by Harold Wall
circles with my deranged sister.
"I want to come with you," she said simply, shoving her hands into her pockets and shrugging her shoulders. I didn't know whether to laugh, or groan, or just roll my eyes at her
request.
"Look, Kestrel_"
"Before you refuse, you should know that I'm only asking to make this whole thing easier. Whether you agree to it or not, I'm coming with you. The only question is, how much
harder do you want to make this situation for yourself, because believe me I can make this whole thing infinitely more difficult for you."
"Fine, " I said, silently groaning at the idea of involving Kestrel even more than she already was. It would probably end up biting me in backside later on, but for right now, it was
the only way I could control the damage that had already been done. "But if you mess me around, you're out. Clear?"
"Crystal" she returned, that fake sickly sweet smile back on her face.
"Come on then," I muttered, pushing past her and making my way to the door. When I got there, I reached for my keys, only to discover that their usual spot by the door was
empty. Getting even more irritated by the second; I turned to glower at my sister for taking them, only to find Thea looking rather sheepish, the key swinging from the fingers.
"Looking for these?" She asked, with a slightly apologetic smile. I was blindsided for a moment, trying to wrap my head around yet another turn of events. I should have expected
anything really, in a minute Barney the fricking dinosaur would walk in at this rate.
"Thea," I began, exhaustion lacing my tone. "What are you doing?"
"I'm coming with you."
"Of course you are!" I burst out, throwing my hands up in the air in frustration. "Apparently the whole goddamn country is coming. Have you called England yet, because maybe the
Queen would like to come too? In fact, tell her to bring Will and Kate while you're at it, maybe George and Charlotte too, just to make sure that no one is left out! Oh, and I hear the
pope is free, perhaps he can jet over and meet us there."
"Okay, I get it, Ash!" She said, cutting me off mid rant. "But I'm still coming. I'm just as involved as you are, and let's face, you're completely out of your depth here. You need me
there today!"
I averted my gaze, suddenly becoming extremely interested in the tile floor. "So let's just go and meet Winnie, yeah?" Thea continued, only looking slightly exasperated.
I walked over to her and plucked the keys out of her hands, turning my back on them. I didn't have to look to know both Thea and Kestrel would be hot on my heels.
Thea hopped into the passenger seat, whilst Kestrel took up residence in the back, looking entirely too pleased with herself. "I can't believe you plotted with her against me," I mumbled, pulling out of the Mansion's iron gates.
"Yeah well, you wouldn't have thought to include me otherwise," Thea said, disappointment apparent in her eyes as she met my gaze. A guilty feeling started to build up inside me
again, because in truth, I hadn't even thought about telling Thea about this meeting with Winnie despite all the help she'd been. It hadn't even entered my head; all I'd been worried
about was Mare and what to do to keep her safe.
"Sorry," I said quietly, not taking my eyes off the road. "I've just had a lot on my mind lately."
"I know you have," Thea replied, sympathetic but not pitying. "But you don't have to do all of this on your own, Ash. I'm here for you, and for Mare, as is everyone else. Don't try to
solve everything by yourself. You're no use to MaryLynette if you're dying of exhaustion."
"Thanks," I said simply, offering her a small smile.
When we got to the arranged meeting place, a small nondescript diner, I turned in my seat so that I was facing the two girls. "No funny business, you hear?" I said, looking
between them, although it was clear that my words were directed at Kestrel.
"Wouldn't dream of it," she said, pushing open the door and making her way across the car park towards the diner. Thea and I shared a look before hopping out ourselves, hurrying
to catch up to my sister.
Immediately I saw Winnie sitting in a booth next to the window, gazing out at the cars zipping by. She'd picked a good spot. The booth was in a corner of the café that was
distanced away from other customers and the main counter where nosy staff members could listen in. We'd also have a good view of the entire diner and car park from our booth,
just in case any unwanted visitors turned up. I was impressed.
A small bell tinkled above our heads as we entered, instantly alerting Winnie to our presence. A relieved smile spread across her face when she saw me, followed by a look of mild
confusion upon seeing my entourage close behind. I shook my head in her direction, mouthing: "Don't ask".
"It's good to see you," she said as we reached the booth, sliding in around her so that I was sitting opposite. I didn't fail to notice that Thea made a point to cut in front of Kestrel so
that she would be the one to sit next to Winnie, forcing my sister to take the seat beside me. I silently thanked her, knowing that Kestrel was intimidating at the best of times,
especially to those who weren't used to her.
"Yeah, it's good to see you too," I said, offering her a smile, though I couldn't help the nervousness from creeping into my voice. "This is Kestrel," I continued, nodding my head in
her direction. "I don't believe you two have met."
"It's nice to meet you," Winnie said brightly but unsurely.
"So you're the expert on all things witchy," Kestrel said, looking Winnie's small frame up and down disapprovingly.
Squaring her shoulders, a firm look setting on her features; Winnie gave a stiff nod. "That's right," she said defiantly, refusing to back down under my sister's stare. It was only a
small act but it made me infinitely more proud of the young witch.
"Winnie, " I started, bringing everyone's attention back to the matter at hand. "We need your help with something, well I need your help with something."
"Yeah, sure. What is it?" She asked, frowning slightly. Whilst it wasn't uncommon for any of us to ask for help of some kind, this was the first time I'd specifically requested we talk
away from the mansion.
I swallowed, unsure of how exactly to go about this, of where to even start. "Well, it's about MaryLynette. A while ago, we found something that Thea found worrying."
"What kind of thing? Ash, what are you talking about?"
I glanced at Thea, prompting her to explain, for she would be able to do an infinitely better job at this that I could. Sighing, Thea jumped right into the story of what had happened
the night of MaryLynette's attack. She first started with how bad a shape Mare was in when I first brought her back, and how her and Gillian eventually managed to heal and
stabilise my soul mate. Then she explained how we found the strange markings on Mare's wrist, describing in great detail the pattern the scars made.
A troubled look began to filter across Winnie's features, her expression turning grim. "So you know what it is?" I asked, unsure of what I wanted the answer to be. If the answer
were 'yes', I'd no longer be in the dark about what was wrong with my soul mate. But it would also mean that something was definitely wrong; there'd be no more fooling myself
into thinking everything was okay.
"Well, we're definitely talking about a curse here," Winnie said, confirming my worst suspicions. "And from the sounds of it, it's a bad one. Like really bad."
"Aren't all curses bad?" Kestrel scoffed, clearly unimpressed with Winnie's verdict.
"Well, yes," Winnie said, seemingly ignoring Kestrels' harsh tone. "But like anything, some are worse than others. Likewise, some are more temporary than others," she continued,
slowing down nervously as she talked, as i
f sensing what my next question would be and clearly dreading it.
"What about this one?" I asked. "You said it was bad, but how temporary is it?"
"In some ways it is only temporary," Winnie said, glancing down and fiddling with a napkin that was on the table.
"In what way?" I pushed, glancing towards Thea as I spoke. She shut her eyes briefly, seeming to deflate under my words. "In what way?" I said again, quickly becoming unsettled
at their silence.
"In that once the curse has fully taken hold," Winnie answered at last, finally looking up to meet my gaze. "The victim of it usually won't suffer for a long amount of time. A curse
such as this will usually run its course fairly quickly, killing the victim in the process."
I felt like I'd just been punched in the face. Worse than that. I felt like I'd just been hit head on by a lorry that had millions of wooden stakes protruding out the front.
"So you're saying MaryLynette is going to die?" I asked, my voice sounding shockingly hollow.
"I can't say anything for certain, Ash," Winnie replied, already sounding guilty. But she had nothing to feel guilty for; all she'd done was tell the truth. The only person who was
guilty in any of this was the witch who had put the curse on MaryLynette. And that witch would pay for this, I'd make sure of it.
"I don't know enough about this particular curse yet," she continued. "I'll read up on it, and that will hopefully give me a better idea on what to expect. I'll also take a look at MaryLynette,
observe her behaviour over the next few weeks, see if anything changes."
I nodded slowly, still reeling. I didn't know what I'd been expecting of this meeting, but it certainly hadn't been this.
I absently noted that Kestrel had been silent for a while now. Taking a quick look out of the corner of my eye, I saw that her expression was stony, completely unreadable.
"Uh, Winnie," Thea spoke, drawing everyone's eyes. "I think it's worth mentioning to you that MaryLynette has no knowledge about any of this. And Ash is adamant that things stay
that way." It was clear from her tone that Thea still largely disagreed with the decision.
"What?" Winnie asked sharply, staring at me incredulously. "Ash, you can't keep something like this from her."
"Yes," I shot back, not harshly, only tiredly. "I can. She's already under enough stress at the moment; her knowing she has a curse will only make things worse. I'm sure of it."
"She could die," Winnie said, staring unwaveringly into my eyes.
I swallowed, my throat becoming swollen at the bluntness of the facts. Yes, MaryLynette could die, a possibility that was unthinkable. But I couldn't think about that right now. I
had to believe that she would survive this.
"Winnie, Mare has only known about the Night World for just over half a year. In that time she has been through so much, and she hasn't fully gotten to grips with this whole world
yet. This… thing, whatever it is, could push her over the edge."
"She's stronger than you think she is, Ash," Thea interrupted, her fists closing in determination. "She has her friends and family around her, she can cope with all of this."
"And what if she doesn't?" I argued back. "What if she decides that this is all too much, that this isn't what she signed up for. It would be so easy for her to just leave, to decide
she's had enough of all this supernatural crap that's been thrown her way. How are we supposed to help her if she's not even here?"
"How is Winnie supposed to help her without MaryLynette finding out then? She's not an idiot, Ash. She'll suss out that something is wrong."
"Then we'll just have to find a way around it. Help her in a way that she doesn't notice. Anything will be better than not being able to help her at all."
Thea only nodded, unconvincingly, but an understanding all the same. She was finally surrendering an argument she couldn't win.
It sounds a lot like your more afraid of losing her yourself, than afraid of her health. The words rang out clearly in my head, whilst Thea gave me a pointed look.
I ignored her words and her look, pretending that I'd heard nothing at all. "Can you do that, Winnie?" I asked, returning to the spoken conversation. "Can you treat her without her
finding out?"
There was a long pause whilst Winnie thought this over. Almost reluctantly, she nodded her head. "Yes. Of course it depends on what treatment she will need, but yes, I should be
able to find a way."
"And will you?" I asked tensely, knowing full well that just because Winnie had the ability to do something, it didn't necessarily mean that she would do it.
There was another pause, which lasted a lot longer than the first. Winnie glanced between Thea and I, back and forth a number of times, her eyes even landing on Kestrel for a moment before she opened her mouth to speak.
"I'll do it," she said at last, causing me to sigh a huge sigh of relief. Some of the tension I'd been feeling slowly trickled out of me at her words.
"I'll refrain from telling MaryLynette about the curse for now, and try to treat her discretely."
"Thank you," I whispered.
"But, at the first sign of her health beginning to deteriorate, I will intervene. Do you hear that? I will not be able to continue to hide this from her if she takes a turn for the worse.
I'm sorry, Ash, I just won't do it."
"That's okay," I reassured her; just grateful at the fact she had agreed to go by my wishes for now. And besides, her terms were reasonable. If it got to the point where Mare did
take a turn for the worse, I wouldn't be able to hide this from her either.
"Thank you," I repeated, reaching for her hands across the table, giving them a slight squeeze. "I appreciate everything you're doing."
Winnie only frowned, giving me a nod and seemingly entirely unconvinced still. Thea too, did not look happy with the result of this meeting, a troubled look warring on her features.
I could only hope that I wasn't making the biggest mistake of my life right now, by hiding this from Mare.
We all pushed up from our seats, leaving the café promptly. The waitresses gave us dirty looks as we exited for not actually ordering anything during our time spent here. A single
look from Kestrel scared them enough to look elsewhere though, causing one of them to hurry out of the room and into the kitchen.
Once in the car park, we went our separate ways, Winnie and Thea going in one direction, whilst Kestrel and I went in the other. I could only assume that Thea and Winnie would
continue to discuss what a bad idea this was, but as far as I was concerned, they were free to discuss whatever they liked. The decision had been made, and I knew Winnie well
enough to know that she wouldn't go back on her word.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Kestrel muttered, slipping into the passenger seat. It was the first thing she'd said in quite a while. I still had no idea about her own position
on the matter.
"Yeah," I muttered back. "I hope I do too."
A few days passed without event, and those days soon turned into weeks. MaryLynette and Mark had been convinced to stay at the mansion for longer than they had originally
planned, wit the help of Rashel and Jade.
Winnie had spent a lot of time hovering around MaryLynette, observing practically everything she did, noting any change what so ever in her behaviour. Whilst the witch was trying
to be discrete, a fact I appreciated greatly, I could tell she was starting to freak Mare out a little. One day I'd tried to tell Winnie about this but retreated at the last second, not
having the heart to tell her that her observations really weren't all that subtle.
Whilst Mare looked tired most of the time, dark circles under her eyes becoming a permanent feature, she hadn't had any more episodes like the one she'd had at Nyala and
Daphne's apartment. I hoped that that one time had been a
direct result of the stressful night she'd had before, which Rashel had told me about in great detail, and not because of
the curse. Still, it often played on my mind.
"What the hell is going on?" Rashel asked one day, coming up behind me as I poured myself a glass of blood from the refrigerator.
"What do you mean?" I asked, turning around to face her. She pulled a face as I took a sip from the cup. Despite her soul mate being a vampire too, she still had a huge hangup
when it came to the whole drinking blood thing.
"Well you're acting really shifty half of the time, and looking sick to stomach for the other half. Kestrel is the same, and by that I mean, yes there is a way for her to look more
shifty than usual. Thea looks as if someone ran over her cat, and don't even get me started on Winnie."
"Sorry, but I really don't know what you're talking about, Rashel. Maybe you're just seeing things. You didn't accidently drink one of those potions Winnie always accidently leaves
lying around did you?"
"No," she replied, seeming entirely unimpressed by my remark. "I didn't."
"There, there," I continued, patting her on the head, causing her to swat my hand away in a way that was far more aggressive than it needed to be. "It's okay if you did, no one is
judging."
"For the sake of the goddess, Ash. I didn't drink anything!"
"If you say so," I replied, gliding past her out of the kitchen.
"I've seen the looks you all share. Every time MaryLynette walks into the room you all act really oddly, like you're hiding something."
I silently cursed myself, as apparently we hadn't been as covert as we'd thought we'd been. I knew Rashel had a knack for being scarily intuitive, but if we carried on being this
obvious it was only a matter of time before others caught on, if they hadn't already.
"Look, Rashel. You know how hard the break up has been on me. I miss Mare. A lot. Winnie and Thea are just helping me through it, that's all that's going on. And I'm not sure if I
want to know what Kestrel is up to, you'll have to ask her yourself."
Rashel raised an eyebrow at me, clearly not believing my excuse in any way. But although it hadn't been the truth, it wasn't exactly a lie either. Not being with MaryLynette had