She smacked his arm lightly, causing his lashes to flutter and his breath to catch. “You invigorate my mind with your intelligence and your scrupulous vocabulary. Don’t try to be something else, I beg you.”
“I invigorate your mind?” he repeated in wary astonishment.
“Of course,” she said cheerily, and stole a leftover piece of bread from his plate.
The train staff came to clear the dishes away, after which Gabriel laid the rug over her lap. But Elodie needed no pillow: lulled by the rhythmic motion of the train and Gabriel’s low voice talking about angles and measurements, she fell asleep where she was sitting, her head leaning against his shoulder.
—
Gabriel was nota religious man, but in that moment he knew heaven.
Chapter Twenty
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…
Unless it’s picked up by a thaumaturgic breeze,
carried half a mile, and then transformed into a banana.
Blazing Trails, W.H. Jackson
They arrived inHereford too late.
Even the tourists evidenced horror as they looked upon the chaos that had ripped through the city. Roads were torn up, trees tossed about, roofs stripped from buildings. Cold blue flames sprang up from the river, sending coils of magic into the shock-white sky like malevolent clouds that rained deadly glittering hail. A tumult of sirens and shouted voices told a story far more grim and somber than that of Dôlylleuad.
“This is most unpleasant,” a Miss Trevallion declared, delicately waving a gloved hand before her face in an effort to ward off a few dainty tears.
“The cost of these damages is going to be major,” Algernon said.
“ ‘Oh, this rueful sky, this pageantry of fear!’ ” Mumbers quoted, sweeping his hat in an effusive gesture that might have been more compelling had not some drifting magic struck said hat from his hand, transforming it into a small black rabbit. The Misses Trevallion squealed with delight.
“Use the station’s telegram to contact the Home Office,” Gabriel ordered Algernon as he shouldered his ER kit. “Tell them to dispatch an emergency response team at once.”
“But my train for Leicester leaves in fifteen minutes,” Algernon whined.
“Then type fast.” Not waiting for a response, Gabriel strode away.
“Bye, Algie dear!” Elodie said, clasping one of the accountant’s hands between both of hers and thus managing to horrify him even more than Hereford’s ruined buildings had done.
“Mrs. Tarrant,” he replied in starchy farewell, giving her a look down his nose that made it plain he still considered her to be no more than Gabriel’s wife. “I shall send you and Dr. Tarrant a copy of my report.”
“Marvelous!” Elodie said with an easy cheerfulness that came from having no intention of reading it. She kissed the lad’s cheek just to bedevil him, then, to the sounds of his outraged sputters, she hurried after Gabriel.
As they sped toward Hereford Cathedral, her heart strained at the sight of despairing locals gathered outside damaged buildings while crews worked to clear immediate hazards. She wished she could stop and offer help, but that would make her only another pair of hands, instead of an expert who could ensure worse catastrophe did not hit farther down the line. So she looked ahead to the cathedral and ran, following Gabriel past rubble and around hot spots of magic, along the efficient route he’d mapped out during the train journey.
Incredibly, the great stone church remained untouched, not even one window broken. This was entirely thanks to Professor Tarrant (i.e., the Amelia one), according to the wardens whom Gabriel and Elodie questioned.
“She was remarkably efficient in the way she directed us all in creating a defense for the building,” said one gentleman in breathless tones.
“She was impressive,” said the other, eyes huge.
“She was bloody terrifying,” added the first, and they both nodded vigorously.
“Where is she now?” Gabriel asked with unrestrained impatience.
“In the south transept,” came the reply, “helping prepare for any wounded that are brought here from the city. But are yousureyou want to see her? I wasn’t exaggerating when I said ‘bloody terrifying.’ ”
“I believe you,” Gabriel answered grimly. “She’s my sister.”
