Royal Rebellion, page 6
Isaac scrubbed a hand through his hair. “This shouldn’t be possible. Time should have rewound back for everyone. What did you say? You put him off right? Told him he was crazy.”
“Yeah.”
Isaac exhaled. “Thank God. I’ll look into why this could have happened and how we reset his memory.”
I chewed on my bottom lip.
Isaac’s glance shot to me, his lips flattening. “What did you do, Mercy?”
“Well, after I told him he was deranged, I then told him who I really was.”
His eyes widened. “You did what?”
“It’s okay. Then he thought I was deranged.”
Isaac clutched at his hair. “Why would you do that?”
“Because he does know something’s not right, and he does know his brother dies. Maybe he can help somehow? Anyway, I said if he chose to believe me he could meet me at Saunder’s Park tomorrow evening. He works in the day, and tomorrow I need to carry on Thea’s life as it happened, not have Aaron Buckley changing things.”
Isaac’s mouth twisted to the side. “I don’t like this, Mercy. We don’t know this guy at all.”
“He just wants to save his brother, Isaac. Just as I want to save my sister. How can I deny him what I’m so desperate to do myself?”
He exhaled. “Okay, well just be careful. We’ll work tonight on a spell where you can cloak yourself if need be, so you won’t be seen. That way no one else can follow you home.”
“Thank you.” I felt like I needed to break up the tension now in the room. “Hey, I know it’s pretty late, but I fancy trying a pizza. Shall I call in an order? I figure I should live a little while I’m on this adventure.”
Isaac stared at me. “I read what she put in her diary. The dig at you being serious and no fun. Don’t feel guilty for who you are, Mercy. Don’t feel you have any points to prove.”
I sighed. “Maybe she was right. I live my tidy ordered life, doing what’s expected of me. It’s all I’ve ever done. My duty. Maybe I should loosen up a little. Surely I can do my duty and have a little fun?”
Aaron smirked. “So what do you want on your pizza?”
I woke the next morning, and I just knew some things. That on my phone would be a text saying to meet at the cafe at lunchtime. I knew a few of the gang had summer jobs and so I saw different people at different times. That no one ever questioned why I didn’t work. Billy only worked on a weekend at a fast-food joint. His mum thought it was good he had some down time. I woke knowing that out of the girls in the gang: Marie, Carly, and Saffron, I was closer to Marie. She would be there at lunch.
After a shower, I ate breakfast with Isaac, and then I had my lessons in the study of the art of witchcraft. I was trying not to dwell too much on anything that was happening in my life, but rather just work with it. Practicing witchcraft, travelling through time, and living on Earth were a lot to comprehend. It was better I went along as if in a dream, taking each day as it passed.
“So now you’ve spent a day or two here, do you think you’ll miss it when you go back home?” Isaac interrupted my thoughts.
I shook my head.
“No. My home is most definitely Andlusan. I like the meadows, the slower pace of life. My family home. Here I am uncomfortable. I want to put a gown back on. I hate these scratchy trousers.”
“And if you rescue your sister, will she be happy to return to Andlusan? What if she wants to stay here?”
“Well, she cannot. Her place is at home ruling Andlusan. She will have had her adventures and hopefully learned from them. She has put not only her own life in danger, and Billy’s, but ours too. What if our travel had gone awry?”
I looked at the clock. “Oh Goddess! I must get to the cafe.” I smacked my palm into my forehead. “Isaac. I forgot with everything I had to tell you last night. The car I dream of. It’s Billy’s mother’s car. So surely if we stop it from working, then Billy cannot drive it and crash?”
“Hmmmm, definitely something to think about. A very good option. I will ponder it while you go enjoy yourself with your friends.”
“They aren’t my friends. They’re Thea’s friends. I air-quoted my sister’s Earth name.
“But right now you’re Thea, remember? So go have fun.” Isaac made a shooing motion.
“Okay, I’m going.”
At lunch there was me, Billy, Marie, and Billy’s mate, Tom. We ordered pizza and garlic bread to share, and I had a coke. I loved the taste of some of this food although it couldn’t beat the hearty stews of home. All three of them were great fun, and I found myself genuinely enjoying their company. It made me think of how back home I only spent time with my sister and with our ladies-in-waiting. When I returned perhaps it was time to make a few friends? The problem was at home you couldn’t trust if people were genuine or friendly because of your position.
The guys went to play on the pool table at the back of the room and Marie slid in alongside me at my side of the booth.
“So how’s it going with you and Billy?”
I smiled. “I like him.”
“Well, I know that, duh? Did you get in there and get a snog?”
I felt my cheeks heat. It was difficult to act like my sister.
“He kissed me after the cinema, and last night walking home.”
“You lucky bitch. Billy Buckley. He’s held our hearts for some time. Just needed the right girl to come along.” She sighed. “Well, me and Tom had a heavy make-out session last night.”
“How far did you get?” My mouth said, completely out of my control. I’d not thought this sentence, not prepared to say these words. Maybe they just had to be said, to move things into fate’s alignment?
“We got very handsy. Let’s put it that way.” Marie smiled. “And he is very good with them.”
“Did you feel it then?” Again, my mouth ran away without me. Bloody Thea!
“Well, yeah, course. Hey, you’re not a virgin are you, Thea? You’ve been around a man before?”
“Yeah, course. I was just showing interest in the fact you are getting handsy with Tom and I wanted to know if he had a gigantic dick.”
I started coughing. How on earth could I stop Thea’s words from pouring out of my mouth? I’d never heard language like it. But the important part came next. The thought passed through my head.
I must sleep with Billy. I must know what it is like to lie with a man.
After we’d eaten, Marie and I went around the clothes and accessories shops on the high street. Billy had football practice that night and I’d told him I’d catch up with him tomorrow. I saw a dress I liked, a maxi dress which I felt much more at home in. Marie encouraged me to buy it. When I opened my purse, there was a credit card to put my purchases on. I wondered how much of the store, magic would allow me to buy.
I realised I knew the answer. Isaac was teaching me well. I would be able to get what I needed to do the task I had come here to do. No more. I felt more comfortable in the dress so I could get it. The question was, how had Thea got things, because none of her being here was for a selfless purpose.
I soon got the answer.
“How come you paid today? It’s much more fun when you walk out of the changing rooms with something on under your clothes. You’re my hero, you know that, right? These companies can afford to lose a few things with how much they overcharge.”
I quickly masked my alarm that my sister had been stealing. “Yeah, well I’d have a bit of a task trying to sneak a maxi out, wouldn’t I?”
“Fair point. Okay, I’d better head home. Catch you later, Thea.” She hugged me outside the door of the shop and left.
I sagged in relief that I’d managed to get through lunch and the afternoon and headed off in what I knew was the direction of home.
But partway back, I felt a pull to walk in another direction. I walked for a long time until houses got closer together, and there was as much furniture outside the houses as there was inside. Abandoned mattresses and sofas rotted in gardens. Gangs of little kids scooted and biked around, their language filthy. But my feet walked me right up to one of the doors and I rang the bell.
Aled Davies answered the door. His blonde hair looked like it needed a wash. Dark circles underneath and bruising above made his blue eyes look haunting, amplifying the whites.
“What happened to your face?”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, Thea, darlin’. Concerned now, are ya? Why’s that? Looking for some gear and reckoning I might have replaced my stock by now?”
“No. I just wondered—”
“Do you care?” He sneered. “Only I’ve been told that while I’ve been lying low, you’ve been getting close to our Billy. I said you were a prick tease; did you only kiss me to get some free shit?”
“Are you in danger?”
He cackled with hysterical laughter. “I owe my supplier two grand. When I couldn’t make the first payment, he did this.” He pointed to his eyes. “Now I have the first payment, but I don’t have the second, so fuck knows what he’s going to do next. He did threaten to set the rest of my house on fire, so there’s that.”
I quickly opened my purse to see if there was anything in it to give him to help. It was empty apart from a few pound coins; yet in the cafe and shops I knew I had carried much more. I wasn’t able to help him. Fate said no.
“I only have these few pounds.”
“Save them. There’s nowhere near enough. Buy a couple of flowers to put on my grave instead, hey? Now if there’s nothing else, you can go.”
“But—”
“What do you want, Thea? Why are you here? You blow hot and cold and I don’t know where I am with you.” He moved closer to me and stroked his hand down my face. “I’ve told you I want you. I think about you all the time. But I won’t share. I’m not a good man, Thea. I fight dirty to get what I want.”
A car pulled up at the kerb.
“Fuck.” Aled pushed me away from him and slammed the door shut. I heard the lock click.
The man exited the car. He was a tall thin man with white-blonde hair. He wore a suit, and a thick gold bracelet dangled from his wrist. He wolf-whistled at me.
“Well, what have we here? You Aled’s bit of fluff?”
I swallowed. “I’m just a friend. I came to see how he was doing because we’ve not seen him for a while.”
“Yeah, funny that. I’ve not seen him for a while either. When I knock at his door, he doesn’t answer. You watch, it’ll happen again now.” He knocked, and sure enough Aled ignored it.
The man grabbed hold of my arm so hard I swore it would cause bruises.
“Seeing as he seems to have time for you, you tell him this from me.” He bent right down near to my face. “I want my money. He has until Saturday and then I get serious. Unless you’d like to pay off some of his debt?” He stroked a hand down my body. Closing my eyes, I called upon my goddesses and thought words of protection. I felt a swarm of heat and then the man staggered back, staring at the hand he clutched in his other one. “I’m burned. My hand’s burned. What the fuck did you do, bitch?”
I held my hand in front of me and flames licked at my fingers. “Get away from me.” I spat.
“I don’t know what trick you’re pulling but tell him this.” He jabbed his fingers towards the house. “Saturday, or he’s a dead man.”
He got back in the car and drove away.
The flames died down from my fingertips, but I felt so thirsty.
I ran all the way home.
“So your sister was involving herself with this Aled, but I don’t see how any of that ties in to Billy stealing his mother’s car and crashing it. Your dreams point to a joyride where he was egged on by your sister. The fact that you are saying words she said, means that you may well find yourself asking him to drive the car.”
“What if I do that and can’t say anything else? If I can’t stop it?”
“There will be something we can do to change things. I’ll go back through the books tonight and see if I can find anything that can stop your speech being hijacked. We’re fighting against a fate that’s already been changed. They weren’t supposed to be in that car and that means that fate should allow us to change things back to the way they were meant to be.”
“Why did she have to do this? It’s too much, Isaac. My brain can’t cope with all this.”
“I was going to come with you tonight to see this Aaron, but we can’t afford to waste time, so you go talk to him and I’ll get the spell books out.”
I was secretly relieved that Isaac wasn’t coming with me to see Aaron. The last thing I needed was two men butting heads. I’d handle Aaron on my own. I knew from my encounter with the drug supplier that I could protect myself if necessary.
So after our evening meal, I dressed in my new maxi dress with a cardigan around my shoulders. I sprayed some of Thea’s perfume on me, refusing to acknowledge why I was doing so, and then I walked towards the park.
Chapter Ten
Aaron
I wasn’t sure if she’d show up, but when I arrived at the park at five minutes past nine, she was there next to the bench; looking furtively around and pulling her cardigan closer over her chest.
Her shoulders visibly relaxed when she saw me.
“You okay?” I asked searching her face for answers.
“Yeah, it’s just I’m not used to being alone in parks. There are a lot of places people could hide, aren’t there?”
“I guess so, but I’ve never heard of any crimes being reported here. I wouldn’t have agreed to meet you here if I’d thought it wasn’t safe.”
“Well, back home, I only go out with two bodyguards in tow, so this, being in Hallbridge, is all rather strange and taking some getting used to.”
I nodded over the road. “There’s a bar. Shall we go there? It should be pretty quiet on a Wednesday evening. Might not be as many midges around.” I added as she wafted across her face for the second time since I’d stood there.
“Okay. I’ve not been in a bar before. Do they sell coke? The drink that is, not the drug?”
“You really aren’t Thea, are you? You’re nothing like her.”
She sucked on her top lip.
“Thea isn’t Thea either. Her name is Leatha. She’s three minutes older than me, and three times as much trouble.”
“Okay.” I nodded my head. “I’m going to let you explain everything. I’m going to ask questions, and not assume that either you or I are suffering a mental breakdown. I guess that’s the only way I’m going to get through this evening.”
Her dark brown doe eyes met mine. “If it’s any consolation, I’m way out of my comfort zone and keep pinching my own cheeks to make sure I’m actually here.”
I reached over and pinched her cheek.
“Ow.”
“Looks like you’re here and this is real after all.”
I found a table in the corner. “You go sit down and I’ll get you that coke. The drink, not the drugs.” I teased. As I’d thought, the pub was quiet enough that we’d be able to talk undisturbed, but busy enough that there was a low hum of voices and we wouldn’t be overheard.
Drinks in front of us, I went in my jacket pocket and took out three packets of crisps. “Beef, cheese and onion, and ready salted. Didn’t know if you’d tried any yet. Not sure what you eat where you come from. Where is it you’re a princess of, anyway?”
“I’m from the Winter Court in Andlusan.”
“What’s it like there? Describe it to me. Tell me who you are and why you’re here. Why your sister was here. Is she from Earth?” I pulled at my hair. “Sorry for all the questions. I just don’t know what’s real anymore.”
Her tongue darted out and licked across her top lip and I tried not to be fascinated. Thea was beautiful but I’d not been attracted to her cold nature. Mercy’s warmth and her different mannerisms were making me take note. I needed to stop staring at her sweeping tongue and concentrate. She took a sip of her drink.
“The Winter Court is as it sounds. In Andlusan there are Courts for Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and as you’d expect the Courts are as described. We have snow, ice. It is very beautiful, but very cold. You acclimatise though if it’s all you’ve ever known. I don’t travel often to the other Courts. We’re all pretty much self-sufficient.”
“This must be very different then? It’s summer here. Flowers, sunshine, heat, a lot less clothing.”
Instinctively she played with the strap of her dress. “Yes, it’s most unusual.”
“Sorry, you were saying…”
“Our mother died a month ago, leaving my sister next in line to the throne as she is three minutes older than me.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
She nodded. “Thank you. Leatha hates the royal side of things. She doesn’t want to be Queen. I had no idea that she had been travelling the planes though until we found her in her room suffering. Our royal physician told me what had happened to her.” She stared at me. “I know you are questioning your sanity. It’s the same for me. I was told I come from a family of royal witches. That my mother banned witchcraft because it killed my father. I found this out only just before I travelled here at the start of the week. I’m completely out of my depth. If it wasn’t for Isaac, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“Isaac?”
“He’s a sorcerer. A warlock. He’s had to hide in the outskirts of the Winter Court to practice his craft. The royal physician put me in touch with him and he has been teaching me my craft, clearing me of the binds that had not allowed magic to run through my veins. He has travelled with me here to aid me in rescuing my sister.”
“He’s here?”
For some reason I didn’t like the thought that Mercy was spending time with another man. I decided not to question my reasons for this. She was already kind of dating my brother.
