Chapter 15

The sun shone high in the sky, casting it rays across London. It was the perfect day, the perfect day for racing. Behind the a nearby building in the very centre of London near to Trafalgar Square. There were around seven carriages all lined up waiting for the driver to mount up. There were various people standing around some were tending to the horses, others were standing around the carriages talking, all the talk seemed laced with anticipation. Two men strolled towards the carriages, with expression of perhaps smugness on their faces. Jacob grinned as he clapped Robert on the back.

"I'm not going to go easy on you Robert."

Robert laughed, "Neither am I friend. This is not going to be an easy race."

Jacob held out a hand, "May the best man win."

The pair shook hands because climbing into the driver's seat of their respective carriages. Time to discover who was the faster racer.

Henry was watching in disbelief at what met his eyes. Carriages flew round the corner of the Natural Gallery before storming down the street and around the corner. He shook his head, he could not quite believe that this was happening. This was probably the most reckless race to date in London. What made things worse was that Jacob was involved in the race. Previous races like this one had nearly always ended with somebody getting injured. Standing along the side-lines were various members of the public as well a group of Rooks. The carriages came charging around the corner once again and raced up the street once again. Henry had to look away as one carriage turned so sharply that it nearly toppled over. Why was Jacob taking part in something this dangerous? Well the answer to that was Jacob was a thrill seeker. This was right up his street.

There was a noise behind him, looking round he saw someone climbing over the wall. Miss Frye pulled herself over the wall and landed slightly ungraceful way on the other side. She straightened up, a wince of pain darted across her bruised face. It had only been four days since the Blighters had attacked her, only four days and yet she was back out in the field. Evie leant against the wall a hand pressed against her left side and the other hand covering her nose.

"Miss Frye." Henry said, with a smile, "Should… How are you today?"

He was going to ask whether she should have left the train but knowing her she would not take to kindly to that. Both twins were very stubborn especially when they were injured, nothing could keep them resting. Jacob was the only one who could keep Evie resting and visa verser but today that had not happened.

"I'm fine." Evie said, her voice sounded odd.

She was still holding her hand to her nose. Her nose already bore a purple bruise from where she'd been punched during her attack. But there was something else, why was she holding her hand there? Was it a just a simple sneeze or was something else wrong?

"Miss Frye?"

Evie let out a sigh and looked at Henry, lowering her hand. Her nose was bleeding. Henry straighten up looking at her in horror.

"It's not as bad as it looks." She said, "Ran into a couple of Blighters on the way here. They are up to something, these two are not ones which was involved the first time. It seems as though there is some sort of plot going on which involves all of them."

Henry knew what she was referring to, she'd told them how the Blighters were responsible for attacking her. Whilst they all knew that the Blighters would have plenty of reasons to kill them, the very nature of these attacks were different. They were actively tracking and trying to kill Evie, at present they did not know why. Pulling out a handkerchief from inside his robes he offered it to Evie. She smiled slightly and accepted it.

"How did you get away from the Blighters?" Henry asked.

"They gave me no choice, I did what I had to."

Once again Henry knew that Miss Frye meant thought she had chosen her words well. She was not going to announce that she'd killed two people in the middle of a crowd.

The two of them fell silent for a moment as Henry turned his attention back to the race and Evie continued her efforts to stop her nose bleed. After a minute or so Henry made to speak but was interrupted by the sounds of hooves. Around the corner of the National Gallery burst two carriages they sped down the street almost neck and neck before storming round the corner and out of sight. Evie stared after the carriages and sighed. Over the last couple of days Jacob seemed to have fallen back into his old ways. The old ways he'd been in whilst they'd been growing up before he and Robert had fallen out. This concerned her greatly, her brother had come so far since those days back in Crawley. He learnt so much but he seemed to be regressing and that troubled her. The day after the attack Evie remembered how he had vowed to help her stop the Blighters but yet three days later he did not seem the least bit concerned. That was not like her brother, she knew that he would and should care about what happened. She would do the same for him if the roles were reversed. But now she was not quite sure what would happen. What would happen if she was attacked and left in the state she had been in again? What if Henry hadn't found her? Would Jacob even notice? Evie had no recollection of how Henry how found her that night, the last thing she remembered was falling to the muddy puddle. But she been told that Henry had found her and taken her back to the train with Jacob, where Jacob had tended to her wounds. But the question was would he do it again given the state he was falling back into. Part of her told her that he would down to the simple fact that they were brother and sister. But the other part said that if he'd stopped caring about finding out who had attacked her then maybe he wouldn't care if it happened again.

The carriages came hurtling around the corner once again. Evie flinched at how close two of them came to crashing into one another.

"Someone is going to get hurt." She remarked.

Her words came true only a few moments later. Two carriages came flying around the corner and stormed towards the finishing line. Evie saw that the drivers of both carriages were none other than her brother and Robert. As they raced towards the finishing line Robert's carriage suddenly verged towards Jacob's. The wheels of the carriages got linked together and chaos followed. Both carriages were thrown into the air but they came crashing back down to earth in a crumpled heap. The bystanders ran as fast as they could so they did not get hit by any flying pieces of wood. Evie just watched in horror. She might have just witnessed the death of her brother. Colour had left her face and she was just staring at the wreckage. Henry reached out to place a hand on her shoulder but she had already begun hurried towards the wreckage, although it was more like a limp. He too hurried over to the wreckage. He could not be dead. Jacob could not be dead. Reaching the wreckage Evie could not see any sign of her brother. The wood from both carriages had merged together making it impossible to work out what wood belonged to which carriage. For a moment, there was silence which left Evie fearing the worst. She felt Henry's hand on her shoulder but she continued to stare at the wreckage. A matter of moments later the wood began to shift revealing both Jacob and Robert. They both stumbled slightly but looked, remarkably, unharmed. Jacob saw the look on Evie's face and walked over to her, putting an arm around her.

"That was an amazing race." He said, smiling at his sister.

Evie shot him an incredulous look. She opened her mouth to say something but Robert had strolled over and elbowed her out of the way. Evie was pushed back a couple of steps and put a hand to her left side. Robert had elbowed her right over her wound.

"Jacob!" Robert cried, putting both arms on the latter's shoulders, "That was the best race ever!"

"But we still don't know who the best racer is." Jacob frowned.

"Well I know, let's go to the fight club!" Robert announced, a smile on his face, "There's one not too far from here, let's go recreate old times."

From the look on Jacob's face his twin could tell that he was going to go along with this idea.

"Jacob." Evie called.

Jacob looked round at her. He took in her pale face which was covered in bruises. He could see how tired she looked but also caught a hint of distress in her eyes. He also saw the fresh trail of blood which was streaming from her nose. A small voice in the back of his mind was telling him to go with Evie, she needed to be forced to rest. But there was this annoying voice which was forcing him to follow whatever Robert was saying. It was a bizarre feeling which he could not quite understand.

"Go get your nose sorted Evie, I'll talk to you later."

With that Jacob turned and walked away up the road, with Robert close behind him. He heard Evie call to him again but did not turn around. Robert had told him to go to the fight club and that was where he was going. He could not and would not ignore what Robert had told him because… well he did not know why but there was just something telling him not to ignore him.

Evie watcher her brother's retreating back, she called after him but he was ignoring her. She wanted to go after him but her injuries prevented her from running after him. She could not understand what had suddenly caused her brother to change. It had to be Robert, it was the only logical explanation she could think of. She turned around to see Henry watching her.

"Robert has done this." She said, "He must be doing something to Jacob."

"We don't know that Miss Frye." Henry replied, although he wore a sympatric expression on his face.

"But how else can we explain this? This sudden change, it all started when he returned."

Henry opened his mouth to say more but a sound caught his attention. He saw a large group of Blighters coming in their direction. At the moment they'd not spotted them but that could all change very quickly. It was time to go.

"Come." Henry said, "There are Blighters coming, we need to get out away from here."

Evie looked round and saw the large group of Blighters coming their way. She was in no state to have to fight them off again. Nodding she followed Henry, as they went Evie's thoughts turned back to Jacob. Robert was up to something and she had to get to the bottom of it before anything happened to her brother. She was not going to allow anything to happen to him, no matter the cost.