Alex entered the mansion first where eleven smiling pucas waved from the machines they were playing. There was one missing, Flax sat on one of the sofas watching the television or more to the point flicking through the channels.
‘Hello,’ he said, and she jumped.
‘You scared me,’ said Flax, looking guilty and a little frightened at the remote in her hand. ‘Sorry.’
‘What you sorry for?’
‘I was playing with your tele thing.’
Alex picked her up. ‘You’re a part of the family, and allowed to do so.’
‘I am, even if it’s just me watching it?’
‘Of course, and there’s one in your room.’
‘I don’t know how to turn it on.’
‘I’ll show you later, but before you watch any more they have some presents for you.’
Alex carried her down the hall to the others while dodging the shopping as it floated into the mansion. Paige took a small body pouch out of a plastic bag and put it around Gort’s waist.
‘Bum bags,’ Claire sniffed at the idea.
‘No,’ said James, ‘they’re waist pouches for when the pucas are in their forest.’
‘What good are they in a forest?’ said Gort, looking at the thing around his waist.
‘You don’t have any pockets,’ said James and took another pouch out of the bag. You can put stuff in them, and we have already put a couple of items inside for you.’ He opened one up and pulled out a Swiss army knife and showed them all the different tools it had.
Gort’s eyes grew big. ‘And this is for me?’
‘There’s one for each of you,’ he said, as the children helped to put the pouches on the other pucas who were very pleased to wear them.
Alex took the dolls houses into the party room to put together. Michelle decided he needed help and fetched her toolbox. Daralis got one of the pixies to lay down on a piece of paper, with arms out straight, and drew round her. The children, who had set up the Buckaroo game, sat waiting for the pixies. Kaeya felt popular when Alex came looking for her after they built the dolls houses. He caught her flying through the air as he stepped out of the party room.
He shook his head. ‘That game seems a lot more powerful than it should be.’
‘House made it stronger,’ said Kaeya.
‘And you’re enjoying it?’
‘Yes, I love it, and it was me who asked him to do it,’ she said, as Alex caught another pixie.
‘Well I want to show you something,’ said Alex, and the children did not look happy.
‘Papa, we were playing a game,’ Alhena huffed.
‘I know, sweetheart, but I have something for the pixies, and I want you to come and see them.’
One was a large town house, and the other a mansion. It was a little cramped but Kaeya loved them, and so did the children. Michelle took out a note pad and pencil and started writing something down, and got her tape measure before leaving the room.
CHAPTER TWELVE
To Know You, is to Love You
There were three extra for the run that night, and Jodie matched Paige and Claire for distance who both managed an extra ten miles. Kerry and Leanne ran fifteen miles and floated on boards for twenty more. James, Asima, and Carrie, ran further than they had before.
Most of them enjoyed the party with the pucas dancing. Alex sat on a sofa with a few of the others near the main doors of the party room, as it was less noisy. Carrie sat next to him, and put her head on his shoulder, which got a few raised eyebrows. She hadn’t drunk much, but the run earlier had taken its toll.
Alex breathed in the smell of her perfume. ‘Are you OK?’
Carrie lifted her head and looked into his eyes. ‘You’ll never leave or betray me, will you?’
‘What? Of course not,’ he said, quite taken aback with it.
Paige raised an eyebrow. ‘Have you had too much to drink, honey?’
Carrie shrugged and sipped on her wine. ‘Maybe, but I’ve been thinking about my past. There are other things no one knows about.’
Blaze took a sip of her own wine. ‘You’ve never said anything before.’
‘I know, and for a couple of years it haunted me. I’d forgotten all about it until recently.’
‘I never knew that,’ said Paige, as the others at the table, Luella, Daralis, Claire, George and Joseph fell silent.
‘I never told anyone, Paigey, no one knew. I thought my parents loved me, but they never said it or showed me any affection. I think that’s why I hug the children so much.’
Alex felt Carrie tense up and put his arm around her, which she gratefully received and held his hand.
Paige smiled. ‘You hug everyone.’
‘I was heartbroken at the time and very lonely. I ran away from home at sixteen and didn’t return until two years later to confront my parents for what they did.’
Blaze narrowed her eyes. ‘What did they do?’
Carrie sighed. ‘They sold me. If it hadn’t been for my dreams I dread to think where I would’ve ended up.’
Paige put a hand to her mouth. ‘That’s disgusting.’
Alex raised an eyebrow. ‘Dreams?’
Carrie nodded. ‘Yeah, I believe your dreams are what brought it all back to me. I had them a few nights before I ran away. A man, whose face I couldn’t see, gave my father a lot of money. I was dragged away and thrown into the back of a van. Although I knew it was just a dream but it felt so real. I kept watch over the next few nights and even filled a backpack with clothes.’
Paige leant on the table. ‘It wasn’t a dream, but a vision.’
Carrie nodded. ‘Yeah, one night mother gave me dinner, which was different to what they were having. I took it to my room but for some reason I couldn’t eat it. Later in the evening the van from my dreams pulled up outside. I watched from the top of the stairs as my father let the man in who gave him money. I grabbed my bag, climbed out the back window, and ran.’
Alex picked up a drink with his free hand. ‘Where did you go?’
‘The streets, I slept rough for a while. It was only for a few nights as I met a couple of hippies and travelled with them in their funk-mobile.’
Alex turned to her. ‘Hippies? You’re not that old.’
Carrie shook her head. ‘No one told them that the era died twenty years before, but they didn’t care. A lovely couple who treated me like their own.’
‘Didn’t your parents search for you?’
‘No, never even reported me missing. I travelled around the country with my new friends for a couple of years. They made life bearable for the most part, although I cried myself to sleep many nights. It would’ve been easy to hate my parents, but I couldn’t get to grips with what they had done.’
‘You could’ve gone to the police,’ said Blaze.
‘No, the only people I trusted were my friends. By the time I was eighteen, not knowing why became too much, I returned home.’ Carrie rubbed her eyes. ‘If I thought being sold by my own parents couldn’t get any worse, I was wrong. I found out my life had been a lie. As I said they never showed me any love, not like I saw with other kids and their parents. It didn’t take long to find out why after knocking the front door of my old home. You know I really thought they would be remorseful for what they had done and beg for my forgiveness, and once again I was wrong.’
Carrie took a long swig of her drink. ‘Mother opened the door, drunk, in the afternoon. She scowled at me and asked what I wanted. Answers, I said, to why you and dad sold me. She laughed. “Your dad? That’s a good one, and he’s dead because of you. When the man found out you’d ran away, he killed him. It’s all your fault you ungrateful bitch. We fed and clothed you for years, so why shouldn’t we get something back. He wasn’t your dad, and I’m not your mother. We adopted you when you were only small”. I walked away and never returned.’
Paige sat back. ‘Did you ever go to the authorities and find out who your real parents were?’
Carrie nodded. �
�Yeah, but they had no records of me being adopted by them, in fact they had no records of me or my real parents. I had only ever been known as that couples daughter, but no birth certificate. I returned to my friends and took their surname.’ She turned to Alex. ‘Please never pity me.’
He raised a brow. ‘Why would I?’
The following morning Alex waited outside Carrie’s room. House had told him she was awake.
‘Is this pity I asked you not to show me,’ said Carrie, as she opened her door.
Alex gave her a warm smile. ‘No, it’s me waiting to have breakfast, and you’re taking so much time.’
‘You never waited before.’
‘No, you’re always early and training after your breakfast.’
‘I thought it might be a good idea to have a lie in.’
‘You’re allowed one, and especially after a run, but you don’t need to work off whatever you eat. Anyway, you do know I’m also adopted?’
‘In that case, my lord, would you like to escort me to breakfast?’ Carrie asked, holding out her arm.
‘I’m sorry, my lady, I thought you would never ask.
Alex took the children riding, where a dozen horses with yellow eyes joined them. Although it was Talitha’s first time, like the other children, she had no fear and jumped over anything in her way.
James and George were the only ones on the sofas when Alex returned, as many of the others had taken over the party room to make clothes for the pixies. Michelle passed him one end of a tape measure, and walked to the other side of the room.
Alex held it up to a wall. ‘What you got planned?’
‘Nothing, I just want to measure the mansion.’
‘Hold on a second,’ said Alex, and let go of the tape
‘I hadn’t finished yet,’ Michelle huffed, in a not too very friendly tone as the tape retracted quickly.
Alex stepped into the office and returned a few minutes later with a folder which he passed to Michelle.
‘What’s this?’ she asked.
‘The plans to the mansion, I asked them to do me some when they did all the work.’
‘Thank you, that will save time,’ she said, and hurried down to the library.
~~~~
Joseph and Briana sat looking at a computer screen.
‘I’m quite sure this word means “back”,’ said Joseph.
Briana shook her head. ‘I don’t see that, it looks like “time” to me.’
Michelle overheard the conversation as she stared at the plans, and it made her curious. ‘Are you talking about the same word?’
‘Yes,’ said Joseph. ‘For some reason we see different words.’
She thought about it for a few minutes, wrote something down on a piece of paper and passed it over.
‘What’s this?’ said Joseph.
‘Can’t you read it?’
Joseph passed the paper to Briana. ‘No, it’s bad as this stuff we are trying to work out.’
Michelle smiled as she watched them. ‘Look closer it spells your name.’
Joseph put the magnifying glass over it. ‘Yes, I guess it does but very hard to see.’
Briana studied it. ‘I thought the first letter was a B.’
Michelle nodded. ‘That’s because I wrote your name over the top of it.’
‘Do you think this message is the same?’ said Briana.
‘Yes, if you’re seeing different words, it would only stand to reason that someone has written two lines over each other.’
‘That’s very clever, thank you,’ said Joseph.
‘Don’t mention it,’ said Michelle, and went back to her own work.
~~~~
Alex strolled into the mansion after spending an hour out the back, and Carrie stood waiting for him.
‘Hey, you OK?’ he asked.
‘Yes, I’m much better, and I got rid of some baggage last night. I was just worried I might’ve been too rude this morning.’
Alex smiled. ‘You were lovely as always.’
‘How can a warrior like you be so gentle?’
‘I could ask the same about you.’
Carrie just smiled, kissed his cheek, and walked into the hall. Alex rubbed his face as he watched her go.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I’m No Garden Ornament
It was mid-afternoon when Joseph came out of the library, rubbing his eyes through tiredness. Blaze and Summer sat on one of the sofas holding the baby pucas. A few of the others sat drinking tea as were Daisy and Flax. Alex smiled at the pucas using cups and saucers.
Briana stood staring at them. ‘They’re going to want that when we get home.’
Alex nodded. ‘You’ll have electricity soon, and I’ll give you a kettle.’
‘Will you supply the tea, also?’ Briana asked with a smile.
‘Yeah, and a mobile phone, so you can let us know when you run out.’
‘You make it sound so simple.’
Joseph scratched his head. ‘I wish this message was simple.’
‘Still no luck with it?’ said Alex.
‘We have got a lot further now,’ said Joseph, and told them what Michelle had worked out.
James turned to the older man. ‘That leaves you with another problem.’
‘What problem would that be?’ said Joseph, looking like he did not want another problem.
James gave him a rueful look. ‘Well, if the two lines are actually four lines, you need to work out which words go where, and on which line.’
‘Thanks, I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Don’t worry, my friend,’ said Alex. ‘Once you put it in English we can all help.’
Michelle walked down the hall from the library and whispered something to Blaze, who nodded her head.
‘She’s very secretive lately,’ said James.
‘Are you going to sit there all day?’ Michelle asked him.
James gave her wry smile. ‘Well, probably, you may not have noticed but it’s my job to sit down all day.’
‘Do you have a job for us?’ said Alex.
Michelle nodded. ‘I was thinking of setting up the generator and satellite for Briana while I have nothing to do.’
Briana raised an eyebrow, ‘Are you trying to get rid of me?’
‘No, of course not, I just want to make sure it’s up and working.’
Alex stood. ‘I’ll see if Daralis has some spare time.’
Michelle took some paper into the office while Alex went into the party room where the rest of the household were making pixie clothes. Daralis appeared happy for a break as her fingers were beginning to ache. House took them to the cottage. It was a small compressor but powerful enough for what they needed. Daralis told Briana of a spell which would make the fuel last at least ten times longer. They took the generator and a few other items including the bookcase for the films to Briana’s cottage.
‘You can go back to the mansion and bring the other stuff now,’ said Michelle, as she set the generator up.
‘Do you need me here?’ said Briana.
Alex shook his head. ‘We’ll be fine; do you need to go back?’
Briana showed him some pages. ‘I have some letters here in the old language which might be of help, but I have to come back later.’
House took them to the mansion, and Alex got all the stuff together including a set of ladders and extension leads.
‘What you up to?’ said Carrie.
‘Just setting up the electricity at Briana’s so she can watch television when they all return home.’
‘Oh right, can I come with you?’
‘Of course,’ said Alex, and returned to the cottage.
James held the ladders as Michelle fitted the dish to the outside of the cottage. Alex filled the bookshelf with films while Carrie kept an eye on the television for a signal when they heard other voices outside. He opened the door and saw four people, three male and one female. The tallest looked about four-foot tall wearing green and brown clothes, he wore
trousers and a long coat, and the woman wore a long dress.
‘Hello,’ he said.
‘Be careful,’ said James, ‘you don’t know what they threatened to do to me.’
‘Yes, and I be tearing you from limb to limb if you don’t give me a proper answer. Our strength is far greater than any human,’ said the one who looked the eldest of the four, the only one with a full beard, in a gruff Irish accent.
‘And we’re more than just humans,’ said Alex, as his eyes glowed bright. ‘Never threaten my friends.’
‘It’s the warlock,’ said one, and they backed away.
‘I’m no warlock, my friends killed him,’ said Alex, and his eyes went back to normal as he could see the female and the youngest one looked a little nervous.
They looked at James and Michelle a little differently now.
‘It was the women who did it,’ James shrugged, as Carrie came out and leant on the door frame.
‘Do your women do all the work?’ The eldest said.
Alex stood with his hands clasped together behind his head. ‘Now you mention it, they do most of it, but they do outnumber us about six to one.’
‘Then please tell me where Lady Briana be, and what you be doing to her home?’
‘You’ve just missed her.’
‘Where has she gone, and where be the pucas?’
‘Back to our house, she wanted to take some papers to help sort out a riddle.’
‘Will you go and check the signal?’ said Michelle, undisturbed by what was happening.
‘You’ll have to come inside if you’ve got any more questions,’ said Alex, and two of them followed him and Carrie inside.
‘What’s this?’ said the eldest.
Alex sat down. ‘A television, we watch things on it.’
‘I know that, but why’s it here?’
‘Because Briana wants to watch it, and the pucas love films. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but are you gnomes?’
The eldest stared at him with an unsure look on his face. ‘Yes, that we be.’
‘You’re taller than I expected,’ said Alex, and shouted, ‘THAT’S IT’, as a picture came on the television, and the smaller gnome at the door repeated it.
Other Worlds: Vesta Mansion Trilogy - Book Two - Fantasy Page 14