Installment45

**

I spent the whole day being hungry, really hungry. The apple had been good, but a couple of crackers and an apple didn't constitute a snack for me, let alone 3 meals. I moped about the castle, had a nap in my room, read a little, but all the time was being shouted at by my stomach. Eventually, I decided I could take no more. I had to get out of the castle, into the village, where real food still existed. Janet was elsewhere; I didn't know where. She'd gone away after I'd snapped at her over nothing in particular. It was one of my lovely little quirks. Hunger made me a bitch. Tiredness made me a bitch. Tired hunger made me strangely weepy, but not before I'd bitten the heads off anyone who dared try to speak to me.

It was getting to late afternoon when Brin poked his head round the door.
“Hello,” he said.
I looked up, my eyes half closed, “What do you want?”
I expected him to react to my aggression, but he just answered the question as if it hadn't been spat out, “I'm not entirely sure, to be honest, but I get the feeling you're going to help me with that.”
“I don't understand.”
“You,” he said, flicking his head in my direction, “You know things. You understand things; things my mother doesn't. How? You're not a faerie and you're sure as hell not one of them.”
I shook my head, “Human. At least, I think so.”
He grunted and nodded, “Mortal, anyway. Don't know all that much about human. Seems a made up thing that changes depending on what you're thinking that day.”
“What does that mean?”
“You call each other animals, monsters, …, not always human; always mortal.”
“That's just talk.”
“Talk?”
“Yes, of course. What else?”
“Hmmmph... I don't know. Strange creatures, mortals. You live, you die, seems half your life is about making it longer than other peoples'.”
“That's not true.”
“No?” he shrugged, “Just an observer, me.”
“Yeah, well, things aren't always what they seem, you know? Surely you're not so stupid to think that you can understand everything just by looking. You have to understand the context of things and the cultures and values and...” I ran out of words at about the time that I ran out of steam, “y'know. That stuff...”
He smiled, it was almost a sneer, but not quite. It was as if he'd spent his whole life sneering and now didn't know any other way to smile.
I watched him for a while. His awkward stance and unnatural looking facial expressions. He looked like a mannequin which had been wrongly posed and just left with the clothes hanging off his body, not quite part of the scene where he'd been placed.
“What are we going to do?” I asked him after a while.
He didn't speak for just long enough to make the silence noticable, then said, “We need to get out of here.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“What?”
“I mean, that's kind of obvious, but how? Arianwen won't let us leave.”
“Has she enchanted the castle?”
“She... I... I don't know.”
“How do you know we can't leave, then?”
“Um... Janet told me.”
“What did she say?”
I looked around the room, trying to remember the exact words. They didn't come to me, “Um... she said that Arianwen was holding us prisoner, or something like that.”
“Don't look much like a prisoner.”
“No,” I said, “I guess I don't.”

Installment 44

I turned to Janet, talking quietly, although Gwendolyn could hear perfectly well, I knew, "When were you going to tell me this?"
"I was coming to tell you. You didn't give me a chance."
"What the fuck, Janet?"
"Fi, you didn't give me a chance! You dragged me off into the maze and..." she glanced at Gwendolyn and her word grew slower and more deliberate, "It didn't seem the right time."
I turned back to Gwendolyn, "What fucking right does Arianwen have to say that we can't leave?"
Gwendolyn smiled, "She's in charge. We do as she says."
"Why?"
She continued smiling, but it started to look forced.
"I mean, who is she to you? She's not your daughter."
Her smile faded and her eyes widened. I thought for a moment she was going to hit me. Janet seemed to think the same and started to take a step between us, but Gwendolyn stood down and walked away in a hurry.
"Why did you say that?" Janet asked me.
"Well, she's not! How can she be?"
"Of course she's not, but Gwendolyn believes she is."
"But..."
"Arianwen is powerful, love. Really powerful. Gwendolyn has probably already forgotten any suggestion that she's not her daughter."

“Brin knows.”

“What?”

“Brin knows she's not his sister. He told me.”

Janet looked past me, into the distance, like she'd just had a thought, “Well, now, isn't that interesting?”

I watched her face for a little while, trying to work out what she was thinking. Her eyes shifted back to meet my gaze.

“Sarcy bitch,” I said.

She smiled, but it looked forced.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing. It's nothing.”

I gave her a look of disbelief.

Her smile faded, “I'm not sure. Maybe nothing. C'mon, let's go inside and see if we can find you something to eat. I'll send Gwendolyn into town if not.”

She walked off and I followed her, shaking my head and laughing slightly, “Fucking rabbits!”



We walked back into the castle and were greeted by Harry.

“What d'you eat?” she asked me.

“Um... most things,” I told her, “Just not meat.”

She thought about this for a while, then ran off. A few minutes later, she returned with an apple and handed it to me. I smiled and took it from her, taking a bite. It was good, just the right mixture of sweet and tart. I told her so, and her face broke into a grin and she almost skipped off.

“What was that about?” Janet asked me.

“She brought me an apple.”

“Why?”

“I dunno. Because I was hungry, I guess.”

“Weird.”

“Why weird? She's a nice kid.”

Janet shrugged, “I guess.”

I couldn't understand why she was so suspicious, but decided to just let it go. There was way too much shit going on already. I didn't want to fall out with Janet too.

I glanced around and, when I was sure we were alone, said, “What are we going to do, Janet? They'll be coming for us still.”

“Not us,” she whispered, “The pendant.”

I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes, and looked up to try to make them go away, “The pendant and everyone within striking distance.”
She nodded slowly, looking thoughtful, "So I guess we need to get out of striking distance."
"How?"
She shook her head, biting her lip and rubbing her eyes, "I'll think of something."