Page 8 (1/2)

Miss Holmes

In Which Miss Holmes Gives a History Lesson

I looked up at the tall, spare man around whom the others had crowded As always, he was clean-shaven and his dark hair neatly coers His coat was brushed, and his trousers ithout a speck of mud

I tried not to think about the fact that he&039;d just announced my abomination of a name to the entire Metropolitan Police force

"Greetings, Dr Watson," I added My uncle&039;s cohort was shorter than he and of a stocky frame, but by no means chubby He wore a close-trimmed mustache of chestnut brown and professional, yet out-of-fashion, clothing Small round spectacles perched on his nose

I avoided looking at Grayling, for I could only iine the expression on his face

My uncle had turned his regard upon Mr Eckhert, as staring unabashedly at him My newly liberated friend exclaimed, "Sherlock Holmes! I can&039;t believe it&039;s really you!"

"You&039;re living at my brother&039;s house, I perceive," said rant and homeless But my niece has taken you in and now has had to bail you out on a charge of breaking and entering The British Museum, if I&039;m not mistaken"

Mr Eckhert&039;s expression turned to one of shock and bald ad Sherlock Holmes for the first time I wondered if I would ever have that sort of effect on people

"How did you know that?" my friend asked

"It&039;s inforrieved way "One must observe-"

"Never mind," I interrupted I was one of the only people in London besides ant but more approachable Watson was intimidated by his friend at times "Uncle Sherlock, I&039;ll be by Baker-street soon to return the item you-erm-loaned me You must be on an important case, or you wouldn&039;t be here at Scotland Yard I shan&039;t keep you any longer"

And then, as if it had been I who&039;d accosted him instead of the reverse, I excused ht Grayling&039;s gaze before turning away His eyes were narroariness and aggravation, flickering froain

"I can&039;t believe that was Sherlock Holmes The Sherlock Holmes," Mr Eckhert said in an undertone as he walked in step with me "He really is as brilliant as in the stories"

I rolled my eyes "I don&039;t suppose it was that difficult for hiwith the ill fit, would indicate your vagrant state and the fact that I took you in And as for the details about your bail, well"-I gestured with the paper I held-"I suspect my uncle read the details on your release docu upside down and backward, and he would recognize the type of document used for bail"

"Wow," Mr Eckhert said, pausing to glance over his shoulder as if to catch one limpse of my famed relative "And Dr Watson too They both look just as I iined them"

"Mr Eckhert, do you think you could cease fawning over the? There&039;s so to the museum now"

I picked up h he was in need of freshening up, I decided it would be best to get to Miss Adler as soon as possible There would be a place for him to wash up at the museum

"London," said Mr Eckhert as alked outside of the building, "is so different than I reht, and dark There&039;s no grass or trees, and it ss are on top of each other and so tall Walking down the street isn&039;t like being outside, it&039;s like being inside a reallyAnd those open elevators-what do you call theray And what are those things up there? They look like huge balloons at the tops of the buildings" He pointed to the sky-anchors A half dozen of theh above our heads

Before I could respond, I heard a fa rumble We both turned to see a stea at knee height above the ground, smooth and sleek and fast, it blasted past us in a blur of copper and a tail of white stea black coat of its driver fluttered in its wake, and he was bent over the handlebars, eyes protected by large goggles, hands by brown gloves On his head was an aviator hat that I suspected covered ginger-colored hair

"Sweet!" Mr Eckhert exclaiawk after the cycle "What was that? A motorcycle?"

"It&039;s called a steamcycle Usually, they aren&039;t quite so fast Or loud Or" Sleek Cognogged "It&039;s probably an illegal vehicle, at any rate" I made no effort to hide my exasperation "I wouldn&039;t be surprised if there was soine"

Mr Eckhert had a strange expression on his face as I started in the direction of thedelicious was in the air, and I couldn&039;t re susting"

"The best street vendors are on the middle and upper levels," I said Since one had to pay to ascend in the lift, the better vendors knehere thescents wafting down fro items like roasted apple puffs, vanilla-stick coffees, and fla out five pence for our entrance to the street-lift I had a particular fondness for the soft, sweet carrots on a stick

Moments later, we stepped off the street-lift and heard the ornate brass door clang shut behind us Mr Eckhert led the way to a sest of the offerings I purchased two, as well as an egg biscuit for

He said so e bites as I held the two carrots on their sticks, waiting for the fla from his food into the sewer-chute and handed hiary crust, the carrot would be soft, sweet, and stea hot

"What did you al?" Mr Eckhert asked, then was distracted by the sight of a Refuse-Agitator The self-propelled vehicle was doing its duty far below at ground level by rolling through one of the s the trash he&039;d just discarded Little clouds of black s

" &039;The generation, utilization, and storage of electrical or electro- directly from the Moseley-Haft Act

Mr Eckhert stopped there on the sidewalk and nearly got himself run over by a knife-sharpener and his al?"

"Yes, of course It&039;s a widespread safety threat"

"That&039;s crazy! Haven&039;t you people ever heard of Thomas Edison?"

"Yes, of course I&039;ve heard of Thomas Edison Everyone&039;s heard of him It&039;s because of him and his unsavory activities that the laas passed"

Mr Eckhert gaped at me "What year did you say this was?"

"It&039;s 1889," I said, finishing the last bite of my sweet, warm carrot "Victoria is Queen Lord Salisbury is the prirove-Pitt is the leader of Parliaer, and, Mr Eckhert, the sooner you get to a washroo to yourself Which I deduce was the reason you borrowed -so that you could blend in with other Londoners Incidentally, a gentleloves"

"Okay, I&039; at his hands as if to see whether gloves had ically appeared "Tellin school about a law al"

At his cryptic words, a funny shiver went through my insides Despite the fact that I&039;d been ieworth&039;s death and the Sekhins had never been far from my mind I&039;d analyzed the facts over and over and had only come to one conclusion

An unbelievable conclusion

But my uncle&039;s favorite e When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable,his question "Seven years ago, there was a time when it seemed as if the civilized world would adopt the use of electricity to power everything erous it is when fifteen people were electrocuted by a wire in New Jersey during a rainstorm Mr Edison tried to cover up the incident, but Mr Eary, one of the foremost businessmen in London, made certain it ritten about in the papers The scandal was exposed, and it becaer to society Mr Oligary led the charge to ers of electrical power His brother-in-law, Lord Moseley, consulted with Parliament to craft and pass the law in 1884"

"Let ht of steps to the British Museuines" His expression was gri the parts to theine was just becoy for everything Good afternoon, sir," I said to the guard at the door of the museum

He looked with suspicion at the disheveled Mr Eckhert, but when I glared at hih The heavy glass doors, framed in brass, clicked and whirred as they folded open I led the way through the Banksian Room to Miss Adler&039;s office It was nearly quarter past two

"Good afternoon, Mina," said Miss Adler ere given entrance to her office She was sitting at her desk, with a small mechanical device poised over an open book It appeared to be ain a pleasant rhythm "And" She looked at my companion, then back at me and rose to her feet

"Miss Adler, I have an abundance of inforht, but first I&039;d like you to nize hieworth&039;s body I&039;ve learned he ca to help him find a way to return home"

"Mr Eckhert, I&039;entlelady&039;s credit that she showed no reaction to his disheveled and aromatic appearance-which was such a contrast to her own neat, fashionable self

"Hello, Miss Adler Irene Adler Wow," he said, his voice hushed "This is so weird"

My heart was pounding, for I was about to take a great chance I would either be correct, or I&039;d humiliate myself But of course that was i They simply couldn&039;t be "Mr Eckhert, perhaps you would be so kind as to tell Miss Adler where you&039;re from Specifically, from what year you&039;ve traveled"

The others looked at me-Miss Adler with unrestrained shock and Mr Eckhert with soured it outand you believe ain This tih warhtened up, closed his eyes, and then opened the a deep breath, he said, "I&039;m from the future The year 2016"

For a moment I was stunned Not because my conclusion had been confirmed, but because he&039;d come from so far-more than a hundred years ahead Countless questions popped into in?

"What&039;s it like?" I asked "There, in 2016?"

"It&039;s very differentand not so different For one thing, it&039;s not sodial," he added "It&039;s never been illegal It&039;s not a threat to society any es"

More anddown through an old-fashioned tiate him later-and I fully intended to do so But noas not the ti at my companion And now she said, "Truly-2016?"

"Yes, for real And, like, could you just call me Dylan? Or Eckhert, as my friends do? I can&039;t deal with this Mr Eckhert stuff"

"Of course, Dylan," Miss Adler said, see to recover herself "If it will make you feel more comfortable"

"Mr Eckhert traveled here with the help of an illuminated scarab on a statue of Sekh murdered It cannot be coincidence that those two events happened concurrently"

"Of course not," she agreed

"He was arrested trying to break into the ht, presumably to try and find the Sekhmet statue so he could deteret him released on bail, and we&039;ve come directly from the jail"

"I did hear about the attempted break-in And what a traumatic experience you&039;ve had" Miss Adler still wore an expression of shock, and I couldn&039;t blame her After all, I&039;d had more than a day to come to the conclusionand yet, I still couldn&039;t fathom the concept Time travel? "Perhaps you&039;d like to-er-wash up a bit, Dylan?" she suggested "I&039; for you as well"

When our guest accepted the offer with alacrity, Miss Adler added, "Mina, perhaps you&039;d take a e while I show Dylan to a washrooestured to the open book on her desk "I suspect you&039;ll find it enlightening"

As they left, I settled e book The pages were old and yellow, held together not by the stitched leather binding we find on current publications but by large, looping leather thongs The text was cramped and faint, and simple sketches broke up the blocks of prose The words were handwritten rather than typeset and in a variety of colors and styles The mechanical device on which Miss Adler had nified the text and held the book open to the proper page

The line drawing of a lion-headed wo text, was a poe It took me a moment to decipher the cramped, ornate entry, and even then, I passed over some words and phrases when they were blotched or unreadable

Sekhmet, the Goddess of Death, shall be called back to life

Shall endow Her strength and power upon those deserving

Gather Her Instruments, meld them whole --

With the purest of sacrifices shall find the - power

For the Power of Sekheance

For the weak and restrained

A little shiver went down ht, the Ankh had referred to "the Power of Sekhh, the Ankh had said

What were the instruments?

Gather Her Instrues, trying to find further reference to the instrulean froyptian and Sus

After carefully turning one e, I found an entire leaf devoted to them: The Instruments of Sekhmet: Her Scepter Her Diades of them all First, the tall scepter with a lion&039;s head A detail in the drawing indicated a green ge, sth of the staff

Sekhreed object-not at all Egyptian in appearance It looked as if it were olden curves and twists, but upon closer examination, I realized it too depicted a lion A feminine snout at the front of the diadem was combined with the leonine mane that curled and curved in an ethereal shape that would hug the crown of the head

The cuff was a s was faded andit difficult to see nifyer and a bit of patience, I was able to discern that the fastener which held the bracelet closed was made of two almond-shaped feline eyes

The sistrum, a ss: it was cross-shaped and had a loop in place of the top, upright bar

The door to the office opened, and in walked Miss Adler, accompanied by Dylan He was clean, shaved, and dressed in proper English clothing, with the exception of gloves I didn&039;t bother to ask how she had arranged it; there was no sense wasting time on such trivial details

He looked very British, yet he still seeently in rando with the nness He reminded -subdued for the moment, but not in his natural habitat Not terribly different frorove-Pitt&039;s ball, dolled up and thrust into an unfaard, Dylan gave er inside the collar of his shirtwaist, tugging sheepishly at the neckcloth

"I trust you found the reading relevant?" Miss Adler said, redirecting my attention

"Indeed I have ht clearer" I launched into an explanation of the events surrounding the Roses Ball and our unexpected adventure It ith great effort that I ed to keep an accusatory tone from my voice as I described Miss Stoker&039;s foolhardy actions-fro, dark, subterranean flight of stairs, to her bold accusation of the Ankh

"Fortunately ere able to escape, thanks in part to Miss Stoker&039;s physical capabilities," I said, keeping the begrudging tone from my voice with effort

"The leader&039;s name was the Ankh?" Miss Adler said

"Yes Clearly nothing more than a symbolic name Ankh, of course, yptian culture" I could have lectured further, but Miss Stoker wasn&039;t present, and surely Miss Adler was already familiar with the symbol

"And you weren&039;t certain of the individual&039;s gender?" she asked

"Even e my powers of observation, I could draw no clear conclusion There were moments when she seemed feminine, and others when I was certain he had to be awe&039;ve learned is that there is indeed a society related to Sekher to me or anyone else, with the exception of when Miss Stoker drew attention to herself and they attempted to detain us"

What had also occurred to me, but I chose not to mention, was that the Ankh had seemed to easily make the connection ofnext to each other

"Thus, if I&039;m to revisit the Society of Sekhmet, which I intend to do, I must do so clandestinely" I went on to repeat-verbati "The Ankh promoted feht to vote"

"So it isn&039;two"

"The Ankh spoke of Sekh with the Power of Sekhain control of your lives in a manner such that women have never done&039; The Power of Sekhmet That same phrase is notated here in the book And the Ankh spoke of wo repressed and controlledand in the book, there is reference to the goddess&039;s power rising up in vengeance for the weak and restrained"

"I believe," Miss Adler said, picking up her spectacles, "we have quite a lot of research to do We must find out more about the Instruments of Sekhmet as well as this implication that she can be called back to life"

A week ago, I oddess back to life? Absurd But the youngacross the cha probable

I turned to Dylan "It would be helpful if you showed us where you woke and where the statue of Sekhinally discovered it Your journey and its disappearance-and perhaps this entire case-reed, and we left the cha, "I have a variety of resources that could assist us-papers, books, scrolls, and other antiquities I&039;ll begin to gather them"

Despite the fact that he&039;d traveled more than a century back in tih the , so the exhibit halls were eworks and a sibilant hiss of stea of external light filtered in through high s

As we approached the trio of Graeco-Roular highlight over the breast of the Ostian Venus We walked through the first salon, past elegant statues of the Muses, Mercury, and the goat-eared Satyr

Our footsteps h a little transept approaching the long, narrow Egyptian Gallery This here the fa other antiquities, was displayed The stone itself was on a circular dais, and a revolving glass enclosure had been erected around it for safekeeping

"They&039;ve placed an entire glass case around it now-er, in my time," Dylan coh a darker salon and then to a small stairwell This area of the museum was cluttered and dusty, with crates and boxes stacked in haphazard fashion Presumably, it was one of Miss Adler&039;s duties to unpack, arrange, and catalog the contents

I have an excellent sense of direction, and even after several turns and descents, I still knew our whereabouts in the y roonized that ere on the west side, two levels below the Assyrian Basement

"In here," he said

I pulled the slender illuminator froht created a large yellow circle that danced on dark gray walls and a low ceiling A collection of s a large chunk, a piece of rock, and other pieces of rubble and dirt-littered the floor So into the corner

I spun the dial to set the illuhtest level and walked into the chamber

"The statue was there" Dylan pointed to the far corner

Bringing the light doith me, I hunkered on my hands and knees as I&039;d seen my uncle do at various crime scenes This is much more difficult when you are a fe with a restrictive corset Nevertheless, I ed to do so with athe floor

Faint scrapes on the stones-so heavy had been moved

Clean, no dust or dirt-it had been e noise blared into the silence It sounded like nothing I&039;d ever heard before A sharp, high, screeching sound thatto beoff to the side watching in fascination, jolted to attention His eyes wide, he began to fuh his waistcoat and then his outer coat and in his agitation and excitement, the sleek "telephone" erupted froround

He ducked to the floor and snatched it up, but by then, the noise had stopped "Ohat the object as if he&039;d never seen it before

The device had coh to where he was kneeling that I could see tiny words on the front of it

BenBo text (3)

Jillian text (5)

Flapper ot two bars," he exclai around the small, dark space, then down at the shiny telephone "How can I have bars? One bar Now I only have one How the hell can I have b-they&039;re gone!" He stared at the device, shaking it, jabbing at it with his finger, bolting to his feet to point it in different directions "They were there a o Did you see that? There&039;s no way No way"

"What is it? What happened?" Leaving the illuathered up my skirts and pulled to my feet

I understood little of what he was talking about, but his emotions-exciteave way to despair I&039;d never seen anyone with such an expression of bewilderment, hope, and sorrow

"For a minute," he said, "for just a minute I wassomehowconnected with the future My future"

Silence reigned as we both stared at the device

I heard him s hard, and he looked away His knuckles hite and his jaw ure out how to get ho crazy"

"Dylan," I said, groping for words I didn&039;t have Trying to e emotions I didn&039;t know I didn&039;t kno to act, to even be a friend But at that moment, I wanted that connection It wasn&039;t just curiosity about who he was and fro that was just as foreign to me as he was

I&039;d spentlost and out of place An overly educated, brilliant young woed by men Dylan seemed nearly as misplaced, and I wanted to help hi I can, Dylan Whatever I can"

He nodded, his handsori I&039;d never done before, never even i I opened my arms and pulled him into an e of words, norief and despair e from his body

"Thanks, Mina," he said, his chin ainstshuddered and cracked, like a door opening

Miss Stoker

Miss Stoker Goes Hunting

Miss Holmes didn&039;t contact me the day after the Roses Ball Nor the next day, nor even the next Her silence didn&039;t concern mein fact, I almost welcoot to the fifth day after our adventure with the Society of Sekhan to wonder What a nuisance

Miss Holravation on Mr Jackson&039;s Mechanized-Mentor, beheading hisup a dented cog before Florence caate the noise, I was struck by an unpleasant thought

What if er with the Ankh and the Society of Sekhmet? What if she hadn&039;t been in co happened to her?

I wouldn&039;t be worried forwoh time in action She&039;d probably deduced herself into a trap

Or

I supposed I&039;d better look into the situation

However, that afternoon, Florence reminded me it was her day to stay in and receive social callers She insisted I stay in and help her serve tea and converse ho I had plans toPepper to acco unchaperoned I wasn&039;t lying about my destination, and Florence was thrilled that I actually had a social engage, Evvie?" she asked, arranging a vase of flowers in the parlor

"Miss Banes absolutely loves the Greek Wing," I said

"Miss Venicia Banes?" Florence perked up, her bright blue eyes widening "The very eligible Viscount Grimley&039;s sister?"

"Yes, she is," I said, adjustingat Pepper, who stood by, attele She was just pleased she&039;d be able to walk to the livery and visit her beau while I was at thehis sister today," Florence said

"It&039;s possible," I called, rushing out of the parlor "So I don&039;t dare be late! Good-bye, Florence"

By the tiuard warned me I had less than half an hour with the artifacts and antiquities as I breezed past and into the echoing halls

Iturns, but I finally found myself at the Special Office of the Keeper of the Antiquities Below the sign was the Royal Seal of Her Majesty the Queen

"Evaline," said Irene Adler when she opened the door She re for a long time "Come in"

I stepped into the office The last tiht Miss Holo Then, the office had been neat and organized, but today was a different story Books and papers littered the large round table, as well as the floor, desk, and every other available surface

"Have you spoken to Miss Hol than sitting in this cha them for hours The bottoht But Miss Hol in slop

Miss Adler looked at me in surprise "Of course She&039;s been-"

A door on the opposite side of the chamber opened and Miss Mina Hol book Behind her chugged a small self-propelled cart laden with more volumes It caht, then Are youthe entire library into your office?" I asked Miss Adler

The older woman smiled, and Miss Holmes looked up from her book "Miss Stoker," she said Her voice was cool but not quite rude "How kind of you to join us" Now it had gone a little more frosty

"I would have been here sooner, had you requestedpiles of books, I thanked Fortune she hadn&039;t

"I wasn&039;t suggesting you offer your assistance," Miss Holmes replied, her nose back in the book "I was under the impression this was precisely the sort of endeavor hich you preferred not to be involved" She glanced up at reen-brown eyes "My experience is that you&039;reattention to yourself so you can deardless of the dangers involved or the prudence of such activity"

Right Definitely sulking

"And, clearly, without any se the book closed in emphasis

I bit my lip So I&039;d made a mistake I hadn&039;twhat I was lance at Miss Adler to see her reaction, but the lady see

"I would have been here to provideBut I received no communication from you"

Miss Holmes sniffed "I didn&039;t realize you required a summons to your duty"

My spine stiffened "I-"

"Perhaps," Miss Adler said without looking up fro Evaline up to date on our discoveries and theories, Mina"

Miss Holht as well take a seat"

Her cheeks had tinged pink at Miss Adler&039;s gentle direction I noticed for the first ti more than a loose knot at the nape of her neck Dark patches under her eyes made her appear tired, and her dress was ru bad happened? If so, I hadn&039;t been here to help I&039;d been doingSekhmet&039;s instruments for the last five days," Miss Holmes told me as I moved a pile of books to sit on a nearby chair "I&039;ve not even left the museum and hardly slept-there are so many references to review We believe that someone, presu to follow a legendary foroddess-which is unlikely-or somehow have some supernatural tendencies attributed to her"

"What sort of instru of pianos and violins

"A scepter, a diadem or crown, a cuff or bracelet, and a sistruht Well, I hadn&039;t been that far off

I listened with growing interest as she described each of the instrues about them in a collection of books and scrolls, and they were even lyphics on it This sort of puzzle, tinged with supernatural and otherworldly elements, re family tree One of my family e obelisk with evil traits

"What did the hieroglyphics say?"

My colyphics The former is the text or the characters, the latter is an adjective To wit, a hieroglyphic text"

I glared, and she continued, "The hieroglyphs clearly represented Sekhs we found in scrolls and papers that simply couldn&039;t have existed-or at least survived-for the thousands of years since Sekhoddess Thus, we believe the instruments do, or did, exist But other than that, we haven&039;t found any further inforht be now, and what they could be used for if collected together-which is the crux of the text that originally sent us off in this direction" Exhaustion showed in her face "We could be coirls could die"

"Wait," I said,"A scepter?"

"A scepter, a diadee, heavy crate froeworth was killed, and one of thee crate? Large enough for the statue of Sekh fish should I know? Someone who didn&039;t want to be seen Or someone involved with the Society of Sekhmet"

Did that mean Pix was involved? If so, ould he tell me about it? Was it possible he are of the Society of Sekh more, but I can try to find out while you continue to research ht At least I could be doing soe of cra

"Did you see the thieves? Do you re-"

"No, I didn&039;t see theh," I added to myself

"He? Whooes by the na around the outside of the ht, and he told et as much information as I can"

I was nearly to the door when Miss Holain "There is one other situation of which you ht like to be apprised, Miss Stoker If you can bear to be detained long enough for me to do so"

"Carry on" The sooner I was out of the room and on the streets, the better

"Mr Dylan Eckhert is the young foreigner we found with Miss Hodgeworth&039;s body," she said "He&039;s been staying here at the museum because he has an unusual problelyphs?" I couldn&039;t help but ask Miss Adler&039;s lips twitched, but she remained silent

"No," Miss Holmes said in a cool, affronted voice "He&039;s traveled h tiht I blinked And let the concept settle

The rest of London would never believe it of their staid, gear-ridden, mechanized world Va to an Egyptian goddessand now ti

Because of this, Miss Holmes probably expecteda vampire hunter, I wasn&039;t easily surprised by supernatural things I simply asked, "Does he kno it happened?"

"He isn&039;t precisely certain, but he believes it had so to do with a man-size statue of Sekhmet He was near it, and there was an illu happened and he was transported back in tis, he realized the statue was gone and he was in a different place and time I have no theories as yet what caused such an event, but I continue to consider a variety of possibilities In theus with our research However, he prefers to spend an inordinate amount of time in the empty chamber belowstairs where he arrived so suddenly I believe he&039;s hoping so will happen to reconnect hi me" I was sincere The poor sod He&039;d been shuttled back in ti hoain at the first opportunity But now I&039;ive me any more information"