I squeezed harder. “Thank heavens you’re all right,” I said, half-considering holding on forever. “You’re safe.”
“And you,” her muffled voice came back. I released her and checked again to be entirely sure she wasn’t a figment of my rather active imagination. No, it was certainly her. She gave me a weak smile and quickly darted her eyes away, shifting the attention to Catherine.
“Catherine did it all. She kept us safe and found the newspaper listing.”
I scrambled into the carriage, pulling Sebastian after me and unleashing my hug upon Catherine next, crushing her spectacles into my neck. “Thank you for being your brilliant self.”
“I’m just glad we saw the Agony Column listing,” she replied, but she was looking at Sebastian, who settled next to me, stiffly pushing himself into the corner as far away from the other carriage occupants as humanly possible.
All of them were eyeing him, actually. Mr. Kent gestured at Catherine to shove over so it was the three of them on one side, Sebastian and me on the other. I made a show of grabbing his hand firmly and forcing them to meet my eyes. If I couldn’t even convince my friends of Sebastian’s innocence, we would have no chance against the rest of the world.
In the tense silence, Mr. Kent reached up and tapped the carriage ceiling. We began to roll forward, and that’s when I noticed it wasn’t as full as it should have been.
“Where is Laura? Emily? Miss Chen?” I asked. “Are they—”
“They are safe,” Mr. Kent assured me. “I sent them ahead in a separate carriage in case something went wrong here.”
“Sent them ahead where?” I asked. “Do you … already have a plan for Captain Goode?”
Everyone in the carriage half looked at me with a sort of awkwardness, like there was something they didn’t want to tell me.
Finally, Mr. Kent cleared his throat. “I sent them to the train station, Miss Wyndham. Our plan for Captain Goode is getting ourselves out of London and as far away as possible.”
I stared at them, half expecting it to be a very strange joke. “But … we have to stop him.”
Rose’s mouth puckered, and Catherine sighed.
“We don’t know that he will do anything else,” Mr. Kent said.
“Of course we do—”
“The only thing we do know,” Rose said, her voice quivering a little, “is that he plans to find us.”
My angry response died in my throat. His message on our home.
“You saw it?” I asked.
Rose and Catherine nodded at the same time, little jerks of their heads that made it clear they wished they had seen nothing.
“The only smart option is to join Catherine’s aunt in Liverpool.” Mr. Kent looked so tired. But to run? Let Captain Goode live without paying for what he had done?
“We are not running away from this murderous, evil … murderer!”
“I did not suggest running. I told you, we are taking a train.” Mr. Kent’s poor attempt at a jest landed heavily, ignored by everyone.
“Evelyn, it isn’t safe for us here.” Rose’s voice was thin with worry.
“What would you want us to do if we stayed?” Catherine’s practical firmness felt somehow frustrating now.
“We are going to kill him,” I said evenly. Just the thought of watching Captain Goode choke for air, begging for mercy and receiving none, eased some of the pain that threatened to bubble over into hysteria.
The carriage’s occupants all frowned at my proclamation. Except Sebastian, who was staring out the window, not following along at all.
“Lovely idea, but how are we going to do that?” Mr. Kent said.
“Bare hands,” I offered blithely. That was my favorite on the list.
“We don’t even know where he is,” Catherine pointed out in that annoyingly correct way.
“We’ll follow the trail of bodies. There are only going to be more.” I turned to Rose, looking at her beseechingly. How were they all so calm? So ready to run with our tails tucked?
“We don’t know that. And what about … him?” Rose did not—it seemed would not—look at Sebastian, but her meaning was clear.
“He can borrow Mr. Kent’s disguise.” Really, why was everyone so focused on these trivial little things?
“Evelyn, there are notices all over the city.” Catherine’s voice was beginning to grate.
“So we will kill Captain Goode today and make sure the whole country knows it was he who killed our friends and family. Not Sebastian.” I glared at them to make the point clearer.
“We all know it was not Mr. Braddock’s fault.” Surprisingly, that came from Mr. Kent, who was looking at Sebastian almost gently.
Catherine nodded in agreement. “And we want to do everything to help.”
“Exactly. And that means making Captain Goode pay. He is entirely responsible,” I continued evenly, ignoring the voice that told me this wasn’t quite truthful.
No one seemed to guess, though.
Except Rose, who knew the truth about that night. She looked down at her lap, avoiding my eyes. She knew what I had chosen. Whom I had chosen.
London was flying by outside the windows, and I didn’t have long to persuade my friends to stay and fight.
“What do you propose as the alternative? We simply leave and never come back?” Perhaps I could persuade them not to leave, rather than to stay.
“My aunt can take us in until we decide what to do further,” Catherine said. “And if necessary—”
“We cross the Atlantic and hide forever in America?” I scoffed.
“No. We take a little bit of time to be rational,” Catherine answered, her eyes narrowing slightly as I challenged her admittedly sound plan.
“We have to find a way to clear Sebastian’s name,” I tried again.
“And we will. From a safe distance. In Liverpool,” Mr. Kent rebuffed me. Rose’s lips were drawn tight, and Catherine was still faintly glaring. I gestured at Sebastian.
“How can you think to let Captain Goode blame Sebastian for this? If we don’t tell the world that a murderer used him entirely against his will, he will not get to have a normal life!”
“No one is saying we leave forever!” Rose cried, looking at me pleadingly. And I so badly wanted to listen to her. Whether it was my sister’s power at work or just her deep unhappiness, I softened some.
“I want to go.” Sebastian’s voice barely made it across the carriage.
I snapped my head to him in surprise. His first words in three days. He still wasn’t looking at me or anyone else.
“You want to leave?” Rose sounded as surprised as I felt.
Sebastian nodded, his hair falling in front of his eyes.
Mr. Kent stamped his cane a little, and Catherine’s hands clapped together briskly.
“Good. Settled just in time. For we are here.”
I searched for words as everyone piled out at Victoria Station, the bustling center that could take us anywhere. The last time I was here, I’d come from Bramhurst searching for Rose. Now, I had her back by my side at the cost of so many other people I loved.
This felt so wrong, so terribly wrong to be leaving, but no one else seemed to agree. That Sebastian and Rose both wanted this … I swallowed my dread back. Maybe they just needed a day or two. Maybe I just needed to find the right argument.
Mr. Kent paid our driver and gestured down the street. “The others should be just this way.”
He hurried a little ways from the station, down a smaller adjacent street. A carriage waited there, curtains drawn. Mr. Kent gave it three rhythmic knocks and the door clicked open. Only when he saw the carriage occupants did his shoulders relax a little.
Miss Chen was the first to step out. She looked paler than usual, but still calm. I would never guess just by looking at her that she had been through all the horrors of the past three days.
“Miss Wyndham.” She nodded a little at me, her arm held stiffly in front of her. “If you wouldn’t mind, I very much need you to heal my arm.”
I looked more closely. It was indeed held at a very strange angle, and I quickly took her hand, shaking my head. “I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner.”
She grimaced lightly. “I’ve been in worse pain. Not much worse, but some.”