For now Mom settled on Will and I sharing the double-bed from her room, so we worked together to switch the beds between bedrooms. She didn't mention for a moment the possibility that Will might not come back to share the bed with me. Nor did I. It didn't bear thinking about.
I was up in the loft, rolling up my sleeping bag, when the phone rang.
"Hold on a moment, Hope." Mom climbed down the ladder - she'd sniffed dismissively at the rope and when I protested, she'd asked archly what it was I'd fallen from this morning - and left the bedroom.
The sleeping bag wasn't particularly breakable so once it was rolled up, I dangled it out of the hatch and flipped it in the direction of the bed. It unrolled partly as it fell and bounced on the mattress. One at a time I flung the cushions I'd been sleeping on after the bag. Without them up here, there really wasn't much left: Van Dahl's drawing, a night-light Will had set up for me and three books that I'd have to take back to the library some time soon.
It all seemed much less cozy now than it had this morning.
"I did ask you to hold on a moment," Mom told me from the door. "Did you leave anything up there?"
"Just the breakables."
"Well pass those down carefully." She climbed the steps again and I passed her the night-light first.
"Is there a plug socket up there for this?"
"No," I answered, "But Will has a way with electrical appliances." I decided not to mention that Giles (the light) would also read to me sometimes when I was tired. All I had to do was hold the book under him and turn the pages when he told me to. It was sometimes comforting when I was lonely up in the loft, and it wasn't as if I had to worry about anyone but Will hearing his voice. I waited until she had both hands on the lamp before letting go and carefully removing the pins holding the drawing of me to a rafter. "Who was on the phone?"
"Matt Olsen. He was wondering why Will hadn't turned up for work at his grandfather's shop... What's this?" asked Mom when I passed her the drawing.
"It was a present," I told her shortly. "Please be careful with it."
"I will." She climbed down and rested it on the computer keyboard. "It's lovely, did Hay Lin draw this?"
I gathered up the books, ready to hand them down. "No, it was a Mr. Van Dahl."
Mom didn't reach up to take the books. "Wi- er, Hope. How did a man happen to draw a picture of you sleeping?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well I was sleeping on his bed..." I saw her face going red and flinched. "Er... did I do something wrong?"
"And did anything else happen in that bed?"
I thought frantically. "I don't think so? What else would happen in a bed?"
Mom muttered something I didn't quite catch. "Hope, did Will ever mention anything to you about the birds and the bees?"
I gave her a blank look.
"How about boys and girls and where babies come from?"
"You mean romantic stuff? Um... does talking about Matt count?"
"I rather doubt it." She shook her head and then reached up for the books. "I think we'd better have a little chat about this young lady. There are a few things about boys - and men - that any girl your age ought to know before she gets herself into trouble."
Why did I have a feeling of impending doom?
W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.
"I solemnly swear... no boy touches my unclad body... until I am at least sixteen... Is that sixteen counting from November?" I asked, realising a slight possible conflict between what I was reciting and my actual circumstances. Sixteen years from the date of my creation would be after Will's twenty-ninth birthday.
"Let's count that as your thirteenth birthday, Hope. Mind you, I wouldn't be upset if you waited a good bit more than three years, but that's all I'm insisting on."
"For the next three years, then... and either you or Will gives me a second opinon... cross my heart..." Mom stopped me and moved my hand through what was apparently the proper way of doing that. "...and hope to die."
"Good girl," she assured me and returned the banana to the fruitbowl. Seeing my horrified look, she removed it again and threw it into the bin. "That's enough about that I think. Now how about some... goodness, it's still more or less lunch time. Well, I don't know about you but I'm hungry."
Within a few minutes, the makings of some sizeable sandwiches were spread out across the table. Almost mystically my appetite had returned after vanishing about halfway through Mom's description of childbirth.
"I think we're going to have to talk about what to tell the police," Mom decided, spreading some butter over some thick slices of bread. "They will want to know where you are from and if they can't find some confirmation, I doubt they'll be too happy about me adopting you."
I drew my attention away from the important business of layering cold chicken over some cheese and ham on my own plate. "Well I don't imagine that it would be a good idea to lie to them..."
"It would be a very bad idea. The only reason I'm even considering it is that letting anyone know that Will is a Guardian of the Veil might put her in even more danger." She held up one hand. "And discussion of that part of your sister's life will have to wait until she returns."
I rubbed my hands. "Oh that's going to be fun?"
"And what do you mean by that?"
"Just that you both tend to finish 'discussions' shouting at each other."
Mom looked pained. "I know," she admitted. "But now she doesn't have to hide everything in her life from me. Maybe that will make things better."
"I hope so. Just... try to keep your temper in check? Please?"
"My temper?"
"Well you're the adult..."
She dropped her knife and gave me a look that I wasn't sure how to interpret. "You're going to take some getting used to, I can tell."
"Uh..." What was I supposed to say to that? "Maybe we should tell the police enough about the truth for them to draw their own conclusions," I suggested, going back to the previous topic of conversation. "It's perfectly true that I met Will, Irma, Cornelia and Hay Lin at Shell Cave and that I have no memory of anything before then. And Will really did bring me home from there and hid me from you for the last six weeks. If the police want to go looking for my past before that... well, let them."
She nodded and started adding honey to her bread. "That could work. There is one lead that they could follow though."
I gave her a blank look.
"Do you have any idea what a blood test of you will show? Or a DNA test?"
"I don't even know what they are... I mean... I probably have blood, but I'm not quite as... real as Will is." I didn't dwell on the differences, we'd already established that I hadn't had what Mom had delicately described as a 'monthly visitor' yet, whereas Will had started the year before. If Elyon's spell was still working and it performed as intended then I would probably get to 'enjoy' that too, sooner or later.
Mom nodded. "Mostly they'll be checking your blood for traces of disease and of drugs..."
"Drugs?"
"That's a conversation for another day, I think. The point is though, that they might well find anomalies that will suggest that you aren't... normal. And if that isn't a problem, your DNA will be copied from Will, which will show you to be my daughter and Tony's. I don't know what will happen if he gets contacted about this."
"Tony?"
"Will's father and my former husband." Mom looked sad. "I hate to say it, but I'd rather he never learned of you."
I nodded. "Well there's not much we can do about the medical tests except react to whatever they find as if we don't know it. Which will be easy because..."
"...we don't." She nodded her understanding. "It seems a little chancy."
"I seems very chancy. No offense, Mom, but if someone suggests cutting me open to try to answer any questions raised then I'm going to run away. Probably to Metamoor."
"I'm fairly sure that that only happens in the X-Files, Hope, but if they do try then I'll be with you."
The heartwarming moment was interrupted by the phone ringing again. "We're popular today. No, never mind, I've got it," I added when Mom started to get up.
The phone was just through in the living room. "Vandom Residence?"
"Will?" a man's voice asked. "It's Dean Collins."
I fought down the urge to drop the phone. He may have given me a B on the history report, but that wasn't buying me off for being mad at him giving it to me in the first place. "It's not Will."
"Susan? You're sounding..."
"Not Mom either. Do you want to talk to her?"
"Er... yes please."
"Mom! Confused guy on the phone for you!"
She gave me a look that would have been more intimidating if it wasn't the twinkle in her eye as she took the phone off me. "Hello? ... Oh, Dean!"
I was on my way back to my sandwich when she said, "Don't be silly. Hope and I were just having lunch. Why don't you come over in an hour or so. I'm sure she'd love to meet you."
"We've met," I murmured, hopefully quietly enough that the phone wouldn't pick it up.
Mom arched an eyebrow in a way that I realised meant she'd want to know all about that, and soon. Oops. Hopefully Will wouldn't get into trouble over cutting class that day. Well, too much trouble. I was still a little annoyed about her running off to go swimming, even if it was a plot by Elyon and Cedric.
"She's a friend of Will's but she's all alone in the world, Dean. I'm going to adopt her."
I didn't think that that was quite true, but I guess any talent I have for deception had to come from somewhere."
"Okay, I'll see you in an hour or so," Mom finished and put the phone down. "So when did you -"
The phone rang again. We exchanged looks and she picked it up. "Susan Vandom speaking. ... Oh, Agent Medina!"
Great. The call about the hospital check-up.
"Just let me get a pen..." Mom noted down some information. "Okay, we'll see you there." She didn't put the phone down this time, just tapping the release and then dialling another number. "I'm going to call work and let them know I'll not be in tomorrow morning either. You finish your lunch, and you can either plan what you're going to tell Agent Medina about yourself or what you're going to tell me about meeting Dean."
What a decision...
W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.
Dean Collins smiled somewhat uncertainly as I opened the door. "Ah, Will! I gather you have a new sister."
I shrugged. "I'm the new sister. Will's out."
He didn't come in when I stepped back from the door, instead giving me a disbelieving look. "Really?"
"I suppose you'll see when she gets back. Are you coming in or not?"
"Oh, uh, yes." He obediently came in and I waved him towards the lounge where Mom was waiting.
She greeted him with a happy "Dean!" and for a moment I overlaid the image of Will and Matt over them - not that there seemed to be much of an actual relationship going on there, at least that I'd noticed. But somehow, if it did work out, I thought that they might be like these two. So this was romance...
Somehow I couldn't see myself in such a role, but perhaps - as Mom had implied - I was still simply too young, in heart if not body, for such a thing. I could wait.
"I see you've met Hope," she told him after they'd clasped hands for a moment.
"Yes," he agreed, still sounding uncertain.
"For the second time, she tells me."
Professor Collins blinked and turned towards me, a questioning look on my face.
"Third time, technically," I clarified. "We met twice one day - you thought I was Will, which was kind of intentional since we were hiding my existence."
"Well... I can see how I'd fall for that. The resemblence is uncanny."
"You're not the only one they fooled," Mom agreed. "Apparently I've had two daughters since November and neither felt they ought to tell me."
"We're going to be paying for that for a long time, aren't we?" I asked.
"Yes, you are. In your case, you're going to have a lot of school to catch up on."
"I've been working on that!"
"I know and I am pleased about that, but you can't educate yourself as well from books as organised teaching can. Once school starts again, you're going to be taking some placement tests, young lady."
"I'm sure Principal Knickerbocker would be delighted to arrange that," offered Professor Collins. "I assume you'd like Hope to attend Sheffield Institute with Will?"
Mom nodded. "You already have friends there, don't you, Hope?"
"Mostly Will's friends, but yes."
"Well that should work out then," Collins said confidently. "I can talk to the Principal and I'm sure that something can be set up next week once school's back in session."
Then Mom leant forwards and asked a question I'd hoped that she wouldn't think of. "So, Hope, when you met Dean twice in one day, was one of those times at school?"
...rats. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut about incriminating details. "Let's just say there was one history class where Will might have said something unfortunate to you if pressed. She really wasn't too happy that you and Mom were talking about her grades, particularly behind her back."
They exchanged glances. "Well it's not as if I don't have an interest," Mom protested.
"I'm not trying to get into that argument again," I assured her. "Just... if you're upset about my grades I'd rather hear about it before it's used as an arguement against my doing something other than studying."
Mom flushed and Dean chuckled lightly, although he cut off sharply when she turned her head in his direction. "You know your own mind, don't you?"
I shrugged.
"I promise to talk about it with you, as long as I get the chance to," Mom assured me. "Between my work and Will always running off with her friends, I don't always have that opportunity."
Once I spread my hands slightly to concede her point, she added: "I can already tell you're going to be keeping me and Will in line."
I pointed at myself and gave her the 'who, me?' look. You all know the one.
Mom laughed. "And who was it who was giving me a hard time over a glass of wine earlier? I feel for my future grandchildren."
"I am not in any hurry." I shuddered. Mom's description of giving birth to Will had been... detailed.
That got a laugh from both of them. "Nor am I, sweetheart." Mom gave me a hug. "So why don't you tell Dean about what subjects you like at school..."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
I was up in the loft, rolling up my sleeping bag, when the phone rang.
"Hold on a moment, Hope." Mom climbed down the ladder - she'd sniffed dismissively at the rope and when I protested, she'd asked archly what it was I'd fallen from this morning - and left the bedroom.
The sleeping bag wasn't particularly breakable so once it was rolled up, I dangled it out of the hatch and flipped it in the direction of the bed. It unrolled partly as it fell and bounced on the mattress. One at a time I flung the cushions I'd been sleeping on after the bag. Without them up here, there really wasn't much left: Van Dahl's drawing, a night-light Will had set up for me and three books that I'd have to take back to the library some time soon.
It all seemed much less cozy now than it had this morning.
"I did ask you to hold on a moment," Mom told me from the door. "Did you leave anything up there?"
"Just the breakables."
"Well pass those down carefully." She climbed the steps again and I passed her the night-light first.
"Is there a plug socket up there for this?"
"No," I answered, "But Will has a way with electrical appliances." I decided not to mention that Giles (the light) would also read to me sometimes when I was tired. All I had to do was hold the book under him and turn the pages when he told me to. It was sometimes comforting when I was lonely up in the loft, and it wasn't as if I had to worry about anyone but Will hearing his voice. I waited until she had both hands on the lamp before letting go and carefully removing the pins holding the drawing of me to a rafter. "Who was on the phone?"
"Matt Olsen. He was wondering why Will hadn't turned up for work at his grandfather's shop... What's this?" asked Mom when I passed her the drawing.
"It was a present," I told her shortly. "Please be careful with it."
"I will." She climbed down and rested it on the computer keyboard. "It's lovely, did Hay Lin draw this?"
I gathered up the books, ready to hand them down. "No, it was a Mr. Van Dahl."
Mom didn't reach up to take the books. "Wi- er, Hope. How did a man happen to draw a picture of you sleeping?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well I was sleeping on his bed..." I saw her face going red and flinched. "Er... did I do something wrong?"
"And did anything else happen in that bed?"
I thought frantically. "I don't think so? What else would happen in a bed?"
Mom muttered something I didn't quite catch. "Hope, did Will ever mention anything to you about the birds and the bees?"
I gave her a blank look.
"How about boys and girls and where babies come from?"
"You mean romantic stuff? Um... does talking about Matt count?"
"I rather doubt it." She shook her head and then reached up for the books. "I think we'd better have a little chat about this young lady. There are a few things about boys - and men - that any girl your age ought to know before she gets herself into trouble."
Why did I have a feeling of impending doom?
W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.
"I solemnly swear... no boy touches my unclad body... until I am at least sixteen... Is that sixteen counting from November?" I asked, realising a slight possible conflict between what I was reciting and my actual circumstances. Sixteen years from the date of my creation would be after Will's twenty-ninth birthday.
"Let's count that as your thirteenth birthday, Hope. Mind you, I wouldn't be upset if you waited a good bit more than three years, but that's all I'm insisting on."
"For the next three years, then... and either you or Will gives me a second opinon... cross my heart..." Mom stopped me and moved my hand through what was apparently the proper way of doing that. "...and hope to die."
"Good girl," she assured me and returned the banana to the fruitbowl. Seeing my horrified look, she removed it again and threw it into the bin. "That's enough about that I think. Now how about some... goodness, it's still more or less lunch time. Well, I don't know about you but I'm hungry."
Within a few minutes, the makings of some sizeable sandwiches were spread out across the table. Almost mystically my appetite had returned after vanishing about halfway through Mom's description of childbirth.
"I think we're going to have to talk about what to tell the police," Mom decided, spreading some butter over some thick slices of bread. "They will want to know where you are from and if they can't find some confirmation, I doubt they'll be too happy about me adopting you."
I drew my attention away from the important business of layering cold chicken over some cheese and ham on my own plate. "Well I don't imagine that it would be a good idea to lie to them..."
"It would be a very bad idea. The only reason I'm even considering it is that letting anyone know that Will is a Guardian of the Veil might put her in even more danger." She held up one hand. "And discussion of that part of your sister's life will have to wait until she returns."
I rubbed my hands. "Oh that's going to be fun?"
"And what do you mean by that?"
"Just that you both tend to finish 'discussions' shouting at each other."
Mom looked pained. "I know," she admitted. "But now she doesn't have to hide everything in her life from me. Maybe that will make things better."
"I hope so. Just... try to keep your temper in check? Please?"
"My temper?"
"Well you're the adult..."
She dropped her knife and gave me a look that I wasn't sure how to interpret. "You're going to take some getting used to, I can tell."
"Uh..." What was I supposed to say to that? "Maybe we should tell the police enough about the truth for them to draw their own conclusions," I suggested, going back to the previous topic of conversation. "It's perfectly true that I met Will, Irma, Cornelia and Hay Lin at Shell Cave and that I have no memory of anything before then. And Will really did bring me home from there and hid me from you for the last six weeks. If the police want to go looking for my past before that... well, let them."
She nodded and started adding honey to her bread. "That could work. There is one lead that they could follow though."
I gave her a blank look.
"Do you have any idea what a blood test of you will show? Or a DNA test?"
"I don't even know what they are... I mean... I probably have blood, but I'm not quite as... real as Will is." I didn't dwell on the differences, we'd already established that I hadn't had what Mom had delicately described as a 'monthly visitor' yet, whereas Will had started the year before. If Elyon's spell was still working and it performed as intended then I would probably get to 'enjoy' that too, sooner or later.
Mom nodded. "Mostly they'll be checking your blood for traces of disease and of drugs..."
"Drugs?"
"That's a conversation for another day, I think. The point is though, that they might well find anomalies that will suggest that you aren't... normal. And if that isn't a problem, your DNA will be copied from Will, which will show you to be my daughter and Tony's. I don't know what will happen if he gets contacted about this."
"Tony?"
"Will's father and my former husband." Mom looked sad. "I hate to say it, but I'd rather he never learned of you."
I nodded. "Well there's not much we can do about the medical tests except react to whatever they find as if we don't know it. Which will be easy because..."
"...we don't." She nodded her understanding. "It seems a little chancy."
"I seems very chancy. No offense, Mom, but if someone suggests cutting me open to try to answer any questions raised then I'm going to run away. Probably to Metamoor."
"I'm fairly sure that that only happens in the X-Files, Hope, but if they do try then I'll be with you."
The heartwarming moment was interrupted by the phone ringing again. "We're popular today. No, never mind, I've got it," I added when Mom started to get up.
The phone was just through in the living room. "Vandom Residence?"
"Will?" a man's voice asked. "It's Dean Collins."
I fought down the urge to drop the phone. He may have given me a B on the history report, but that wasn't buying me off for being mad at him giving it to me in the first place. "It's not Will."
"Susan? You're sounding..."
"Not Mom either. Do you want to talk to her?"
"Er... yes please."
"Mom! Confused guy on the phone for you!"
She gave me a look that would have been more intimidating if it wasn't the twinkle in her eye as she took the phone off me. "Hello? ... Oh, Dean!"
I was on my way back to my sandwich when she said, "Don't be silly. Hope and I were just having lunch. Why don't you come over in an hour or so. I'm sure she'd love to meet you."
"We've met," I murmured, hopefully quietly enough that the phone wouldn't pick it up.
Mom arched an eyebrow in a way that I realised meant she'd want to know all about that, and soon. Oops. Hopefully Will wouldn't get into trouble over cutting class that day. Well, too much trouble. I was still a little annoyed about her running off to go swimming, even if it was a plot by Elyon and Cedric.
"She's a friend of Will's but she's all alone in the world, Dean. I'm going to adopt her."
I didn't think that that was quite true, but I guess any talent I have for deception had to come from somewhere."
"Okay, I'll see you in an hour or so," Mom finished and put the phone down. "So when did you -"
The phone rang again. We exchanged looks and she picked it up. "Susan Vandom speaking. ... Oh, Agent Medina!"
Great. The call about the hospital check-up.
"Just let me get a pen..." Mom noted down some information. "Okay, we'll see you there." She didn't put the phone down this time, just tapping the release and then dialling another number. "I'm going to call work and let them know I'll not be in tomorrow morning either. You finish your lunch, and you can either plan what you're going to tell Agent Medina about yourself or what you're going to tell me about meeting Dean."
What a decision...
W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.
Dean Collins smiled somewhat uncertainly as I opened the door. "Ah, Will! I gather you have a new sister."
I shrugged. "I'm the new sister. Will's out."
He didn't come in when I stepped back from the door, instead giving me a disbelieving look. "Really?"
"I suppose you'll see when she gets back. Are you coming in or not?"
"Oh, uh, yes." He obediently came in and I waved him towards the lounge where Mom was waiting.
She greeted him with a happy "Dean!" and for a moment I overlaid the image of Will and Matt over them - not that there seemed to be much of an actual relationship going on there, at least that I'd noticed. But somehow, if it did work out, I thought that they might be like these two. So this was romance...
Somehow I couldn't see myself in such a role, but perhaps - as Mom had implied - I was still simply too young, in heart if not body, for such a thing. I could wait.
"I see you've met Hope," she told him after they'd clasped hands for a moment.
"Yes," he agreed, still sounding uncertain.
"For the second time, she tells me."
Professor Collins blinked and turned towards me, a questioning look on my face.
"Third time, technically," I clarified. "We met twice one day - you thought I was Will, which was kind of intentional since we were hiding my existence."
"Well... I can see how I'd fall for that. The resemblence is uncanny."
"You're not the only one they fooled," Mom agreed. "Apparently I've had two daughters since November and neither felt they ought to tell me."
"We're going to be paying for that for a long time, aren't we?" I asked.
"Yes, you are. In your case, you're going to have a lot of school to catch up on."
"I've been working on that!"
"I know and I am pleased about that, but you can't educate yourself as well from books as organised teaching can. Once school starts again, you're going to be taking some placement tests, young lady."
"I'm sure Principal Knickerbocker would be delighted to arrange that," offered Professor Collins. "I assume you'd like Hope to attend Sheffield Institute with Will?"
Mom nodded. "You already have friends there, don't you, Hope?"
"Mostly Will's friends, but yes."
"Well that should work out then," Collins said confidently. "I can talk to the Principal and I'm sure that something can be set up next week once school's back in session."
Then Mom leant forwards and asked a question I'd hoped that she wouldn't think of. "So, Hope, when you met Dean twice in one day, was one of those times at school?"
...rats. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut about incriminating details. "Let's just say there was one history class where Will might have said something unfortunate to you if pressed. She really wasn't too happy that you and Mom were talking about her grades, particularly behind her back."
They exchanged glances. "Well it's not as if I don't have an interest," Mom protested.
"I'm not trying to get into that argument again," I assured her. "Just... if you're upset about my grades I'd rather hear about it before it's used as an arguement against my doing something other than studying."
Mom flushed and Dean chuckled lightly, although he cut off sharply when she turned her head in his direction. "You know your own mind, don't you?"
I shrugged.
"I promise to talk about it with you, as long as I get the chance to," Mom assured me. "Between my work and Will always running off with her friends, I don't always have that opportunity."
Once I spread my hands slightly to concede her point, she added: "I can already tell you're going to be keeping me and Will in line."
I pointed at myself and gave her the 'who, me?' look. You all know the one.
Mom laughed. "And who was it who was giving me a hard time over a glass of wine earlier? I feel for my future grandchildren."
"I am not in any hurry." I shuddered. Mom's description of giving birth to Will had been... detailed.
That got a laugh from both of them. "Nor am I, sweetheart." Mom gave me a hug. "So why don't you tell Dean about what subjects you like at school..."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.