Somebody Stop Ivy Pocket (29 page)

The carriage lurched to the left and we were jiggled about. Miss Always looked out at the black night and seemed pleased with our progress.

‘The first time you reached Prospa House, I suppose you
thought it was mere chance that you wound up on Winslow Street? Did it not feel as if you were being pulled there?’

I didn’t nod. I didn’t want to give the horrid wretch the satisfaction.

‘You will only find Prospa House in that spot, for that is where it stands in my world,’ said Miss Always.

Naturally, I didn’t want to believe it. But it
felt
true. Hadn’t I returned to Winslow Street on my second crossing to Prospa House? Perhaps, without realising, I had known it all along.

‘Cheer up,’ said Miss Always, kicking me with her boot. ‘I have the most wonderful news. Tomorrow night is the new half-moon and we will travel to Prospa together.’

I looked past Miss Always and focused on Prospa. Within seconds the cab began to shudder with an insistent buzz. Then the Clock Diamond bloomed into life and began to throw out great pulses of honey-coloured light.

‘What are you doing?’ said Miss Always urgently.

My gaze shifted to her. I let all thoughts of lifting the veil fall from my mind. After all, that had never been the plan.

I fished the stone out from beneath my dress.

Miss Always was scowling up a storm. ‘You were trying to cross, weren’t you?’

‘Heavens no.’ I looked into the stone. It was churning with a golden light, nothing more. But I wasn’t about to let
Miss Always know that. ‘The Clock Diamond tends to bring attention to itself when it has something to show me.’ I gasped. Looked at Miss Always with considerable alarm. Looked back at the stone. ‘It’s of you, dear.’

There was trepidation on her face, though she tried to mask it. ‘Do you take me for a fool?’

‘I’m afraid it’s true, dear – your hair is awfully grey, and you have aged with all the enthusiasm of a sun-dried tomato, so I can only assume this is a vision of the future.
Your
future.’

Miss Always stiffened. Adjusted her glasses. ‘I will not play your silly games, Ivy.’

‘You are walking between a crowd of people with two men at your side.’ My eyes widened with great commitment. ‘Oh my … they are leading you up to a podium – perhaps you are getting an award?’ Then I looked at her with as much sympathy as I could muster. ‘Oh, Miss Always, it is to the hangman’s noose they are taking you. The crowd seems rather delighted, cheering and carrying on, but you should be terribly proud, dear, for you are putting up a marvellous fight.’

Miss Always could stand it no longer. ‘Show me that,’ she snapped, reaching for the necklace.

Which is when I made my move. Kicking her right in the stomach. She flew back with an almighty growl, the dagger dropping from her hand. I leapt up, reached for the handle and
threw open the door. Cold wind flew into the carriage like a tempest.

‘No!’ cried Miss Always.

She lurched across the cab, grabbing my arm.
Now or never,
came the voice in my head. I yanked my arm from her grasp and jumped.

The ground was a dark blur beneath me, the only light thrown by the lantern near the driver’s seat. My arms thrashed about. My legs kicked. I hit the ground with a thump. Stumbling madly. Flying forward. My hands skidded along the ground. Knees scraping the hard road. If there was pain, I didn’t feel it.

The carriage came to a sudden stop. The horses reared up. The carriage wheels skidded across the gravel. Pushing up, I found my feet and started running, just as Miss Always bounded out of the cab.

We were somewhere outside London, though I did not know exactly where. The quarter-moon had emerged from behind its cover, dropping pockets of pale light upon the landscape. It was a barren place, with barely a tree to hide behind. But up ahead there was a factory of some kind, with lights in the windows and smoke billowing from enormous chimney stacks.

My legs were tired. I was tired. But I bolted towards the building, hopeful that I might find refuge within it. I just had to reach
it
before Miss Always reached
me
.

‘I can outrun you, Ivy,’ yelled Miss Always rather cheerfully from behind me.

‘Stuff and nonsense,’ I cried back.

The factory was surrounded by a fence. At the front was a set of large gates. They appeared to be chained together and padlocked. Which was most unhelpful. I came to a sliding stop before them and gave them a good rattle. Miss Always was only a short distance away, galloping like a stallion.

I took a few steps back, then ran at the gates – leapt at it, gripping the fence with fingers and boots. I began to climb like a crazed monkey, reaching the top in no time. Being magnificently athletic, I swung myself over and clambered down the other side. With Miss Always nearly upon me, I leapt from the fence and landed lightly in the dirt. Safe at last!

I raced across the yard towards the building. Stopped a sensible distance from the gates and turned back.

‘I will alert the workers to my plight,’ I called out, ‘and you will be locked away. I would make a hasty retreat if I were you!’

But Miss Always did not do that. She had stopped about ten feet from the gates. Her arms were out and her head thrown
back. I gulped. For I knew what was coming. She let out a hideous cry which seemed to make the very ground tremble.

Then they came. Emerging from the thick shadows around her skirt – three Locks on either side. Impossibly short. Dark robes. Hoods shrouding their revolting copper faces. They began to spin in a furious whirl, charging the gates like six small hurricanes. Great gusts of dirt churning around them.

I shivered. Began to back up.

The metal gates rattled furiously as the Locks closed in, then simply blew off their hinges, flying over my head, and hitting the factory wall with a deafening clang. The frightful little villains stopped spinning as easily as they had begun. They stood in a line facing me, as Miss Always took her place in the very centre. The dirt and dust fell around us like rain.

‘Must we go through this every time?’ said Miss Always softly.

‘I’m afraid so, dear,’ I said, continuing to back away. ‘You see, I’m rather fond of my freedom. Rather allergic to insane, supernatural librarians. Also, I’m almost certain I’d be horribly bored as your prisoner and puppet.’

‘You shall have plenty of time to find out.’ Then she smiled sweetly.

The Locks moved at speed, surrounding me in seconds. Miss Always took slow steps, the dagger once more in her hand.

‘The carriage is waiting, Ivy,’ she said. ‘Our destination is not far, so I apologise in advance for the brief burst of pain you are about to experience. I won’t deny that there is another way, but you have rather tried my patience and I find that I want very much to hurt you.’ She sighed and came to a stop just outside the circle of Locks. ‘Bosom friends have these little quarrels, but we shall be chums again tomorrow.’

The Locks flew at me. Hissing like steam pipes. Their claws extended. I put up a valiant fight, showering kicks and punches, but it was no use. I felt the skin on my arm split as talons swiped my flesh like blades. Others closed around my arms and neck, their bronzed skin burning into me like hot irons. Then the real pain began as two of these vile little devils moved apart, each holding one of my wrists. That was when I cried out. For it felt as if my arms were being wrenched from my body.

I caught sight of the light from the corner of my eye. It glowed in the night sky like a blue moon. And it appeared to be moving at some speed towards us. The Locks noticed it too. I could tell, because the searing pain in my shoulders eased.

‘Did I tell you to stop?’ hissed Miss Always.

But there wasn’t time for an answer. The ghost swooped down and flew through the breach where the gates had been, a great ball of luminous blue gas. Miss Always spun around. The Locks seemed dazzled by the light and froze.

‘Move, child,’ a voice whispered in my ear.

I pulled free and ran. Miss Always gave chase. But the ghost’s mouth had begun to open and it did not stop until it was a vast, churning hole with teeth like glass.

The Locks scattered as the ghost flew up, then pounced. She swallowed each of them as if they were an evening snack. She collected three in one go, then a pair. The last Lock she seemed to suck into her mouth, for it lifted from the ground and shot straight into the abyss.

Miss Always let out an almighty screech, her head flying back – no doubt to produce more of her hooded henchmen – but it was rather quickly silenced when the Duchess of Trinity turned and devoured her in one hungry bite.

The ghost twirled, turning upright, a ginormous blubbery ball of sapphire hovering just inches from the ground. Inside her immense belly were Miss Always and her little ruffians. The Locks were stumbling about in that ghoulish bubble, while Miss Always found her feet and stood looking through the luminous skin imprisoning her – right at me. Her stare was of the fierce and hateful kind.

‘Close your mouth, child,’ said the ghost, ‘you look like a puddle.’

‘You … you ate them,’ I said rather feebly. ‘You ate them for
me
.’

‘It is a meal of the temporary kind.’ The Duchess of Trinity’s
voice had lost its music, sounding terribly strained. ‘I cannot hold them for long, so be on your way.’

I was frowning now. Remembering that the dead woman had tried to use me again for her wicked deeds – poor Mr Grimwig! Not to mention the fact that she had not come when I had called her in the madhouse.

‘Do not think this signifies some affection on my part, child,’ warned the Duchess. ‘It is simply that you are of more use to me
out
of Miss Always’ clutches.’

‘I’m terribly grateful,’ I said, as a thick grey mist lifted from the cuts on my arms and legs (I had almost forgotten I could no longer bleed), ‘but I won’t be helping you with another of your vengeful schemes.’

‘Hush, you foolish girl,’ said the ghost, her dark eyes twitching with the strain of holding her captives. ‘Miss Frost told you where to go, so for once, do as you are told.’

I didn’t ask how she knew this. I had another more pressing question.

‘Do you know if she is alive?’

The dead woman shook her head. ‘I do not.’

The Locks had begun to spin around in her swollen belly like a ring of fire. While Miss Always threw back her head and shrieked as a fresh army of Locks flew from the folds of her skirt, swelling and churning inside the dead woman like a storm.

The Duchess’s face grimaced in pain. Great plumes of dark smoke poured from her nostrils and seeped from her hair. ‘Hurry, child.’

And that is just what I did.

The road stretched on into darkness, flat and empty. I had no idea how to reach Hammersmith (I had never been there before), or even if I was walking in the right direction. All I did was run – keeping to the side of the road so that I would not be discovered should Miss Always’ carriage come past.

I didn’t know if the Duchess had released her prisoners yet. Or if they would come looking for me in this direction. The wind blew hard and I hugged my shoulders, bending my head against the cold.

Then the ground rumbled. In the dim light I saw horses approaching. Without hesitating, I leapt behind a bramble bush and cowered. Prayed they hadn’t seen me.

The carriage wheels slowed and came to a stop.

I didn’t dare take a breath.

‘I expect you have your reasons for hiding in there,’ came a deep, pleasant voice, ‘but if you’d like a ride, I’d be happy to have you along.’

Was this Miss Always’ driver pretending to speak like a dim-witted farmer to fool me?

‘If not, I’ll be on my way,’ he said next.

I peeked my head above the brambles. What I found was a wagon stacked with logs and a driver who didn’t look even slightly deranged. In fact, he looked like a man who cut down trees for a living, with a thick wool jacket and a slouch hat.

‘Tell me,’ I said, approaching the carriage, ‘are you going anywhere near Hammersmith?’

‘Close enough,’ came the reply.

I stepped up into the wagon and took a seat beside the amiable stranger. Looked at him carefully. ‘Are you crackers in any way? Also, do you have any desire to steal souls or imprison perfectly innocent people in madhouses?’