Chapter #106An Unexpected Journey by: imaj   “It’s all very doomed and tragic,” says Joe, reading over your shoulder as you write the last few sentences of your note in Hélène’s looping handwriting. “And that’s just over the top,” he adds, pointing at one of the little heart shapes you’ve used to dot each i in the letter.
“That how I… this girl writes,” you explain, pointing at yourself. You’ve dressed again, recovering your clothes from Frank’s bedroom. This note is the last thing you have to do before leaving, and Frank won’t wake up for an hour or so anyway. “You think he’ll buy it.”
Joe laughs. “Doomed, tragic and romantic. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s on the next bus out of town following you.”
“Yeah, well, try to stop him from doing that,” you say sourly as you fold the note over and write Frank’s name on the reverse.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here over the holidays” asks Rosalie, emerging from the kitchen. “Joe was going to get us a tree in the next couple of days”
“No, I need to get back to L.A again,” you reply. “To finish my training with Kali and Rick. It was good seeing you guys again though. You remember to tell your Dad about Rosalie.”
“I’m just going to do it,” protests Joe. You get up to leave and to your surprise Joe gets up as well and gives you a brief, if crushing hug. “Later dude,” he says, bidding you farewell as Rosalie gives you a chaste peck on the cheek.
*****
You get back to the poky apartment you’ve been living in for the last few weeks about lunchtime. You’d popped into the Crystal Cave on the way home to spin the same narrative about ‘Penny’ having to leave Saratoga Falls because her jealous ex-boyfriend had shown up. It was Leanne’s shift so whether or not the story makes it back to the manager there is questionable.
The apartment is empty so you write another note for two women you share it with. There’s a slight discrepancy between each story you’ve told – the note in the apartment states that the ex was hanging about the Crystal Cave, while the story you told Leanne, and wrote for Frank, was that he was hanging about the apartment. Hopefully Frank will not pick up on the difference until you are long gone.
You pack your clothes into the little pink suitcase and shift back into being yourself long enough to find the apartment phone and dial Kali. It’s a courtesy detail, as you don’t think she would enjoy you talking to her with Hélène’s voice.
“Hi Kali,” you begin when she answers. “It’s Will.”
She pauses for a moment. “It’s good to hear from you Will. Did you make it back to America?
“Yeah, that’s sort of what I’m phoning about. Is Rick about,” you ask.
“He’s doing whatever it is he does during the day,” sighs Kali. “Where are you just now Will?”
“Um… Saratoga Falls,” you reply. “I was just about to set of for L.A..”
“Well that explains the call I received from Charles earlier,” says Kali wearily. You wait for her explanation. “He wants you to go to Olympia. He wants a lot of us to go to Olympia apparently and he asked me to pass on as much when you contacted me.”
“He knew I was going to call you,” you gasp. No, it’s not a shock, you realise after a moments thought. You told Joe you were going back to L.A., he must have told Charles when he phoned him.
“Yes,” replies Kali. “And now that you have called we can save some time and effort if you travel directly to Olympia with Joe.”
“Joe’s going too,” you ask enthusiastically. Spending more time with Frank, Joe and Rosalie is a very appealing idea.
“”Yes Will,” replies Kali again. “And I have the intuition that you know exactly why Joe is going too.” She cuts you off as you start to explain about Rosalie. “If I needed to know now, Charles would have told me when he phoned me Will. I imagine I will find out in the fullness of time,” she adds. “In the mean time, go to the boys’ house. I shall meet you in Olympia.”
You exchange your goodbyes and hang up. The unexpected change in plans has thrown you a little: You’d originally intended to travel to L.A. as Hélène, but that’s not practical now – you’d have to explain to Frank why ‘Penny’ was going to see his dad. Since the apartment is empty, it’s easy enough to pull a set of your Will clothes from the suitcase and get changed. The humiliation of explaining why you have a pink suitcase to Frank and Joe is far preferable to the humiliation of having to explain to Frank who it really was he slept with last night.
*****
The boys’ truck has gone when you return to their house. Hopefully they haven’t left without you. You knock on the door and wait patiently as you hear the sound of someone scrabbling about within.
After a minute the door cracks open a fraction. Rosalie looks at you suspiciously, her eyes more or less level with yours. “Hi Rosalie,” you say, which only seems to make her even more suspicious. Then you remember that this is the first time she’s seen you – this you anyway. “It’s me, Will. This is what I normally look like. Well back to front I guess but that’s a long story…” you tail off.
She thinks it over for a few seconds before smiling nervously. “Come in Will,” she says, opening the door. She leads you into the living room. “Frank and Joe are getting some supplies before we set off,” she adds as you sit down on the couch. “Nice suitcase,” she titters.
“It made more sense when I was travelling as Hélène,” you whine. “But I can’t do that now because…”
“…because you don’t want Frank to know you slept with him,” finishes off Rosalie for you. “You should tell him, but I won’t say anything if you don’t.”
“Thanks,” you reply.
There are a few minutes of awkward silence before Rosalie finally speaks again. “Will, there’s something I want to ask you. We’re both Sulva,” she begins. You nod. “Does that mean I’ll be able to change what I look like too?”
You hesitate for a moment. Rosalie looks anxious more than anything else. It isn’t obvious how she’d feel about having your powers herself: Frightened? Excited? Something else? Not that it matters.
“No,” you explain quietly. “It’s from something else.” Rosalie’s eyes widen as you explain about the spells in the book and how it let you create masks that could be used as an almost perfect magical disguise. When she asks why you don’t use masks you explain how you fell through the book and how it left its mark upon you. “So you see,” you finish. “I’m not really myself anymore. Even just this face is a weird mirrored reflection of how I used to look.”
Rosalie locks her gaze with yours, her eyes sympathetic. “Oh Will,” she says and gives you a comforting hug.
“And that’s what the Libra Personae did to me,” you explain. There is a fractional stiffening in Rosalie’s posture and she pulls away from you. “What?”
“Oh… uh…” she stutters. “I guess I must have heard the name somewhere before.”
“Probably from Frank of Joe,” you explain. “They must have mentioned it. It’s someplace safe now I guess: Olympia with the boys’ Dad.”
“Where we’re going,” says Rosalie thoughtfully.
“Where we’re going,” you confirm. “I feel like I’ve told you my life story,” you add after a minute. “What about you. You want to talk about Cuthbert now?”
Before Rosalie has a chance to answer Joe burst into the living room. “Hello girls,” he says in a sing song voice. “Oh it’s not a girl, it’s Prescott. Hello Prescott,” he corrects himself. You feel your cheeks colour. It might just seem like a typical bit of Joe silliness but you know, just know, he’s referring to what happened last night. As he catches your gaze, Joe surreptitiously winks at you, all but confirming it.
Joe pulls Rosalie up from the couch and starts kissing her. “Hello gorgeous,” he murmurs and Rosalie blushes. You look away, and odd feeling in the pit of your stomach.
“What are you doing here Prescott,” asks Frank as he enters the room. His eyes narrow as he looks at you suspiciously.
“I was just passing through,” you say weakly. “I phoned Kali and she said to come here. Something about getting you guys to take me to Olympia.”
Frank smiles darkly. “Just Joe. He’s taking you to Olympia. I’m staying here to sort out the remains of Blackwell’s library and keep looking for the fucker.” Before you get a chance to ask why, Frank continues. “My brother apparently forgot to tell everyone he’d found another potential Stellae member. Looks like I’ll be on my own here for Christmas”
“I’ll be thinking of you when I’m digging into a turkey dinner in Olympia,” shoots back Joe. Before you have a chance to comment the two boys start wrestling each other. Frank soon has Joe in a headlock.
Rosalie looks on, quite bemused. She never did tell you about Cuthbert. Should you press the issue?
The boys suddenly stop their fight. “Nice suitcase Prescott,” says Joe from under Frank’s arm.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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