might decide to keep you all alive for that – but the punishment they would wreak on you for daring to threaten them would be terrible. Now, you are toys. Pets. That is the best you can hope for.”

“I don’t believe you. They’ve never done anything that bad. And we’re not pets.”

“No? Would you have me prove it?”

“How?”

“I know of humans who are kept in the Crepuscular. Taken from here, usually as children. The court find them amusing, they even become fond of them, as you might of a puppy. But if the dog should bite, then it is punished. And if it bites too often...” He shuddered. “I have seen that, too. I could find one, bring them to see you.”

Eveline bit her thumbnail, watching him. Could it be true? She had hated Aiden, all these years, because he had abandoned her when she truly needed him; had promised help, and failed to give it. Could that be why? That she was nothing more to him than an amusement?

Perhaps. But she had a whole life at risk. She didn’t even know if this stupid machine could be made to work – especially without Mama’s help. If she simply refused to work on it... she could pretend, try her hardest, but she was fairly certain that Holmforth had no interest in her beyond this one thing.

And of course, if she did make it work, there might be another thing. And another. And another...

She flailed away from the thought. It was too much. Everything had been going well, and now it was all such a terrible mess.

And there was something else, too.

“How come you know so much about it?” she said. “Here you are telling me all this, and you could be lying through your teeth, f’r all I know. Could be so much bull, the whole thing. How’d you find out what Holmforth wants? No way he’s going to be spilling all that to some Chinee, just on his say so. So tell me how you know all this.”

“I persuaded him that I was someone important in government. I told you. He is a desperate man. He believes that those in power are ignoring something important. He was grateful for anyone to listen.”

“How?”

“I was in disguise. You have done as much yourself – persuaded someone you are other than what you are – and it was not so hard for you.”

“Hmm. All right, maybe. But all this about the Folk – how’d you know it all? And how’d I know it’s true?”

Liu closed his eyes, and dropped his head towards his chest, with a sigh. “Because I, like Holmforth, am a mixtus. My mother was human. My father was a fox-spirit; a kind of Folk that is found in China. Now do you believe me?”

“What? No! You don’t look like Folk at all!”

“So sharp-eyed, and you never noticed.” He began to shuffle one trouser leg up his shin. “This is very uncomfortable,” he said. “But it is the one thing that never changes, so it has to be hidden.”

Poking out of the bottom of his blue silk trouser leg was a white-tipped fox tail. It waggled, oddly jaunty.

Eveline stared. “That’s... You’re having me on.”

“No.”

She jumped to her feet, furious. “Oh, you... I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but I’m not falling for it. All this time, you were Folk? You’ve been helping me just so’s you’d get me on side, haven’t you? Make me do what you wanted? Your Empress and mine are not at odds, indeed. I thought you meant the Chinese Empress, but you never did, did you?”

“Lady Sparrow...” Liu jumped to his feet.

“Don’t call me that. You’re a spy, a spy for them. You were trying to get me to be a traitor. Well, I might be a thief and I might not care anything for the Empire or any of that business, but work for you lot? Not for a minute. Not ever. You’d better get out of here before I tell them what you are, and what you tried to pull.”

“Eveline, please! I’m trying...”

“Go away.” She realised she was crying, and it made her even angrier. “Go away! Get out of here! Leave me alone!”

 

 

“EVELINE, WHAT IS it?” Beth said.

“Nothing.”

“What’s happened?”

“Liu.”

“Liu?”

“He’s... he wasn’t... I’m sorry, Beth. I thought – I shoulda known better than to trust him. I thought he was all right. He ain’t.”

Beth’s face whitened. “What do you mean?”

“He’s Folk.”

“What?”

“He’s Folk. He’s one of them. Half-folk, anyway. He was trying to put one over on me. I shoulda seen it, but I was stupid.”

“The...” Beth glanced towards the hidden shed where she kept the Sacagawea.

“I don’t think he cares about that.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, I’m not. I’m sorry. But I don’t think he’d get anything out of telling Miss Grim, if it’s any comfort.”

“Telling Miss Cairngrim what?”

The girls spun around. There, dapper in the lamplight, was Holmforth. “I thought I would come and see how you are progressing,” he said. “I am glad to see you hard at work. What was it someone was going to tell Miss Cairngrim? I really don’t think she would appreciate that sobriquet.”

“Nothing,” Eveline said.

“Really. And you must be Miss Hastings?” He bowed over Beth’s hand. “Charmed, I’m sure. Have you been helping Miss Duchen?”

“I’ve been trying,” Beth said.

“I see. Well, since you have become involved, perhaps we should take you with us. Don’t you think?” He spun around to Eveline.

“Take her where?” Eveline said.

“Shanghai.”

“What? When?” Eveline stuttered.

“Me?” Beth squeaked. “Go to Shanghai?”

“Since Miss Duchen seems to find your assistance useful, yes.”

Beth glanced at Eveline, who gave the smallest possible shrug.

“In an airship?”

“Of a certainty, in an airship.”

“Oh, yes, please!” She beamed.

Eveline bit her lip. She was pretty certain Holmforth hadn’t been asking. Why did he want Beth along?

And that was not, by a long chalk, her worst problem.

Holmforth was taking her to Shanghai. To make his infernal machine, whatever it was, work. And she still didn’t know how.

And what about Mama? How was she going to keep her fed and cared for while she was away?

 

 

EVERY TIME SHE came up here, she was certain she was going to be caught; the back of her neck twitched with every rustle and creak.

“Mama, I brought you some food. It’s not much – potatoes, mostly – I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Mama’s voice sounded almost as pale as she looked, as she pushed herself out of the ancient sagging chair and came to hug Eveline.

“Mind the potatoes! Oh, and I brought a book.”

“Oh, how marvellous!” Mama almost snatched the book out of Eveline’s hand, holding it close under the lamp and peering.

“It’s just some Shakespeare. I found it in the library.”

“Never say just Shakespeare, Eveline. What a delight. They would give us ‘improving tracts’ and other pap. Nothing to excite the brain, you see.”

“I’ll bring some more. Only, Mama, you’ll have to be careful about using the lamp. Someone might see.”

“I’ll be careful,” she said, though wistfully. “My darling, I can’t stay here much longer. Sooner or later someone is bound to find me.”

“I know, Mama. I’m trying to think of what to do. I’m going to have to be away for a little while. I was going to ask Beth to help, but now...”

“What about that young man who drove me here? Can he help?”

“No,” Eveline said. “No, he can’t, and I wish I’d never trusted him.”

“I’m sorry you feel like that, Lady Sparrow,” said Liu. He was standing by the open door that Eveline knew she had shut behind her. “Madam Duchen.” He bowed.

“Liu? How the...” Eveline swallowed the curse and contented herself with glaring. “Don’t do that.”

Liu was wearing dark green silks. Even in the dim lamplight, he looked weary and strained, not the merry imp she was used to. She shoved down the impulse to ask him what was wrong. Don’t be soft, Eveline Duchen. He’d love to know you felt sorry for him. Remember who he is. “What do you want?” she said. “It’s not safe, you coming up here. Someone’ll see.”

“No, they will not, I promise. I hoped that I might be able to persuade you...” He glanced at Madeleine Duchen. “Your daughter does not trust me, because my father was of the Folk.”

“He was?” Madeleine Duchen looked puzzled. “I didn’t know there were Chinese Folk.”

“Oh, yes. But I spend much of my time with the Folk of your lands. And that is why... perhaps I should get to the meat of why I am here?”

“Yes,” Eveline said. “Why don’t you?”

“I have been doing some investigating. I need you to believe me, Eveline. I need you to trust me. And I found out something I hope will please you. So...” He turned away, and made a gesture to the corridor.

Eveline, convinced he had betrayed them, expecting Miss Cairngrim and a phalanx of policemen, blinked as a slender young woman appeared.

She was slight, with a mass of curly black hair tumbling to her waist, dressed in a flowing gown of some pale green stuff and fragile, gilded shoes, completely unsuitable for the weather. She looked about fourteen.

“Who’s this? Another one of your Folk?” Eveline said.

“Oh, I’m not his,” the young woman said, giving Liu a glance that verged on contempt. “My name’s Charlotte. I suppose you must be Eveline.”

 

 

“CHARLOTTE?” FOR A moment the name meant nothing at all. Then Eveline heard her mother whisper, “Charlotte? My Charlotte?”

“Are you my mother?”

“No!” Eveline said. “No, it’s a trick! You... how could you, Liu? I know you’re Folk...”

“...half...”

“I didn’t think you were cruel.” She flung her arms around her mother, who stood rigid, her hands pressed to her mouth, her eyes huge, staring. “What is this?” Eveline said. “Charlotte’s dead.”

“No,” Liu said. “Charlotte isn’t dead.”

“Of course I’m not dead,” said the girl. She had made no motion to approach either Eveline or Madeleine, but stood poised by the door. “This place is very dark. And it smells. I want to go.”

“Tell them who you are,” Liu said.

“I am Charlotte, a groundling, under the protection of Aiden of the Court Emerald,” she recited, with a sort of resentful boredom.

“Tell them what groundling means,” Liu said.

“It means I’m not Folk. It means I’m a human. I’m Aiden’s. He doesn’t care, he likes me.”

“Aiden,” Eveline said. “You know Aiden.”

“I don’t know him, I’m his.”

“I don’t understand,” Eveline said, looking at this strange, chilly, rude girl.

“I think I do,” Madeleine said, her voice unsteady. She put her arm around Eveline’s trembling shoulders. “Eveline told me what happened, in the woods. He saw you there, and realised you were sick, perhaps dying, and decided to take you in – like a stray puppy. You’re a changeling, aren’t you, my dear?”

Eveline fought to control her whirling thoughts. “I thought changelings... I thought they left a fairy child...”

“Oh, perhaps they have, in the past,” Madeleine said, “but mostly, it’s just a thing, a sort of mannequin. There was one in the village, when you were tiny. Sometimes they’re made of wood, but... I’m right, aren’t I? Come to me, child.”

Charlotte came forward, reluctantly. “You’re old.”

“Oh, not so old, just... just human,” Madeleine said. She reached out her hand and touched the glossy black curls. “My little Charlotte.”

Charlotte watched her warily, like a nervous colt.

“I don’t believe it’s her,” Eveline said. “It’s a trick.”

“It isn’t,” Madeleine said. “Oh, my little love.” Tears were trickling down her face. “Are you coming back to us?” she said.

“Coming back?” Charlotte backed away, looking dismayed. “Why would I come back?”

“But you’re family,” Eveline said. “If you really are.”

“So? All I remember about here is being cold, and hungry, and hurting. I remember someone, I suppose it was you” – she looked at Madeleine – “being sad. I don’t like sadness. Or cold. In the Crepuscular it’s always warm, and I have enough to eat and pretty things to wear. Aiden looks after me.”

“He looks after you,” Eveline said.

“Yes. He thinks I’m amusing.”

“And when you’re not ‘amusing’ any more?”

“I shall make sure I remain so.”

“And when you get old?” Eveline said. “Will he still think you’re amusing?”

“I shan’t – not like you. Aiden’s promised. I won’t get all... wrinkled,” she said, screwing up her nose.

Eveline glanced at Liu. He gave a small, sympathetic shrug. “Charlotte, do you remember the harper?” he said.

“No,” she said.

“I think you do.”

“I don’t want to,” she said. “Leave me alone.”

“What happened to him?”

“He was stupid. He displeased his mistress and she punished him. I’m not stupid like him.”

“Just tell them what happened, so they understand.”

“He didn’t want to play the harp any more, so she made him one with it, and now he sings all the time.”

Now he sings all the time... The wind gusted hard against the corner of the eaves, and wailed. Eveline felt a shudder clench the muscles along her spine.

“Was it hard for her?” Liu said. “To do that?”

“Why would it be? She’s of the Court. She can do whatever she wants. I want to go home.”

“Home,” Madeleine said.

“Yes.”

“Come kiss me once, then.”

Charlotte scowled, but allowed herself to be kissed, and her lips brushed the air near Madeleine’s cheek. “Do you want a kiss too?” she said to Eveline.

“No,” Eveline said. “Wait. Mama...”

“Let her be, Eveline,” Madeleine said. “I understand. It’s hard for us, but she must do what she wants. One thing, Charlotte, before you go. Listen to your mother, this single time, will you please?”

“Oh, very well,” Charlotte said, smoothing her gauzy skirts.

“You’ve made your choice, and it is an easy life – unless you ever want something else. I’m sorry, my love, that this has happened. And if this is what you want, then you go with my blessing – though I suppose you don’t care much for that, not now.”

Charlotte’s lips pressed together, and she looked away.

“But if you ever decide you do want something else,” Madeleine said, “if you tire of being at someone else’s whim, or if they ever treat you badly, we’ll be here, Charlotte.”

“No!” Eveline couldn’t stop the word. It came out half-strangled, but loud. “No, you can’t just let her go!” She reached out for Charlotte, hardly knowing if she meant to embrace her, or shake her silly. Charlotte stepped back, a look of distaste plain on her face.

“I thought you were dead,” Eveline shouted. “I thought you were dead and it was my fault! You can’t just leave!” She swung round to her mother. “Why are you... what...” Tears choked the rest of the words in her throat.

“Because it’s what she wants, Eveline,” Mama said, folding her arms round her and holding her very tight. “Shh, poppet, shhhh. Goodbye, Charlotte.”

“Goodbye,” Charlotte said. She turned to Liu. “Take me home.”

“Lottie...” Eveline said, “please...” But then there was a faint distant shimmer of music, and Liu took Charlotte’s hand, and Eveline’s sister walked away, into the dark corridor, and was gone.

 

 

“WHY DID YOU let her go, Mama?”

“Because she has made her choice, Eveline. I did so badly by her, by you both – and what could I give her? She would be miserable here. I think it would be like Bedlam was for me. Cold and strange and she wouldn’t understand why she was here. And we’ve nowhere to live.”

“But she’s family.”

“So was Uncle James,” Madeleine said, sighing. “Family isn’t always the best choice, or even a possible choice, Eveline.”

“How can you be so calm?”

“I had to learn. I had to learn patience. And resignation. A great deal of both.”

“It’s my fault...”

“No.” Madeleine turned Eveline around to look at her. “No. You did your best, as I did. We did the best we could with what we had. And she is alive. Maybe, one day, she will decide she would rather not be a pet. If she doesn’t, well, she will have a comfortable life for a long time. If she can stay on their good side, she’ll probably live far longer than either of us.”

“She’s alive,” Eveline said. “Yes, well, I suppose that’s something, isn’t it?”

“That’s very much something, Eveline. Oh, come here, my love, don’t cry.”

But she did, for a long time, in her mother’s arms, while the wind howled and the rain beat its small helpless fists on the windows.

Liu had been standing there for some time before either of them noticed him.

“What do you want?” Eveline said, sniffing.

“I am very sorry,” he said, bowing. “I did not mean to cause you so much distress.”

“Why’d you do it, then?”

“You wanted us to understand,” Madeleine said, “didn’t you?”

“Yes. Also, I thought it would please you to know she was alive.”

“It does.”

“Don’t be nice to him, Mama, he wants something.”

“Eveline, hush.”

“I do want something,” Liu said. “I want you to promise you will not make that machine work. It’s not just the Folk here, but the Folk of my country. If they even begin to suspect...”

“You won’t, will you?” Madeleine said.

“That part’s easy enough,” Eveline said. “I can’t. Weeks, I’ve been looking at your machines, Mama, and I can make ’em make sounds enough to fool him, but they don’t work. But if I don’t go along and at least look like I’m trying, we’re in the... we’re in trouble, both of us. And what then? If I don’t manage it, he’ll find someone who does, sooner or later. If Etherics is a science, even if it’s one I’m no good at, someone’ll find out how to do it.”

They looked at each other in the deepening gloom. The lamp flickered, and a bell jangled in the quiet. “Oh, I’m late!” Eveline jumped to her feet. “I have to go with him, I’ll... I don’t know. I’ll work something out.” She kissed her mother. Liu followed her out of the door, but when he tried to speak to her, she repeated, “I’m late!” and ran. It was true – if she didn’t get to Evening Occupations, someone was bound to notice – but mainly she had no desire at all to talk to Liu just then.

When she looked over her shoulder on reaching the main building, there was no sign of him.

 

 

EVELINE BARELY NOTICED the chatter and shuffling and sidelong glances of the other girls as she scuttled into the back of the room with her head down and got out her stitching, frantically trying to work out what she was going to do. She had to make some arrangement for her mother. She would have to ask Liu, who else could she trust? Not that she could trust him, but with Holmforth intent on dragging Beth along with them, there was no-one else. Beth was at the other side of the room, scribbling away on a sketch-pad.

The only other possibility was to give Mama the key and let her make her own arrangements – but how was she to get out, with the dogs? Since the last incident, their handler Thomas had started sleeping in the shed with them, reducing any chance to interfere with their food, and Miss Prayne had started hiding her laudanum.

There was the sound of doors shutting. The dogs barked furiously. A coach passed the window, wheels crunching on the gravel, and rumbled off into the night.

Every few moments, Charlotte’s face – so chilly, so petulant – rose in her mind, disrupting her thoughts before they could get anywhere.

Liu’s warning ringing over and over, jangling like a cracked bell. They will crush you...

Unable to bear it a moment longer, she jumped to her feet.

“Duchen, where do you think you’re going?” Miss Fortescue snapped.

“I have to pack, miss.”

“She does indeed,” said a familiar voice. Holmforth appeared behind her. She was very tired of people sneaking up on her, and felt strongly inclined to fling her shoe at him. This was all his fault. What did the wretched man have to pick her for?

“I will come with you,” Holmforth said, “and assist.”

Eveline stood up and took Holmforth’s proffered arm.

She didn’t like being this close to him, especially not now. She sneaked glances at him, trying to trace any similarity to Liu – but then, Liu wasn’t English Folk. She’d never even heard of Folk who had fox tails. Oh, her mind was jumping about like a rabbit. She had to get away, do something.

Up in the dormitory, a battered leather case was already lying on her bunk. She folded things much more carefully than was her habit, trying to give herself time to think, as Holmforth leaned in the doorway, watching.

“Are you going to tell me about this machine, then? I can’t make it work unless I know what it’s s’posed to do.”

“I suppose you are right. It has an effect on the Folk. An extremely... adverse effect. Oh, that reminds me, I must obtain a subject for the demonstration.”

“A subject?”

“Yes, one of the Folk, of course.”

“Well, what if I can’t make it go straight off? I mean, it’s taken me weeks to get these machines here working!”

“I am sure you will succeed. You must succeed. Someone is coming to attend the demonstration. If you do not succeed, the consequences will be... unfortunate. For you. And Miss Hastings.”

So that was why he wanted Beth along. Leverage.

“So who built this precious machine of yours?”

“A man called Wu Jisheng. Etheric ability seems to cross racial boundaries.”

“And what if he don’t want to give it to us?”

“The machine is essential to the Empire. It is not as though the Chinese would make good use of it.”

Well, that was answer enough, Eveline thought. Mr Wu Jisheng wasn’t going to have a choice, was he?

“Oh,” she said. “My disguise kit? I might need it, mightn’t I, and my Bartitsu gear?”

“Oh, I suppose so. Very well,” Holmforth said. “Go collect the costumery, if you must. I will obtain your fighting equipment – how very intriguing – and I will see you back here.”

Eveline went to Miss Fortescue’s classroom and gathered an armful of supplies – a couple of wigs, putty, mortician’s wax, a few paints. She paused, an idea half-forming in her mind, and grabbed more putty. Then she scurried for the east wing.

The wind in the empty corridors wailed like a ghost as the rain beat tiny cold fists on the windows. Eveline unlocked the door and whispered, “Mama?”

The room was dark. “Mama, did you go to sleep?”

“Your mother isn’t here, Eveline,” said a voice behind her.

She spun about. Holmforth stood in the doorway, his face underlit by the lantern he was carrying, cutting shadows under his eyes and cheekbones.

Eveline felt cold all the way through, and her knees weakened. “I...”

“Don’t bother. It would be foolish to attempt, at this juncture, to hide anything. She is in no danger. Rather less than she might have been had she remained here. I don’t suppose it ever occurred to you that there might be a fire, or some such thing? No? Really, child.”

“How did you find her?” Eveline said, her voice seeming to come from far away, as though another Eveline, a puppet, moved and spoke in her stead.

“Monsieur Duvalier has been taking an interest in your movements, it seems. And fortunately he had the sense to come to me, rather than going to Miss Cairngrim.”

“Duvalier.”

“Indeed. Now come along.”

“But where is she? What have you done with her?”

“She is safe, and away from here.” That must have been the coach she heard earlier, and she hadn’t even paid attention. “And I have done nothing to her. Had I known she was alive, of course, I would have taken her under my wing much earlier, and she would have enjoyed rather more comfortable accommodations. In any case, she is about to accompany us to Shanghai. I think, after her long incarceration, she may enjoy the experience, don’t you?”

Eveline felt so cold. Cold and small and stupid. How had she let things come to this?

And Holmforth had her mama. She’d been right about him. He’d use anything and everything for his precious Empire. Even if she didn’t believe Liu, there was no way, now, no way in the Empire and all its territories that she was going to do what Holmforth wanted.

He’d thought he could run her to ground. But she wasn’t a rabbit. She was Evvie Duchen, and she’d see him pay heavy for this.

 

 

THAT NIGHT, NEITHER she nor Beth returned to the dormitory. They were locked in a separate room, normally kept for visitors.

“I’m sorry about your mama,” Beth said as they got ready for bed.

“I’m sorry I got you into this.”

“Don’t be,” Beth said. “At least I get to go on an airship, and see Shanghai.”

“Beth, I’ve made such a mess of everything. I shoulda told Holmforth straight out I couldn’t do a thing with these wretched machines, and now you’re caught up in it, and my mum, and I don’t know what Liu’s about... I don’t want a war, I mean, I don’t care about the Folk, but what if Liu’s right, and...”

“Right about what?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you that part, did I?”

“Not really.”

After Eveline explained, Beth sat quietly for some time. “I don’t know, Evvie,” she said. “But a war... people are going to get killed. That’s what war is, isn’t it. Whoever wins, people get killed.”

“And if Liu’s right – I’m not saying he is, but if he is...”

“Oh, dear,” Beth said.

“Oh, dear is right.”

Eveline still had her lock picks. She contemplated letting them both out, but had not a single idea what was to be done after that; with no idea where Mama was, and no way to find her now Liu had disappeared – how had she come to rely on him, on his help, so quickly? How had she been so stupid, again?

Probably the girl wasn’t even Charlotte. It had all been yet another trick. After all, he was Folk, wasn’t he? He could probably do all sorts of tricks. Why should he care what happened to people, if the Folk got angry? She didn’t believe it.

And yet he was only half-Folk. But so was Holmforth.

And Holmforth was the one she had to deal with. There was no time to panic, she had to think as hard as she’d ever thought in her life.

And, reluctantly, thinking about Liu. Liu and the Folk. The Folk and their Gifts...

She should have guessed, when he spoke to her before about them. How else could he possibly have known so much? Unless all that, too, was lies.

Why had he brought Charlotte? Why?

Eveline Duchen, stop this nonsense. ‘Keep your thoughts on the job in hand or stuck in pokey you will land’; that was one of Ma’s, and right she was.

And it is a job, isn’t it? It’s a con. It has to be.

She really wished she could see Liu and shake a proper explanation out of him.

At the thought, she turned over, and felt a lump rub against her side.

It was the little jade fox tucked into one of the secret pockets of her shift. She sat up and dug it out. It was smooth and warm in the darkness. She could feel its sharp nose and the curve of its tail. A fox.

Had he meant her to guess?

“How was I supposed to know?” she whispered at it. “We don’t have fox-spirits where I come from. And he shoulda just told me, anyway. Why’d he have to go and be such a... and bringing Charlotte back, like she was. Better we’d never seen her. Except... all right. I’m glad she’s alive. I am. But he shoulda told me. Except I’d probably have told him to bugger off. You want my troubles, Mr Fox? I got to make this stupid machine work for Holmforth, only if I do it’ll start a war, and if I don’t he’ll do for my mama, and me, and maybe Beth as well. And I don’t know how to get it working, and I can’t ask Mama because Holmforth don’t realise she’s the only one who could probably help, ’cos he thinks it was all stupid Uncle James. And she wouldn’t anyway, because she never wanted it used for anything bad, and starting a war, well, that’s pretty bad.

“I don’t know anything about the Folk, I don’t know how they think. Liu does. All that about Gifts and how they work – makes no sense to me, but...” She stopped, and stared at the fox, or rather the place in the dark where the fox was.

Beth turned over in her narrow bed. “Eveline?”

“Sorry, Beth, did I wake you?”

“No. Are you all right?”

“I’m thinking.” She sat up, the jade fox clutched in one hand, letting her mind run free. Treadwell.

They’d needed Treadwell to prove she could work her mother’s machines. To prove the machine worked on Folk, Holmforth would need...

Holmforth would need one of the Folk.

“Beth, I’ve got an idea. I dunno if it’ll work, but...”

“Tell me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Maybe I’ll think of something.”

“You do machines,” Eveline said. She sat up. “We’ve got a machine. We’ve got Lazy Lou.”

“Oh, yes, Lazy Lou... I’ve been, well, making some adjustments.”

“Have you indeed? Thing is, we need the other Liu.”

“How very gratifying. Would you like me to let you out?” Liu’s face at the window, hanging upside down.

Beth yelped with surprise. “How did you get there?”

“I thought perhaps you might need some assistance.”

“You two met?” Eveline said.

“Shall we regard this as an introduction?” Liu said, swinging around so that he was the right way up. He had his hands wrapped around the bars and his feet braced against the wall below, looking remarkably at ease. “What is it you need of me?”

“Lazy Lou. Can you get her here? She’s mostly in bits.”

“That should not present a difficulty”

“How are we going to get her on board?” Beth said.

“They’ve given us these fancy clothes for travelling,” Eveline said. “I got my stitching stuff. You?”

“Yes.”

“Right. And we need your tools. From the Old Barn.”

“Tools. The mannequin. Anything else?” Liu said.

“Yes,” Eveline said. “You. If you’re willing. ’Srisky, and you might get hurt.”

He cocked his head. “You have decided to trust me?”

“You make a munge of this, and that war you’re so feared of is probably going to happen, so...”

“You think you can prevent it.”

“Maybe. But I got to fool everyone long enough for it to work, and I need you for that.”

“Oh, my Lady Sparrow,” Liu said. “I am at your service. One should never miss the chance to learn.”

“What do you mean?” Evvie said.

“I have certain advantages because of my birth. You, however, without my means, manage to change most convincingly for every circumstance. With your mother, you are a respectable young lady. Others see an innocent, or a rogue...”

“And what do you see?” Evvie raised her chin.

“An artist,” he said, and managed, still clinging on to the window with one hand, a remarkably elegant bow.

A few moments later he was gone.

Eveline caught Beth looking at her.

“What?”

“You looked, the two of you...”

“We looked what?”

“You looked like two of a kind,” Beth said. “You’re enjoying this, both of you.”

“No! What, with my mama in danger and you...”

“I don’t mean that part. But the thought of fooling Holmforth... and whoever else... you had exactly the same expression.”

“He’s a bloody...”

“Folk? Evvie... he can’t help that. I think he’s all right.”

“He’s all we’ve got, that’s the thing. I still don’t know if he’s to be trusted.”

“I know. But Eveline...” In the darkness, Eveline felt Beth clasp her hand. A small hand, callused with work, warm. “I am.”