Ferryl Shayde - Book 3 - A Very Different Game

by Vance Huxley

“Maybe your earrings? Maybe not, because we aren’t sure where we bought everything. Jenny wanted costume jewellery for her character and we bought job lots from several stalls so there’d be spares for others.” Abel glanced at his mum, but she wasn’t getting the message. “We all gave our mums jewellery for Christmas, because when we collected it all together some pieces looked really nice, better than the rest.”

  His mum reached up and tapped the leaves on her earring to set them swinging. “Very nice, which is why I’m wearing them. As nice as anything else I’ve got.”

  “The thing is, Jenny priced up one of the other nice rings yesterday. It’s real. Proper gold and diamonds, but old stuff.” He almost held his breath as his mum froze for a moment, then reached up towards her ear.

  She very carefully took off the earring and put it on the table, then put her hand next to it. “That rock might be real? It’s bigger than the one on my engagement ring, and your dad splashed out on that. Spent his bonus.” She reached up to take off the other one, laid it with the first and sighed. “If they’re real I’ll sell them and put the money into Bonny’s Tavern.”

  “No!” Abel put out a hand as his mum jumped. “Sorry. No, don’t. Sell them if you like, but I gave them to you so you keep the money. Promise?” He managed to force a laugh. “After all they might not be real. Most of the rest is obviously plastic and glass.”

  “There’s only one way to find out, providing the car will start.” She picked the earrings up and put them back in. “I may as well show them off in case they’ve got to go.”

  “You can keep them anyway? The others might.” Abel clammed up but too late.

  “Terri’s and Jess’s presents as well?”

  “They all might be real, or none of them.” Abel knew full well every piece held real diamonds and gold, because Ferryl had looked into them. “You can take Kelis’s mum in the BMW, and Rob’s mum if she wants to know.” He smiled happily. “You might finally meet Jenny’s mum, in the same shop.”

  “Jenny as well? What about Kelis’s new lodger? Fay Shayde? Did she get jewellery for Christmas? Is she another secret girlfriend?” Abel wasn’t sure if the smile might be winding him up, or seriously trying to find out.

  “No, but that’s where the name for our sorceress came from. Kelis’s internet friend who got to know all of us and then became a beta.” He shrugged casually. “That’s why she came to England when her mum and dad died. From what she’s let slip, her family were reclusive and a bit odd, even if I’d never say that to her, so she didn’t really have friends.”

  “I got all that from Jess. Even so, that’s a big move for a young girl.” Abel recognised that tone, Mum on the scent, except there wasn’t anything to find out. Ferryl would refuse to discuss Fay’s past beyond generalities. “Come on, eat up. I’ll call Jess and Terri, and Jake so I can talk to his wife. What’s her name?”

  “Pass? Jenny’s mum? I met her twice. She probably told me but I can’t remember.” Abel swallowed more porridge, then stopped eating. “You don’t need me.”

  “Yes, we do, all of you, and the rest of that jewellery. Whose is it?”

  “Ours? The Tavern’s? We bought all sorts of junk for costumes because it only cost a few quid.” Abel looked at his dish. “We won’t all fit in the car, not even in the BMW.”

  “So, some of us go in Terri’s or get Jake to bring his family over in that great big Mercedes and collect any spares. Now eat up.” As his mum started calling, Abel gave up and ate.

  ∼∼

  Jenny had still been working up to telling her mum, Stephanie. Rob’s mum, Terri, had thought he was winding her up. Kelis’s mum had placed her brooch next to the engagement ring she intended selling anyway, compared the rocks, and told Kelis that either her husband totally stiffed her over the ring or the brooch was real. Since the engagement ring had been to impress his new model girlfriend and had been shown to all her friends, the chances were that it was real.

  Abel ended up in the Mercedes with Jenny and Ferryl, because according to his mum, “We should keep him with his mystery women.” If he hadn’t already known the truth, Abel would have been worried by now because his mum already thought her earrings must be the real thing. The disappointment if they weren’t would have been a real downer. The rest of the trip went to plan. The shop assistants recognised the five teenagers, and the ring Jenny had shown them, and were happy to confirm both to the parents.

  Abel had wondered about the next part, but sorting through the big heap of cheap glitter didn’t take the adults long. A few pieces needed a closer look before going into the reject heap but soon all the real gems and gold were laid out on the counter. Mr. Forester wanted to know who actually bought what, but all five swore they had no idea. At least the rejects kept Melanie and Jenny’s sister Diane occupied as they sorted through the heap for some brooches that might be witch’s curses.

  Once she realised there wouldn’t be any real stuff heading towards big sisters, Samantha settled for helping the two younger girls sort through the rest. After Rob waved a casual hand when she asked about a necklace, the trio set into the bag of tat in earnest. Meanwhile the negotiations started over the cost of a real appraisal of each valuable item. When sell or keeping the items came up, Abel pounced. He suggested the mums might want to sell their Christmas presents, maybe to buy a better car or TV, if the gems were good enough.

  For now, the valuables went into the little velvet lined boxes Mr. Forester bought, though four of the items stayed firmly attached to four mothers. Each family would decide what to do about the gifts, while the teenagers and their parents would discuss what to do with the rest. There wasn’t a fortune, but if Abel, Jenny, Rob, Kelis, and Fay invested the proceeds it would mean Jenny’s dad would no longer be the only real investor in Bonny’s Tavern. Abel expected close questioning about Fay getting a share. To celebrate the windfall, Mr. Forester suggested lunch for everyone, including Fay. He meant a proper restaurant, so as Abel pointed out it was a good job he’d learned to eat peas without a spoon. He tried to keep his mouth full to avoid the questioning.

  When they got home Abel soon knew what his mum had decided. She really did like the earrings but couldn’t afford to keep them, not if they would replace her car. It failed to start about one day in three, so she ended up relying on the minimal bus service to get to her part-time job. She’d ended up missing out on extra work over the holidays. Abel diverted her by talking about the rest of the stuff. He’d already decided to try and find out where mum sold the earrings, and to get Woods and Green to buy them. One day, in a year or two when he’d got legitimate money of his own, he could accidentally find them in a shop.

  Eventually his mum came round to the other subject Abel had dreaded, Fay. Abel stuck to his guns. Fay had bought some of the heap of rubbish, maybe the good stuff, so she got a share. He felt sure the others were getting similar earache.

  ∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼

  Monster Hunt

  Despite some definite heart-searching and genuine regret, all the mums, but Jenny’s would sell their Christmas presents. Stephanie Forester considered selling to donate the money to the charity side of Bonny’s Tavern, but Jenny persuaded her not to. The rest would go to really good causes, in a way. A car for Abel’s mum, a new three-piece suit for Rob’s mum, and cash in the bank for when Kelis’ mum had to move. Jess would have extra, because after some negotiation Rob’s mum wanted to buy the furniture from Kelis’s snug and use the rest of her windfall for a TV.

  The children kept out of it, because they had their own plans to make. Jenny had come up with a way to wear the dress she’d found in Castle House, as a steampunk character. That would take serious adaptation, so Jenny searched through the rest of the dressing room. Either the sorcerer did a lot of cross-dressing, or he kept his girlfriends’ clothes when they left. A quick check on the internet showed that some were over three hundred years out of date, but those would need work for Jenny to wear them. Eventua
lly Jenny found an off the shoulder gown that looked like a French one on the internet, from the mid-eighteen hundreds, one without a really wide skirt or a bustle on the back.

  A pale blue almost transparent skirt covered in embroidered flowers had been pulled up at the sides to show off the deep blue of the floor length dress. The lace around the top that left her neck and shoulders bare was probably a bit racy back then, but well within dad approval zones now. With the petticoats pushing the skirt out it looked nothing like any game character costume, but Jenny didn’t care. She could even wear her own modern, comfortable shoes under it, safely out of sight.

  Abel asked Kelis if she wanted to raid the clothing, but she pointed out with a big smirk she already owned an outfit that had the desired effect. He couldn’t argue with that, though he thought a couple of the lighter coloured cloaks in Castle House might suit her Sorceress Windcatcher ensemble.

  Abel couldn’t find anything in his size to start with, except hats and cloaks, until he looked at the casual clothing. He found a pair of old-fashioned leather jeans, buckskin breeches, and a shirt. A couple of hours spent carefully drawing the allegedly magical symbols from the Bonny’s Tavern game onto his leather vest, and he had Wind Chaser’s costume. All the boots he found were a bit big, but he could wear two or three pairs of socks for one night. Abel had two Angry Birds balloons filled with helium as pretend sprites because the real one could fly around in the open at this party.

  Rob had worked on his Roughly Hewn, especially on the torn shirt which now sported several wooden badges showing similar symbols to those on Abel’s jerkin. The big plastic sword, slung across his back in a rough sheath made from sacking, definitely looked better than his old papier-mâché club. After inspecting the buckskin breeches, Rob went for a pair as well, though they fit him better. Pathetic pleading to Samantha persuaded her to help him fix loops so he could wear a belt instead of braces.

  Ferryl just laughed when asked about costumes and pointed out she’d be herself. To avoid confusion with Petra, her fur and face would match Abel’s tattoo and she’d create a skirt so Petra could wear shorts. Her tail would have been a problem because if people touched a seeming their hand would go through, but Kelis had the answer. Next-day delivery brought an electric tail, bought on the internet. A phone call to Petra also meant the real Ferryl Shayde would have a real leather skirt instead of a seeming over a fabric one.

  ∼∼

  The first surprise on New Year’s Eve was the chauffeur. Abel had suggested a taxi, but Laurence offered to come and drive the BMW. Not alone, he turned up with another young man, one of the cousins he introduced as Emst. That made him the cousin, the one Kelis seemed keen on talking to in German. While they waited outside for the two girls, Abel kept half an eye on him to see the effect of the full Glyphmistress look. Emst would have only seen a toned-down version at one dance, just before Kelis and Laurence broke up. Then Abel forgot the cousin, because Kelis caught him out as well.

  Abel had assumed Firstseed’s clothes were thrown away. They were bloody, muddy, might be too tight even for Kelis, and she’d never wear that leather anyway. Kelis wouldn’t even want the red cloak, because she still didn’t like Ferryl talking about red being the right colour for a bloody-handed sorceress. That didn’t stop Ferryl from trying, but Kelis seemed determined to be a gentler sort of magic user.

  The crimson cloak now swathing Kelis meant Abel had been completely wrong, and definitely tended towards the bloody-handed look. He still wasn’t properly prepared for Kelis opening the cloak to give them a twirl. She’d kept the lot, the long boots and the form-fitting leather catsuit, and added her black driving gloves. Abel tried to shut his mouth, or breath, because with her sorceress hairstyle and makeup, that really did take his breath away.

  “Sniggleflitting heck.” Rob’s voice squeaked a bit, probably shocked.

  After fighting back a laugh and snatching a breath, Abel answered. “I second that, whatever it means. Gobsmacked?” He almost said ‘snugglefitting,’ but that would be too near the truth.

  “No, that’ll be the other two suckers. Especially the German sucker.” Rob sniggered, definitely recovering. “Someone should shove his eyes back in.”

  Kelis smirked happily, satisfied by the reaction. She started forwards, waving to Laurence. “I thought I’d better wear something tougher if we’ll be chasing monsters. Ah. Right.” She looked at Emst, suddenly uncertain.

  Laurence recovered enough to lift a hand and say hi. “Don’t worry, Emst knows we are putting on a show. He’s hoping he doesn’t doze off and miss it.” Abel understood the glance at his shoulder. Laurence wanted a glyph to make sure his cousin slept through the hunt.

  A familiar voice with a touch of German accent interrupted. “Surely not.” Abel knew exactly what to expect, but hadn’t properly processed the full effect. He’d got used to the miniature Ferryl Shayde wandering about on his arm, and now Zephyr could control the tattoo to do so again. A completely accurate version the same height as him came as a shock, because she even had the big green eyes. He’d mentioned the ones on the tattoo were unrealistic but Kelis and Ferryl found clips on the internet where women were putting on anime eyes. The whiskers stuck out as well, rather than Petra’s drawn-on versions while Ferryl’s darker skin made the whole effect more realistic somehow. “Will you be sleeping, Emst?” Abel cursed under his breath, because Emst perked up when he heard the hint of accent. He answered in German!

  Probably German, Abel privately conceded, because he didn’t know. He certainly didn’t expect a stream of the same coming back, or a more halting but still definitely foreign contribution from Kelis. Kelis came past him on her way to the car, where Laurence had opened the front door. “I made a wit.” Now he watched her in a different type of shock. Abel had managed to get to his shin bone, but it hurt when he tried to scribe on it. Kelis always did get obsessed with a new glyph and usually mastered them first, but she’d outdone herself this time.

  Abel wondered for a minute how everyone would fit in the BMW, but Emst headed for Laurence’s car. He definitely glanced hopefully at Ferryl, but she nudged Rob. “Go on Rob. You can learn German.” In a lower voice she continued, “Too close for too long and he might realise these eyes aren’t makeup.”

  Rob opened his mouth, to volunteer Abel from his glance, then smirked and shook his head. “Watch out Abel. You know the effect fur had on me.” He turned towards the smaller car. “Hard luck Emst. Abel wants to hold hands with his new pet.”

  ∼∼

  Ferryl really did hold Abel’s hand during the trip, so she could make jokes about Laurence. Most of them were about how it was lucky Kelis wrapped the cloak around her as she sat down, or he’d have run off the road. The others had to do with Laurence’s tights, because he’d finally found striped ones for his costume. Abel kept quiet, because he’d started worrying about Ferryl’s outfit. If she danced with anyone and they put an arm round her they’d realise the fur was a seeming. Nobody in the Tavern could cast a seeming on skin yet, only on cloth over the skin.

  Abel stopped worrying when Laurence drew up outside the big country house. Maybe it was because they’d had time and some had become more competitive over costumes, maybe because these were all the people who could throw glyphs, not just flutter a leaf, or maybe they’d all made a special effort because they’d be in a real stately home. For whatever reason, the Taverners had produced a dazzling array of costumes.

  The first one Abel noticed made him smile. A wide-brimmed black hat, a black cloak and a plain black collarless jacket, and trousers could be anyone. The big white cross on a chain, the white dog-collar and the way he kept creeping up behind people made this one Creepio Mysterio. Despite what he’d said, Abel didn’t think the vicar would find it amusing. The rest of the costumes were just as good.

  There were no bits of rope for tails, roughly drawn symbols on old pin-on badges, or a fancy jacket, hat or boots with otherwise ordinary clothes. Some costumes were relatively si
mple. The two rugby players had come as Champ the Bouncer and a frost giant, with their physique providing most of the costume. Someone had a cloak and a wolf’s head, probably from Halloween costumes, but the furry forearms and shins looked real. “A seeming over bandages.” Abel realised that he still held Ferryl’s hand and she’d seen him looking at the wolf-sorcerer.

  “It’s a good job I improved my costume.” Everyone here knew about Zephyr and spooky-phone so Abel may as well use it. “How much of this is seemings?”

  “Not that much. Several people are using magic to create fur, or unusually coloured skin or hair, and one is making his shoes look like boots. Many of them are using makeup for the main effect, then adding just a little extra. Very ingenious, and that uses less magic than a full seeming.” Ferryl waved to Rob and Emst as they came over, followed by Petra with a huge smile on her face.

  “No fair! If you weren’t the real deal, the original Fay Shayde, I’d be really ticked off about now. You’ve even found the same fur pattern as the tattoo.” Petra sighed dramatically. “Upstaged. Though looking around this lot, I’m going to have to invest in the electric tail to keep up.” She looked closer. “Ooh, I want to know where the eyes and whiskers came from.”

  A mental giggle from Ferryl meant she wasn’t too worried. “It’s a good job I actually looked them up on the internet, or Kelis did. I’d better pretend I haven’t met all these people before.” She introduced herself properly and explained where the makeup came from, promising to send Petra the web address. Her hand held on as Abel started to move away. “Keep hold, then if I make a mistake I’ll swear that Ferryl Shayde told me their names.”

  “Not hand holding. Zephyr can do that.”

  “Except she’ll be talking to lots of people at once. This way Ferryl allegedly tells me privately through skin contact.” Her laugh echoed in Abel’s head. “A girl should have a date for New Year, and I’m new to England. Tomorrow I’ll walk away and leave you broken-hearted. Unless you were hoping to catch someone special under the mistletoe?”