AND SHE WAS NOT AN ADVENTURE I FLYNN CARSEN

Leontopodium Alpinum

Leontopodium Alpinum

"Whoa, stop here!" Flynn bellowed, half leaning out of the jeep window.

Clara braked sharply, throwing everybody forwards in their seats, Flynn nearly flying out of the window. Eve seized his coat-tails, yanking him back, rather like a kite. Everyone took this as a signal to vacate the Land-Rover, Cassandra hanging back, her pretty face petulant.

"What's wrong?" Clara asked, shivering a little, wishing she'd thought to bring a cardigan.

"I think we should stop to snack and hydrate," Cassandra said, swinging her floral backpack off her shoulder. "I packed some sandwiches with cucumbers and crackers, which are delicious with prosciutto."

"People are trying to kill us and you brought a picnic?" Clara said sarcastically.

"Hey," Jacob intervened, "we're on an adventure, lighten up."

Clara pulled a face, looking uncannily like Flynn for a moment. Then a helicopter suddenly soared overhead, making them all glance up.

"The Serpent Brotherhood," Flynn said darkly.

"They have a helicopter?" Eve said in disbelief.

"Yeah," Flynn said abruptly.

"Why don't we have a helicopter?"

"Because we have a Charlene," Flynn said, taking off like a helicopter himself, Eve and the others following him, "although we approved the budget for one rental car" -

- "Bollocks!" Clara cried, the world suddenly tipping sideways.

"Whoa!" Ezekiel echoed, grabbing her arm.

"Watch out for errant rabbit holes!" Flynn called as he galloped ahead.

Shaking his head, Ezekiel then hauled Clara free from the rabbit hole, Cassandra clasping her hands together in concern. Rolling her eyes, Eve shepherded them forwards, casting an askance glance at Clara's high-heeled brogues as she did so. They trailed after Flynn, clustering close together, the forest suddenly becoming less fairytale and more threatening, unnerving even the usually stalwart Eve. Clara limped on, refusing Jacob's offer of his arm to lean on.

"Flynn, get back here!" Eve shouted, forcing him to a faltering stop.

As Flynn fell into step with them, he glanced over his shoulder at Clara, looking worried at seeing her limping, Clara casting him a contemptuous glance that quickly cut off his concern.

"You had problems at the museum?" Flynn then asked Eve, deliberately ignoring Clara.

Eve looked at him in surprise, realising he had registered her presence after all back at the sundial. "I dealt with it, don't worry," she said quietly.

Flynn just nodded, plucking a leaf off a passing branch.

"You and I... we kinda have the same job," Eve began uneasily, making Flynn look at her this time. "You know, running around the world and finding dangerous objects," she explained in response to his querying glance.

"It's important work," Flynn said almost absentmindedly.

"Which is why he has to stay focused," Clara called from behind them.

"I'm completely focused on my job," Flynn echoed even as he ignored Clara. "You might even say I'm married to it."

"I'm the same," Eve said slowly, "when I go home, I just focus on the next job, if people get in the way, boom, they're gone. I don't mean I kill them," she added hastily, "I just let them fall by the wayside, friends, family..." her voice faded into nothing, her face falling slightly.

Flynn looked away, understanding all too well.

"You know," Eve said quietly, slowing to an almost stop, "you're not nearly as weird as I thought you were back in Berlin."

Flynn looked slightly wrongfooted, his hand flying unthinkingly to his cravat.

"Wrong one, big boy," Clara called out merrily.

"Wrong what?" Eve said, confused.

Flynn didn't care to enlighten Eve on his courting cravat collection. "Well," he said awkwardly, tugging at an earlobe, "I think you're... you're..." his gaze focused on the middle distance, eyes becoming vague, "you're a henge," he finished, before bolting.

~*~

Maybe I'm a mad man
Maybe I'm a bad, bad, bad, bad man
But you won't see a sad man
When you're looking at me...

Clara slowed to a stop at the tree-line, watching as Flynn ran towards the henge with his arms outstretched, almost like he was going to embrace the medieval monument. There was something very Julie Andrews about him in that moment. Any second now Clara half expected him to burst out into song, maybe some Edelweiss to end the tedium. Rolling her eyes, Eve went after him, acting more Grand Baby-Sitter than Guardian, Clara and the others trailing morosely after her.

"This is a henge?" Eve asked uneasily, rounding one of the piled up pieces of rock.

"This is more than a henge, my unearthly Eve!" Flynn trilled, skipping around the stones. "This is completely unheard of in this part of the world!"

"Is this the second clue, then?" Cassandra hazarded, setting her floral backpack down on the grass.

"Yes, to the burial place of the Crown," Flynn said, licking his finger and holding it up, trying to gauge the temperature of next Tuesday.

The helicopter soared overhead again, making them all glance up once more.

"You solve this and I'll go stall them," Eve said quickly.

Flynn shook his head.

"I'm your Guardian," Eve said, rolling her eyes.

"You're not my Guardian," Flynn reiterated, "but take Ezekiel with you."

Rolling her eyes again, Eve grabbed Ezekiel by the collar and hauled him away, much to his very loud annoyance.

"Alright, troops," Flynn said, clapping his hands together, "let's hit those high notes!"

Ignoring him, Clara limped over to a symbol engraved on one of the rocks, her eye caught by its design. "Astrological symbology," she said slowly, tracing its pattern with her fingertip.

"It's Latin," Jacob interjected, gesturing to the accompanying inscription.

"When the sun passes through, upon the fourth day after Solstice," Clara translated, earning an approving glance from Jacob.

"It's like Stonehenge," Flynn said, rounding the rocks.

"Obviously," Clara muttered.

"Light only comes through certain openings," Flynn continued, still ignoring Clara, "at certain hours on certain days. In fact, there's only one day a year you can read it. And that day... is not today," he finished, looking put out.

"We can recreate the sun's path," Clara said, trying to make him acknowledge her presence.

"We could triangulate each position," Flynn said, sitting down on an upturned stone, turning his back on her, "but it would take months to do that kind of math."

"It would take a while," Jacob said dourly.

"It wouldn't take me a while," Cassandra said, speaking up, making everyone look at her.