I'll spare you the recitation of the hospital visit. If you're at least my age you've probably been through the like or in some cases (I'm thinking of you guys) you really don't want to hear about it. About the only redeeming factor was that Mom and Will were there with me, since the doctors insisted Will went through the same tests (I think they just wanted to make sure that we weren't switching places to mess with their results) and even Mom had some tests done.
And then came the moment I'd been dreading: Me, Mom and Will sitting across a table in the police station from agents Maria Medina and Joel McTiernan of Interpol.
Mom had agreed to go with the original plan of pretending I had amnesia, at least until the others' parents had been told about their being Guardians, but that meant we'd all be lying - or at least be skating very carefully around the truth - to the police. If we got caught... then I get the impression that Mom would have a really hard time adopting me.
"So, Hope." Maria gave me a disarming look. "Are you ready to tell us where you come from?"
I put my head in my hands. "Remember yesterday when you asked about my family name?"
"Yes, and I understand that you've won Mrs. Vandom over onto your side of that?" She smiled to take the sting out of that.
Mom took my hand and squeezed it slightly while Will put her hand on my shoulder briefly. "I was more meaning the bit where I told you that as far as I know, I don't have any other family name."
She nodded.
"Well, that goes for pretty much everything else. I don't remember a family or a home. Heck, when Will found me I honestly didn't even realise I looked like her until she told me."
Joel made a disgusted noise. "Amnesia? Really? You couldn't come up with a story better than the sort of rubbish they put in kid's cartoons?"
I looked over at Will. "You see? I told you we should have come up with a lie instead."
"No lying to the police, Hope," Mom told me firmly.
I shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I really don't have any memories before then. If you have some way of shaking some loose then I'd be delighted to try anything short of being cut apart for samples. Believe me, you can't possibly be as curious about the answers as I am."
"You might be surprised," grated Joel. "Anyway, if you have amnesia how do you know your own name?"
"I don't, Cornelia hung Hope on me a month back. It's better than not having one."
"We had to have something to put on your christmas presents," Will added.
Maria rolled her eyes slightly. "Let's start with what you do remember. So where did you first meet Will?"
"Shell Cave - it's on a little beach not far along the coast. I guess it's a bit of a hang-out for couples - lots of names scratched into the stone."
That got me nods. "Can you point it out on a map?"
"I guess. I haven't seen a lot of maps but I'm pretty sure I could figure it out."
"Okay. I'll get back to you on doing that. What were you there for, Will?"
"Uh, getting the grand tour." Will shrugged. "Hay Lin, Irma and Cornelia were showing me some of the local hang-outs."
"Not Taranee Cook?" asked McTiernan sharply.
That got him a shake of Will's head. "Some family thing that evening, I think."
Maria made a note. "And this would have been, which day?"
"Wednesday the twenty-first," we answered in unison. I shrugged at her look. "Pretty obvious you'd want to know so we checked a calendar."
"I suppose it is obvious. Did you check a clock as well?"
"Not at the time, no. But it was after four o'clock. The sun was setting when I got there," Will remembered. "That might pin it down better."
"How did you get there?" Joel cut in sharply.
"On my bike," Will answered immediately.
For me part I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I guess I could have looked for footprints on the beach but I didn't think to at the time."
He glowered at me for a moment. "And how long were you there before Ms. Vandom and her friends arrived?"
"I dunno. Long enough to look around the cave all the way to the back."
"You didn't leave it?"
"I was nerving myself up to try when they got there." They both gave me incredulous looks. "Hey, outdoors is scary when all you know is a cave."
"And then you saw someone who looked just like you?" asked Maria.
"Well, I saw four girls. Checking my reflection hadn't come up on my to-do list," I snarked back.
"I thought the girls had walked me towards a mirror, some kind of practical joke," Will extemporised. "Irma cracking a joke about me having a twin sister didn't help. Still it did seem to be the most likely explanation."
Mom blinked. "You thought...?"
Will flushed slightly. "Why do you think I was dropping hints about sisters back then?"
"I thought you were making comments about me and Dean."
My sister's eyes were probably about as wide as mine. "Ewwww! Don't even think about it!"
And now the three adults were laughing at us. Wonderful.
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.
To my surprise the results from the various tests would take a few days to be determined - it always seemed to take less time on television and the questioning by Interpol went on for what seemed like forever and a day. Surely they should have been done by then apparently not, which meant having to wait on tenterhooks for a couple of days.
Still, at least they weren't trying to lock me in a freezer yet.
This left me free for Mom's next little brainstorm. "Hello, Mr and Mrs Hale. Can I get your coats?"
"Thank you, Will," Cornelia's mother said graciously, taking off her overcoat before stooping to help her younger daughter with hers.
"Mom, this is Hope," Cornelia corrected her.
I smiled slightly and took. "How can you tell?"
The blonde paused. "It's something about the way you stand," she said thoughtfully. "I can't quite put my finger on it... anyway, this is Lillian."
The younger Hale daughter was very much a half-pint version of Cornelia and her bratty expression was probably an attempt at something like her sister's customary reserve. Or perhaps just a younger version. "Are you sure you're not Will?" she asked suspiciously. "Is this some sorta game?"
I finished hanging up the coats and ushered them through into the lounge, where Will was laying out some bowls of snacks on the coffee table. "See for yourself."
"Oh..." she said in surprise, looking back and forth between us.
"Remarkable," agreed her father. "And the two of you aren't related?"
"Not so far as we've been able to find out. The doctors are doing some tests, but who knows?"
"I wish I had a twin sister," decided Lillian.
Cornelia, Will and I looked at each other. Never going to happen, we all resolved (if probably for differing reasons). "You can borrow mine," Will offered.
I gave her a pained look.
"But only if you return her in good condition," she added, waving one finger.
"Is that a babysitter I hear being volunteered?" asked Mrs Hale with a smile in my direction.
"What is a 'babysitter'?" I asked, offering around a plate of cookies.
Lillian took three of the cookies, suggesting she might be more a proto-Irma than the next Cornelia. Her mother took two of them off her. "One at a time," she reproved the girl mildly. "Someone who keeps an eye on younger children while their parents are out. Cornelia seems to feel she has more important things to do than watch Lillian some nights."
Cornelia shrugged with apparent indifference to that chiding. "Just make sure you get paid," she advised me. "Believe me, you'll earn it."
"Sorry to keep you," Mom greeted them, stepping through from the kitchen. "The vegetables demanded my attention."
"I know how that goes," Mrs Hale agreed. "You know Cornelia of course, but this is my husband Howard and littler princess Lillian."
Lillian beamed up at Mom in a fashion calculated to make her melt with sheer cuteness. The crumbs from her first cookie only added to the effect. Clearly I had much to learn.
Her mother gave her one of the cookies she'd taken off her a moment ago. "Don't worry about spoiling her appetite," she added drily. "Nothing seems to."
"Pleased to meet you both." Mom shook hands all round. "Would you like anything to drink?" she offered and then eyeballed me. Evidently I wasn't going to live that down any time soon. I obediently didn't say anything when Mrs Hale asked for glass of wine. Mr Hale said he would be driving and requested fruit juice.
Once everyone settled down with drinks - Mom had decided to have a soda, the same as we four girls - Mr Hale leant fowards slightly. "Ms Vandom... Susan... I was sorry to learn that Cornelia helped Will to hide Hope from you."
"I understand why they did it. And they didn't just hide Hope, they also looked after her so I have to give some credit for that." Mom's eyes flicked to Lillian for a moment and then she gave Cornelia a questioning look.
Cornelia's own expression was unhappy but she nodded. "Lillian, Will and I need to show Mom and Dad something. Can you help us?"
"What are you up to?" she asked suspiciously but she climbed to her feet.
"You'll see." Cornelia stood against the wall. "Now Will's going to draw a line to show how tall I am. I want you to make sure I'm being fair - that my legs are straight and I'm not up on my tip-toes or anything like that."
The shorter blonde all but tackled her sister. "Okay, I got you."
Will made a mark and wrote a C next to it. "Okay, squirt. Now Cornelia draws a line for me."
"My name's not squirt!"
"She also answers to Little Monkey."
"Girls!" the two mothers in the room warned while Lillian assaulted Will's legs - basically unnecessary since until Cornelia neither of us was wearing an ankle-length skirt so it would be pretty clear to her parents if Will was trying to fake the results.
"What exactly are you going to show us honey?"
Cornelia waved for her father to give her a moment. "So these are the right heights for us, okay?"
He nodded.
They were looking at Cornelia but I was looking at Will. The Heart of Kandrakar was already around her neck and it started glowing as if in anticipation even before her fingers closed around it.
The light drew attention: "What is -"
"Guardians Unite."
Mrs Hale cried out in shock as pink light swept up my sister. Her husband jumped to his feet, glass of juice crashing to the carpet when Cornelia was engulfed in a blaze of green. "Cornelia!"
And then they stood before us. Not girls any more, but women and delicately be-winged women at that. "Yes daddy?"
Words failed him.
"Cornelia's a fairy!"
Lillian's expert analysis drew an offended pout to her sister's face. "I'm a Guardian of the Veil."
"Hope isn't the only secret I found out yesterday," Mom explained, rather redundantly. She gestured for me to stand next to Will for contrast. The marks on the wall might not be be necessary for comparison with the two of us: Will was now clearly larger than me... in more than one direction. Just saying.
"And what is a 'Guardian of the Veil'?" demanded Mrs Hale.
"I'm guessing that it's a long story," Mr Hale said with a forced calm. He picked up his glass and looked at Mom. "Do you have anything stronger than wine?"
"I can find you something," Mom assured him. "As long as you don't plan to drive."
He waved the idea off. "We can take a taxi."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
And then came the moment I'd been dreading: Me, Mom and Will sitting across a table in the police station from agents Maria Medina and Joel McTiernan of Interpol.
Mom had agreed to go with the original plan of pretending I had amnesia, at least until the others' parents had been told about their being Guardians, but that meant we'd all be lying - or at least be skating very carefully around the truth - to the police. If we got caught... then I get the impression that Mom would have a really hard time adopting me.
"So, Hope." Maria gave me a disarming look. "Are you ready to tell us where you come from?"
I put my head in my hands. "Remember yesterday when you asked about my family name?"
"Yes, and I understand that you've won Mrs. Vandom over onto your side of that?" She smiled to take the sting out of that.
Mom took my hand and squeezed it slightly while Will put her hand on my shoulder briefly. "I was more meaning the bit where I told you that as far as I know, I don't have any other family name."
She nodded.
"Well, that goes for pretty much everything else. I don't remember a family or a home. Heck, when Will found me I honestly didn't even realise I looked like her until she told me."
Joel made a disgusted noise. "Amnesia? Really? You couldn't come up with a story better than the sort of rubbish they put in kid's cartoons?"
I looked over at Will. "You see? I told you we should have come up with a lie instead."
"No lying to the police, Hope," Mom told me firmly.
I shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I really don't have any memories before then. If you have some way of shaking some loose then I'd be delighted to try anything short of being cut apart for samples. Believe me, you can't possibly be as curious about the answers as I am."
"You might be surprised," grated Joel. "Anyway, if you have amnesia how do you know your own name?"
"I don't, Cornelia hung Hope on me a month back. It's better than not having one."
"We had to have something to put on your christmas presents," Will added.
Maria rolled her eyes slightly. "Let's start with what you do remember. So where did you first meet Will?"
"Shell Cave - it's on a little beach not far along the coast. I guess it's a bit of a hang-out for couples - lots of names scratched into the stone."
That got me nods. "Can you point it out on a map?"
"I guess. I haven't seen a lot of maps but I'm pretty sure I could figure it out."
"Okay. I'll get back to you on doing that. What were you there for, Will?"
"Uh, getting the grand tour." Will shrugged. "Hay Lin, Irma and Cornelia were showing me some of the local hang-outs."
"Not Taranee Cook?" asked McTiernan sharply.
That got him a shake of Will's head. "Some family thing that evening, I think."
Maria made a note. "And this would have been, which day?"
"Wednesday the twenty-first," we answered in unison. I shrugged at her look. "Pretty obvious you'd want to know so we checked a calendar."
"I suppose it is obvious. Did you check a clock as well?"
"Not at the time, no. But it was after four o'clock. The sun was setting when I got there," Will remembered. "That might pin it down better."
"How did you get there?" Joel cut in sharply.
"On my bike," Will answered immediately.
For me part I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I guess I could have looked for footprints on the beach but I didn't think to at the time."
He glowered at me for a moment. "And how long were you there before Ms. Vandom and her friends arrived?"
"I dunno. Long enough to look around the cave all the way to the back."
"You didn't leave it?"
"I was nerving myself up to try when they got there." They both gave me incredulous looks. "Hey, outdoors is scary when all you know is a cave."
"And then you saw someone who looked just like you?" asked Maria.
"Well, I saw four girls. Checking my reflection hadn't come up on my to-do list," I snarked back.
"I thought the girls had walked me towards a mirror, some kind of practical joke," Will extemporised. "Irma cracking a joke about me having a twin sister didn't help. Still it did seem to be the most likely explanation."
Mom blinked. "You thought...?"
Will flushed slightly. "Why do you think I was dropping hints about sisters back then?"
"I thought you were making comments about me and Dean."
My sister's eyes were probably about as wide as mine. "Ewwww! Don't even think about it!"
And now the three adults were laughing at us. Wonderful.
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.
To my surprise the results from the various tests would take a few days to be determined - it always seemed to take less time on television and the questioning by Interpol went on for what seemed like forever and a day. Surely they should have been done by then apparently not, which meant having to wait on tenterhooks for a couple of days.
Still, at least they weren't trying to lock me in a freezer yet.
This left me free for Mom's next little brainstorm. "Hello, Mr and Mrs Hale. Can I get your coats?"
"Thank you, Will," Cornelia's mother said graciously, taking off her overcoat before stooping to help her younger daughter with hers.
"Mom, this is Hope," Cornelia corrected her.
I smiled slightly and took. "How can you tell?"
The blonde paused. "It's something about the way you stand," she said thoughtfully. "I can't quite put my finger on it... anyway, this is Lillian."
The younger Hale daughter was very much a half-pint version of Cornelia and her bratty expression was probably an attempt at something like her sister's customary reserve. Or perhaps just a younger version. "Are you sure you're not Will?" she asked suspiciously. "Is this some sorta game?"
I finished hanging up the coats and ushered them through into the lounge, where Will was laying out some bowls of snacks on the coffee table. "See for yourself."
"Oh..." she said in surprise, looking back and forth between us.
"Remarkable," agreed her father. "And the two of you aren't related?"
"Not so far as we've been able to find out. The doctors are doing some tests, but who knows?"
"I wish I had a twin sister," decided Lillian.
Cornelia, Will and I looked at each other. Never going to happen, we all resolved (if probably for differing reasons). "You can borrow mine," Will offered.
I gave her a pained look.
"But only if you return her in good condition," she added, waving one finger.
"Is that a babysitter I hear being volunteered?" asked Mrs Hale with a smile in my direction.
"What is a 'babysitter'?" I asked, offering around a plate of cookies.
Lillian took three of the cookies, suggesting she might be more a proto-Irma than the next Cornelia. Her mother took two of them off her. "One at a time," she reproved the girl mildly. "Someone who keeps an eye on younger children while their parents are out. Cornelia seems to feel she has more important things to do than watch Lillian some nights."
Cornelia shrugged with apparent indifference to that chiding. "Just make sure you get paid," she advised me. "Believe me, you'll earn it."
"Sorry to keep you," Mom greeted them, stepping through from the kitchen. "The vegetables demanded my attention."
"I know how that goes," Mrs Hale agreed. "You know Cornelia of course, but this is my husband Howard and littler princess Lillian."
Lillian beamed up at Mom in a fashion calculated to make her melt with sheer cuteness. The crumbs from her first cookie only added to the effect. Clearly I had much to learn.
Her mother gave her one of the cookies she'd taken off her a moment ago. "Don't worry about spoiling her appetite," she added drily. "Nothing seems to."
"Pleased to meet you both." Mom shook hands all round. "Would you like anything to drink?" she offered and then eyeballed me. Evidently I wasn't going to live that down any time soon. I obediently didn't say anything when Mrs Hale asked for glass of wine. Mr Hale said he would be driving and requested fruit juice.
Once everyone settled down with drinks - Mom had decided to have a soda, the same as we four girls - Mr Hale leant fowards slightly. "Ms Vandom... Susan... I was sorry to learn that Cornelia helped Will to hide Hope from you."
"I understand why they did it. And they didn't just hide Hope, they also looked after her so I have to give some credit for that." Mom's eyes flicked to Lillian for a moment and then she gave Cornelia a questioning look.
Cornelia's own expression was unhappy but she nodded. "Lillian, Will and I need to show Mom and Dad something. Can you help us?"
"What are you up to?" she asked suspiciously but she climbed to her feet.
"You'll see." Cornelia stood against the wall. "Now Will's going to draw a line to show how tall I am. I want you to make sure I'm being fair - that my legs are straight and I'm not up on my tip-toes or anything like that."
The shorter blonde all but tackled her sister. "Okay, I got you."
Will made a mark and wrote a C next to it. "Okay, squirt. Now Cornelia draws a line for me."
"My name's not squirt!"
"She also answers to Little Monkey."
"Girls!" the two mothers in the room warned while Lillian assaulted Will's legs - basically unnecessary since until Cornelia neither of us was wearing an ankle-length skirt so it would be pretty clear to her parents if Will was trying to fake the results.
"What exactly are you going to show us honey?"
Cornelia waved for her father to give her a moment. "So these are the right heights for us, okay?"
He nodded.
They were looking at Cornelia but I was looking at Will. The Heart of Kandrakar was already around her neck and it started glowing as if in anticipation even before her fingers closed around it.
The light drew attention: "What is -"
"Guardians Unite."
Mrs Hale cried out in shock as pink light swept up my sister. Her husband jumped to his feet, glass of juice crashing to the carpet when Cornelia was engulfed in a blaze of green. "Cornelia!"
And then they stood before us. Not girls any more, but women and delicately be-winged women at that. "Yes daddy?"
Words failed him.
"Cornelia's a fairy!"
Lillian's expert analysis drew an offended pout to her sister's face. "I'm a Guardian of the Veil."
"Hope isn't the only secret I found out yesterday," Mom explained, rather redundantly. She gestured for me to stand next to Will for contrast. The marks on the wall might not be be necessary for comparison with the two of us: Will was now clearly larger than me... in more than one direction. Just saying.
"And what is a 'Guardian of the Veil'?" demanded Mrs Hale.
"I'm guessing that it's a long story," Mr Hale said with a forced calm. He picked up his glass and looked at Mom. "Do you have anything stronger than wine?"
"I can find you something," Mom assured him. "As long as you don't plan to drive."
He waved the idea off. "We can take a taxi."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.