‘Tea you say?’ Elias’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘What’s her name?’ he asked as he stared at the beautiful Clipper ship painted black and edged in gold.
Xavier stared at Elias before he replied in a low rumble.
‘They call her, The Black Orchid.’
18
Olivia looked up as Elias walked back into the tent, his mind clearly occupied.
‘Hey,’ she called out to him.
He looked up, surprised to find her in front of him.
‘You look like you’re a million miles away,’ she said softly.
‘Pardon?’
‘You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind,’ she corrected. ‘How did everything go?’
‘Well,’ he nodded, ‘I’ve secured us a residence in the Underside. We should be safe there, while we figure out what to do next.’
‘Good,’ Olivia nodded.
‘We have to be there by two this afternoon; we’ll need to leave soon. Where is Eve and…’ his words trailed off, his gaze fixed on something behind her.
Olivia turned and saw Eve crossing the tent as Etta chattered along beside her, holding her hand. She watched Elias’s face as the woman and the child drew closer, his eyes dark and intense as he stared.
He had that strange swooping sensation once again in his stomach as he watched her approach and wondered idly if it had been a good idea to eat that scone after the night before. His digestive system was obviously still unsettled.
Still, strangely enough he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off Eve. He’d thought she was beautiful from the first moment he saw her, even dressed in a ragged oversized dress, an ugly headscarf and her skin smeared with dirt, but she’d been beautiful in an almost innocent childlike way.
There was nothing innocent about the way she looked now. Her dress, in the almost same alluring blue as her startling eyes, clung to her form like a second skin, revealing that the body beneath that grim, oversized, shapeless dress was in fact all woman.
Her waist was tiny and cinched in by her corset, her breasts high and shapely. Her skin, revealed by the open collar of her bodice was smooth and creamy, the color of fine porcelain and her hair, her hair was what fascinated Elias the most. It was a pale blonde shot through with strands of gold and honey, making it almost glow when she moved. His fingers twitched involuntarily with the sudden and uncomfortable urge to reach out and touch the silken strands to see if they really were as soft as they looked.
‘Elias,’ Olivia elbowed him in the side, drawing his attention.
‘Hmm?’ he stared at Olivia. ‘I’m sorry did you say something?’
‘I said we should go and say goodbye to everyone and thank Pearl for giving us a place to stay last night.’
‘Why don’t you go and do that,’ Elias replied uncomfortably, not ready to face Pearl just yet. ‘I’ll go and find Scarlett.’
‘She’s with Pearl,’ Etta piped up from beside Eve.
‘How fortuitous,’ Elias forced a sour smile.
‘Let’s go find them then,’ Olivia decided.
‘No need,’ Scarlett’s voice carried across the tent as she approached, with Pearl beside her. ‘We’re here.’
Elias swallowed, a slight sweat breaking out on his brow. His eyes locked on Pearl, once again dressed in her trademark black and gold gown with her long white hair trailing down her back like a winter waterfall. She was a striking woman, even in her early forties. She had an attractive face and a body built for sin, which Elias now knew from personal experience.
Although he and Pearl had no romantic interest in each other, beyond the one night’s madness, he was at a complete loss as to what to say to her.
Fortunately for him her attention was turned to Olivia.
‘Pearl,’ Olivia greeted her. ‘I just wanted to say thank you for giving us a place to stay last night and to apologize again for smoking in, in the middle of the performance, in front of all those people.’
‘Consider it a learnin’ experience,’ Pearl hummed noncommittedly. ‘Always look before you smoke or else next time you might end up somewhere worse.’
‘Lesson learned,’ Olivia nodded.
Pearl turned her dark eyes on Elias much to his discomfort. ‘Did you see Mr Mason?’
‘I did,’ he replied tightly, ‘I have arranged a place for us. Thank you for the recommendation.’
She nodded and turned away from him, no lingering look, no uncomfortable comment and Elias strangely enough, wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or not, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. If she wasn’t going to mention it, he sure as hell wasn’t. Best let sleeping dogs lie.
Pearl next turned her attention to Eve, taking her hands in her own and smiling at her sincerely.
‘You’ll be alright love. You’re a survivor, just remember that,’ she told her simply, ‘and if you ever find yourself in need, you come see me, alright?’
Eve nodded slowly.
‘Well I’ll say my goodbyes then,’ Pearl glanced at each one of them before turning and disappearing from the tent.
It took a while to complete the rest of their farewells. In the short time they’d been there they seemed to have made fast friends with all the permanent residents of Pearl’s Cirque Mystéres.
Nix gifted Eve a pair of fur lined winter gloves. Effie gave her a blue velvet winter cape. Silas and Etta gave her a paper bag filled with fragrant roasted chestnuts and Luthor enveloped the tiny woman in a boisterous bear hug, while Ada stood close by. Even though her blank eyes stared at nothing in particular, she smiled as if she knew exactly what was going on.
Eve flushed, her cheeks pink and her aqua eyes wide, as if she didn’t quite know what to do with the unexpected kindness and affection from this group of strangers who seemed to have embraced her as one of their own.
By the time they’d been wished well and were on their way, it was well past midday. They once again used Pearl’s iron maiden to cross over into the Underside, the same as Olivia and Scarlett had done when they first arrived, although it took some convincing to get Eve and Elias to use it.
They headed toward Primrose Avenue and by the time they approached number 3 they found Mr Mason waiting patiently on the front step, with the front door behind him open ready for their arrival.
‘Ah Elias,’ he glanced at his pocket watch before tucking it back into his waistcoat, ‘right on time and these must be your houseguests.’
He docked his hat politely, as he stared at each one in turn; each a beauty in their own right, a brunette, a red head and a blonde. He found himself suddenly quite envious of Elias Black.
‘Shall we?’ he stepped aside to allow them to enter the property.
He showed them into the front parlor where four other people waited, three women and an older gentleman.
‘This is Mrs Minchin, your housekeeper,’ Mr Mason introduced the slightly older woman. ‘Molly is your cook,’ the portly woman bobbed a shallow curtsey. ‘Alice, is your maid and here we have Bishop, your butler and head of your household staff.’
‘Sir,’ Bishop inclined his head. ‘The Guild would like to thank you for using their services and to inform you that all contracts have now been agreed to and signed.’
Elias nodded.
‘And to also remind you, as a new client, that they will be monitoring the well-being of the members of your household.’
‘Noted,’ Elias replied coolly.
He understood the sentiment behind it, but it still felt like a threat, although, he reminded himself, that was the price he had to pay for having trustworthy staff members that had not been infiltrated by the damn Veritas.
‘Excellent,’ Mr Mason beamed and turned to the assembled staff. ‘Dismissed then.’
‘Mrs Minchin,’ Scarlett called as they turned to leave, causing the older woman to pause attentively. ‘If you wouldn’t mind giving me a tour of the house so that I may assign bedrooms, after which I would like to go over the inventory and household
accounts.’
‘Of course, Madam,’ she nodded, ‘if you’ll follow me.’
Scarlett turned to Olivia and Elias.
‘Why don’t you take Eve with you,’ Elias suggested, ‘help her get settled in her new room. Olivia will remain here with me.’
‘Of course,’ Scarlett agreed as she reached for Eve who obediently followed her from the room.
‘Well then,’ Mr Mason concluded as he pulled some papers from the leather satchel, he carried with him, along with a quill. ‘If you would care to glance over the final contracts and sign.’
Elias picked up the contract and began to read as Mr Mason uncorked a small bottle of ink and set it on the table. After a few moments of silence Elias reached for the quill and scratched his name at the bottom.
‘Splendid,’ Mr Mason beamed, reaching into his pocket for a set of keys. ‘Here we go then,’ he dropped them into Elias’s outstretched palm. ‘And don’t forget, if you have any need to contact me further go to my offices in Green Friars. It’s not far from here. They will get word to me quickly with no need for you to travel all the way to Cheapside.’
‘Thank you,’ Elias nodded.
‘It was nice to meet you Mr Mason,’ Olivia held out her hand. ‘Thank you for all your help.’
‘Xavier, please dear lady and I can assure you the pleasure was all mine. If you require any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact my offices.’
Docking his hat politely he left the room and a few moments later they heard the front door close firmly.
‘Nice,’ Olivia glanced around, ‘are you sure you can afford this?’
‘I have enough,’ he replied as he sank down tiredly into one of the chairs and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion.
‘Do you want to talk about it?’
He opened his eyes to find Olivia sat in the chair opposite him, watching him patiently.
‘I don’t know where to start,’ he sighed. ‘I’ve got so much going on inside my head.’
‘It’s okay,’ she replied easily, ‘why don’t you just start with what’s bothering you right now?’
‘Everyone thinks that I’m a witch.’
‘That word really bothers you, doesn’t it?’ she smiled softly. ‘It’s really not as bad as you think. It’s been tough for Theo too, he thinks I don’t get it, but I do. I never asked to be a Guardian but yet here we are.’
‘What’s a Guardian?’ Elias frowned.
‘Never mind,’ she shook her head, ‘that’s a story for another day. You have enough trouble accepting witchcraft right now without complicating matters further.’ She blew out a breath, trying to gauge how best to handle the situation.
‘When I first arrived in London,’ Elias began, ‘I kept to myself. I just wandered aimlessly, with no real purpose and all of this anger and frustration wrapped up in a healthy dose of confusion. I was so sure I’d been brought back for a reason, I must have been, but I couldn’t seem to work out what it was I had to do and I think maybe now I have an idea of what that is.’
‘You do?’ Olivia raised her brows in surprise.
‘I think it’s about the Veritas. I think I was brought back to correct a mistake.’
‘Correct a mistake?’ Olivia tilted her head thoughtfully. ‘You mean because you founded the Veritas?’
‘This is all my fault. They stole the Hourglass; Eve is in danger and all because I created the Veritas. I brought it into being, this is all on me, the things they’ve stolen, the lives they’ve taken, the list is endless.’
‘Elias,’ Olivia sighed, ‘don’t do that. Don’t accept the blame for something that was none of your doing. What you created… what you and Justin created was something beautiful. In a time of horror and fear, you created a way to save lives, to protect the magical legacy of all the people that came after them. It’s not your fault that it was usurped by a madman hell bent on accumulating power. What it has become, is warped and dark, and not your fault.’
‘I wish I could believe that,’ Elias replied quietly, ‘but it doesn’t erase the sense of obligation I feel.’
‘No,’ Olivia nodded in understanding, ‘I don’t imagine it does.’
‘I’m going to stop them,’ Elias turned his dark eyes on Olivia fiercely. ‘I began the Veritas to protect the innocents and by god that’s what I’m going to do. Their reign of terror is over.’
‘I’ll drink to that,’ Olivia murmured dryly, ‘although you might want to lay off the booze for a while.’
Elias’s mouth curved slightly.
‘I need your help Olivia,’ Elias told her seriously. ‘If I’m going to take on the Veritas, I need to be ready. I need you to show me how to… well how to…’
‘How to do magic?’ she supplied helpfully, ‘a little ‘how to be a witch 101?’... well I suppose it would help pass the time.’ She stared at him thoughtfully. ‘I will warn you though, you can’t practice magic while you look down your nose at it. I get that you had a very tough religious upbringing and something like that is hard to shake, but if you want to reach your full potential you have to embrace it fully or you’ll end up hurting yourself, or worse, someone else.’
‘I understand.’
‘Do you?’ she smiled as the fireplace beside them burst into a cheery flame, dancing and bobbing merrily in the hearth and instantly filling the room with warmth. She gave Elias his due, he didn’t flinch at the sudden demonstration of her powers. Instead he looked on curiously as she unfurled her palm and her dragonflies burst into flame, hovering above her hand.
‘True magic Elias is neither black nor white, it is a reflection of the witch. Magic can be beautiful and kind, and healing, but it can also be used to cause great harm, whether intentional or not. Our most sacred law is, ‘do no harm’, whether in thought, or word, or deed. You must never be purposefully cruel. I’ll admit that the situation we find ourselves in makes that extremely difficult. With an enemy like the Veritas, who do not hold to the same principles and ideals as us, who are not bound by conscience but driven by desire, it makes it too easy for us to cross a line that should not be crossed. Being a witch is all about great responsibility and we must hold ourselves to a higher standard. Are you ready for that?’
‘I am,’ he replied calmly.
‘I hope so,’ she answered. ‘I can teach you everything you need to know to control your powers, to use your magic, but you are the one who is going to have to deal with your conscience. When using such powerful magic, the question you should always ask yourself is not, can I do that but, should I do that? It doesn’t matter how you were raised; it doesn’t matter who your parents were or what they did. All that matters is you and what you believe. You no longer have the luxury of blaming your parents for your mistakes. Trust me I know, I’ve been there. From this point it’s up to you. Ask the questions, find your own answers and most importantly live by your own truth. Do that…’ she smiled, ‘and you will be a force to be reckoned with.’
‘I want that,’ he replied firmly. ‘Teach me.’
‘Well, alright then,’ she smiled, ‘just remember, you asked for it.’
They both looked up, hearing footsteps as Scarlett entered the room and closed the door quietly behind her.
‘Where’s Eve?’ Elias asked.
‘She’s settled in her new room,’ Scarlett replied as she took a seat. ‘It’s all very strange for her, but I thought we should take this opportunity to talk. If we’re going to be in such close proximity to each other for at least the next month we don’t want to be letting things slip. We need to decide how much we’re going to tell Eve and what we’re going to do with her when the time comes to leave.’
‘Next month?’ Elias asked in confusion.
‘We’ll get to that in a minute,’ Olivia waved her hand as her gaze locked on Scarlett. ‘What do you mean what we’re going to do with her? Eve is coming home with us.’
‘With you?’ Elias’s eyes widened, ‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You can’
t just pick her up and drop her a hundred and fifty years into the future.’
‘Sam did with Theo,’ Olivia replied.
‘Yes, but Sam knew what he was doing,’ Scarlett replied patiently. ‘He saw every eventuality and made sure the timeline was closed. We don’t know what we’re doing, we’re just blundering around making a big mess. Going home, for us, is correcting a mistake. We don’t belong here. She does. We can’t be sure that by bringing her into our present that we’re not doing irreparable damage to the timelines.’
‘Now’s not the time to worry about that, first we need to get the Hourglass back then we can argue about Eve,’ Elias interjected. ‘You said being here another month, what do you know?’
‘This morning,’ Olivia began, ‘while you were out visiting Hadley and Mason’s, we had a little visit of our own with Eden. She’s a fortune teller… sort of.’
Elias snorted. ‘You do realize they are all charlatans?’
‘Not Eden,’ Scarlett shook her head, ‘trust me she’s the real deal. She’s been around since the very beginning.’
‘Beginning of what?’ Elias frowned.
‘Days,’ Olivia informed him. ‘Just don’t ask and trust us. She was the one who told us to come looking for you, so you could lead us to the Hourglass and she’s majorly pissed that the Veritas interfered and stole it.’
‘Did she tell you where they’re keeping it?’ he asked.
‘No,’ Olivia answered, ‘it’s complicated, but we know where Bower is going to be and when. Back in my time, I had an old newspaper clipping. The photograph shows both Scarlett and me and standing in front of us is Mr Bower.’
‘Where was this photograph taken?’ Elias asked.
‘Farringdon Street station, the day they open the new Metropolitan Railway on 9th Jan 1863.’
‘January?’ Elias mused, ‘so we have a little over a month.’
‘Looks like it,’ Scarlett nodded.
‘What would he be doing at the station on opening day? Veritas members like to remain in the shadows sulking around. It’s very rare for them to be caught at such a public event,’ he wondered.
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