The glare from a bull’s-eye lantern set between the handles controlling the front wheel of the steamcycle illuminated the narrow lane far ahead as the vehicle rumbled along. The fire roaring from the motor on the rear created a hellish glow as red cinders flew from the motor. Penny Carter sat straight astride the machine she had designed and built, grinning in the cold wind. Kate gripped tight to the rim of the small sidecarriage, not out of fear but anticipation of the evening’s work and beyond. Her mind already raced with possibilities, going over alchemical formulas and additives in her head.
Kate pointed right to a narrow turnoff. Penny maneuvered the bulky, two-wheeled vehicle down the path and under a wrought-iron gate above which were fashioned letters spelling out Primrose Gardens. Though there were no sweet flowers in this garden. Only dried husks placed at the base of small, stone monuments. The cemetery was overgrown with rampant ivy and tall, desiccated stalks of grass. The deeper they drove, the more recent the stones appeared. Then the smell of newly turned earth reached their nostrils. Six plots, all fresh. Two large, four small. The ground was blanketed with a heavy mist that rolled slowly across the sorrowful sight.
Kate’s heart tightened. She had heard of the tragedy on a nearby estate. One of the tenant families had perished in a fire, their house consumed in the dead of night before any could escape. The moonlight was bright enough to illuminate the grey stones gathered about them in the shadowy recesses, but they kept the lantern shining on the recent plots. In the beam, loamy white mushrooms covered the dark mounds of earth like small spirits dancing on the graves. Penny shut off the engine of the cycle and Kate climbed awkwardly from the small compartment.
Penny threw a leg over the padded saddle of the vehicle. She was covered in mud from head to toe. In her current state and with her heavy leather pants and jacket, it was easy to think this was a man. However, Penny was a lovely young woman in her early twenties. Never as striking as Kate but with a carefree attitude that Kate often envied. Penny’s dirty blond hair had been tied down at the beginning of the trip but had escaped and run amok.
“We’re in luck,” Kate said, and instantly felt a sting of regret that she could even for a moment think of these fresh graves as a boon. But they were. She reached back for a hemp satchel to carry her harvest. She watched Penny draw her coat collar tighter about her in the chilled air. “Cold?”
“I work in front of a hot forge all day. It’s a bit nippy.” Penny laughed and pointed at the odd fungi. “So we just pick them?”
“Yes. Exciting work, isn’t it?”
“It could always be more exciting,” the engineer replied with a grin.
“Simon wrote to you for silver armaments in case we have to …” Kate let her words trail off.
“Yes. A note from Simon Archer is usually the beginning of an adventure of some sort. Luckily I had a few things left over from our to-do with Gretta. I’ll run up a few more tomorrow or the next day when I go back to London.”
“Well, I’m glad you arrived at Hartley Hall today. Thank you for coming with me tonight. Simon was engrossed in his William Blake poetry, so I didn’t want to disturb him. He has so many tasks to accomplish. Not only is he looking into this murder in London, but he is still trying to figure out the key.”
“Yes,” said Penny. “I’ve been looking at that too. Your father was an incredible engineer, I can tell you. That key he built with Simon’s father is a beautiful piece of work.”
“And you and Simon have no idea how it works?”
“Not a bit. But once we do, they claim we’ll have a device that will transport someone anywhere in the world instantly. That’s pretty keen.”
Kate looked a bit crestfallen. “Then I’m sorry to drag you away from your work too.”
“Oh please. You and I haven’t gotten to spend much time together, so when you offered late-night botanizing in a graveyard”—Penny jerked a thumb at her chest—“I’m your girl!”
“You really enjoy all this, don’t you?” Kate knelt on the ground at the first grave, placing a hand of respect on the dirt. Then she focused on cutting the stems of the fungi known as ghostblooms.
“Mushrooms?”
“The danger. The running and shooting.”
Penny shrugged. “It’s not boring. I love making things, but I do like seeing them used out in the field too. Nothing gives me more pleasure than the boom of a gun I built.”
Kate chuckled at the young woman’s enthusiasm. “I can understand that.”
Penny took one of the cut mushrooms and studied it. “Will this help our little werewolf?”
“Yes. I hope. I’ll have to experiment a bit on the potency and the method. But it should help her manage her transformations and be more true to herself. Charlotte has a kind heart, we just need to allow her to follow it.”
“Without the hairy side getting in the way.”
“Exactly. I can’t seem to fix Imogen yet, but I at least I know how to help Charlotte.” Kate sliced roughly through a small mushroom, wielding her knife in mounting frustration.