The Chrysalid Conspiracy

by A. J. Reynolds

  Lucy was speechless as she gazed at the small tree in front of her. it wasn’t the most flamboyant of miniatures. It was only about a foot all and the trunk looked too thick for its proportions. The branches were closed in with silvery yellow leaves clinging to them looking about ready to fall and, all in all, it looked quite scruffy. The tears rolled down Lucy’s face.

  “I assume you know what it is,” said George quietly. “Would you like to tell the unenlightened?”

  Lucy wiped her eyes. “It’s a Maiden Hair tree,” she said, her voice shaking. “Ginko Biloba. The oldest known tree species, about two hundred million years. They live for up to a thousand years, and their medicinal qualities have been traced back over five thousand years. I’ve always wanted one of my own. George, where on earth did you get it?”

  “China, now don’t ask any more. I’m not even sure she’s here legally, so mum’s the word.” He tapped the side of his nose in that classic conspiratorial signal.

  “Come here, everybody. I want to give you all a hug,” said Lucy, and as everyone made a fuss of her Amelia heard George talking quietly.

  “It’s not your original chimera, but at least you don’t have to work with this one. You can just play with it and see where it goes. Enjoy.”

  Amelia was suddenly very wide awake and alert. She had been, after the wine she had drunk in that confused state between her real self and self-image. However, her brain had become crystal clear at the mention of that word. Rayn was no help. She was sitting with one of the boys on her lap, both nearly asleep.

  Amelia looked back at her honorary Granddad as he chatted with her mother and she could see that his eyes were clear and his movements steady. Alarm bells sounded in her head. But thankfully no cello.

  It was the first time she had heard the word ‘Chimera’ said aloud. At least she now knew to pronounce it, with a hard C. It was the subtitle of Professor Melkins’ book and she had come across it several times in the text.

  She went into the kitchen and abstractedly put the kettle on for coffee. As she came out, she met Bridie, who was trying to negotiate the dead straight corridor with some difficulty. “Come on,” she said to her. “You can use my bed as the boys are on yours.”

  Guiding her up the stairs, she led her to the bed and let her sit. Bridie rolled over on to the pillows and Amelia slipped her shoes off. Making sure she was on her side, she pulled the duvet up around her. Bridie reached out and took one of Amelia’s hands in both of hers.

  “Oh Amelia, that was a fantastic day. Thank you so much.” Then she said something very strange, “I do hope it’s not the last one, perhaps we can have more after Rubicon.” By the time Amelia had tucked her in, Bridie was asleep.

  When she got back to the kitchen, Rayn was there making coffee. She handed Amelia a cup and smiled, her face wide-awake.

  “Thanks Rayn. You looked so bright-tailed and bushy-eyed. I thought you had fallen asleep.”

  “Ah,” said Rayn. “But as we have been finding out, all is not what it seems.”

  “You can say that again,” answered Amelia.

  “Ah, but as we have been finding out, all is…”

  “Okay!” snapped Amelia. “Not tonight, please.” Her humour was rapidly abating.

  Rayn poked her head out of the kitchen door to make sure they were alone. She lowered her voice and continued in a very conspiratorial tone. “I’m not sure, but I think we may be ready to take the FF out of our FFCT. We have to talk,” she said.

  “Well, we’d better get a move on, I’m losing interest,” replied Amelia. “That is I was, until a few minutes ago.”

  “Really?” said an over-eager Rayn. “Tell me.”

  Just to annoy her, Amelia pulled her favourite trick and changed the subject.

  “Can you take the coffee in please, Rayn? I must sort Mum out. It’s late and she’ll be tired.”

  The evening had gone very well after dinner. Everyone seemed to be on the same wavelength when it came to opinions, humour and interests, with just enough differences to keep things interesting. The time had flown by and it was gone midnight by the time the party broke up.

  Ignoring the icy fingers of doubt that had been trying to catch her attention, Amelia had had a fantastic time and she at last understood her mother’s philosophy, which was that if you have good company and good food, stirred with a little wine (not shaken), you had the meaning of life.

  After coffee, with Lucy in bed asleep, George took an unsteady Sambo home. Nigel picked up the twins, one in each big arm, and said he would put them to bed and come back for Molly.

  Bridie was out of it so Amelia and Rayn sneaked upstairs and brought down the cot and bedding to sleep in the living room. It was while they were setting it up that Molly surprised them.

  “Amelia,” she said, out of the blue. “Did Nigel ever mention to you that he had a brother?”

  Amelia and Rayn froze. Rayn recovered first.

  “No,” she said. “He didn’t tell me. Did he tell you, Amelia?” Amelia silently thanked her friend for those few extra seconds.

  “No, I had no idea,” she replied.

  “He never told me, either,” said Molly.

  Rayn waited, and then picked up the cue.

  “If he didn’t tell you Molly, then how do you know?”

  “Well, I was in the utility room bagging up the boy’s Christmas presents. Thank you, every one, for that by the way, they were smashing. Really made their Christmas, and mine too. Anyway, I had to pack them up to get them home tonight. I mean, if they woke up in the morning and they can’t find them, well, it could make things a bit difficult. You know what they’re like, it’s…”

  “Molly,” interrupted Amelia, gently. “Nigel’s brother?”

  “Oh yes. Well, I was in the utility room as I said, packing up the kid’s presents, and George and Bridie were outside smoking one of their cigars. It was so nice of them not to smoke indoors in front of the kids, don’t you think? I try to be…”

  “Molly,” said Rayn, a little more firmly.

  “What? Oh yes. Anyway, Nigel was out there. I don’t know why, he’s never smoked in his life so he didn’t have one. No, they were just talking, that’s all.”

  “And?” both girls spoke together.

  “Well, the door was open, just a little, and I know I shouldn’t have been listening but I could hear everything.”

  “And what did you hear, Molly?” asked Amelia. Rayn was nearly in tears.

  “Old George asked my Nigel if his brother was still in the ‘business’, whatever that means. Then Bridie asked him if he thought they were going to need him and George said that they might do if…Oh, what was it? A word I’ve never heard before. Gally something. If Gally something gets nasty…”

  “Anything else, Molly?” coaxed Amelia.

  “He asked my Nigel to get in touch with him and say that it’s a double time contract. Have you any idea what they were talking about?” she finally asked.

  Both Amelia and Rayn were not lying when they denied any knowledge of it.

  “When they came back in, he didn’t say anything, so I thought it best not to mention it, bless him. Are you sure he didn’t tell you?” She sounded very proud of him.

  “Are you going to ask him?” questioned Rayn.

  “Oh no. We were both brought up in separate care homes. We’ve both done some pretty stupid things and we never pry. He’ll tell me when he wants to. I’m sure he has his reasons. It’s like when he…”

  “Hi Nigel!” Amelia called as she heard him at the outside door. Rayn stifled a sigh of relief.

  “Please don’t tell him what I’ve told you,” finished Molly. “It’s his business.”

  When they’d finally gone, the two girls flopped back on the sofa, stunned by Molly’s verbal avalanche.

  “Rayn, I’m going to bed. First one up cleans up the mess, okay?” Lucy had always been quite adamant that cleaning up was a party stopper and, anyway, with any luck it would still be there in
the morning. She was always right on both counts.

  “Good idea,” said Ryan. “And I for one refuse to get up.”

  Rayn stripped off and crawled into the cot, which nearly tipped over but she just about made it. Amelia just slipped her shoes and jeans off, wondering how Rayn could sleep naked. Amelia always felt so vulnerable. Plus, with those dreams she was having, she might wake up running up the village High Street…stark naked.

  After she had done her regular security check of doors and windows, she checked on Bridie. She was sound asleep, snoring slightly. The digital clock was sulking, having been ignored since school had broken up.

  “Don’t mess with her,” she told it. “You’ll lose.”

  Her mother was still awake and they talked for a while about what a fabulous Christmas it had been, and thanked each other for being…well, each other.

  Standing in the kitchen, Amelia couldn’t take in the mess. She was no longer tired but certainly not up to that job. She smiled as she ‘sensed’ movement and put the kettle on.

  Taking two cups of coffee into the living room, she cleared a space in the debris and nipped back upstairs to get the book. By the time she got back, Rayn was hovering over one of the cups like a kestrel ready to dive on its prey. Dressed in blouse and pants in deference to Amelia’s shyness, she took a sip and, with a resigned look, told Amelia, “Sometimes I don’t know whether I love you or hate you.”

  “We’re not going to get any sleep till we’ve talked this through, are we?” Amelia said to her.

  “I suppose not,” answered Rayn. “So what did you pick up?”

  “Two words, mainly.” She patted the book on the table next to her, “both were used this evening by our ‘suspects’ and both are in the book. Oh, and I think my mum’s involved as well.” She felt uncomfortable admitting this and wondered if this was how Rayn had felt when they’d identified her mother.

  “Do you mind if I say something before we go on?” Rayn looked very apprehensive.

  “No, go for it,” said Amelia, determined to take whatever was coming.

  Rayn rummaged around the table and found one of her mother’s cigars. She took some time to get it going but finally sat back. “First things first,” she said, without showing the slightest effect from the cigar. “I love my mother, more than anything in the world. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Yes, of course. I feel the same way about mine.”

  “Right. I know she has been lying to me. Long before this conspiracy thing.” Amelia knew that this was difficult for her friend and kept quiet.

  “I’ve never believed her story about my so-called father. She said she had a one night stand with this gorgeous guy, got pregnant and he moved her into that caravan with his mother and was never seen again. When the mother died we just kept it.”

  “What do you think really happened?” Amelia asked softly.

  “No idea,” she said. “But I got her to tell me his name. Toby Mgee. When I was older I asked around. It turns out that Toby Mgee was a five-foot nothing, skinny little whinging drunk. He was dirty, stupid and a very bad thief. Now, look at my mum. She’s like an Amazon. What would she be doing with him? Not exactly the gorgeous hunk.” Rayn was getting animated, as if this had taken a long time to surface. “And look at me, Amelia. How could I be the offspring of a creep like that?”

  “Are you sure about his identity?” asked Amelia. “You could be wrong.”

  “No chance. A lot of people knew him. And anyway, he was dead at the time of their… their assignation, for want of a better word”.

  “Oh Rayn, I’m so sorry. It must have been a terrible discovery,” sympathised Amelia.

  “No. That’s all over now. It’s gone. The point I’m trying to make is that my mum loves me. She loves me so much she’d die for me. I believe that. She’s proved it time and time again while bringing me up.” Rayn was having difficulty keeping her voice down.

  “Calm down, Rayn. That’s exactly how I feel about mine. So I know what you mean, and how much you mean it.” Amelia tried to console her friend, her eyes pricking with tears. Ryan took a long drag on her cigar. No mean feat with a Cuban extra.

  “Sorry, got a little heavy there. What I’ve been trying to say is, if my mother has got me, or you, or Lucy into something, then it can’t possibly be for anything bad or horrific. I believe that too, so wherever this is going, I trust her implicitly. You understand, don’t you?” For the first time, she had lost herself assurance and was almost pleading for Amelia to understand.

  “Yes,” cried Amelia quickly. “I understand completely. When you feel you’re being pushed, the first reaction is to push back. We’ve no need to. They’d never do anything to put us in any danger. We have to trust them and see this from a different perspective. I mean, they haven’t done a bad job so far, have they? Look at us. Without being pretentious, we’re intelligent way beyond our years, super-fit Olympic standard Ninja type athletes with ‘Magazine Cover’ bodies and we’re pretty good-looking, and when was the last time you were ill?”

  “I don’t remember ever being ill, if that’s what you mean. Sick yes, but mostly my own fault,” answered Rayn.

  “Me neither,” confirmed Amelia. “Could it be that it has all been contrived for some reason?”

  Maybe,” said Rayn. “But by different routes. You and me, we’re two sides of the same coin.”

  “I’m so glad you pointed all this out, Rayn. We’ve been seeing ourselves as victims and them the villains. It’s not like that after all. I’m not afraid of it anymore.” Amelia felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

  “I think the word is ‘terrified’ more than afraid,” said Rayn. “So, we can go ahead and find out what the devil is going on with a more positive attitude, can’t we?” relieved at Amelia’s response. She’d been worried about it since reaching these conclusions some days before. “Because I really need to know exactly what’s happening, and what we’re in for. And yes, I think your mum is involved as well.”

  “How do you know?” Amelia asked after a long silence.

  Rayn was getting into her stride. Amelia’s acceptance of her explanation had given her confidence a boost. “Well, when you saw that I was half asleep with the drink, I was actually wide awake. I didn’t drink all evening.”

  “But why would you do that?”

  “Ah, I’ve had some experience in this,” Rayn continued. “When you get a bunch of grown-ups sitting around, relaxed, guard down, a few drinks, they say more than they intend. The main qualification for being a good thief is to listen.”

  “Well, I’m damned. You crafty bitch. You noticed that George didn’t get drunk then?” she said.

  “That’s what decided me. I noticed he was a master at manipulating his glass so that it always looked half empty and I wondered why.”

  “So what did you hear, then?” asked Amelia, no longer afraid of the answers.

  Rayn was quick to respond. “Well something’s definitely going on, as if we hadn’t already worked that one out.”

  “We’re not looking for confirmation Rayn, just information.” Amelia reminded her friend.

  “I know Amelia, it’s just that I heard your mum say to him, ‘We’re ahead of schedule then’, and he replied. ‘Yes, that’s good for you, but we’re still running out of time, those two are way ahead of us’. And your mum said, ‘I did warn them it was a possibility’. That was it, really. Your mum pulled your trick and changed the subject.” They both smiled at the observation. “So now we know. Both our mothers are in this up to their necks,” Rayn added.

  “But who’s in charge? Who are they? And more importantly, what are they in charge of?” moaned Amelia.

  For both of them, sleep and tiredness had given way to a new-found enthusiasm, and more coffee.

  “Anyway,” said Rayn. “What did you get from the evening?”

  “As I said, two words,” replied Amelia. “The first is Chimera.”

  “I heard that,
” burst in Rayn. “What was it George said? ‘It’s not your chimera but at least you don’t have to work with it’.”

  “And Mum said she always wanted one of her own. It could mean she’s been working with another one. But where? There’s not one in the shop. And again, why?” said Amelia.

  “Er, what’s a Chimera by the way? It’s not the name of the tree, is it?” asked Rayn.

  “No. It’s the subtitle of the Professor’s book. It’s also in the text several times. I looked it up. According to ancient mythology, it’s a monster. A she-goat. A woman with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail.”

  “Oh yeah,” said a sceptical Rayn. “How would you get close enough to tell it was a woman, then?”

  “Difficult.” answered Amelia. “And why would you bother? But modern interpretation is an organism which consists of more than one species.”

  “Oh, fascinating, I bet she’d make a great sandwich, at least.” said Rayn with a mock yawn.

  “Actually you may have something there.” Amelia remarked, “In mythology they often create a being or a thing that represents a group or collection of things. Like Cornucopia means all of nature’s omnivorous bounty. Perhaps our goat headed friend represents a carnivorous one stop shopping list. What do you think?”

  “Sounds crazy enough for the world of legends and magic, I’ll go for it.” Agreed Rayn and Amelia went to the heavily laden bookcase and came back with a large dictionary.

  “When I put your mum to bed, she took my hand and thanked me and you, and the world and its sister for a fantastic day. Then she said something pretty weird. She said ‘I hope it’s not the last one, perhaps we can have more after Rubicon’, like it was a date or an event.”

  “What’s it mean?”

  “Hang on, I’ll look it up. Ah, here we are,” said Amelia, finding the appropriate page. “A boundary, which once crossed, betokens an irrevocable commitment. A point of no return.” There was a long silence. Both girls looked at each other, waiting for the other one to speak. Rayn was the first.

  “So, we have a plot at last.”