Jack of Ravens

8

While a handful of police officers investigated the disturbance at the main doors, the king and queen of the Seelie Court whisked Church, Niamh and Tom out of the Crystal Palace — one moment they were standing on the main concourse and the next they were on the edge of Hyde Park. Church sensed that what the Seelie Court had witnessed had changed them in some way, though he could not define how.

Everything Veitch had said haunted him, reopening old wounds and adding to his confusion about his purpose. Was he really as corrupted as Veitch made out, and if so, could he make amends?

There were other mysteries: what part was Spring-heeled Jack playing? What had happened to Jerzy? And what was the significance of Helena Blavatsky’s cryptic words?

Church was so lost to his thoughts that he did not notice a carriage pass the edge of the park. In the back seat sat a thirteen-year-old girl called Annie, desperate and apprehensive at what the future might hold, but also hopeful. She had bought herself a fresh start in a new life with a guinea that had been delivered to her, one single moment of grace and charity that had changed her entire existence.