stationary carts that had started to realise that the line wasn’t going anywhere very fast.
He had lost sight of Spring and the others, but fortunately not their scent, and was trusting in his nose. He found this particular skill hard to explain to other people, but his best explanation could be summed up by saying that smells were a bit like a bunch of different coloured string, following whatever had made the smell. It wasn’t a very good explanation really, but anything beyond that usually made other people, and himself, stop caring after a while. It also didn’t account for all the mixing up that happened either, as was currently the case, but he was familiar with Spring's smell and any normal person hanging too close for more than a minute probably would be too.
Behind him, clinging on desperately, was Alice. To her, almost everything today for her had been a new experience. She didn’t know quite what was going on, but she had been like that ever since she had left home. She also didn’t know if she was going to be able to keep running for much longer. Her feet were starting to hurt just trying to keep up and her heart felt like it was pounding away in her throat. Even so, for some reason, she felt quite happy about the whole thing. The boy leading her along, Thomas, had been very polite about it all. Also he was helping to get her necklace back, and he seemed to know what he was doing. So she simply accepted the rather strange turn of events she was going through, and just went along with the ride. Or run, as the case maybe.
They were coming up to a crossroads, slightly clearer of carts, but just as busy with people moving about everywhere. To the right was the entrance to the ‘Mansion District’, so called because if anything built there wasn’t large enough to be a mansion, it still probably large enough to comfortably hold a family of eight. Straight ahead was one of the two city halls. It was a rather old, ornate looking building, with great examples of columns and small statues, but not used most of the time in favour of the slightly newer looking one across the river. To the left were a string of shops and buildings, and in the distance could be seen the twin clock towers.
The pair stopped here, Thomas was sniffing the air, trying to get back on track, while Alice just panted.
"I think... that they went that way," Thomas said after a brief pause. He pointed towards the left with his broken mop and bucket. He realised that he hadn’t remembered carrying them, and that most of the water had spilled out.
He had lost sight of Spring and the others, but fortunately not their scent, and was trusting in his nose. He found this particular skill hard to explain to other people, but his best explanation could be summed up by saying that smells were a bit like a bunch of different coloured string, following whatever had made the smell. It wasn’t a very good explanation really, but anything beyond that usually made other people, and himself, stop caring after a while. It also didn’t account for all the mixing up that happened either, as was currently the case, but he was familiar with Spring's smell and any normal person hanging too close for more than a minute probably would be too.
Behind him, clinging on desperately, was Alice. To her, almost everything today for her had been a new experience. She didn’t know quite what was going on, but she had been like that ever since she had left home. She also didn’t know if she was going to be able to keep running for much longer. Her feet were starting to hurt just trying to keep up and her heart felt like it was pounding away in her throat. Even so, for some reason, she felt quite happy about the whole thing. The boy leading her along, Thomas, had been very polite about it all. Also he was helping to get her necklace back, and he seemed to know what he was doing. So she simply accepted the rather strange turn of events she was going through, and just went along with the ride. Or run, as the case maybe.
They were coming up to a crossroads, slightly clearer of carts, but just as busy with people moving about everywhere. To the right was the entrance to the ‘Mansion District’, so called because if anything built there wasn’t large enough to be a mansion, it still probably large enough to comfortably hold a family of eight. Straight ahead was one of the two city halls. It was a rather old, ornate looking building, with great examples of columns and small statues, but not used most of the time in favour of the slightly newer looking one across the river. To the left were a string of shops and buildings, and in the distance could be seen the twin clock towers.
The pair stopped here, Thomas was sniffing the air, trying to get back on track, while Alice just panted.
"I think... that they went that way," Thomas said after a brief pause. He pointed towards the left with his broken mop and bucket. He realised that he hadn’t remembered carrying them, and that most of the water had spilled out.
