“He says that with his permission, and with Brishon or Shelley’s blessing, I can live under the sea.”
“Oh, well, Mum will do that for you.”
I shook my head. “To do so she would have to overrule the Duke who currently manages the sea for her. If he was to be overruled he could cause a war under the sea.”
“Nothing in Withernsea is ever simple is it?”
I sighed. “No, I’m afraid not.”
“So, we need to win around Duke Brishon and your parents, and then you can live happily ever after?”
“That about sums it up, yeah.”
“You’re fucked then, Aunt Polly, and not by the sea snake.”
“Yup.”
“Hey, tomorrow do you want to come and help out at the shop? I’m there on my own while Ebony is off honeymooning with Henry. We could sort you out a whole new wardrobe of sexy lingerie for when you get your man.”
I laughed. Bless her heart, my niece was already shaping up to become an amazing woman. “I will come, but not for that. It would be an honour to be able to spend some more time with you, getting to know you better. I know we don’t have the same blood running in our veins but you are still family to me, Charlie.”
“That settles it then. You can come into work with me tomorrow and we’ll have our breaks in the coffee shop and hang with the gang.”
“That sounds fantastic. I actually feel like in the midst of all this chaos I have something to look forward to. Thank you, niece.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a snuggle and she let me. Emotions blasted through my body at having a loving niece and I surreptitiously swept under my right eye to wipe away a small tear that had formed there.
Later that night in my room I received a text from Drake. It amazed me how electronic media could still work from the sea to the shore and vice versa. I guessed anything was possible when magic existed.
Drake: How have you been today? I’ve missed you so much.
Polly: Fine. I’ve spent some lovely family time with Shelley, Theo, and Charlie. Shelley is going to arrange to come visit your father.
Drake: That’s encouraging. Hopefully she’ll be able to knock some sense into the belligerent fool.
Polly: I hope it doesn’t take too long to sort things out. I can’t bear being away from you.
Drake: I feel the same. Polly, I didn’t get chance to tell you this that night because of course we were interrupted, but I was intending to say it. I love you.
Polly: Oh my god. I love you too.
Drake: We will be together, somehow. I know it will all work out.
Polly: I hope you’re right. I just wish we could have sorted this out ourselves. My sister always seems to end up sorting out my problems and she usually suffers because of it. I don’t want that happening to her this time.
Drake: And that’s why I love you. Well, one of the many reasons.
Polly: So how has it been there, with your father?
Drake: Well, apart from his insisting that we dine tonight with Keto and her father, it’s not been too bad. He’s had a lot of business to attend to and so has largely left me alone, apparently so I can ‘come to my senses’.
My nails dug into my palm. The thought that another woman was dining with my man turned me inside out. I clenched my hand so hard that I pierced the skin and blood began to fill one of the half-moon shapes. I held it up and watched as it knitted itself back up and disappeared.
My guilty secret.
I could heal.
Polly
Summer 2008
“Come on, Polly. You never do anything exciting. Sneak out and come to Damien’s party. He’s totally into you.”
I took a deep breath. Damien Horsely was so damn hot, and I had kept noticing him looking at me in class. He was all dark and wavy chin-length hair, and deep brooding brown eyes.
Something had happened to me lately. It had started with me ‘becoming a woman’. I’d gone from straight up and down bean pole with goofy teeth; to womanly curves, an ample pair of boobs, and my invisible brace had almost done its job on my teeth. From wearing my hair in a plait at my parents’ insistence and being barred from make-up; my best friend, Eliza, now shared her cosmetics with me in the school bathrooms first thing in a morning. Taking out the plait left my hair in blonde ringlets. The boys in my class had noticed the change. Some girls had too, and that hadn’t proved to be such a plus point, as I kept catching them whispering and obviously bitching about me, but at last I had a little freedom. Shelley had left school last September and so I was free to be myself—well, within school hours. Come home-time I was back in the bathroom fixing my hair and wiping all traces of make-up from my face. Thank goodness my mum believed that the facial wipes I carried around with me were for in case I got hot and wanted to freshen up.
“So, are you going to sneak out? It’s not the same going to parties without my BFF.”
I sighed. “I won’t be able to stay out too late, but if I say I’m coming to yours to study, then we could go from there. You’ll have to lend me something to wear though because they won’t let me have anything fashionable or the least bit party-like.”
“God, I’d want to run away. Why are they so strict? It’s not like you do anything bad, ever.”
“I’m their ‘miracle’ baby, so they’ve always kept me wrapped up in cotton wool.”
“But Shelley’s always partying.”
“Yeah, it’s not fair. She can do what she likes.” I was being unfair to my sister. Fact was, my parents didn’t seem to give a toss what she did because she had *internal cough* ‘magical powers’ and they were scared for my life. I was scared for their mental health. Maybe I should alert social workers to my predicament, but what would I say? ‘Oh yes they treat me like a princess, but they believe my sister is an evil entity and could harm me’?
Apparently when I was a baby, they’d caught Shelley in my room and I’d been hovering near the window. Maybe as a jealous sibling she had toyed with the idea of chucking me out, but there was no way a two-year-old could reach my bedroom window. They must have been hallucinating. Perhaps they’d smoked too much marijuana when young?
Then there was the story of my conception where my sister had apparently placed healing hands on my mother’s belly and then had also saved my life in hospital. If that was the case, surely Shelley would be their favourite daughter? And they could hire her out for anyone having difficulty conceiving. Would save couples and the NHS a fortune.
No, I just had to face the fact that they were certifiable and hope that I hadn’t inherited those genes.
“Can’t Shelley talk to them?”
I shook my head. “She wouldn’t, and they wouldn’t listen anyway. As long as we say we’re studying, we should be fine. I’ll come over straight from school on Friday and we can go to the first part.”
“The first part that’s totally lame because the cool kids don’t arrive until later with the booze.”
I shrugged. “That’s all I can do.”
Friday came, and we entered the party. It was quiet but there were still plenty of people there. The best thing about it was that Damien had time to talk to me. He had to keep going off to say hello to his guests which was disappointing but still he was talking to ME.
“We’ll get more time together later, Pol. Once everyone’s arrived and busy partying, we’ll be able to get some time to ourselves. Around ten o’clock. So don’t hook up with anyone else in the meantime, will you? It’s my birthday and I’m choosing you as my birthday date. That okay with you?”
I nodded, blushing. Shit. I had to leave to get home for nine. Maybe I could sneak back out of my room? There was a tree. I’d just never been allowed to try to climb it.
Damien’s older brother had some friends around and they were chaperoning. Having parents there would have been lame. You could imagine my face when my sister rocked up carrying cans of beer. Her eyes almost bugged out when she saw me in my little black dress, wit
h make-up on and my hair down. She did a double-take.
“Well, well.” Shelley said. “Who’d have thought Perfect Princess Polly would climb off her throne to come party?”
“You gonna dob me in?”
“Hell, no. Thank God, you’re rebelling against them. Knock yourself out. You wanna beer, Sis?” She smiled at me. A genuine smile that made me feel like I’d won a competition or something.
“Thanks.” I took one even though I’d never had an alcoholic drink in my life. I pulled the tab and took a swig. God, it was vile, but my sister had given it me and so I was drinking it.
As it came nearer to my time of leaving, I felt my shoulders tighten and my neck go tense. The fact was, I was out properly enjoying myself with my friends and I resented that I had to leave.
“I can’t believe you have to go home.” Eliza said.
“Listen. I’m going to pretend to go to bed and then sneak back out. They never check on me. I’ll be back by ten or just after, so do not let Damien get off with anyone else. Tell him I’m coming okay?”
“OMG, Pol. Really? That’s awesome. I’ll hit on Paul and then we can hang together.” Paul was Damien’s best friend.
“Right, I’ll be back.” I kissed her cheek and made my way home, calling into the local supermarket toilets to get changed and remove my make-up and stuffing my dress in my backpack. It was so short it wrapped up in my PE shorts, disguised.
When I got home, I emptied out my school bag as were the house rules. I stuffed Eliza’s dress at the back of my wardrobe under a cuddly toy I’d had when I was little that never got moved, and then I put my PE kit in the laundry. Leaving my room, I headed downstairs to the living room where I sat with my parents for twenty minutes catching up with them about my day, then feigning tiredness I went to bed. I quite often went to my own room at nine-thirty as I loved to read and also loved to not have to sit with the parentals, so they thought nothing of it. I decided to change into some black jeans and a black top and a pair of converse which were a little more practical for tree-climbing. Slowly, I opened my window, careful to not make too much of a sound. Thankfully, my parents living room faced the front of the house and I was escaping out the back and then around the side. The tree was a little further over than I thought. I leaned out of my window trying to work out how to get on it. Sitting on the window ledge with my legs outside I could shuffle myself over. Carefully, I lowered myself, my feet touching the lower large branch and then I reached my right arm toward an upper one. I’d done it! I was on the tree and now all I had to do was work my way down.
Then the branch in my hand broke clean off. I swayed, trying to save myself, but it was no good. I fell straight down off the tree hitting the hard ground of the garden below.
The pain was excruciating, and nausea whirled around my body. My heart thudded and I felt faint. As I looked at my leg, I saw that it was bending in the wrong direction. My left wrist was also swelling up fast, and I had a lump forming on my head. I couldn’t move, and my parents were going to know exactly what I’d done. With my head laid back against the grass, I wished that my parents bullshit was true, that my sister was magic and that she could come to heal me. If only I could be healed.
The strangest thing happened next. My hand started to feel really hot. Damn broken wrist. Hang on, that was my other hand. I held my right hand up to see it had a white glow. What the actual fuck?
Feeling the need to place the warmth on my broken wrist, I wrapped my right hand around my left wrist feeling a comforting heat pass through and the pain lessened immediately. I watched incredulously as my wrist snapped back into place without any pain. I moved it around. Holy hell.
I placed the same hand on the bump on my head and felt it shrink under my palm. Then I put it on my knee and watched as my knee moved back into alignment. I stood up, completely healed.
My hand cooled and the glow died down.
I needed time to get my head around what had just happened, and I knew my parents must never, EVER, know about this or they’d surround me in spells and try to stop it from working. My God, maybe everything they said was true?
All I knew is I would keep this my secret forever because to make it public would ruin my life. And right now it meant I could go party because I knew I no longer had a problem sneaking out of my bedroom.
Shelley
“I bet Ebony is just being boned over and over.”
My eyes widened. “They’re your first words for me this morning? About Ebony? Seriously, Kim. Do you remember the wedding reception at all? My adoptive parents crashing it?”
“Oh yeah.” Kim yawned. “I bet Polly has been getting boned over and over.” She rested her chin in her hands, closing her eyes.
“What on earth is the matter with you, you frikking weirdo?”
She reluctantly opened first one eye, then the other. “I am growing three wolves in my belly. I’m shattered. I have no energy whatsoever for nookie. However, my mind is not getting the message.” She tapped her right temple with her fingertips. “My mind is like ‘come on, Mama, let’s get us some hot kinky wolf sex’ and my body is going ‘come on, Mama, let’s get some sleep’.”
“Do you want to start your maternity leave now? If it’s getting too much.” I offered in a soothing tone.
She shook her head. “No. These babies aren’t due for another month and I only have two weeks left to work so I’m going to stick it out.” She blew out her top lip. “Now I said ‘stick it out’ and all I can think of is an erect cock.”
“I know. Why don’t I distract you by telling you that I have my sister staying with me and five more days before my parents let the humans of Withernsea know there are supernaturals out there? Oh and so I have to go under the sea to meet Duke Brishon tomorrow… and also, Lucy’s coming back and she’s covering your maternity leave.” Lucy had been on a trip with her fiancé Frankie, researching supernatural history.
“She is? When?”
“Right now, bitch.” Lucy waltzed through the door. “Just in case you go into premature labour. I’ve bought a boat so I don’t drown when your water’s break. How freaking much do you weigh right now anyway? Hope Ebony had these floors strengthened.”
Kim’s eyes flashed yellow and she let out a small growl. “I have three wolves inside me. Three. And do not poke the beast. I’m in protective mama mode and likely to change and bite your head off.”
“So basically no different to before you became a wolf?” Lucy drolled, giving me a wink. I sniggered.
“You might laugh. All of you. And I said ‘poke the beast’ so now I’m imagining shagging my husband.”
I turned to Lucy. “She’s going through the whole book of innuendo. Mama bear is horny, but her body says no.”
“I bet you’ve been boned by Frankie over and over while you’ve been on your trip.”
“Kim, as my fiancé is your ex, I am not entering into conversation with you about this. Now I suggest you go home tonight, assume a Jabba the Hutt like position and ask your husband to do something with you, so that we can work the rest of this two week period without hearing you moan, in a non-sexual way.”
“You said ‘entering’.”
Lucy turned to me. “I’m going to my office. I’ll make a start on Kim’s emails and work because I doubt she’s done anything so far today other than think of sex. Is there anything in particular we need to focus on today?”
“Yes. Gosh, in all the excitement about my bloody adoptive parents being idiots—I’ll fill you in on that later, Lucy—I forgot. We have two people on our books who are apparently destined to be together. We have to do the rare thing of getting a human and a supernatural together on a date.”
“You said ‘fill you in’.”
I ignored Kim before I punched a pregnant woman in the jaw. “So, it’s time to arrange a date for Jax and, dare I say it? Tristan.”
“Halleefreaaakkiinnnglluuuujaaaahhhhh.”
“Has she just come?” asked Lucy.
&
nbsp; I tilted my head to stare at Kim. “She is very enthusiastic about our friend’s date.”
“No. You just mentioned Tristan. And just like that my libido switched right off. He’s the key to me getting through the next few weeks. All I have to do is think of that rotten Pixie with his small appendage. How’s that going to work anyway? I know Jax is small, but Lucy said she really could hardly see it. Unless you’ve a bucket down there, babes. Has the train passed through the tunnel so many times it needs maintenance? Designer vaginas are still a thing, Luce.”
“His penis was like a cocktail sausage, and I’ve never developed a taste for those. I don’t know what she’ll do.”
“Seems kind of cruel, Shelley, to set her up with a large knob with a small knob.”
“It’s what Ebony saw in a vision, and Jax said they danced at the wedding reception and he was nice to her.”
“Can’t have been him.” Lucy said.
“We’re setting them up and leaving it in the hands of fate.” I looked from one to the other of my employees. “Okay. Go get the date set up. Let’s work like demons—no pun intended, Lucy—until lunchtime, and then I’ll treat you all to a cheese toastie followed by a chocolate doughnut at Jax’s.”
“And coffee.” They said simultaneously.
“That goes without saying. Okay, gang, Let’s help the residents of Withernsea find love.”
I followed Lucy out of Kim’s office. She headed off towards her small office and I went to mine. Powering up my computer, I smiled. What an amazing job I had, matchmaking for lonely people. We had a fantastic success rate, and the business continued to go from strength to strength. And as tiring as Kim and Lucy could be, they did get the job done—in Kim’s case by the skin of her teeth. Due to a deal with Satan I couldn’t match-make supernaturals, only humans. Although that Satan wasn’t around anymore so I should check with Angel Sophia sometime if my deal still stood.
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