The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) (9 page)

‘Everyone
keep close please,’ Stella said to the group as they gathered out the front of the
Bran International Airport, bags slung like dead weights over their shoulders.
  Each of them had slept for a least 10 hours of the 15 hour flight, but the
jetlag was still setting in fast.
  Laura removed her coat and scarf, shoving them into her bag. It was exceptionally
warmer in Bran.
  She yawned loudly as she adjusted the strap of her bag and watched Leo
attempt to flag down a taxi. She still wasn’t sure how she had made it onto the
plane, through the flight and out past the metal detector without so much as a
question about the sword pocking out of, and dagger in, her bag.
  ‘Don’t worry Stell, I don’t plan on leaving your side,’ Drew said through a
yawn of his own, waking Laura from her thoughts.
  Stella raised an eyebrow, clearly the only one who was not, in the slightest,
effected by the jetlag, ‘whys that Drew?’
  ‘You have the money,’ Drew retorted, drawing out a few scoffs from the others.
  It was then that Leo managed to flag down a taxi bus, big enough to fit all
eight of them. They each clambered aboard, Stella taking the front seat so she
could direct the driver to the correct destination. Laura took the window seat
in the middle and was surprised when Drew dropped down beside her.
  ‘Hey there Ace! Logan and Caspian ditched me which means I’ll have to settle
with you,’ he flashed her a smile.
  ‘Gee, thanks,’ Laura chortled.
  Laura suppressed a smile as she realised that she had only known these people
for barely four days, having been knocked out for the other days, and she had
come to rely on them so much already. She had never had many friends, apart
from Beth, and she had to be honest with herself, in the past few years Beth
had been lacking in the friendship department. She was overwhelmed to be surrounded
by such kind people.
  A pang of gilt hit her. How could she be sitting there, thinking about her
own problems, when her mother was missing and her father was… gone? She took a
few deep, calming breaths and reminded herself that she was doing this all for
her father. She was finding her mother for him, she was staying strong for him,
but most of all, she was living for him. And if living included thinking of
herself now and again, and if it included smiling, then that was what she was
going to do, because she knew that he would be happy to see her smiling,
wherever he was now. So, she allowed a smile to seep onto her face as the taxi
pulled away from the curb, making its way out of the city.
  ‘Looks like we will be missing our training lessons,’ Laura said, pretending
to wipe a tear from her cheek.
  ‘Glad to see you’re torn up about it. Actually, we won’t be. I will continue
to train you for two or three hours each day, only it will be early in the
morning when no one is up. At day break,’ again, Drew flashed a grin at Laura.
  ‘Oh.. uh yay!’ Laura said, a nervous laugh escaping her lips. The ach in her
muscles seemed to worsen at the thought of more training.

Their
accommodation was situated 7 miles north from the city, nestled on the edge of
the national park.
  Stella held a brochure in her hand and read aloud to her fellow passengers,
‘located near the historical Lake of Bran, Murray Bran Hotel brings peace and
serenity to its customers. I’m hopeful that the hotel will be quiet during our
stay, which should allow us the privacy we need,’ Stella said as the taxi
driver took a sharp left, following a dirt road with rows upon rows of grape
vines along each side.
  Darkness was setting in, and the last of the sun’s light glistened over a
lake they passed as they made their way down the hotel’s drive. Well pruned
hedges lined the driveway and wooden signs stood at the end, directing them to
the car park and reception. The two story building before them took on the
shape of a square, two rectangular buildings leading off from each side. Arched
windows lined the cream brick walls and lit lamps stood by the set of double
doors leading to the reception.
  The taxi parked, allowing the group to pile out and collect their luggage. Laura
wished her father could be here to see Bran. He had always wanted to travel,
but had never had the chance.
  But I am here with you.
She heard his voice say in her head, and she
believed him.
  Stella paid the driver and the group stumbled through the entrance,
exhausted. Large pendants hung from the ceiling illuminating the room and the
white marble floor was polished to a shine.
  Stella made a right, moving quickly towards the reception desks.
  ‘Hello, I’m Henry and welcome. Did you have a reservation?’ A kind, dark
skinned man with little hair on his head asked politely.
  He straightened his grey suit and smiled straight at Stella as she explained
that they had reserved three rooms for the next two nights.
  ‘Of course, we have your details right here and all payments have already
been cleared so here are your keys. You are in room eight, ten and sixteen.’
  ‘Wonderful, thank you!’ Stella said, taking the keys from Henry.
  ‘I will have Maraz take you to your rooms. The reception is open from 6am
until 8pm every day. Checkout is at 12 and we serve complimentary breakfasts
for our guests from 8 every morning. Dinner service ends at 10pm and the
restaurant is down the hall. We hope you enjoy your stay!’
  Maraz arrived, tugging a trolley along behind him to pile the luggage on. He led
the group down the left wing of the building, stopping first at room eight.
  ‘This is our room,’ Stella said, passing the keys onto Grace and Caspian.
‘The boys are in room ten and girls, room sixteen.’
  Leo took their bags and Stella unlocked the door, ‘everyone meet in the
restaurant for dinner at 8.’
  They disappeared behind the door as Maraz continued on down the hall.
  ‘Room ten,’ he said.
  Drew snatched the key from Caspian and grinned, ‘I will be taking care of
this I think.’
  ‘Because you’re so responsible.’ Logan chortled.
  ‘Excuse me, but I am.’
  ‘Oh, are you? And what happened at the last hotel we stayed at?’
  ‘Hey, I told you it was that possum who shredded your pillow. There was
proof.’
  The three boys collected their bags.
  Logan raised an eyebrow as they did so, ‘how is it that the proof you claimed
to have was mysteriously stolen right before you went to collect it to show
us?’
  ‘Uh, come on boys, we better get settled in,’ Drew said.
  Grace told Maraz to take them on to their room, and as they wandered along, Laura
glanced back in time to catch Caspian gracefully snatch the key back from Drew.
  Logan slung his arms over the two boy’s shoulders. ‘You know boys, I think we
are in for some serious bonding this trip,’ she heard him say as the door shut
behind them.
  ‘He has quite a sense of humour,’ Laura remarked as Maraz paused in front of
room sixteen and nodded to the girls, giving them a moment to grab their bags.
Then he left, taking the trolley with him.
  ‘Don’t let him fool you. He uses humour as a defence mechanism. He is really
a big old softy,’ Grace said as she opened the door to their room.
  Their eyes studied the open room, a couch, fire place, and TV directly in
front of them, two single beds and a double lining the left wall, and a door to
the bathroom on the right.
  ‘Well, this is cosy,’ Grace said.
  ‘Won’t feel that way much longer when we have to decide who gets the double
bed,’ Gemma said, lightly bumping Grace with her shoulder and laughing. ‘Remember
last time!’
  Grace laughed, ‘yes!’ She turned to Laura, ‘we ended up sharing because we
couldn’t decide.’
  Laura smiled to herself. That was the first time she had seen Gemma make a
joke, or laugh even. She suddenly felt like she had seen just a small piece of
the real Gemma. But for some reason, she was hiding this piece of herself from
Laura. Why?
  ‘I vote for scissors, paper, rock!’ Laura said with a grin.
  Gemma turned to her, and for a moment, Laura thought she was going to yell at
her. But then her mouth curved into a smile. ‘You’re on.’
  Laura did in fact loose, and she happily took the single bed by the window.
  Grace and Gemma played four rounds, continuously resulting in draws, before
Gemma finally gave up, ‘you take it. I don’t mind. I’m going to shower before
dinner, we have half an hour to settle in,’ she said, and pulled an outfit from
her bag before crossing the room and shutting the door to the bathroom behind
her.
  Grace smiled sympathetically at Laura, ‘she’s usually a lot more upbeat, I
promise.’
  Laura heard the water of the shower begin to run, so decided that it was now
or never.
  ‘Why doesn’t she like me?’ Laura avoided eye contact as she lay back on her
bed.
  Grace sat on the edge of her own bed. Choosing her words carefully, she said,
‘Gemma is in a bad place. She was the last to arrive at the manor before you.
Only a bit over nine months ago, and she has been through quite a lot. She is
still trying to get over her own loss and I guess the sudden change of having
someone new at the manor has shaken things up for her. I don’t think it’s that
she doesn’t like you, I think she just isn’t sure she can trust anyone after
the things she has seen. It took a long time before she would let any of us
in.’
  Laura rolled over, locking eyes with Grace, ‘I understand now. It would be
hard to let someone in, especially someone she doesn’t know.’
  ‘I’m sure she will come around. The rest of us are on your side, Laura. And she
is too, I’m sure. She just needs time to realise that you pose no threat.’
  Laura laughed, ‘me, a threat? Gosh those two words don’t even belong in a sentence
together. If you had seen me yesterday in training with Drew then I think you
would agree.’
  Grace laughed too and began rummaging through her clothes, searching for
something to wear to dinner.
  ‘Aren’t you going to get changed?’
Laura looked down at her rumpled grey sweat pants and black long-sleeve shirt.
  ‘Yeah maybe that’s a good idea,’ she said.

‘There they
are.’ Grace said, weaving through the tables and chairs, Laura and Gemma hot on
her heals.
The sound of chatter surrounded them, and Laura took a seat by Caspian.
  ‘Here are the menus,’ he said passing one to each of the girls, ‘the specials
are on the board over there.’
Laura scanned the menu, then slid her eyes to the prices.
  ‘Stella! You are not paying this amount of money for my food!’ Laura
exclaimed, shocked.
  Stella laughed, ‘trust me Laura, money is no problem for us. We are given
money from the Minor Court for all schooling expenses.’
  At that moment, the waiter approached the table and began taking orders. Once
all orders were placed and everyone had received their drinks, Stella began to
talk.
  ‘Since we left so quickly, I didn’t have a chance to cover the full bases of
the plan. Now that we are all here I would like to make sure everyone’s on the
same page,’ Stella paused for a moment as a waiter walked by. ‘We will begin
searching for the Istha Map tomorrow and should we locate it and discover it
serves no use, we will continue to repeat the process across the world until we
find what we are looking for.’ Stella paused once again as three waiters re-appeared
with everyone’s dishes. Once all the plates were set down and the waiters had
left, Stella continued. ‘Now, if we do happen to find what we are looking for
in one of these places then we will decide how to proceed form there. Sound
good?’
  They all nodded, even Leo, as they dug into their meals.
  ‘Great. Anyone have any questions?’ Stella asked. They each shook their head
and continued to eat. ‘All right then, tomorrow morning we will meet here at 8
ready to have breakfast and go.’
  Laura took that opportunity to ask her pressing question from the airport. ‘Stella,
how did we get through the airport with all the…’ she paused and then in a
whisper, finished, ‘weapons in our bags.’
  Stella laughed lightly, then replied in her own whisper, ‘We can cast the
invisibility charm upon ourselves and others, and we can also cast it on
objects. That is what we did before we left.’
  Laura shook her head, still unable to believe that these people, Enchanted,
were capable of so much.
  They finished their dinner and one by one, they rose from the table, heading
to their rooms to acquire some much needed rest. Soon it was only Stella, Leo,
Drew and Laura left at the table.
  ‘Well, it’s nearly 9.30, I think I’m going to hit the sack,’ Laura said,
rising from the table, ‘good night everyone.’
  ‘All right Laura, you go hit the… ah… sack,’ Leo said and Stella bid her
goodnight with a laugh at her husband.
  Laura was halfway across the room when Drew called for her to wait up.
  ‘Trying to leave me with the oldies,’ he accused as they passed the front
desk and took a right.
  ‘Hey, they aren’t that old. And I think sitting with them and having a chat
will do you good. They’re incredibly smart, and wise.’ Laura protested.
  ‘And I’m not?’
  ‘Well…’
  Drew scoffed, ‘I’d prefer walking a young lady safely to her room.’
  Laura laughed, ‘how chivalrous!’
  He shrugged, ‘whatever you say.’
  ‘And I think I can get safely to my room myself, thank you,’ she objected.
  ‘You never know what’s out there, Ace. It’s a cruel world,’ Drew said, and
almost ran into a child that was bolting full speed down the hallway.
  ‘Hey, watch it punk!’ The kid shouted and veered around Drew, sprinting off.
  Drew stared after him in utter disbelief.
  ‘Maybe it’s you who needs to be walked safely to your room,’ Laura retorted.
  Drew raised his hands in protest, ‘In my defence, that kid was like a
centimetre tall. Anyone could have missed him.’
  ‘Whatever you say,’ Laura mocked him, and they continued on their way to her
room.
  ‘Okay, well goodnight Drew. I trust you will be okay to make it to your room alive,’
Laura said. She rested her hand on the door knob, testing to make sure it was
unlocked, then pushed it open.
  ‘I think I can make it.’
  ‘Good.’ She turned away from him.
  ‘Ace, don’t forget, 5am practice,’ Drew added.
‘Goodnight Drew,’ Laura said as she closed the door, locking it behind her.
  The room was dark, save for the moonlight peeking through the curtains.
  ‘Laura?’ She heard Grace call.
  ‘Yeah, it’s me,’ she said pulling her jacked from her shoulders and making
her way to her bed.
  Gemma was sound asleep in her bed and Grace lay staring at the ceiling.
  ‘Oh good, I could have sworn I heard my brothers voice,’ she said as Laura
pulled the sheets back, not bothering to change, and jumped into bed.
  ‘Yeah he was just saying goodnight,’ Laura said, snuggling down into her
pillow.
  ‘Oh, okay.’ She hesitated, ‘well goodnight Laura.’
  ‘Night Grace,’ and with that, Laura drifted off into a deep sleep.