My Unfair Godmother

by Janette Rallison

  I hesitated then, doubts chipping away my resolve. Who was I to play with time?

  Then I thought of the pain in Hudson’s eyes when he talked about that night, the guilt and responsibility that weighed on him. What was the point of having the enchantment, I had asked earlier, if I didn’t use it to help people? Hudson had told me some things were worth the risk. This was one of those things.

  “I have to try to save her,” I said. It meant saving a part of Hudson. “I just need to do one more thing first.” I knelt down beside the diaper bag and used the enchantment for a last time to turn the things inside to gold. Dad and Sandra would need it to buy new furniture, cars, and everything else my wish had ruined.

  As I thought about how my wishes had gone, more doubts filled my mind. What if Chrissy somehow messed this up?

  Then I pushed the worries away. This wasn’t a wish; it was a business deal. Rumpelstiltskin had told me mortals had recourse with the Alliance if a business deal with a fairy wasn’t performed correctly.

  When I was done creating gold diapers, formula, and toys, I stood up. Chrissy held her palm out to me. In an official-sounding voice, she said, “Give me the enchantment and your request will be granted.”

  I took hold of the edges of the gold heart that pulsed over my own. It was attached to my chest so tightly that I was afraid I would tear away a huge chunk of skin when I pulled it off. But it came off with only a little tug. My own heart immediately felt better, lighter. My lungs could finally expand fully.

  I put the still-beating heart in Chrissy’s hand, and it transformed from a heart into a gold apple. She smiled at it, satisfied, and slipped it into her purse. “I’m totally going to gloat to Clover about having his enchantment. It serves him right for making deals behind my back.”

  Her voice faded, and a dizzying array of lights went off around me. It felt like soda bubbles were fizzing past me. When they cleared, I wasn’t in the forest any longer. I stood on a modern street back in Rock Canyon—I could tell by the stucco houses, the hot evening air, and the cacti and palm trees perched in the lawns.

  Chrissy leaned over my shoulder, pointing far down the street. “Hudson’s house is that one. His mother is about to come out.”

  And then Chrissy vanished.

  The door opened. A tall woman with Hudson’s brown hair stepped out. Even from a distance, I could tell she slammed the door behind her. She strode across her lawn and went down the sidewalk heading in my direction. Her gaze was down, her expression furious. She didn’t see me. She wasn’t paying attention to anything around her.

  I glanced back at Hudson’s house. It sat silently behind a manicured lawn. Hudson was inside right now, thinking he should go after his mother. But he wouldn’t.

  She came closer, her pace fast, and I felt awkward standing in the middle of the sidewalk wearing an evening gown and baby sling. I took off the sling and shoved it into the diaper bag that sat at my feet. Which only made me marginally more normal. I still had the evening gown and diaper bag.

  Hudson’s mother glanced up long enough to see me. She was pretty in a motherly sort of way. Her hair and makeup were still done at this late hour, and she wore a crisp tailored blouse. She struck me as the type who would run the PTO, be on all sorts of committees, and make sure her family ate nutritious dinners.

  “Mrs. Gardner?” I called to her.

  She paused, looked at me more closely, and stopped altogether. Surprise flitted across her large, brown eyes. Hudson’s eyes. Stetson’s eyes.

  “Mrs. Gardner?” I asked again. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Her gaze ran over me. “Do we know each other?”

  “I’m one of Hudson’s friends. I wanted to talk to you about the party tonight.”

  Her lips thinned into a tight line. “You were there too? I didn’t know it was a formal event.”

  “You need to know that Hudson is sorry. He wasn’t trying to undermine his father, or the law, or set a bad example. He went to the party because his friends were there, and he didn’t consider the consequences. He wants you to come back home so you can talk about it.”

  Her eyebrows rose and she scrutinized me for a moment. “How do you know that?”

  I couldn’t tell her we had chatted about it in the twelfth century, but I didn’t want to risk lying. Chrissy had said the liar’s hat would only be in effect until my wishes were fulfilled, but I wasn’t sure if this trip counted as part of my wishes. “Cell phones are wonderful things,” I said.

  Mrs. Gardner looked around the street, as though she might see Hudson. “Why didn’t he tell me any of this himself?”

  “Sometimes it’s hard to say those sorts of things, and then it’s too late.”

  She put one hand on her hip, drumming her fingers against her pants. “He realized I’m going down to the party to break it up, didn’t he? He doesn’t want me to embarrass him in front of his friends. Well, you can tell him he’ll be a lot more embarrassed if his father breaks it up and hauls his friends off to the station.”

  She moved to go past me, and I reached out, brushing my fingertips against her arm. “Please, go back to the house and talk to him. He loves you. He would be so devastated if anything happened to you.”

  She stopped and tilted her head at me. “If anything happened to me? What exactly are they doing at this party?”

  I hadn’t expected changing history to be quite this hard. My words came out too fast and emotional. “Call your husband about the party if you want, but go back and talk to Hudson.” I stopped and held out a pleading hand. “You’re his mother. He needs you.”

  I saw the break in her anger. It slid away from her, taking the tension in her expression with it. She ran a hand through her hair, then looked back at the house. “Okay,” she said, “I’ll talk to him.” She turned to me, putting on a polite smile. “It was nice of you to come out and talk to me, uh …”

  She was waiting for me to tell her my name, and I couldn’t lie, but I hesitated, not wanting to impact the future more than I already had. “Tansy,” I said. “But don’t tell him you talked with me. I wouldn’t want him to …” Tell you he doesn’t know anyone named Tansy.

  She nodded. “It will stay between us.”

  She looked like she was about to say more, but a car barreled down the street, tires screeching as it turned onto the street next to us. It went up on the sidewalk and across a corner of the lawn as it made the turn. I let out a slow breath. Mrs. Gardner would have been there if she hadn’t stopped to talk to me.

  She watched the car and reached into her pocket for her cell phone. As she punched in the number, she shook her head. “This is why those parties are a bad idea. That guy is going to hurt somebody. Did you get the license plate number?”

  I hadn’t been looking, but I knew it anyway. NDSTRCT. It was Bo’s brother’s car. I had recognized Bo in the driver’s seat.

  I gave her the license plate letters, feeling both sick and relieved. Had Bo even realized what he’d done that night? How could he have lived with himself if he had known? I wasn’t sure whether to feel angry or sorry for him.

  Mrs. Gardner’s phone call connected. She was no longer looking at me, but down the street where Bo had turned. She gave her husband the information and told him about the party. I was glad she wasn’t looking at me because I saw lights spinning around me, coming in close, and then I stood in my family room.

  Chapter 24

  The room wasn’t like it had been before our trip to the Middle Ages. The furniture and curtains were gone, and the carpet had been pulled up, as though someone tried to take it but realized it was too big and heavy to move. Clutter lay everywhere. Books, pencils, electronics, canned food. Apparently the thieves hadn’t known what to make of a lot of our modern things.

  I was definitely back on our street. Through the bare windows of the living room, sunshine poured in. I could see the paved road, the neighbors’ houses, the streetlamps standing sentry over the sidewalks. Sandra held Stetso
n in her arms, gently bouncing him on her hip. I caught sight of my dad in the hallway, checking the rest of the house.

  The desk in the family room was gone, but the computer sat on the floor, still plugged in. Nick was bringing up an Internet page. Hudson, sitting next to him, looked at me wryly. “Did you say your good-byes to Robin Hood?”

  “I did. And he was very grateful for the chance to change his destiny.”

  “Oh really? How grateful?”

  Nick jiggled the mouse in an attempt to hurry along the computer. “She couldn’t have gotten in much trouble. She was only there about ten seconds longer than we were.”

  “Yeah, but that’s probably twenty minutes in Middle Ages time,” Hudson said, and he looked considerably less certain about my ability to stay out of trouble for that long.

  I needed to tell Hudson what I’d done, but I couldn’t just blurt out that I had changed his whole last year. What would he think about stepping into a completely different life now?

  I would break the news to him carefully.

  “Um,” I said, but didn’t get any further.

  Sandra walked over to me and gave me a hug. “Thank goodness you made it back. Now I can stop worrying and start cleaning.”

  She handed the baby to me, and he grabbed hold of my neck eagerly, clearly not knowing what to make of this strange, empty place.

  “When is Chrissy going to take Stetson back to the future?” Sandra asked.

  I held Stetson so his head rested against my cheek. His hair felt like silk against my skin. “I don’t know.”

  Sandra gave him a kiss on the back of the head. “I’m glad we had the chance to spend some time with him.”

  I wondered if she would be as glad if she knew he might have to stay here.

  The computer screen popped up, and Nick said, “It’s last Monday morning at 7:03 a.m. We didn’t even miss a day of school. If we hurried now, we could make it on time.”

  “Except that all your clothes are gone,” Dad said, coming into the room. “The dressers, the beds—everything was taken.”

  Nick gestured to his dirt-splattered tunic. “We can’t go anywhere like this. How are we going to shop for new clothes?”

  Dad rubbed the back of his neck. “Especially since we left our cars in the Middle Ages.”

  Hudson stood up. “I can’t wait to find new clothes. I need to call my dad now. He’s probably been looking for me all night. What am I going to tell him?” He took a step toward the kitchen and then turned back to us, snapping his fingers. “I’ve got our story: the police have been searching for Robin Hood—I mean, the medieval bandits. We’ll tell the police that they broke in here, took our clothes, made us dress in their medieval stuff, and then held us hostage while they cleaned out this place. They only just left, and now we’re alerting the authorities.”

  “Why did they make us dress in medieval clothes?” Sandra asked. Her eyes were wide at the prospect of having to know facts about this story. She wasn’t used to lying.

  Hudson held out a hand as though grasping at the air for details. “They’re some sort of revolutionary group that’s trying to bring back the feudal system. They stole your cars, and we heard them saying they’re driving to California and then flying back to England. That way, the police will stop working overtime to look for them in town.” His glance slid over me, and his lips twitched in dissatisfaction. “Well, the bandits made all of us wear their medieval clothes except for Tansy, who was clearly on her way to the Oscars when the bandits broke in.”

  “Hey,” I said. “It’s not my fault Chrissy was in charge of my wardrobe.”

  Nick regarded me. “They made Tansy put on an old prom dress because that’s the sort of gown befitting a maiden.”

  Sandra bit her lip. “You think the police will buy any of that?”

  Hudson nodded. “The Merry Men stole silverware from the Village Inn and a nose ring from a store clerk. They set a precedent for weird behavior.”

  He strode toward the kitchen, and I called out, “What about your hair?”

  “What about it?” he asked.

  “How are you going to explain that it’s a couple of inches longer than it was yesterday?”

  Hudson stopped in his tracks and ran a hand through his hair.

  Sandra headed to the hallway. “Let me see if we still have the haircutting scissors.”

  Hudson followed her, rubbing his hand against his cheek. “I should shave too.”

  Dad went with them. “I think we still have some razors. I’ll show you where.”

  For the next few minutes, Hudson, Nick, and Dad shaved. After that, Sandra trimmed Hudson’s hair. Thankfully, the haircutting scissors were in a black plastic box that the thieves hadn’t found interesting enough to take. I stood near the bathroom door with Stetson, watching Hudson’s hair flutter to the ground.

  “I need to talk to you in private when you have a minute,” I said. I kept my voice casual so I didn’t lead him into asking a lot of questions.

  “Right.” His gaze went to the baby and he smiled. “When is Chrissy going to send Stetson to the future?”

  I shrugged. Every minute that ticked by made me worry a little more. Perhaps she hadn’t come because Stetson no longer existed in the future. Had I changed things that much?

  From the living room, Dad called out, “Tansy, how are we supposed to move this?”

  Oh. The diaper bag. I went to go talk to him. When I reached the family room, Dad and Nick were fingering through the bag. Dad took out a bright gold bottle. “Why did you change this stuff? The police are going to wonder why we have golden baby toys, diapers, and wet wipes in a place thieves just left.”

  “I gave the enchantment back to Chrissy,” I said. “But I wanted to have some gold first. I didn’t know the police would be checking it. Sorry.”

  Dad stared at me in surprise. “After all the trouble you went through to get the enchantment, you gave it back to Chrissy? Why?”

  “It put all of us in danger during the Middle Ages,” I said. “I didn’t know if the danger would stop once we got back home. Chrissy said that kings, giants, and pirates come after you if you can produce gold. Besides, the enchantment was never meant for humans, so it hurt my heart. And,” I added more quietly, “I traded it for something Hudson needed.”

  “Ahh,” Nick said, like the last sentence explained everything.

  My father sighed and turned the gold bottle over in his hands. “You’re probably right. Unending wealth might have its downsides. All those servants getting in the way. The car insurance rates on our Cadillacs.” He let out another sigh. “I sure hope Hudson appreciates whatever you got him.”

  “I hope so too,” I said.

  Nick picked up a gold pacifier. “Gold is worth thousands of dollars a pound. We still have a pretty good fortune here.”

  “The bag is too heavy to move,” Dad said. “We’ll have to take it piece by piece to the safe in my closet. That way, the police won’t see it.”

  I helped Dad and Nick move a few of the lighter items. It was hard for me to carry much while I was toting around a baby.

  When I went to check on Hudson, he was done with his haircut and was on the phone. I didn’t have to listen for long to figure out it was someone at the police station. He was giving a description of our cars and their destination.

  Which meant the police would be here soon and I would have even less of a chance of speaking to Hudson privately.

  When he hung up, I said, “I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Right. In a minute.” He walked toward the family room. “Where is everybody? We need to go over our story to make sure we get it straight.”

  “They’re moving gold from the diaper bag into my dad’s safe.”

  “What?” he asked, but we reached the family room and he saw what was happening. He went to help, shaking his head at me as he did. “You know, if you could have waited until after the police left to create ducky-shaped treasures, it would ha
ve made things easier.”

  I followed after him. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “Gold?” he asked, and the way he said it sounded like it was the last thing he wanted to talk about.

  “Not gold specifically. I want to tell you what happened after you guys came back home.”

  “Oh, Robin Hood then.” He sounded even less thrilled by this subject.

  “No, not Robin Hood either.”

  Hudson picked up the last of the gold items, a pair of booties, and headed toward my father’s room with everybody else. He motioned for me to come with them. “We can talk later; we need to go over our story before the police get here.” Loudly enough for everybody to hear, he said, “Okay, last night while your parents made dinner, Nick and I were sitting at the table doing homework. The doorbell rang and you went and opened the door without looking through the peephole first.”

  “Oh, I get to be an idiot.”

  “No, you’re just the trusting sort. The medieval bandits pushed their way inside with their swords drawn. They made us change clothes, then held us at sword-point in the kitchen while they robbed your house. We already know what Robin Hood and the Merry Men look like, so we shouldn’t have any problems giving descriptions.”

  We had reached the closet. While my dad tried to make everything fit into the safe, Hudson went on describing details of our night. He ended with, “Stetson will be Sandra’s nephew that she’s babysitting. We have to hope he doesn’t vanish during the investigation, because, yeah, there’s no good way to explain that.”

  I looked at Hudson impatiently. “Now can we talk for a minute?”

  “Sure.”

  The two of us headed back to the family room while Nick and Sandra stayed behind to help Dad. I stroked Stetson’s back and tried to think of the best way to break the news to Hudson. “Well …,” I said, and didn’t say anything else for a moment.

  He tilted his head, trying to read my expression. “Is this about you moving to some luxury apartment in New York?”

  “No, it’s about your wish.”

  “What wish?”

  “The wish you would have made.” It was the wrong place to start. He looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about. I tried again. “You see, after the rest of you left, I made a deal with Chrissy—”