Author's Note: In case you missed the posts explaining what this is all about, a few years ago, some friends and I decided to create a list of writing prompts where our original characters "visited" other books. Seeing as the resulting stories were too much fun to let languish on my hard drive, I've dusted them off to share on my blog :)
Enjoy!
Much love,
Saffron Amatti xx
'It's snowing again,' said Clara, looking out the window. She'd opened it to mitigate some of the stifling heat on the magnificent train, but the two-inch gap wasn't doing much to help.
'Mm-hmm,' said Lucas, reading the newspaper. Well, looking at the cartoons, anyway.
'We've been sat here an awfully long time,' said Clara, peering out of the window. 'I wonder who that funny little man is all bundled up on the platform? He'll die of heatstroke the second he steps on board.'
'Probably,' said Lucas, who had just discovered an adventure story written for boys and was settling in to enjoy it. 'I don't suppose we'll meet him anyhow, so it probably doesn't matter much.'
Clara gave up trying to interest Lucas in anything, and went off in search of food.
Before long they were hurtling along, Clara with her nose deep in a book borrowed from one of the other passengers, and Lucas snoring away as he always did on a moving train. He’d woken when they stopped, but as soon as they were moving again Clara was essentially alone in their cabin.
At least it was comfortable.
Until, that is, the train stopped again.
'Whut,' said Lucas, pushing himself upright. 'Are we in London already?'
'Not unless it's changed a lot since we were last there,' said Clara, wiping condensation from the window and peering out into the darkness. 'I don't remember any mountain passes.'
The news came through that they were stuck in the snow, which was bad enough. But then, another piece of news arrived that was even worse.
'A murder?!' exclaimed Clara.
'Stabbed twelve times,' said the funny little Belgian man with the exquisite moustaches, patting her hand gently. 'But do not fear, Mademoiselle, Papa Poirot is on the case. I will find the culprit and bring them to justice.'
'Excellent,' said Lucas, putting the newspaper over his face and settling back for a snooze.
Clara whipped the paper away again. 'Don't you think you should help M. Poirot?'
'Poirot does not need help!' the little man cried.
'There you go,' said Lucas, snatching the paper back and kicking his feet up onto the sofa again. 'Help not wanted. Best just leave him to it.'
Poirot bowed his head and left the carriage, and Lucas settled back down again.
Clara, meanwhile, paced like a caged beast.
'It's no good,’ she said at last. ‘I've got to find out what's going on.'
'All right,' murmured Lucas drowsily.
'Lucas,' she cried. 'There's a murderer on the train, and you're just going to let me wander around on my own?''
'Stay here then.'
'No,' she said, pulling him upright and pushing him out of the door in front of her. 'You're coming with me. We're having an adventure.'
She ignored his complaints, so I suggest we do too.
***
Thank you so much for reading! If you'd like to see Lucas and Clara in their own stories (rather than hijacking classic mystery novels), make sure to check them out at https://mybook.to/SaffronAmattiBooks :)