Finding Jade

CHAPTER 16

C H A P T E R  1 6

The first thing that hits me is the stench. It's the grossest, most disgusting stink I've ever smelled in my life. It's worse than puke, rotting garbage, and dirty gym equipment all mixed together.

"Oh, my God," Lily says before turning over on her side and vomiting onto the cobbled street.

I sit up. My hands are filthy from lying in the wet and dirt. At least I hope this brown stuff on my palms is just dirt. 

"Get out of the way, you ne'er-do-wells!" a deep voice says from somewhere above us. "Drunk on cheap ale, are you? Well, out of my way!"

I look up. A man is walking toward us, a scraggly looking horse beside him. The horse's head droops like a flower without enough water, and the bags it carries on either side of its skinny body seem far too heavy for it.

We scramble to our feet, self-consciously wiping our hands on the front of our clothes. We're all wearing dresses now, except for Raphael who has on knee-length pants.

The man spits on the ground as he passes us. "Get ye up and to church, young ruffians. Some of us honest men are trying to make a living at market."

"Screw you," Cassandra hisses. The man either doesn't hear her, or this comment just proves to him that we're a bunch of low-life drunks. Lily puking all over likely didn't help convince him otherwise either.

A light drizzle of rain is falling. Lily moans softly to herself. Her long, black hair hangs like a limp curtain over her face.

"Okay," I say, trying to breathe through my mouth as I speak so I don't have to take in the smell of this place. "Where are we? I mean, is this London?" I scratch at my arms as I speak. The dress I'm wearing is so itchy. There are layers and layers to it, so it's hard to find any relief.

"This is definitely London," Raphael says, looking around the narrow street at the wooden houses looming over us. "I'd say we're somewhere in the mid-seventeenth century by the looks of things."

"But London doesn't have wooden houses," Cassandra says haughtily. She cocks her head to one side. "We've been there with our family. Everything is old and made of stone or brick, or new and made of glass. These," she says, waving a hand at the houses that crowd on either side of us, "are not the type of houses found in London."

 "Actually, this is precisely the type of housing they had prior to the Great Fire," Raphael replies. "Which puts us somewhere before 1666." 

Cassandra snorts. "That's insane."

I can barely follow their conversation. I'm itchy everywhere now. This is even worse than when I had the chicken pox. I wiggle my body around in the dress, hoping the itching will stop.

"I think I'm allergic to this dress," I say. "Is it made of wool?" At that moment, I notice Lily scratching at her arms and stomach as well. As she scratches, she's letting out this weird, low moaning sound. I have to say I'm worried about her having my back in a battle with demons. She seems like the type of girl who might lose it at the sight of a tiny spider.