Playing With Fire (6 page)

"A poor woman brought you to Langley and Tate's laboratory. She said her husband had worked in the factory next door, but died just before your birth. She was destitute and asked them to keep you until she could afford to feed you."

"Why them? Why not a foundling hospital or church?"

"She said her husband had noticed them often on his way to the factory and had told her how kind and generous they seemed. Apparently one of them had helped an elderly gentleman when he fell in the street, and another time, they'd donated money to the widow of a man who'd been run over by a coach outside their house. She thought they'd be as good to her baby as any organization. You must understand, those institutions don't have very good reputations."

"So I've heard." Yet it still seemed an extraordinary thing for a mother to do. I doubt I could give up a baby to complete strangers, and men too. Then again, I wasn't a mother. "What happened to her?"

"She died soon afterwards."

I pressed a hand to my chest where a piercing pain was trying to burrow through it. I'd thought my parents were long dead, but a small hope had remained in the corner of my heart. Having that hope extinguished once and for all felt like a small part of me had been gouged out with a sharp knife. It hurt.

Jack moved closer. My skin warmed, and I was grateful for the sad smile of sympathy he offered. Lord Wade seemed to notice him for the first time too. His gaze flicked between Jack and Langley, but when Langley offered no introduction, he looked to me again.

"It soon became clear that Tate couldn't be trusted around you," Wade went on. "He wanted to test his experiments on you. As if you were an animal," he spat. "It was horrifying."

"Is that how…I became this way?"

"Yes. He injected you with a substance, and you became a fire maker. He had already injected himself."

"But why?"

He looked to Langley.

"He wanted to be powerful," Langley said. "He isolated a compound that allowed humans to set fire to things at will. He wanted that power for himself, so he injected it into his body. Unfortunately it proved to be unreliable, but when he tried to remove the compound, he couldn't. He needed to create an antidote instead, but that required human experiments and he'd become averse to testing things on himself."

"A little late for that," Wade muttered.

"When you came along, Hannah, Reuben saw a way out of his problem. He injected the compound into you and would have tested his antidote on you too, but I discovered what he was doing by then and took you away."

"Bloody hell," Jack muttered. "He's mad."

My spine tingled. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. I was an experiment gone wrong. Oh. My. God.

"Appalling," Wade said. "When Langley brought you to me and explained what you were capable of, I was shocked, but I was determined to keep you safe from Tate."

"How noble of you." It came out harsh, but I was still reeling from all I'd learned. Not only was I most certainly an orphan, I was used as a test case by a madman. It was almost too much to fathom.

"You must understand something," Wade said. "My mistress's baby…" He swallowed. "It died some years earlier. I was still coming to terms with that when you came along. I couldn't allow another baby to suffer."

"Then why, three years later, was I relegated to the attic with Vi?"

"It was Lady Wade's wish."

"Is it because Eugenia was born?"

"In part. You were quite a handful, you see. You had a terrible temper at that age, and every time you threw a tantrum, the sparks set something alight. It was becoming harder and harder to hide the fact from the servants. Lady Wade found it exhausting. It wrecked her nerves. I tried to tell her that it wasn't your fault, that you were unique and needed special care, but she wouldn't listen."

Jack opened his mouth to say something, perhaps comment that I wasn't so unique, but closed it again when his uncle held up his hand for silence. Wade didn't see it. He was too busy looking down at his lap.

"If it was me your wife didn't like, why did you confine Vi to the attic too? There's nothing wrong with her. You let me believe she was the one starting the fires, yet it was me all along. So why lock her away too? Your own
daughter
?"

"I'll not speak of Violet," he said, lifting his chin and pursing his lips beneath the shrubbery of his moustache. "If she has questions, she can ask me herself."

I'd hoped to gain some insight as to whether Vi was indeed his daughter at all, but he gave none, and I doubted he would tell me outright. It was certainly strange that he would lock away his legitimate and perfectly normal child.

"Will you at least tell me if she's still in the attic?"

The moustache moved as he thought through his answer. "She's as free as any girl her age."

My throat closed as my heart swelled. I'd thought myself immune to gentle feelings where Vi was concerned, but it seemed I was not. To think she was free! I was so happy for her.

I wondered how she liked it. Vi was always such a nervous girl that part of me thought she may have wanted to remain in the attic. But that was absurd. No one would want that.

"I'm glad to hear it, my lord," I said. "Did you let her out because I'd left?"

He hesitated again before answering. "I thought it was time. Now, is there anything else, or may I leave?"

"I haven't finished."

"I'm a very busy man, Hannah." The disdain and impatience had returned to his tone. The earl had taken over from the man again. I was sorry to see it, and not only because it meant it would be harder to get answers from him now, but also because I liked the man and not the earl better.

"Who put the hypnosis block on me?"

It was terribly satisfying to see the color drain from his face. He looked quite ashen and much older. "Ah. Yes." He looked to Langley who merely waited for an answer too. "That was on the advice of a gentleman from the Society. He thought it best if you didn't know what you were capable of. A way of keeping you sane, if you like. He put the block in place himself."

"He's a hypnotist? What was his name?"

"Myer."

"Was he a natural hypnotist?" It was a question asked for Samuel's benefit, but Wade merely shrugged.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "He hypnotized you so that you would fall asleep whenever you emitted fire. When you woke up, you remembered nothing. I don't regret having him do it, if that's what you wish to know. The fire used to frighten you, and you'd scream until you were hoarse. After the hypnosis, you became a placid little thing most of the time. Much easier to manage."

It seemed a rather callous thing to do to a child. Then again, so was confining her to an attic.

"I do believe she's run out of questions," Langley said. "Are you sure you won't stay for tea, Wade?"

"I don't think you really want me to," Wade said with a sneer.

Langley smiled in that twisted way he had. "No, but it's the polite thing to ask. I do my best to fit into society's requirements for the owner of Frakingham."

Wade stood and squared his shoulders, making himself even taller, especially when Langley had to remain in his wheelchair. "You'll never be anything more than a scientist."

Langley laughed, but even I could tell it was hollow. Langley was a proud, intelligent man with grand aspirations. He would not like to be put in his place by anyone, let alone someone he must consider intellectually inferior.

Lord Wade strode out of the room. I followed him to the door where Tommy waited to see him out. "Will you tell Violet you saw me?" I asked.

He accepted his coat and gloves from Tommy. "I'll tell her you're safe. She'll want to know that much."

"Can she come here to see me? Or I her?"

He pointed his gloves at me and shook them. "Do not come anywhere near Windamere Manor, Hannah. I don't want you seeing Violet. Do you hear me? She has a new life and so do you. I can see that you belong here among these people. It would serve neither of you any good to meet now. Understand?"

Tears pricked my eyes, but I held them back. I walked to the door and opened it myself. The cool breeze was sheer relief on my hot skin and helped calm me a little. "Speaking of not being welcome," I said.

His moustache twitched with indignation.

Tommy offered him his hat, but as Lord Wade reached for it, he pulled it back. He strode to the door and threw it down the steps.

"Good day, milord." Tommy bowed as Lord Wade stormed past him. He slammed the door shut and winked at me. "You look like you could do with a cup of tea."

CHAPTER 4

Our efforts in the attic produced nothing but dust and cobwebs. We abandoned the search at lunchtime after which Jack and I retreated to our training room. It was a small room situated at the top of the southern wing. The walls were covered with woolen hangings, the floor with woolen rugs, and most of the furniture had been removed. It was sparse, grim, and well suited to be occupied by someone who couldn't control her fiery temper.

I hated it. It was horribly similar to the attic I'd lived in at Windamere Manor. The difference was, those rooms were my entire life. Aside from the brief walks we could take on occasion, Vi and I had not been allowed out of the stark parlor and bedroom. At least at Frakingham, I was only holed up for an afternoon here and there. Our training sessions had grown shorter each day. We seemed to be making no progress at all, something that frustrated not only Jack and myself, but August Langley too. I wasn't sure if that was because he wanted me to be in control of my fire, or because he wanted me to leave. Our agreement had been that I was free to go once I'd learned to control my affliction like Jack.

"You still seem a little rattled," Jack said when we were alone together.

"Seeing Lord Wade again was more disturbing than I'd expected it to be. I've never spoken to him like that before. Never dared confront him or question him." I tried hard to sort through my feelings where Wade was concerned. On the one hand, he was the austere head of a grand household, but on the other, he was the only father figure I'd ever had. He may have been a largely absent one, but he didn't need to be in the same room as me to have an influence over my life.

"He wasn't as intimidating as I thought he'd be," I said.

"Perhaps because you're harder to intimidate now."

"What do you mean?"

He sat on a footstool across from me and rested his elbows on his knees. His eyes turned soft and a smile hovered on his lips but didn't break free. "You're not a child anymore. You've seen and done things in the few short weeks of your freedom that most women haven't seen and done in a lifetime. You've changed, Hannah, and your perception of things and people has changed too."

"I suppose so." It wasn't only because of the new experiences I had every day, but also because of my fire. I wasn't a weakling who fell asleep at the slightest provocation as I used to think, but a fire starter. It gave me a kind of power, even if I couldn't control it. "I won't let men like Lord Wade intimidate me again."

"I know." He traced his fingertip down my knee and a spark shot onto my dress. He extinguished it before it did anything more than scorch the fabric, but I still felt the responding heat rise within me.

"Sorry," he said, bitterness threading the word. "I couldn't help myself." He rose and paced the room, dragging his hands through his hair. "I hate this, Hannah. I'm going to go crazy if I can't…you know."

It felt like claws raked my heart, leaving an exposed, throbbing wound. I wanted him to caress me and hold me, and I wanted to hold him in return, but there was nothing that could be done. Perhaps one day when I learned to control the fire, I could also control it during tender moments with him, but that day seemed a long way off.

I stood up in front of him, halting his pacing. "Jack—"

"Don't!"

He turned to the window and stared out at the lake and abbey ruins on the other side of the park. It was early afternoon. The muted light made the scenery look like a painting. We stood side by side yet far enough apart to avoid sparks and stared out at the winter quiet together. After a few moments I felt my face cool, my blood calm. I'd not realized how hot I was.

"We'll find a way," I eventually said. "No matter how long it takes."

He sighed. "Until then, I must go swimming. Lots and lots of swimming."

"It cools you down?"

"Oh yes."

Like almost everything he tried, Jack was an excellent swimmer. I liked to stand on the lake's edge and watch him glide through the water. It soothed me as much as it seemed to soothe him. He'd once asked me to join him, but I'd refused. I couldn't swim and had no intention of getting into a deep body of water. The hideous bathing costume Sylvia had shown me in one of her copies of
The Young Ladies' Journal
made the decision easier.

Besides, there would be no wandering near the lake or anywhere else while that demon was on the loose. Langley had given strict instructions that everyone was to remain inside. The gardeners had been given time off. Even Olsen took Jack with him when he tended the horses.

"I wonder where it is," I said.

"I wish I knew."

A piercing, unnatural scream answered us.

"Bloody hell!" Jack sprinted out the door and raced down the stairs.

I followed, but couldn't keep up. "Don't go outside!" I called after him.

He didn't answer. I heard the door unlock and crash back on its hinges. When I finally reached it, he was long gone. He was so fast that I didn't have a hope of catching him.

Sylvia rushed up to me and slipped her arm around my waist. "Has he gone after it?"

I nodded.

"Such a pig-headed fool! Why can't he let the authorities do it? It's their job after all."

"They'll have even less chance of catching it than he does." I believed what I said, yet I didn't like Jack being out there any more than she did.

Tommy joined us. He carried a piece of firewood as long and thick as his forearm and the smell of animal grease followed him. In his other hand, he carried a box of matches to light the grease that must be smeared on the end of the wood.