by Vered Ehsani
“Well, I wish he’d caught the rest of the cretin,” Lilly said, her eyes narrowed and her hands fisting against Tiberius’ chest.
“Who’s wearing black pants this evening?” Tiberius mused as he snatched Grace from the air. The bat squirmed and squeaked before shifting into a human baby.
I snorted, thinking of Lady Sybil’s objection to a night wedding. “Almost every man present,” I admitted even as I visualized Prof. Runal’s outfit. Was it shiny black? Surely he wouldn’t dare… “Drew, are you going to stay like that all night? You’re shedding.”
The werewolf barked and slumped by my feet, his tongue lolling out as he panted. A fleck of drool dribbled onto the hem of my skirt.
“Delightful,” I muttered. “Did you get a look at the culprit?”
Drew whined and hid his muzzle under one paw.
“Well, when you decide to join the world of humanity, perhaps you can at least tell us something more useful,” I said. “For now, we can’t have a wedding reception without the groom. What will Lady Sybil say?”
“Unless the bride also disappears,” Lilly said, her attention fixed on Grace. “Oh, Grace, you tore up your nightdress. And it was such a sweet design, too.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said.
“What is?” Lilly asked as she carried Grace to the changing table. “I’m taking Grace to our room. I shan’t have her sleeping here alone.”
Tapping my fingers against my thighs, I said, “Yes, she might fly out the window again and poop on the goat roast.”
“Or the kidnapper might return,” Lilly said, her tone sharp as she frowned at me.
“That, too.”
“Their cottage is ready,” Father said. At our confused looks, he added, “Cilla and Drew’s cottage. Tiberius and I can take Drew there. Beatrice, you fetch the new Mrs. Anderson before too many people begin to question Drew’s disappearance.”
“Poor Cilla,” Lilly sighed as she yanked a new nightdress over Grace’s head.
“Yes, indeed,” I agreed. “She’ll have to miss that delicious smelling banquet.”
“And spend her honeymoon with a wolf,” Lilly said and rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Beatrice, you do focus on the oddest details.”
“Perhaps I do,” I said as I sniffed the torn fabric. All I could detect was Drew’s doggy breath. Why were both my brothers such animals? Shuddering, I slipped the evidence down the front of my dress as the outfit lacked pockets or any other indication the designer cared for practicality and sensibility.
Leaving Drew in Father’s care, I hastened out the room and down the corridor. “He can’t have done this,” I reassured myself out loud. “He wouldn’t be so brash, so bold. Would he?”
Upon exiting the house, I hastened to the crowd of guests mingling near the spit upon which a roasted goat hung, its tantalizing aroma nearly overwhelming me. Nearby, a long table beckoned with a delightful assortment of food.
“I’ll be back,” I whispered a promise.
As I approached Cilla, I peered through the crowd, searching for Prof. Runal, hoping he was there. I couldn’t see him. Reassuring myself that he could be washing his hands or visiting the outhouse or…
… making his escape with a torn pant leg…
Shaking my head to clear the treacherous thought, I pushed through those guests clustered around the bride and grabbed Cilla’s arm with more force than I’d intended. Ignoring the huff of protest from a couple of the ladies, I said in a low voice, “Dear Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Anderson is waiting for you in the cottage.”
“Oh,” was all Cilla said as she no doubt processed my underlying message: her husband was still in wolf form and had no intention of joining the party.
Smiling and waving, she allowed me to escort her away from the cheerful flames of the torches and the aromas of the banquet. All the time, I scanned faces and pant legs for any indication of the Poacher or Prof. Runal.
I could find no indication of ruined wedding attire. Nor did I see Prof. Runal, former Director of the Society for Paranormals.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
IN SILENCE WE left the reception, successfully avoiding Lady Sybil. Halfway to the newlyweds’ cottage, I stopped.
“What is it?” Cilla asked, turning to peer at me.
While there was no moon, the sky was thick with stars, enough to soften the shadows of night. Even though Cilla didn’t have my werewolf eyes, she didn’t need paranormally enhanced night vision to discern my expression.
“Even though your new husband looks like a dog, it is still your honeymoon night,” I jested, forcing myself to meet her gaze.
“I suppose it is,” Cilla said, her cheeks blushing.
“And it’s safe enough from here,” I added before she could see through my excuse. “Look, your cottage is lit up, and I smell Drew.” I wrinkled my nose to make the point. “As a bonus, Lady Sybil isn’t around to ambush you. So off you go. Whatever happens, tonight will be memorable.”
Giggling, Cilla hugged me, ignoring my protest that she would muss up our dresses. With a satisfied sigh and a twirl of pearly skirts, she left me.
I waited until the glow of her dress melded with the light beaming out of the cottage window. Then and only then did I release my features from their forced cheer. Acutely feeling the absence of my walking stick but unwilling to waste a moment to retrieve it, I spun around and gasped.
“Hello, little girl,” Koki purred as she pushed away from a nearby tree and sauntered toward me, her dark red dress swishing around her ankles. “Going somewhere?”
I attempted to formulate another excuse until I remembered with whom I was speaking. Scowling at her knowing smirk, I said, “You already know, so stop wasting my time.”
Her soft laugh would have chilled the blood of anyone not well acquainted with the she-demon. “I know in which direction he’s gone,” she said, her voice weaving in between the rustling of branches overhead and the songs of insects in the grass.
“Then let’s go,” I said. “Before Cilla comes back for another hug or Drew sniffs me out.”
“Delightful,” she said and jerked her head toward the forest, a slice of which extended to the edge of the Hardinge Estate. “This way.”
“It can’t be him, though,” I said, more to myself because I already knew Koki’s opinion of Prof. Runal. Dry twigs, leaves, bits of bone and other debris crunched under my shoes; Koki’s passage was silent. “Why would he try to kidnap Grace? What possible use could she provide him or the Society?”
“So true,” Koki said as she strolled through the outlying trees of the forest. “Babies are such useless creatures.”
I huffed a breath and stared up at the tall African woman. The starlight cast a blueish sheen on her dark skin. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” I said as I ripped at the leaves of a bush with my skeletal, prosthetic hand. The metal fingers clicked against each other. “My Emma isn’t going to be one of those babies.”
Snickering, Koki said, “Perhaps but I can’t imagine the incorrigible Miss Knight sitting at home knitting baby clothes while a child snatcher roams the land. I’m up for an adventure.”
I frowned, again wishing I had my walking stick with me. Lilly had convinced me to leave it at home since it didn’t go with my fancy clothes I’d worn for the wedding. It was an inconvenient truth that such practical and potentially lethal devices were seldom suitable for formal occasions. And now we were entering a forest that was home to all manner of carnivorous beasts, each of which were foul-tempered and happy to snack on a little human.
“This isn’t an adventure,” I corrected her as I mulled over the idea of returning home to change into more suitable attire and collect a weapon or three. But with each passing moment, the kidnapper was farther from us. “It’s a reconnaissance, that’s all.”
“Of course it is,” Koki said and chuckled, her features lost in shadow as we drifted under the thick canopy of overlapping tree limbs. “So why not invite that male with whom you cohabit to jo
in us?”
“Absolutely not,” I said, climbing over a waist-high tree root that was jutting out of the soil. “He’ll try to stop me or, worse, talk sense into me.”
Koki sprung over the root and landed with feline grace. “We can’t have that.”
“Definitely not. Besides, I already know it’s not sensible to be running around in the dark forest,” I continued, “especially in these shoes. Really, why do women wear these atrocious things?”
I stared at the heels Lilly had loaned me for the occasion; they were already coated with globs of detritus and a sheen of mud. Such preposterous shoes even if they were the height of fashion. My personal collection of footwear had only boots and practical, low-heeled, closed-toed shoes. While Cilla wouldn’t have been bothered in the least if I’d worn riding boots to the wedding, Lilly would have. My lack of feminine footwear horrified her on a regular basis.
“I agree. It’s shocking,” Koki said just as the air shivered with a desperate scream.
Chapter Thirty
THE HIGH-PITCHED scream echoed around us, momentarily stilling the background cacophony of nocturnal birds and insects.
“Gracious,” I whispered around what felt like my heart in my throat.
Koki shrugged and pushed aside a thorny branch. “Everyone has to eat,” she said.
“That may be true,” I said, glancing around me. There was nothing on the narrow path. On either side, bushes and ferns obscured my view into the forest. “But there’s eating and then there’s torturing your food before you do so.”
“Ah, yes,” Koki sighed, her wide smile catching what little light seeped through the thick foliage. “Don’t you ever play with your food?”
Shaking my head, I reminded myself she was a demon who liked to shift into the form of an elephant-sized praying mantis. What else could I expect from her? Ignoring her chuckle, I hurried along the path in the direction of the scream. Nasty vines covered in thorns snagged and tore at my dress, another item loaned by Lilly. She was going to be furious at the state of her clothes.
She should really know better than to loan me clothes and expect them returned in one piece, I thought as I swatted at low-lying branches.
All thoughts of clothes vanished as I stumbled into a small clearing at the base of a waterfall. While not a particularly impressive waterfall, it was tall enough to generate a background rumble as sheets of water pummeled smooth boulders before flowing into a small pool at its base. A fine mist floated around us, the tiny droplets coating my skin.
I squinted my eyes, searching for the energy signature of a living creature capable of screaming. All that sprung up was the blue haze around a swarm of insects and a red blob around an owl.
“How peculiar,” I said, studying the scene. “Could the person be farther along the path? Or perhaps something dragged her away already.”
“Lucky carnivore,” Koki said before narrowing her eyes at the waterfall. “What about that?”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I glanced in the direction of her pointing finger. “Water doesn’t scream,” I said, brushing the cold damp from my skin and staring at Lilly’s ridiculously heeled shoes. They were fit for the rubbish heap. “Even here in this bizarre corner of the world.”
Koki placed a long, pointed nail under my chin and pushed up. “Look more closely.”
“There’s no energy…” I paused and stared at and then through the water. “Something’s inside the waterfall.”
The something was humanoid, possibly male, although it was difficult to discern through the water. Whoever it was, he wasn’t moving. He stood within the current of the waterfall.
“Why would anyone in their right mind be taking a shower at this time of night?” I wondered aloud as I approached the rippling water lapping against the edge of the pool.
“Because they’re not in their right mind?” Koki suggested, her bare feet gliding over the treacherous, slippery stones.
The person must’ve heard our approach and turned his head with a horrendous screech.
I felt Koki place a hand on my shoulder. “Miss Knight,” she warned.
“What a strange sound,” I said. “And why can’t I see his energy field? Oh, wait, there it is. But how perplexing. The shape of it is all wrong.”
Koki’s hand squeezed.
The sound of rusted hinges silenced the chirping insects. The man stepped to the side, pushing half his body out of the waterfall. His bald head reflected silver in the starlight as did his eyes.
“His eyes really are glowing. What a peculiar man,” I mused and waved. “Hello, there. Do you require assistance?”
“Miss Knight,” Koki whispered in my ear, her fingers digging into my shoulder.
The sharp snap of a breaking stick distracted me. I glanced across the pool in time to see another man step out of the bushes. In the dim light, his limbs were skeletal. Upon seeing us, gears attached to his cheeks whirled into action, and his square jaw swung open ninety degrees to reveal jagged teeth. A series of rectangular metal plates covered his chest and torso. Or rather…
“He is metal,” I breathed. “And no pigskin, just as Dr. Cricket described. Oh, I do agree with the inventor. They are more appealing when covered up.”
Koki hissed and twisted me around to face the other end of the pool. A third metal man stared at us from across the river, his eyes glowing like two fierce torches. The gears that made up his arm and leg joints twitched as if the creature was undecided on the direction he should move. The metal rods of his limbs remained still.
“Goodness, Dr. Cricket has been busy,” I commented, the damp air forgotten as I pulled away from Koki’s grip and spun on Lilly’s muddy heels. More glowing eyes peered out through the foliage.
A pack of automatons had surrounded us.
Chapter Thirty-One
THE REALIZATION WE were surrounded by sharp-toothed, wide-jawed automatons roused me out of my fascination.
That, and Koki was snarling in my ear, “Into the water.”
Twigs snapped and leaves crackled behind and to the side of us as the automatons on our side of the river approached us.
“Do you have any idea what’s in that river?” I demanded even as Koki tugged me forward.
“Yes,” she said. “You.”
With no warning, she pushed me forward. Lilly’s poor shoes didn’t stand a chance on the slippery river stones. One of the delicate heels lodged itself in the river bank and remained there. I did not. Arms flailing, I fell face-first into the cool, frothy water. Lilly’s dress bloomed around me and tangled around my thrashing legs as I attempted to right myself. The other shoe floated past me. I snatched it up. After all, in the right hands, anything can be used as a weapon.
A strong hand tugged me into a vertical position. Spluttering, I wiped strands of wet hair off my face.
“Keep moving,” Koki said, undeterred by the rough footing or the force of the water pushing behind us. “We have to get ahead of them.”
Several automatons had converged around the riverbanks but didn’t get any closer. Instead, they stalked us from the safety of dry land, leaving their screeching comrade frozen under the waterfall. Some crawled, scrambling over boulders and fallen trees like misshapen, metallic, four-legged spiders.
Although Nairobi was only a few degrees south of the equator, it was at some reasonable elevation. Nights, while pleasant, were by no means tropical. Wading waist-high in unheated water removed what warmth I might have retained.
Koki trudged by my side, clutching my arm to keep me upright, her features grimly determined.
“Can’t you just shift into your insect self, knock those tin men onto their backsides and carry me away?” I stuttered, my jaw clattering as cold water sloshed up to my chest.
“Take a closer look at their arms,” Koki said, her gaze fixed steadfastly ahead of us as if she couldn’t see the creatures on either side. “I prefer to keep my remaining limbs intact.”
I studied the automaton closest to
us—and it was uncomfortably close. Was the river narrowing? The cold was surely slowing down my mental processes, for I couldn’t tell.
As if realizing it was being studied, one of the automatons crouched down and held out an arm. Instead of a hand, a round blade gleamed in the dim starlight. A flick of the creature’s wrist caused it to spin rapidly to the accompaniment of buzzing. The other automatons followed this example; various nasty extensions whirled, snarled and snapped into life, each as lethal as the next.
“How creative,” I said, stumbling against Koki. “I didn’t realize Dr. Cricket could be so inventive. If we survive, I shall have to compliment him.”
“If being the operative word,” Koki said. “You didn’t bring your walking stick.”
“No,” I sighed. “It wasn’t a suitable accessory for a wedding outfit. Weddings are so impractical. I do have this shoe.” I waved Lilly’s shoe above my head.
Koki snorted. “How humans have survived this long continues to amaze me.”
Ahead of us, the river meandered under low hanging branches. Two skeletal metal creatures were clinging to them with their legs, their glowing eyes directed toward us, their arms hanging down among the vines. In between the foliage were a pair of long scissors, a moving saw and a jagged blade, all of them reaching for us.
“How long can you hold your breath?” Koki asked.
Before I could think through the question, she pushed me below the surface to the murky riverbed. We surged forward, the current and her legs propelling us under the branches and up.
Spluttering and gasping for air, I wiped strands of hair off my face. “You could have given me some warning,” I said, too cold to glare.
Koki shrugged as she rose beside me. “Where’s the fun in that?” Shaking her head, she added, “Fine, if you insist. I am officially giving you warning that we need to go under again. And possibly again after that.”
She gestured downstream to the tunnel of branches shadowing the river. Automatons were everywhere.