The Dark Portal (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 3) (15 page)

Even hi
s own, woefully flawed self.

But despite his earlier behavior in the Great Vault, maybe he wasn’t a totally lost cause, Jake mused as they walked on. Maybe this was just…burning away the impurities.

Like with the gold.

Alt
hough the night was black, the stars shone out and dazzled with their light.

CHAPTER EIGHT

A Visit to Town

The next day, they set out on their mission to buy presents for the miners’ orphans and the other poor children of the Harris School. After what had happened in the mine, no doubt all the kids were afraid for their fathers and elder brothers who worked down there.

It would be fun cheering them up.

By midmorning, the four of them were racing through the cobbled streets of the nearby town of Llanberis, going from shop to shop on the hunt for gifts.

Tucked between a lake and a dramatic mountain pass, Llanberis nestled in the shadow of Mount Snowden, the tallest peak in either Wales or England.

The mighty mountain’s old Welsh name was Yr Wyddfa, which meant, ‘
The Tomb.’
There was nothing
grave
about the busy town, however.

Llanberis was bustling with life.
The quaint row of shops along the High Street were brightly painted: yellow, blue, orange, green, pink. It made for a very cheerful effect, especially with the train chugging past along the lake, toy-like, behind its shiny red engine.

Puffing a trail of smoke
behind it, the locomotive blew its steam-whistle as it passed the town.

The kids
waved to the conductor before the train went winding off through the colorful autumn trees. Then they bounded on into the next shop to find out what trinkets and treasures it held that the students might enjoy.

They bought them toys, books, games,
edible treats like gingerbread and Welsh cakes, a few inexpensive musical instruments, and an assortment of knitted hats, gloves, and scarves, since winter was just around the corner.

Townsfolk smiled
as they passed by, but the shopkeepers were especially happy to see them coming with money to spend. For Jake, it was a new experience
not
having shop clerks and managers follow him around their establishments and watching his every move in suspicion.

O
f course, here in Wales, nobody had any idea that he used to be one of London’s most notorious boy-thieves.

After all, people could change.

Jake was finding this whole experiment in generosity most interesting. The only item he bought for himself was a Welsh cake when he (naturally) got hungry.

It was only this sweet snack that gave him
the strength to keep up with Dani O’Dell, who proved to have the most stamina for shopping.

Jake would have thought it was a talent that all girls
possessed, but no, Isabelle was halfhearted about it. Of course, she was having enough of a time managing her telepathic awareness of all the passing townsfolk’s emotions. Llanberis was not overly crowded, otherwise she probably would have opted to stay back at the cottage.

Dani, however, marched along like a little redheaded general, on the watch for bargains.

Archie pronounced her ‘indefatigable,’ whatever that meant. The carrot-head, in turn, almost didn’t let the boy genius buy the children anything educational.

“An abacus? You can’t be serious!” she exclaimed as they loitered in one aisle of a splendid toy shop. “We’re supposed to be bringing them fun things
. How’s that going to cheer them up?”

“A
n abacus is great fun!”

“You’re loony,
” she said.

“No, I’m a good
eccentric Englishman. We are a lovable and well-established breed. We dig up ancient cities, we discover island chains, we invent things nobody has ever seen before—”

“L
oony, like I said. Pencils, notepads, I could see. Even watercolor paints—”

“But they could use an abacus for math lessons!”

“Just buy the thing, I don’t care,” Jake mumbled. “This is exhausting.”

“See?” Archie gave up arguing with her and rushe
d on to the next item. “Oh, look at this astrolabe! They could use this for their science lessons.”

“T
hat’s kind of neat.” Jake stepped over to examine the little model of the solar system, but Dani shook her head, at her wits’ end with them.

Instead, she went and picked out some marionettes so the
kids could make a puppet show.

When they crossed the street a few minutes later, heading fo
r the dry goods store, a flicker of motion on the roof caught Jake’s eye.

But when he looked up, homing in on it, all he saw was a little gargoyle statue sitting on the edge of the roof, much like the one he had seen in the cemetery.

A fanciful decoration for such a mundane type of shop, he thought, but he paid it no further mind and followed the others inside.

Up by the counter, he heard the shopkeeper gossiping with some customers about the Harris Mine reopening this morning for the first time since the accident.

Eavesdropping while he pretended to look at
the merchandise, Jake gathered that the townsfolk did not quite believe the Company’s story about the mysterious accident.

A
n aproned woman suddenly poked her head out of the shop’s backroom and called to the clerk: “Has anyone seen Whiskers?”

“No, ma’am,” he answered
, chuckling when the woman disappeared again. “How she spoils that cat.”

“Jake! Come ’ere, I need your help.”

“Coming.” Soon Dani O’Dell was stacking more and more items for the schoolchildren into his arms. “Hold this, hold this. This, too…”

When she
was finally satisfied that she had bought up half the store, he carried their things up to the counter and handed over the last of the gold he had permission to spend on this project.

Derek announced h
e would go fetch the carriage and come right back to pick them up with all their packages.

Miss Helena clapped her white-gloved hands in her prim way and ordered them to start carrying all their shopping bags outside. They piled all their
many, many gifts for the schoolchildren into a mountain on the curb, then waited for Derek and Nimbus Fingle to arrive in the coach.

Dani finally ran out of energy, her shopping crusade complete. She leaned against the quaint front window of the nearest shop
and groaned, resting her head against the glass. Isabelle stood guard over the pile of presents while Miss Helena watched down the street.

Archie turned to Jake. “So
, what are you going to say to these children when you make your speech?”

He glanced at him in surprise, his mind a blank
, because the little gargoyle statue was gone.

“Hello?” Archie snapped his fingers in front of Jake’s nose.

“Oh, right. Um, actually…I have no idea. Say, Archie, maybe you should do it—”

“Ah, no, no, no.”

“But you give speeches all the time!”

“
I am not an orphan.”

Might as well be, as little as you see your parents,
Jake thought, shooting him a frown. Lord and Lady Bradford were always off traveling for the Order of the Yew Tree, which was why Archie and Isabelle were usually left under the care of Henry and Helena and Great-Great Aunt Ramona.

“No, this is on your shoulders, my friend
.”

Jake harrumphed
. “Well, any advice?”

Hands in pockets, the boys wandered a few yards down the
sidewalk while Archie gave him a few pointers on public speaking. “The main thing is to speak from the heart. Don’t worry if you get lost for a moment. Just forge on. Probably best to keep it short—”

All of a sudden, the shop door
right in front of them blasted open, bells jangling, and the most beautiful girl Jake had ever seen slammed out, bellowing over her shoulder. “I said I don’t
like
it, Mother! It’s
my
birthday party and I am
not
wearing that horrible rag! I want one from London! As if you have any fashion sense! Just leave me alone!”

The boys stopped in their
tracks at the sight of this obviously furious young beauty.

She was
about Jake’s age, maybe a bit older, with milky-white skin and flashing coal-black eyes, but both boys might as well have been invisible.

She shoved her way between them with a look that invited them both to drop dead for
staring at her, then marched off down the sidewalk toward the pile of presents with her cute little nose in her air.

“Blimey,” J
ake whispered at the same time Archie said, “Great Euclid!”

The boy
s exchanged a wide-eyed glance.

“Excuse me!” the g
irl snapped at Isabelle, going around the pile of presents as if it was the most tremendous burden in the world. “You shouldn’t crowd the walk.”

“
Oh, she’s a mean one,” Archie breathed.

Jake grinned. “Doesn’t bother me
a’tall.” He clapped his cousin on the shoulder, then dashed off and started walking after the mysterious mean girl for a better look.

Suddenly, behind him, the shop door opened again. This time, the ding of the bell had a frantic sound.

“Oh, Petunia! Petunia, Pettie, darling, please come back!” A large, lumpy woman in a brown fur-trimmed coat and an astonishing feathered hat ran past both boys like a mother elephant chasing after her young. “But the satin gown looked so pretty on you!”

The dark
-haired beauty tossed her curls in disgust and did not even bother looking back, just as Jake’s fine coach-and-four rolled to a halt beside the pile of presents.

That was the moment that
Petunia’s mother noticed the Earl of Griffon’s family crest emblazoned on the door.

T
he large woman halted as abruptly as the boys had at the sight of her daughter. Petunia’s mother turned to stare, her eyes wide, the ridiculous peacock feathers on her hat blowing in the breeze. “Good heavens! It’s—you’re—him, aren’t you, young man? You’re the new Earl!”

“I am,” Jake said
coolly, folding his hands behind his back like the worldly London gentlemen whose pockets he used to pick. All his thoughts, of course, were on the daughter. Aha, now he could get an introduction. “Madam?”

“Goodness
me! Why, you’re just as handsome as they wrote in the Society pages!”

“Nonsense.” Jake laughed uncomfortably.

“No, but how marvelous to meet you. Why, it’s a miracle you were ever found, Lord Griffon—after all those years! Please—you must meet my daughter.
Petuniaaaaa!”
she bellowed in a whole new tone.

Rather
like an order from a drill sergeant.

At that moment, Archie
caught up. His smaller cousin skidded to a cheerful halt and slammed into him in his eagerness, knocking Jake off his balance and rather killing his suave effect.

Jake scowled at him, but Archie didn’t notice.

“Hullo!” he said to the big lady, who was clutching at her heart, as if the opportunity to introduce her very own daughter to a young earl was more than she could bear.

“P
etunia Harris! Over here—
NOW!
” the matriarch elephant roared.

Jake arched a brow. If this was what it was like having a mother, perhaps he was better off.