In Another Lifetime

Chapter 15 - Art with an expert

Inside the art room after their archery session, Hiccup was sitting in his chair with his head reeling. The leader of their session still wasn't there, and Merida was busy talking to Rapunzel and Jack. Hiccup was sat alone for the time being, still trying to get over the fact that he knew he'd seen Merida before. Watching her talk with the others brought back little snippets of deja vu, the way she moved her head, the way her hair fell in front of her shining eyes, the way she tilted her head back when she laughed; everything that he's glossed over previously now meant so much more to him than it had before. She meant so much more than she had before. She wasn't just a girl. She was talented, funny, witty, and he knew that these facts had run through his brain already. He was just remembering them from -

"Alright, settle down!"

A woman opened the door pretty loudly, interrupting Hiccup's thought flow violently. She looked like she was old enough to be their grandmother several times over; she had wiry grey hair that looked almost windswept. None of them had seen her with the staff before; they assumed that she had had to some short notice to cover for someone. She strode to the front of the room, and stared at Hiccup who was still seated apart from the others.

"You!" She jabbed a slightly knarled finger at him; Hiccup noticed a faint Scottish accent underlining her words as she spoke. "Why are you sat apart from the rest? I hate incontinuity..." She glanced around the room and her beady eye fixed on Merida.

"You! Move!" She jabbed her finger at Merida, then at the seat next to Hiccup. Rapunzel smiled knowingly as Hiccup blushed and Jack wolf-whistled. The grey-haired woman turned immedietly to Jack whose eyes widened at the sight of this pretty creepy woman staring at him.

"Don't think we don't know how you feel about her!" she pointed at Rapunzel, who went scarlet at her words. Jack's cheeks went a light pink as he started stuttering. The woman grinned toothlessly.

"Ach, I thought so," she nodded as she sat down. There was paper and pencils already on the tables.

"Now," she began. "I want you to draw something or someone that means something to you. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, but I want to see what you can do, and what's going through your heads. Understand?" The four nodded and started scribbling their ideas down.

Hiccup started sketching the outline of a face without thinking, and realised that he was drawing Merida. Crap. She'd seen it.

"Hic?" Merida was smiling. She picked up the drawing and gazed in wonder at it. Hiccup scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, wanting to take it but she seemed so content looking at it. "This is amazing!"

"What?" Hiccup started, "No it's not! It's terrible, and that's only the outline -"

"Hiccup." Merida looked directly into his eyes, making his stomach do a back-flip. "I think it's fantastic."

"... Thanks."

Over on Jack and Rapunzel's table, things were going from bad to worse for Jack. He couldn't draw for the life of him and he kept throwing down his pencil in frustration.

"Why," he said angrily through clenched teeth, "can't I do this?"

"Try holding the pencil differently," Rapunzel soothed, showing him with hers, "see? It's easier to hold, and do lighter strokes. It'll be easier to rub out if you make a mistake."

"Thanks," Jack smiled. After another minute, he found that Rapunzel's tips were working well.

"You were right!" he said, but he realised that she wasn't listening to him. "Rapunzel?"

"Jack," she whispered, "her pencil -"

She pointed to the grey haired woman at the front. She was writing in the register, but her pencil and her paper...

"The pencil's moving," Rapunzel muttered, her eyes wide, "by itself!"

"How in hell -" Jack breathed, staring.

"Unless," Rapunzel whispered to him, "only, it's impossible -"

"What?"

"If it's not an illusion, then she's a witch."

A/N I'm pretty sure you all realise who this mysterious woman is :) sorry I didn't update yesterday - I was finishing and publishing the first chapter of my new Mericcup fanfic. It's called Crusade - please go and check it out if you'd like!

Over 800 reads and nearly 900! Happy happy days!!