Page 46 of Across Space and Time

“Never better,” Jack said, stroking his cheek gently.

Hugh leaned up to kiss him before he pulled back and gave Jack a smirk. “Well done, old chap.”

Jack didn’t think he had ever laughed so hard in his life as he did at that moment.

Chapter thirteen

The next evening, Jack disappeared over the rooftops of London to go to The Magic Shop and the portal there. Hugh watched him go with heaviness in his heart. He doubted Jack would be in much danger, but he still didn’t like the man leaving so suddenly, not only away from London, but away from Earth. Hugh already was feeling like part of him was missing as Jack vanished into the dark night like one of its many shadows.

But now he had a mission. He had to figure out how to get into Eden without being suspected. He had a pretty good idea of how to do it too, and it involved another visit to The Bull and Parasol. So, he made his way there, once again in his street clothes. Mr. Galloway greeted him with a smile. “Ah, Mr. Hugh. Back again!”

“Is Anth- I mean, Rachel available?” Hugh asked.

Mr. Galloway nodded. “Just finished with another customer, I think. She’s probably washing up.” He held out his hand, and Hugh dropped his coins into it. Mr. Galloway signaled to one of the other boys. “Take this gentleman up to see Rachel.”

Hugh followed after the other prostitute with his heart hammering. What was he getting himself into? But if this didn’t work, he didn’t know what else he could do.

Anthony had his dressing gown draped loosely over him. “Hello,” he greeted with a much sunnier smile than Hugh might have expected.

“Hello,” Hugh said, making sure the door was closed before he turned to Anthony again. “Can you sneak me into the next gathering of Eden with your group of boys?”

Anthony blinked. “Oh, not even a Bob’s your uncle, huh?”

Hugh snorted softly. “I’m sorry. But it’s very important that I go to Eden.”

“It’s not going to be safe,” Anthony replied. “Something bad might happen to you.”

“Let me worry about that,” Hugh said, placing a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “I’ll take your place. You just tell me how to do it.”

Anthony shook his head. “I can’t let you take my place.”

Hugh frowned. “Will they notice an extra person?”

Anthony gazed at him for a moment. “No. If they do, I can just say Mr. Galloway is sending a new one for free. Them fuckers won’t give a shit as long as they ain’t paying for it. Their next party is this Saturday night. We meet them at the back of the Penny Lane Pub at seven. If you can be in the back alley of the pub when we arrive at half six, I can sneak you in with me.”

Hugh nodded. “Thank you, Anthony. Hopefully we will be able to find some answers for you.”

“Did you find Alexander?” Anthony asked.

Hugh shook his head. He had looked in the police reports and death records but had found nothing from the past few weeks that seemed to be related to Alexander. “I’m sorry.”

Anthony nodded, toying with a string on his dressing gown. “Thank you for looking.”

“Have you heard of any other prostitutes going missing?” Hugh asked.

“No. I heard about Joseph and the fancy toff who ripped him apart though,” Anthony said.

“Did you know Viscount Jardin?” Hugh asked, wondering if perhaps the viscount had frequented The Bull and Parasol.

Anthony frowned. “No, I didn’t, but I heard of him. I think he frequented one of the other brothels though.” He wrinkled his nose. “Somewhere where they don’t play as nice as they do here.”

“Do you know what he was into?” Hugh asked, glad that Anthony and his friends were not in danger from the viscount any longer.

“Weird shit,” Anthony said. “I heard biting. Like, really bad. He liked to draw blood and then lick it up.”

Hugh thought about Toby with his throat ripped out, and Joseph with his insides torn apart. The viscount was gone, and the world was better off without him. Were all of the members of Eden so cruel and dangerous? Jack had said the Duke told him the Waking was supposed to be confined to Eden. But what if it wasn’t, and there were more creatures like the viscount running around the dark streets? And what was happening at Eden anyway? Were the strange creatures on the streets abnormal reactions to the Tree’s powers?

Hugh had taken himself to one of the public libraries to look at information about apple trees. He had learned that they took six to ten years to grow, and then they usually only produced fruit every other year. If the Tree fruited two years ago in 1888, Hugh wondered if perhaps that had been the origin of Jack the Ripper and why there had not been similar cases last year. Unfortunately, without knowing exactly what the effects of the apples were and who the Ripper was, it was only speculation. But the brutality and timeline made sense. And that made him especially concerned that they needed to find out what was happening and put a stop to it; if the public found out that there was another Ripper-like murderer out there, there would be sheer bloody panic in the streets. “I’ll be there on Saturday,” he promised Anthony. “No matter what. We’re going to end this.”

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