Chapter 6:
"Misplaced Trust"
July 27, 1915
Dr. Sullivan's Private Villa
Deryn was standing precariously on her tiptoes, trying to catch another glimpse of Sullivan through the crowd when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. "Ahem."
She whirled around to spot who'd spoken. She hated being snuck up on- if she weren't in disguise, she'd have given that lad a piece of her mind about how to get a lady's attention. But before she could say a word to the bum-rag who'd caught her off guard, he spoke again.
"Just one dance, Princess. Trust me- I am a fantastic dancer." Without hesitation, his cunning dark eyes locked on hers and he took her gloved hand. Deryn opened her mouth to protest, but he'd already begun striding towards the empty dance floor, still holding her hand firmly.
"Wait! Slow down!" She ordered, nearly tripping over her skirts behind him. Blisters, if she weren't wearing these ridiculous skirts, she'd have been able to rip herself out of his grasp, but she was sure she'd create a spectacle if she tried to now. And besides, Deryn supposed, it was expected of a princess to dance at least once.
"If you plan on dancing with me," she heaved, struggling for breath in this ridiculous dress, "you might at least give a lady your name."
He halted so abruptly that she bumped into him.
"Edward. My name is Edward." His dark eyes bore into her again. Deryn had to admit he was handsome. With his clean-cut good looks, thick dark hair, and those mesmerizing eyes, she supposed that she could have a worse dance partner. Of course, she could also have one without a conceited grin on his face, but that would be asking too much. After all, it seemed to Deryn that every guest at the party was a rich snob. Edward, on the other hand, seemed a bit scruffy. His clothes were plain, but he was grinning like he owned the place.
"It's a waltz. I do enjoy a good waltz," Edward proclaimed, and without a moment's warning he placed his hand on her waist and began swaying along to the music. They had plenty of room to dance- they were far from the swarm of guests surrounding Dr. Sullivan.
Luckily, Deryn was able to follow his lead without much trouble, although she wasn't nearly as good as he was. At least she hadn't stepped on his foot yet- although she'd like to, just to teach the arrogant lad some manners.
"So… so what brings you to this event?" Deryn asked hesitantly. She didn't know what else there was to discuss.
"I'm just here for the dancing," Edward announced. "I wasn't formally invited. I'm going to spin you now, Your Highness."
"What? Wait!" Deryn exclaimed, but it was already too late- without time to think about what she was doing, her body followed Edward's lead and she spun outwards and then back into his arms. She was a squick too close to him for comfort.
"Wow, Princess, you aren't half bad!" He chided. "I thought you were supposed to have a weak constitution."
"Don't…do…that…again…"she puffed. This blasted dress was so tight she felt like it was smothering her! "And I do."
"Hm. Oh look, I've mussed up your hair." Edward noticed. He leaned forward and, to her surprise, gently brushed a strand out of her face.
"That was very unnecessary!" She scolded, hoping that she wasn't blushing. She hoped Alek hadn't seen that- she'd die of embarrassment.
Just as she began to plan how she should wrench herself out of his grip and find a way to politely excuse herself, three things happened at once.
First, the chandeliers illuminating the ballroom went out, all at once, leaving it black as pitch. Second, the guests burst into terrified, excited chatter and commotion and the band silenced awkwardly.
Finally, a man's booming voice rang out from a balcony above the crowd.
"BE SILENT, SINNERS!"
The crowd's chatter was reduced to frantic whispering. "What's happening?" "Is this the demonstration?" "Who is that?"
"What's going on?" Deryn whispered to Edward. He said nothing, but squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"I SHALL NOT REPEAT MYSELF. I DEMAND SILENCE!" The voice bellowed. This time the guests fell into an uncomfortable silence. Deryn craned her neck to catch a glimpse of the speaker, but it was impossible to see him in such complete darkness.
"YOU FOUL SINNERS GATHERED HERE TO WITNESS THE DISGUSTING FILTH THAT YOU CALL 'SCIENCE!"
"Barking spiders," muttered Deryn, forgetting her fake accent for a moment, "it's a Monkey Luddite!"
"I AM SPOKESPERSON FOR THE ROYAL ANIMAL LIBERATION BRIGADE, A BRANCH OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. I AM HERE TODAY TO SHOW ALL OF YOU BLASPHEMERS AND HEATHENS THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR FOUL DEEDS!"
"The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals?" Deryn whispered to Edward. "I thought their mandates were unrelated to fabrications!"
"You're the only royalty here," Edward shot back. "I don't know a thing about them."
"This is utterly preposterous. Preposterous!" A man's voice rang out from the crowd. "We are at the pinnacle of modern discovery, and you are living in the past, you Monkey Luddite!"
A chorus of guests shouted in agreement, but were silenced instantly by a BANG!
The silence was quickly broken by a woman's high pitched screeching. "Walter? Walter! WALTER!" Deryn's heart lurched- was it his wife who was screaming? His friend?
"NOW YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO DISRESPECT ME," the voice rang out menacingly.
"He's dead! Walter's dead! You killed him!" The woman's wails echoed painfully loudly through the hall. A few women shrieked, and the sound of frantic sobbing resonated in everyone's ears.
"This is bad," Edward said in a hushed voice. Deryn nodded, then realized he couldn't see her in such darkness.
"We have to do something to stop this." She agreed.
"That's not what I meant. I meant that we have to get you out of here to someplace safe." Edward yanked her wrist. "We're leaving, right now. You're in the most danger out of everyone else here."
"No I'm not! We can't just leave these people here!" Deryn whispered back.
"DO I HAVE EVERYONE'S ATTENTION NOW? GOOD." The man sounded amused. As if he were scolding an indignant child. It made Deryn feel ill. She'd seen men killed before in battle, but this… this was something different. An innocent man, not a soldier, had been murdered in cold blood.
"RED STAR CHEMICALS IS THE REASON YOU ARE HERE. A COMPANY THAT TORTURES ANIMALS AND MANIPULATES THEIR LIVES TO CREATE MONSTROSITIES."
"I'm not going to argue with you," Edward snapped in Deryn's ear. "You're in danger and we're leaving. Now."
Deryn hesitated, thinking of Alek. Count Volger will be sure to protect him, she hoped, and Edward is right. Even if I'm not actually royalty, no one else knows that. And besides, we could come up with a plan to help the others escape. After a moment of hesitation, she followed Edward.
They were able to move undetected because they'd been in such a deserted area of the hall. Deryn wasn't surprised that they'd managed to slip into a side hallway without a single soul noticing.
"I can't see anything! Slow down!" Deryn hissed.
"There's no time for that!" he said without looking back, and kept going. Deryn lost track of where they were going in the darkness, though Edward seemed to be able to navigate his way through the maze of hallways well enough.
After they'd gone so far that they could no longer hear the booming echoes of the mysterious voice, they stopped. "Here's an empty room. Let's go inside," Edward suggested, holding the door open for her.
"Are you sure we should just leave those people back there?" Deryn wondered after heading inside.
"There's nothing we could do to help them," Edward assured her, stepping into the room behind her.
There was a soft click.
"Did…did you just lock the door?" Deryn asked cautiously. "Edward, why did you do that?"
Edward said nothing, and Deryn immediately knew something was wrong. She headed straight towards the door, but he blocked her path.
"I thought princesses were supposed to be smart," he sighed. "But you followed me alone into a dark room without so much as a thought for your own safety." He groaned, as if he was disappointed in her. "You offered your trust to me too easily."
Deryn took a step back, all too aware of how alone she was. This boy, she realized far too late, was dangerous. She remembered how he had grabbed her wrist and yanked her along so many times before- that hadn't been out of eagerness. He had wanted to hurt her.
"Why did you bring me here?" She asked slowly, forcing herself to keep her voice steady.
"Why do you think, princess? I wanted to separate you from the crowd. My job was to get you all alone."
"Your…your job? Who are you working for?" She asked. Was he with Sullivan? Had he known that she was in disguise, working for the Society?
"I'm one of those…well, you would call me one of those Monkey Luddites. What I really am is a proud member of the Royal Animal Liberation Brigade."
"I thought you said you didn't know what that was," Deryn protested.
"I suppose I lied about that." Edward replied dryly.
"What does that have to do with me?" Deryn asked, hoping to keep the conversation going so she'd have more time to think of a plan. She had to find some way to get out of this, sooner rather than later.
"You'll find out, in due time." Edward's voice was closing in on her as he got closer and closer. "But right now, I don't have time to chat with you."
Deryn shot towards the door, pressing her shaking hands against the wood to find the knob, but it was too late. Edward wrapped one arm around her from behind and yanked her backwards, so her back was pressed against his chest. With his free hand, he pressed a damp cloth against her face. It smelled overwhelmingly of something syrupy and sweet.
Deryn held her breath, desperate to avoid breathing in any chemicals. She squirmed and kicked and rammed her head backwards into Edward's face. There was a crack as the back of her head collided with his nose, but his grip on her didn't budge.
"I'm sorry," he grunted, forcing the chemical-soaked rag against her face. "You weren't a bad dancer, you know."
Deryn cursed herself for being unable to hold her breath, and choked in a gasp of air that filled her nose and mouth with a horrific smell.
I have to find Alek, she thought as she felt her body grow numb. I have to warn him
She tried in vain to wrestle herself out of Edward's iron hold, but her arms and legs refused to listen to her. Her head felt like it was slowly filling with lead, and her body grew heavier and heavier, so heavy that she couldn't hold herself up any longer, and she collapsed against him completely.
No, she thought before falling into unconsciousness. I haven't danced with Alek yet.
...
"This," said Eliot Vost in a tone so sour it could curdle milk, "is a most inconvenient display of insanity."
Alek barely heard the man- he was too focused on trying to sort out the mayhem that had erupted out of nowhere in the last sixty seconds.
Alek had been dubiously wondering how anyone with any sort of scientific renown could wear a jacket as hideous as Dr. Sullivan's when the ballroom was immersed in darkness. He'd instantly imagined what Deryn would say: "See, that's the trouble with all those machines. They malfunction, and suddenly everything's fallen to pieces at once. Glowworms would never go out like that. Barking Clankers and their silly contraptions!"
And then some madman up on a balcony had begun an egotistical tirade without a moment to spare. Alek had to admit that he had his own qualms about the way Darwinists did things, but he'd never considered them to be heathens. What had Deryn called people who were religiously opposed to fabrications? Monkey Luddites.
Then a man had been shot- most probably killed- and Alek finally grasped that this was far worse than just a madman's insane rantings. This was a message. A warning.
Above the crowd, the mysterious man continued his vehement speech. "TODAY, YOU HAVE ALL GATTHERED TO WITNESS THE REVOLTING, SINFUL WEAPON CREATED BY DOCTOR CHESTER SULLIVAN AND HIS LACKEYS AT RED STAR CHEMICALS."
This was also, Alek quite suddenly recognized, something more. "It's a diversion," he realized aloud.
"What did you just say?" Eliot demanded the instant the words had left Alek's lips.
"I've been taught enough military tactics to know that this is intended to attract attention," Alek explained in a whisper. He thought back to his endless lessons in strategy. "While the crowd is distracted, this… this brigade is working covertly to accomplish their true objective."
"WE, THE PROUD AND RIGHTEOUS MEMBERS OF THE ANIMAL LIBERATION BRIGADE, CANNOT ALLOW SUCH TREACHERY. WE WILL NOT HESITATE TO STOP ANYONE WHO ATTEMPTS TO INTERFERE. AS WE HAVE ALREADY DEMONSTRATED. "
A woman, likely the same one that had called out the name of the man who had been shot, let out a howl of utter despair.
"But what could be their aim?" Alek wondered softly. Beside him, Eliot gasped.
"It's Chester! I have to get Chester to safety." Alek felt the enormous man shove something towards him. "I'm trusting you with this. I'll be back for it after I've taken care of my idiot colleague."
Alek bent down and felt the object that Eliot had thrust towards him. It was the briefcase. Eliot had given him the briefcase. Alek was tempted to open it, and was feeling its metallic surface for a clasp, when a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
What if Sullivan wasn't the only one who was in danger? This room was filled with wealthy, influential people. Perhaps more than one of the guests was at risk. But who? Who could possibly be so important that the Brigade would go so far?
A princess, Alek realized with horror. What better time to target someone who was almost never in public, someone who was almost always within the confines of the royal family's protection? This was the perfect, and perhaps only, opportunity the Brigade had.
He had to warn Deryn. But first, he'd have to find her, and with total darkness and a crowd this thick, that would not be an easy task. It may not even be a possible task. Alek had to find another way to warn her.
He could call out some sort of warning, but he'd be putting himself in danger. After all, a man had been shot just for disagreeing aloud. Still though, Alek had a strange feeling that something about the man's death hadn't made sense.
How had the gunman been able to see him in such total darkness? There was no way even the best marksman would have been able to pinpoint the target just based on where the man's voice had come from, especially in such a large crowd.
Alek racked his brains for a solution. How had the correct man been shot so quickly? There was no way he could have been picked out from the crowd.
Suddenly an idea came to him. This was a diversion- a premeditated, planned diversion. Maybe, just maybe, the man hadn't been shot at all. Maybe his supposed 'death' had been nothing but a dramatic hoax. All it took was darkness, the sound of a gunshot and a screaming, grief-stricken wife, and anyone would believe he was dead.
Alek knew he could be wrong. There was a chance that somehow, by luck or incredible skill, the man had truly been shot and killed. But Alek's intuition told him otherwise, and he had to come up with a plan.
Slowly, as not to alert anyone around him that he was moving, Alek started pushing through the crowd. Fortunately, the briefcase was far lighter than he'd expected. What would Deryn do in this situation, if she weren't dressed up like a princess? She was rash and unpredictable, yes, but she was also a quick thinker capable of solving problems instinctually.
Maybe he couldn't stop this diversion, but he could do something else. If he could create chaos, he could interrupt it, and make it much more difficult for the Brigade to achieve their goal.
Alek kept pushing through the crowd as quietly as he could, trying to avoid as many people as possible. Fortunately for him, the guests were either so engrossed- or so terrified- by the strange man's disturbing speech that they didn't seem to notice him pushing past them.
When he'd finally emerged from the crowd, Alek raced towards the empty far side of the room, opposite the direction everyone was looking in. He remembered seeing elaborate draperies hanging from the walls in the corner of the ballroom. Holding his hands out in front of him, he strode forward for what felt like ages until he reached the wall, feeling the thick fabric beneath his fingers and the hardness of the stone wall behind them.
From his jacket pocket, right next to the canister of fake gas, he retrieved a small matchbook. He'd been saving them for Deryn, who he'd noticed reading by candlelight in her room back at the Society, but he figured this was more important. Fumbling in the darkness, he struck a match. It burst to life and then almost instantly fizzled out.
Alek huffed a sigh of irritation and then lit another. This time, the flame danced cheerfully upon the match's head. Fantastic, he thought, and held it up against the draperies.
The cloth hadn't been cleaned in far too long, and the dusty fabric lit on fire as easily as driftwood. The tiny flame that had danced on the match's tip spread with a WHOOOSH, and the draperies began burning brightly as flames eagerly devoured them.
Alek jumped backwards, coughing at the rancid scent of the smoke.
"The Brigade!" He shouted once he'd regained his breath. "They've started a fire! Get out now, before we all burn to death!"
As if released from a spell, the crowd burst into action. They no longer cared about the possibility of being shot- their fear of the fire greatly overpowered their fear of some buffoon's angry ranting. There was practically a stampede as the crowd scrambled towards the exit.
Alek spent a single moment searching the swarm of bodies for Deryn, but it was impossible to make anyone out, even with the glow of the fire.
Overhead, the Brigade's spokesperson kept on shouting, desperate to regain the crowd's attention, but Alek couldn't make out a word the man was saying over the throng's roar as he followed them outdoors.
The night's cold air was a blessed relief from the heat of the fire. Alek could not help but feel guilty. Someone could have been badly hurt thanks to him. Good fortune, however, seemed to be on his side, and he didn't see any injured among the people that had gathered outside the villa.
From the outside, there was no sign of fire. The draperies had been isolated, and, Alek hoped, too far from anything else flammable to set the whole building on fire. His jacket, however, hadn't escaped damage. The fabric had been ruined by the smoke.
"Of all the preposterous, absurd things that could have happened tonight, I suppose this is the most ridiculous," came Dr. Barlow's very agitated voice from behind him.
Alek turned to face her, and saw the Count at her side. He was wearing an expression so exasperated that even his mustache looked upset.
"Aleksander Hohenberg," he sighed, "please inform me what madness possessed you to set thirteenth century drapes aflame."
Alek smiled. "Perish the thought. Those flames were kindled by the Animal Liberation Brigade, not me."
"Ah, yes. And then someone with an Austrian accent identical to yours announced the fire." Volger mused.
Alek sighed, knowing there was no way to talk himself out of this. He explained the situation to the doctor and the Count, starting from the moment he'd met Eliot. As he described the story, the last few guests trickled from the entrance of the building. Alek didn't see Deryn among them.
"The Brigade has never been a threat before," Dr. Barlow contemplated when he'd finished. "Before now, they were nothing more than a group of protesters who committed a few minor crimes like picketing in restricted areas. But after the war began, they became obsolete. The rest of society realized how important fabrications were to the war effort, and the Brigade lost most of its support and was largely ignored."
"Well, they certainly got attention tonight." Volger pointed out.
Alek was about to add something when he noticed Eliot Vost's towering figure approaching. The man's expression was grim.
"I appreciate your assistance." He thanked Alek, but there was no gratitude in his voice. Alek held out the briefcase, and Eliot took it with a nod. Alek noticed a lock on the clasp just as it left his hands- he wouldn't have been able to open it if he'd tried.
"Did you find Dr. Sullivan?" Alek asked, hoping to ease the tension. The giant man shook his head.
"He's gone. Nowhere to be found." Eliot shook his head. "I searched the entire building, every room. There was only one man inside –Churchill. The fool was in the washroom the entire time. He didn't even realize anything had happened."
Alek felt dread creeping up his throat. "Wait… you searched everywhere?"
Eliot nodded. "I didn't find the bastard who was up on that balcony, and I didn't find Chester. Why? Is someone else missing?"
Alek nodded gravely. "Princess Mary," he said out loud, but that wasn't what he was thinking. The girl I love is missing. The girl I love is nowhere to be found.