The Ondine Collection

by Ebony McKenna

  People ran out, screaming and wailing and . . . miaowing? Yes, definitely cat noises coming from the crowd. Ondine piled the chocolate slices on her plate, feeling perplexed and fearful. Would she and Hamish grow tails as well?

  Old Col’s crepe-paper-thin fingers clamped around Ondine’s wrist. “Did you and Hamish do that?”

  “I didn’t do anything. We were just sitting in the back row, minding our own business.” A pile of bricks called ‘guilt’ filled her tummy that she and Hamish might have caused it. They were merely being loved up so that people’s nice wishes about the Duchess could come true.

  So many thoughts assaulted her. Mrs. Howser. Magic virus. Spells. Conspiracies. Lord Vincent. Chaos.

  The fire alarm blared. Staff ordered people to evacuate. Sirens wailed and emergency lights flashed.

  Reluctantly, Ondine put her plate of morning tea aside.

  They followed the crowd to the assembly area outside, with many standing well clear of everything over by the funicular station. To one side was the waterfall, which flowed into the river running underneath the drawbridge. It would have been a lovely place to stop and take photographs, if not for the incessant sirens and bumps and shoves from running, panicky people.

  To judge from the ominous creaking sound beneath Ondine, they should get off the drawbridge. Emergency vehicles pulled up at an alarming rate. Police, Ambulance, Fire Brigade. Even a mobile coffee shop pulled over near the funicular, on the off-chance they might make a quick schlip. [247]

  “What did you do?” Old Col demanded as she stared at Ondine.

  They were still standing on the drawbridge. Safely out of the evacuated castle, but not out on the snow-covered lawn where the delegates were assembling. Ondine gulped. The timber whined and whimpered in protest beneath them.

  Hamish defended Ondine. “We did what we were supposed tae!”

  With a groan of frustration, Old Col glared at them.

  “We were . . .” Ondine’s mind went blank with the stress.

  Hamish slipped his hand in hers for reassurance. “We were only holding hands, Col. I swear on my life we didnae do anything.”

  “Holding hands?” Old Col creased her forehead at them.

  “Aye, it’s nae crime,” he said, at which point he caressed his thumb against Ondine’s hand. They may have been standing outside in the depths of winter but his touch made her feel warm and loved.

  Adding one more level of craziness, Ma arrived, her breath steaming in huge puffs as she tried to steady herself. “Please don’t tell me the Duchess has a tail?”

  What in the name of all the planets was her mother doing here?

  “Where was the Duchess in all of this?” Old Col’s stare drilled holes in Ondine.

  “We were all together,” Ondine said.

  “The whole time?” Old Col asked.

  “Yes! We stuck close to her like burned cheese on a casserole dish. We were doing our job!”

  “And you were close to her the whole time?” Old Col’s interrogation technique was seriously impressive.

  “Of course we were – ooooh!” Ondine gasped and clapped her spare hand over her mouth as she realised. “Until she went up the front.”

  Ma’s eyes widened. “You were separated?”

  “Why are you here Ma? Don’t you have a pub to run?”

  “Cybelle and Henrik have it under control,” Ma said. “Now don’t change the topic, this is serious. How close were you to the Duchess?”

  “Now, Messers G, don’t take it out on Ondi. It wasnae her fault. The room was packed tighter than movie night cheap seats. We had tae share a seat and there were people standing all around us so we were hemmed in, so we were. And everyone was treating Anathea like royalty and they offered her a seat up the front, like.”

  “She is royalty,” Ondine corrected him.

  “Och, yes.”

  “Then you should have gone with her!” Old Col said.

  Ma covered her face with her hands and muttered, “I knew this would happen.”

  “But we couldn’t move it was so crowded,” Ondine said. Honestly, why did her mother have to show up now? It’s like the woman had some kind of magic to appear right when things got complicated.

  Old Col crossed her arms over her chest. “Then you should have stopped!”

  At which point a passing mailman dropped his trolley and began barking like a dog.

  Fresh hell broke loose.

  “There’s your proof,” Ma said as they scooted away from the fresh outbreak of screaming.

  “Oh naw, that’s too cruel.” Hamish looked from Old Col to Ma to Ondine and back again. “Ye cannae blame us, it’s naw our fault!”

  “Ondine dear,” Old Col began. She hardly ever called her ‘dear’, which meant things couldn’t be good. “I wish, just this once, you could think beyond your feelings for Hamish and look at the bigger picture.”

  “And how exactly do I do that?” Ondine could have sworn angry steam poured out of her ears, to match the steam from her mouth as she spoke. “I don’t know what the big picture is. This magic is all new to me. I can’t even feel when I’m using it. I don’t know how far it reaches or how to control it or who’s wishing what, when!”

  Hamish tightened his grip on Ondine. “Dinnae take it out on Ondi, she’s done naw wrong. So what if a few folks have tails? It’s naw tha end of tha world, is it?”

  “Ondine I’m so very sorry. You’re going to hate me for this,” Ma said.

  Heavy sickness filled Ondine. Swallowing took so much effort she thought she might throw up.

  Ma took a calming breath. “I thought perhaps you could control it –”

  Old Col interrupted, “People are getting hurt. Innocent people.”

  Ondine opened and closed her mouth a few times. “It’ll wear off . . . won’t it?”

  “It’s naw as if we can control it,” Hamish said.

  “This is exactly my point. I thought you could control it, but you can’t. Birgit Howser has truly excelled herself, creating a spell like this. Can’t you see she’s using you to create chaos? Sure, making people’s wishes come true is wonderful, but that’s only the good wishes. What of the bad ones? What if someone wishes something truly malicious? Someone near the two of you has wished someone else into a cat and look what it’s done?”

  Tears blurred Ondine’s vision. “It’s not my fault! I can’t control what other people are wishing for!”

  Ma stepped forward and embraced her. “I know that, love. That’s why we have to do something about it.”

  The words sounded horribly ominous. It also gave Ondine an inkling of why her mother was here. Things were about to get horrible.

  Ma continued. “You see now what Mrs. Howser is capable of. She’s using the pair of you to create instability and fear. If it goes on, it will only destabilise Anathea and all of Brugel for that matter.”

  All breath left Ondine. The corners of her vision turned black and she clung to Hamish as if she were drowning. She sucked in a deep breath. “Use your magic to stop it then, Col!”

  “I’ve been trying to dear, but your virus is spreading beyond anything I imagined. Just yesterday four of the Duchess’s staff began sneezing in unison.”

  Hamish scoffed. “So they’ve goat colds. It’s hardly chaos!”

  “It is when they sneeze fire and burn down the connecting walls. The fire brigade arrived, blocking the streets. It was peak hour so that caused traffic snarls.”

  Ondine gasped in fright. She’d caused that? “Was anyone hurt?” Then she looked to Hamish for support. He looked even more worried than her, which didn’t help one bit. One last attempt to blame someone else. “But it couldn’t have been us. We weren’t anywhere near Anathea’s staff.”

  “It appears you don’t have to be,” Old Col said. “Other people are catching your mutating magic and infecting others.” Her shoulders slumped, Ondine braced herself for more bad news. “I hate to admit it, but Birgit’s spell is one of the best. The mag
ic is making people’s wishes come true all over the place. It’s mayhem.”

  “Catching the virus like a second wave?” Ma asked.

  “Exactly. Ondi and Hamish are ‘patient zero’. They’re passing it on to unsuspecting victims; in turn they’re passing it on to more people. It’s strongest at the source, at the epicentre.”

  Had Ondine heard right? “It’s spreading?”

  Sadness filled Old Col’s weathered face. “I’m sorry Ondi, but yes, it’s spreading. All the witches of Slaegal worth their salt are here, yet mutating magic is being reported in Norange.”

  Red mist clouded Ondine’s eyes at the news her uncontrollable magic had reached Norange, the capital of neighbouring country Slaegal. “Then why did you drag us out here in public? Why did you let us spread it when you knew it was contagious?”

  “I didn’t know, I only suspected.” Old Col looked defeated. “And I . . . thought I could contain it.”

  Tears blurred Ondine’s vision. “Then Mrs. Howser was right all along. Your magic is rubbish!”

  Ma grabbed Ondine in a bear hug. “Hush, darling, let’s not say anything we might regret.”

  “But it’s true,” Ondine pulled away from her mother, stepped too close to the edge of the drawbridge and righted herself before she fell in the drink. “We all know who’s got the real magic around here and it isn’t any of us!”

  Hamish squeezed her hand in support. “Ondi, love, I hate tae say it but . . . I think ye need tae hush.”

  “Don’t tell me to be quiet!” The moment she said it, she felt sick to her stomach.

  Nobody said anything for a long beat.

  Hamish said in a low voice, “Mebbe we should be apart –”

  “ – What!” Ondine stared at Hamish.

  “Just for a wee time. Until this settles down and we can get rid of tha spell.”

  Ondine stepped back in shock and again came perilously close to the edge of the timber. A large icicle dislodged from the drawbridge and splashed into the water below. “Stars! You’ve already talked about this behind my back, haven’t you? Hamish, what are they making you do?”

  The delay – just long enough to see his Adam’s apple bob up and down on a swallow – gave him away. “Naw lass, it’s nae conspiracy.”

  Ma grabbed Ondine away from Hamish, held her in a fierce hug and said. “We have to do this like ripping off a bandage. Get it over with quickly.”

  “No, Ma –” Stars and suns, that’s why her mother was here. To take Hamish away from her.

  Old Col latched on to Hamish’s arm, to drag him off.

  The drawbridge groaned as the boards warped beneath them.

  “Wait!” Hamish stood his ground. “Ye said we’d be able tae say goodbye. Proper like.”

  Ondine fought free of her mother and threw herself into an embrace with Hamish. The drop to the river below was right at her feet. If they leapt to freedom, would they be all right? All the while she begged Hamish, “You’re not leaving me. Tell me you’re not leaving me.”

  “We have tae give it a try, for the greater good.”

  Head squished to his chest, she felt his heart thumping to break free. In an act of desperation, she locked her hands behind his back and refused to let go.

  “I thought this might happen,” Old Col said.

  From out of nowhere, a new group of people appeared, blocking Ondine’s escape. She looked for a way out, anywhere to run, but she was blocked in. The castle, Ma and Old Col behind her, the strangers advancing from the front of the drawbridge, and the steep drop into the water beside them. The advancing strangers wore those all-in-one hazardous material suits. They grabbed at Ondine’s hands and peeled her thumbs apart, forcing her to release her grip.

  “No! Ma! Make them stop!”

  With a sickening wrench, they pulled Hamish away. Ondine kicked and flailed but somebody held her from behind.

  “Nae like this!” Hamish yelled. “Ye lied to me, Col!”

  Col’s voice sounded thin and creaky. “I’m sorry. This is how it has to be.”

  “Sorry my ar- armpit!” With a burst of strength, Hamish broke free.

  Hope surged through Ondine like a beam of sunshine as he ran back and held her. He may have forced his captors off him with the ferocity of a lion but he held her tenderly, as if she were made of glass. His chilled hands cupped her face, but when his lips touched hers she felt warm all the way through. If only Ma would let go of her arms she could embrace him properly.

  That’s when something seriously crazy happened. One of the haz-mat people grew octopus tentacles, wrapping them around Hamish like prey.

  Hamish cried out, “You said it wouldn’t be like this!”

  Was he speaking about Old Col or Ma? It didn’t matter. “Hamish, my love!” Ondine strained against her captors to press her lips back to him.

  She met with nothing but air as the mob dragged Hamish away from her. The octopus tentacles gripped him. He couldn’t move.

  With a desperate shove Ondine broke free and hurled herself towards Hamish, the force breaking him free from his captors. The next moment, the man with the tentacle for an arm closed in on them. She grabbed Hamish and looked at the rushing water below.

  Closing her eyes she jumped. Lurch! They both went sprawling over the edge and into the icy drink below.

  Hamish’s voice broke through the freezing water as he screamed in pain at the cold. He splashed and flailed and pushed Ondine further under. Daggers of ice stabbed Ondine as the water rose over her head. She screamed. Nothing but bubbles came out.

  The current dragged them towards the next waterfall. She hadn’t given a thought to how far it would drop. Desperate for air, she fought against Hamish to get to the surface. Wet clothes and shoes dragged her down. If she didn’t get air she’d drown.

  But if they went over the waterfall they’d die.

  On a determined push, she broke through the surface and gasped for breath.

  “I cannae swim!” Hamish cried out.

  “Mercury’s w –” Ondine almost said as he pushed her under again. He wasn’t trying to drown her, not on purpose. He couldn’t be. But in his panic he couldn’t know what he was doing.

  Churning water lay ahead of them. The edge of the waterfall, which landed who knew how far down. Strength failing her, she tried to push Hamish towards the bank. His clothes weighed him down. He flailed. She flailed and they both went under again.

  The current took them over the rocks into freefall.

  ​

  ​

  Chapter Eighteen

  Screaming, they slipped over the edge. No longer submerged in freezing water but in freefall. Any second now they’d crash onto the rocks below. Closing her eyes hard, Ondine clung to Hamish. She tried to say ‘sorry’, but the air stole her breath.

  The wind blew furiously around them, turning her body to ice. She’d had her eyes closed for so long now, surely they’d hit the bottom soon? Daring to open one eye, she gasped in shock as their world turned blue and green and swirled with magic.

  “Hamish, we’re OK!” She cried out. They were in a bubble of enchantment holding them steady, floating above the waterfall and, most importantly, alive.

  Not warm, though. But at least they weren’t drowning any more, or tumbling down a waterfall. The magic bubble holding them wobbled through the air and brought them down towards the snowy lawns. Gasping and shivering, Ondine looked through the skin of the bubble to see Mrs Howser, her arm raised up, glowing magic dust streaming from her hand as she guided them in their bubble of safety to the icy ground, depositing them with a wet ‘splud’.

  “Thank you Birgit, we’ll take it from here,” Old Col said, her face grey like thunder as she and Ma bustled over.

  Shivering, wet and miserable, Ondine tried to comfort Hamish. “I’m so sorry, darling, I just wanted to get us away.”

  All Hamish did was chatter his teeth.

  “That’s enough Ondine,” Old Col said as she sat down beside her.r />
  At which point, the hazmat people were back. They grabbed Hamish from under the armpits and hauled him to his feet. Mute and exhausted from shock and despair, she could only watch them drag Hamish away. Away from the convention. Away from her family.

  Away from her arms.

  Nothing worked in her body any more. Neither bones nor muscles held as a guttural cry rang from her. Pain consumed everything. They’d taken Hamish away, and all because of her love for him.

  NUMB WITH HEARTACHE, Ondine shivered in front of the little fire in her bedroom hearth, feeding it bite-sized chunks of wood and watching said wood burn down over the hour to nothing but glowing coals.

  It was dark outside; it could be dark forever for all she cared. No sunlight could pierce her miserable soul. Her ankle throbbed in pain. She must have sprained it as she tumbled off the drawbridge, but in the craziness she hadn’t noticed at the time. The logs on the fire crackled, spitting sap from the wood. The flames, smoke and embers lulled her into nothingness as she sat there, knees tucked under her chin, arms wrapped around her legs.

  The slow, hypnotic effect of the fire made her eyelids close. A second later, her body shuddered awake, gasping for air. Weird buzzing moved through her; mild electrical shocks that made her tremble and shake. Like the time Cybelle dared her to hold a light globe in one hand and press a nine-volt battery to her tongue.

  Orange and yellow flames danced before her eyes. The next moment she fell asleep, her body fizzed all over, then jolted awake. Doze, fizzle, jolt, wake. The cycle kept going; Ondine had neither motivation to properly go to bed, nor willpower to keep her eyelids apart. Over and over again her body cycled through the weird sensations, sleep, buzz, jolt, wake up!

  Saturn’s rings, she was losing her mind.

  Her warm bed waited for her only a few steps away, but as much as she wanted to crawl into it, her body stayed exactly where it was. At least she wasn’t sharing a room with Cybelle. She could be properly miserable in private tonight.