Page 61 of Across Space and Time

“Same,” Hugh replied. He nodded toward the corpse that was completely alight with blue and white flames, reminiscent of the viscount only a short time ago. “The Duke is dead.”

“Well done, old chap!” Jack said, giving Hugh a slap on the back, and Hugh laughed.

Flames were nearly all around them and lit up the early morning sky as bright as midday, the golden-glowing Tree now completely alight, the flames spreading outward from the broken fence to the rest of the orchard. “Where would Adam be headed, do you think?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know,” Hugh said.

Anthony glanced in the direction Jack had pointed earlier. “Isn’t the train station that way?”

Hugh groaned. Anthony was right, and there was always an early-morning train departure. “Dammit. If he’s able to get on that train, he’ll disappear.”

“Scarlet stardust. We need to go after him then,” Jack said with a dramatic sigh before his head cocked. “What is that noise?”

It took Hugh a moment to hear it, but after a moment he registered a distant clanging sound. He thought for a moment might be the train, but it was coming from the opposite direction. He realized with a bit of relief that it was the fire brigade bell. By this point, he wasn’t sure how much they could do to save the orchard, but hopefully they could stop the fire before it got too out of control and hurt the estate’s servants or other people who lived in the area. He handed the pistol to Anthony. “Take this just in case. The fire brigade is coming. Tell them you were being kept prisoner here, and you need to speak to Constable Rezal Depesh of the Metro Police.”

“Where are you going?” Anthony asked, his icy eyes wide.

“We need to catch Adam.” Hugh didn’t have time to explain, but he knew if Adam disappeared, he was going to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. And the Duke was dead. Someone needed to be brought to justice for all of those murdered and mutilated people, including Christopher.

Anthony nodded, pulling the cape tighter around him. Hugh leaned in to give him a quick hug, which Anthony returned. Jack pointed in the direction of the depot. “You head that way, Hugh. I’ll make sure Anthony gets to safety and that all the apples are destroyed, and then I’ll join you.”

Hugh nodded and turned to run through the orchard in the direction of the train station. Dawn was approaching; the early-morning train would be leaving very soon. He burst out of the orchard to see the serpent-like form of Adam down on all fours, running down the hill toward the depot. If he at least made sure Adam got on the train, he would know where the man was headed next. He ran down the path after him, kicking up dirt that clung to his sweaty skin as he did.

He could see a cloud of smoke rising in the distance from the train station. He came over a ridge and slowed to a stop. The rest of the way to the train was downhill, but he could not run down the hill at the speed he was at; he would trip and break his neck. But he could see Adam approaching the train platform fast. The train whistled again before it gave a great shudder, its wheels beginning to move.

Adam raised himself back up to two legs, shoving several people out of his way. The departing train was just starting to pick up speed as it reached the end of the platform. Adam took a leap that Hugh was almost certain would fail, but he grabbed the railing of the train and hauled himself up and over the railing like a monkey. He turned to watch the estate recede as the train continued to chug relentlessly on, and Hugh could see his lipless mouth curl up in a smirk at him. Hugh let out a breath of frustration.

Jack suddenly appeared by his side. “Where is Adam?”

Hugh pointed to the train in the distance. “He jumped aboard there. We’re going to have to try to beat the train to the next station in order to get him.”

Jack raised a brow. “Oh, no, we do not,” he said. He held out his arms.

Hugh blinked, then grinned and wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck. Jack scooped him up, holding him to his chest. The wind was suddenly whipping by them. Hugh held tightly to him as Jack navigated the hill like it was nothing, then onto the train tracks, the world going by in a blur.

His stomach rose and fell as Jack leaped, and suddenly they were on the platform of the back of the train where Adam had pulled himself aboard. Jack set Hugh carefully on his feet. “All right?”

Hugh nodded. Adam was not on the platform anymore, which meant that he likely had ducked inside the carriage. “Yes. Wait here, I’ll try to chase him out toward you.”

Jack stuck out his lip in a pout. “You get to have all the fun.”

Hugh snorted softly. “Yes, that is exactly what it is,” he said before opening the door to the third-class passenger car and stepping inside.

The passengers were all seated, talking or reading or napping, though many of them looked up in surprise as Hugh entered the car. That made Hugh worry just a bit. Adam had still been in his vile form when he leaped aboard the platform, and Hugh had no idea how long it would take for the apple to wear off. Adam could be either in his human form or still in his strange chimerical form. He didn’t see him in his human form in any of the seats, and a half-serpent man crawling on the ground under them would certainly have drawn attention. But there was no door at the other end of the car for him to have gone through, and, even if he had, there was no way for him to easily pass between the third-class and second-class carriages. No one looked panicked either, like Hugh would expect people to be if a strange creature had come running through their midst. Had Adam not come into the car at all? Had he jumped off of the moving train somewhere along the way before he and Jack had been able to catch up to it?

A scrambling sound came from above his head, and Hugh looked up, but he saw nothing except the wooden ceiling of the carriage before realization dawned. Adam was on the roof. He nudged past several passengers, who made offended sounds, to stick his head out the open carriage windows to look up.

Adam suddenly swung down through the open window next to him, throwing himself in across the bodies of several passengers. Hugh turned to him, then was nearly trampled by a wave of people scrambling to the back of the car as passengers screamed and ran from the serpent-like monster crouched in the aisle at the front of the carriage. His tail lashed like a whip, catching Hugh across the waist and sending him spinning into a row of benches. He landed across the knees of several passengers. Adam dashed past him. “Move!” he snarled in a voice more animal than man. There was another massive scramble of bodies as people tried to get out of the way of the single door of the carriage.

Hugh pushed himself up, his torso throbbing from where Adam’s tail had struck him. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled to the couple whose laps he had just become familiar with before he tried to push his way back through the crowd toward the door. The door to the outer platform slammed closed. Hugh wondered if Adam had just run out of the carriage and straight into the arms of Spring-Heeled Jack. He could only hope.

Hugh threw open the door to the back platform of the train. The platform was empty. A scrambling noise above his head made him look up just in time to see a pair of well-tailored shoes and a thin tail disappear onto the roof of the car.

Hugh muttered a few unbecoming curses. There were shouts from above, and then Jack was suddenly perched on the railing, as he grinned at Hugh. “He’s on the roof,” Hugh gasped, startled but also relieved at Jack’s sudden appearance.

“I know,” Jack replied before grabbing Hugh and pulling him in against his chest. Hugh’s feet left the ground before alighting a moment later on the roof of the third-class car. Hugh clutched Jack tightly. The spectre was a pillar of strength and sturdiness on the moving train as the wind whipped past them at what had to be fifty miles an hour. He turned in Jack’s arms to see Adam at the other end of the carriage roof. His tail lashed back and forth, his violet and scarlet eyes full of murderous rage.

Hugh held up his hands. “Adam. There’s nowhere to run. You’re under arrest.”

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