by E. G. Foley
He had never felt such peace, never mind the fact that the unicorn stallion half wanted to kill him. Jake wanted to stay with them forever.
Finally, Isabelle’s words placated the stallion, who left with a last, angry kick of his hind legs into the air. With the boys present, the unicorns did not linger as they normally would to visit with the girls.
Instead, the herd moved on.
Jake stared after them with an inexplicable lump of emotion in his throat. How could men ever have killed these creatures?
But perhaps there was no bottom to the depths that human beings could sink to, once they decided to turn bad.
In any case, their encounter with the unicorns ended nearly as quickly as it had begun.
The herd left the woods and cantered out into the meadow the kids had just crossed.
At last, the girls released each other’s hands, lowered their arms to their sides, and stepped away from the boys. All of them were shaking.
Without a word, they watched in wonder and relief as the unicorns cantered off to the far end of the meadow and stopped to graze, though they still seemed restless.
The big white stallion pranced along the outer edge of his family herd, making sure all his mares and babies were accounted for. He nudged a wayward colt back to the group from where the little one had stopped to stare at the kids.
It skipped back to its mother in the herd.
Dani looked at Isabelle. “You think we’re safe now?”
She nodded in relief. “You did well.”
“They are beautiful. Still, they could’ve killed us!” Archie exclaimed, finally recovering his voice.
Isabelle just looked at her brother.
“What did you think, Jake?” Dani asked.
Jake just shook his head, tongue-tied. “Quite an experience,” was all he could manage.
“We’d better be getting back,” Isabelle said.
“My legs feel like rubber,” Dani mumbled.
Archie took a deep breath and let it out again, composing himself once more. “I don’t think we’d better mention this to Miss Helena or Guardian Stone.”
They all agreed. Then they walked back down the path through the woods to the edge of the meadow. It was the only way back to the cottage.
“Keep to the edge of the woods as we go around them, everyone. I don’t want to scare them any more than we already did.” Isabelle scanned the herd out in the pasture.
Jake noticed that she looked worried. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. Something, more than just us has got them spooked tonight.”
“Like what?” Dani asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ll have to come back later by myself and try to find out what’s got them so skittish.”
Following Isabelle, they gave the herd a wide berth as they passed, hugging the edge of where the meadow met the woods.
Soon, they had put a safe distance between themselves and the amazing animals, leaving the unicorns behind.
Jake remained silent, all of his emotions churning after the two extremes of this day. His own ugliness in the Great Vault, and the beauty of those innocent creatures. It made his heart ache for reasons that he could not explain.
All of a sudden, he was filled with inspiration, and words came out of his mouth that not even he quite expected. “We should do something for those orphans,” he blurted out. “The coalminers’ kids. The men who got buried at that funeral, I mean. I’ll bet their kids go to that school that we passed across from the cemetery.”
Everyone stopped and looked at him in varying degrees of astonishment.
You would have thought Teddy the dog had just uttered a sentence in perfect English.
“What?” he mumbled, a trifle defensively. “We should! I mean, blimey, their dads got eaten by a bear or whatever. They’ve got to feel just terrible. Maybe there’s something we can do to cheer them up or something.”
Isabelle smiled as though she knew perfectly well that this un-Jake-like suggestion could only be the result of his encounter with the unicorns. “What did you have in mind, coz?”
Dani’s Irish eyes beamed at him in approval, while Archie grinned. “Capital notion! We could go into town tomorrow and buy some toys and such to cheer them up. And you can pay, old boy!” he added, giving Jake a jovial slap on the back.
“I think that’s a beautiful idea, Jake,” Isabelle declared. “Perhaps when we drop the gifts off at the school, you could say a few words to comfort those children, since you’ve already been through it, losing your parents. You know how it feels. I’ll bet they’d really appreciate that.”
He nodded uncertainly, then they all walked on toward the cottage.
Jake still felt strange after his encounter with the unicorns, but deep in his heart, he felt oddly better about this place, the world, and everything.
Even his own, woefully flawed self.
But despite his earlier behavior in the Great Vault, maybe he wasn’t a totally lost cause, Jake mused as they walked on. Maybe this was just…burning away the impurities.
Like with the gold.
Although the night was black, the stars shone out and dazzled with their light.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A Visit to Town
The next day, they set out on their mission to buy presents for the miners’ orphans and the other poor children of the Harris School. After what had happened in the mine, no doubt all the kids were afraid for their fathers and elder brothers who worked down there.
It would be fun cheering them up.
By midmorning, the four of them were racing through the cobbled streets of the nearby town of Llanberis, going from shop to shop on the hunt for gifts.
Tucked between a lake and a dramatic mountain pass, Llanberis nestled in the shadow of Mount Snowden, the tallest peak in either Wales or England.
The mighty mountain’s old Welsh name was Yr Wyddfa, which meant, ‘The Tomb.’ There was nothing grave about the busy town, however.
Llanberis was bustling with life. The quaint row of shops along the High Street were brightly painted: yellow, blue, orange, green, pink. It made for a very cheerful effect, especially with the train chugging past along the lake, toy-like, behind its shiny red engine.
Puffing a trail of smoke behind it, the locomotive blew its steam-whistle as it passed the town.
The kids waved to the conductor before the train went winding off through the colorful autumn trees. Then they bounded on into the next shop to find out what trinkets and treasures it held that the students might enjoy.
They bought them toys, books, games, edible treats like gingerbread and Welsh cakes, a few inexpensive musical instruments, and an assortment of knitted hats, gloves, and scarves, since winter was just around the corner.
Townsfolk smiled as they passed by, but the shopkeepers were especially happy to see them coming with money to spend. For Jake, it was a new experience not having shop clerks and managers follow him around their establishments and watching his every move in suspicion.
Of course, here in Wales, nobody had any idea that he used to be one of London’s most notorious boy-thieves.
After all, people could change.
Jake was finding this whole experiment in generosity most interesting. The only item he bought for himself was a Welsh cake when he (naturally) got hungry.
It was only this sweet snack that gave him the strength to keep up with Dani O’Dell, who proved to have the most stamina for shopping.
Jake would have thought it was a talent that all girls possessed, but no, Isabelle was halfhearted about it. Of course, she was having enough of a time managing her telepathic awareness of all the passing townsfolk’s emotions. Llanberis was not overly crowded, otherwise she probably would have opted to stay back at the cottage.
Dani, however, marched along like a little redheaded general, on the watch for bargains.
Archie pronounced her ‘indefatigable,’ whatever that meant. The carrot-head, in
turn, almost didn’t let the boy genius buy the children anything educational.
“An abacus? You can’t be serious!” she exclaimed as they loitered in one aisle of a splendid toy shop. “We’re supposed to be bringing them fun things. How’s that going to cheer them up?”
“An abacus is great fun!”
“You’re loony,” she said.
“No, I’m a good eccentric Englishman. We are a lovable and well-established breed. We dig up ancient cities, we discover island chains, we invent things nobody has ever seen before—”
“Loony, like I said. Pencils, notepads, I could see. Even watercolor paints—”
“But they could use an abacus for math lessons!”
“Just buy the thing, I don’t care,” Jake mumbled. “This is exhausting.”
“See?” Archie gave up arguing with her and rushed on to the next item. “Oh, look at this astrolabe! They could use this for their science lessons.”
“That’s kind of neat.” Jake stepped over to examine the little model of the solar system, but Dani shook her head, at her wits’ end with them.
Instead, she went and picked out some marionettes so the kids could make a puppet show.
When they crossed the street a few minutes later, heading for the dry goods store, a flicker of motion on the roof caught Jake’s eye.
But when he looked up, homing in on it, all he saw was a little gargoyle statue sitting on the edge of the roof, much like the one he had seen in the cemetery.
A fanciful decoration for such a mundane type of shop, he thought, but he paid it no further mind and followed the others inside.
Up by the counter, he heard the shopkeeper gossiping with some customers about the Harris Mine reopening this morning for the first time since the accident.
Eavesdropping while he pretended to look at the merchandise, Jake gathered that the townsfolk did not quite believe the Company’s story about the mysterious accident.
An aproned woman suddenly poked her head out of the shop’s backroom and called to the clerk: “Has anyone seen Whiskers?”
“No, ma’am,” he answered, chuckling when the woman disappeared again. “How she spoils that cat.”
“Jake! Come ’ere, I need your help.”
“Coming.” Soon Dani O’Dell was stacking more and more items for the schoolchildren into his arms. “Hold this, hold this. This, too…”
When she was finally satisfied that she had bought up half the store, he carried their things up to the counter and handed over the last of the gold he had permission to spend on this project.
Derek announced he would go fetch the carriage and come right back to pick them up with all their packages.
Miss Helena clapped her white-gloved hands in her prim way and ordered them to start carrying all their shopping bags outside. They piled all their many, many gifts for the schoolchildren into a mountain on the curb, then waited for Derek and Nimbus Fingle to arrive in the coach.
Dani finally ran out of energy, her shopping crusade complete. She leaned against the quaint front window of the nearest shop and groaned, resting her head against the glass. Isabelle stood guard over the pile of presents while Miss Helena watched down the street.
Archie turned to Jake. “So, what are you going to say to these children when you make your speech?”
He glanced at him in surprise, his mind a blank, because the little gargoyle statue was gone.
“Hello?” Archie snapped his fingers in front of Jake’s nose.
“Oh, right. Um, actually…I have no idea. Say, Archie, maybe you should do it—”
“Ah, no, no, no.”
“But you give speeches all the time!”
“I am not an orphan.”
Might as well be, as little as you see your parents, Jake thought, shooting him a frown. Lord and Lady Bradford were always off traveling for the Order of the Yew Tree, which was why Archie and Isabelle were usually left under the care of Henry and Helena and Great-Great Aunt Ramona.
“No, this is on your shoulders, my friend.”
Jake harrumphed. “Well, any advice?”
Hands in pockets, the boys wandered a few yards down the sidewalk while Archie gave him a few pointers on public speaking. “The main thing is to speak from the heart. Don’t worry if you get lost for a moment. Just forge on. Probably best to keep it short—”
All of a sudden, the shop door right in front of them blasted open, bells jangling, and the most beautiful girl Jake had ever seen slammed out, bellowing over her shoulder. “I said I don’t like it, Mother! It’s my birthday party and I am not wearing that horrible rag! I want one from London! As if you have any fashion sense! Just leave me alone!”
The boys stopped in their tracks at the sight of this obviously furious young beauty.
She was about Jake’s age, maybe a bit older, with milky-white skin and flashing coal-black eyes, but both boys might as well have been invisible.
She shoved her way between them with a look that invited them both to drop dead for staring at her, then marched off down the sidewalk toward the pile of presents with her cute little nose in her air.
“Blimey,” Jake whispered at the same time Archie said, “Great Euclid!”
The boys exchanged a wide-eyed glance.
“Excuse me!” the girl snapped at Isabelle, going around the pile of presents as if it was the most tremendous burden in the world. “You shouldn’t crowd the walk.”
“Oh, she’s a mean one,” Archie breathed.
Jake grinned. “Doesn’t bother me a’tall.” He clapped his cousin on the shoulder, then dashed off and started walking after the mysterious mean girl for a better look.
Suddenly, behind him, the shop door opened again. This time, the ding of the bell had a frantic sound.
“Oh, Petunia! Petunia, Pettie, darling, please come back!” A large, lumpy woman in a brown fur-trimmed coat and an astonishing feathered hat ran past both boys like a mother elephant chasing after her young. “But the satin gown looked so pretty on you!”
The dark-haired beauty tossed her curls in disgust and did not even bother looking back, just as Jake’s fine coach-and-four rolled to a halt beside the pile of presents.
That was the moment that Petunia’s mother noticed the Earl of Griffon’s family crest emblazoned on the door.
The large woman halted as abruptly as the boys had at the sight of her daughter. Petunia’s mother turned to stare, her eyes wide, the ridiculous peacock feathers on her hat blowing in the breeze. “Good heavens! It’s—you’re—him, aren’t you, young man? You’re the new Earl!”
“I am,” Jake said coolly, folding his hands behind his back like the worldly London gentlemen whose pockets he used to pick. All his thoughts, of course, were on the daughter. Aha, now he could get an introduction. “Madam?”
“Goodness me! Why, you’re just as handsome as they wrote in the Society pages!”
“Nonsense.” Jake laughed uncomfortably.
“No, but how marvelous to meet you. Why, it’s a miracle you were ever found, Lord Griffon—after all those years! Please—you must meet my daughter. Petuniaaaaa!” she bellowed in a whole new tone.
Rather like an order from a drill sergeant.
At that moment, Archie caught up. His smaller cousin skidded to a cheerful halt and slammed into him in his eagerness, knocking Jake off his balance and rather killing his suave effect.
Jake scowled at him, but Archie didn’t notice.
“Hullo!” he said to the big lady, who was clutching at her heart, as if the opportunity to introduce her very own daughter to a young earl was more than she could bear.
“Petunia Harris! Over here—NOW!” the matriarch elephant roared.
Jake arched a brow. If this was what it was like having a mother, perhaps he was better off.
“We’ve met some charming new guests to add to your birthday party…darling,” she added through gritted teeth. “It’s the new Earl!”
At that, Petunia finally stopped.
>
Ha, thought Jake with another roguish grin.
Now she was interested. She slowly pivoted and narrowed her eyes at the boys before warily returning.
Thankfully, Miss Helena appeared beside them to smooth the way for proper introductions. Meanwhile, Derek had jumped down from his seat beside Nimbus Fingle and started loading their packages into the boot of the coach.
“I am Mrs. Harris,” the woman was telling Miss Helena, “and this is my daughter, Petunia.”
“Harris?” Archie echoed. “As in the Harris Mine?”
“Yes, dear,” she answered, though she had no interest whatsoever in Archie.
Apparently, she was unaware that he would be a lord, too, one day, when he grew up. Maybe a baron wasn’t high-ranking enough for her precious Petunia.
Then Jake studied them discreetly; after all, these were the people who owned half the town.
With Miss Helena’s assistance, all the expected pleasantries were exchanged. All the while, Dani O’Dell eyed Mrs. Harris’s hat like she worried that some small animal might be lost up there, living among the feathers.
As for Petunia, her midnight eyes narrowed with calculation, she scanned each member of their party one by one, taking their measure. She seemed mildly impressed by Miss Helena for her slight French accent, but only Isabelle apparently lived up to her standards.
Here, at least, was a highborn young lady on her own level of wealth and beauty, she seemed to conclude. She gave her a queenly nod. “Miss Bradford.”
“Miss Harris.”
Poor Archie and Dani might as well have been clods of horse dung in the street, in Petunia’s eyes. Scruffy Derek Stone only warranted a slight, sneering curl of her rosy lips.
As for Jake, Miss Petunia Harris stared straight at him in cold, skeptical suspicion.
Jake was bemused. Usually girls like the aristocratic misses Uncle Waldrick had introduced him to in London fell all over themselves trying to get on his good side. This reaction generally annoyed Jake until he was ready to scream. But no girl had ever dared to look at him like he was a rotten fish-head that some alley cat had dragged out of a trash bin.
He was fascinated.
“I so hope you children will be able to come to Petunia’s birthday party on Saturday,” Mrs. Harris gushed. “It will be held at our estate at two o’clock. It’ll be great fun! Good food, games indoors and out, fireworks after dark. I can’t believe my little girl is turning thirteen!”