Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The
Lost World. However, I do own Isabella Roxton, Layton and Jane Malone,
Nathaniel Woods, Jacobi, and the hired help in the Roxton house. I may or
may not own others in the story. To be on the safe side, anyone you don't
recognize is most likely mine.
Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm back once again with the third installment of Isabella's story. This one picks up about a year and a half after the events of Still Searching, in which Isabella finally found her happy ending. It is the Plateau, however, and things cannot stay perfect for long. The chance the older explorers have been waiting for for a lifetime has come and it is rocking their children's worlds.
"Look at this," sixteen-year-old Isabella Elizabeth Roxton sighed, surveying the town of New London that she had come to call home over the years. "It's so lovely, Layton."
She wore a soft blue sundress that almost matched the nearly blue gray of her eyes and her skin was pleasantly without a scratch and lightly tanned from her life in the Lost World. Looking at her, Layton Malone could almost forget that a year and a half ago she was a bruised and battered little girl. None of that sadness lingered over her any more. Isabella was a bright, beautiful, and charming young woman, and she was his, sometimes.
"You are," the fifteen year old smiled, not even looking at the scenery she was pointing to.
"Oh Layton," she laughed and kissed his cheek briefly, "Always a charmer."
Layton may have been a year younger, but when she had stopped growing at fifteen he'd kept growing and was still growing. Already he was a head taller than she was and his once lanky frame was filling out with muscles earned from chasing Isabella all over the Plateau.
He placed an arm around her waist. "We better head back. Our parents will wonder where we have been off to."
"Okay," she relented, smiling exquisitely.
Layton leaned in for a kiss, but she ducked out of his arms playfully. Lifting her skirt she took off, turning around to grin and wink at him as she ran. He laughed and took off after her, racing her back to where their horses were tied. They were close enough to the town that horses weren't necessary, but they decided their mounts had needed a good run.
Isabella won, mostly due to her head start since Layton was just as fast, if not faster, than she was. Regaining control of her breath, she swung up onto Riptide as he mounted Abby. She kneed her gelding to come along side his mare.
"I guess you'll be wanting that kiss," she teased, leaning in to press her lips lightly to his.
Riptide stirred and walked forward a few steps, nearly making his mistress fall off and pulling her from her lip lock.
Layton laughed, his blue eyes bright with merriment. "I don't think he likes me kissing you."
"You weren't," Isabella ribbed, turning Riptide back towards New London. "I was kissing you."
"Yes, ma'am," Layton sighed, kicking Abby after her with a contented beam on his face.
They rode through the meadows of the clearing and were approaching the peak of the hill to head down towards the hamlet when the rumbling began. The horses started to spook, but the young riders had enough experience to easily settle them down.
"Thunder?" asked Layton.
"No, there is barely a cloud in the sky, besides those at the edge of the Plateau."
"The prison wall, as your mother calls it."
"Right. So what is it? A really gigantic dinosaur? This close to New London?"
"I doubt it," Layton said rather distractedly, edging Abby to where he could see over the entire valley. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the large balloon-like structure rose from the valley floor. "I'm guessing that's it, Bella!"
"No, really, Layton?" Isabella yelled back sarcastically, calming her horse.
"Hello, Mr. Malone, Miss Roxton!" a very familiar voice called from the rising vessel.
"Professor Challenger?!" Isabella nearly screamed to be heard over the roar of the craft's engines.
The white haired, time worn, kindly face of George Challenger appeared from the doorway of the cabin area of his newest creation.
"Professor! What is this?" Layton shouted.
"A dirigible, Mr. Malone!"
"A what?!" Isabella questioned.
"Our way home, Isabella!"
"Home, Professor? New London is just down the hill. We don't need this thing," Layton countered, a confused look appearing on his face.
"No, Layton, my boy, not New London. The real London!"
Both children stood in shock, their eyes wide in surprise and puzzlement.
"Go tell your parents that they are going home! Nathaniel and I are taking this thing on a test ride."
Nathaniel Woods, Isabella's young charge, stuck his reddish blond head out next to the professor. Over the past year, the seven year old had become the professor's young apprentice, learning everything he could and assisting him in his experiments.
"Hi Isabella!"
Isabella merely waved and smiled lightly as the airship set off towards the south.
"Well, if that isn't an interesting turn of events," Layton remarked when the droning had died down.
"You can say that again. Let's go get our parents." She triggered Riptide into a canter and hurried her way back to New London.
~*~*~
"Good afternoon, Lady Isabella," Charles, the stable boy, greeted as he caught the reins Isabella threw at him in her hurry.
"Charles, could you take Abby as well for a bit?" Layton asked the thirteen year old as he trotted up behind Isabella, who was now dismounting.
"Of course," Charles answered kindly, taking a hold of the mare's bridle and gently stroking her long nose as Riptide stamped impatiently. It was easy to see that the horses were matched to their riders' temperaments.
"Thank you!" Isabella called over her shoulder as she jogged up to the Roxton home.
Layton clapped the boy on the back and took off after her.
"What are you doing back so early?" her mother asked as Isabella plopped down next to her on the couch in the sitting room and dropped a kiss on her cheek.
"Professor Challenger stopped us out on our ride."
"In what?" Marguerite Roxton questioned of her nearly grown up daughter.
"A dirigible," she said rather calmly, waiting for her mother's response. Lady Roxton's gray eyes widened in surprise, looking over to Layton to confirm the story. Layton nodded with a grin.
"That was the surprise your father has been talking about! Supposedly the Professor was planning for it to be done a year ago."
"Nathan-boy said they had trouble finding parts for whatever the Professor's newest invention was, but he wouldn't give any details," Isabella mused.
"This means we're going home," Marguerite observed in a hushed, awed voice.
"But, Mum," Isabella started, "I am home."
Marguerite stopped and gave her daughter a rather confused look.
"But Isabella, it's London! We can take you to Paris and Madrid and Rome. All over the rest of the world. There is so much more to the world beyond those damned clouds."
"Shanghai?" Isabella questioned with a light grin as she began to realize the potential of getting off of the Plateau, if only for a little bit.
"Well, I don't know about that," Marguerite frowned then continued with a smile, "But maybe Hong Kong."
"Professor Challenger said to come tell our parents," Layton hinted to Isabella that he wanted her to come with him to his house.
"I'll tell John, you two go get Ned and Veronica. Bring them over here. This calls for celebration."
The teenagers nodded and took off in the direction of the Malone household.
~*~*~
"Wow, George, it's huge. Does it fly?"
"My dear Marguerite, of course it flies! How did you like it, Nathaniel?" George Edward Challenger sounded rather offended.
"It was so cool, Uncle John!"
"I believe you've been spending too much time with Finn, Nathan-boy," Lord John Roxton smirked at the young boy.
Nathaniel wrinkled his brow in question but everyone just laughed and went back to looking over the airship.
"How did you get the cabin so large, Challenger?" the always inquiring Ned Malone asked.
"I used the same principles of a normal airship and just increased the proportions. There was a lot of tweaking."
"A lot!" his apprentice echoed.
"But how did you hide something this large from us? And for so long?" Ned's wife Veronica questioned.
"Obviously all of the clutter you called junk in my lab was serving a purpose," Challenger responded.
The adults laughed and kept talking about arrangements, boring the four younger members of the group. Isabella motioned for Layton, his little sister Jane, and Nathan to follow her. She walked around the tethered blimp, surveying its size and make before hopping into it.
"Nathan, show us around," she commanded, though gently. There was no question she had long been the leader of this group.
Young Mr. Woods made a proud show of the cargo bay and bench seats against the walls around the passenger compartment in the aircraft he had assisted in building.
"How many people can you fit, Nathan?"
"Professor Challenger says it is de-de-," he struggled for the word his teacher had used. "Dependent! Yeah, dependent! It's dependent on how much stuff we bring."
Isabella nodded musingly, surveying her surroundings and seeing a door towards the bow of the dirigible. "What's that Nathan-boy?"
"Isabella, what are you thinking?" Layton murmured in her ear, seeing the look she was getting in her eye which meant she had a plan.
"How much fun I'm going to have torturing you by not telling you what I'm really thinking?" she smirked, winking at him.
"That's the cockpit, Bella," Nathan answered her question.
"What's in the cockpit?" eleven year old Jane Malone queried.
"The pilot's buttons and levers. And the steering wheel," Nathaniel responded, enjoying the attention he was receiving and how smart he sounded.
"Can we go in?" Isabella asked taking a step towards the door.
"No, no, no," Nathan's baby blue eyes widened in fear. "We're not allowed in without an adult. Too dangerous."
Isabella sighed, but didn't want Nathaniel to get in trouble.
"Okay, Nathan-boy, I won't go in. We might as well go. C'mon, Jane-dear," she called to the younger Malone who had wandered towards the stern.
Jane raised her blond head at her name and joined the group. Isabella jumped out first, surprising the parents who hadn't realized they had wandered off. Layton handed Jane and Nathan down to her before dropping beside her.
"So, how was it?" Finn asked. "Pretty cool?"
Nathaniel giggled. "Yes, very cool!"
Veronica rolled her eyes at the antics of the baby sister in their "family". "Does it look comfortable?"
"It'll do," Isabella responded, a tiny air of disdain in her voice.
Roxton laughed out loud. "Her mother's daughter."
Marguerite hit Roxton's arm.
"Here, I'll give the adults the tour now," Challenger announced, "Since Nathaniel already gave it to the children."
"Are you sure you don't have that the wrong way around?" Isabella quipped.
The adults started into the airship, all except Veronica.
"Are you okay, Mom?" Layton asked, walking up behind her and laying a hand on her shoulder. He towered over both his mother and father and no one was quite sure where he got his height from.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. This is all just a little sudden, you know?"
"You don't want to go," Isabella read through her.
"I have the Plateau to think about. I've never really wanted to get out of here. I thought they had stopped trying to get off."
"Professor Challenger says we can come back if we don't like it. Don't you want to meet Uncle Ned's parents and family?"
Before Veronica could answer Isabella, the adults returned from their tour.
"Veronica, you should see it in there! It's humongous! Plenty of space for people and the luggage," Malone exclaimed to his wife, who offered a forced smile.
"I agree with Isabella, not exactly a luxury liner, but it will do," Marguerite commented, joining the other two Roxtons.
"That's what we expected, Marguerite," John teased, ducking behind Isabella to dodge her smack this time.
"You two are becoming more alike every day," Finn laughed, motioning to mother and daughter Roxton.
Isabella wrinkled her nose. "I don't want to be like her."
"Isabella!" Marguerite cried in disbelief. Unlike Lord Roxton, Isabella did not get as much playful physical retaliation; she was still a little hand shy when it came to things like that. "You're as bad as your father."
"I don't want to be like him, either," Bella giggled, running off in the direction of New London.
Layton, Jane, and Nathan followed suit and ran after her.
"She's in quite a mood," Challenger commented.
"Back to her old playful self, in some ways," Roxton replied, "She doesn't have nearly as much to worry about any more."
Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm back once again with the third installment of Isabella's story. This one picks up about a year and a half after the events of Still Searching, in which Isabella finally found her happy ending. It is the Plateau, however, and things cannot stay perfect for long. The chance the older explorers have been waiting for for a lifetime has come and it is rocking their children's worlds.
"Look at this," sixteen-year-old Isabella Elizabeth Roxton sighed, surveying the town of New London that she had come to call home over the years. "It's so lovely, Layton."
She wore a soft blue sundress that almost matched the nearly blue gray of her eyes and her skin was pleasantly without a scratch and lightly tanned from her life in the Lost World. Looking at her, Layton Malone could almost forget that a year and a half ago she was a bruised and battered little girl. None of that sadness lingered over her any more. Isabella was a bright, beautiful, and charming young woman, and she was his, sometimes.
"You are," the fifteen year old smiled, not even looking at the scenery she was pointing to.
"Oh Layton," she laughed and kissed his cheek briefly, "Always a charmer."
Layton may have been a year younger, but when she had stopped growing at fifteen he'd kept growing and was still growing. Already he was a head taller than she was and his once lanky frame was filling out with muscles earned from chasing Isabella all over the Plateau.
He placed an arm around her waist. "We better head back. Our parents will wonder where we have been off to."
"Okay," she relented, smiling exquisitely.
Layton leaned in for a kiss, but she ducked out of his arms playfully. Lifting her skirt she took off, turning around to grin and wink at him as she ran. He laughed and took off after her, racing her back to where their horses were tied. They were close enough to the town that horses weren't necessary, but they decided their mounts had needed a good run.
Isabella won, mostly due to her head start since Layton was just as fast, if not faster, than she was. Regaining control of her breath, she swung up onto Riptide as he mounted Abby. She kneed her gelding to come along side his mare.
"I guess you'll be wanting that kiss," she teased, leaning in to press her lips lightly to his.
Riptide stirred and walked forward a few steps, nearly making his mistress fall off and pulling her from her lip lock.
Layton laughed, his blue eyes bright with merriment. "I don't think he likes me kissing you."
"You weren't," Isabella ribbed, turning Riptide back towards New London. "I was kissing you."
"Yes, ma'am," Layton sighed, kicking Abby after her with a contented beam on his face.
They rode through the meadows of the clearing and were approaching the peak of the hill to head down towards the hamlet when the rumbling began. The horses started to spook, but the young riders had enough experience to easily settle them down.
"Thunder?" asked Layton.
"No, there is barely a cloud in the sky, besides those at the edge of the Plateau."
"The prison wall, as your mother calls it."
"Right. So what is it? A really gigantic dinosaur? This close to New London?"
"I doubt it," Layton said rather distractedly, edging Abby to where he could see over the entire valley. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the large balloon-like structure rose from the valley floor. "I'm guessing that's it, Bella!"
"No, really, Layton?" Isabella yelled back sarcastically, calming her horse.
"Hello, Mr. Malone, Miss Roxton!" a very familiar voice called from the rising vessel.
"Professor Challenger?!" Isabella nearly screamed to be heard over the roar of the craft's engines.
The white haired, time worn, kindly face of George Challenger appeared from the doorway of the cabin area of his newest creation.
"Professor! What is this?" Layton shouted.
"A dirigible, Mr. Malone!"
"A what?!" Isabella questioned.
"Our way home, Isabella!"
"Home, Professor? New London is just down the hill. We don't need this thing," Layton countered, a confused look appearing on his face.
"No, Layton, my boy, not New London. The real London!"
Both children stood in shock, their eyes wide in surprise and puzzlement.
"Go tell your parents that they are going home! Nathaniel and I are taking this thing on a test ride."
Nathaniel Woods, Isabella's young charge, stuck his reddish blond head out next to the professor. Over the past year, the seven year old had become the professor's young apprentice, learning everything he could and assisting him in his experiments.
"Hi Isabella!"
Isabella merely waved and smiled lightly as the airship set off towards the south.
"Well, if that isn't an interesting turn of events," Layton remarked when the droning had died down.
"You can say that again. Let's go get our parents." She triggered Riptide into a canter and hurried her way back to New London.
~*~*~
"Good afternoon, Lady Isabella," Charles, the stable boy, greeted as he caught the reins Isabella threw at him in her hurry.
"Charles, could you take Abby as well for a bit?" Layton asked the thirteen year old as he trotted up behind Isabella, who was now dismounting.
"Of course," Charles answered kindly, taking a hold of the mare's bridle and gently stroking her long nose as Riptide stamped impatiently. It was easy to see that the horses were matched to their riders' temperaments.
"Thank you!" Isabella called over her shoulder as she jogged up to the Roxton home.
Layton clapped the boy on the back and took off after her.
"What are you doing back so early?" her mother asked as Isabella plopped down next to her on the couch in the sitting room and dropped a kiss on her cheek.
"Professor Challenger stopped us out on our ride."
"In what?" Marguerite Roxton questioned of her nearly grown up daughter.
"A dirigible," she said rather calmly, waiting for her mother's response. Lady Roxton's gray eyes widened in surprise, looking over to Layton to confirm the story. Layton nodded with a grin.
"That was the surprise your father has been talking about! Supposedly the Professor was planning for it to be done a year ago."
"Nathan-boy said they had trouble finding parts for whatever the Professor's newest invention was, but he wouldn't give any details," Isabella mused.
"This means we're going home," Marguerite observed in a hushed, awed voice.
"But, Mum," Isabella started, "I am home."
Marguerite stopped and gave her daughter a rather confused look.
"But Isabella, it's London! We can take you to Paris and Madrid and Rome. All over the rest of the world. There is so much more to the world beyond those damned clouds."
"Shanghai?" Isabella questioned with a light grin as she began to realize the potential of getting off of the Plateau, if only for a little bit.
"Well, I don't know about that," Marguerite frowned then continued with a smile, "But maybe Hong Kong."
"Professor Challenger said to come tell our parents," Layton hinted to Isabella that he wanted her to come with him to his house.
"I'll tell John, you two go get Ned and Veronica. Bring them over here. This calls for celebration."
The teenagers nodded and took off in the direction of the Malone household.
~*~*~
"Wow, George, it's huge. Does it fly?"
"My dear Marguerite, of course it flies! How did you like it, Nathaniel?" George Edward Challenger sounded rather offended.
"It was so cool, Uncle John!"
"I believe you've been spending too much time with Finn, Nathan-boy," Lord John Roxton smirked at the young boy.
Nathaniel wrinkled his brow in question but everyone just laughed and went back to looking over the airship.
"How did you get the cabin so large, Challenger?" the always inquiring Ned Malone asked.
"I used the same principles of a normal airship and just increased the proportions. There was a lot of tweaking."
"A lot!" his apprentice echoed.
"But how did you hide something this large from us? And for so long?" Ned's wife Veronica questioned.
"Obviously all of the clutter you called junk in my lab was serving a purpose," Challenger responded.
The adults laughed and kept talking about arrangements, boring the four younger members of the group. Isabella motioned for Layton, his little sister Jane, and Nathan to follow her. She walked around the tethered blimp, surveying its size and make before hopping into it.
"Nathan, show us around," she commanded, though gently. There was no question she had long been the leader of this group.
Young Mr. Woods made a proud show of the cargo bay and bench seats against the walls around the passenger compartment in the aircraft he had assisted in building.
"How many people can you fit, Nathan?"
"Professor Challenger says it is de-de-," he struggled for the word his teacher had used. "Dependent! Yeah, dependent! It's dependent on how much stuff we bring."
Isabella nodded musingly, surveying her surroundings and seeing a door towards the bow of the dirigible. "What's that Nathan-boy?"
"Isabella, what are you thinking?" Layton murmured in her ear, seeing the look she was getting in her eye which meant she had a plan.
"How much fun I'm going to have torturing you by not telling you what I'm really thinking?" she smirked, winking at him.
"That's the cockpit, Bella," Nathan answered her question.
"What's in the cockpit?" eleven year old Jane Malone queried.
"The pilot's buttons and levers. And the steering wheel," Nathaniel responded, enjoying the attention he was receiving and how smart he sounded.
"Can we go in?" Isabella asked taking a step towards the door.
"No, no, no," Nathan's baby blue eyes widened in fear. "We're not allowed in without an adult. Too dangerous."
Isabella sighed, but didn't want Nathaniel to get in trouble.
"Okay, Nathan-boy, I won't go in. We might as well go. C'mon, Jane-dear," she called to the younger Malone who had wandered towards the stern.
Jane raised her blond head at her name and joined the group. Isabella jumped out first, surprising the parents who hadn't realized they had wandered off. Layton handed Jane and Nathan down to her before dropping beside her.
"So, how was it?" Finn asked. "Pretty cool?"
Nathaniel giggled. "Yes, very cool!"
Veronica rolled her eyes at the antics of the baby sister in their "family". "Does it look comfortable?"
"It'll do," Isabella responded, a tiny air of disdain in her voice.
Roxton laughed out loud. "Her mother's daughter."
Marguerite hit Roxton's arm.
"Here, I'll give the adults the tour now," Challenger announced, "Since Nathaniel already gave it to the children."
"Are you sure you don't have that the wrong way around?" Isabella quipped.
The adults started into the airship, all except Veronica.
"Are you okay, Mom?" Layton asked, walking up behind her and laying a hand on her shoulder. He towered over both his mother and father and no one was quite sure where he got his height from.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. This is all just a little sudden, you know?"
"You don't want to go," Isabella read through her.
"I have the Plateau to think about. I've never really wanted to get out of here. I thought they had stopped trying to get off."
"Professor Challenger says we can come back if we don't like it. Don't you want to meet Uncle Ned's parents and family?"
Before Veronica could answer Isabella, the adults returned from their tour.
"Veronica, you should see it in there! It's humongous! Plenty of space for people and the luggage," Malone exclaimed to his wife, who offered a forced smile.
"I agree with Isabella, not exactly a luxury liner, but it will do," Marguerite commented, joining the other two Roxtons.
"That's what we expected, Marguerite," John teased, ducking behind Isabella to dodge her smack this time.
"You two are becoming more alike every day," Finn laughed, motioning to mother and daughter Roxton.
Isabella wrinkled her nose. "I don't want to be like her."
"Isabella!" Marguerite cried in disbelief. Unlike Lord Roxton, Isabella did not get as much playful physical retaliation; she was still a little hand shy when it came to things like that. "You're as bad as your father."
"I don't want to be like him, either," Bella giggled, running off in the direction of New London.
Layton, Jane, and Nathan followed suit and ran after her.
"She's in quite a mood," Challenger commented.
"Back to her old playful self, in some ways," Roxton replied, "She doesn't have nearly as much to worry about any more."