17. Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen

J ack only slowed when he ran out of roofs and had to take to the streets, but still he ran on, tireless, holding Hugh as gently as a baby in a crib. The city eventually gave way to less populated areas. The sky was just beginning to lighten into purple and blue when Jack slowed outside of what looked like an enormous estate. Jack set Hugh down and gave him a smile, but Hugh could see him breathing deeply. He did not know how many miles they had run, but it had been quite a few, with Jack carrying his weight the whole way. “Will you be able to use your fire?” Hugh asked worriedly as Jack put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

Jack nodded. Somewhere along the run, he had lost his top hat, and his horns gleamed in the early morning light. “Yes. This way.” He swung his arm dramatically at the orchard a little way away.

Into the trees they plunged, down the neat rows, the scent of apples strong in the early morning air. Jack seemed to know exactly where he was going, and Hugh followed closely after him.

He saw the fence before he saw the Tree. The Tree had a vaguely golden glow around it, barely perceptible since most of the Tree was obscured by the large fence. Jack stepped up next to him. “I will get inside the fence and light it on fire that way. Hopefully the flames will be contained to the Tree then.”

“You won’t get burned?” Hugh asked.

Jack shook his head. “I am impervious to my own fire. Don’t worry, I shall be as careful as a seahorse in a clam shell.”

Hugh hoped that was very careful, but he had no chance to think on it further, because two figures stepped out from around the fence.

One of them he recognized immediately, as the boy still wore the purple silk and nothing else. Anthony stared back at him, his eyes still a little glassy, his feet not quite steady under him, though he was being held upright by someone else who had a grip on the back of his neck. It took Hugh a moment to realize who it was, because his gold mask was gone from his handsome face. It was Adam. And he remembered now where he had seen him before. The gentleman who had been talking to Mr. Galloway on his first visit to The Bull and Parasol, who had given him the salacious look. The one Mr. Galloway had called ‘Your Grace.’

Adam’s hand that did not have a hold of Anthony held a double-barrel pistol pointed at the young man’s head. “My, you did make good time,” he said, giving Hugh and Jack a small smile.

Hugh frowned, realizing with consternation that he was unarmed, and Adam was slightly taller and more built than he was. He slowly held his hands up. “Let Anthony go,” he said.

Adam gave the boy a shake, and Anthony stumbled, his bare feet scrabbling for purchase in the dirt, his body slow to react from the drugs still in his system. “Oh, so you do care for this whore.”

Hugh gritted his teeth. “What do you want?”

“Unfortunately, what I want is you and your horned friend dead,” Adam said, smiling a bit. “But I doubt you are going to give that to me so easily.”

He had that right. Hugh and Jack were the only people outside of Eden that knew about the existence of the Tree and what it could do. Jack held up his hands wide. “Come now, do not be a coward and hide behind the innocent. Release the boy and face us like a gentleman.”

“I’m afraid not,” Adam said with a cold smile. “My father was a fool to trust you so readily, Jack. But I am not my father.”

“Certainly not. Your father at least is a man of his word,” Jack replied.

Adam chuckled. Jack started to take a step toward him, but Adam cocked back the hammer on the pistol and pressed it to Anthony’s temple. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Jack held up his hands. “It appears we are at an impasse, Mr. Adam.”

“It seems so,” Adam replied casually.

Hugh had no idea what he could do. He couldn’t move fast enough to get Anthony away from Adam, or to redirect the pistol elsewhere. Jack possibly could, if he could distract Adam enough. “Was Viscount Jardin a member of Eden?”

“A newer member,” Adam said. “He enjoyed the power of the Tree and was willing to pay generously for it outside of the monthly gatherings.”

“And he got apples from the Tree at Elysium, provided by John Henries, your gardener,” Hugh said.

“Oh, yes. Under my direction, of course. John was quite loyal to my family. Such a shame that I had to frame him so my father wouldn’t know that I was providing apples to clients outside of Eden.” Adam looked excessively smug.

Hugh felt his lips curl back in a disgusted snarl. “You killed the Wilcoxes and set the bakery on fire.”

“Right on both counts,” Adam said. “Reardon was wrong about you; you’re not half-bad at investigation. Though I suppose having Spring-Heeled Jack helping you gives you an advantage.”

The snarl that Jack let out next to him made Hugh’s hair stand on end. “You loathsome fiend! How dare you use such power to harm people this way!”

Adam laughed before he suddenly bent double as though his stomach had given him a sharp pain. Whatever it was caused him to let go of Anthony’s neck, and the dark-haired young man stumbled forward toward Hugh, his gait unsteady, though his eyes were slightly more focused now. Acting on instinct, Hugh stepped forward and caught Anthony in his arms as the boy stumbled into them. “He… ate… th’apple,” Anthony slurred.

Hugh didn’t know what that meant, but he didn’t have long to wait to find out. Adam’s body suddenly began to twist and elongate. His head expanded outward like a cape unfurling, his gray top hat tumbling to the ground, followed by the pistol. The visible skin on his face, hands, and neck began to bubble and morph into a pattern of overlapping scales, tinged a violet-red. His back bowed backward at a sharp angle like a strychnine victim. The flickering blue and white flames cast hideous shadows over him as his body jerked and spasmed before he dropped forward to his knees, his head down as his body finished its macabre dance. And then Adam rose to his feet to look directly at him.

What stood before them now was not a man, but a scaled creature with a diamond-shaped viper’s head and violet eyes with slitted, red pupils that seemed to radiate with fire like Jack’s did. The creature still had four limbs that were relatively in proportion to its body, though the ends of its fingertips had morphed into sharp, pointed claws. Its mouth opened, wider than any human’s should have, and fangs glistened within the creature’s mouth as it let out a snarling hiss that made every hair on Hugh’s body stand up in terror. A scaled appendage several feet long emerged from the back of Adam’s gray trousers, tapering down to a pointed serpent’s tail that lashed back and forth with a snap like a cracking whip.

Hugh stared in horror at the apparition before them, no longer human, but a strange homunculus of serpent and man. Adam had been biding his time, waiting for the apple to take effect. “Well, that’s not good,” Jack said next to him. “That’s the one I saw running away from Christopher.”

Hugh glanced desperately around for a fallen branch or anything he could use as a makeshift weapon, but he found none, and Anthony still clung to his arm, not fully under his own power yet. The pistol lay at the ground at Adam’s feet, but damned if he was going to approach the creature to try to grab it.

The serpent lunged forward, claws extended, headed straight for Hugh. With Anthony in his arms, he couldn’t move quickly enough to dodge, and his heart skipped a beat.

Arms closed around him, and Hugh found himself yanked off his feet and pressed close to Jack’s chest, Anthony crushed against him too. The wind whipped as Jack ran with them both in his arms, a little slower than he did when only carrying Hugh, but his momentum carried them into the apple trees. Hugh clutched Jack’s jacket, unable to do much else, lest he risk tripping Jack or losing his grip on Anthony.

Jack turned sharply several times until he came to a stop, setting Hugh on his feet. Anthony clung to Hugh’s arm, his dark hair ruffled from the run, looking like he might be about to vomit. Hugh held him close, turning to Jack. “We need to stop Adam and burn that Tree. We may not get another chance.”

Jack nodded. “I know,” he said, glancing anxiously over his shoulder. “But I doubt you’re going to be strong enough to fight him, especially not if you’re looking out for this young man.” He nodded his head toward Anthony.

Anthony shook his head, looking up at Jack, his eyes focusing and unfocusing on Jack’s horns. “Don’ worry about me. I’ll be al’ight.”

“We’re not going to leave you,” Hugh said firmly, and Jack nodded in agreement. “Do you think you can fight him?” he asked Jack.

“Yes,” Jack replied firmly. “I will.”

“There’s a fence around the Tree,” Hugh said, keeping his eyes moving, watching the orchard for any sign of the vile creature. In the breeze, the tree branches all swayed like restless spirits. “If you can get me inside of it, I can burn the Tree while you take care of Adam. We’ll burn the whole orchard if we have to.”

Jack suddenly whipped off his cape and draped it around Hugh’s shoulders. “Here. It’s not completely fireproof, but it should protect you enough. I’ll get you inside the fence.”

“Look out!” Anthony shouted, pointing heavily off to the side. Hugh and Jack both turned just as the serpentine form of Adam came running on all fours at them down the tree row, fangs bared, violet eyes gleaming as he snarled and hissed.

Jack put himself between Hugh and Anthony and the charging creature, and Hugh had a strange sense of déjà vu as Jack let loose a burst of blue and white flames. The chimerical monster snarled and dove backward, plunging off the row into the trees. The flames rapidly began to creep up the two trees nearest it. Jack knelt down next to Hugh. “Get on my back so I can carry him.”

Hugh didn’t argue, just wrapped his arms around Jack’s strong neck. Jack scooped up Anthony in his arms as Hugh tightened his legs against Jack’s sides. And then they were running through the orchard, must faster than a human could run, back through the trees, the blue and white flames casting their shadows over the trees in broken chiaroscuro. From not far enough away, he heard a dreadful howling, snarling noise and the thump of quadrupedal feet on the ground. Adam was chasing after them again.

The fence with its faint golden light behind it was just ahead. Jack put on a burst of speed to reach it, setting Anthony on his feet as Hugh hopped down. Jack slammed his foot onto one of the wooden slats of the fence. It cracked but did not move out of the way. Hugh moved to his side. “On three. One, two, three!” Both of their feet connected with the board, and the wood broke apart, opening a narrow gap in the fence.

Hugh gave Anthony a push. “Go!” Anthony was squeezing through the gap when Adam launched himself out of a nearby tree like a leopard leaping on a wounded gazelle. His tail lashed with the crack of a whip, and Hugh felt it snap only inches from his face. Jack had caught the creature with both hands and gave him a mighty throw. Adam went sailing into the branches of one of the nearby apple trees. Hugh snatched up a long, sharp piece of broken board, wrapping the edge of Jack’s cape around his hands. “Light me.”

Jack let loose another blast of blue and white flame from his mouth, and the wood ignited. Hugh turned back to the gap in the fence, starting to squeeze through. He heard something snap nearby, and then Jack was moving away from him. “Go!” he ordered Hugh.

Anthony grabbed Hugh’s other hand to give him a tug, and Hugh stumbled through the small gap with only a few scrapes. “We need to burn this tree,” he said. In front of them, the Tree glowed with a soft, golden aura. “And any apples on the ground too.”

Anthony nodded and picked up a stick, holding it into the crackling, blue flames until it ignited. “I’ll go this way,” he said, pointing to the right. Hugh turned back to the tree. He could reach a few of the lower branches and leaves and a few of the fruit hanging there, looking so innocent and rosy. He lifted the wood, watching it catch some of the bright green leaves. He stepped to the side and lit another branch, then had to set down the wood against the trunk of the tree as the heat started to reach his hand even through Jack’s cape. He picked up a long stick like Anthony, lighting it and moving around the Tree to try to ignite the leaves and branches.

Something slammed into the fence only a few feet away from him. “Biscuits and hellfire!” he heard Jack swear.

“Jack, are you all right?”

“Just fine!” came the call back. Hugh wished he could do more to help, but Jack was right. He could not fight the creature. He debated for only a moment picking up one of the apples on the ground and taking a bite, in the hopes that he might transform into something useful, but he quickly squashed that idea. He had no idea if he would be in control of himself, and the last thing he needed was to get in Jack’s way, or, God forbid, hurt Anthony or Jack.

Anthony met him halfway around the Tree, his pale face smudged with soot, his eyes red. Hugh threw part of the cape over his head to block out further smoke. “Come on, let’s get away from here.”

Anthony nodded, coughing and holding tightly to him. Hugh ushered him quickly around the Tree, keeping Anthony further away from the Tree with his feet being bare. The Tree was taking longer to burn than Hugh had hoped. It was not dead, and green wood and leaves took longer to catch than dry firewood, even with Jack’s superhuman flames. The air was thick with smoke. They couldn’t stay inside the fence with the Tree combusting behind them. They reached the gap in the fence. Hugh peered out, feeling an immediate temperature drop outside of it. Jack and Adam were nowhere to be seen, though there were several furrows in the ground that looked like someone had been thrown or slid in the dirt. He gave Anthony a nudge through the gap, then squeezed himself out after him.

Anthony moved quickly away, and Hugh followed him. “Here,” he said and pulled off Jack’s cape. He slid it around Anthony’s neck to give the young man more coverage. Anthony tucked it around himself with a grateful smile.

“Thanks. Are you doing all right?”

Hugh nodded. “About as well as can be expected.” He didn’t want to ask Anthony too many invasive questions about that night and how much he remembered from Eden, but he had to make sure the boy was all right. “Are you all right? Anything hurting?”

“I’m okay,” Anthony said, giving him a quavery smile, and Hugh returned it. A strange sound suddenly caught his ear, and it took Hugh a moment to place it over the roar of flames and the crackle of the Tree. Hoofbeats, and the creak of wheels. Horses running on the stone drive that led up to the Duke’s estate. He frowned and gave Anthony a nudge behind a tree.

“Stay out of sight. Don’t come out until Jack or I come for you.”

Anthony nodded and crouched down. In the darkness, with Jack’s cape around him, he looked like not much more than a shadow. Hopefully that would keep him safe. Hugh scanned the area, trying to discern if he could hear Jack and Adam, but the orchard was vast. The trees waved their branches in a strange, ghostly dance in the soft wind, casting hellish shadows over the ground from the flames that were consuming the Tree.

Out of the apple trees just a few yards away burst a large man that Hugh assumed was the Duke. His fancy clothing was in disarray, both because it looked like he had dressed in a hurry and because the trees had ripped at them. In his hands was a long machete. He stared at the flames rising from behind the fence as the Tree smoked. His eyes flickered around wildly until they landed on Hugh. The Duke lunged at him with a loud bellow, swinging the machete, but he was a very large man and did not move fast. Hugh dodged aside, and the machete thunked into the wood of a tree.

The Duke snarled and lunged at him again, but Hugh evaded him. He wanted to lure the Duke away from where Anthony was hidden. He ducked another swing of the machete, though he tripped over his too-large shoes, and he had to roll on the ground to avoid the next downward swing from the Duke. The large man was huffing and puffing like a steam engine, his face red in the light from the white flames that were slowly but steadily licking their way up the Tree of Knowledge.

There was a screech nearby, and Hugh turned to see two forms tackle each other in midair. One had horns, the other a long, pointed tail. In the dancing firelight, he could see Jack’s wickedly sharp claws up and poised to attack, but Adam’s were equally sharp. The two of them rolled across the ground. A smaller apple tree with spindly branches broke as they slammed into it, tipping over to scatter its leaves and fruit all over the ground. Not too far away, Hugh could see the glow of white and blue flames drawing closer and closer. The whole orchard was catching ablaze.

The Duke swung the machete at him again, and Hugh scrambled backward and up to his feet. Something went sailing past the Duke to hit the fence around the Tree with a loud bang; it was Adam. He slumped to the ground, seemingly stunned or unable to breathe for a moment.

Jack was suddenly next to Hugh and growled at the corpulent man. “I am not in any mood to deal with you, Mr. Duke.”

The Duke snarled again. “You traitorous dog! I brought you into my club, and this is how you repay me?”

Jack shrugged. “I suppose those deadly sins I’ve heard about can overrule your judgement.”

The Duke growled, but the noise was answered by an even darker growl as Adam pushed himself to his feet, tail lashing, his violet eyes narrowed dangerously. He gazed at Jack for a moment before he turned his eyes toward Hugh and leaped. Hugh felt like the world stopped for a moment, and all he could see was Adam’s outstretched claws coming straight for him.

Jack sprang between them, catching Adam in his outstretched arms. Adam’s claws raked down Jack’s chest, rending the oilskin there, and several drops of red blood appeared on Jack’s skin beneath it. Jack and Adam rolled across the ground together, Jack’s claws sinking into Adam’s shoulders, and Adam screeched a high-pitched sound like a banshee.

The Duke turned back to Hugh, and Hugh almost didn’t have time to dodge before the man swung the machete again. He dove aside, backing up as the Duke lumbered toward him.

“Hugh!” came a shout from nearby. Hugh turned his head to see Anthony a few yards away, holding something in his hands. It was the double-barrel pistol Adam had dropped earlier that had disappeared in the scuffle between Jack and Adam. Anthony tossed it at him. Hugh watched it arc up, and he reached up and caught it as it descended down. He cocked back the hammer as he turned back to the Duke who was rushing at him like a bull at a matador, the machete upraised to split his skull.

Hugh raised the gun and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out, clear as bell even through the crackling fire. The Duke froze, a scarlet rose blooming on his chest. He stumbled back a few steps. His great bulk hit the flaming fence. The boards fell inward, taking the man with them. His coat caught fire, and, within moments, his entire body was covered in flames, his body jerking only for a few moments before it went still. Fire spread around him, the broken fence feeding the blaze and giving the flames a path out of the enclosed area. A sizzling sound filled the air as the Duke’s skin began to pop and blacken.

Jack came running through the trees. The slashes on his clothes were still there, with drops of blood staining the edges, but Hugh could see that the wounds themselves were nearly closed up and sealed over again. Well, that was a handy trick. “Where’s Adam?” he asked.

Jack pointed behind where he had just come from. “He heard the shot and ran off that way.”

“Coward,” Hugh muttered. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” Jack replied. “You? And you?” he added, turning to Anthony.

“Fine,” Anthony said quickly.

“Same,” Hugh replied. He nodded toward the corpse that was completely alight with blue and white flames, reminiscent of the viscount only a short time ago. “The Duke is dead.”

“Well done, old chap!” Jack said, giving Hugh a slap on the back, and Hugh laughed.

Flames were nearly all around them and lit up the early morning sky as bright as midday, the golden-glowing Tree now completely alight, the flames spreading outward from the broken fence to the rest of the orchard. “Where would Adam be headed, do you think?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know,” Hugh said.

Anthony glanced in the direction Jack had pointed earlier. “Isn’t the train station that way?”

Hugh groaned. Anthony was right, and there was always an early-morning train departure. “Dammit. If he’s able to get on that train, he’ll disappear.”

“Scarlet stardust. We need to go after him then,” Jack said with a dramatic sigh before his head cocked. “What is that noise?”

It took Hugh a moment to hear it, but after a moment he registered a distant clanging sound. He thought for a moment might be the train, but it was coming from the opposite direction. He realized with a bit of relief that it was the fire brigade bell. By this point, he wasn’t sure how much they could do to save the orchard, but hopefully they could stop the fire before it got too out of control and hurt the estate’s servants or other people who lived in the area. He handed the pistol to Anthony. “Take this just in case. The fire brigade is coming. Tell them you were being kept prisoner here, and you need to speak to Constable Rezal Depesh of the Metro Police.”

“Where are you going?” Anthony asked, his icy eyes wide.

“We need to catch Adam.” Hugh didn’t have time to explain, but he knew if Adam disappeared, he was going to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. And the Duke was dead. Someone needed to be brought to justice for all of those murdered and mutilated people, including Christopher.

Anthony nodded, pulling the cape tighter around him. Hugh leaned in to give him a quick hug, which Anthony returned. Jack pointed in the direction of the depot. “You head that way, Hugh. I’ll make sure Anthony gets to safety and that all the apples are destroyed, and then I’ll join you.”

Hugh nodded and turned to run through the orchard in the direction of the train station. Dawn was approaching; the early-morning train would be leaving very soon. He burst out of the orchard to see the serpent-like form of Adam down on all fours, running down the hill toward the depot. If he at least made sure Adam got on the train, he would know where the man was headed next. He ran down the path after him, kicking up dirt that clung to his sweaty skin as he did.

He could see a cloud of smoke rising in the distance from the train station. He came over a ridge and slowed to a stop. The rest of the way to the train was downhill, but he could not run down the hill at the speed he was at; he would trip and break his neck. But he could see Adam approaching the train platform fast. The train whistled again before it gave a great shudder, its wheels beginning to move.

Adam raised himself back up to two legs, shoving several people out of his way. The departing train was just starting to pick up speed as it reached the end of the platform. Adam took a leap that Hugh was almost certain would fail, but he grabbed the railing of the train and hauled himself up and over the railing like a monkey. He turned to watch the estate recede as the train continued to chug relentlessly on, and Hugh could see his lipless mouth curl up in a smirk at him. Hugh let out a breath of frustration.

Jack suddenly appeared by his side. “Where is Adam?”

Hugh pointed to the train in the distance. “He jumped aboard there. We’re going to have to try to beat the train to the next station in order to get him.”

Jack raised a brow. “Oh, no, we do not,” he said. He held out his arms.

Hugh blinked, then grinned and wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck. Jack scooped him up, holding him to his chest. The wind was suddenly whipping by them. Hugh held tightly to him as Jack navigated the hill like it was nothing, then onto the train tracks, the world going by in a blur.

His stomach rose and fell as Jack leaped, and suddenly they were on the platform of the back of the train where Adam had pulled himself aboard. Jack set Hugh carefully on his feet. “All right?”

Hugh nodded. Adam was not on the platform anymore, which meant that he likely had ducked inside the carriage. “Yes. Wait here, I’ll try to chase him out toward you.”

Jack stuck out his lip in a pout. “You get to have all the fun.”

Hugh snorted softly. “Yes, that is exactly what it is,” he said before opening the door to the third-class passenger car and stepping inside.

The passengers were all seated, talking or reading or napping, though many of them looked up in surprise as Hugh entered the car. That made Hugh worry just a bit. Adam had still been in his vile form when he leaped aboard the platform, and Hugh had no idea how long it would take for the apple to wear off. Adam could be either in his human form or still in his strange chimerical form. He didn’t see him in his human form in any of the seats, and a half-serpent man crawling on the ground under them would certainly have drawn attention. But there was no door at the other end of the car for him to have gone through, and, even if he had, there was no way for him to easily pass between the third-class and second-class carriages. No one looked panicked either, like Hugh would expect people to be if a strange creature had come running through their midst. Had Adam not come into the car at all? Had he jumped off of the moving train somewhere along the way before he and Jack had been able to catch up to it?

A scrambling sound came from above his head, and Hugh looked up, but he saw nothing except the wooden ceiling of the carriage before realization dawned. Adam was on the roof. He nudged past several passengers, who made offended sounds, to stick his head out the open carriage windows to look up.

Adam suddenly swung down through the open window next to him, throwing himself in across the bodies of several passengers. Hugh turned to him, then was nearly trampled by a wave of people scrambling to the back of the car as passengers screamed and ran from the serpent-like monster crouched in the aisle at the front of the carriage. His tail lashed like a whip, catching Hugh across the waist and sending him spinning into a row of benches. He landed across the knees of several passengers. Adam dashed past him. “Move!” he snarled in a voice more animal than man. There was another massive scramble of bodies as people tried to get out of the way of the single door of the carriage.

Hugh pushed himself up, his torso throbbing from where Adam’s tail had struck him. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled to the couple whose laps he had just become familiar with before he tried to push his way back through the crowd toward the door. The door to the outer platform slammed closed. Hugh wondered if Adam had just run out of the carriage and straight into the arms of Spring-Heeled Jack. He could only hope.

Hugh threw open the door to the back platform of the train. The platform was empty. A scrambling noise above his head made him look up just in time to see a pair of well-tailored shoes and a thin tail disappear onto the roof of the car.

Hugh muttered a few unbecoming curses. There were shouts from above, and then Jack was suddenly perched on the railing, as he grinned at Hugh. “He’s on the roof,” Hugh gasped, startled but also relieved at Jack’s sudden appearance.

“I know,” Jack replied before grabbing Hugh and pulling him in against his chest. Hugh’s feet left the ground before alighting a moment later on the roof of the third-class car. Hugh clutched Jack tightly. The spectre was a pillar of strength and sturdiness on the moving train as the wind whipped past them at what had to be fifty miles an hour. He turned in Jack’s arms to see Adam at the other end of the carriage roof. His tail lashed back and forth, his violet and scarlet eyes full of murderous rage.

Hugh held up his hands. “Adam. There’s nowhere to run. You’re under arrest.”

Adam smirked at him, his lipless mouth curling back to expose his fangs. “Not today, Constable.” He turned and took a supernatural leap across the third-class carriage roof to the roof of the second, landing on it on all fours to steady himself.

Jack growled softly, enough for Hugh to feel it against his back where he was still pressed to Jack for balance. “I’ll get him. Hold on.”

Jack let go of Hugh and took a running leap across to the next car’s roof like Adam had. Hugh saw him land, but he realized in a moment of panic that Adam was gone, no longer on the roof of any of the train cars. Had he leaped off the train?

A diamond-shaped head with glowing, violet eyes popped up in the gap between the cars, focused on him. Adam smirked viciously, his fangs glinting in the early-morning sunlight. His tail lashed as he pulled himself back onto the third-class carriage roof, then lunged at Hugh. Claws came at him, and all Hugh could picture were the five deep gashes in Christopher’s body. He stumbled backward but lost his footing as the train rumbled along the tracks. He tried to steady himself, to grab for anything, but there was nothing but air around him. He pitched off the side of the roof with a yell, expecting the next moment to be an impact with the hard ground that would break every bone in his body, and he wondered for just a moment if there would be enough left of him to bury.

He hit something, but it was not the ground. His shoulder impacted what felt like a chest. There was a sudden jolt before the momentum of his body changed directions entirely, and he found himself flying upward again, Jack’s arms around him. They landed on the roof of the third-class carriage, and Hugh almost melted into the arms that held him. “Jack!” he gasped.

Jack gazed down at him with concern. “Hugh, you’re bleeding.” He pointed to Hugh’s neck.

That was when the pain hit him. Hugh realized that Adam’s claws must have caught the side of his throat when he slashed at him. He clapped a hand to his neck, and it came away streaked with bright red blood. It didn’t seem like it was that deep of a cut, but he remembered Dr. Ledbetter saying that the neck was such a fragile structure, considering it was used to balance the head and the brain. He realized too that his shirt collar was already soaked with blood.

Jack quickly whipped out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and pressed it to Hugh’s neck. “Hold that,” he said.

“I don’t think he hit anything important,” Hugh said, pressing the handkerchief firmly to the wound.

“If he did, you would have bled out by now. We shall get you to a hospital as soon as this blasted locomotive stops,” Jack said firmly.

Hugh nodded, then let out a yelp as something landed only a few feet from them on the carriage roof. Adam sneered through his fangs. His tail lashed out and almost struck Hugh in the chest, but Jack blocked it with his own body, a vicious growl emanating from him. He grabbed the tail with his iron claws and yanked. The scaly flesh shredded beneath them, and Adam screamed. Jack grappled with Adam, trying to sink his claws into the serpent’s flesh, and Adam was trying to do the same.

Something loomed in the distance, coming up fast, and it took Hugh a moment to realize what it was. A stone train tunnel. He didn’t know much about the construction of tunnels, but he had to imagine that there was not nearly seven feet of clearance from the roof of the train to the underside of the tunnel. “Jack!” he yelled, not even sure if Jack could hear him over the rushing wind and Adam’s snarling hisses.

“Get down!” Jack said sharply to Hugh. Hugh didn’t even think, just threw himself face-first down on the roof of the car, clinging to one of the metal pieces there. He glanced up through his eyebrows from his prone position just in time to see Adam in front of him. And then Adam was suddenly gone. Hugh felt something splatter over him like hot raindrops as he was plunged into darkness, feeling the closeness of the railroad tunnel over him. He felt panic rise in his chest. He wanted to lift his head to find Jack, but he didn’t dare move any further until they were out of the tunnel. Had Jack laid down prone like he had? Or had he too been standing when the train entered the tunnel and been struck by the overhang as Adam was? The thought made his stomach rise. Surely Jack couldn’t be dead.

It rapidly grew lighter, and then the train was out of the tunnel. Hugh lifted his head, then almost wept for joy when he saw Jack crouched two cars ahead of him on the roof. An instant later, Jack was by his side, helping him up. “Where did you come from?” Hugh asked.

Jack drew a half circle with his arm. “From one car, across the tunnel, to land on the other.”

Hugh blinked, then laughed. “You really are Spring-Heeled Jack.”

“Indeed,” Jack said with a grin. “Are you all right?”

Hugh nodded. “Yes. Though I would be very grateful to get off of this train roof.”

Jack wrapped his arms around him. “The station is coming up, looks like another mile or two, we’ll get there soon. And then we’ll get you to a hospital.”

“You’ll be seen,” Hugh said with a frown.

“I’m not worried about that,” Jack replied, holding him close. “With Dame Luck on our side, all of England will know about the paranormal monsters that have been killing people.”

“Were all the apples from the Tree destroyed?” Hugh asked.

Jack nodded firmly. “Yes. I made sure to get everything in that area, before the fire brigade could get that deep into the orchard.”

Hugh felt the train suddenly begin to incrementally slow beneath them. “Adam and the Duke are gone. That still leaves the other members of Eden. But without the apples, they shouldn’t be able to transform.”

Jack looked relieved. “Indeed. If we can identify them, we can punish them for their dastardly misdeeds.”

Hugh frowned darkly. “Without evidence, we won’t be able to charge them. And I highly doubt a court of law will believe in magic apples that wake vileness inside of people.”

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. “You have to work within the confines of the law you are sworn to uphold,” he said before an almost maniacal grin split his face. “But I do not.”

“What are you saying?” Hugh asked, already sure he knew where this was going.

“You do your job,” Jack replied. “But if they are able to circumvent justice, well… They just might receive a visit from Spring-Heeled Jack.”

Hugh thought about that for a moment. “But only people we know are guilty.”

“Yes,” Jack agreed firmly. “I do not relish killing. But I also do not wish to see someone escape punishment due to technicalities, especially if they have harmed others and will do so again.”

Hugh smiled and nodded. “All right. However, I do not wish to know about it. The less I know, the better.”

“Ah. We shall have to find more hobbies for us to be interested in together,” Jack said with a grin that Hugh mirrored back. The sun was rising higher and higher as the train began its slow approach into the next station.

Jack gathered Hugh into his arms and leaped off the top of the car before he was running again, his feet barely touching the ground, carrying Hugh in his arms as gently as a newborn baby.

The hospital in the town the train had stopped in treated Hugh’s wound, which had closed by the time Jack had dropped him off near the hospital’s doors. Jack hid in a nearby alley until Hugh came out again with a large bandage around his neck, before Hugh went to the police station there. He identified himself to the man behind the desk and explained that there had been an accident with the train; a young man had climbed on the roof and had been struck by the tunnel. And then, Hugh knew he would have to return to London. The fire might have spread on the Duke’s estate, and there would likely be many questions that needed answering. He had no idea how he was going to explain the Garden of Eden and the Tree and Reardon and Spring-Heeled Jack to the other inspectors. Maybe he wouldn’t. He didn’t need to be a hero; he just needed the violence to be over.

They would travel back to London tonight, but for now, Hugh rented a room at one of the nearby hotels on the top floor. Jack leaped up to join him, sliding in the open window before shutting the curtain. And they just lay there, curled on the bed in each other’s arms.

“Jack,” Hugh said softly, sliding his hands up the side of Jack’s face, over the cheekbones that could have cut glass and up the back of Jack’s pointed ears. “Thank you. For being there for me through all of that.”

Jack gazed down at him, smiling just a bit so the light caught his sharp teeth. “Hugh. You are the reason I am here. I will always be here for you.”

“And you’re not leaving?” Hugh asked softly.

“No. I will never leave you,” Jack replied. “You are my soulmate, Hugh Danbury, and I will always be by your side. Though I do like the idea of continuing to search for those members of Eden.”

Hugh nodded. “We will do that. Together.”

“Together,” Jack agreed, and they held each other close, enjoying this moment in time and space where they could just be.

Later that day, in the northern countryside outside of London, police inspectors were picking up what remained of Adam along the area by the railroad tunnel. One constable picked up a gray, blood-spattered jacket and shook it out. As he did, a single tiny apple seed with a hint of a golden glow fell unnoticed from inside one of the pockets and buried itself in the soft, blood-stained earth.