Dear reader, I did not realise that the story had come to an end until I started writing this chapter. Thank you for sticking by it and reading my very first story ever (bet you could tell, huh?). Hopefully, I will be able to start on an original plot soon, so see ya around!
P.S.: Don't miss the part after the usual Author's note ;)
I do not own either "Sailor Moon" or "To catch a thief"
Happy reading:)
Chapter 8 – The quiet voice at the end of the day
The seat of the hansom cab Serena had hired was not designed to invite passengers to relax. It might have done it at some point in its humble beginnings, but the reminiscent odours of its previous users efficiently obliterated any soporific effects that the ride might have had. Just as well that Serena was too preoccupied with other matters to consider resting. Try as she might, she could not regret her decision to leave home at such a late hour, no matter how infuriated her parents would be when she returned.
Serena wondered if she could blame her impulsiveness on the cat. Somehow, she thought not. Even mentioning that the feline had urged her to don the identity of a warrior of justice would land her straight into Bedlam. Her family could certainly not bear the scandal. And it was not the truth, afterall, even if she had taken the cat on her little adventure. Staring at the necklace, she had been assailed by the most peculiar feeling that she needed to be at Molly's side and render her assistance. She was not quite sure why her friend would require anything of her, though she could almost hear Molly's voice screaming 'Help! Someone help me!' Maybe she should worry about herself, people's voices inside one's head were also grounds for Bedlam.
As she paid the driver, Serena could not help noticing how still the shop seemed from the street. She remembered Molly's complaints about her parents often working late into the night and burning the midnight oil, quite literally. Now everything was eerily dark. With a deep breath, she made her way to the front entrance, only to realise as she got there that the door was not closed. Just a sliver ajar, and that was one sliver too much. Her heart pounding in her chest, the cat in her arms, Serena pushed and entered the front room. Even in the near blackness, she could see that the glass cases stood opened, bare of the beautiful jewels she had seen earlier in the day. She hurried past the empty cabinets, a dreadful suspicion in her mind.
'Help! No, mama!' Dear Lord, it was Molly, her small, frightened voice scarecely carrying past the curtain.
'I'm not your "mama". Your mama is dying of starvation in the basement now!' The woman took great pleasure in yanking the young woman by the hair. Serena decided she could not stand by and just watch like a spineless twit.
'Let go of Molly, you ugly monster!' Even as she uttered the words, Serena was aware that it wasn't her most brilliant line yet. They did, though, have an effect on the villain holding her friend. The woman turned, her mouth agape. Her eyes were crazed and she was so vibrating with so much tension that she seemed a moment away from shattering.
'Who the hell are you?', she snarled in a vicious voice.
'I?' Temporarily at a loss, Serena could only stammer as her gaze fell on the cat her feet and the peculiar marking on her fur. 'I am Moon!' That was decisively even sillier than her previous line.
'Moon? Never heard of you!' In a sudden flurry, the woman slapped Molly and pushed her towards the wall. Her body fell listlessly on the floor and for a moment Serena was not sure if she was breathing until she saw a small movement. She did not have the time to be relieved, though, the villain's eyes fell on her.
'I will kill you!' she screeched as she grabbed Serena by the throat. Serena knew a moment of pure dread when the cold hands closed on her slender windpipe. She struggled, but darkness beckoned at the edges of her sight and her body became weak, she tried to gasp and couldn't draw enough air.
'What are you doing? Fight her!' The man could have been addressing either of them, yet it gave Serena the opening she needed. Her fingers curled and in a quick movement, she delivered a blow to the solar plexus that would have done her brother Sam proud, and her opponent crumpled in a heap.
Blessed air returned to her lungs and with it, a certain bewilderment. She felt faint and disoriented. Strong hands suddenly grabbed her and yanked her upright.
'Run, the police is on its way!' If she had been bewildered before, now Serena was certain that the evil woman had somehow managed to crack her skull without her realising. She was being dragged towards the rear exit by the same man who had insulted her before, the man with the mocking words and the laughing eyes. It wasn't until they were outside that she stopped and took reposition of her body. She socked him on the arm, and even if her blow lacked strength, he released her without further prompt.
'Before you start screaming like a banshee, you need to know that I was helping your friend. I managed to incapacitate the woman' accomplice and was coming back for her when you burst in.' His speech was calm enough, but his breathing betrayed his agitation.
'I was not about to start screaming', she said with a disdainful little sniff. 'Why should I believe you, in any case?', she asked and threw him a piercing glare.
'You have no reason to and no reason not to', he said with a little frown. 'I can only show you the evidence of the thefts I have uncovered and beg for your help to find the Silver Crystal', he added fiercely.
Serena was not sure what was the proper etiquette in such a situation. She was alone with a handsome stranger in a back alley in the middle of the night. She had just fought for her life and was now looking into the worried face of a man sprouting something about thieves and crystals. And all her mind could think was 'Finally!'. Finally, a purpose to her bleak existence. Serena had found her match.
'Perhaps you should begin by introducing yourself, sir'. And with that, she dove right into madness.
Author's note:
*Hansom cabs enjoyed immense popularity as they were fast, light enough to be pulled by a single horse and were agile enough to steer around horse-drawn vehicles in the notorious traffic jams of nineteenth-century London.
*Founded in 1247, the Bethlem Royal Hospital (nicknamed Bedlam) is Europe's first and oldest institution to specialise in mental illnesses.
*Peel's Metropolitan Police Act was passed by Wellington's government in 1829 as a political compromise, the Act applying only to London.
Chapter titles origins:
1. "Not the day only, but all things have their morning." French proverb
2. "A hungry stomach cannot hear." Jean de la Fontaine
3. "These gems have life in them: their colours speak, say what words fail of." George Elliot
4. "It is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression on us." Arthur Schopenhauer
5. "Time is a game played beautifully by children." Heraclitus
6. "An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship." Spanish proverb
7. "There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head." Thomas Wilder
8. "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'I will try again tomorrow'. " Mary Anne Radmacher