“Then what? Do you have relations there?” She must have to risk the journey.
Ailish shook her head. “I’ll make me way to London to find work.”
“Alone?” She’d be a target from the first.
“Don’t really know anyone except for Calhoun and Paddy, and they’ll not be coming along.”
“London is too dangerous by yourself.” With Cailleach’s power, Ailish would be able to avoid some of the hazards that would normally follow a girl of her age and size. But where would she live? And how would she eat once the meager funds were depleted. “You’ll need references and skills to get employment.” At least the kind that could be done with her clothes on.
Uncertainty tugged at her mouth. “When we were staying in Bristol, I got word o’ this lady in London who helps orphans. She gives them lodgings and teaches them to be bakers and seamstresses and housemaids.”
I barely stifled a groan. “I’ve heard of her, too.”
Excitement lit up Ailish’s face. “She’s real then. I’ve been worried that I’d go all the way and she be a made-up story. Do you know where I can find her?”
“I do, but there’s a problem.”
“What sort o’ problem? I can’t be more an orphan than if’n I crawled out from under a rock instead o’ being born.”
My heart tightened from the inevitable disappointment. “The woman is Lady Cate Dinley.” Catria...my great-grandmother.
“That be the name I heard. What else do you know o’ her? Does she train orphans?”
“She does.”
“And is she really so nice as I heard?”
“She is...” I paused for a moment. Ailish watched me expectantly, but there wasn’t an easy way to put the next part. “She’s also Brigid’s strongest living descendant. I... I don’t know if she can help you.”
Ailish held still for the few seconds it took to mull over this newest information. “Because I be from Cailleach.”
“As different as it may seem right now, we’re still mortal enemies.” In truth, I didn’t know what that meant anymore, except that our gifts opposed each other on the most basic level. Even so, I was fairly certain Cate wouldn’t want Ailish living in a room full of vulnerable children when she could gentle one of them away at any moment. She was Cailleach’s descendant, after all, and it stood to reason that her desire to encourage death rivaled my desire to fight it.
Every bit of light had drained from her face, rendering it dull to the point of listless. “I see.”
“Ailish, I’m so sorry. I wish there was something else I could do.” It astonished me just how badly I felt on her behalf.
“Don’t trouble yourself for me. If’n this lady can’t help, I’ll find another way to survive. Anything be better than going back to Calhoun.” Sadness followed as she moved to the front of the cart to nestle into the pile of sacks between the barrels.
I watched her for a moment, a slight form that hardly appeared a bump in the pile. A mop of brown hair pillowed her face. Dirt smudged her forehead and streaked across one cheek. In truth, she looked insignificant in every way, and would have passed unnoticed in most situations. Much like a mouse.
Something about the image caused a complexity of emotions to unfurl in my chest. How had someone so small endured Calhoun’s brutality for all those years? And now, on her own, how would she ever survive in a place as depraved as London? Obviously what Ailish lacked in physical size, she more than made up for in spirit. But after my limited experience in the rookeries, I doubted this would be enough to save her. Even armed with teeth and claws, she was still a mouse, and in all likelihood would be eaten alive.
Drawing in a slow breath, I tried to clear my head of this newest complication. First and foremost, I came to Ireland for Nora’s sake, not pick up stray orphans. No matter how awful I felt about the situation, Ailish would just have to fend for herself. If I managed to survive the next week, then perhaps I could find a way to help. Until that time, I had to stay focused on the task at hand and try my hardest not to get killed. Considering what waited in Wexford, Ailish may well be safer hundreds of miles away in London.
Weariness weighed on me, and whatever body part hadn’t gone numb ached like the dickens. I needed sleep but unlike Ailish could find no rest with the constant jostling of the cart. The horse continued at a steady pace, and it wasn’t long before the fog began to thin and we left the woods behind. As we crested a small hill, I caught the first signs of Passage East.
The horse plodded through the sleepy village to where the road ended at the water’s edge. Ailish lifted a groggy head to glance around while Seamus went to arrange passage. He spoke to the ferry master at length, and after dropping some coins into the man’s hand, they approached the cart together.