"You said that we could leave him stranded? More like leave us stranded." I grumbled, my legs aching and head pounding after walking so long on unsteady ground.

"I guess it is better then being murdered on a train though." Tewkesbury added as an afterthought. "But who even are you people?"

"Seeing as we're going to be stuck with each other, I guess it's fit to introduce myself." I piped. "Octavia Corbynn. Regular and ordinary citizen from London, who just so happened to get herself stuck in an irregular and unordinary situation."

He nodded, and turned his gaze onto the girl disguised as a strange-looking boy. "And you? I believe our recent brush with death deserves us a name, at least."

The girl in disguise sighed, relenting at last. "Enola Holmes." She muttered, staring at the ground, slightly lost in thought.

I widened my eyes. Holmes? Now that was a name i'd heard of before. This was a relative of the great detective Sherlock Holmes.

"Holmes? As in Sherlock Holmes?" Tewkesbury quizzed further, his eyes bright with curiosity.

Enola cursed, annoyed with herself. "And i'm undercover, do forget I told you that piece of information."

The pieces of the puzzle finally clicked together.

"Ahh, undercover from Sherlock Holmes?" I asked, as she nodded and straightened her waistcoat. "That explains the boy's getup you're in. I was wondering why a girl would be hiding in pants and a shirt."

She whizzed her head around, furrowing her brows. "Is my disguise really that horrible? Tewkesbury figured it out in 10 seconds flat." She took her hat off, revealing her long hair tied into a bun, she straightened her hair before donning it with the hat once more.

"Well, Enola isn't exactly a boy's name now, is it?"

"...Fair point, Octavia." She muttered, falling quiet and gazing off into the distance once more. It didn't last long, however, as she shoved her arm across, blocking me and Tewkesbury from walking any further.

"Neither of you are to say nothing about me being a girl." She growled, eyes blazing and face burning with ferocity. "Hear me?"

"We hear you." I gulped, nervous. Tewkesbury nodded. I imitated a walking motion, attempting to get Enola to let her arms down. Instead, she growled once more.

"So?"

"So what?" Tewkesbury cocked his head nonchalantly, shaking his golden curls away from his framed face.

"Thank you?!" Enola raised her voice, pointing an arm behind us, where we had left the train. "You're supposed to say thank you!"

"Thank you, Enola Holmes." I swiftly intervened, shoving an elbow into Tewkesbury's stomach and gliding in between the arguing pair.

"Ow! What was that-" I glared at him, angrily signalling the train and how she had saved us. He blinked, cocking his head once more and furrowing his brows.

"Uh, thank you?" He nervously squeaked behind me as Enola huffed and started to travel through the grasslands once more.

Tewkesbury glanced at me with confusion before following suit.

"And who are you, exactly, Tewkesbury?" I asked, quickly changing the subject. "I've heard your name somewhere..."

"...You most likely have. I'm Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquess of Basilweather." He stuck out his hand, which I took gently, and shook it.

"Pleasure to meet you." He flashed a charming smile. I took my hand back, with an exhilarating feeling flourishing in my stomach, and a rosy tint in my cheeks.

"This day just gets curiouser and curiouser. I'm travelling with a relative of Sherlock Holmes and a marquess." I quickly mentioned, drawing the subject away from my blushing skin. Enola noticed, however, and threw a light smirk in my direction.

Damn those detective genes of hers.

"If i'm a Marquess and Enola a detective's relative, then what would you be?" Tewkesbury inquired, dodging a large stone in his path.

"I'm nothing. There's nothing interesting about me, unless you count being an orphan fascinating." I waved my hand dismissively, my mind focused on not tripping over my stupidly long skirt. Oh, how I wished to throw off the top few layers of this ruddy annoying thing.

"You have no idea how lucky you are, Tewkesbury, not having to wear a skirt 24/7. I would give anything to be you or Enola right...now...?" I chattered, the airy tone to my voice fading, as I only just noticed the dumbfounded faces of my companions.

"...What? Why are you both looking at me like that?" I asked, whirling my head around, trying to find the source of the staring. A queasy feeling formed in my stomach, and I shuffled my fingers together, did I say something wrong?

"I'm sorry." They quietly said in unison, their heads bent slightly, and voices soft as snow. A cold, lamenting feeling arose from the abyss of my heart. But I wasn't ready to talk about their deaths yet.

"Whatever for?" I shook it off, chuckling . "Neither of you had anything to do with my parent's death."

Tewkesbury's solemn face lightened up a bit, smiling slightly at the joke, while Enola narrowed her eyes, evidently thinking about my words in her mind. She concluded her investigation by giving me a reassuring pat on my shoulder. After being on my own for so long, it felt a little more then strange to have someone comfort me, even only if it was for a short time.

"We should think about sleeping." She said afterwards, yawning. I stared off into the distance, where twilight had begun to settle in. The misty blue sky faded into golden, sending bronze beams of light our way. It felt ethereal, like angels were gracing our path.

"We should think about eating." Tewkesbury retorted, wincing in hunger. His stomach had been rumbling for at least the past 10 minutes.

"...we have nothing to eat." I scoffed, but in truth, my stomach was rumbling as well. I mournfully remembered the food I had left on the train. An assortment of cheese paired with toasted bread, with toppings of tomatoes and parsley. It was currently sitting in a basket I had left in my carriage, whole, with no one to eat it.

"Of course we do." Tewkesbury smiled, tinkling his eyes over to the various plants on the field. He ran over towards a purple plant that looked similar to lychees across the path.

"Articum Lappa, which you'll know as Burdock." He excitedly gestured, quickly picking up a few of the plants, then running off to another. "They're very tasty."

"And there's some Trifolium, known as clover." He pointed to a white flowering plant.

"And is that.." He chuckled at the sight of some mushrooms. "...Yes, I knew it! Agaricus bohusii! Medusa mushrooms!" He picked the vegetable up, gazing at it with immense interest.

At the mention of the plant's name I startled, nearly tripping over a rock. Alarmed, I side-eyed Enola.

"Are you sure that a plant that's named after a snake-haired woman who turns you into stone is safe to eat?" Enola asked, an eyebrow raised. Although she sounded apprehensive, I noted that she gazed at Tewkesbury with an emotion that somewhat resembled grudging respect. Very grudging and very hidden, but still respect.

Tewkesbury rolled his eyes, and gathered a particularly large handful of the fungi plant while pointedly glancing at Enola, before moving on to the last plant.

"Agaricus lanipus. The princess." He softly said, handing Enola and I a mushroom each.

"If you both can get a fire started," He added, "I can make us a feast."

"Fine." Enola said, a hint of a smile on her face. I walked away with her, taking my shawl off, and getting ready to get my hands dirty.

"I'm not entirely an idiot, you know." He shouted at us, a faint look of pride on his face. I glanced back, smirking at him.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Tewkesbury."

—

uh i'm taking this book like an exercise to improve my writing, as the chapters go on you'll (hopefully) see an improvement in my writing! just to let u know :)

Let me know if you have any suggestions for grammar or story writing - i'm all ears to constructive criticism.

word count: 1368 words