The Faerie Ring (25 page)

“Sorry, sir. This was just delivered.”

Leo’s heart sank. “Thank you,” he replied, reaching for the note. He stopped under one of the gas-lit lamps that lined the road. He unfolded the page and read the shaky writing scrawled there.

Change of plans. Look in the mouth of the lion in Trafalgar Square. Come alone.

He crumpled the note in his hand and gazed out into the quiet night around him. A grudging smile curved his lips. Perhaps he had underestimated the thief after all.

Chapter Twenty-seven

I
T
was just past midnight when Tiki hurried through St. James’s Park. She’d slipped out of Charing Cross without telling Shamus and the others what she was planning. The instructions to deliver the reward money had been sent to the royals. What if they were willing to pay? She couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try and collect the reward just because Rieker didn’t think it was a good idea—could she? They needed that money.

She slipped on through the milky light of the half-moon. If there was someone following Leo, her timing was critical. She needed to get back down to the boats tied along the edge of the Serpentine and hidden before Leo followed the notes and arrived there himself. She closed her eyes and whispered a prayer that her plan worked.

*   *   *

T
IKI
lay perfectly still in the bottom of the second boat in a group of skiffs tied along the shore of the Serpentine. Her dark clothes blended with the shadows in which she hid, making her invisible.

The night was oddly still at this hour, the myriad birds that frequented the lake noticeably absent, leaving only the movement of the river as it slipped silently past. Tiki shivered in her hiding spot. Was she truly alone in the darkness? Or were unseen eyes watching her?

The far-off sound of galloping hooves caught her attention. Her heart rumbled in her chest, keeping time with the echoing hoofbeats. The horse slowed as it approached the bridge. From her vantage point, Tiki could see Leo’s silhouette cross the overpass. He was the only rider out at this hour.

A guilty twinge coursed through her at the sight of him. Now that she’d met the prince—danced with him, even—could she steal from him? It was different when it was a few shillings from some bloke’s pocket she didn’t know. But five hundred pounds from a man with whom she’d shared tea? Her stomach twisted in a knot, making her feel sick. They needed the money so desperately and the prince wouldn’t miss a single pound. But did that make it right? She shook her head, trying to shake away her confused thoughts.

Leo had made good time tonight—going from Buckingham to Trafalgar Square to Covent Garden back to Hyde Park. The best part was that she hadn’t heard the beat of any other hooves that would suggest a guard was following him.

She watched as he retrieved the last note from the stone pillar at the end of the bridge where she had hidden it. From her hiding spot Tiki could see him standing under the gas lamp holding the paper out to the light to read the words. Tiki closed her eyes and envisioned what she had scrawled earlier.

Leave the bag with the reward at the base of the weeping willow tree. The ring is in Buckingham. When it is safe we will let you know where it is hidden.

“Please, just do it,” she whispered under her breath. His head jerked back in surprise as he read the words. Tiki pressed her lips together. What must he think to find that the ring was at Buckingham all this time?

Tiki shivered as she remembered how close Leo had come to catching her as she’d tried to remove the ring from behind the picture. Had it only been this afternoon? It felt like ages ago. What would he have done if he’d caught her with the ring in her possession? Probably would have thrown her into prison, straightaway.

As she watched, the prince’s head swiveled as though trying to locate anyone who might be watching, but his eyes never landed on where she lay hidden among the shadows of the boat. Instead, he climbed back on Diablo and turned the horse in the direction from which he had just come. Halfway across the bridge he kicked Diablo into a canter and disappeared into the night.

Tiki sat up. Her earlier concerns of stealing the money were forgotten. An eerie sensation of falling made her clutch the sides of the small boat. He hadn’t left the money. Leo had ridden off without leaving the money. The royals weren’t going to pay for the return of the ring.

A shudder shook her shoulders as she gasped for breath. The reward money was their ticket out of Charing Cross. They needed the money to start a new life in a home where Clara could remain healthy. Now what would they do?

It was all Tiki could do to crawl out of the boat. There was no money, the ring was back in Buckingham, and Clara was missing. She had failed.

*   *   *

T
HE
fog had crept in and wrapped the City in its arms by the time Tiki arrived back at Charing Cross. Each step had been an effort. She slipped down the alleyway, wanting to avoid the night bobbies patrolling the railway station. The shadows were thick and her breath came in short, nervous gasps as she navigated the alleyway to the door to the maintenance tunnels.

A shadow rose out of a doorway and she darted away, fearful that it was Marcus or Larkin, but it was just a drunk, mumbling to himself. In the distance Big Ben chimed the three o’clock hour as she slid the panel aside and stepped into their home.

“Where have you been?” Rieker’s low voice cut through the darkness like a knife, causing Tiki to jump in surprise.

“And look who’s asking,” she shot back in a harsh whisper. “I think you owe the first explanation.” She was too tired and upset at the loss of the reward to hide her anger. Rieker would probably only remind her that he had warned her not to pursue the reward anyway.

Rieker didn’t reply as he pushed back in the wooden chair, tipping the front legs off the ground, the wood creaking in protest. Tiki could feel his eyes on her as she moved across the room and sank into her pile of blankets, but she ignored him. He could stare all he wanted but she was not going to fight with him again tonight.

She counted heads, as she did every night before she went to sleep, to make sure everyone was home safe. Fiona was a huddled lump over by the stove. Toots snored softly from the corner next to Clara’s empty spot. Tiki glanced toward Shamus and wasn’t surprised to see his thin silhouette propped up looking at her.

“Glad to see you home safe, Teek,” he said.

Would Shamus be glad if he knew what she’d done? He hadn’t thought they needed the reward money in the first place. Now, not only did they not have the reward money but they didn’t have the ring, either. With a sigh, Tiki bunched several of her blankets to form a pillow and laid her head down. Where was Clara?

Chapter Twenty-eight

T
HE
next afternoon, Tiki slipped out of their room and hurried through the alley away from Charing Cross. The others were gone, working the streets. She had pretended to be asleep hoping they would leave her alone. She wondered where Rieker was. He’d been gone when she finally got up. From the corners of her eyes, she could see what looked like strange shapes and faces watching from the darkness that surrounded the buildings. She was afraid to look directly at them for fear they would become more than just eerie shadows. Tiki raced through the wide-open plaza of Trafalgar Square, where no one paid any attention to her. She tried to convince herself she was imagining it all, but there was one moment, when she cut through Green Park, that she could’ve sworn she saw Marcus leaning against a tree, his black eyes following her.

Her sides ached from running. The trip back to Hyde Park seemed to take longer today. She cut over the arched bridge that stretched across the Serpentine, glancing down at the brown water flowing lazily below. Today, the air was filled with the sounds and flight of a wide variety of birds. A pair of black swans rode the current, their regal necks stretched in a graceful arch as if they owned the place. She headed for the area known as the Ring, where Rieker had told her she could find Larkin.

Surrounded by trees, the Ring was a huge oval expanse with a wide gravel trail that wound around the perimeter. Tiki cautiously entered the area. Given how cold the air was and how unpredictable the weather had been lately, she was surprised by the number of people strolling around the path. Several couples were near her, following the lane under the canopy of trees. One woman recoiled when she turned to find a young boy in dirty clothes standing so close to her.

A surge of irritation shot through Tiki. What would this woman think if she knew this same dirty orphan had shared tea with a prince of England just yesterday?

The woman’s eyes narrowed and she swept Tiki from head to toe with a cold gaze.

“Scoot along now, child,” her companion replied, moving his hand in a shooing motion. “We’ve no pennies to spare today. Go do your begging elsewhere.”

Tiki moved on, scanning faces for someone who reminded her of Larkin. But she couldn’t see anyone out of the ordinary. Most of the people she passed in the park avoided her eyes, fearful that she would beg for coin or bread. She continued walking and searching, checking shadows under trees, until her legs were shaking.

Exhausted, Tiki sank onto a bench. Had Rieker been wrong? Maybe he’d just said he could contact Larkin here at the Ring to make her feel better. Her mind drifted to thoughts of Rieker, of Wills, his chiseled features so clear in her mind. How easily he had joked with Prince Leo and Prince Arthur. How comfortable he had seemed in their presence. And why wouldn’t he be? He’d known them since he was a child.

Images of those opulent rooms, the rich fabric of their clothing, the easy way they discussed the horses and houses they owned, skipped through her mind. A pressure in her chest built and twisted until the truth hit her with a sinking realization.

She was jealous.

Jealous that the princes and Rieker
had
a home, a family, someone who cared for them and took care of them.
That
was the reason she had gotten so mad at Rieker in the carriage.

She wanted what he had.

The discovery was unsettling, and Tiki pushed away from the bench, feeling the need to move again. To move away from these feelings that were making her uncomfortable.

But she did have a family, she told herself. Just a different kind of family. And she needed to focus on the reason she was here. To find Clara.

Tiki pulled a biscuit from her pocket and picked nervously at the edges of the hard bread. She was hungry, but the bread tasted like sawdust in her mouth. Her stomach was jumping with nerves. Part of her just wanted to shout Larkin’s name at the top of her lungs over and over.

Instead, she continued along the path, her eyes searching the shadows beginning to form under the trees as twilight settled. Should she just start asking everyone in the park? Was there a certain spot she should find? After another thirty minutes with no success, she spied a stone bench tucked away by itself under a hawthorn tree and dropped down to rest and think.

“I ’eard ye’re lookin’ for me.”

Tiki jumped to her feet. Larkin’s hair was wild and tangled together like a tuft of yellow grass, much different from the perfectly coiffed ringlets of the girl she’d seen in Charing Cross. There was something untamed about her beauty now, as though the forces of nature had collaborated to create her perfect features. But her blue green eyes reminded Tiki of the bottles containing poison in Mr. Lloyd’s shop.

“Wills’ been talkin’, has he?”

“L-Larkin?” Tiki stuttered. “He thought you might know something about … about a little girl named Clara who went missing from the Great Ormond Street Hospital.”

She inhaled, and the tantalizing aroma of dried summer grass mixed with the scent of earth baked hard in the heat of the sun filled her head. The smell reminded Tiki of her childhood and made her ache with longing.

“Did Wills send you?”

Tiki eyed the girl next to her. Larkin was without a coat and dressed in short sleeves as though it were summer, seemingly unaffected by the chill December air. She was a little taller than Tiki and looked several years older, but her skin was the color of fresh cream and her hair shone like a shaft of golden sunlight. She was as beautiful as any person Tiki had ever seen.

“Rieker didn’t know I was coming,” Tiki said.

“Ooch, ain’t you the brave one,” Larkin snickered. She moved with a fluid grace, as though her feet barely had to touch the ground to support her.

Tiki ignored her comment. “Do you know where Clara is?”

“Maybes I do and maybes I don’t.” Larkin danced a little jig next to Tiki, her long green skirts flaring with her movement, revealing her bare feet. The other girl put her face close to Tiki’s, her expression suddenly serious. “Have you got the ring?”

Tiki leaned away and fought the anger that welled in her throat. “Is Clara all right?”

Larkin shrugged and danced away in front of Tiki to twirl in a full circle, her skirt dancing with her. “She’s alive.” For a split second, Tiki could have sworn she saw wings on the back of the girl; then the fleeting impression was gone.

“Where is she?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Larkin replied.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s a secret.” The blond girl looked over at Tiki and gave her an innocent smile that did little to hide the malice behind it.

“What do you want?” Tiki asked in frustration. She wanted to shake the other girl. “Give her back to me. She’s sick, and someone needs to take care of her.”

“And I already told you, guttersnipe”—the words came out as sharp as a dagger—“I want the ring.” Larkin’s eyes were ice cold and hard as stone. Tiki sensed the very real threat.

“Why do you think I can give you the ring?” Tiki held her hands out in supplication. “What if I don’t have it?”