‘What?’ Giles sounds confused and annoyed. ‘That’s out of the question, Nell. Don’t tell me you’ve become fond of her!’
‘Little birdie was kind to Nell,’ she says sulkily. ‘Said she’d give Nelly the treasure from her skirt … Nell doesn’t want her hurt …’
‘She won’t feel a thing, Nell, you know that. And when we arrive I’ll pay you what I promised and you can have the treasure from her skirt, whatever it is.’ Giles sounds outright exasperated now.
Under the blanket, your hands curl into fists. You don’t know what the doctor is planning, but it’s definitely not to take you to Da. Nell is to be paid for having delivered you to this man.
‘Nelly can bring you more dead ones, bodies from the graves, as many as the doctor needs …’ she wheedles.
Your heart beats in your mouth.
‘They are of no use to me anymore – too stiff and decayed,’ Giles barks back. ‘To complete my research it’s vital I use a live subject. Listen, Nell,’ – his voice drops to a persuasive murmur – ‘there are endless poor wretches like this one clogging up our city. Her life would have been a complete waste, but in my hands, she will mean something. She will be crucial in the advancement of medical science.’
As understanding dawns on you, you have to fight not to throw up. Nell is a graverobber – one of the criminals you’ve heard about who take bodies out of graves and sell them to medical schools for dissection. But this doctor, Giles, is no longer satisfied with corpses that have been dead for days. He’s persuaded Nell to bring him a living person – you – who he can knock out with whatever was in that cup, and then … well, you can’t bear to think of what he would do next.
Wild panic gallops through your brain. You realise you’ve begun shaking violently, and you squeeze your muscles up tight before anyone notices that you’re not drugged fast asleep. Your breath is coming in fast gulps. You want to scream, but you keep your lips tightly pressed together, the silent shriek whirling like a tornado through your mind. You have to work out what to do.
You’re in a fast-moving carriage – you’d hurt yourself badly if you tried to leap out. You’re furious at Nell’s betrayal, but the doctor is your biggest enemy. Will you have the strength to fight him? Or would you have a better chance of getting away once the carriage has stopped? You open your eye just a chink and see the doctor taking something from his bag that looks like a rope. You realise you may not be able to get away from him once the carriage stops.
With that realisation, you move with such strength and speed it’s as if a spirit has taken hold of your body. You grab the blanket in each hand and leap from the seat, throwing your full weight against the doctor and managing to wrap the blanket over his head and neck. Nell squirms out of the way as he falls across the seat. You pin him down with your knees but he’s fighting to get up, and he’s much stronger than you are. You let go of the blanket and grip the seat with your hands, trying to keep him pinned down.
He starts shouting, ‘Smith! Stop the carriage! Smith!’
But his voice is cut short – Nell has grabbed the blanket, and she’s smothering him with it. She gives you a wild grin, but you feel sickened by her glee.
‘You lying witch,’ you snarl. ‘You never even spoke to Da!’ But Nell doesn’t hear you. Her face is gripped with ecstasy.
‘Snuff the candle, pluck the flower. Choke his breath and take his power,’ she chants.
The doctor’s limbs are windmilling, thumping the walls and floor of the carriage. The driver must have noticed something is amiss, because the carriage slows down. You don’t want to stay in here and help Nell to commit a murder. You just want to get as far away from both of them as possible. Judging that you could jump from the carriage at this speed, you leap up and grab the doorhandle. But it has been locked from the outside! The doctor throws Nell off him with a roar and makes a grab for you. Just at that moment, however, the door is opened from the outside, and you push your way past the driver into the night air.
A quick glance down the street tells you there’s nowhere to hide: on one side is the River Thames, on the other a long row of mansions with high gates. The driver clutches at you, but you duck just in time. Thumps and shrieks from the carriage tell you that Nell has attacked the doctor once again.
The driver leans inside the carriage, and when he re-emerges he’s holding a musket. He shouts at Nell, ‘Stop or I’ll shoot!’
You look up and see the big horse harnessed to the carriage. You leap up onto his back, keeping your knees above the long wooden shafts that connect the horse to the carriage. Then you dig your knees in, lean forward, and give him a slap to get him moving.
‘Faster! Come on!’ you urge into his ear and, as if he understands you, the horse begins galloping at full speed, the carriage rattling behind you, its open door swinging and banging, the driver running alongside with his gun, trying to keep up.
The horse’s muscles ripple under you like a wave. Gripping his wide girth with your knees, you lean over and use your hands to start unbuckling the straps that connect him to the shaft.
You don’t want to pull this carriage around anymore, do you? you think to the horse. You want to be free. You deserve to be free.
Just then, you hear a bang from the driver’s gun, and a searing
