The Unholy Night

Chapter XVI

"If I told you where I've been, would you still call me baby? And if I told you everything, would you call me crazy?"

- Dark Star by Jaymes Young

"Why were you holding hands with Quincy the other day?" I asked Bess as we prepared to leave for the train station. "When Lucy was dying?"

She hesitated. "I'm seeing him."

"Oh."

I didn't really know what to say. "Have you told him anything about what we are?"

Bess slammed her trunk shut and turned to me. "Do you take me for a fool, Mary?"

"No." I shook my head.

"Then you know the answer to that question."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you and Addy swooping in and ruining it, like you're doing now. It was my special, secret thing." 

"Sorry." 

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence between the two of us, and I mistakenly believed that I had to fill the space with the question that was on my mind.

"Quincy? Really?" 

"What about him?"

"He's horrible! They all are!"

"He's not," she snapped defensively, her eyebrows knitting together. "He's kind and he's clever and he's got so many interesting stories and he's handsome and he likes me."

"And what about Lucy? He asked her to marry him." I thought it would be good to repeat this information, for some bizarre reason, but I should have thought of how irritated Bess she was getting. 

"I don't care. He says she doesn't hold a candle to me, although that's obviously a lie, seeing as he hasn't proposed yet. I don't expect one, either. Right now I love him, and Lucy won't mind. She turned him down, and anyway, she's got Mina."

"Alright then." That was all I could possibly say. 

Apparently we had misunderstood plans and we were to take the train to London, where Mina would get off a train from Exeter at the same station, so it was a bit later in the day than expected when we saw her. 

But she didn't get to see me miserable from the trip, and when people encounter my particular sort of motion sickness, it's a bit embarrassing. 

It's nothing particularly weird - upset stomach, headache, but it's always horrific and I tend to act like I have a fever, which is to say I go slightly delirious and complain frequently. I only stop being so miserable if I manage to fall asleep, with is a rare occasion. 

She stepped off the train, looking beautiful as ever, but her eyes were puffy, as if from crying. There was only one reason that could be. 

I pulled her into a hug as soon as I saw her, and whispered in her ear, "Lucy's alive. She's with Addy. She's alright."

She smiled, and it was clear she was trying to hold back emotion. "Oh thank god," she whispered back. 

We made our way through the city to Purfleet, where we were faced with the asylum. 

Exactly what the place looked like has faded into my memory, but I remember I hated it on sight. 

After we had all unpacked, Mina informed us that she would be having a private conversation with us later, but for now, we would have to go to Seward's study.