So You Think You're a Sleuth?, page 24
part #2 of The Time Witch Series
When I arrived back at the vineyard, I did my best to feign a decent mood. I don’t know how convincing I was, but I had no intention of giving in to my disappointment just yet. We had Ava’s improving health to celebrate, and a party to prepare.
At seven that evening, the guests began to arrive. It soon became apparent that Ava’s idea of ‘a few people’ included everyone in the O’Mara Coven, plus the entire population of Granvar Bay. The house was stuffed with revellers enjoying food and wine, and dancing to Ava’s favourite tunes. She didn’t push it too hard, though, taking regular breaks from dancing, and letting Belinda, Rick, Dillis and I handle the food and drinks.
Vince tried to help, too, but Belinda shooed him away each time, telling him to go and enjoy himself. He was such a different man than his imposter had been. He was so attentive to my sister, his eyes following her lovingly wherever she went. On more than one occasion, I accidently overheard them talking, and it was clear that he was not a guy who would ever call her a silly-billy.
Kim and Sebastian had been invited too, but I hadn’t heard back from Kim. Seb, on the other hand, had accepted immediately, and arrived about an hour into the celebrations.
I’d expected him to be angry with me over the siphon, but he greeted me with a warm smile and a hug, murmuring that he was proud of me, and that I’d done the right thing. His voice broke a little as he added, ‘I do get it, you know. I know you can’t change the past without causing a crapstorm. I just … I wish things could have been different.’
I tightened our hug and said, ‘I wish that too. But I believe that you’ll see your parents again someday. We both will.’
‘Yeah. And it’ll be the best get-together the afterlife has ever seen.’ He pulled away then and said, ‘I’d better let Kimmy have a go with you now. She’s been dying to talk to you all day.’
I didn’t realise that Kim had arrived with him, but now she moved into my eyeline. ‘Hi,’ she said, giving me a little wave. ‘Can we go somewhere and talk?’
Nerves danced in my belly. It was time, finally, for me to come clean. ‘Sure. Let’s go to Belinda’s room.’
A few minutes later, Kim and I had grabbed some drinks and peanuts, and headed upstairs. For a while Kim just looked around the room, commenting on how prettily Belinda had decorated, while I nodded and agreed, working up the courage to speak.
‘I got your message this morning,’ she said, when we’d spent about as much time as we could discussing Belinda’s choice of bedding. ‘Sorry I didn’t get back to you.’
‘That’s okay,’ I told her. ‘I meant what I said in the message, by the way. Ava’s better because of you, Kim. Your vision made all of this happen. I don’t think I can ever thank you enough.’
With a self-effacing shrug, she said, ‘Okay, well, I’m glad. And I’m glad Belinda got the real Vince back. Although I must admit I’m confused about some aspects. I wanted to call you and chat about it this afternoon, but I was in the middle of a whole thing with Seb. We were talking for hours. Well, sometimes we were shouting. But mostly … mostly it was good.’
‘Oh yeah? So, are you going to stay living together?’
She took a long glug of her drink before saying, ‘Well, the flat I found was about the size of my wardrobe at home, so … yeah, I think so. The thing is, he admitted something really huge to me, about the reason he’s changed so much, why he’s become such a prat. That’s why I wanted to talk to you alone. He said I could tell you about it, but no one else.’
‘Oh?’ I tried not to let my guilt display. ‘What is it?’
She lowered her voice, whispering, ‘Essie, my brother is an undercover Wayfarer. Can you believe it?’
Squirming a little, I said, ‘Actually, Kimmy, you’re not going to like this, but … I already knew.’
And then I let it all out, telling her about finding out I was a Time Witch, about Julian, his brothers, Seb’s defective memory spell … I was afraid she would hate me by the end – maybe she would be wary of my power, or angry that I’d withheld the truth about Seb – but I told her every last bit of it, nonetheless.
When I had no more to say, we sat in silence for a moment, until Kim stood up, crossed to my bed, and threw her arms around me. With a sigh of relief, she said, ‘I thought I was going crazy, Essie. Thank you for telling me. I promise I’ll never repeat it to another soul.’
‘You’re not mad with me? It took me so long to tell you the truth.’
‘Meh. Trust is earned, and I’m glad I’ve earned yours. Now, just how much can you do safely with the time travel thing? Because I spilled coffee all over my favourite cream jumper this morning …’
Belinda slept at Vince’s that night, but Kim stayed over, sleeping in Belinda’s bed. Once again, I had a night filled with chatter. I fell asleep somewhere in the middle of a conversation about Seb’s obsession with beaded bracelets, and thankfully, I didn’t fall into nightmares.
I thought I would sleep late the next morning – I was certainly tired enough – but instead I was awoken by a strange sensation. Somewhere in my dreams, the world had reached in, rousing me. But it wasn’t noise which had stirred me. Instead, it was an absence of sound: the birdsong had come to an abrupt halt, and Belinda’s clock had gone silent.
I sat up, listening, feeling, smelling …
My pillow smelled like proper soap and shaving foam, and my cheek … my cheek felt as if it had just been kissed.
The bedroom window was wide open, the curtains billowing in the fresh morning breeze. I had closed that window last night, I knew I had.
Jumping out of bed, I rushed over there, looking out, but Julian was nowhere to be seen. The birds took up their chorus once more, and the bedside clock resumed its tick-tock rhythm.
Noodles, wrapped up in Kim’s arms, began to snore softly, and Marbles stretched out, made a cute, sleepy noise, and began to snore too. They were completely undisturbed by the time stop; even Marbles hadn’t noticed a thing.
I lay back down in bed, trying to get back to sleep – the clock told me it was only five-thirty in the morning – but I was far too anxious.
Julian had been here. He had created a time stop to come and see me. But why not stay longer? Why rush away? He could have used that time stop to wake me, talk with me. We could have existed safely inside of it for as long as we wanted.
I tossed and turned, frustrated and confused, and then, as I repositioned my pillow, I found it: a folded piece of paper. Opening it, I read:
Essie,
By now you’ll have been told that I’m in witness protection. I’m not allowed to tell you anything about it, so all I’ll say is I’m sorry. If I thought there were any other way to keep you safe, I would do it.
You’ll be wondering why I can’t explain things fully instead of resorting to a cowardly note. Someday I’ll tell you everything, but right now it’s not safe. Even the few seconds it’ll take to leave this note are a risk.
I hope this ends quickly, so I can get back to you and enjoy our first real date. Fish and chips and a walk on the beach, remember?
But if it takes me a little longer, then that’s okay too. Because I meant what I said to you in Las Vegas – you and me, we have all the time in the world.
J.
I stared down at those words, tears glazing my eyes, making it difficult to read them for a second time. I felt that I needed to read them again – and again, and again, and again – so that I could understand.
But I feared I might never understand them, no matter how many times I read, because this note didn’t tell me nearly as much as I needed to know. Julian had revealed very little, and yesterday at Witchfield, Gretel had been holding something back from me too.
‘Julian.’ I called his name in my mind, broadcasting my thoughts as strongly as I knew how. ‘Julian, talk to me. Tell me you’re okay. Tell me what’s going on.’
I waited and waited, but no reply came.
You’ve reached the end of So You Think You’re a Sleuth? Essie’s and Julian’s journey will conclude in So You Think You Can Dance? And worry not – theirs will be a happy ending.
So You Think You Can Dance? will be released in Autumn 2023. Sign up for my Newsletter to be among the first to know when it’s available.
A. A. Albright, So You Think You're a Sleuth?
