Tremor

Chapter 7

07

Eleanor, for all her books and maps, had never truly appreciated how large Oakston was. Eleanor, after all, had never been to the city in the first place. She'd briefly met an undead at the docks, but that was hardly an indication of the city's size – rather, it would have been more representative of the dangers in Oakston.

It was Emily Greene who could appreciate the long winding streets of Oakston and the bustling marketplace during the midday.

Stalls of assorted merchandise lined the streets and she struggled to keep an eye out for Felix, since her attention wandered most dreadfully, drifting from the throngs of people to the occasional squawks and honks of fowl birds to the seemingly never-ending vegetable and fruit stands.

"Miss Greene, do try to keep up."

Emily snapped to attention at the call. Picking up her skirts, she dodged and weaved through the crowd until she was by Felix's side. "My apologies, Mr Wallis."

For a moment, it appeared Felix very much wanted to reprimand her, but bit back whatever he was going to say, replacing it with, "I would rather that you didn't go missing on my watch."

Emily blushed and, to her mortification, found herself saying, "I thought you despised me."

"Hardly," Felix held back an eye-roll and adjusted his grip on the brown paper packaging of his purchases, before leaving the marketplace, with Emily in tow. "I was merely… unprepared for your arrival at the Brownstone, to say nothing of Lingonberry's meddling."

Emily was glad to let the matter lie at that. "So, this friend of yours you wanted me to meet…" she changed the subject, and grimaced when she realised how obvious the attempt was.

Clearly, Felix thought so too, but had the decency to not comment. "Mrs Stella Aubun. Not the most pleasant company, and certainly not the most unpleasant. You should get along perfectly with her."

"Is that a reflection of my character as a whole?"

"No. Merely an indication of your patience," Felix replied smoothly. "If you can handle Lingonberry and his idiosyncrasies, then Mrs Aubun should be no trouble at all."

Emily did not feel reassured, even less so when it became apparent, nearly twenty minutes later, Felix was leading her to the catacombs. The tram, an odd machine that let out little puffs of steam out of an exhaust pipe every few minutes, had trundled slowly through the city, and Emily had spent the majority of that trip fidgeting with her umbrella while Felix had been content to sit back and relax. They'd both gotten off the tram at the grassy hills of the catacombs, Felix with familiar ease and Emily with understandable trepidation.

"Mrs Aubun lives here?" Emily eyed the fenced-off area dubiously.

"In a manner of speaking," Felix was still stretching out his limbs after the twenty minute tram ride, and this gave Emily the opportunity to observe the ground above the catacombs. Two buildings, both particularly gothic and mausoleum-esque in appearance, sat on the surprisingly grassy field, fenced off with a warning sign of 'Oakston Catacombs'.

Felix began heading for the mausoleum on the right, and Emily followed hesitantly. "Is she dead?"

"Partially."

Emily looked at Felix in alarm. Felix, either unaware or uncaring of the apprehension of his companion, pushed open the door of the mausoleum. A single marble coffin lay inside, cast into eerie relief from a flickering torch.

And then, to Emily's horror, Felix handed the groceries to her and pried open the lid.

Emily had been prepared for an undead, or perhaps even a half-rotting cadaver, but the sight of the stairs descending below caught her completely by surprise.

"Come on," Felix took the groceries from Emily and started down the stairs. "Open your umbrella, by the way. It should give us some light until we get to the lichens."

Emily spent half a second in the eerie mausoleum, then scrambled down the stairs after Felix, opening her umbrella at the same time.

The stairs opened up to a musty old passage way, which – Emily was glad to note – was not lined with bones. "Where are we going?"

"To a place called Undergrowth," Felix slowed his pace so that Emily was walking by his side. "Have you heard of it?"

Emily confessed that she had not.

"Very well, then," Felix did not seem too surprised at her answer. "Have you heard of the Unmentionables?"

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Their very name would seem to suggest that I should not."

Felix ignored the pawky reply. "The Unmentionables are known only to few of the Oakston citizens, with good reason. If the existence of the supernatural were known… well, it would hardly do well for mass panic."

"People accept Magicians readily enough," Emily pointed out.

"And how many people have you met?" Felix returned lightly, his voice echoing in the tunnel.

Emily scowled slightly, but conceded, "…touché, Mr Wallis. But Mr Lingonberry's potions and sigils don't exactly seem to be panic inducing."

"That is only because his magic does not appear harmful. Creatures of the night, on the other hand…"

"Creatures of the night?" Emily repeated curiously.

"Vampires. Werewolves. Banshees. Ghouls," Felix rattled off the names with little pauses in between each one.

"Vampires?" Sigils and chalk and grimoires Emily could deal with. The blood-sucking undead, on the other hand… "You cannot be serious."

"Deadly serious," Felix remained straight-faced at the pun, "I assure you."

Luckily for him, Emily did not notice the pun, since she was preoccupied with the notion of the Unmentionables. "Vampires, werewolves and ghouls! But that is the stuff of tall tales."

"Hm," Felix pretended to think for a moment. "Stella Aubun would disagree."

"Good grief!" Emily exclaimed. "You mean to say…?"

"That she is a vampire?" Felix finished Emily's sentence blithely. "Yes, she is."

A sneaking suspicion wormed its way into Emily's mind, providing images of being drained dry at the hands of a blood-sucker. "Why on earth are you introducing me to her?"

"Because she is a pugilist," if Felix noticed Emily's disbelief, he ignored it. "And because Barker has requested that you learn to defend yourself, should an encounter with someone like Weasel ever occur again."

Emily did not pay much attention to the rest of Felix's explanation, having latched onto the first part. A vampire was hard enough to believe. A vampire pugilist? The idea was ludicrous. "A pugilist?!"

"Retired one, of course," Felix did not seem to be bothered by the idea of a vampire pugilist.

"And that is supposed to make me feel better?"

"Did it?" Felix returned easily.

"…marginally," Emily admitted. With luck, the vampire would be old enough to have lost her teeth. Hopefully.

"Since," Felix continued with the impromptu history lesson, "the Unmentionables would cause mass hysteria, they have taken to living in Undergrowth."

Any thoughts of continuing the conversation fled when the green glow of the umbrella was mingled with a soft purple light further up the passageway.

"Oh, good," Felix almost sounded cheerful. "You can put your umbrella away, now. We've arrived in Undergrowth."

Where Oakston was a city, Undergrowth was more of a village. While Oakston was an impressive sight by itself, bathed in rays of golden light, Undergrowth was another sight altogether. The village of Undergrowth sat at the bottom of a huge cavern, and gave off the impression that the village was situated at the bottom of a valley. At least, it would have, if it were not for the rocky ceiling above.

Emily registered that the purple glow emanated from some sort of lichen clinging to the damp rocks at the mouth of the passage way, and the lichen stretched on as far as the cavernous rock above, casting a dim light on the village. The passageway itself was at the top of the opening, and Emily could almost reach out to the ceiling.

The ground trembled, and Emily gave up any thoughts of reaching out. She did not fancy toppling down the winding stairs etched into the cliff-face. "Was that a tremor?"

"Yes," Felix answered as he started down the stairs, ignoring the fine trickle of dust from the ceiling. "Are you coming?"

Emily made her way carefully down the damp rock, her eyes drifting down the length of the stairs to find it heading for the village. From her current position, she could see the other end of the cavern, and of Undergrowth in its entirety. "So, that village is Undergrowth?"

"Aptly named, isn't it?" Felix was further down, and showed no signs of slowing his pace.

"Yes," Emily agreed. "It's underground. And there's certainly growth," she added, looking at the lichens. "What are these things, anyway?"

Felix paused and turned to look at the lichens. "Not a clue. I try not to worry too much, otherwise I would have driven myself mad in the first week in the Brownstone trying to figure out how the sunlight always seems to shine through the kitchen window regardless of morning or afternoon."

"You've noticed that too?" Emily looked at Felix hopefully.

Felix started down the stairs again. "Don't dwell on it."

Emily similarly turned her attention to picking her way down the stairs. "But you have?"

"Don't dwell on it, Miss Greene."

Emily did not press the matter, even though she could sense that Felix was not annoyed, but amused. She waited patiently for the man to continue. When he did not, Emily prompted him. "Mr Wallis? You were talking about Undergrowth?"

"Oh, yes," Felix picked up where he had left off, "Undergrowth is where the Unmentionables live, but you'd be surprised how easily they can pass off as human. Take a werewolf, for example. For most of the month, they can be model citizens."

"Until the full moon?" Emily suggested lightly.

"Until the full moon," Felix confirmed. "Then, they transform into hairy beasts with a desire for fresh meat. Most of them are decent enough even then, though. That is not to say that there haven't been exceptions."

"The werewolf you took down – was he a rogue werewolf?"

"Yes, and it was a she, by the way," Felix added flippantly, in a tone that suggested that this topic was as common as discussing the weather.

"What of vampires, then?" Emily asked. "Surely they can't hide their bloodlust."

There was a small pause before Felix replied. "Garlic."

Emily's eyebrows rose in surprise. "…excuse me?"

"Garlic," Felix repeated, then elaborated. "It dampens their… less human tendencies, enough so that they can pass off as human."

Emily thought about it for a moment, before asking another question. "So, if I wished to keep a vampire from attacking me, a garland of garlic would do nothing?"

"Besides giving off a detestable odour? No," Felix shook his head, "not unless you are able to stuff a head of garlic down their throats, or force-feed them a cup of concentrated garlic juice. In which case, they'd be as helpless as either you or I."

"You, sir, have a very blunt way with words," Emily picked her way down a particular slippery step, and dimly wondered how Felix managed to keep his balance while carrying all the groceries.

"Lingonberry was my teacher," Felix stopped at the stair he was on, and stood still as another tremor rocked the ground. "Did you expect anything different?"

"No, I can't admit I did- ah!" Emily, caught unaware by the tremor, slipped, and stumbled into Felix.

Felix, who'd dug his heels into the stone stairs the moment the tremor started, was the only thing that stopped her from falling all the way to the bottom. "Try not to break your neck," was all he said to a very embarrassed Emily.

…

Emily couldn't help but stare at the dimly lit streets of Undergrowth. Everything, from the buildings to the people, were bathed in the soft purple glow of the lichens, and the young lady noticed that the lichen wasn't strictly restricted to the rocks alone, but had spread all over some of the buildings as well. Emily was thankful for the light, as it made travelling through Undergrowth's narrow streets easier.

Her hand nestled in the crook of Felix's arm, Emily found herself guided through the streets at a reasonable pace – fast enough that the occasional Undergrowth citizen could not get a close look at them, and slow enough to not look suspicious. Regardless, Emily had the time to look at the oddly structured buildings.

"Mr Wallis?"

Felix 'hmmed' to show that he had heard her.

"These buildings…" Emily gestured vaguely at a house they passed, "their style is nothing like Oakston's buildings."

"Undergrowth isn't just a place for the supernatural to live," Felix explained patiently as the two made their way past the village's square, and pressed onwards to the outskirts, "it's the remnants of the previous civilisation."

"Previous civilisation?"

"Or so Lingonberry claims," Felix shrugged. "I have no idea what he means half the time. He claims Oakston was built upon the bones of London, whatever that is supposed to mean."

"London?" The name did not sound familiar to Emily. "Is that a place?"

"One can only guess. You'd have to ask Lingonberry if you want the details."

Finally, Felix slowed to a stop in front of a two-storied building, in the same odd style the houses of Undergrowth seemed to be made of. "We're here."

…

Stella Aubun was a stern woman, greying hair coifed tightly into a bun, and sharp hazel eyes narrowed as she studied Emily. She was not, Emily noted, old enough to have lost her fangs.

But then again, Emily knew next to nothing about vampires. For all she knew, vampires probably never lost their fangs. For another matter all together, Emily had never met a woman who wore trousers, perhaps with the exception of Chief Barker. Stella Aubun was very much at home with her attire, and did not seem to mind or particularly care what others thought of her.

"I know I owe you, Mr Wallis," Aubun regarded Emily with an expression that borderlined disgust, "but are you sure you want to waste it on her?"

"Aubun," Felix said sharply, but Aubun did not pay him any attention.

"Look at her," Aubun continued, as if Emily was not present, "she's scrawny, and probably hasn't done much in her life besides walk-"

Emily had to admit that much was true. She had climbed the trees around Moreau Manor on occasion, but was forced to stop after Madame Denbigh had caught her in the act while a tremor happened to be passing through the Manor. Needless to say, she'd been banned from the activity ever since. Emily had also hit Felix over the head with an umbrella, but that had only been once, and she hadn't even hit him that hard either.

"-and you want me to teach her to box?" Aubun finished her tirade. "This is idiotic, even for you, Wallis. Even if I were to teach her to box, she won't last a minute out there, not with her skinny little arms."

Felix gave off the impression that he was trying very hard to not lose his temper, "Are you finished?"

"Quite," Aubun smiled sharply, fangs glinting in the dim light of the drawing room the vampire had welcomed the two humans into.

Welcomed was perhaps an overstatement. After Felix had knocked on the door of the two-storied brick building, Emily and Felix had been greeted with an ominous creak of the door, and the suspicious eyes of Stella Aubun peering at them from the safety of inside the room. Even when she'd recognised Felix Wallis, her expression did not lessen in it animosity.

It was only until Felix pointed out matter-of-factly, "You do realise we don't require an invitation to enter," that Aubun had finally and very reluctantly opened the door fully and let them in.

Which led to where they were now.

"Then listen," Wallis snapped, no trace of Felix in his tone, "you owed me a debt, Aubun, and if I say I want you to teach Miss Greene, then you will. And you will ensure that even if she is no good at boxing, she must be able to defend herself. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Aubun was unfazed, and examined her nails casually. "Are you going to offer an official invitation or not?"

"I, Felix Wallis, invite Stella Aubun," Wallis gritted his teeth, "to the basement of the Brownstone at four o'clock every afternoon for…"

"Three weeks should do it," Aubun supplied.

"…three weeks," Wallis continued, "to teach Emily Greene to defend herself."

"That sounds about right," Aubun nodded. Then, she pointed at the door. "Now, get out."

Out in the streets of Undergrowth and away from the gloomy building Stella Aubun lived in, Emily felt that it was safe enough to attempt to talk to Felix again.

"Is she always like that?"

"Yes."

When Felix did not continue, Emily asked cautiously, "You said something about a debt. What exactly did you do?"

"Aubun was accused of murder a few years back," was all Felix said, and did not bother elaborating. It was a far cry from the constant string of information he had provided on the way down the stairs.

"And you cleared her name?" Emily asked as they started up the mossy stone steps again.

"Yes."

Clearly, Felix Wallis was no longer in the mood for talk, and Emily resigned herself to a very quiet trip back to the Brownstone.

…

Lingonberry met the two in the foyer, and when his greeting to Wallis was returned with a noncommittal grunt, he turned a questioning look to Emily the moment Wallis disappeared into the kitchen to put the groceries away.

"He took me to… ah, meet Stella Aubun," Emily explained, and wondered if Lingonberry knew who the vampire was.

"Oh," a look of understanding lit up in Lingonberry's eyes. "Yes, she certainly has that effect on everyone. Well, most people," he amended, looking at Emily. "I see that you are not in terrible spirits or sulking."

"I don't sulk," Wallis' voice drifted from the kitchen.

Lingonberry didn't say anything in response, and merely grinned before gesturing for Emily to follow him.

Emily followed the Magician as he hobbled slowly up the stairs, humming the tune of some song under his breath as he did so. Halfway up to the fourth floor, he paused long enough to ask, "How was your day? How did you find Undergrowth?"

"Unusual. But interesting," Emily thought back to the lichen-covered village, and how the villagers didn't pay Felix and herself any more attention than if the two were walking down Oakston's streets. "How come no one knows about that place?"

"Oh, some people do," Lingonberry corrected her as they started for the fifth floor. "Most people don't, I'll give you that."

Lingonberry, Emily noted, did not directly answer the question, but she let it go. "Earlier, when Mr Wallis and I were visiting Mrs Aubun, she demanded an official invitation-"

"Vampires are like that," Lingonberry replied as they reached the fifth floor and he opened the door to the attic. "They are very… fastidious about things like that."

The attic looked the same as Emily had left it that morning, complete with Ned the Gerbil in his cage.

"Oh, good," Lingonberry nodded at the cage approvingly, "I see you found Ned. Hello there, Ned," the Magician cooed at the little rodent.

Ned, who'd been grooming his whiskers, paused long enough to wriggle his nose at Lingonberry before resuming.

"He really is your familiar, then?"

"Quite," Lingonberry gently moved the cage to a shelf. "He has been for a very long time. Now," Lingonberry pulled out a tome from a nearby cupboard, "I think you will find this interesting."

Emily took the offered book and flipped through its pages to see sigils on every page, with a small paragraph of text beneath each one. A flutter of excitement stirred in her heart. "You think I might be able to learn magic?"

"Oh, no," Lingonberry shook his head, "I'm afraid you're as dull as a bag of bricks in that regard, rather like Felix."

Emily blinked in surprise at that, and felt slightly offended before she realised that the Magician had not meant the remark to be hurtful.

"That boy hasn't got a magical bone in his body," the Magician muttered, mostly to himself. "Anyway, as you've seen Felix do on occasion, he can draw basic sigils, but anyone can do that, provided they have the knowledge. And of course, you've seen him injure himself because of a faulty sigil too."

Emily winced, remembering the silver amulet and the bandages on Felix's hand.

"That," Lingonberry shuddered as he remembered the same thing Emily had, "is something I am not willing to be responsible for. Felix was lucky it wasn't worse. No," Lingonberry tapped at the cover of the tome Emily held in her hands, "this will help you recognise basic charms and sigils, and what to do in case you encounter them in Oakston. I'm not the only Magician in Oakston, you know."

Emily looked at the tome again, then timidly at Lingonberry. "I was wondering if you could tell me more about Undergrowth. I would've asked Mr Wallis, but…"

"But he wasn't up to talking after your meeting with Mrs Aubun, wasn't he?" A small smile hovered at Lingonberry's lips, and he gestured at a nearby stool even as he pulled up one of his own. "Well, take a seat, and I'll see what I can do."

Emily pulled the stool over to the bench the Magician had seated himself at.

"So, what do you wish to know about Undergrowth?" Lingonberry asked as he pulled out a chopping board and a knife, and started cutting an odd-looking vegetable into thin slices.

"Well, the government there, for starters," Emily paused, briefly mesmerised by the thinness of the slices. She wasn't aware anyone could cut that thinly at the pace Lingonberry was going. "Seeing as not many people in Oakston know of it, I don't suppose the police have any jurisdiction there?"

"No, they don't," Lingonberry replied, tipping the slices into the cauldron and almost proceeded to stir the mixture with the ladle before Emily quietly reminded him that the ladle was for tea only. He exchanged the ladle for a crystal rod and stirred away at the cauldron, "But they do occasionally arrest the odd wrong-doer who has committed a crime in Oakston. Undergrowth isn't run by any government that I am aware of, but rather under the rule of the rich and powerful."

Emily was taken aback at this.

"Yes," Lingonberry had noticed her discomfort, "a rather cavalier and similar method to Oakston's, isn't it?"

Emily grimaced. While she may have spent the majority of her life confined to Moreau Manor, it did not mean she was ignorant of how Oakston was run – specifically, by families like hers, the Gathony's and the Wrights. The Mayor of Oakston had authority over most things, but one could hardly expect the one man to run everything. It made sense, then, that he was to be advised by a group – a council of sorts.

It did not make sense that only the heads of the upper-class could be a part of the council.

The citizens of Oakston had no say in the matter; a fact that Eleanor had been quick to point out to Madame Denbigh before being warned to keep her mouth shut and why can't you stop asking questions, for goodness sake, Eleanor-

"Most of the powerful families in Undergrowth are the vampires," Lingonberry, his back turned to Emily, had failed to see the distress flitting across her face, and continued on, blissfully unaware, "seeing as they make up the majority of the population of Undergrowth. So, rule of thumb, don't annoy the vampires and they won't bother you. Well, most of them will accept imprisonment from Oakston authorities-"

"Why?" Emily interrupted. If vampires were indeed oh-so-powerful and very possibly ruled Undergrowth in its entirety, she wondered why they'd listen to Oakston authorities.

"The risk of discovery, of course. Their families won't risk bailing out their errant offspring for fear of revealing their society," Lingonberry put the stirring rod to one side, and pulled out a vial from the cupboard closest to the cauldron. "But then, you have families like the Smiths." The Magician uncorked the vial almost viciously and dumped its contents into the cauldron. "They don't particularly care for law and order." As the last drops of the vial's contents dripped into the cauldron, Lingonberry's brief annoyance disappeared. "Thankfully, they tend to keep to themselves in Undergrowth and rarely venture into Oakston. It's the few that take garlic juice that like to go above."

"Ah, yes, Mr Wallis did mention that." Emily fell silent, still deep in thought of lessons long ago. Then, she remembered London. "What's London?"

"A place," Lingonberry answered simply as he continued stirring the contents of the cauldron. "From the previous society of humans. Well, that's how the story goes."

"Story?"

"Yes, story. It's one passed down as a fairy tale – you probably haven't heard of it," Lingonberry added, pausing in his stirring to think. "It's a little dark for children. I doubt your father approves much of fairy tales."

"No," Emily agreed. Lord Moreau certainly cared little for fairy tales and magic. "He doesn't."

"I thought as much," the Magician nodded, then continued stirring again. "Well, as the story goes, the previous society used too much of earth's resources, Mother Nature was most upset and killed them all."

Mr Wallis was right, Emily thought. Mr Lingonberry doesn't make sense at all, sometimes. Out loud, Emily said, "That's only a little dark?"

"There's a more detailed version, with earthquakes and other natural disasters, and about how the ground split open. I could tell it to you," Lingonberry offered brightly, completely genuine, "if you want to hear it."

"I'll… pass," Emily's smile was a little forced, "thank you."

"If you say so," Lingonberry replaced the lid on the cauldron, and when Emily did not ask any other questions, he asked, "is that all you wanted to know?"

"Yes," Emily pulled herself out of her personal mental debate on just how old Lingonberry was, and whether or not he may have been slightly senile, "thank you, Mr Lingonberry."

"Wonderful," Lingonberry smiled. "If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. Now, go read that book. I suspect Felix might take some time with dinner."

Emily nodded, and got up to leave. When she reached the attic door, she hesitated. "Does he always cook?"

"No, we take turns. I have to cook downstairs, though," Lingonberry pouted at that. "He hasn't trusted me to cook ever since the cauldron incident."

END PART 1

The adventure continues in PART 2: EMILY, coming soon(ish).

Okay, it might be a while.

Till then, readers.

Sincerely,

kiwanomelon