“We shouldn’t have left the island without Mary,” said Diana. She punched Catherine on the arm, but in such a dejected way that it barely hurt.
“Diana, Mary is not on the island,” said Justine. “We searched everywhere.”
Once they realized that Mary was gone, Catherine and Justine had made their way as quickly as possible out of the blue drawing room, hoping not to be noticed. Luckily, the terrace had been filled with scurrying maids and footmen, while the butler shouted orders. Everyone had been staring up at the tower and the flames that danced at its top. So Beatrice had lit the beacon! Had it worked? Had it driven the royal yacht safely away from St. Michael’s Mount?
As soon as they entered the chapel again, Diana had greeted them with “Where have you been? We saved the Queen. What in the world have you been doing, and where is Mary?” Beatrice and Isaac Mandelbaum had appeared a moment later to explain the situation. Catherine had breathed a sigh of relief. They were still in trouble, a great deal of trouble, but at least they had done one thing right—they had indeed saved the Queen.
In the hallway behind the wooden wall that held the organ, Catherine and Justine had changed once again into their ostler’s clothes, leaving Mrs. Russell’s dress and the maid’s uniform Catherine had been wearing folded neatly on the floor beside the sleeping servants. Even then, the parlor maids were starting to stir. They would awaken soon, and hopefully they would wake up Mrs. Russell. She was snoring slightly—Catherine thought that was a good sign.
Then, they had searched every inch of the island. Mary was not on it. Neither were Miss Trelawny, Mrs. Raymond, and Queen Tera.
“How do you know Mary’s not on the island?” Diana asked now. Isaac Mandelbaum’s boat was carrying them closer and closer to shore. “Maybe they made her invisible. Maybe they’re all invisible and hiding out for a while.”
“I think it is unlikely,” said Beatrice. “From what Catherine told us, it sounds as though Queen Tera is seriously wounded. They will want to take her somewhere she can rest and heal. That is probably where they have taken Mary as well.”
“Their most likely destination is the keep,” said Justine. “That is where they are strongest and safest. If I were planning a defense, it is certainly where I would choose.”
“Then we’ll attack the keep,” said Catherine. “Four of us against Margaret Trelawny, Mrs. Raymond, and a wounded Queen Tera, in a fortress designed to keep out invaders. Easy peasy, as Diana always says.”
“Are you being ironic?” asked Justine.
“Of course I’m being ironic. We caught them by surprise today. We’re not going to catch them by surprise tomorrow. It looks as though Mrs. Raymond has been practicing throwing lightning bolts, although she’s nowhere near as good as Queen Tera. How are we going to fight them? I have no idea.” She sounded angry, which didn’t help anything, she knew that. But she was deeply worried. If Mrs. Raymond or Margaret Trelawny hurt Mary, she would tear them limb from limb.
As they disembarked at one of the small natural harbors that appeared around Marazion at high tide, they all shook hands with Isaac except Diana, who was already halfway up the stone steps carved out of the cliff. He leaned down to kiss Beatrice’s gloved hand. Catherine wondered what Clarence would think of that!
“I am only sorry that we cannot help you further,” he said. “But our instructions were very clear—save the Queen, and then return immediately to London. There is still a great deal of work to do there—Moriarty’s allies remain in positions of power. They must be our immediate priority until they no longer threaten to topple the government. But I shall let Mr. Holmes know of this situation and the continuing threat Queen Tera poses. She did not succeed today, but I am certain she will try again.”
“That’s all right,” said Catherine. “We’ll save Mary, and Alice, and Sherlock Holmes. Somehow.” Even to herself, she did not sound confident.
They followed Diana up the steps to the top of the cliff and then down Turnpike Road to the inn. When Catherine stepped through the inn door and followed the smell of supper being served in the dining room, she saw Diana standing at one of the tables, with an enormous grin on her face.
“Look who I found,” she said.
Seated at the table were Ayesha, Laura Jennings, and Lucinda Van Helsing.
CHAPTER XVI
The Battle of Kyllion Keep
Mary opened her eyes and immediately closed them again. Her head was throbbing
“Mary. Miss Jekyll.”
She turned toward the voice instinctively—the voice in the world she most wanted to hear, which meant that it couldn’t be real. It must be a hallucination.
“Mary, look at me. I need to determine whether you have a concussion.”
She opened her eyes. There, above her, was the solemn, concerned, and, if she had to admit it, beloved face of Sherlock Holmes.
“Miss Mary.” It was Alice, hovering anxiously at the periphery of her vision. Oh, thank goodness! She held out one hand toward Alice, who took it in both of hers.
“Alice!” she said. “Are you—I mean, can you talk to me now? Talk freely?”
“Yes, miss.” Alice looked down at her anxiously. “You do know I was just pretending to be with Helen—with my mother, so I could help Mr. Holmes? I would never betray you or the Athena Club.”
“Of course,” said Mary. “But that doesn’t matter now. Where are we? My head feels as though it’s a bowling ball and someone has been using it to knock down pins.”
She tried to sit up, but the room was spinning around her and she had to lie back down again.
“Don’t try to get up, not yet,” said Sherlock Holmes. “How many fingers am I holding up?” He held up three fingers on his other hand.
“Eight, like an octopus,” she said.
He smiled. “I think you’ll be fine. I’m going to get you some water. In a little while, you may be recovered enough to eat something.”
“Where am I?” she asked. It was embarrassing talking to him while lying on the floor like this, but she did not have much choice.
“In the dungeon of Kyllion Keep,” said Alice. “My mother and Margaret brought you last night. I don’t know what happened, but Margaret is very angry. Did they kidnap Queen Victoria?”
“I don’t think so,” said Mary. She tried to remember what had happened. She had shot Queen Tera in the shoulder—she recalled that distinctly. Then a gray fog had filled the room so she could no longer see Tera or any of the others. The next thing she could recall was lying, tied up, on the bottom of a boat. It was obviously moving on the water, because she could hear the lapping of waves and its motion made her ill.
“I told you to kill her,” Margaret Trelawny had been saying.
“I fully intend to,” Mrs. Raymond had replied. “As soon as we find out who she’s working for and what we’re up against. At first I thought she and her friends were just a group of meddling girls, come to steal my daughter back to be their servant again. But they’re obviously more than that. Who arranged to light the beacon fire? It was obviously lit to warn the Queen away from the island. Have allies of Moriarty’s discovered what we’ve done? Are they trying to thwart us for reasons of their own? Or has someone in the government discovered our plans? There’s more going on here than we thought. We have enemies, and I want to find out who they are. Once she tells us, I will gladly dispatch her myself.”