Souvent me Souviens (Work in Progress)

Chapter 1

     "If two people can't get together anywhere-"
     "You think?" Tom said with a shivery laugh. "Nowhere?"
     "Yes, and if it's not true nowhere, it has to be somewhere." Polly laughed and held out her hands. "We've got her, either way."

- Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock

☆

      "Meet us at Granny's?" Polly asked Ed. Tom was desperate to get his car off the Hunsdon property and the poor roses squashed underneath its tires. Polly was equally anxious to leave. Her and Tom were sopping wet, and the real world was bound to be chilly once they got back to it.

     "Of course," said Ed Davies as he slipped Tom's cello into the trunk of the car. "We'll take the train."

     "And you remember the address?" Polly turned to Ann. It need not have been asked at all, because Ann Abrahams remembered everything. It was her gift.

     "Of course," Ann echoed obligingly. Polly, in her fervor to claim the front passenger seat of the car, did not pay attention to Ann asking Leslie whether he wanted to go with them to the station or risk Tom's heroic driving. Tom's hands shook around the wheel. Not many people could say they'd experienced true nothingness quite like Polly and Thomas had just done. What Polly was most shocked by, was the way returning to everything hurt so much. It was blazing hot and agonizing cold all at the same time, and it left her and Tom shivering and numb. Polly heard the car door click open, and Leslie sliding into the back seat.

     "You'll have to drive more carefully from now on," Polly warned Tom, "with your life not being sacrosanct any longer."

     "I know," Tom replied. He'd have to be careful about a lot of things going forward.

☆

     Sebastian Leroy was fourteen years old when he realized that no matter how good he was, or how little he deserved it, he would be sent to hell all the same if someone else didn't take his place. So he stopped trying to be good and undeserving, and did his best to make sure that someone else would be there to go instead once the next nine years were up. That person was supposed to be Thomas Lynn, then at the last moment, a wager was struck and something unexpected happened. Tom lived, and someone else died, but it was not Sebastian - it was Morton Leroy. Seb never expected to attend his father's funeral in his lifetime, despite that being the case for most ordinary people, but Morton Leroy and the rest of the family were not ordinary. Though Seb didn't exactly prefer Morton dead, he also knew that Morton would have sacrificed his own son's soul in a heartbeat to stay immortal. Better him than me, was the only sentiment running through Sebastian's head during the funeral service, and because of what happened, he had other problems besides going to hell.

     Laurel said she would need Sebastian if Morton lost. Seb did not know what this meant for himself; if Laurel would marry him, kill him, or both. Laurel had no qualms initiating affairs with boys old enough to be her son (witness Leslie) or marrying them when they got older (witness Tom), and Seb doubted she would draw the line at step-sons, considering she had tried to adopt Tom as a boy. Sebastian's engagement to Polly Whittacker likely wouldn't make any difference to Laurel's plans either, and really, it was Polly's fault that any of this was happening at all.

     Sebastian was vexed by Polly's decision to save Thomas, particularly because Tom didn't want to be saved. Seb could very well see the way Tom was pushing Polly away as he got nearer to the end, but Polly was nothing if not stubborn. It was the one trait her, Tom, and himself had in common.

     As much as Sebastian hated Polly for what she had done, the thing was, he feared Laurel more. Everything he had done in the last nine years was motivated by fear, and that included falling in love with Polly.

     Seb could try making a bargain with Laurel: take Leslie, and let me go; but he knew Laurel would never agree to it. She'd probably get Leslie again herself, bargain or no.

     It occured to Sebastian that though Thomas lived, he hadn't really gotten away from Hunsdon House yet. Laurel still had that picture of Tom. Seb wasn't quite sure what use it was, but somehow by having it, Laurel still had power over Thomas. Polly stole it from Hunsdon House some years ago, but when Laurel tricked Polly into making that deal and Polly had to forget Thomas Lynn ever existed, the picture was taken back. Morton thought Laurel could punish Polly for her transgression, and there was no doubt Laurel would if she could. Odds are, Laurel has a photo of me too, somewhere, Seb mused.

     Thinking about Tom's picture, Sebastian was reminded of the photograph he took of Polly. He still had it, and perhaps something could be done with it. Sebastian needed her to save him, and there was no way - not after all these years - that he could let Polly go now.

☆

     The drive back to Granny's was uncanny. Tom tried to drive away from Hunsdon House the same way he might have outside of nowhere, but the roads seemed to morph themselves into all sorts of uncanny tangles that made Tom and Polly's brains hurt. Leslie could no longer look out the windows and had to shut his eyes.

     "It's no good, Polly," Tom said after an amount of time which could have been 5 minutes or 5 days, "I can't seem to navigate it." Polly herself was dizzy and felt as if she might be sick. Tom stopped the car. Leslie opened his eyes. Polly swallowed down the sick feeling and tried to think, despite how her head hurt. She closed her eyes, and thought about the vases Tom showed her when they first met. Both said NOWHERE, but if you spun them around, they could say NOW-HERE, NO-WHERE, HERE-NOW, or WHERE-NOW. "You're thinking about it wrong," Polly said at last. "It's like the nowhere vases. You're still reading NOWHERE, but you've got to spin them around to HERE-NOW, to Granny's. Laurel gave you a gift, that anything you make up is bound to somehow happen in real life, so all you have to do is say we're at Granny's now, and then we'll be there."

     Tom inhaled, closed his eyes, and stepped on the gas.

     "We're here now." Tom parked, meek and haltingly, in front of Granny's. As much as he tried to hide it, Leslie was still evidently miserable from yesterday's events - and it was tomorrow already. Time passed differently in nowhere, Polly realized. Leslie wound the window up and was out of the car like a flash. He waited for Polly and Tom, unsure of what to do.

     "You know how to get to Nina's from here," Polly asked Leslie, "right?"

     Leslie smiled listlessly, but there was an uncharacteristic grimness to his eyes. "Nina will be sleeping till noon, and I've got questions for you two. Or five, if the rest of Tom's quartet get here anytime soon." He shifted towards Granny's front gate. "This where your grandmother lives? It feels familiar."

     It would feel familiar to Leslie, but Polly knew that Leslie had no memory of ever visiting Granny's. She felt guilty about that all of a sudden. When Polly was tricked into that deal by Laurel, it affected many more people than just Thomas and herself. Polly saw what it had done to Ivy, Granny, even Nina; but it nearly ruined Leslie. As obstinate as Leslie was about going on seeing Laurel - even after Tom warned him off - the version of Leslie standing before Polly and Tom never had a chance of getting away from Laurel himself. If Polly hadn't the luck to remember what she was supposed to forget, Leslie would be unable to call his soul his own.

     Not unlike the first time Thomas had visited Granny's house, Granny herself sailed out of the front door before the gate could be unlatched, looking small and regal. Her cat, Mintchoc, strode out in front of her to greet the trio with much purring and meowing.

     "Well if it isn't the Mr. Lynn," Granny said sarcastically, though not altogether unkindly, "and . . . " Granny looked at Leslie wonderingly. Polly did not think Granny would remember him, but before Leslie could say anything, Granny lit up.

     ". . . And young Mr. Piper," Granny finished.

     Leslie looked dumbstruck. Polly interrupted him before he could ask if they had met before. "Do you remember Tom's quartet, Granny? I hope you don't mind, but I've invited them to come over too."

     "I don't mind at all," Granny responded, "given how much there is to discuss." The trio filtered past Granny into the house, Mintchoc close at Leslie's heels, and Granny latched the front door behind them.