Excerpts from
the diary of Mrs Emily Wooster (Emily Bertilde that was)
April 5
After the excitement at the McGreggor's we had an uneventful trip to
Towster to visit with Henry's parents. It has been a much quieter
2 weeks than I would have thought. I have discovered that
children are a marvelous mother-in-law distraction. Although,
Lady Yaxly seems to think it a little odd that I spend as much time as
I do with them. She has detailed one of her girls to help Janet
(my nursemaid) with the twins so I don't have to do as much. Now,
I have to feed them, and then I can just sleep. I've even been
able to start working through my sword dances again (although not at
dawn anymore and no where near my regular strength and speed).
Something odd happened today. It was another beautiful, quiet
day, so I went out to the pond to do some needlework. I dozed off
at some point and was awakened by a little old lady saying she was lost
and looking for the Towster hall servants quarters. When I asked
if she had an appointment with the housekeeper, she mentioned that she
was selling corset ties. I told her I wasn't interested because I
usually make my own. At which point she started asking what my
favorite methods were. I realized that this was her only income
and they were a very reasonable price, so I bought a few sets. Then I
asked if she still needed directions to the servants quarters.
Lady Yaxly suddenly said, “of course I know where the servants quarters
are. Is everything ok?”
When I looked up, Lady Yaxly was coming toward me and the little old
lady was gone. But the corset strings were still there.
Lady Yaxly seemed concerned that I maybe had been in the sun too
long. She helped me gather up my things (I tucked the corset
strings into one of my silk handkerchieves) and move over to the
gazebo. She even sent one of her servants off for lemon
squash. So kind! Once she had moved off again, I tied the
handkerchief up and set it aside until Victoria (or one of our other
magic users could look at it. Maybe I should start making sure I
only wear my silk gowns now. Although it would be very expensive
if I ruined them...
I was worried that the silk handkerchief wasn't going to be enough, so
I asked Wooster what else he would do to safeguard a magic thing.
I was thinking of adding salt to silk. He mentioned my silver
sword. I liked the idea of wrapping them around silver, but not
my sword (since it might cut the laces!). I asked Henry for his
silver flask. If it can contain spirits, maybe it would work on
possibly bad magical laces. Only the flask Henry handed me was
George's flask. It seems like His business trip wasn't so
businessy after all. And there was apparently a stolen police
helmet. Sigh. At least he did bring me home a lovely letter
opener knife that it is, perhaps, sharper than it strictly needs to be
for opening letters. I took his real flask and proceeded to wrap
the corset laces around the flask and tied the whole thing back up in
the handkerchief.
April 6
My corset lace snapped this morning. I sent Meg to check my
stash. She came out with an odd look on her face and the silk
handkerchief bundle. It seems my bundle had somehow moved from my
trunk to the drawer where my laces normally are. And my regular
laces are gone. Bother and double bother. I had Meg knot my
existing laces back together. I'll need to head into town to buy
more laces. And a casket and some salt (and a priest to bless it
if I can manage it) to bury the laces bundle into.
Later.
Well, the laces are buried in salt. It was the oddest thing,
though. Everyone in town seemed to have just sold their last
corset lace. I finally stopped at the rag pickers and found a
couple extras.
Later.
Hmpf. I'm having difficulties. My corset lace popped again
just as I was dressing for dinner. Meg helped me get the repair
done quickly and I went to dinner. After dinner, however, it
popped again. I pleaded fatigue and went up to my room to get out
of my corset. I tried to think if there was any way I could find
someone local who might be able to see if my laces were a
problem. Short of going out and asking random people if there was
wisewoman around town.
Part of me wants to telegraph Victoria and tell her my woes, but I
can't stand the thought of talking about unmentionables over the
telegraph. I'm wishing I'd payed more attention to the whole code
thing. I'm sure Mr. Cain would know it. He'd probably even
be willing to write such a message for me, but it would be beyond
embarrassing.
Bother. I'll spend my evening making a new lace. I don't
know what I'll do if this one pops.
I wish I had never talked to that old woman.
I think I figured out a way to send a not so embarrassing
telegram. I sent one of the boys off to town to do so.
…......
As we were winding down for the evening, we heard a scream from the
Nursrey. Henry and I ran up. The room was EMPTY! No
Claude, no Eustace, and no Janet! The window was open and the
curtains flapping on the breeze. We went to the window and saw
something light color lying on the lawn outside. We both went
down. It was Claude's blanket! A little farther along was
another light thing so we ran toward it. It was Eustace's
blankie. Then Janet's shoe. I was trying to decide if I
should go back and enlist Cain's aid, but when I looked back, there was
no house to be seen through the fog. Henry started babbling about
taking 90 degree steps across dimensions. I have my note, but
there's probably no British consulate here. And my babies!
WAAHHHHH!
I found another shoe. I was pretty oblivious to anything outside
by this point. I kept running until I got came to a river.
There was a log across the river and a giant with a quarterstaff on the
other side. I hit him with my slingshot. He must have
gotten really mad by being hit because he suddenly got really
big. At this point, I realized that the monster was the most
frightening thing I had ever seen. But, the river wasn't nearly
as frightening. I was about to jump in the river when Mrs.
Frazier grabbed me and managed to hold me in place. There was a
bunch of talk, during which we found that my babies and Janet had gone
this way. Henry tried to shoot the monster, but his gun didn't
work. Mrs. Frazier let go to try firing the etheric pulse
gun. I heard Janet scream off in the distance, so I jumped into
the river. I was fine until about half way across when I suddenly
lost my footing and started going down stream.
A little farther down, I saw Janet floundering. I aimed for her
and managed not to drown when she grabbed for me. She was able to
gasp out that the babies went down stream. I wanted to just let
her go and follow them, but I couldn't let her drown. I tried to
angle toward the shore to get her to a place she should touch before
going on. Never have I been so happy for those blasted swimming
lessons Otto made me take. Just as we got to where we could
touch, I saw a monster at the bottom of the river. Holding my
baby. I made sure Janet was steady, took a deep breath, and went
under.
I got down and saw a green lady holding Claude. I grabbed Claude
and started poking the weedy lady. I lost my sword, but managed
to get him. I pushed up and hit ice that had appeared out of no
where. Mrs. Frazer helped me create a whole in the ice and took
Claude when I held him up. When I got out, she pointed to the far
side of the river and said Eustace went that way in the arms of another
monster. I dumped the over skirt (grabbing any of the
stars/pointy bits that were still there first) and headed that
way.
I went over a small hill and found a scene a carnage. Dead
monster, bandaged Sir Cosmo, Wilamina and Salmaline and a bunch of the
other members of the party, the weedy lady, and Eustace. Everyone
seemed to converge on the lady and Wilamina ended up with
Eustace. I ran up and grabbed my baby. The ground started
shaking. I was torn for just a moment about whether to stay and
help with the fact that ground was now shaking or heading back to get
Claude. Claude won. I told Wilamina thank you and headed
back to where I had left Claude with Mrs. Frazer.
Proceed to Thunder under
the ground
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