The Children of When (Complete)

Chapter 14: The Second Piece

Lying on her stomach, on the grass next to the lake, Leah smiled contentedly at Belle and Raff stretched out beside her. She couldn't believe how much her life had changed. She loved Fey Academy, and Belle and Raff were great! They'd spent the afternoon in the meadow with their horses, learning how to brush them and check their hooves for stones. Solange had been absolutely perfect; co-operating with everything Leah tried to do. She chuckled, thinking how much easier she'd had it than Raff. Rogue had alternately nipped and shoved him at every opportunity. While the sound of Belle's tinkling laugh had been enough to tell Leah she was having a ball.

They'd been to see Dominic, who'd apologised for forgetting to tell them about the credit notes for village day. He'd handed them each a piece of paper, explaining that they could be used in any or all of the shops in Fey Village. Leah's heart had constricted at the tears in Belle's eyes. She doubted Belle had ever been shopping in her whole life.

Rafa sat up and cleared his throat, pulling her attention back to the present. "Ummm, Leah, I've been meaning to ask you about something." He was concentrating on the blade of grass he was currently trying to shred with his fingers.

"Hmmmmmm?"

"It's about the.... you know.... thing you showed Zolinda last night."

Leah's head snapped up. He was talking about the circlet.

"What about it?" She was feeling defensive all of a sudden. Her hand automatically went to her pocket protectively, but then she remembered she'd left the circlet under her pillow when they went out to the horses.

"Well, it's more about the bag it was in, actually."

Leah realised he was looking extremely uncomfortable, and she sighed. "Yes, Raff, what about the bag?"

"I was just wondering, did it come with the bag, or did you already have that?"

Leah frowned. "My Guardian, Miriam, gave it to me in the bag. Why?"

"'Cos I have one exactly the same," he finally blurted out.

Leah realised her mouth was hanging open, and snapped it shut.

"What?"

"Where did you get it?"

"Is there anything in it?"

"Why didn't you say something last night?"

"Are you sure it's the same?"

Leah laughed at the confusion on Raff's face. The barrage of questions had his head swivelling to and fro so quickly it looked ready to topple off his shoulders, and his mouth kept opening and closing every time he tried to answer a question.

"Sorry, Raff, why don't you tell us about it?" Leah said, catching Belle's eye and grinning.

"Ok, well, I found it the night before I left Naissance." He related the entire story, finishing with the details of the small black rock he'd found in the bag.

They looked at each other in stunned silence.

Hadn't Zolinda said something about a black stone being associated with the missing amulet? And wasn't it way too weird a coincidence the bags were exactly the same?

Belle finally broke the silence. "So where is it now?"

Raff shrugged. "It's in my room, under my pillow where I always keep it."

Icy fingers of excitement were running up and down Leah's spine. "Maybe that explains it?"

"Explains what?" Raff and Belle asked at the same time.

Leah jumped up, and brushed the grass off her jeans. "I'll explain later. So can we go see it? Like now?" she asked, waving them to their feet.

* * *

As they neared Raff's room, Leah waved them on and dashed into her room to grab her own Hessian bag. The warmth seeping through the fabric told her she'd been right.

She pulled the circlet out of the bag as she entered the room, holding it up as they turned to look at her.

"Check this out!" The metal was glowing even more than it had done before. Raff and Belle's eyes widened in surprise.

"Woh, that is so cool. How come it's glowing, when it wasn't last night at Zolinda's?" Raff reached under his pillow, and pulled out what looked like the exact same bag. He shook the small black rock into his hand, and the same glow radiated from its centre.

His eyes were like saucers. "I've never seen it do that before. But then, the last time I looked at it was back in Naissance. I hadn't even thought about it until last night, when I saw you pull out your bag."

Belle had picked up the empty bag from the bed, and was turning it over in her hands with a frown on her face.

"Ummm, guys... this just keeps getting weirder. Hang on, I'll be back in a minute," she said, dashing out of the room.

Leah looked at Raff, who shook his head and shrugged.

"Don't ask me."

Belle came back holding another old Hessian bag. It was badly stained, and more a greyish colour than white, but it did look an awful lot like the other two.

She held her hand up in front of her. "And before you start with the questions, it was empty when I found it. I only kept it 'cos my little book fits inside it perfectly."

Another coincidence? This was getting way too weird!

Belle was holding her bag, and staring at the two glowing objects as if she expected them to grow legs and attack her. "I think maybe it's time we went and saw Madame Persimmons. Maybe she'll know what we should do."

Raff nodded. "I agree. But I'm not missing out on town day tomorrow. Leah, do you reckon you might be able to get a message to Dub, and ask him to let Madame Persimmons know we need to see her in her office on Sunday?"

Leah grinned. "No problem, I'm sure I'll see him around in the morning before we go." Or I could just think about it, and Dub will know, she thought. She wished she could tell her friends about the mind reading thing, but she'd promised Dub she wouldn't.

Leah's eyes moved from the circlet glowing in her hand, to the rock glowing in Raff's hand, and finally the empty bag in Belle's hand. There's no way this could all be a coincidence. Her stomach lurched as she wondered if it had anything to do with why Zolinda had said they were in danger.