Chapter Fifteen

The next morning Millie woke up in a daze. To startle abruptly from her sleep to find herself somewhere foreign was enough to have her heart racing and her eyes wildly darting around the four walls. And then she noted the other figures in the room, laid out on varying forms of beds though it seemed hers was by far the best and most expensive. She wondered briefly whose bed she had taken when she rolled over only to come face to face with a little girl. She was about five years old and head the same hair and eyes as he best friend. Immediately she knew where she was – Percy’s house.

It eased her mind a fraction as her gaze greedily took in all of the features of his family home. It wasn’t decrepit or falling apart like a lot of houses in the poorer half of Portside were. It was surprisingly well taking care of. She could only presume that was due to Percy himself as his father had run away several years ago with one of the working ladies in the town. He hadn’t been seen or heard from since then but it wasn’t like anyone was looking for him.

Laying there, in her pyjamas no less, with this little girl opposite her with an adorable grin upon her lips – she could see why people wanted families. Millie could see why Percy worked so hard too. Although the house was comfortable, just looking into those adorable chocolate brown eyes was enough to melt her heart and want to do everything in the world to protect from the evils that lay outside.

“Hi,” Millie whispered causing the little girl, who was just shy of five years old, to giggle and burying her face into the pillow. “I’m Mimi, who are you beautiful.”

“Claire,” the girl whispered in response before burying her head into the pillow once more.

She was about to ask the little girl some more questions when the form, seating protectively in a worn chair from a dining set, startled into alertness. Percy’s eyes roved about the room as his hands went for the crudely shaped piece of wood nestled against his side. After a few seconds, he sighed and slumped back in the chair when no danger presented itself.

At that moment, Millie felt something warm in her chest as she looked at Percy. No upper class man would do something like that. They all walked around with a strange kind of detachment – themselves always being the main priority. And yet, Percy, who probably had his own pallet in one of the other rooms, had spent the night in a stiff unyielding and probably uncomfortable chair to protect them all and make them feel safe. Because she did – Millie, for the first time in a several days, actually felt safe.

With sleep still tugging at him, trying to lure him back to sleep, Percy sat up stretched his hands above his head as he yawned. He still felt tired as he had spent much of the night worrying about his friend and the rest of it concerned about the motive of the killer who had broken their pattern by killing Mr Clancy. He hadn’t particularly liked his employer due to his treatment of his Millie over the years and yet, even now, he still would not have wished death on the man – especially the painful death that he had been served.

Rubbing at his eyes, unaware of the dark rings now around them from exhaustion, he took up the bat, laying it across his lap and settled in for another long period of watching while his family slept around him. He smiled lazily to himself, spying his mother and his little brother snuggled up on the low cot in the corner of the room before letting his gaze roam to where it had averted through the entire night.

He jumped when he noted to sets of eyes staring back at him. Little Clair had managed to crawl into Millie’s lap and was now trying to clumsily plat the older girls hair while she smiled over at her brother. The blonde, whom he had known for a long time, had never looked so relaxed. There was still tightness around her eyes and grief swimming in the depths of her gaze and yet, in this little house that he called home, Millicent Clancy sole owner of the Clancy fortune looked completely at ease.

“Morning,” he whispered, mindful of the others still resting around them.

The shaky smile he got in response gave him the intense urge to sweep across the room and pull the strangely fragile looking woman. But it went against propriety and though he was not born in to the upper class, Percy was first and foremost a gentleman and would not cause any talk to come of this. Even if there was only his family as witnesses, he knew that little girls and boys often didn’t know when closed lips were of utmost importance.

“It’s okay to cry,” he whispered and the young woman gave him a grateful smile across the space before giving his little sister a squeeze. Her lashes fluttered rapidly as she attempted to blink back tears but one still leaked from the corner of her eye and trailed down her cheek.

“I’m such a mess,” Millie huffed, offering another piece of hair for the little girl to plait. “This entire situation is a mess.”

“I agree, but there is nothing we can do about it. What is done is done. We will pull ourselves together win the fair in a week’s time and then we will track down the person who murdered your father and the others.” He pushed up from the chair and walking up and down the small space that wasn’t occupied by furniture.

He lifted his head and the fierceness in his gaze caused the young woman to shiver and cuddle closer the young girl before her.

“We will find them and we will have justice.”

Millie paused to look at him for a few minutes before nodding her head.

“That sounds like an excellent plan cogs. But first I think I need to dress and then we will read my father’s letter. It must be important if he took the time to write to me. He has never done that before. Usually he will just send a message through the servants.” She frowned and quietened while her friend could only take in her words and watch.

She shivered and the grey eyes that met his held a bleak undertone like the loneliest of winters. “is there somewhere I can get ready? We need to start on the heart today.”

Nodding mutely as he watched her move about the room, Percy’s hands clenched and unclenched at his sides but he did not reach out to pull her to him. Sometimes he truly hated propriety and all of their rules. Still he stepped aside and gestured to the door, his eyes following her careful movements as she dodged through the furniture to reach him.

Two hours later her, Percy and stretch were sat in their workshop. As they hadn’t gotten closer and closer to it, the acrid stench of burnt wood scratched at the back of their throats. They didn’t have to look far to see the damage wrought by the fire. The once proud building – the source of the town’s income and employer of most of the people, was now a mere shell with blackened holes where the windows had been. Even the roof was gone leaving the burnt out interior exposed to the elements which for that mournful morning just so happened to be a bright sun that was accompanied by a brisk bitter winter wind.

Stepping inside, after standing there staring for far too long at the torched remains, the trio immediately set about getting them prepared for a day of hard graft. Stretch disappeared into the kitchen to put some water on to heat and give them privacy.

Reaching out, Percy took her hand in his. The calluses on her fingers reminded him that she was unlike any woman of station that he had even had the fortune to meet. Shaking his head, he slipped his hand inside his jacket as he tugged her towards their workshop while he pried her father’s letter free from his pocket.

Pausing just inside, he held out the thick parchment to her but Millie shook her head so that he blonde locks, which were hanging freely around her shoulders, swayed side to side almost flicking her in the face.

“You read it. I can’t -.” Millie cut off as her voice cracked thus Percy took a step away as he cleared his throat.

Carefully, he peeled open the letter, taking great care not to tear any of the parchment beneath. He stilled his hands starting to tremble as the responsibility fully rested upon his shoulders.

“Cogs? Percy?” Millie questioned when he did nothing but stare at the parchment within his hands.

“Oh sorry Mimi. Here we go.” He coughed a few times as he straightened out the paper trying to prolong reading the last words of her father. However she shot him a glare as sharp as a blade causing him to yelp and gulp.

“My dearest Millie, I am writing as I fear that my past will catch up with me and I am not long for this world. I ask that you do not mourn me, I am not and will never be worthy of your tears.” Percy gulped as he noted the figure shivering out of the corner of his eye.

“Keep going. I know there will be more than that.”

Rolling his eyes, Percy read ahead a few lines, his eyes moving back and forth before he detached a second from the back and handed it to her.

“I have included some of my work in this envelope so you can understand and maybe rectify the mistakes that I have made. All I can do is tell you I did it for love – nothing more and nothing less. I suppose I should tell you that after your mother died I was left heartbroken. Even though it was not my fault that your mother passed, I felt guilty. Only God could have saved her and your unborn brother that day but it was not to be.”  Shifting awkwardly, Percy shifted away and took a seat on the edge of Stretch’s desk. “I got obsessed with my work after her passing. I was convinced that I could bring her back. Not a mortal body – but I could recreate her like I designed and created things every day of my life. And I managed it. It took me nearly a decade but I made an automaton that looked so much like your mother. It was merely the person that made her your mother, that essence of life, which was missing. The clockwork was cold and unfeeling. So I created her a heart. It’s truly the most beautiful thing I have ever made – a combination of machine and nature.”

He stopped and his eyes widened as he looked at Millie but her glassy eyes were staring at the paper within her hands.

“He did it, this is the answer to our problems. The ones we were struggling to answer. It was missing the essence of life. Incredible.”

“I’ll get back to the essence of life in a minute.” The man uttered before shaking out the parchment once more. “Okay where were we? Oh yes. The instructions are on the drawing. Now, I need to tell you where it all went wrong. It was about two years ago that you first got sick. You caught a disease off of one of the local children so at first we thought it was that. But when the doctor came to see us, he told us you already had a weak heart – if you didn’t get better within three days, the doctor thought the strain upon you would kill you. And he was right. Three days later, you fell asleep and your heart stopped.”

Percy’s voice cracked and he looked up at the stricken girl before him. She felt sick and wondered whether she was perhaps she was a machine. But she couldn’t be – she was alive, she could bleed. She did bleed – every month. She didn’t say it out loud as she knew it was a taboo subject to speak of in front of men.

“But I was prepared. With the help of our doctor, we performed surgeries on you, removing your weak heart and replacing it with the strong man made one that is built to last at least fifty years maybe even a century. For a few days we though you would reject the heart and die anyway but you – my spirited little girl- fought on and came out the other side stronger and fuller of heart than before. It was like you had finally been given a new lease on life, which I suppose it true.”

Millie chose to snatch the paper from his hand at that point while her hand flew to her chest. She had wondered where the small barely visible scar on her chest had come from but it seemed the answer was something out of a horror novel. Shuddering she forced herself to blink and focus upon the words upon the paper.

“There was a problem though. The automaton woke itself up before I could create a new heart. But it remembered that it had had one. It changed it, sent it crazy. The only thing it knew was that it had a heart and it made it feel. I tried to contain the automaton – turn it off so it could be destroyed. It escaped.” Her entire being trembled and she took the comfort from her friend as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Not long after killings started happening all over Portside – each with their heart torn out. I have tried recreating the heart but my nerves are not what they used to be and I can no longer work on clockworks which had been the sole purpose of my life for so long. I am sorry my darling daughter for the burden I have put upon you but only you will be able to help me bring this to an end. Create a heart for the automaton. It is the only way they will stop. Be warned, the face - it will look like someone you recognise but it is not – nor will it ever be your mother.”

Horror was evident upon her features, which startled Stretch as he came in baring his famous hot chocolate and cups.

“What?” He asked, glancing down at himself. The tall man expected to see chocolate smears on him or a wet patch that made it look like he couldn’t control his bladder but he saw nothing.

But the other two did not respond. Percy held his slightly shorter friend to him as she tried to comprehend the gravity of her father’s words.

“My god, because of me and my father, there is a raving lunatic running about Portside. How can my life be worth more than all of those people?” Choking back a sob, she lifted her watery eyes to first meet Percy’s and then over to the wide eyed ones of stretch.

“I think I am going to need your help. We need to build this heart tonight before anyone else gets hurt. Will you help?”

There was barely a moment’s pause before both men murmured their agreements.

“Good, I’m glad. I need one of you to go and visit Madam Mo and get some shopping. We’ve got a long day ahead of us if we want to get this done before the Ripper kills again.” Millie paled and turned greenish as she tried to stop the bile that had lodged within her throat. “Oh god, my father created the Ripper.”