The Ondine Collection

by Ebony McKenna

  Old Col is dead.

  Old Col is dead.

  Who knew how much time passed as they rode into the city outskirts?

  “Let’s split up, we’ll go on ahead.” It was Melody’s voice inside Ondine’s mind. Good, if Melody could still astrally project into Ondine’s head, it meant Mrs Howser hadn’t switched the dampening field back on.

  But for how much longer?

  “Howser’s trying to get into my head, but it’s my turn to block her now.” Was the next message Melody sent through.

  Good. Give the old witch a taste of her own medicine, Ondine thought. At which point her legs finally ran out of puff and she had to pull up beside a closed convenience store and slump to the ground.

  “Eh lass, we have tae keep going,” Hamish said, shivering.

  They should have brought extra clothes.

  They should have had a better plan.

  “I can’t. I just can’t go one more block. Col’s up on that mountain and we just left her there and I just can’t . . .” Breaths came in big ugly gulps.

  Warm arms wrapped around her. She pressed into Hamish’s chest, seeking the security he offered. “Dinnae cry lass, or I’ll come undone meself.”

  Which only set Ondine crying even more. “She shouldn’t have come. I should have made her stay home.”

  “Aye, and then we might all four be dead on that hill instead of safely on our way to the city.”

  A howling noise came from somewhere deep inside as she gave into her grief.

  “Please, please, Ondi love,” Hamish begged, tucking her lank hair behind an ear. “I don’t mean tae be callous, but we must keep going. Col stood up to Howser so that we could get away. It will all come tae naught if we don’t get tae the plaza in time.”

  “I know, I know.” He was right, of course. But her emotions were out of control and her brain couldn’t see reason. She dragged her sleeve over her face. “I can’t stop bawling my eyes out.”

  “I’ll give ye a backie. Up ye get on thae handlebars.” [345]

  The cobblestone streets were so jarring Ondine felt each bump and jolt. But she held on and endured, taking the punishment for wasting time indulging in an emotional meltdown. At least the physical pain took her mind off her emotions. Maybe, just maybe, Old Col had somehow eluded Mrs Howser and they’d all meet up at the family pub, regaling each other with stories of daring and skill.

  On Hamish pedalled, his breaths louder with the effort of carrying an extra person.

  “I should never have helped Vincent,” Ondine said. “That night at the BrugelMelody competition. We should have gone straight home and had nothing to do with him. Then he would have had to present Ruslana as his orange from Norange and people would have laughed him out of town.”

  “Aye, it’s been playing on me mind as well,” Hamish said through several grunts. His voice sounded scratchy, as if he were coming down with laryngitis. “I should have spoken up.”

  “I should have kicked him in the shins,” Ondine said.

  “I should have held him while ye did so.”

  If felt good to share their regrets, neither blaming the other, just wishing they’d done things differently.

  The puffing and straining from Hamish became too much for Ondine. “I can walk from here, let me off.” As she set down from the handlebars, she looked back to Hamish.

  A gasp leapt out of her throat. “Saturn’s ring! You’re white!”

  “Eh?” he said, with a phlegmatic rattle usually reserved for nursing homes.

  “Your hair, your face, oh Hamish, what happened?” Ondine took in his face, the tissue-paper-thin skin, the deep lines, the gravity-sag. His neck displayed the ravages of encroaching jowls, his eyes drooped with age. And his hair, his rich, dark hair had turned completely white, gathered in a horseshoe of tufts around his scalp.

  Putting a hand to his head, Hamish cried out, “I’m bald!”

  Ondine held him close, pressing her ear to his chest, hearing the crackle in his breaths. “You’re ageing so fast, you have to change into a ferret, right now.”

  “Aye, I’ll do that sharpish,” Hamish said, bracing himself for the pain.

  Which didn’t come.

  “We’re running out of time,” Ondine said, wiping frustration-tears away.

  Hamish stood there, slack-jawed and unchanging. “I cannae do it. It’s nae happening.”

  “Why not?” Ondine sounded so whiny. Tired, cold and aching all over, she petulantly stamped her foot on the cobblestones, sending jarring pain up her leg. “Just do it, will you?”

  “I want tae, lass, I honestly do, but the spell’s gone and I dinnae ken how tae get it back.”

  The abyss of despair pulled Ondine onto the cold ground. “Then she’s really gone,” it came out as barely a squeak. “Old Col. The curse she put on you was, ‘you can stay like that for all I care’. So if she really is d–, if she’s not with us, then she’s not here to care any more and keep the curse alive.”

  “Oh dear,” Hamish said, reaching for Ondine and noticing the liver spots on the back of his hand. “Ondi love, I’m so sorry. About everything.”

  Choking back a fresh bout of crying, Ondine stood up. “Hamish, don’t get me wrong, but we have a job to do and I can cry later. We need to get to Melody.”

  “Aye?”

  “Yes. You’re in no shape to start a revolution. The first bump and you’ll break a hip. We’ll get Melody you get your youth back and when all this is over I can fall to bits at my leisure.”

  “I loave you so much,” he said, leaning in for a kiss.

  She ducked her head and turned it into a hug instead, not wanting to offend him. “We’re going to fix you,” she said, the unspoken part of that being, “I’m not losing two people I love in the one day.”

  On they walked, past the shops and houses, Hamish making quiet little grunts and complaints about his knee giving him trouble.

  Thanks to the message Melody had sent out on the mountain, every single streetlight was on. Behind every window, lights glowed with golden warmth.

  “You know what I really should have done?” Ondine asked as Hamish brought them to the edge of the plaza. “I should have realised Vincent was hell bent on becoming Duke. Whether we helped him or not, nothing would have changed the outcome.”

  “I love ye Ondi,” Hamish said. “I’ve been laid low with guilt for so long about all this. Wishing I’d done more, wishing things were different. Wishing I hadnae been so selfish. But ye just hit the nail on the head, so ye did. Nothing we could have done would have stopped Vincent from becoming Duke.”

  Hands on hips, Ondine took a deep breath. “And now, we are going to make sure he’s not Duke for much longer.”

  Melody and Alexei appeared from a shadowed doorway. Alexei examined his feet, looking bashful. Melody stepped forward. “Oh, there you are!” Her lips looked chaffed, her hair mussed. Her mouth dropped as she saw Hamish. “Oh dear! You won’t last a minute in the plaza.”

  “So it seems. Ye wouldn’t happen to have an elixir of youth on ye perchance?”

  Melody chewed her bottom lip in thought. “I have an idea. Hold hands.”

  The four of them stood in a circle, holding hands. Slowly, a warm energy began to radiate from their hearts, spread through their hands and moved from Melody, Alexei and Ondine into Hamish. Glowing, Hamish’s hair grew back and turned a youthful black, the skin on his neck tightened and the curve in his back straightened.

  “I feel wonderful.” Hamish said. “What are ye doing?”

  “I’m transferring some of our energy to you,” Melody said.

  “How much energy?” Ondine asked.

  “Enough to get us through tonight,” Melody said.

  “And then what?” Ondine asked. “One night isn’t much help.”

  Melody let out a sigh. “If we get through tonight, I’ll work on a more permanent solution.”

  “Don’t you mean when we get through tonight?” Ondine asked.

&nbs
p; Melody nodded her head. “Let’s stop internalising this and face the music.”

  Still holding hands, the four of them walked the final few metres into Savo Plaza, ready to meet their fate.

  ​

  ​

  Chapter Twenty

  So many lights shone in Savo Plaza Ondine virtually needed sunglasses. The best kind of festival vibe filled the air. Such an enormous crowd had gathered it was hard to see much of the plaza itself, and getting through it involved a lot of squishing and ‘Excuse me’s.

  Hamish jumped to get a better view and then smiled to Ondine. “Lass, you’re gonna loave this.” He lowered his cupped hands to help her step up and lean on his shoulder.

  There, on a makeshift stage, stood Cybelle and Margi. Singing and dancing and encouraging the crowd. Cybelle swayed her arm above her head to the beat of the music. The crowd followed her lead. Margi, her belly protruding like a second floor balcony, merely swayed a little from side to side. Thomas drummed wooden spatulas onto an upturned catering bucket. Henrik played metal spoons on his knee. A palpable sense of goodwill filled the plaza. They had safety in numbers. After all, the government couldn’t arrest everyone for being out after curfew, could they? The numbers would show how many people disapproved of Vincent. How much they wanted change. Vincent would have to listen to them now.

  “People Power!” Cybelle called out.

  The crowd threw cheeseballs into the air and cheered.

  “Come on,” Melody grabbed Ondine by the hand and hauled her through the crush towards the stage.

  Cybelle told the gathering, “Thank you everybody for hearing and answering the call. Tonight, we take Brugel back! Brugel for the people!”

  The crowds went crazy. It had been a year since the coup in this same plaza, but the mood tonight was completely different. Melody pulled Ondine onto the stage, blinking like a stunned deer. Cybelle thrust the microphone into Melody’s hands.

  “Thank you, everybody, for coming out tonight,” Melody said. “No doubt all of you have suffered terribly this past year as Vincent has done whatever he liked with Brugel. We’re here to say ‘Time’s up’ for Vincent. He has to give Brugel back!”

  The crowd went insane with joy and began chanting, “Give back Brugel! Give back Brugel!”

  “Ondine,” Melody pushed the microphone into her hand, “Tell them what your family has been through.”

  Dry of mouth and trembling of knees, Ondine tried to swallow past the boulder in her throat. “Hello, everyone. This is an amazing turn out,” she said.

  The crowd murmured and gave a little clap, but not much.

  “My name is Ondine, and my family, just like yours has been hit hard. My family runs a hotel, but we’ve gone broke because of the curfew. Vincent has made our lives impossible. As he’s made yours.”

  The crowd clapped a little more, warming to her subject.

  “We’ve taken in all our relatives, and some friends, because everyone’s doing it hard. But then we ran out of food, so Da, I mean, my father, he set out to get us some food, but it was past curfew and they arrested him. Just because he was trying to get us some food! Now he’s being told he has to plead guilty to treason by next week. We don’t know if we’re ever going to see him again! Since when was it treason to try and feed your family?”

  More sympathetic clapping.

  “My sister,” Ondine looked behind her, to see Margi standing nearby. She and Cybelle had clearly been entertaining the crowds with their music. Despite the cold, performance-sweat shone on Margi’s face. “My sister is having a baby any day now, and our Da won’t even be there to see his first grandchild!”

  The heavy sound of ‘boo’ and disappointment rippled like a wave through the crowd.

  “But the worst thing is my great aunt –” a sob caught in Ondine’s throat and she couldn’t go on. It didn’t stop her from trying though. “Her name was Colette Romano, and she was batty and funny and cranky and wonderful, and she was up on the mountain with us and –” Instead of words, sobs fell out. Ondine had to hand the microphone over to Melody.

  Melody wrapped Ondine in a warm embrace. “I’ll tell them,” she said, assuring Ondine.

  Margi and Cybelle both moved closer to Ondine, worry writ large on their faces.

  “What happened to Old Col?” Cybelle asked.

  “It’s too horrible,” Ondine cried.

  Stepping away from the tearsome huddle, Melody faced the thousands-strong crowd and said, “We lost a great woman tonight, and a brilliant witch. She battled Mrs Birgit Howser, Vincent’s right-hand-witch. Colette Romano sacrificed herself so that we could escape and get here to the plaza, to tell you what’s going on. And we’re here to tell you that tonight, Vincent’s reign ends. Tonight, we take back Brugel!”

  The crowd went insane, cheering and whooping.

  “We don’t need some pushy little lord telling us what we’re allowed to say and when, what time to go to bed, when we’re allowed to get up.”

  Wow, she really had fallen out of love with Vincent. And hard!

  “And you definitely don’t need one precious little prince doing all this when we used to have an elected government.”

  The crowd brayed and cheered so loudly they could have lifted the cobbles from the street. Ondine’s heart grew so big her ribs might crack.

  “We want our country back!” Melody shouted.

  The girl was born to control a crowd. A genius behind the microphone, she knew just what to say to get the people on side. Perhaps Melody was using a little extra witchcraft to help her along?

  This time Melody waited for the crowd to settle down. Then she lowered her voice and spoke clearly, making sure her words were understood. “What we need is a massive show of people power. Good people, using good power. And here’s what we’re going to do. We are going to take back Savo Plaza as a place for the people.” Now her voice rose, along with her passion. “We are going to show that love and hope can overcome. We will show Lord Vincent the door. He has no power over us.”

  The crowd went insane with joy and threw even more cheeseballs high in the air.

  Melody turned quickly to face Ondine and Hamish, “Hurry up and smooch, will ya!”

  Huh?

  “Kiss already!” Melody twirled her finger in the air and sparks flew, twining Ondine and Hamish into a squishy embrace.

  Of course! The magic curse! They had a plaza full of people making good wishes for Brugel, and here’s where it could all come true. Because Mrs Howser had never lifted the curse on them, so when they kissed, Ondine could make other people’s wishes come true. A whole plaza full of people who wished to get rid of Lord Vincent and Mrs Howser.

  Wrapped in her love for Hamish and her country, she pressed her lips to his for a beautiful kiss for the ages. Her hands fastening to his bare chest, because he still hadn’t managed to get another shirt in all this time.

  And oh how they kissed.

  For freedom.

  For Brugel.

  On they smooched, forgetting the outside world and luxuriating in this most wonderful moment of love. Ears ringing from the cacophonous crowds and stomping feet, she closed her eyes and immersed herself into her love for Hamish. The rumbling grew louder. The crowd wild with delight. No, wait, the noises didn’t sound the same. Fear spiked Ondine and she pulled away in time to see tanks rumbling into Sava Plaza.

  Heavy boots thumped on the cobbled streets. Grinding metal shrieked from the tanks’ caterpillar wheels. With a burst of white, the invaders fired water canon on the crowd. People fled but couldn’t get out. Screaming filled the skies as panic set in. The blast of water sent people slipping and smashing into each other. But instead of fleeing, the good people who’d come to protest against Vincent got to their feet and stood tall. United.

  Melody sent magical sparks into the crowd to protect them against attack as the battle between good citizens and a dark army of cadets kicked off. If Ondine wasn’t afraid for her life, she could have revelled in t
he epic nature of the battle.

  People linked arms and shouted, “Hey no, we won’t go!”

  Blasts of magic crashed through the air. Weapons fired. Smoke and gas rained down from the skies. The screaming rose by 20 decibels as confusion gripped everyone in the plaza. Small bottles with burning rags jammed in the top hurled through the air, crashing and splattering flames and flares all around. These Ribbentrop cocktails didn’t do much damage, but they burned everything they crashed into, including clothes. [346]

  In all the chaos and open warfare, Ondine forgot about Margi. Where was her pregnant sister? This was no place for her; they had to get her out. But the battle had blocked every lane and road leading out of the plaza. From the corner of her vision, a bubble floated past.

  A bubble?

  Time to take cover, as Ondine raced to the back of the stage and found Margi and Cybelle, crouching behind some potted plants. Bangs, crashes and explosions filled the air. They were coming closer. Ondine poked her head out and saw a shiny, rainbow globule, wobbling and bobbling in the air. Then it exploded on the side of a statue of Lord Vincent.

  Wait, what? A statue?

  Since when had there ever been a statue of Lord Vincent in Savo Plaza? By all means, put a reminder of Savo himself, after whom the plaza was named, but Vincent?

  Nope.

  ​More bubbles popped against the statue, giving Ondine the best idea she’d had in minutes.

  “Look after Margi,” she said, putting her sister’s hands into Thomas and Hamish’s care. (They were also sheltering at the back of the stage) Then she ran to where the bubbles were coming from. Sure enough, there was a bubble machine at the side of the stage, always a welcome addition at a party, but a total distraction in a revolution. Sneaking between the fighting crowds and the closed vans of the hot cheeseball vendors, Ondine made her way to a Fort Kluff water canon. No time to second guess the craziness, she climbed on top and opened the hatch. Only to find a person inside it, but no water.

  “Don’t mind me,” she called out, slamming the hatch shut.