Emma Holloway - A Study in Ashes

“What are you doing?” Poppy cried, terrified but dumbfounded all the same.

Jeremy sent up an angry wail. Alice rushed from the drawing room, but Keating caught her midstride. He cried out in pain, but the sudden stop jerked Alice off her feet so roughly that she dangled for a moment in her father’s hand. “What is the meaning of this?” she all but shrieked.

None of this had stopped the progress of the Yellowbacks. Baby wailing, they carried on down the stairs, their hard faces set. The sound of Jeremy’s distress made her too furious to give in without a fight. Poppy rushed to get between them and the door, throwing herself before it so hard that she felt the dig of the knob in her back. I’m a viscount’s daughter. They can’t do anything to me .

But the Yellowbacks simply shoved her aside as if she were no more than a bothersome cat. Poppy slipped and fell on the slick tile, banging into the wall. Her elbow sang with agony, making her eyes water. “Stop!” she snarled, scrambling back to her feet.

But there were two more Yellowbacks emerging from the back of the house. They were carrying enormous aether rifles, and one of them trained his weapon on Poppy. Suddenly, she wasn’t so confident that her father’s name protected her.

Alice hadn’t stopped screaming at her father. “Why are you taking my baby?”

Keating had endured enough. He shoved her away and then cradled his injured arm. “It’s the one thing I know will keep you and your precious husband in check.”

“But it’s not safe!” Poppy protested. “Someone is attacking London.”

Keating rounded on her, his face ashen. He looked haggard, his eyes wild and sunken deep into his face. “That’s me dropping the bombs, you stupid chit.”

He swept out, following his men, and the last two guards followed him. Alice lurched after, but Poppy rushed to her side, grabbing her before the Yellowbacks interfered. She was terrified that they might just shoot.

“Let me go!” Alice tried to free herself, but Poppy just clung more tightly.

Tears leaked from under Poppy’s lashes. “No, they’ll hurt you and then no one will be there to save Jeremy.”

She heard the baby wailing all the way to the victoria, and the sound dragged her heart bruised and aching after. Within seconds, a whip snapped and wheels scraped on the cobbles. Soon Jeremy’s voice was drowned by the sound of clopping hooves.

Alice slumped against the wall, weeping. “Why is he doing this to me? He’s my father!”

Shame and rage seared Poppy. Now that the guns were out of sight, she was trembling so hard that her legs were almost useless. A cold sweat just added to the shivering. I should have been able to do something . It would have been better if she’d had a gun of her own. “We’ll get him back.”

Alice’s eyes were wild. “How?”

“We’ll get Tobias. Mr. Keating might think he’s got you trapped, but Tobias is clever. He’ll figure out a way to beat him at his own game.”

But Poppy gulped as she said the words, even though they seemed to give Alice hope. If Tobias was at Bucky’s toy factory, he was in the midst of the war zone. So how were they going to get there?

London, October 8, 1889

PENNER TOY AND GAMES

10:15 p.m. Tuesday

“WAIT!” POPPY TORE AFTER ALICE, WHO WAS RUNNING DOWN the street into the flames. “Alice, wait!”

How do I get her to stop? Alice’s beautiful red hair had escaped its pins and was streaming about her shoulders, her hat lost somewhere a block behind. Fortunately, her stays and bustle were more securely attached, slowing her down enough so that Poppy could catch up to her.

Poppy grabbed Alice’s arm, feeling the slim bones beneath. “It’s not safe!”

That was stating the obvious. Threadneedle Street was in the area where the dirigibles had finally finished dropping their explosives only an hour or so ago, and parts of it were on fire. It had been next to impossible to even draw close to the area by hackney—they’d had to go on foot forever, Alice periodically breaking into a stumbling run.

Poppy was certain they should turn around. There was plenty of light from the fires, but it was dark out and the streetlights had all been smashed. And besides, Poppy was terrified. On top of everything else—the bombs, the kidnapping, and everything else that had gone on today—this street was right where Imogen had been kidnapped. Nothing good happened here, especially not now.

It was one thing to see the bombs from a distance, and quite another to see the destruction up close. Fires bloomed everywhere, sometimes so close that Poppy could feel the heat. Buildings stood gaping like skulls with their teeth smashed in and some were simply rubble. Soldiers and police were beginning to move in, but it was clear the attack had taken everyone utterly by surprise.

And that didn’t begin to cover the human cost. A lot of people had worked on those streets, and a lot of them never would again. Poppy gripped Alice as hard as she could as they moved forward. She needed to feel someone solid and whole next to her. She tried not to look at the dead man sprawled across their path, but steered her sister-in-law around him. I can’t help him now. All I can do is get Alice to Bucky’s before she goes crazy .

And then Poppy’s foot brushed against something. She glanced down to see blood and cloth and knew it wasn’t attached to where it should have been. Oh, Lord . She took quick, shallow breaths, doing her best not to vomit, and ended up choking on the smoke instead.

The building across the street was on fire, so they were forced to hug the opposite side and hurry by as fast as they could. At least it distracted Poppy from the blood on the ground.

“Where is it?” Alice asked. “The factory should be here, shouldn’t it?”

Poppy looked around, trying to orient herself. She’d been there twice before, but nothing looked the same. “It was on this side,” she said, waving her right hand.

Alice grabbed her wrist and hurried on. “Is that it?” she cried pointing.

Poppy saw the red and green sign dangling by one end. “Yes!”

Alice let her go and began running again, leaving Poppy behind once more. She caught up as Alice began pounding on the door, ignoring the knocker altogether. Bucky opened it to stare at them in alarm. “Ladies! Come in at once. What on earth are you doing out at a time like this?”

“Ah, Mr. Penner,” Poppy said dryly, “your manners intact despite the complete collapse of civilization.”

“And Miss Roth, always in the thick of things.” His brown eyes brimmed with questions.

“Where’s Tobias?” Alice demanded.

“How did you know—” Bucky began, casting Poppy a hard look.

“Is he here?” Alice cut him off.

“Yes, I am.” Tobias came out of the back, Lord Bancroft a step behind him, and suddenly the tiny front room of the factory—already packed with toys on every surface—was too crowded. But at least her father was holding a lantern. The steady light made everything better.

Now Poppy could see that Bucky had recently converted his front offices to a miniature fairground complete with striped tents and dancing clockwork horses. Then Poppy noticed that the window must have shattered, because the miniature circus was covered with broken glass and flakes of gray soot. Her throat closed with a sudden stab of pain for the little circus animals. This wasn’t their fight.

Tobias came forward, holding out his hands. He looked awful, like he’d had a terrible fever. “Alice, Poppy, what are you doing here?”

Alice opened her mouth, looked at Poppy, then back at her husband. Her eyes were wild with panic. “Father said he did all this!”