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.”