It wasn’t long before Aethelu woke her up to go to the family meeting. She still felt sleepy but pleasantly so and slightly tingly from all the head stroking. Aethelu practically had to drag her out of bed to get to the meeting on time.
When they arrived at the dining room, they were surprised to find that the table had already been set for dinner. Aldrich and James were the only ones there.
“Girls, please sit down.” Aldrich had a big smile on his face. “Anais, I cannot thank you enough for bringing my oldest friend back to me.”
He came over and gave her a hug, which unnerved her slightly. It was extremely out of character for the gruff old man.
“I didn’t do anything, He was already here,” she managed to get out.
“On the contrary, you were the one who made me see the truth.”
Anais felt a little embarrassed. She was grateful that Alex, Rafe and August chose that moment to come in. Rafe didn’t do anything to hide his disgust at having James at the table, purposely sitting in the furthest chair from him. Alex sat next to Anais, which caused Aethelu to shoot him a look of annoyance, not for the first time that day and only August managed to sit down without upsetting anyone.
Finally, Winnie appeared with a hostess trolley and proceeded to pile food onto the table. Tureens of vegetables and heaps of mashed potatoes followed the largest roast turkey Anais had ever seen. As if that wasn’t enough, a roast lamb joint was also placed on the table next to it.
“I thought we were having a meeting?” Rafe addressed Aldrich, sneer still firmly in place, Anais noticed. He certainly was a grouchy-pants, as Aethelu put it.
“We were,” Winnie answered for him, “but we decided that it would be far more sensible to eat first. It’s difficult not to make hasty decisions when you are waiting for dinner. Plus James was feeling a bit peckish.” Judging by the sheer amount of food, Winnie was feeling guilty for starving him for all those weeks.
“Mmmm,” replied Rafe, obviously not happy with this. Still, he reached forward and ladled mash potatoes onto his plate without another word.
“Alex, can you bring us all a couple of bottles of champagne up? We have much to celebrate.”
“Yes, Father,” replied Alex, and made his way out quickly, eying August’s plate, which was piled high with so much food that Anais was sure Alex was wondering if there would be any left by the time he came back.
He needn’t have worried, though. When he returned a few minutes later with four bottles of champagne, there was still plenty to go around.
Anais hadn’t really been able to drink for a while due to her pregnancy and the broken leg. She now accepted a glass and drank it down. It was delicious. Cold bubbles tickled her tongue.
“Just one glass for everyone,” said Winnie, whipping away two of the bottles as she spoke. “Let’s not forget that we have an important meeting after dinner. It will do no one any good to be too drunk to contribute.”
“Of course, Winnie,” replied Aldrich, but Anais caught him sneaking one of the bottles back when she wasn’t looking.
Once dinner had finished and the table had been cleared, they started the meeting. It was Aldrich at the head of the table who began.
“I have spent the day with James here, and I am convinced he isn’t Jago. At least, not the Jago we are looking for. You all know his story, and you all know that I believe him.” He looked at Rafe as he said this. Rafe kept a disdainful look on his face but remained silent.
Aldrich carried on “Obviously that puts us back in the predicament we thought we had solved with his capture. Jago is still out there. He still has the virus, and we must presume by his vague letter that he continues to want the Elixir. He originally gave us a year to give the Elixir to him. A lot of time has passed since then, which makes this all the more difficult. We cannot hope to find a cure for this virus now. Our only option is to give him what he wants. We also have the added difficulty of finding Sabine.”
“Christ!” shouted Rafe. “Don’t we have enough on our hands to be worrying about some lost girl, too? That is, if she even exists in the first place.”
“She exists and we must find her. I know you are having trouble believing that James here has nothing to do with this and is a victim as much as the rest of us but getting angry will not solve anything. If you wish to leave, you may do so.”
Rafe looked murderous but stayed where he was.
Aldrich continued, “The Elixir is extremely difficult to make and will take a lot of time, but now that I am unable to work on a cure for the virus, I can devote all my time to it. Please, can you all pass me your necklaces?”
Most of the family looked confused at this suggestion, but when they saw Aldrich take his off and place it on the table, they all followed suit.
Anais knew he had a reason to ask for their necklaces. Each had a large star shaped pendant with the bottom points joined together. A different precious stone was embedded in the front of each one. It was not the stones that made them special though, it was the fact that they were hollow and what they contained that made them important. Each contained an ingredient of The Light Elixir. Fourteen ingredients divided between the pendants. It seemed that only she knew this as the others exchanged confused looks.
“There are sixteen ingredients altogether needed to make the Elixir. One is spring water from the spring that bubbled near our village. Another is a plant, which I’m afraid is extinct. I cannot remember the other fourteen, but I do know that I put a little of each into each of your pendants.
“You mean we have been carrying the secret to eternal life around our necks the whole time? Wow!” Alex looked amazed by the revelation.
“There are only six pendants here.” Aldrich looked around.
“Mine is in my bedroom. That makes seven,” said Anais
“Ok, Seven. We have half. We still need the pendants belonging to Andrew, which we can assume he has upstairs with him, Ava and Alfred, Arcadia and Audsley.”
“That only makes twelve,” said August, counting on his fingers.
“I gave one each to Abel and Amber, just before they left.”
“But they have been gone a hundred years!” exclaimed Winnie, “We don’t know where they are.”
“I know,” said Aldrich softly. “We will have to find them.”
Anais noticed that everyone around the table was beginning to look a little hopeless. Aethelu had obviously noticed, too, as she got up to run out of the room. Anais hoped she was ok, but she could hardly run after her to see if she was. Everyone was silent, wrapped up in their own thoughts. It was only when Aethelu appeared back through the door, appearing breathless, that anyone spoke.
She placed three more pendants on the table. Anais recognised the one that had once belonged to her father. It had a black pearl on the front.
“What—?" began Aldrich.
“I went upstairs. I got Anais’ from her room. Andrew was more than happy to give me his pendent once I explained why, and this one…,” she held up one with a diamond on the front, “is Arcadia’s.
I remembered something about pendants being said when I was in the surgery. I asked Arcadia to leave hers, just in case, and she did.”
“Great,” said Aldrich, “We now have nine. That leaves just five more to find.”
“How will we find an extinct plant?” asked Alex.
“How will we find Abel and Amber?” added August.
“How will we find any of it? This is ridiculous. It’s going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Do you know the odds of finding all this stuff?” griped Rafe.
“The odds were against us finding Jago… I mean James, but we managed it,” answered Alex, trying to be hopeful.
“Yes,” replied Rafe, “and look where that got us. He’s just added something else to our list of things to find with his daughter being missing.”
“If there is a way, we will do it if we pull together, Rafe,” Winnie looked at her son. Then she addressed the table, “We know wha
t we need to find. We now have to come up with a plan to find it.”
Anais finally spoke, “Aethelu knows how to get the extinct plant!”
All eyes turned to Aethelu.
“Do I?” She looked as confused as the rest of them by Anais’ proclamation.
“Yes, don’t you remember when we were in the surgery just after we had been attacked? We were discussing this just before you fell asleep.”
“I don’t remember the conversation at all.”
Anais could see Rafe shaking his head across the table but decided to ignore him.
“You did. I’m sure I remember.” Anais began to worry that she had imagined it. Aethelu developed a look of pure concentration on her face and eventually she spoke.
“Actually, maybe you are right. I think I do know a way that we could find an extinct plant. It would involve an incredible amount of luck, but there is a possibility we could find it.”
“How?” asked Alex, Winnie and August all at the same time.
“I think I read about Kew Gardens having a seed bank. It’s where they have collections of seeds of every plant just in case they go extinct. I’m not sure. I read an article on it years ago.”
“Will they have the plant we are looking for do you think?” asked Alex.
“I don’t know. I think that is a job for you. I know Andrew could hack into the Kew Gardens database in seconds, but he’s in no fit state to do anything at the moment. Do you think you could do it?”
“I could try.”
“Fantastic,” butted in Aldrich. “We need to get the other pendants. We cannot risk having them sent through the mail. Someone is going to have to fly to Las Vegas to get Audsley’s and then on to Tenerife to get the pendants owned by Alfred and Ava. At the same time, we need to try to track down Amber and Abel and, of course, Sabine. Alex, you are our best bet for the searches. I suggest that until a time when Andrew is capable of doing it himself, you should remain here and use the internet for information. Find out what you can. Anais can stay to help you.”
“Why me?” asked Anais indignantly.
“Because you can barely walk, my dear. Aethelu, I will need you to go to Tenerife and get Ava and Alfred’s pendants. Rafe, you can do the same with Audsley in Las Vegas. I will need you there to pick up the pendants and then get them home quickly.”
Aethelu protested, “I had to go to fetch Ava and Alfred last time. It took forever. Can’t someone else do it?” she whined.
Anais knew that Aethelu just didn’t want to be separated from her. Anais felt the same way. The last time Aethelu had gone to pick up Ava and Alfred, she had been gone weeks. Anais had missed her terribly. The thought that it could happen again so soon was too much to take in.
“Last time, you were trying to persuade them to come home. This time, there will be a short handover of pendants and you can come straight home. I’ve already phoned them and they promised they would wait in dock for you.”
Aethelu didn’t look happy at all with the situation. Anais wasn’t much happier at the prospect of being, once again, separated from Aethelu. This time, however, it would be only for a couple of days, and she would keep herself occupied with helping Alex track everything down.
“August. I don’t have a job for you at the moment, but as soon as we find out any information at all, I want you to be ready to fly at a moment’s notice. Anais, I know you desperately want to help. I will devise a program of intensive physiotherapy for that leg to have you more mobile. I have a feeling we are going to need you sooner, rather than later. Winnie can help you implement it.
I will begin work on the new batch of Elixir. With James here helping me, as he did last time I think we have a good chance of making it.”
He sounded a lot more positive than everyone else looked.
“Alex, can you make all the travel arrangements please? The quicker we do this, the better.”
“Yes, Father,” replied Alex.
The meeting ended and they all made their way to their own rooms.
Anais tried to stay positive. It was just a few days without Aethelu, two, three at most. She cursed her leg. If she had healed more quickly, she could have gone with her. There was simply nothing she could do about it, she decided, but she could do something with the short time she had before Aethelu flew out.
When she made it to the top of the grand staircase, she turned right and followed Aethelu to her room instead of making the hike up to her own room on the next floor.
She made her way over to the giant four poster bed as fast as her crutches would allow and lay herself down.
“Hey gorgeous,” started Aethelu, “whatcha doing?”
“I’m sleeping here tonight, with you.”
“Oh, you are, are you?” Her voice was playful.
“Yeah, I hate sleeping upstairs all by myself. I’ve taken the brace off now, and my leg is holding up pretty well and…I’m going to miss you.”
“I’m only going to be gone a few days,” Aethelu smiled and joined Anais on the bed.
“Don’t you want me to stay?”
“Now you are here, I wouldn’t let you go, even if you wanted to.” She grinned. She lightly kissed Anais on the lips and then jumped off the bed.
“I’ll find some pyjamas for you. I hope you don’t mind red.” She almost skipped across the room and pulled a pair of clean pyjamas out of a drawer.”
Anais felt herself blush. “Actually I wasn’t planning on wearing anything tonight.”
Aethelu smiled and brought the pyjamas over to Anais. She sat down on the bed next to her and moved forward until she was an inch from Anais’ face. Anais could see the diamond flecks in her amazing almond shaped eyes. Aethelu brought her hand up and lightly ran it through Anais’ hair. Anais shuddered, not with The Light but with anticipation. Aethelu’s hand slowly traced a line down the side of her face, which left tingles forming in her skin. Her hand proceeded to move slowly down her neck. It was excruciatingly slow. Anais could stand it no longer. The desperate need for Aethelu overwhelmed her and she bridged the inch gap and kissed her. Urgently and passionately, she kissed her and when the electricity of The Light built up to such a point that she could stand it no more, did she pull back.
“Wow” Aethelu breathed “I guess you will miss me.”
Anais smiled and moved forward again. This time, however, Aethelu moved back.
“I love you Anais.”
Anais looked at the most beautiful face she had ever seen and felt her heart explode with joy. She never thought she would be with someone so amazing.
“I love you, too. You are my home.”
“And you, mine, always.” She put her arms around Anais and hugged her tightly. When they broke apart she continued.
“I have been alone for so long, that I never expected this. I assumed I would be alone forever. The only people I knew who would live as long as me were my family. I have been scared to be in any relationship for the fear that the other person would grow old and die, and I would be alone again with a broken heart. Then you came along and changed my life. For the first time in over six hundred years I’m feeling things that I didn’t know it was possible to feel. I feel a hope when before I didn’t even know how hopeless I felt. You have, in the short time I have known you, become my everything. It scares the hell out of me. Nothing scared me before you came along. Now, everything does.”
Anais didn’t know what to say. Her heart was pounding in her chest leaving her unable to move.
“I’m scared of how much I love you, I’m scared of losing you. I’m scared of how much you love me.”
Anais finally found her voice.
“Love is nothing to be scared of. You won’t lose me. I feel the same way about you.”
“I feel that I want every moment I spend with you to be special.” Aethelu took her eyes away from Anais
“Every moment is already special.”
“I know that. I think what I’m trying to say is that I don’t want our first
time to be because I’m leaving tomorrow. I’ve never had sex in my whole life. Doing it now because I have to go away for a few days feels wrong. I want so much more. I want so much more for you, too.”
“Oh.” Anais hadn’t thought about it that way. They had slept in the same bed together on more than one occasion, but due to circumstances out of their control, they had never been totally intimate with each other. She sat back. The disappointment was crushing but she could see Aethelu’s point of view. She wanted her first time to be special, too.
“Would you like me to leave?”
“No, please don’t leave. I couldn’t bear it. I want you to stay with me tonight more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
“I’ll wear the pyjamas, red, nice!” She smiled at Aethelu to break the tension.
“Thank you, I know I wouldn’t be able to control myself if you didn’t.”
She stood up from the bed and left the room to use the en suite.
‘I’m not sure I’ll be able to control myself, pyjamas or no pyjamas,’ thought Anais. Still, she slipped them on, folded her regular clothes and got under the covers.
Minutes later, Aethelu turned the lights off and joined her. Although Anais couldn’t see it, she could feel that Aethelu was wearing a silk nightgown.
“Silk? Not making this easy for me are you?” Anais only half joked.
Aethelu wrapped her arms around Anais and kissed her lightly on the nose. It took a long time for Anais to fall asleep.
Chapter Seven
The next morning, Anais found herself in a hive of activity. Because of the way last night had gone, Aethelu had forgotten to pack a bag. Alex woke them up at dawn by knocking loudly on Aethelu’s door. He seemed extremely put out to find Anais in the bed, but he passed Aethelu her travel tickets all the same.
Infinite Spring Page 7