Page 62 of Across Space and Time

Adam smirked at him, his lipless mouth curling back to expose his fangs. “Not today, Constable.” He turned and took a supernatural leap across the third-class carriage roof to the roof of the second, landing on it on all fours to steady himself.

Jack growled softly, enough for Hugh to feel it against his back where he was still pressed to Jack for balance. “I’ll get him. Hold on.”

Jack let go of Hugh and took a running leap across to the next car’s roof like Adam had. Hugh saw him land, but he realized in a moment of panic that Adam was gone, no longer on the roof of any of the train cars. Had he leaped off the train?

A diamond-shaped head with glowing, violet eyes popped up in the gap between the cars, focused on him. Adam smirked viciously, his fangs glinting in the early-morning sunlight. His tail lashed as he pulled himself back onto the third-class carriage roof, then lunged at Hugh. Claws came at him, and all Hugh could picture were the five deep gashes in Christopher’s body. He stumbled backward but lost his footing as the train rumbled along the tracks. He tried to steady himself, to grab for anything, but there was nothing but air around him. He pitched off the side of the roof with a yell, expecting the next moment to be an impact with the hard ground that would break every bone in his body, and he wondered for just a moment if there would be enough left of him to bury.

He hit something, but it was not the ground. His shoulder impacted what felt like a chest. There was a sudden jolt before the momentum of his body changed directions entirely, and he found himself flying upward again, Jack’s arms around him. They landed on the roof of the third-class carriage, and Hugh almost melted into the arms that held him. “Jack!” he gasped.

Jack gazed down at him with concern. “Hugh, you’re bleeding.” He pointed to Hugh’s neck.

That was when the pain hit him. Hugh realized that Adam’s claws must have caught the side of his throat when he slashed at him. He clapped a hand to his neck, and it came away streaked with bright red blood. It didn’t seem like it was that deep of a cut, but he remembered Dr. Ledbetter saying that the neck was such a fragile structure, considering it was used to balance the head and the brain. He realized too that his shirt collar was already soaked with blood.

Jack quickly whipped out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and pressed it to Hugh’s neck. “Hold that,” he said.

“I don’t think he hit anything important,” Hugh said, pressing the handkerchief firmly to the wound.

“If he did, you would have bled out by now. We shall get you to a hospital as soon as this blasted locomotive stops,” Jack said firmly.

Hugh nodded, then let out a yelp as something landed only a few feet from them on the carriage roof. Adam sneered through his fangs. His tail lashed out and almost struck Hugh in the chest, but Jack blocked it with his own body, a vicious growl emanating from him. He grabbed the tail with his iron claws and yanked. The scaly flesh shredded beneath them, and Adam screamed. Jack grappled with Adam, trying to sink his claws into the serpent’s flesh, and Adam was trying to do the same.

Something loomed in the distance, coming up fast, and it took Hugh a moment to realize what it was. A stone train tunnel. He didn’t know much about the construction of tunnels, but he had to imagine that there was not nearly seven feet of clearance from the roof of the train to the underside of the tunnel. “Jack!” he yelled, not even sure if Jack could hear him over the rushing wind and Adam’s snarling hisses.

“Get down!” Jack said sharply to Hugh. Hugh didn’t even think, just threw himself face-first down on the roof of the car, clinging to one of the metal pieces there. He glanced up through his eyebrows from his prone position just in time to see Adam in front of him. And then Adam was suddenly gone. Hugh felt something splatter over him like hot raindrops as he was plunged into darkness, feeling the closeness of the railroad tunnel over him. He felt panic rise in his chest. He wanted to lift his head to find Jack, but he didn’t dare move any further until they were out of the tunnel. Had Jack laid down prone like he had? Or had he too been standing when the train entered the tunnel and been struck by the overhang as Adam was? The thought made his stomach rise. Surely Jack couldn’t be dead.

It rapidly grew lighter, and then the train was out of the tunnel. Hugh lifted his head, then almost wept for joy when he saw Jack crouched two cars ahead of him on the roof. An instant later, Jack was by his side, helping him up. “Where did you come from?” Hugh asked.

Jack drew a half circle with his arm. “From one car, across the tunnel, to land on the other.”

Hugh blinked, then laughed. “You really are Spring-Heeled Jack.”

“Indeed,” Jack said with a grin. “Are you all right?”

Hugh nodded. “Yes. Though I would be very grateful to get off of this train roof.”

Jack wrapped his arms around him. “The station is coming up, looks like another mile or two, we’ll get there soon. And then we’ll get you to a hospital.”

“You’ll be seen,” Hugh said with a frown.

“I’m not worried about that,” Jack replied, holding him close. “With Dame Luck on our side, all of England will know about the paranormal monsters that have been killing people.”

“Were all the apples from the Tree destroyed?” Hugh asked.

Jack nodded firmly. “Yes. I made sure to get everything in that area, before the fire brigade could get that deep into the orchard.”

Hugh felt the train suddenly begin to incrementally slow beneath them. “Adam and the Duke are gone. That still leaves the other members of Eden. But without the apples, they shouldn’t be able to transform.”

Jack looked relieved. “Indeed. If we can identify them, we can punish them for their dastardly misdeeds.”

Hugh frowned darkly. “Without evidence, we won’t be able to charge them. And I highly doubt a court of law will believe in magic apples that wake vileness inside of people.”

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. “You have to work within the confines of the law you are sworn to uphold,” he said before an almost maniacal grin split his face. “But I do not.”

“What are you saying?” Hugh asked, already sure he knew where this was going.

“You do your job,” Jack replied. “But if they are able to circumvent justice, well… They just might receive a visit from Spring-Heeled Jack.”

Hugh thought about that for a moment. “But only people we know are guilty.”

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