Children of Poseidon: Rann

by Carr, Annalisa

  Jewel stared up at it for a second. “Has Lila been here recently?”

  “About a couple of months ago.” Maya rummaged in the fridge until she found what she wanted. She stood, brandishing a bottle of champagne with an air of triumph. “Why?”

  “What does she think of the decor?” The last time Jewel had seen the flat, pale wood and neutral colours dominated.

  Maya grinned. “She shuddered and said it wasn’t her flat any more, thank goodness.”

  “Mmm.”

  “Don’t you like it?”

  “It’s very bright.” Jewel looked round again. “Very you.”

  “I had to live with subtle for Lila.” Maya opened a cupboard and took two ornate champagne flutes out. She closed the door then opened it again and took another one. “Might as well see if champagne stirs any memories in her.” She poured sparkling liquid into the glasses and held out one to Jewel.

  “Cheers.” Jewel lifted her glass.

  “To a successful visit for you.” Maya raised hers and took a sip. “Nice.” She picked up the third glass and led the way back to the sitting room.

  The seawitch ignored the proffered glass and stared blankly towards the window. She didn’t appear to have moved since she’d been placed on the sofa. Maya held the glass to her lips until she took a tiny sip then gave up and moved to join Jewel on the other sofa. “This is a complete pain. She’s hard work.”

  “Where are we all going to sleep?” Jewel asked.

  Maya jumped up again. “You can have the spare bedroom, and seawitch over there can sleep on the sofa. I don’t think she’ll notice where she is. Pity to waste a bed on her.” She crouched down in front of the seawitch.

  The witch didn’t seem to be affected by her presence, so Jewel joined her. Dark green-blue eyes were flat and expressionless. Jewel squinted, trying to catch the spark of awareness that Rann claimed he’d seen. Nothing moved behind the eyes, so she straightened and smoothed the cotton fabric of seawitch’s jellaba down her arm.

  Poor thing. The coven will have to help her.

  She moved back to the sofa where Maya joined her, relaxing and stretching her long legs out to rest on the coffee table.

  Jewel curled into the corner of the sofa and yawned. “I’m wasted.” She blocked a further yawn with the back of her hand. “I’m not going to do anything for at least two days. And by that I mean anything to do with my mother.”

  “I’ll talk to some of the coven tomorrow.” Maya sipped her champagne thoughtfully. “We need to sort her out as soon as possible.” She inclined her head towards the seawitch. “I’m getting depressed from watching her.”

  “I need to buy some clothes.” Jewel changed the subject. “Something suited to this awful climate. Rann was absolutely right. It’s cold, it’s raining, and I suppose it will still be raining tomorrow. And the day after that.”

  Maya shrugged. “It rained on Rann’s island.”

  “Warm rain. For a couple of hours. Then it stopped and the sun shone. It never stops here.”

  Maya laughed. “You get used to it. And it’s spring. Summer will be along soon.”

  Jewel snorted. “So the rain will be warm. I wonder where Tamsin decided to go in the end. Last I saw of her, she was staring at the departure boards in Dar es Salaam and talking to herself. I think I miss her already.”

  “Don’t be maudlin. She said she thought New York might be a good idea.” Maya finished her champagne and picked up the seawitch’s full glass. “She said something about the gateway to the rest of the world.” Bouncing to her feet, she headed for the door. “I’ll get a duvet for the seawitch.”

  “I wonder what her name is.” Jewel contemplated the silent figure on the other sofa. “It’s a bit awkward calling her the seawitch.”

  “We can’t just give her any name,” Maya replied. “We could call her Seawitch. Like a title?”

  Jewel uncurled from her corner of the sofa and stretched. “It’ll do for now. I’m going to go to bed. Remind me where I’m sleeping.”

  She barely had time to undress before collapsing onto the bed and falling into unconsciousness.

  Jewel put the stack of carrier bags down and fumbled in her new handbag for the keys to Maya’s flat.

  The door opened, and Maya glanced down at the pile of shopping bags. “Here, let me take some of that. What on earth have you been buying?”

  “Clothes for London. I’ve got nothing for this climate. I bought some jeans and things. And an umbrella.”

  Maya looked down at the collection of bags she held and the ones still on the floor. “Things.” She focussed on Jewel. “What on earth have you done to your hair?”

  Jewel touched her head defensively. She wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t made a mistake, but a haircut was a small thing compared to the rest of the items on her to do list. “Don’t you like it?”

  Maya narrowed her eyes and gave the question the consideration it deserved. “It suits you.” She reached a hand out and ruffled it. “But you look different. Sophisticated. You’ve always had long hair.”

  Jewel ran her hand over her head again. She’d asked the stylist for something completely different, and that’s what she got. Short and feathery, her hair framed her face and tickled the back of her neck. She had a horrible feeling she’d done it to impress her mother with the fact that she was no longer the same person who’d been rejected nine years ago. “I went to some posh place in Knightsbridge. I think I like it. But it needs regular visits to a hairdresser. Not really suitable for the island.”

  “Have you had it coloured as well?”

  “No.” Jewel shook her head. “It’s just that most of the sun-bleached bits have been cut off so it looks darker.”

  “Almost coppery.” Maya put the bags down next to Jewel’s bed and walked round her. “It makes you look like a sophisticated urchin. New clothes?”

  Jewel took off her biker’s jacket and handed it to Maya, who stroked the distressed leather enviously.

  “What a shame you’re so much smaller than me.” She looked Jewel over thoroughly. “I forgot how stylish you used to be.”

  “Come on.” Jewel dropped her handbag on the bed. “I’ll unpack them later and show you. I need a cup of tea. And for you to tell me if you learned anything about Seawitch. Where is she?”

  “Still on the sofa.” Maya led the way into the kitchen. “She can’t stay like that. I’m getting worried. She’s not eating by herself. I managed to feed her some soup, but it was an effort.” She busied herself making tea and opened a box from a well-known patisserie. Jewel peered over her shoulder.

  “Chocolate mousse cake. I love you, Maya.”

  “I got one for Seawitch as well. You can try to feed it to her. With a cup of tea.” She smirked and carried the plate and a cup through to the sitting room.

  Jewel followed her with the other cups. Seawitch sat upright, staring into space. She didn’t move when the two women came in. Jewel took her tea and sipped it tentatively. She didn’t want to burn the creature’s mouth. Adding cold milk, she held the cup up to Seawitch’s lips. They stayed closed, so she pressed the edge of the cup to her lower lip. Seawitch opened her mouth obediently, and Jewel tilted the cup. She swallowed, and Jewel let her drink half the cup before offering her a spoonful of the mousse cake. She managed to persuade her to eat the portion, but Seawitch gave no indication that she’d tasted it or enjoyed it.

  Sitting down next to Maya, Jewel picked up her own tea. “What did you learn?” She glanced sideways at Maya. “Seawitch needs to be at the top of our to-do list. She’ll die if we don’t do something fast.”

  Maya licked chocolate from her finger.

  “Could we take the nullsilver bracelets off?” Jewel thought about it. “Rann said she was dangerous.” She wished Maya would put the cake dow
n and concentrate.

  “She is,” Maya said. “The nullsilver stays on.” She swallowed the last of her cake and took a gulp of tea. “I talked to two of the senior coven members. Charlie Tollworth and Maria Thorn. You must remember them.”

  Jewel screwed up her face in thought. She never concerned herself with her mother’s coven when she was a teenager. They were all miles above her, and she hadn’t been encouraged to hang round during their visits.

  “Charlie Tollworth? Tall, dark man, going a bit gray?”

  “Almost white now.”

  “And Maria Thorn is that tall, big woman. Looks arrogant.”

  “Yes.” Maya rolled her eyes, looking like the stroppy teenager she’d once been. “She is arrogant. But they’re the most knowledgeable of the lot. The oldest.”

  “So?”

  “They didn’t know anything.” Maya’s lip curled in an expression of contempt. “Maria said she thought seawitches died out at least a thousand years ago, but they agreed to ask the coven at their next meeting. That’s not for a week, though. And it’ll be without a leader, so they’ll be more indecisive than usual.”

  The two women stared gloomily at the seawitch.

  “If we have to hand feed her everything, she’ll probably starve to death.” Jewel finished her tea and put the cup down on the coffee table. “I’ll ring my mother tonight.” She squashed the instinctive reluctance. She would have liked to have a few days to get to grips with the idea, but she supposed she should get it over with. And Seawitch needed help as soon as possible. “Maybe she’ll see me tomorrow.”

  Maya put her own cup down. “I’ll come with you if you like. Kara really has gone a bit strange recently. She used to be pretty cold, but now she’s rude as well.”

  “It’s okay.” Jewel forced her face into a smile. “I know what she’s like. She might have been cold to most people, but she was pretty unpleasant to me even then. You must remember.” She glanced at Maya.

  Kara treated Maya with respect and admiration. She never unleashed the nastier side of her personality on her. She’d mentored Maya during her magical transition years, something she never did for her own daughter. Maya let it be known that she didn’t like Kara much but she had been willing to put up with her, to learn as much as possible. Maya was ambitious, and Jewel had never told her friend exactly how bad her home life had been. Though Maya’s parents were dead, she had a close relationship with her sister, who had brought her up, and anyone could see that Lila would have done anything for her. So Jewel had always felt as though she had something wrong with her, something that made her less than loveable. Maya still didn’t know about the times Kara hit her or the times she’d been locked in her room without food. She wasn’t going to either, Jewel had moved past that, and she had her pride. She was strong enough to face her mother without help or support.

  Maya ordered takeaway pizzas for supper, and Jewel drank Italian beer with hers. She hoped it would give her some courage.

  As soon as she finished, she rose to her feet. No point in putting it off.

  “Can I borrow your phone?” She hadn’t needed one on Rann’s island, and she’d forgotten to buy one on her marathon shopping trip.

  Maya handed the phone over without saying anything, and Jewel took it into the kitchen. She needed to concentrate. Maya stuck her head round the door. “Kara’s on speed dial. Under ‘coven leader.’” She closed the door again.

  Jewel frowned at the phone. Pulling herself together and telling herself not to be a pussy, she forced herself to make the call. A stranger answered immediately. A woman’s voice, probably a maid. Kara had never been able to keep staff, even though she paid well.

  “Vargas residence. How may I help you?”

  “I’d like to speak to Kara Vargas, please.”

  “Who’s calling?”

  “It’s her daughter. Jewel.” Someone on the other end of the phone took an audible breath. Jewel waited.

  “Hold on.”

  She tapped her foot on the tiles, counted the different types of fruit on the chandelier, and eventually wandered to the window and looked out over the roofs of Hampstead. The stars were drowned out by the city lights; far too much brightness saturated the night skies over the city.

  “Jewel?”

  “Mother.”

  “You’re back in London? That’s Maya’s phone.” Accusation coloured her mother’s voice.

  Why shouldn’t I be in London? “Yes.” Jewel moved to the kitchen table and sat down. “I’d like to see you.”

  Kara sighed heavily then relapsed into silence for a few seconds. Jewel didn’t believe her mother would refuse to see her. She wasn’t important enough for that.

  “I suppose I could fit you in,” she said. “When did you want to come?”

  “Tomorrow.” No point in putting it off.

  “Tomorrow?” Her mother sounded surprised.

  Jewel had been an insecure teenager when she left London, frightened of Kara, and rarely offering an unsolicited opinion. She certainly hadn’t been decisive. She waited.

  “Come for tea. Day after tomorrow. Three thirty. You know where to come?”

  “I lived there for seventeen years.” Jewel could not refrain from sarcasm.

  “Goodbye.” Her mother cut off the call.

  Jewel closed her eyes. That hadn’t been as bad as she expected. Of course, neither of them had said much more than a dozen words. She went back into the sitting room.

  “Sorted?” Maya carried on reading through some papers.

  “I think so.” Jewel handed Maya her phone. “I’m meeting her for tea the day after tomorrow.”

  “God.” Maya flung her reading matter onto the coffee table. A single loose sheet slid to the carpet. “I remember those teas. Me, perched on the edge of the sofa, trying not to break the china, feeling like a huge clumsy gorilla, while she questioned me on arcane magical theory. Ugh.”

  “You’re making me glad she never wasted her energy on me.” Jewel bent to pick up the paper. “I don’t think I ever had tea with her.” She stared at the meaningless list of figures. “I wish I didn’t have to now.”

  Chapter 7

  Rann jumped out of the small boat and waded through the shallow opaque water to the shore of his half-brother’s Scottish island. He pulled the boat up the beach and secured it between two rocks. A fine drizzle fell relentlessly from the clouds, landing on rocks as gray as the sky. He shivered. Why on earth does Lykos want to live here?

  Rann asked himself the same question every time he visited. The place was usually cold, always damp, and completely isolated. His brother had lived alone except for servants and the occasional lover, until he met his present and final lover, Lila. They’d gone through some sort of marriage ceremony a couple of years ago, but even so, the island was still a place of solitude. How Lykos hadn’t gone into a complete decline defeated Rann’s imagination. How did he ever persuade Lila to come here? Poor woman.

  After the four women left for Dar es Salaam, Rann’s worry had escalated. Tamsin’s talk of death and danger, in the same sentence as she mentioned Jewel, nagged at him. Worry hadn’t troubled him very often in his long life, but now it nibbled relentlessly at the back of his mind. He didn’t like to think of Jewel confronting her horrible mother alone, but that’s what she had seemed to want, and he understood that she needed to overcome the hang-ups of her past. That was fine with him, but he didn’t like the fact that she might not return afterwards. She belonged on his island. In the sun. Sunlight enhanced her beauty, made her happy. Rann did not want Jewel to be in London, which he remembered was almost as gray and depressing as Lykos’s island.

  The problem of the seawitch festered away in the corners of his mind unoccupied by Jewel. Tamsin had said that she must leave the island, but she hadn’t said much else.<
br />
  Who could have infected her with the dark spells, the death magic? Who turned her into a mindless doll? Did I really see a spark of life in her eyes or was it just wishful thinking because I didn’t want to end what life remained to her?

  His head pounded just thinking about it, but one thing worried him more than the others—anyone who had done such a thing to a seawitch needed to be found and stopped. Anyone who had done that might be a danger to his people.

  He assumed that was why his mother hadn’t killed the infected witch herself. Rann couldn’t dismiss his concerns, and in the end, he decided he needed to go to London himself to try to get some answers there. He could persuade Jewel to return with him at the same time. She’d been away a day, and he missed her. He’d taken her for granted while she lived with him, and it came as a shock for him to realise how big a gap her departure had left. And for such a reason.

  He jerked himself back to his present surroundings as a small chestnut-haired woman walked across the shingle, towards him. Lila, Lykos’s lover and Maya’s sister. She looked nothing like Maya; she was small where her sister was tall, with hair that gleamed in a muted version of Maya’s flaming locks. The only similarity lay in the depths of their warm, slightly slanting, amber eyes.

  “Rann.” Lila hurried towards him, and he swept her into a hug. She laughed, hugged him back, and kissed his cheek. “Lykos is swimming down with the selkies. He’ll be back shortly. Come on up to the tower.”