Chapter 22 #2
She focused on the present—the last thing she needed was to alienate Theo, as well. At least more than she’d already had. “I accidentally sent her to another time, I think.”
“Emmeline!”
“I know, I know!” She spread her arms. “I’m working on it. That’s why I’m still following Lady Scarlet’s clues. She clearly has better control over this time travel thing than I do. In the past few months, I wasn’t able to travel once.”
They’d arrived at a tall, wrought-iron fence with a gate; the road continued behind it, leading to a small, low bridge. Emmeline shook the gate. “It’s locked.”
“Kensington Gardens are closed for the winter,” Theo said. “Why do you need to go there?”
“The clue. Don’t you remember it?”
“I remember there were multiple, possibly leading to different places in London.”
“I think so, too. This one—where the Queen doth provide; you can run, but you cannot hyde. We’ve both figured out it’s Hyde Park.
Run, I think, relates to the Serpentine, which runs through the park.
It was created by Queen Caroline when she had the river dammed.
The gate of that dam—in there.” She pointed to the bridge.
Theo tilted his head. “Well done,” he said in clear admiration.
“Thank you.” She wouldn’t tell him it took her a whole month to work it out. “It is a little unfortunate I can’t get in, though.”
They stood there for a few moments; then, Theo sighed in resignation. “Come. I’ll lift you over.”
“Really?”
“Only because if I don’t, I know you’ll find a worse way in.”
She smiled. “You know me.”
He almost smiled back, but curbed it at the last minute. He weaved his fingers together so she could step on his hands, and lifted her over, then climbed in after her. “Have to get you back,” he explained.
This was what she had for now—his reluctant assistance. She’d take it. All ice would thaw eventually.
They headed to the bridge.
“How do you think the clue will look?” he asked.
“All the clues were notes, thus far, so I assume something similar.” She started checking the bridge—the cracks between the stones, around the lamps, every nook and cranny a note could be lodged into. Nothing.
“What about this?” Theo leaned over the side. A small pouch hung off the arch of the bridge, right above the frozen pond.
“That’s it!” She ran to the side of the bridge.
“Where are you going?”
“We can’t get it from above, but it should be reachable from below. The water is frozen.” She stepped on the bank, where a few patches of grass peeked from under the snow, and carefully touched the ice. Solid enough.
“You are not going there under any circumstances.”
“The ice is thick. I’ll be fine.” She edged toward the pouch.
Theo ran to the bank but stopped before the ice. “There can always be thinner patches. Watch—”
She reached her hand over and unhooked the pouch from a metal stick lodged into the bridge.
“Out,” Theo finished.
She waved victoriously with the pouch, just as ice cracked under her feet.
She leaped toward the bank. Under her heel, the ice gave in. Theo, his eyes widening, reached for her and pulled her onto the firm ground.
For a few moments, they breathed, not quite in an embrace, but fallen near enough each other.
“Just like the old times,” she said.
Theo’s face darkened, and he got up, helping her to her feet. “You have the clue. Let’s leave.”
“Don’t you at least want to know what it says?”
He started walking back towards the fence. Emmeline caught up with him while she undid the string of the pouch. But there was no note inside; only three small wooden tiles, one with the letter combination PE, the second with the letter A, and the third with the letter B.
“This might be a part of a word. At least I hope it’s not another clue,” she rambled as they crossed the fence and continued down the road. “Perhaps the rest have more.”
“This is the first one you’ve done?”
“Yes. But I have some ideas for the others. One, at least, must be somewhere in Berkeley Square. Where the Silence lies low; heads will roll, trees will grow. Sebastian—that is, Lord Haverston—let me explore his library for anything I needed. I found this book on landscaping, and it says Berkeley Square is remarkable for its plane trees—”
“Those are in many parks. And areas in London.”
“Yes, but only there were they planted the year the revolution in France began. Heads will roll.”
Theo grimaced, and she remembered what she knew of his parents—his father, the revolutionary. Oh, no. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“You were only deciphering a clue. No offense taken.” They reached the place where he’d left his horse, and he jumped onto it.
“But I still have to figure out the first line. There’s no chance I’m searching through the entire square for a pouch.” She stored the pouch—and her freezing hands—back into her muff. “If I had some help—”
“I have to go,” he said. “Good luck, Emmeline.” And he nudged the horse and rode off before she could say anything.
She stayed on the road, unmoving, watching as he turned into a black spot in the distance.