The Ondine Collection

by Ebony McKenna

  “No, she’s headed out of town to see how far the dampening field reaches.”

  The what?

  “She hasn’t been able to astral, has she?” Natalia said.

  Ondine’s eyes widened and things began to fall into place. “The spies weren’t spying on you at all, were they? They were tracking Melody.”

  “They’re not completely disinterested in me,” Natalia said.

  “Of course. No offense.”

  “None taken. Well, a little.” Natalia leaned in low and conspiratorial-like. “We’ve been building the resistance, using astral projection to meet with people, but a week or so ago, astral stopped working. I knew Melody so some of us came to your pub. But then we couldn’t even reach Melody in the next room and we knew there had to be some kind of dampening field.”

  ​Ondine was seriously impressed. “You can do astral projection?”

  “Course I can,” Natalia said with a grin. “How do you think I lasted so long in politics?” Then she looked over her shoulder and spotted one of their suited women. “She can follow us back to the pub, then I’ll head home. It doesn’t matter if she follows me, we’ve got our answers, and we’ve got Melody on the case.”

  “But what about the other one in a suit?”

  “If she is following Melody, good luck to her. Once they reach the edge of the dampening field, our suited friend won’t stand a chance against Melody’s skills. Come on, let’s see if your father and Hamish are back.”

  Ondine sipped the last of her apple juice. “Can we get some blinchikis to go?”

  ​

  The moment Ondine opened the back door, a streak of dirty wet fur charged past her. “Hamish! I’ve been worried sick. Wait a minute, where’s Da? Where are you going?”

  “I need tae get dressed lass. I’ll not come home t’ye lookin’ like this!”

  The ferret bolted upstairs, his wee claws skittering on the floor.

  Ma rushed in. “I heard Hamish. Where’s Josef?”

  Several minutes of confusion followed. “Da?” Ondine called out, walking to the back door again and checking the beer garden, on the off chance she’d walked in ahead of him and shut the door in his face.

  GrannyMa and GranDa stuck their heads out of the caravan. “What’s that love?”

  “Did Da come through here?”

  “No,” they said in unison.

  “I found him lass,” Hamish said, catching up to them.

  Relief flooded Ondine as she wrapped her arms around him. Proper Hamish, in his proper human form. Jupiter’s moons she’d been so worried.

  “I’m not following any of this,” Natalia said.

  “Neither am I,” the woman in the suit said as she walked into the beer garden.

  So she had followed them back to the pub. How predictable.

  “Have you come to check out or will you be staying another night?” Ma asked.

  Seriously, how did her mother stay so civil with a customer – and a poorly paying one at that – while Da was still missing? How admirably the rest of the family were keeping it together at a time when they wanted to run around screaming and wailing. If she ever went missing, she hoped the rest of her family would put on more of a show.

  A hand wrapped around Ondine’s elbow and pulled her inside the hallway. “Ye have tae keep it quiet lass, but I found ye Da.”

  Bells and clangs went off in her head, but she steadied her breath and asked, “Where?”

  Clever Hamish disguised their conversation as a cuddle, so he could keep his voice low next to her ear. “He’s in the lockup, goat arrested. They’ve charged him with being out after curfew.”

  “Arrested!” Her mind screamed but she said nothing out loud in response to the awful news. Instead, she hugged Hamish as tightly as she could, turning her fears and worries into muffled sobs.

  “He’s safe, lass, but it’s no place for ye Da. I’m sure we can pay a fine or something and he’ll be home in no time.”

  “WE DO NOT ACCEPT BRIBES,” the constable said.

  Ondine, Hamish and Ma had gone to the lockup. After Ma had (politely) cleared their guests out of the pub. The lockup wasn’t a horrible building by modern standards, or even Brugelish ones, but it lacked anything resembling what Brugelers liked to call bonhomie. Built and decorated perhaps forty years earlier, the walls were covered in yellowing remnants of decades-old sticky tape. New posters declaring, “If you see something, say something,” stood out for their bright colours against fading posters of missing people and road safety messages. The front door creaked and groaned each time somebody opened it, while the internal door behind the main desk had completely lost its hydraulics and banged like a gun every time a police officer came or went.

  Ma drew in shocked breath. “Oh no! It’s not a bribe. Not in the slightest. Oh goodness, what a terrible misunderstanding. We’re here to pay his fine.”

  Ondine’s hand curled tightly into Hamish’s.

  “Let me see,” the officer checked a list of prisoners in the lockup. “Josef de Groot, no, his charge is too serious, he has to go to court.”

  Court? For being out after curfew? Ondine would have screamed at the officer in rage, but he’d probably arrest her on the spot.

  “Can we at least see him? Bring him some food?” Ma lifted the lid on her basket and produced a wrapped tea towel.

  With a sniff, the officer lifted the wrapping away, then grabbed a metal ruler from the side of his bench and slapped it through the crust. Chunks of pastry crashed and crumpled, the pie completely lost integrity, mashed into chunks of chicken and vegetables on the tea towel. Then the officer wiped the ruler on the towel and nodded. “That’s fine, you may take it in. I’ll get you an escort.”

  He walked through the internal door, which crashed shut, making Ondine jump.

  With trembling hands, Ma wrapped the desecrated pie into something resembling its original shape and made for the connecting door to visit Da in the holding cells. Everyone lined up behind her.

  The internal door opened and banged shut again as the officer came back to the desk. Then a second later, a woman followed him, opening the door and letting it bang shut. Could the first one not have held the door open for the second, thus reducing the bangage?

  “Only one visitor per day, that’s the rules.” The officer said.

  It was impossible not to roll her eyes, so Ondine hid them under her eyelids.

  “Come on lass, let’s go home,” Hamish said as he wrapped his arm around her. He was a good man, that Hamish, leading her out of the police station before she completely lost her temper and ended up sharing a cell with Da instead of visiting. If only one of them was allowed to visit Da, it should be Ma.

  For the entirety of the walk home, Ondine didn’t have one single idea of what she could do next. Nothing came from Hamish either, which made her feel even more despondent. Hamish was brilliant at encouragement and ideas, but now their collective mood was so heavy, not even he could lift it.

  Melody could, though. She was full of smiles as she met them at the door, with Alexei by her side. Ordinarily this would be an interesting romantic development in the private lives of the ever-growing number of folks living under the pub’s roof, but now wasn’t the time.

  “We found out what’s causing the dampening field,” Melody said. “There’s a new tower that’s gone up, at the castle where we had Coven-Con. It’s blocking all our astral projection signals.” She sure knew how to deliver bad news with a smile. “And they’re monitoring the phone lines, when they’re working that is.”

  Alexei had drunk from the same ‘happiness well’ too. “Now we know what’s causing it, all we have to do is pull it down.”

  “That’s nice,” Ondine said. Outrage fatigue, as her mother had called it, had left her completely fatigued.

  “You could be a little more pleased,” Melody said.

  Ondine could only sigh pathetically.

  “We’ve had a wee bit of bad news,” Hamish said. “Da�
�s in the lockup. They arrested him for being out after curfew.”

  “Do you need money to pay his fine?” Alexei asked. “I’m sure my parents have a little saved.”

  If only. Ondine sniffed, “We tried to pay his fine but they accused us of trying to bribe them. And they’d only let Ma go in and see him.”

  “And not for long either,” Ma said, walking into the house and collapsing into a nearby chair. “They’ve set his trial for a week from today. They let me in long enough to give him the pureed pie, then they pushed me out. He said to give you all his love. They’ve told him he can ask Vincent for a pardon, but to get that he has to first plead guilty to treason.”

  “Treason!” Everyone yelled at once.

  “Thank you, I didn’t need that eardrum,” Ma rubbed the side of her head. “Lord V– I mean, Duke Vincent can only give a pardon to a charge of treason, so Da has to plead guilty to that charge in order to qualify for a pardon.”

  “But he hasnae done it!” Hamish said.

  “We know that, but you can’t get a pardon for a crime unless you admit to it first.”

  Ondine threw her hands in the air. “The world has gone whirlypits!”

  “That’s my line!” Hamish said.

  “I’ve had enough,” Ondine said. “Ma, Hamish, get everyone together, we’re having a family meeting. We need a proper plan and we need it fast.”

  A YEAR AGO, IF SOMEONE had told Ondine she’d be plotting to overthrow the government of Brugel, she would have laughed. A good derisory laugh too. Despite this, Ondine found herself sitting at the table in the family’s private room, surrounded by family and friends, plotting to oust Duke Vincent.

  He had it coming, really. If he hadn’t made life so difficult, Ondine and her friends would have been up to their necks in college work and assignments. Instead, they had enough time on hands to gather plenty of supporters to plan a really good revolution. [344]

  “Alexei, I need you to –” Ondine was about to say ‘stay here and help Ma and Thomas’ but Melody jumped in with:

  “– Get the bicycles.”

  All heads turned Melody’s way at whiplash speed.

  “Thae what?” Hamish asked.

  “Bicycles,” Melody confirmed. “They’re quiet and we’ll cover more ground than walking or running. Plus, if anyone does spot us, we can bike away faster than they can run after us.”

  “What if they’re in a car?” Hamish asked.

  “Then we’ll improvise.”

  ​Ondine smiled and embraced Melody in a hug. Then she pulled away and said to Alexei, “You heard her, get the bikes.”

  With a quick salute, Alexei headed toward the gate.

  “I’ll help,” Melody said, taking off after him.

  “Aww, so nice, they’re in loave,” Hamish said, giving Ondine a squishy squeeze.

  Ondine couldn’t help smiling. Melody deserved some ‘nice’ after everything she’d been through.

  “MAY I ENQUIRE, WHERE is my bike?” Old Col said as Alexei produced the fourth bicycle that afternoon.

  “You’re not serious?” Ondine looked at her great aunt, who, it had to be said, was looking frail these days. And the woman had dodgy magic; she’d admitted as much. What could she offer their young group, aside from a handbrake to slow them down?

  Hamish, Melody and Alexei suddenly made themselves busy, dusting off cobwebs, oiling the chains and pumping up the tyres.

  Old Col cleared her throat. “Birgit Howser’s been the biggest thorn in my side since I can remember. I want to be there for her downfall.”

  “But Col . . .” Ondine searched her brain for an excuse, then found it. “The more of us there are, the more chance we’ll be seen.”

  “I know her weaknesses,” Old Col said.

  “And she knows yours,” Ondine shot back. “Please stay home. I don’t want to be worrying about you, OK?”

  Grumbling and muttering about ‘missing out on all the fun,’ Old Col turned back to the house. Only after she closed the door did Ondine sigh and get her thoughts back to tonight’s task.

  “Help me remove the reflectors,” Alexei said. “Less chance of being seen.”

  “Good idea. But we’ll also have to be extra careful of cars because they won’t see us.” Ondine said.

  With a shrug, Alexei said, “The only cars out after curfew are police vans anyway.”

  “Backpacks everyone,” Hamish said as he handed them out. “Careful with yours Alexei, it’s full of explodey things.”

  “Melody’s got the matches in her pack. Safe as houses.”

  “We travel in pairs,” Ondine said, “no bunching up, otherwise we’ll look like a mob. Alexei, Melody, you two go on ahead, we’ll be right behind you.”

  “Yes sir,” Alexei said, giving Ondine a salute.

  ​

  IT WAS WAY PAST CURFEW as the four of them cycled at a steady pace under cover of darkness. Stealth underpinned the success of this mission. If they were caught out, they’d share Da’s predicament. The weather gave them no assistance. It may have been spring, but the chill rain coming in from the north spat in their eyes as they rode. Squinting made it harder for the rain to pelt her eyeballs, but didn’t stop the icy drops from biting into Ondine’s cheeks and neck, slipping down her clothes and chilling her body.

  This had to be done tonight, weather be damned. If they waited until summer to assault the mountain, Da’s fate would be sealed.

  Up ahead, Melody and Alexei vanished around a corner. The side of the road hit an incline. Ondine had to pedal harder to keep moving. The bikes rattled as they hit cobblestone alleys, jangling Ondine’s nerves. Putting her palm directly over the bell on the handlebar silenced the metallic dinging.

  The night grew thick with darkness and rain as they pushed away from the last of the street lamps. They were heading out of the city towards the castle on the hill. Memories of last year’s CovenCon came back to Ondine as she pedalled into the night. The crowds, the natty little funicular railway to get to the top, the way Mrs Howser had utterly creeped Ondine and Hamish out that time by the pool. And the other time with that oily shadow thing growing out of her. Plus all the other times Mrs Howser had made her skin crawl.

  Beside her, Hamish too worked his bike faster. They couldn’t see Melody at all now. A ‘whoosh’ sound came from behind. Ondine turned to Hamish to see if he was breathing hard or something.

  ‘Woosh.’ there it was again.

  Then Old Col flew beside her. On a broomstick.

  “Darn site quieter going over cobblestones let me tell you. And more comfortable.” Old Col said.

  Ondine nearly crashed her bike. “I thought you’d lost your magic?”

  “I’m having a hot flash, dear. Might as well put it to good use.”

  ​

  ​

  Chapter Nineteen

  As they neared their target, Ondine, Hamish, Alexei, Melody and Old Col stopped for a quick regroup. The castle was at the top of a nearby mountain, hidden aloft in the murky darkness. They’d have to go the rest of the way on foot, which meant leaving the bikes behind.

  The five of them huddled together behind some bushes. Old Col calmed everyone by conjuring hot chocolates out of thin air. The hot drink gave Ondine a glimmer of hope that Old Col’s magic might stabilise enough to help them in this mission.

  After their drinks, they crept down a quiet path that was little more than a goat track. It followed the side of a stream that splashed over rocks, masking any noise they might be making but also splashing the track and turning it into mud. Shivers spread through Ondine. Were they doomed to perish in the elements before they’d even reached their target?

  The river slipped into a culvert that went under a road. The culvert was too small and tight to allow people through. The road looked promising, as was the paved driveway leading up the mountain.

  Taking the driveway would make their mission so much easier, but of course there was a blockage – a security gatehouse. Floodlights aroun
d the outpost reached into the night, skirting the road and making a full circle of the area. Alexei drew a stopwatch from his backpack and timed the rotations.

  “They’re on a set loop,” he said, “Once they go past us, we have thirty-four seconds to get over to that ledge over there,” he pointed to the other side of the rain-slicked road. “There’s another track on the other side, it goes past the pond and the waterfall. We can take the funicular railroad. Once we get over, we stay low.”

  In the darkness, everyone nodded. Well, Ondine nodded. She assumed the others did as well.

  “I’ll go first,” Alexei said.

  Ondine heard Melody say, “Be careful,” and then heard something that sounded like a kiss.

  A grin crept over her face as she needled Hamish in the side with her elbow. Hamish needled her back again. The blinding searchlight swung over their heads and moved on, giving Alexei his cue. With admirable stealth, he darted out and padded across the road, barely making a sound. He made it with time in reserve as the light swung over them again and they all ducked down.

  “Me next,” Melody said. Darting out, she tore across the road, her feet padding just like Alexei’s. In the darkness, Ondine squinted to see how she did it.

  Melody was safe with Alexei, thank goodness. Even if they stuffed up now, at least two of them were across the road and closer to their target.

  Old Col touched Ondine’s shoulder. “Run on your toes. Makes less noise.”

  The light swung over them again and Ondine whispered, “Go!”

  “Nah, I’ll wait for the next one,” Col said, sounding incredibly calm. “Let’s give Melody a moment with her beau.”

  Hamish quietly snorted.

  “We’re on a mission here,” Ondine said as a fresh shiver rippled through her body.

  The light swung over their heads again. This time Col darted out immediately after it cleared, her feet making no sound at all. At which point Ondine realised Col had used her broomstick again and could have flown above the searchlight anyway.