Wings of Shadow (The Underground Trilogy) (6 page)

With the threat of the Underground gone, uncertainty replaced Meghan’s fear. Kiernan knew where she was staying. He could easily find her again in London. Returning home to Portland didn’t seem a good option; she needed experience abroad for her college admissions.

A dozen questions came to her. “What should I do? Where can I go?”

“Don’t worry. Your knight will transport you safely to the faerie village.” Mumbling about other adventures they could have, he leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes.

“Paddington Station! End of line!” the speaker blared.

She elbowed Wish, and he stumbled out the door and into the train station. Rays of sunshine streamed through the skylight-lined roof.

Wish looked up. “Pretty!”

She glanced around, peered down the platform, and looked toward the next one. Paddington was filled with people who rushed to and fro, making it impossible to watch for danger. They needed to leave—and soon.

“Wish.” She breathed in, imagining herself filling with patience. “Where do we go next?”

He pointed to the left. “Chug-a-chug-a Choo-choo! Our train just entered the station.”

The sign on the side switched from “Cotswolds-London” to “London-Cotswolds.” She took a step to the left and reached behind her to pull Wish along. Her hand grasped empty air. Turning, she saw him ambling along to the right.

“Where are you going? The train is here! We should get on.”

He walked faster. She needed to make a decision. Should she board the train or follow Wish? But thinking about it, she really had no decision. She had no money, knew no one, and didn’t even know their destination. Still, the impulse to put as much distance between the Underground and herself was overpowering.

She paused another moment before rushing after Wish. He had made his way to a counter at the far end of the station. Searching in his pocket, he pulled out a small stub and handed it to the bag attendant, who disappeared for a moment, before returning with Meghan’s backpack.

“How did you…?” She threw her arms around him. It didn’t matter. Having her things, no matter how meager they might be, made everything better. And then there were the practicalities: passport, money, student visa.

“Time to be cheetahs,” Wish growled, taking off running for the train. She tried her best to run after him, the framed backpack containing three months of belongings weighing her down.

They raced to a train, and Wish pulled her aboard. The doors shut seconds after they entered the car. It wasn’t until the train began to move, leaving the station in the distance, that she could catch her breath.

Meghan found a seat. As the train sped through the city, she turned to him. “Where am I going to stay? What am I going to do for the next few months?”

Wish smiled. “Talk to the flowers, sing with the birds, hug the trees. And you are going to live amongst the faeries. Really, Meghan, it will be the best few months of your entire existence.”

She wasn’t going to get any serious answers from Wish until the funky thing he had drunk wore off. She watched London passing through the window of the train. Her plans had changed so quickly, and all because she made the mistake of hanging out with the wrong guy.

She rubbed her hands on her pants, trying to calm her worries. She had no idea where she was heading. Far was good, though. Meghan pressed her palm against the window. When she pulled her hand away, the window was smudged with black. She was still wearing the ash-stained clothing from last night.

“I almost forgot.” Wish clapped his hands. “This present is for you!” He handed her the package, black paper tied with fancy red ribbon.

She opened it and found a new set of clothing. The style was different from what she typically wore, but the leggings and tunic top were made from a high-quality material and sized to fit her perfectly. Anything was better than spending one more day in dirty clothing.

“Ooh… pretty!” Wish shrieked.

“Shh! I’ll be right back. I want to put these on.” She made her way to the tiny train bathroom. She managed changing in the cramped space and discarded her ruined clothes in the bathroom bin before splashing water on her face.

Meghan wobbled as she made her way back down the aisle, grasping seat backs to steady herself. A loud sound filled the air as she grew closer to her train car. Upon entering, she found Wish lying across the seats, snoring loudly.

~ 5 ~

An hour had passed since Meghan boarded the train, and Wish’s wheezes and snuffles still resonated through the train car. She had scooted him back to his side of the seat, but his head slumped onto her lap, his wings still covered by the black cape.

“Oxford Station,” the speaker blared.

The gray-haired woman across the aisle gathered her belongings.

“Excuse me, but how long does it take to get to the Cot... Cot…” Meghan struggled to recall the name from the train’s sign.

“The Cotswolds?”

“Yes, that’s it!”

The woman stood and pulled on her gray woolen coat. “It’s just over an hour from here, two hours outside London.”

“Thank you.” Meghan smiled as the woman picked up her small suitcase.

“Never been?”

She shook her head. “I… I just arrived in London a few days ago.”

The woman patted Meghan’s hand. “Oh, you’re going to love it. Picture-perfect little villages hidden in the English countryside. The whole area has been protected by our conservation laws so the authenticity of the villages has been preserved.”

“Is it safe?”

“One of the safest places in England. Aside from the sheep and the village residents, the only people you are likely to encounter are other tourists. Enjoy your holiday!”

After the woman departed, Meghan tried to awaken Wish. She had no idea at which station to disembark. “Wish, wake up,” she urged, poking and shaking him.

He ignored her attempts. Finally, she pinched his arm.

He shot upright, looked around the train, and then gaped at her. “Where are we? Did I actually rescue you? Why don’t I remember anything?”

“More like, I rescued you.” She rolled her eyes. “At least you were able to direct me to the right train. We’re an hour outside of the Cotswolds.”

He rubbed his temples. “Ooh, I have an awful headache. I remember sneaking into your room and having a cup of tea. Why don’t I remember anything else?”

“I think they drugged the tea.” She looked away. “I sort of tried to escape up the chimney, but it didn’t go well.”

“I heard.” Wish laughed. “Rumors spread fast down there. Escaping into Lord Killian’s chambers… you couldn’t have had worse luck.”

She spent the next half-hour catching him up on their flight from the Underground, detailing his antics along the way. He seemed sober again. Relief washed over her. She had to stay so strong during the escape, and she was tired. Tired and ready for somebody else to take over.

Wish slumped lower and lower in his seat. “Kiernan is going to be furious with me,” he muttered.

“Who cares if he is?” She scowled. “What’s up with that freaky place? The costumes, the hidden club, the blood-drinking? Was Kiernan really going to k-kill me?”

He ignored her questions. “Nice outfit.”

“I forgot to thank you for the clothes. They fit perfectly.”

He shook his head. “They weren’t from me. I was asked to deliver the package to you. I remember that much.”

Meghan startled, for if Wish had not given her the clothing, who had?

“Your gift was from Kiernan. As much as I would love to claim the role of the valiant hero, rescuing you was not my idea. Kiernan asked me to take you from the Underground.”

Meghan gasped. “Kiernan asked you…” She struggled to put her thoughts together into a coherent sentence. “Why would he do that? I heard him sharing his plans with his father: keeping me imprisoned and drinking my blood every night. Why would he just let me go?”

Wish looked grave. “It isn’t my place to tell Kiernan’s tale, and he is so private, I wouldn’t even know where to begin. But be careful about assuming that Kiernan was the one responsible for your ordeal.”

“He lured me to the Underground! Not responsible?” Disgusted, Meghan shook her head.

“I have never seen Kiernan defy his father before,” Wish said quietly.

She felt more confused than ever. She had just grown accustomed to the idea that Kiernan had horrific plans to hurt her. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the new information. He had secretly planned her rescue. What did it mean?

Turning toward the window, Meghan watched as the train sped past grassy knolls and sheep-dotted pastures. Feeling overwhelmed, she closed her eyes and wished away her worries.

*

The squeal of the train brakes jolted Meghan from her nap. Rubbing her eyes, she noticed only a few passengers rising from their seats.

“Perfect timing, sleepy-head!” Wish teased. “We depart here.”

Running her fingers through her mussed locks, Meghan made her way toward the open door. As she stepped onto the platform, she read the weathered wooden sign hanging outside the desolate station: “Moreton-in-Marsh.”

Slinging the backpack over his shoulder, Wish headed for the little town, and Meghan followed. She could see why many tourists came to this picture-perfect village, the kind she imagined from the England of long ago.

They made their way over the uneven cobblestones. Houses rose on either side of the street, all constructed of honey-colored stones, and the road narrowed, barely wide enough for a single car. Their footsteps echoed as they walked; her stomach grumbled, echoing loudly, too.

Wish spun around. “When is the last time you ate?”

She thought. “Um, yesterday’s breakfast, I guess. Lord Killian offered me a meal when I… fell into his room, but it was hard to get much down.”

“No wonder your stomach is growling. Wait here. I will find some food.” Wish ducked under a nearby doorway into a small pub.

Meghan sat on a stone bench, trying to make sense of all that had happened. She couldn’t have predicted she would be held captive. She could forgive herself for that. But she couldn’t forget about her strong intuition to avoid entering the Underground in the first place. She had caved to Kiernan’s will, surrendering to his smile, blue eyes, and whispered encouragements. She couldn’t forgive herself for her weakness.

She noticed miniature sand grains in the material of the bench, nestled against rounded pebbles and bundled together with larger chunks of stone. Prying at the bench with her thumbnail, Meghan could not free even one stone. The sedimentary rock was cemented together by the glue of time. Sort of like her feelings—betrayal, confusion, disappointment, and fear all melted together in a messy and emotional glob.

She pried her attention away from her recent memories and observed her surroundings. The entire town was a snapshot of the past come to life. Yellowed stone houses and storefronts dotted the street. Late summer flowers bloomed in wooden boxes outside each window. Limestone tiles, which looked hand-cut, covered the roofs of the cottages. A single car crawled along the cobblestone street. Aside from the vehicle, she felt she had stepped one hundred years into the past.

Wish reappeared with a steaming pastry in each hand. “Mushroom pasties,” he explained, passing one to Meghan.

Biting into it, she was overwhelmed by the jumble of tastes: savory wild mushrooms, sweet onions, and the hint of herbs. “Yum! Good choice.”

She devoured her food as they walked through the town in silence. As they reached the outskirts of the village, Wish guided her onto a narrow earthen path. The trail wound up and down grassy hills as far as she could see. Lines of squat stone fences intersected the land and crisscrossed with the path.

“I hope you’re up for a little stroll.” He pointed to something in the distance, too far away to see. “We have to make our way to the next village.”

“It feels like we’ve stepped back in time one hundred years.”

“The English are fanatics about preserving old villages like this. If a stone falls out of your fence, it needs to be replaced with an identical stone from the same area.”

“It’s beautiful, though.” And far from London. She watched a pair of sheep lounging near the path. “Where are we headed?”

Wish hesitated. “A friend of mine lives in the area. He has agreed to give you a safe place to stay.”

She stopped and turned to him. “What about you? Where are you going?”

“I must return to London.” He paused when Meghan glared at him. “I need to be where the parties are. Little village towns are too quiet for me.”

“Or maybe you need to hurry home to report to Kiernan,” she muttered.

“Well, he has asked me to do just that.”

Her stomach clenched again. Was she safe if Kiernan knew where she was staying? The need for answers tore at her, ripping away the little bit of peace the far-away countryside had provided.

“Will Kiernan hurt me?”

“I think you’re worrying about the wrong person.” Wish took her hands. “You’re safe now.” He tried to spin her around, but she broke away.