First Draft unedited: The Third Floor Bedroom

The Third Floor Bedroom

It all began when someone left the window open. It ended with the abandonment of the Rose Crescent apartment.

*

The bird that The Trinity summoned had been noticed almost immediately. Darwin and Jack had fled back to their apartment. Slamming the large oak door behind them, Dar reached up and drew the locks. Together, they slumped down the wood and collapsed in a heap on the cold flagstone flooring. She curled into his lap and he wrapped around her protectively.

“They know.”

Jack nodded in agreement. “They know.” For the longest time, they simply held each other in silence, Jack stroking patterns into the small of her back while their breathing came down from its agitated state.

Jack drew away, pulling Darwin to her feet. “What do we do now?”

She shrugged as she rose, moving towards the interior door. “I don’t know how long they knew. We’re as safe as we always were, I suppose.”

Together, they entered the apartment and climbed the stairs. Jack moved to put some hot water over the electric stove; tea was something he had returned from Cambridge with one day, and Darwin had developed quite a taste for it. Meanwhile, Darwin settled herself into one of the Seven Chairs that she had acquired. Returning to the room with two steaming mugs, Jack settled himself on the red corduroy sofa; he still refused to sit on those cursed chairs that had nearly cost Darwin her life.

“I suppose the game is up. I can stop pretending to be a Jack and just go back to being Jack, if The Trinity knows about me.”

Darwin looked up, clutching her mug close to her. “They know you’re from Cambridge.”

Swallowing his first mouthful of tea, he nodded. “And they’ll know you smuggled me in.”

Darwin sighed and leant back. Behind her, the crow tapped at the windowpane with his beak. Jack glanced at him.

“What’s he found?”

What he had found with a bird that appeared to reflect him in size sitting on the other side of the windowsill. As the crow bobbed up and down, so did the multicoloured animal on the other side. This angered the crow and he flapped his wings in frustration; in return, the other bird simply raised his beak with an air of superiority. Darwin’s familiar screeched in dissatisfaction and returned to his person for reassurance. The puppy, now outgrowing her name into a large bundle of golden retriever, took his place with her paws on the windowsill. She barked a few times, but this did as much as deter the observations that the creature was making as the crow’s outburst. Jack whistled low, calling her back.

“I think The Trinity have sent it.” Jack agreed with Darwin’s conclusions, moving towards her to touch her shoulder.

“We need to get out of here, my love.”

*

Darwin agreed with the statement initially, but finding where they could go was proving trickier. The Evesham Family had connections across the alternative world, but Darwin felt that the animal may follow them wherever they ended up going.

“There is an option that we haven’t considered.” Jack spoke quietly, holding onto puppy’s ears as he did so. He massaged the tips, talking more to her than to Darwin.

“Hmm?” She was in the middle of a large, leather-bound address book, cross-referencing addresses against physical locations in the alternative world on parchment map that had been unfolded across the bed.

“We could go back to Cambridge.”

The idea hung in the air for a moment, Darwin’s laced eyes staring at him. She rose, the address book falling to the floor with a thud.

“Jack, that’s… that’s perfect.” She proceeded to tell him how, as much as they had tried, The Trinity had been unable to extend their vision into Cambridge. It was a blank place for them and the gaps could only be filled by those travelling through Reality Checkpoint. Or, so The Trinity thought. As far as they knew, Jack’s basement portal was still the only place that was unmonitored.

“Then again, we thought that we were unmonitored too.” Gently, Jack bought them both back to reality with a soft bump.

“Well, we know that’s no longer true. But Cambridge is truly unmonitored. I ought to know. My father was the one employed by The Trinity to try and break the seal that stopped them seeing.”

“He never managed it?”

“Said it was impossible.”

Jack nodded. “Cambridge it is. Let’s pack.”

*

It took them a day to pack and the next morning, the two and three animals set off; despite the crow’s best efforts, he could not shake the multicoloured bird away from them. They walked together, Jack, Darwin and the puppy, while the crow and their visitor flew above, occasionally engaging in mid-air battles that ended with no real victor. They each had a large case with them, planning for a stay in Cambridge. Darwin kept her eye on the bird above them; by now The Trinity would be aware of her plan through their spy and she had to find a way to lure the creature away from their portal. As much as she appreciated Jack offering his world as a sanctuary, she had promised her father that she would never leave the alternative worlds permanently.

She had been a lucky child. Growing up at her fathers’ side, the privilege that had come with his position within society had been reflected in her upbringing. She was known as a charming child, the unfortunately story of her mother’s suicide rarely mentioned in her presence, although as an adult she knew the story well. Her father’s wealth had allowed her to have a good education and while The Trinity still worked for the people’s interest she had regularly visited Cambridge. It was a fascinating place for her, noting the differences between her world and this one easily. Lord Eversham had noted the girl’s growing interest in the alternative worlds and once old enough, had sat her down and explained to her how fragile each reality was, and that she should treasure the one she had rather than to try and spread her wings into others. The fifteen year old girl had nodded solemnly, and even after The Trinity turned their policies and life had become harder in Cam; after her fathers assassination once he had revolted from the ways of The Trinity; after her fortune had been lost and she had given up the large estate and staff base that she had grown up with, she had not abandoned the reality she had grown up with. She was not about to do so now either.

As they reached the courtyard that Jack had first seen covered in snow, Darwin dropped her back and whistled her familiar to her. Landing neatly on her outstretched hand, she pulled him close to her face and conducted a private, whispered conversation with him. Ending with a nod, she placed a soft kiss on the top of his head and he ruffled his feathers affectionately, clicking his beak a few times. He took flight and circled around the multicoloured bird a few times before bombing at his from above. Up and down, around and across, the crow continued his attack. After the first few strikes, the spy bird could take no more and turned to retaliate. The crow flew off like a rocket, drawing the bird back across the direction they came from.

Darwin took Jack by the hand. “Come on! Run!”

He submitted easily, but questioned her along the way.

“What’s happened to the crow?”

“He’s serving a duty. He’s bound to me as the puppy is bound to you by the laws of Familiarity. He has to serve my wishes. He’s going to lure the bird away from us, away from the portal.” She panted as she ran, the door now in sight.

“He’s not coming with us?”

“Not until I know that bird has gone. We’re going to Cambridge without him.”

As she spoke the last words, she threw her weight onto the door and together, they clattered through it, sprawling across the hard floor in Jack’s Cambridge basement.

*

“What’s that noise?”  Jack froze. The voice was familiar, a Cambridge familiar, and he hissed at Darwin.

“The bookcase, go! Pull some books off!” The puppy had began to climb the stairs to investigate this strange new voice, and Jack called her back softly. “It’s only me! There was… there was no one home when I got in, we’re just looking for some books!”

A face appeared at the door into the main house. The boy looked like Jack, but with long hair that curled onto his shoulders and bright brown eyes, where Jack’s were blue. “Hey dude. Didn’t know you were home. Looking sharp.”

Jack chuckled and the puppy barked once, her tail wagging furiously as the attempted to become part of the conversation.

“Hey! You got a dog!” The younger boy bounded down the stairs, flopping onto the penultimate step and lavishing the dog with the attention she was craving. “What’s her name? Mum is gunna go bananas.”

“She’s called puppy, but I feel like she’s outgrowing that!”

The boys laughed together, and Darwin stepped out from the bookcase with a cough.

“Oh, Danny! This is Darwin!” Jack reached a hand out to her, and she came to join him at her side. She extended a gloved hand to shake Danny’s own.

“Darwin, eh? Like the explorer?” Dar glanced at Jack, unsure; The alternative studies of evolution had come much sooner, by different anthropologists, and fed upwards to Darwin in Jack’s world. Jack nodded mildly, and Darwin turned back to smile at Danny.

“Yes! Exactly! Except I’m less worldly, I suppose.” She giggled, and Jack pulled her closer.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that so much.”

Danny glanced between them. “So, you two are shacking up or whatever?”

Jack glanced at Dar, who looked puzzled by the terminology. He smiled at her, and then back at Danny.

“Aye. I guess this is my girlfriend.” It was the first time he had used the term to address Darwin, and she flushed pink but raised no objection.

“Just wait till mum hears.”

*

Meeting Jack and Danny’s mum had been an experience for Darwin. In Cam, the only female influence she had was from the female nursemaids that her father had hired to mother her, and although they were kind and sweet and played with her, Darwin had never bonded with them. In turn, it was clear that Jack and Daniel both had a strong bond with their mother.

“So, you’re the one who has taken my son away from me, Darwin?” she had joked when she and Darwin were introduced. She was a small woman with a fine hourglass figure that bore the skirt and shirt she wore well. Brown hair, the same rich hazelnut colour as her sons’ fell straight down her back, held with a black ribbon at the base of her neck. Her eyes were the same brown as Daniels, Jack having inherited his absent fathers blue colouring. Darwin smiled politely.

“Indeed I have, Ms Marshall.” The woman laughed together, starting the bonds of what could become a beautiful friendship.

They sat together to eat a divine roast chicken that had been bought especially for the occasion; with Darwin not being much of a chef, Jack had missed the home comforts of a well cooked meal.

“I must teach you to cook, Darwin.”

His mother glanced across the table as this woman who had come crashing into her world, albeit she was unaware of how literally Darwin had crashed into her world. “You can’t cook?”

Darwin shook her head. “No ma’am. Certainly not at this level.” She motioned across the table at the buffet.

“I’ll teach you, worry not.” Ms Marshall had a warm tone to her voice that reminded Darwin of the gentle, soothing lilts of Jack’s own voice.

“Mum,” That same tone interjected. “We need a place to stay. Our flat is..” He hesistated; he hadn’t got this far into the lie yet and was only discovering it now. Darwin came to his rescue.

“Our flat is flooded.” She picked up. “The upstairs neighbours have a burst pipe, and it’s ruined our kitchen.” Darwin paused. “Typical!”

His mother looked concerned. “You have insurance?” It was a term that Darwin was unaware of, and panic flashed across her face. It was Jack’s turn to rescue her.

“Yes, mum. They’re sorting it all out. But we can’t be there at the moment.”

His mother nodded. “I’ll make the spare room up.”

*

Curled up in bed, Jack and Darwin spoke long into the night about the things that Darwin had heard about that evening but had confused her; they had started on the topic of contents insurance, and moved onto the internet, electricity, phone lines, automotive cars, mobile phones and all the other pieces of technology that Cambridge residents took for granted, but separated their world from the majic-ruled kingdom of the alternative world. With the puppy settled at the foot of their bed and his arms around her, Darwin’s thoughts turned back to the crow she had left behind.

“We’ve never been apart. He’s always come to Cambridge with me.”

Jack smiled. “Do you remember the day we met?” Darwin’s eyes met his.

“Sure, why?”

“He tried to take me out; under the stairs. I’m pretty sure he can take on some painted sparrow.”

It was Darwin’s turn to smile now. “Sure, that’s true. I just hope he stays somewhere close. I hate being apart from him.”

Jack tried to imagine a life without puppy now. They had become bonded together, and with the guidance of the majic in Cam, they were building a strong relationship that went beyond that of master and pet; she was becoming part of his soul, and reflected his thoughts and feelings clearly now.

“I understand what you mean.”

*

Over the following days, Darwin and Jack fell into Cambridge life. Darwin began to appreciate the fine food that Ms Marshall produced for them both, and found herself enjoying the constant babble of having a family around her. However, never far from her thoughts was the plan to head home for her, and she had bought with her the maps of the alternative world and her address book. At every available opportunity, Darwin was found in the basement cross referencing them both together to find ideal locations to hide from The Trinity and still remain in her home world. Jack had pressed her gently about the reach that The Trinity had and Darwin had to admit that she probably didn’t know. Cam sat on the edge of the Fennish and as a result, it was a reasonably secular city. After long, diverse conversations on the subject, Darwin and Jack had agreed that the most probable way that The Trinity had discovered Jack’s true identity was during the investigation in the Basilica; when the priest had touched her wrist. Jack hadn’t known it at the time, but the priest had spent some time running through Darwin’s thoughts, feelings and memories. She had no control over this, but it would become clear from it that Jack was a fugitive and that information had been passed back to The Trinity. Clearly, Eiffel was not a safe place to hide. It ruled out the rest of France too, they were all too closely linked with the clergy in France and work spreads easily across the country.

Jack pointed at various areas of the map, and it prompted different discussions; America could be a good choice, movement between states was good and communication poor. Whereas in Jack’s world, states were ruled by Democrats or Republicans and they shared the burner of governing the country together, in Darwin’s world they were ruled as totally autonomous nations. Darwin assured Jack that the powers in America were attempting to persuade Jack’s America to go the same way. Australia was also a good idea, but simply too far to cover. Aeroplanes didn’t work in the same way in Darwin’s world, the atmosphere coursing with majic and preventing flight.

“Like Bermuda?” Jack questioned.

Darwin’s laugh was high and light. “Bermuda? It’s a point where our worlds touch. Those planes that disappeared ended up in our world, and we leaked back information that it was magnets causing the disruption.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you guys are still falling for that.”

Suitable chastised, Jack didn’t push the issue further.

Eventually they agreed on one area. Italy had become segregated from the rest of Europe, cutting itself free to protect its wealth and currency in a crisis that pre-dated the Euro-crisis in Jack’s world. Its government had turned its back on any allegiances and was now totally autonomous. Darwin searched her address book.

“I have a cousin in Acqua.”

Jack looked up. “Acqua? Like water?”

Together, they located Acqua on Darwin’s map, and cross-referenced its location on an atlas that Jack owned. He smiled.

“It’s Venice!”

*

Within a few days, the plans were in place. Darwin had returned to Cam through Reality Checkpoint briefly to make plans with her cousin for their arrival, and jack worked in Cambridge to ensure that their lie was maintained. Eventually, the way was upon them for Darwin and Jack to leave Cambridge once again. Ms Marshall enveloped them both in a wide, teary-eyed, emotional embrace.

“Now, you two don’t be strangers anymore, do you hear me?” Darwin shook her head and took the older ladies hands together.

“You’ve been so kind, Ms Marshall. We will come back and see you again soon. Once we’re done travelling!” She giggled. The women embraced once more and Jack was faced with his mother.

“Look after this one, Jackie. She’s special.” Jack glanced over her shoulder at Darwin; it was barely 6 months since she had first crashed through the door in their basement, yet he already knew exactly how special Darwin was to him. His mother brushed her tears away and thrust a lasagne into their hands (a common parting gift for parents in this world, Jack later explained to Darwin) and they waved their goodbyes out of the house. Jack took Darwin’s hand in his.

“Let’s find a café to lay low in for a few hours.”

*

Once darkness had fallen, Jack and Darwin returned to the sleepy house. The lights were out, indicating that both his mother and Daniel had gone to bed. Quietly, Jack slid the key into the lock, a mechanism that still fascinated Dar. He pressed his finger to her lips and she rang her tongue over the tip playfully; a frown crossed his face and she backed down again. They crept down the stairs together and slid open the door into Cam, pushing it gently shut behind him.

Darwin breathed a sigh of relief and sat against the door inside her natural world. She let out a low, calling whistle that would summon the crow back to her and recognising the command, the puppy came to her side. She chuckled and rang her fingers behind her ears before Jack clicked his fingers and summoned the dog himself.

“It’s sweet of you Puppy, but you can’t tell me anything new.” Darwin dismissed her with kindness. They waited together a while, Darwin’s keen vision seeking her back familiar while jack sought the multi-coloured plumage of the spybird. Darwin reached out and touched his ankle.

“That bird will have given up. He won’t wait forever. They’ll put other things in place.” As she was speaking, she reached an arm out without looking and the familiar black bird landed there. She nuzzled him close and they spent some time just being physically close to each other, preening one another and touching available flesh. Darwin looked up at Jack.

“Come on. They’ve been at the apartment a lot. We need to clear out.”

*

Unusually, the crow rode on the puppy’s back as they walked back into the city of Cam.  Darwin let them into the quiet apartment and they worked quickly through the building to begin to collect their belongings. So far, they had found no trace of The Trinity seeking information about them and they needed to work quickly to avoid this. Once inside Darwin’s world, they had agreed not to mention their plans to move on to Acqua, feeling that their movements here may be carefully monitored.

Kissing Dar on the forehead, Jack made a move to the third floor bedroom. In his initial days in Cam it had been his bedroom, Darwin’s spare room converted into his own personal space. Since their trip to France, however, Jack had been sharing Darwin’s personal space and the room had become spare once more. He pushed the door open and blinked in the moonlight.

“Dar?” Leaning back, he called down the stairs. Her face appeared at the bottom of the spiral.

“Mmm?”

“You left a window open.” He turned back to the room, the beautiful sash window slightly ajar at the bottom letting in a soft breeze.

“I didn’t. I locked everything the moment that bird started appearing. There was no way I was letting that monster in my house.” She spoke with defiance from the doorway before moving across the bedroom to touch the wooden windowframe. Her fingers came up to her face, sniffing the tips softly.

“It stinks of Trinity majic.” The report simply affirmed what Jack already believed; the Trinity had been here.

Darwin had frozen, her eyes looking past him to the wall. He turned around, looking at the spot her eyes locked onto. This time it was his turn to touch something, hand reaching up to place across the wallpaper. All around the room, white birds flew against a blue backdrop. It was paper that had been on the walls since Darwin bought the apartment and probably printed before she was even born. Despite this, at exactly the point where Jack’s fingers connected with the wall, a single bird was missing.

“Where’s it gone, Darwin?” He sounded concerned. In return, her eyes never left the spot.

“Go and get your bag.”

“Dar?”

“Get your bag.”

He took a step back and picked up the holdall that he had been collecting objects in. Darwin reached a hand up and whistled; this time, the puppy came to her without objection from Jack.

“Do you trust me, Jack?”

He nodded but Darwin turned to the puppy. She gazed up at the female.

“Puppy, speak.”

The puppy turned to the wallpaper, a slight puzzlement spread across her face. Despite this, she was not a dog to disobey a command and her voice rang against the hollow room, the bark reverberating around the room.

Suddenly, life burst from the wallpaper. Thousands of tiny birds, scattered by the unexpected noise, took flight and chased around the bedroom. Darwin screamed, and Jack’s senses took over.

“Darwin! Dar! Puppy! Come on!”

They fled quickly, slamming the door to the bedroom behind them and pelting down the stairs hand in hand. Darwin grabbed her own back from the top of the final staircase onto street level and bellowed for the crow in the process. Together, they burst out of the final door and onto Rose Crescent.

“We’re leaving then?”

Darwin leant against the wall, panting hard.

“I believe so, yes.”

First Draft unedited: Another Time, Another Place

Another Place, Another Time

It took Darwin several weeks to recover from the incident in Eiffel. Jack escorted her back to their apartment and took upon himself to act as a main caregiver to her. For the first three days, she slept in fitful, sweat-ridden bursts in the main bedroom. Neither Jack nor the crow left her for long, the human sleeping in an armchair at the side of the bed and the animal on the bedstead. Even he had lost the gleam to his feathers, turning to a matt black. If possible, he had become more cantankerous, taking his foul mood out on both Jack and the puppy. It had come to a head when Jack attempted to change the dressing on the wounds that were dug into Darwin’s upper arms; he had peeled the bandage back gently to reveal three holes carved into the flesh. He had barely managed to get his breath at the sight of the wounds when the bird dive-bombed him. In the tussle that followed, Jack batted him backwards and puppy leapt upon him, causing more of a fight that perhaps first necessary. Jack had to pull them apart himself, now tending to the puppy’s wounds as well as Darwin’s own. The crow would not allow him to touch his own injuries.

Apart from the wounds on her arm, Darwin had developed a fever and in her rare waking moments, complained of terrible abdominal cramps. Unsure if doctors existed in the world of Cam, and if they did how to summon them, Jack left Darwin for merely a few hours to return home and collect items that help him in Cambridge; paracetamol, indigestion relief and the suchlike. Upon his return, he immediately regretted leaving the female. If anything, she looked far worse than when he left. Over the following days he kept cold compresses applied to her flesh and a regular flow of pain relief ensured that sleep became less disturbed and more restful. He could only hope it was enough.

On the eighth day after their return from France, and three days after the Chair that she had fought so hard to win had arrived and been temporarily installed downstairs in the alleyway (Jack couldn’t bear to look at it), Darwin rose. Jack was in the kitchen, rinsing the cold compresses and dampening them again when he heard her pad across the tiled floor. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugs his back.

“How long has it been?”

He turned and wrapped his own arms around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Are you feeling better?”

“How long has it been?” She repeated the question, firmly this time.

Jack sighed. “Eight days. If you don’t count the days travel back from France.”

She screwed her nose up. “I literally don’t count that. I have no recollection.”

He nodded. “Ok. Nine days. You were well out on the way back.”

Darwin sighed softly. “Have we got the Chair?”

“It’s downstairs. I don’t want it in this flat.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I paid for that Chair. It’s coming in.”

Jack tried not to raise his voice. With Dar in his arms, he was brutally aware of how fragile she still was. “It nearly killed you.”

Darwin placed a hand on his chest and pushed backwards, tearing them apart. “It nearly killed me. It deserves a place here.”

*

There was no argument after that. Dar attempted to move the Chair herself that afternoon, but only got it up two stone steps before Jack took pity and carried it the rest of the way. It took its place next to Darwin’s other chair and together, they made a dominating centrepiece of the room. Jack tried not to look at them, and spent his lazy, long days on the end of Darwin’s bed. They rested, they laughed and they talked together during long, hazy days that spread the winter out. Gradually, spring took over Cam and birds were regular visitors to their windowsill, much to the crow’s upset.

Jack was reading the paper one afternoon, spreading the large yellow pages out across the silk bed sheets to highlight He was a young child, 5 according to the details of the article, and was last seen playing by the tracks of the disused railway. Jack looked up.

“The railways aren’t used here? We went to France by train.” Darwin broke away from the crossword she was doing; in his regular trips back to Cambridge (Jack’s mother now believed he had permanently moved in with a friend, which was not too far away from the truth for Jack to be concerned about the lie) Jack had collected some copies of Cambridge papers, initially to keep his eye on the news in the City Above, but Darwin had discovered the daily crossword and devoured it ravenously. No such word games seemed to exist in Cam, residents entertaining themselves with majic tricks and riddles instead. Darwin had taken to them like a duck to water and adored each new puzzle.

“Yeah, we did. Up here though, we don’t use them so much. We have majic networks to move in between the cities. The trains are only used to come across into new countries. It’s easier to monitor movement that way.”

“But you used to have trains?”

articles that they both might enjoy when one caught his eye. It was a tiny piece, no longer than five lines long, but listed the details of a child missing from the centre of Cam.

“Sure. The lines here flooded though when we surrendered the Fennish lands back to the sea though. It’s one of the reasons we abandoned them.” Darwin spoke as if she had a hand in the decision personally. Perhaps her family did; Jack had not yet investigated the exact position that her family had held in regards to the Trinity and the Order.

“I wonder what happened to the child.” Darwin shrugged. “He was playing on the tracks; maybe he slipped and fell into the water.”

Jack made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat. Most children he knew could swim, something wasn’t right here.

*

Over the coming days, Jack stumbled across three more stories of a similar vein. Children, around the age of 5, 6 or 7, would go missing without explanation. None of them appeared to be children of note, else the story would more widely covered. One was from the orphanage, two from the slums, the first not noted. But Jack was noting them. With Darwin feeling stronger, he approached the subject again, this time with clippings from the newspapers to support the growing evidence.

“There’s something not right here, Darwin.”

She took some time, studying the newspaper articles. Eventually, she looked up. “Alright.” She sighed. “Okay. Let’s find out what’s happening here.”

Jack smiles. If Darwin was taking on new tasks, she felt stronger. If she felt stronger, it meant she was well enough for Jack to stop worrying so much.

*

Jack escorted Darwin through the city still, keeping her close at side. One hand rested on her hip, wrapping his arm across her lower back to do so. In his Jack suit and her black trench coat, they made a formidable sight strolling along the banks of the River. Their heads were close together and they giggled at a shared secret when, form behind the public baths on the Green, a figure stepped out into their path. Darwin jumped slightly, raising Jack’s alarm. She bowed her head and for the first time since joining the past of the River, Jack looked up. With a gasp, he bowed his own head. Over the previous weeks, he had spent much of his time studying the correct social etiquette here.

“It has come to our attention, Evesham, that you are holding company with this Jack.” The voice was deep and rung with the well-bred authority that made the higher ranks of the Order.

Darwin answered to the floor. “Yes, your Honour.”

“ID.” He held out a purple-gloved hand and Jack placed his forged identification card in it. The Honour took the card back and studied it, a little too hard for Jack to be comfortable. Could he know? The silence seemed endless.

“Come, Jack.” The Honour summoned him away, and Jack knew better than to oppose this; his thoughts fell back to the dumb Chocolatier girl. He walked with her, leaving Darwin watching them. The puppy stayed, as ever, loyal to his owner’s heels and in a strange twist, the crow flew high above them. He sensed the tension.

“Where are you residing, Jack?”

Jack hesitated. The penalty for lying was high. “Rose Crescent, your Honour. Number 23.”

The Honour nodded. “With Miss Evesham? Our records indicate she bought the property when her family… unfortunately mislaid their fortune.”

Jack couldn’t help but wonder what records the Trinity did keep; were they aware there was no Jack named Marshall, and were not just toying with him?

“Yes, Your Honour. I’d like to think we will become more than companions.” The Honour handed the ID card back to Jack, much to his relief.

“Be careful, Jack. She is not all she seems, and you may be wise to look into her family history.” They had looped back around the public baths and stood now a few feet from Darwin. The Honour did nothing to hide his words from her.

Jack bowed low, sensing the end of the conversation.

“I thank you, your Honour. I will be sure to consider your advice.”

As quickly as he had arrived, the Honour left, seamlessly into the shadows. Darwin blinked and stepped towards him.

“What was that?” Jack shook his head and wrapped his arm back around her.

“It really doesn’t matter.”

Jack glanced over his shoulder, back to the shadows. It did matter.

*

They wandered along the river until it widened, breaching into the Fennish countryside. Unlike the Fenlands, which spreads north of Cambridge in Jack’s world, the Fennish lands had been surrendered back to the marshlands they once were. Darwin smiles and took a deep breath; it was like a trip to the seaside, she loved the freedom and the fresh air that the Fennish areas provided. Sitting herself on the edge of a field, the water lapping at her feet gently, she pointed across the horizon.

“See that spit of land over there?”

Jack nodded.

“It’s part of the railway. The abandoned railway.”

Darwin had pointed to a small section of land across a vast marsh. At either end, it disappeared into the Fennish landscape, and rose in the middle. It wasn’t evident from this distance that it was a railroad, but from this distance it was at least recognisable as land. Jack shook his head.

“I think it’s too far out to be the patch of railway that we’re looking for, Dar.”

She nodded, laying back and gazing at the sky. Today, it was a hazy blue early-spring day and the clouds dotted around looked like those you saw painted in classical photos. Not for the first time, Jack wondered what the sky above Cambridge was like today. How can these two cities exist, side by side, without anyone noticing? He sighed heavily.

“Come on –“ He pulled her up with a hand. “—Let’s find that railway.”

*

After much searching, they agreed to go back to the city’s abandoned railway station and start their hunt from there. The station was eerie in its abandonment, and Darwin and the crow worked together to chase feral, jet black foxes out of pockets and hideaways. They disturbed a nest of what looked like exceptionally large owls and once a badger, if you could call it a badger. It had the same markings, but was half the size and sported pink and blue stripes across his face. All the time, the puppy stayed around Jack’s legs; given the size the dog was growing to, she was becoming an increasing nuisance there and more than once the male cursed under his breath at her.

“I’mma get you a leash, puppy.” Darwin chuckled.

“Don’t take your tension out on her. It’s why she’s so nervous.”

Jack didn’t like admitting that Darwin was right, but once he did relax the puppy tended to be closer to his side than under his feet. They were stood on the bridge now, looking down the railway and into Fennish.

“Do you think there’s anything here?”

Darwin stared around down the line of the straight track. She narrowed her eyes, and reached up to collect the crow on her hand. Gazing at each other, she knocks the bird backwards slightly and he takes flight, following the path of the thick steel rails.

“No. Not here. But look.” She pointed along where the corvid had flown. “There’s something out there.”

Jack followed her finger and saw what he had previously missed; something on the rails ahead.

*

It took them around half an hour to walk out there, and the closer they got the more puzzled Jack felt. He glanced across at Darwin, relieved to see she looked as confused as he felt. Approaching the “train”, it looked more like a boat; a large white sail erupted from the middle of a wooden board, attached to the rails by four thick steam-train wheels. The vehicle had been carefully created; it had a craftsman’s touch to it and clearly had a lot of care taken in its conception. And yet it held a certain child-like quality to it. Unlike other items within Cam, it didn’t hum with majic. In reality, the closer they got to it, the more positive Jack was that the vehicle was singing to him. He glanced across at Darwin again.

“It doesn’t hum.” He stated it as a fact, but he needed reassurance that what he was hearing was true. Darwin was physically a step ahead of him, and held her hand out towards it.

“Jack, I.. It.. It sings. It’s beautiful.”

Surrounded by the music emerging from this item and the stillness of Fennish, they were both mesmerised as Dar extended her finger to touch the wood of the baseplate. She had connected with it for no longer than three or four seconds when they were both broken from the moment by a loud, high-pitched yell and the scuttle of small feet up the pebbled bank that fell away either side of them.

“Oi! Get  off! It’s mine! All mine!” A young boy jumped onto the plate that Darwin had previously touched, and crossed his arms defiantly. Darwin stepped back a little, leaning her weight away from the scraggly child. Jack frowned.

“What do you mean, it’s yours?”

The boy stuck his chin out, looking pleased with himself. He looked as if he had lived on the streets for a good many months, dirty, ragged and thin. “It’s mine. That man, he commed and he gived me it.” He nodded, as if this settled the matter.

Darwin crouched at the edge of train and looked around it.

“It’s very nice. What do you use it for?” Jack smiled at her; she had a certain way with children, and that showed in this interaction.

“That man what gived me it, he sends me friends. Friends what need the castle.”

Darwin looked up at Jack, frowning slightly. “What castle, darling?”

The boy stood up suddenly, his hand now wrapped around the strong, smooth wooden mast-pole in the centre of the boat-train. “I’m not your darling.”

Darwin shook her head. “No, no. Of course you’re not. What is your name?”

The boy hung his head a little. “Mamma, she called me Joshy.”

“Joshy! Lovely!” Darwin crept up on the edge of the vehicle, where Joshy had been sat previously. “Oh, Joshy. Tell me about this castle. I’d love to live in a castle!”

Joshy screwed his nose up. “You can’t. You ain’t a child.”

Darwin quickly rescued the situation. “Can’t I? Tell me about it, then.”

Both the adults listened as Joshy described a large castle on the edge of the Fennish territory. It was beyond the horizon, he said, and although he had never been he knew it was large because he could see it from here. At this point, the boy pointed across to the horizon and Darwin’s eyes widened.

“Oh! How did we not see that before? I wonder how long it’s been there?” She turned to Jack, directing the questions at him and allowing Joshy a respite in the retelling of his story.

Jack was squinting at the horizon, scanning across it where the boy had indicated.

“I can’t see it.”

Chuckling, Darwin scolded him softly and slide backwards off the baseboard. She stood beside him, ready to point out the building to him. Once next to him she hesitated.

“Joshy, show me where it is again?” The boy pointed across the horizon again, but Darwin couldn’t find the large castle she had seen on the train. She took a cautious step forward, back onto the train. And there it was. She sunk to a seated position again.

“Joshy, tell me about the man who gave you this train.”

*

Joshy had told a story of a tall man who emerged from shadows to see him. He showered him with gifts, toys and food and gave him clothes. Then, one day he arrived with the train and let Joshy play with it, building mystical worlds and journeys with the new toy. Then, children started to arrive. They would arrive, scared and tired and tearful, and it was Joshy’s job to tell them about the kind man and the castle. Together, they would go onto the train and Joshy would drive them across the water, out to the castle and then return to see the man again. He was favoured, the man told him, and he didn’t want the boy going to the castle yet.

By the time his story ended, Jack was seething. In Cambridge, the behaviour was known widely as grooming and people were incarcerated for such behaviour. Darwin had sent him away and continued to press the boy, gently, to provide more information about the man.

She herself came back extremely angry. Storming past him, she grabbed Jack by the wrist and yanked him along. Above them, the crow swooped and yelled and rolled, clearly as wound up as his human. She cursed and muttered under her breath until Jack pulled back, turning the angry female to face him.

“Who is it, Dar? What’s going on?”

She scowled at him. “We’re going to visit The Trinity. They can’t do this. I won’t let them. They’re not doing this, not to a child!” Shouting the last word, she snatched her wrist back, rotating on the spot and breaking into a run.

*

Darwin didn’t turn and look at Jack again until they were on the lawns of Trinity Courthouse. Here, she turned around looking slightly lost, and eventually fell into his open arms. Together they collapsed onto the floor.

“It’s a ruse, Jack. There’s some kind of powerful majic in that vehicle that creates the illusion of a castle. It lures the children in.”

He hesitated. “And you think that The Trinity is behind this?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I know they are. It’s really powerful majic out there, Jack. The whole thing sings; it’s positively hypnotising. We know there’s no castle there because we can’t see it. It’s a fraud. The children are being sent off for –“ She faltered herself, and pull herself to her feet. “—for goodness only knows what. I expect to be killed. There have been rumoured whispered lately that The Trinity feels the population is out of control.” Jack lifted his body weight up to match her.

“So they’re killing the children?”

Darwin nodded. “It’s looking that way. We need to confront them.”

Before Jack had a chance to argue this, Darwin had taken off towards the Courthouse. He reached for her, but failed and ended up chasing her instead.

The angry female crashed through the large doors and yelled into the rafters. “Sisters! Show yourselves!” Jack, following on behind, reached to dip his fingers into the liquid metallic julep as he did in Eiffel but her hand reached the bowl before him. Rather than following the protocol expected of her, she slammed her palm against the edge of the bowl. As fingertips connected with the liquid, three chimes rang through the building, as with Basilica, but they were drowned with the clash of the silver bowl across the cool, marbled floor.

“I couldn’t care less about needing to register! Get yourselves down here, or I’ll come for you!”

It seemed to take forever for anything to happen. The ring of the metal vibrating died out softly and was replaced by Darwin’s heavy, deep breathing. She moved forward in the room to stand in a large, circular receiving area, around the edge of which snaked a large staircase. Eventually, three girls appeared at the peak of the stairs and began to descend.

Jack didn’t believe his day could have become more surreal, and yet it happened. The Trinity spoke, if speaking could be what one would call it. There was a voice, high and sweet and rung across the walls like the tinkling chimes of the julep. But not one of the girls actually spoke; in fact, they barely moved at all.

“Miss Evesham, anger has no place inside Trinity Courthouse.”

It was a firm voice that held authority. Their whole demeanor mirrored this, dressed in matching long purple robes that covered their feet and gave the impression of floating everywhere. Each girl was identical, long ghost-white hair tumbling down their backs in a straight waterfall.

“Anger has every place when you’re toying with innocent children.”

The Trinity smiled together. “You met Josh.”

“Joshy.” Correction came harshly. “You’re stealing children.”

“We’re controlling the population.”

Darwin screamed in anger. “You can’t control people like that! What are you even doing to them?”

The tone of The Trinity did not change. “We take them to Another Place. Another time.”

Her eyes narrowed. Jack had taken a step back towards the door. He had this worked out, and he didn’t want to hear it.

“You can’t do that!” She screeched at them, her temper rising within her. In return, one sister looked across at Jack.

“Do you know think that The Trinity are unaware that you are harbouring a Cambridge fugitive?” As the sister looked at Jack, another raised a hand to point at him. Darwin followed the finger, and Jack simply shook his head. He turned and ran from the building, Darwin in hot pursuit. There was no way that was an argument they were going to win. The middle sister tilted her head.

“We need to monitor that situation.” She clicked her finger, and a large, multi-coloured bird that resembled a magpie, if not for its colouring, appeared on the banister at the top of the stairs.

“Make it happen.”

First Draft Unedited: The Seven Chairs

It had been several weeks since the incident with the stones, and Darwin and Jack had settled into an easy routine. Regularly, he returned to Cambridge to check in with his family, and although they questioned where he was staying he lied his way around revealing the world that expanded underneath Cambridge. Staying with friends, travelling, expanding his horizons in other cities, his parents believed a number of excuses that diverted their attention away from the door in the basement. The rest of his days were spent in lazy bouts in the apartment, or walking along the river (simply known as The River in Cam). The shops were very different in Cam, and the currency continued to baffle him; large brown coins were the highest tender, with little gold droplets making up what Jack compared to pennies. There were numerous intervals between these denominations, including little green circles that vibrated when you tried to pay with them and liquid silver that was weighed to decide its value. Mostly, Jack allowed Darwin to deal with transactions, but tonight he wanted to surprise her.

There was a chocolatier on the corner of Lion’s Yard (which, coincidental to the Lion’s Yard in central Cambridge, contained several examples of fine lion specimens from Jack’s world) that Darwin adored. She would spend time gazing into the window, as captivated as a child, watching the liquid pour in elaborate displays. She whirled around the shop, absorbing the smells and giggling that high-pitched, tinkling laugh that melted his heart as easily as the liquid that poured in rivers and waterfalls all around the shop. Jack stepped inside and smiled at the child behind the counter.

“I want 500 millilitres of your best melted chocolate, darling please.” He won her over with his smile, and she fetched an elaborate jug from under the counter. Adeptly, she sluiced a nearby flow and gauged the amount in the jug by eye. Jack trusted her; he had watched her do this countless times before. He pushed a red velvet pouch across the counter to her. “Take what you need.” The girl nodded. Jack knew part of her history already, and he taught him a lot about Cam in turn; the Order had sliced the girls tongue out as a young child for speaking wrongly against the Honours who arrested and slaughtered her father in front of her. He had revealed himself to a Cambridge family and build strong bonds there, and through this he was able to understand Darwin’s need to create a false identity for him. It was one he had adopted, and they had altered an ID for him so that he could work under his own given name here. He needed to keep himself and Darwin safe, there was no world in which he could comprehend her becoming injured by his own ignorance of the system. She girl slid his purse back to him, and he smiles.

“You tipped yourself, love?” She shakes her head, and he flicks a large copper coin towards her. She catches it and tips her head in thanks.
“No no, thank you. I can only hope she’ll love it!”

*

Jack knew that Darwin was out shopping with some girlfriends that afternoon, and he took the opportunity to heart. Kitchen prepared, candles littered all across the apartment and soft, Cambridge music playing on a carefully sabotaged sound system (electricity systems were very different in Cam), Dar was not expecting the scene when she re-entered her home. Puppy alerted Jack first, leaping from her sleeping position on the edge of the sofa and belting down the sounds in a flurry of barking, scrabbling and a tiny body skidding across pure oak flooring, Jack cursed under his breath.

“I wasn’t.. I wasn’t expecting you so soon!” he called down the stairs.

“Shall I go away again?” her tone was light and teasing; she had no intention of leaving her home again. Nearly falling over the puppy as she climbed the stairs, Dar turned into the main room of the apartment. “What’s going on?”

He continued the conversation from the kitchen “As I said, I wasn’t expecting you so soon. I’m cooking dinner.” And indeed he was; she paused and noted the various heavenly smells from the kitchen where Jack stood.

“Is that chocolate?” Her sense of smell was keen; keener that his own, part of her strong breeding within Cam had left her with sharper senses that even most Cam residents, let alone the people who lived in the city above, so switched off to the world around them. He chuckled. “Yes, m’lady. Now, there’s an outfit in your room. Shoo!” He chased her away with the end of a wooden spoon, poking her in her waistcoated-chest.

*

When she returned, Jack himself had changed into a smart suit. He had purposefully chosen a matt black suit with red lining; a step away from the velvet, purple lined number that made up his every day attire, masking his true identity under the illusion of gainful employment from the Order. Darwin, on the other hand, stepped gracefully in the room with an elegance that was out of her comfort zone; in her past, she had attended many fine dining attempts and certainly knew how to hold herself. It was one of the reasons why she wore the military clothing she chose now. She had removed herself from that life once the Order had begun to pressure her family and they fell out of favour. But tonight was an exception; he had made an effort.

“Wow, don’t you brush up nicely?” She ran a hand over the shoulder of his jacket, and he was pleasantly overwhelmed with the floral notes of her perfume.
“I could say the same for you, ma’am.” He pulled out her chair and she drifted down into it. From the kitchen, he produced two plates.
“What is it? It smells chocolately!” Her voice rose in anticipation; chocolate was one of her favourite substances, but she normally enjoyed it as a treat, not as a meal.
“It is. Ribs with savoury chocolate sauce.” She squealed with delight and speared it with a fork, rolling the flavours around in her mouth.
“Oh, Jack! It’s divine!” It was his turn to chuckle now.
“I figured that you had never actually cooked with chocolate. Or, you know, cooked anything luxury for yourself at all.” The fact was true; Darwin was not renowned for her culinary ability and on the whole, she lived on food bought in the markets to sustain her.
They continued to enjoy the meal, eating and drinking champagne and talking together.  Once the food was done, they abandoned the plates in the kitchen and Darwin succumbed, collapsing onto her hammock with Jack underneath her, cuddled close together. A finger found the flesh of her arm, and as he stroked patterns onto it, they both drifted along the lines of contented sleep whilst the hammock swayed back and forth softly.

It was a soft tap on the window that roused Darwin. Or, rather, it roused the crow. He in turn fluttered across the room, landing on the shoulder of his mistress and squeezing his claws into the bare skin a little harder than perhaps was required. She jumped, causing Jack to jump in turn. Another tap at the window, and Dar rolled off the hammock with accustomed skill that came with much practice. She hefted the window open and leaned out, calling to someone on the street. Muffled by the panes of glass, Jack was unaware of the conversation that took place. He could not miss the grin that was spread across the girls face as she came back into the room though.

“We’ve found it! The fifth one has ended up in France!”

*

If Jack was put out by his peaceful evening being disturbed, he tried not to let it show. It was a pleasure to see such life in Darwin’s eyes; enthusiasm pushed through her veins as she leapt around the flat and laughed. The crow joined in her joy, ducking and diving around and never sitting still long enough to rest; between them, they sent the puppy into a frenzy and made Jack feel slightly dizzy. Before he could even speak, Darwin had dived into the bedroom and was throwing sleek silk dresses and boots into a suitcase. He followed her and leaned against the door, the puppy pinned between his ankles in a calming mechanism.

“What has ended up in France, Dar?” He cocked his head, watching the female intently. This was clearly important to her, and she had cast him aside quickly. They have worked so closely together with the skipping stones and bonded strongly over the previous weeks, and yet he now felt excluded from the packing.

“Oh Jack! The chair!” She waltzed across the room and wrapped him in a hug, a single foot raised behind her. He  pulled back, a puzzled look across his face.

“The chair? What chair?” She took his hand and pulled him over the bed. They sat together, and she took both his hands now, enunciating with them both as she explained: Long ago, there was a legend that The Trinity – The Trinity when The Trinity still worked for good – had created seven chairs. Each carved from a great and royal tree linage, they were intricate and beautiful. Some inlayed with gold, silver or platinum, others housing precious gemstones and some weaved through with the gifts from magnificent mythical creatures, they were a much-sought after gift. And gifts they were; The Trinity gave them to seven families most loyal to The Order and for many years, graced their fine estates. This included the house of Evesham, which was how Darwin came to know of their existence.
However, there were rumours that begun to emerge about the Chairs. As The Trinity began to descend into methodology not generally approved of within Cam, the Chairs themselves appeared to rebel. The Chair gifted to the Evesham house that had moved with them in their fall from favour, was naturally the first that Darwin learn of the rebellion. One day, it had simply fallen apart. There was no other description for it. The crow had landed nearly on the back of the chair, as he often does, and it had crumbled. The wood underneath him had rotten, the whole thing splintered and shattered, leaving nothing more than firewood. The precious gems within the chair had become too hot to handle, and eventually the lady of the house had to remove them with a coal shuttle. That was number one.

*

Darwin finished zipping the case up, speaking the tale into her packing. Jack hadn’t moved, except to collect the puppy from the floor and position her on his lap, tickling behind her ears. She was already growing so much, paws larger than ears and teeth as sharp as pins. She glanced across at him, the gold in her eyes glinting in the way it does when she was excited.

“Aren’t you packing anything?” She took him by surprise, and he stuttered a little.

“Erm, yes! Yes, of course!” Jack looked genuinely taken aback. “I just thought that maybe this was.. your thing, you know?”

Darwin joined him on the edge of the bed and took his hand softly. “Jack, do you not understand?” She frowned softly. “You’re part of my world now. You’re part of my adventures. This is our thing, not mine!” Her voice rose at the end, a smile across her soft face. “If you’ll have it.”

Jack leaned forward; their foreheads touched, and he sighed happily. “I’ll have everything, Dar.”

*

Number two was a chair that had been gifted to the Horsley family. They had not fallen out of favour with The Trinity, instead subduing to their new laws and regulations. In return they had been well rewarded by the sisters, giving luxury and protection from the wrath of the residents who disapproved of the New Way. However, the Chair had other ideas. Theirs sunk slowly, almost unnoticeably at first, into a puddle of oak-ooze, laced with a gentle gold pattern. They had only realised what was happening when the head of the household had lounged onto the chair, one leg over the carved arm, and the whole structure had collapsed backwards, sealing its fate.

*

They left the house together, Darwin pulling the heavy wooden door shut behind them and touching the lock. It hummed softly and a click engaged the lock. Jack didn’t flinch; he was beginning to understand the way in which Cam worked and the soft, energetic majic that helped the city to run smoothly. Within Cam, he couldn’t imagine a life without the majic. It was a part of him and an everyday part of life here and he feared returning to Cambridge and feeling like a fool for trying to lock a door with a touch or call a dog with his thought processes. He glanced down at the puppy and she stared up at him; at first, he felt it odd the way the crow and Darwin moved together as on, yet the closer he became to puppy the more he understood. Familiars were a creature that grew with you, that developed as your equal and connected with you. He was beginning to feel her anxieties and her joys and she sensed his in turn. It made him happy. Dar gently took his hand and tugged it. “Come on, Dreamer. We have a train to catch.”

The trains in Cam were what Jack would refer to as old steam trains. Elaborate and beautiful, this particular train was enormous and painted a deep maroon red. Steam poured from the funnel as they walked past the engine, wheels they past as tall as Darwin even after they became elevated by the platform. The carriages were a deep green colour, beaded with gold around the doors and windows. Jack didn’t have to examine it too closely to know that it would be pure gold; the whole place stank of money. He was unaware of how much money had changed hands to secure the tickets for today, but even the thought of it made him dizzy. Having grown up in Central Cambridge, attending private schools and never wanting, a world were money flowed easily was not alien to him but even this was too extreme. Darwin studied their tickets and looked up at the carriage.

“This one.” He boarded before her, their bags already taken care of by a well-tipped porter, and reached a hand down to help Dar aboard the train. Instead he found a yellow bundle pushed at him.

“Oh, you think she can make that massive step herself?!” As she pulled herself aboard, her hand playfully tapped the back of his head. “Dunce. Think about her!”

He pulled puppy up his chest and stroked her head. “Oh, of course I wouldn’t leave her! There was me, thinking of being valiant and considerate, and I get that!”

Dar looked up. “Got what? The way I see it, you got a hot little blonde thing!” She giggled and touched the puppy’s head. In return, the retriever spread her fat, wet tongue across the palm of the hand. Dar drew back and sniffed at it.

“People wonder why I have a bird.”

*

The third chair had been sold, from Darwin’s understanding; once the Trinity had changed their course, the original family strove to get away from the item. Either way, it had ended up in the corner of a children’s orphanage in Diff, the undercity of the Welsh capital Cardiff. It was a well-loved item here, large enough to seat three of the smaller residents of the home, and all the children enjoyed clambering over it, stroking the soft velvet of the cushioning and tracing the pictures of feral animals that hunted across the carved back.

It took a lot of research to discover the fate of this chair, and when she did it shocked Darwin so deeply that it troubled her for weeks after. A small section of a local newspaper reported the story, headed with a photo of the expansive home in its beautiful grounds. 

Home for Children closes after tragic deaths

It is with regret that John Heggerty, proprietor to

the Diff Children’s Home has chosen to close the

establishment in light of the terrible deaths that

occurred last Friday.

As The Chronicle reported on Saturday, 4 children

were killed and three badly burnt after a chair

obtained by auction for the Home by Heggerty

combusted during the evening’s recreational

activities. Heggeraty released a statement this

Even now, Darwin couldn’t bring herself to read the remainder of the article. She found out through further research that on that fateful Friday night, children were settled into the recreational room, where the chair stood in the corner, when it simply burst into flames. As simple as that, it seemed. It became a fireball in the time it took to even react, and the children upon it stood no chance. Further research told Darwin that Heggerty, the kindly elderly gentlemen who had owned the home all his life had committed suicide shortly after, not able to live with the realisation that he had bought such a dangerous object near the children he loved so dearly.

*

By the time Darwin finished her story, tears were rolling down her face. The crow had settled into her lap and nuzzled her thin stomach softly, attempting to comfort her. Jack simply sat back. So far, the stories about the chairs had simply been something that he could imagine as quite comical; a chair that melts, and one that splinters at a single touch. However, this one had a dangerous potential that was realised that night, to the expense of innocent lives. It was the first time he had felt the reach that the anger of the Trinity had, something that the female had tried to express to him in the past to no avail. The refreshment trolley arrived, and Jack waved it on with a hand.

“You couldn’t have prevented it, Dar. You know that?”

“By this point, I was already tracking the Chairs. I should have been quicker.”

“Is that why we’ve managed to secure seats on a luxury train, just –“ He paused to check his watch “4 hours after we first learnt about the chair?” Jack sighed. “Wow, four hours. I’m shattered.” The time was a little about 2am, and Darwin nodded.

“Come on, we’ve got a sleeper carriage booked.”

Jack couldn’t help but feel that the point was being avoided, but he was easily led to the sleeper beds.

*

He woke from a fitful night’s sleep, laced with images of chairs that behaved in ways they shouldn’t. When all was said and done, it was a lot of information to digest in just four hours, and Jack hadn’t coped well with the pressure of it. He rubbed his eyes and rolled over; almost falling from the top bunk of the bed he had settled in. The puppy nuzzled close to him, reflecting his sleepiness with a large yawn.

“Dar?” He called down from the top bunk, but it went unanswered. Puppy cocked her head to one side, ears folded up. “Darwin? Wake up!” He picked puppy up and dropped her off the side of the bed, throwing her softly so that she landed on top of Darwin. He paused for a moment, waiting for the female to arise, and when she didn’t he hung himself off the bunk, gaining an upside down view of a made bed with a wagging puppy flopped in the middle.

“Huh. Where’s she gone, do you think?”

It took nearly 15 minutes to locate the female, dressed in her usual military trench coat and leather gloves. She glanced at him from across the buffet table.

“Oh, it’s good of your to join us!” She jested softly and threw him a croissant. He caught it deftly and beckoned to an empty table. Once seated, he broke the pastry apart into bite-sized chunks.

“We’ve talked about the first three. Today we’re going to find the fifth. So, what about the fourth?”

Darwin laughed again, a sound that tickled Jack’s heart.

“The fourth? It’s in our apartment!”

Jack coughed on a piece of his breakfast, reaching for the glass of water the well-dressed waiter had placed on the table for them. “What do you mean, in our apartment?”

Darwin proceeded to explain; She had managed to locate the fourth chair, a wonderful steel chair that hummed with the majic of the world, patterns laced across the back piece with purple and golden streaks that changed with the weather, or the mood in the flat. After a deal of bartering and trading, she had taken it from the street vendor who had possession of the chair with no idea of its value and taken it from its location in central Spain back to Cam. After extensive investigation, she found a priest – a Cam priest, not the sort that immediately sprang to Jack’s mind – who disconnected the chair from the main majic streams, leaving it humming with its own independent supply. This disconnection meant that, as Dar suspected, the Trinity could no longer activate the chair and cause any harm from its destruction. The chair was to live out its days right underneath the nose of the Trinity. Eventually, Jack nodded.

“So, the chair doesn’t pose a threat to us?”

“Not at all. After what happened to three, I wouldn’t run the risk of having it in my house if it were dangerous.”

*

It wasn’t difficult to trace the Chair; tales of it were flying thick and fast around Eiffel. A chair that had elevated a nun into the rafters of Basilica, a beautiful courthouse that helped to control the majic stream around Eiffel wasn’t difficult to learn about in a city that hums with rumours more than the majic itself. Entering the courthouse through the large oak-panelled door, Darwin dipped her fingers into a pool of smooth, gold liquid and beckoned Jack to do the same. Both familiars drank from the same liquid, and somewhere deep in the courthouse a three-chime melody rang out. Darwin hissed under her breath.

“To enter a courthouse, you need to register. The julep is a special kind of liquid that scans us and tells the priests of our entry.” In return, Jack simply nodded. The building was cold and unwelcoming. They stood in the entrance a while, the puppy gaining anxiety that could not be soothed. Eventually, the sound of Jack’s pulse banging through his ears was interrupted by the sound of a faraway door echoing open. A priest stepped forward in long red robes and a red hexagon hat to match.

“You’re here for the Chair.” He stated the fact, and Darwin nodded in return. She stepped forward and held her hand out. The priest mirrored her movement and took the female’s hand, connecting them so that his fingers found the pulse of blood in her wrist. They remain like this for some time, eyes locked together, faces unreadable. The priest breaks the silence first, glancing at Jack. At the moment eye contact is broken, the crow goes berserk, throwing himself around the floor in a mass of feathers and screaming that offsets puppy. Howling, screaming and a ruckus on the floor, Jack almost loses focus as the priest speaks.

“Catch her.”

Jack looks up desperately. “Catch her? What do—“ His sentence remains unfinished. As the older male releases Darwin’s wrist, she collapses. Jack lunges for her, catching under her arms and sliding his body under hers alongside pulling her back, cushioning her fall. The priest turns and walks away, but from other doors nuns arrive, dressed in the attire that Jack expected from a nun, with the exception of the colour of the habits, which were the same shade of red as the priest’s. Holding their hands out, the nuns levitated Darwin onto a stretcher that one brought, and began to lead her to follow the priest. Jack rose from the floor. A nun turned and shook her head.

“This is not your business. You are an outsider here.”

*

It was several hours before Darwin was released. In that time, Jack had managed to calm the puppy, but only if she was in psychical contact with him, which left him with no option but to sit cross-legged on the floor, the dog curled on the recess of his legs. The crow, on the other hand, could not be appeased and he spent the entirety of the time flying around the rafters and screaming mercilessly for Darwin.

The door which Darwin had been stretchered through opened slowly, and she entered the room. Within an instance, Jack was on his feet and running to her side. The crow beat him, circling around her and clicking his beak anxiously. He pulled her up onto his shoulders, stroking her hand.

“Dar! You’re so cold!” He took a second and looked over her; she was gaunt and pale, drawn back into herself. Short red hair that usually flared in the sun was limp and lifeless. She looked at him, green eyes dead and no longer golden.

“Take me home, Jack.”

*

Regardless of how hard Jack pressed, Darwin refused to tell him what happened within the confines of the Basilica. Helping her to undress on the sleeper train, he found numerous bruises tracing the line of her spine, and bandages across both arms, one stained with the females’ blood. He rested a finger on it softly, eyes welling, but Dar shrugged him off.

“Leave it, Jack. We got the Chair, and I paid a fair cost for it.” In return, he snorted softly and shook his head.

“What did they do to you, Darwin?”

She swore she would never tell.