Dark Remains: A Maggie Power Adventure (Maggie Power #1)

Chapter 26 - Confessions

Chapter 26 - Confessions

As the new day began to break, deep in the wood it was still dark. Intermittently sunshine penetrated through the thick canopy of forest, shinning a spotlight on three figures negotiating a tricky path through the thicket of trees.

After a number of hours of hiking through the darkness, the children rested for an hour or so, dozing beneath the growing warmth of the new day.

When they began their journey once more, Maggie repeated that she thought they were travelling in a southeasterly direction. Jack, especially, was in no position to argue about what direction they should pursue; Tom didn't appear to care and badgered Maggie for another rest.

"Please, Sis, just five minutes more."

"No, we must carry on. They will come after us - that's one thing you can be sure of. Come on, keep moving."

They came to a clearing in the wood and crossed a field, which led down to the canal. They stopped and rested beneath an oak tree on the canal towpath. The sun was now beating down upon them but they had no idea where they were, or where, indeed, they were headed.

"We should follow the canal," said Maggie. She stretched out beneath a tree, Tom lay next to her, placing his head on her lap.

"I'm tired, Sis. Really tired. How much longer are we going to walk for?" He asked.

"Just a bit more," replied Maggie.

Jack stood at a distance. He had removed himself from the others and had been quiet for most of their trek through the woods. He stood on the other side of the tree, his back to Maggie and Tom.

"I'm sorry," Jack said letting the words hang in the air.

There was no reply.

"It's my fault all of this has happened," Jack began to explain in a distant and stilted voice. "I heard of strange stories about children going missing off the streets. Wild, silly tales about where these missing went. People always spoke about a dark carriage, with an even darker woman on board. They said she took children away to a better life. Laughable and stupid, I know. Depending on who you listened to, she either took them away and they was never to be found again. Or they were given a life of luxury. I thought they was all fairy stories."

He began sobbing and Maggie crouched around the tree to look at him.

"It's all my fault, I caused all of this," he continued.

"It was an easy mistake to make," said Maggie. "You were not to know the intentions of the Countess."

All the while she had been formulating a terrifying picture in her mind about the Countess. She imagined her, late at night, in the depths of the folly, the bath, the caged children and blood. Lots of blood.

"Not the Countess," he mumbled through sobs. He stood up above the two of them and lifted his head to look at the branches above them.

"How were you to know what she was up to?" intervened Thomas. "How was you to know what all of them was up to?"

"That's not the point, Tom. It was me who got us in this pickle in the first place."

"We all jumped aboard the carriage together. As I think on it, it was Maggie who got aboard first," Tom said trying to reassure a still tearful Jack.

"Oh thank you very much, blame me," said Maggie.

"No, listen!" Jack shouted. "It was me who set this all up. It was me who got Whitmore to take us there," he pointed aimlessly back towards the woods.