Royal Rebellion, page 5
“The brakes. They aren’t working. Oh my god. Oh my god. I can’t stop the car. I can’t...”
I woke in my bed, convinced I could feel the breeze pulling at my gossamer gown. But I was still in the clothes I’d fallen asleep in. It was a while before I could close my eyes again.
As soon as my alarm beeped I quickly visited the bathroom to freshen up and then I left the house. I’d redrawn Leatha’s map on my hand. Isaac had been softly snoring when I walked down the stairs and I hoped I’d be back before he woke. I wanted to see the house for myself and with any luck, a glimpse of the boy she was so fond of. The one I would need to get to know in order to save their lives.
I slowly turned the corner of the street and I looked at the house numbers. Deciding to stay on the opposite side so I wasn’t spotted, I walked at what I felt was a natural speed. Then there it was. A semi-detached house with an empty driveway and oh shit, there was someone in the window.
Cold eyes met my own. I don’t know how, but I knew this was the older brother, Aaron. Quickly I put my head down and turning around, I rushed back the way I’d come. Once I was out of sight around the corner, I ran as fast as I could go until I was back at my front door.
Closing the door behind me, I rested my back against it, my breath coming in large gasps. I felt eyes on me and I looked up to the top of the landing where I met Isaac’s glare.
“This isn’t going to work if you sneak out and don’t tell me what’s happening. We’re a team, Mercy. You will have some of this to do on your own, but we prepare both mentally and using the craft.”
“I’m sorry.” I dropped my gaze to the floor. “I found her diary and I wanted to see him. The boy she was responsible for killing.” I looked back up and Isaac’s gaze was fixed on me with interest.
“I’m going to fix some coffee and breakfast. Can you get me the diary? I need to read it myself.”
I nodded as he passed me on the stairs and then I headed to my room to pick up the diary.
Isaac sat with a stony-faced expression. “So she’d experimented with drugs. Looks like this guy Aled wouldn’t back off. Unfortunately, from today through to her saying she was going out in the car with Billy on Friday, we have nothing. No entries to tell us what happened between then and now. My guess is that she wrote something, but that we can’t know it. That you have to experience every day as she did until we work out how to change things.”
“You know so much about this.” I sighed.
“You would have known more, had your heritage not been kept from you.” He replied.
“Well, seeing as using it has resulted in my sister being trapped within planes of existence, I think maybe my mother was right to turn her back on it.”
“That’s such a blinkered view. It’s the fact it was a mystery that made it so attractive to Leatha. Look at how you were with the burger and ice cream. How you gorged. That’s what Leatha did, only with magic. Had it been part of her everyday world, she wouldn’t have done this. It wouldn’t have held the same excitement.”
“Maybe.” I hesitated. “Why are you helping me, Isaac?”
“Because our Queen is trapped and you can get her back. Because if I show you that your ancestry is nothing to be afraid of, then maybe my family can come out of hiding and live freely again, worshipping our gods and goddesses. Maybe our Queen will also worship them.”
“Leatha could have decided she wants to run away with the circus folks by the time we’re back home.”
“Then why don’t you take the crown?”
“Because I’m the youngest. Leatha has to be crowned. She has no choice.”
“Would you take the rule of the Winter Court as Queen if you could?”
“Of course. The ruling of the Winter Court takes priority over anything else.”
“Anything? Even your own happiness?”
I could feel the weight of his stare upon me.
I didn’t reply.
“Surely you need to be happy to be a good ruler. Surely you need to know love to know how to love your kingdom. Your mother loved. Even if she turned her back on it in the end.”
I sighed and Isaac took that cue to change the subject. “So according to your sister’s diary, last night she went to the cinema and Billy kissed her. And that’s where you’ll be picking up from today.”
“I can’t kiss him! I’ve never even met him!”
Isaac shrugged his shoulders. “You volunteered for this task.”
I mumbled under my breath some choice words about my sister. Then I felt guilty.
“You might as well enjoy yourself while you’re saving lives.” Isaac laughed.
“And what will you be doing while I’m out with my new boyfriend?” I asked him.
“Me? I have a date with the Xbox. That’s one thing I do miss when I’m not down here on Earth. Now go and make yourself look pretty before your boyfriend texts you. Which he will as soon as he’s awake.”
Isaac was right. By the time I’d showered, found something to wear, and fixed my hair, there was a text on my phone.
Billy: Want to come over? Aaron and Mum are at work. I could make you breakfast.
My stomach roiled having just eaten. I wasn’t brave enough to see him yet. I needed more time.
Thea: Actually, I didn’t sleep well last night and I’ve woken with a headache. Raincheck for later?
Billy: You sure you’re not blowing me off?
The language of these people still looked strange to me, even though I understood it.
Thea: No! I really do have a headache. I can meet you later?
Billy: Okay. Ring me later. Feel better soon.
Thea: Thank you xo
I crawled back underneath the covers of my bed. What with the nightmare and the early start, I really could use a nap. My eyes closed as I imagined my lips touching those of someone I’d only yet seen in a dream. But the eyes I imagined as I closed my own, weren’t Billy’s, but rather the cold ones that had met mine through a window.
Chapter Seven
Mercy
After Isaac had read me the riot act about how avoidance would not rescue my sister, I apologised to him yet again, texted Billy, and set off for his house. I stopped at the end of the street and looked over once again at where he lived. This was it. From now on I was Leatha, not Mercy. I had to remember to be the wild rose of my sister, not the tame snowdrop I was.
Billy opened the front door as I walked up the path.
“I got Infinity War for us to watch. Plus coke and popcorn.”
Coke? He wanted to give me drugs?
“I’ll leave the coke to Aled if it’s okay with you.” I told him.
He burst into laughter. “Good one.”
I followed him inside, not knowing what was so amusing. Until I saw the soda bottle and remembered it was called Coca-Cola. Coke. Oh, thank the goddess that’s what he meant.
I wandered past all the family photos on the mantle-shelf. He and his brother at various stages of their lives. A couple of photos had their mother on too. There were none of their father.
I couldn’t ask him about them because he may have already told my sister.
“Thea. Hey, Earth calling Thea.”
I realised he was talking to me. She called herself Thea? I guess Leatha was an unusual name for here, but I’d read some magazines. There were worse things to be called.
“Yeah? Sorry, I was miles away.”
“Yeah, thinking about Thor no doubt.”
I smiled. “Something like that.”
Billy gestured to the sofa, and I took a seat. He came to sit at the side of me and pulled the coffee table closer so our drinks and popcorn were in reach.
“I think that’s us all set? You ready?” He asked.
“Sure.”
He pressed play, and we sat back. About thirty minutes through the film he grabbed hold of my hand. I jumped a little at first.
“Sorry.” He said, taking his hand away.
I retook it in mine. “It’s okay. I was just so busy watching the movie it took me by surprise.”
He smiled at me. I could see why my sister liked him. He seemed a nice guy. I liked feeling how warm his hand was in my own.
We watched the rest of the film and when the credits came up, I excused myself to visit the bathroom while Billy re-filled our glasses.
We sat on the sofa chatting. “If you’re free tomorrow, we could go to the cafe and meet some of the others?”
I bit my lip. “Do you think Aled will turn up?”
“Who knows. No one’s seen anything of him since the fire. He’s probably grounded, or working all the hours god sends to pay his parents back for the cost of the damage.”
The door banged, and I heard an expletive from the hallway.
A tall guy came through the door. All dark hair and matching mood. He looked at me with a pinched expression. “Can you not discard your shoes in the hallway, Thea? I just nearly broke my neck.”
“Aaron. Leave her alone.”
“Sorry.” I said. “I’ll remember for next time.”
“Yeah, you said that last time.” He pushed past the television and headed for the kitchen. “Where’s Mum?”
“She’s gone to see Gran. Due back anytime.”
A kettle was switched on. Billy got up from the sofa. “I’m going to take a leak. Ignore Aaron if he moans at you.”
“I will.” I said and smiled.
When he’d gone, I looked at my watch. Thankfully, I could go home now. I’d done one evening in the life of my sister, though I was still no closer to finding out what went wrong.
As soon as the door closed behind Billy, Aaron came into the room. His eyes burned with dislike. “What were you doing on our road so early this morning? You don’t live around here.”
I decided to deny all knowledge.
“I wasn’t on your road this morning. I was tucked up safely in bed.”
That made him falter for a moment, his eyes scrunching up.
Billy returned and sat back next to me on the sofa. “I’d better walk you to the bus stop. One more week and I’ll be hopefully be able to drive you home.”
The vision of him pumping the brakes flashed into my mind and I flinched.
“Hey, my driving’s not that bad. No need to look so worried.”
I was about to say something but then lights shone through the living room window.
“Mum’s home.” Billy said.
My heart seemed to fall into my shoes. First Aaron, and now I had to meet Billy’s mum, someone else I’d already supposedly met. How would Leatha talk to her?
I pasted a smile on my face as she came through the door.
“Oh, hey, Thea.”
“Hey, Mrs B.”
“I’ve told you to call me Dawn how many times now? I thought we were past this.”
“Sorry, Dawn. Could I make you a cup of tea? Aaron just boiled the kettle.”
By the look Aaron and Billy gave me, I could tell I’d made another error. Come on, Mercy. When did Leatha do anything like that? She was a princess through to her core. Diva all the way.
Dawn stared at me a second.
“I mean it won’t take you two seconds to get another mug out for your mum will it, Aaron?” I quickly interjected. “Right, I’m going to get off home. Billy’s taking me to the bus stop.”
“Okay. Night, Thea.” Dawn said.
After gathering my shoes, I left the house with Billy. As I walked past his mother’s car I gasped. This was the one. The car from my nightmares. His mother’s car. So maybe if I did something to break her car, I could stop what happens? Billy grabbed hold of my hand. I’d have to discuss this with Isaac when I got home.
Billy held my hand all the way to the bus stop. Now what happened? I couldn’t get on a bus. I’d have no idea where I was going.
He pulled me towards him and his lips touched mine. They were soft and warm. “I’ve been wanting to do that again all night.” He told me.
I smiled shyly and then remembered I was Thea, so I pulled him back towards me and planted my lips firmly on his. He moved his head, tilting it; our mouths parted and our tongues tangled.
But I felt nothing other than sorry that Leatha wasn’t experiencing the kiss meant for her.
We broke apart when Billy announced my bus was arriving. There was nothing coming at all, but he walked away convinced he’d seen me onto the bus.
I waited a while and then I retraced my steps back down the road until I was on my way back to the house.
Once back on a familiar street, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“I knew it.” A voice boomed from behind me. “Some really weird shit is going on and you have something to do with it, Thea Queen.”
I whisked around to find Aaron Buckley standing there. His arms were wrapped across his chest showing me he meant business, meant to challenge me. His grey eyes pierced me like a sharp corner of a stone. Destiny had sent me a curve ball.
“What are you talking about? You sound deranged.” I cocked my hip and placed a hand on it as I’d seen Leatha do so many times in a strop.
He walked forward with intent until he was right next to me, looking down into my eyes. He took my chin in his hand and tilted it up, making my brown gaze meet his steely one. There was something in that gaze though, something familiar as if this wasn’t only the second time I’d stared into those eyes.
“Either I’m going insane or there are things happening lately, I have no logical explanation for.” He said, his voice scarily calm. Like a steady ocean before a shark blasts through the water.
“Last night, I drove my mum to the hospital where we identified Billy’s body.” He said. “This morning the calendar says it's four days earlier than the day I was on, and my brother is very much alive.”
I stood silent and still.
“I followed you to the bus stop and watched as Billy left you there. He waved like you’d got on one, and then you walked away, and here you are walking around the corner from where we live.”
I brazened it out. “So I lied about where I live. I’m not from a wealthy family. I just live around the corner.”
“But I gave you a lift home last week, Thea, and it took me twenty minutes to reach your house. The house I can now see in my eyeline. So am I mad or is something inexplicable going on?”
“You’re deranged. I said it already.” I knocked his hands away from my chin and started to walk down the street.
“If I’m crazy, then it will get worse in every area of my life and I’ll seek psychiatric help.” He shouted after me. “If I’m not crazy, then my brother dies on Friday night. If I’m not crazy, then you have to help me save him, Thea Queen.”
I was ready to run back to the house, to ask Isaac for help, but instead I stopped and turned back around to Aaron.
“My name isn’t Thea Queen.” I told him. “I’m her twin sister, Princess Mercy Northcote of the Winter Court in Andlusan.”
His mouth dropped into a sneer.
“You asked for the truth. There it is. Now you can decide if you’re insane or if something illogical is going on. Now it’s late and I’m tired. I shall spend tomorrow trying to work out what happened before your brother’s fatal car accident. If you decide you believe me, and you haven’t booked yourself into an institution by then, meet me at the front bench of Saunders Park at nine pm.”
Then I did turn and walk away. I needed to speak to Isaac urgently about this turn of events.
Chapter Eight
Aaron
The facts were that when I went to work everything played out with a sense of déjà vu. I just knew I’d had this day before. The weirdest thing was I knew Louisa Scott threw boiling hot coffee on me on Friday and yet at this moment in time she was still texting me trying to get me to take her out again.
It really was enough to have me thinking I’d gone insane. My only chance of the truth, I knew, rested with Thea Queen. I couldn’t explain why I knew that. I just did.
Then I got home from work to find her in my house, having spent the evening watching a film with my brother. But the Thea in our room was not the one I’d met before. Once again her eyes weren’t cold and calculating, and her manner had been totally different. She’d seemed almost shy. How could Billy not notice?
Because you’re insane?
There was only one thing to do.
Follow her.
I slipped out of the back door. My mother had gone to get ready for bed. I hung around in a shop doorway until Billy said goodbye and walked away from Thea at the bus stop. When he was out of view, she turned and started to walk down the street. She was so intent on where she was going that she never noticed the person behind her. Not until I challenged her.
I don’t know what I’d expected her to say, but it certainly wasn’t some bullshit about being a Princess and Thea’s sister.
Having decided I was insane and I’d call the psychiatrists first thing in the morning, I’d stopped when on my way back home I’d recalled something she’d said.
‘I shall spend tomorrow trying to work out what happened before your brother’s fatal car accident.’
I had only said he died on Friday. I’d never told her how.
She could bet her life I’d be in Saunders Park tomorrow at nine.
Chapter Nine
Mercy
“How’s your evening been?” Isaac asked me moments after I’d walked through the door, kicked my shoes off, and collapsed onto the sofa.
“Complicated.” I sat up. “Something strange happened tonight, Isaac. Billy’s brother, Aaron. He knows Billy died.”
Isaac frowned. “What? How?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“He followed me after I left Billy and he said weird shit was going on and Thea was connected to it. He added illogical things were happening, or he was going insane and he said he knew Billy had died on Friday. That he’d been with his mum to identify the body.”
