The Turncoats (The Thirteenth Series #2) (5 page)

Zac looked up. “Nothing. Keep your strength for the battle ahead. We’re working on it, be patient. We need information and then we will have a better chance of finding and stopping Excariot getting anymore priests and priestesses, if you allow us to get on.” He dismissed Val and looked back at the screen.

“They’re on the case, Val. We’ll find her and I think your hunter friend is right, I don’t think Excariot is going to lay a finger on the priestess. He needs her alive. Now just try and get on with what you need to do for now,” Shane said as he walked away from her.

Fran looked affectionately at Val. “You know you can’t actually do anything, don’t you? But I think I know what might help distract you for a while.” She grabbed Val’s hand and pulled her down the aisle.

“I can’t possibly leave. Zac needs me, don’t you,” Val called out.

“No. If I do I will teleport to your location,” he replied.

“Lend me your car, Wendy,” she called and a set of keys came winging their way over the top of the books.

“What will distract me, Fran?” Val asked as they walked down the steps to Wendy’s car.

“Please don’t take this personally, but you need some new clothes.” Fran opened the door to Wendy’s Morris traveller. Val hesitated. It felt wrong to be leaving, but she had no choice but to go, and it was actually a very good suggestion. She had no change of clothes and knew that she couldn’t go on wearing the same ones. More importantly, she couldn’t turn up at Sam’s tomorrow in the same clothes she had been wearing today, not after the comment he had made this morning. She nodded and climbed aboard the little car.

As they travelled into town Fran was quiet, the radio playing softly in the background. The last time Val had gone into town it had been with Delta; Fran was nothing like her. They would have been chatting, or Delta would have been embellishing some story about a famous person’s private life. She wished she could forget her. In time maybe she would.

Fran and Val wandered around, in and out of various shops. It was odd how Fran seemed to know more about Val’s personal preferences than she did herself. Within a very short space of time, Val had spent the little money she had and was begging for a drink break.

“Hot chocolate?” Val asked.

“Do you need to ask?” Fran sat down at a small table for two in the heart of the shopping centre.

Val was soon placing the steaming drinks in front of them. As she sat down she said, “So Fran, tell me all about you. I feel like I know nothing and yet you know so much about me.” Val smiled warmly. A change of conversation would be good. She was tired of Excariot being part of her every waking moment.

“Well, my full name is Francesca Alice Tickle and if you laugh I will tell Jason you said he hits like a girl. I have been in love with Jason since the first day I met him at school, three years ago. I spend my summers with him and term time with my mum and dad. They’re extremely cool. My mum is into being a mum and she is a gym-aholic. My dad is a stock and quality controller, something for a Chinese firm, so he flits between here and China. I have a fraternal twin sister called Yassmin who’s a pain, but only in a sisterly way, a cat called Ginger and a Jack Russell called Sophie, and that’s about it.” She proceeded to tuck into her hot chocolate.

Val felt the pain of missing her ordinary mum and dad. She would have loved to sit and talk for hours about her mum’s serious portion control issues or her dad’s bad shirt days, but they were things of the past.

“So tell me about you?” Fran asked looking up from her whipped cream.

But Val wasn’t listening. Something far more alarming had caught her attention. Across the shopping centre she had spotted a girl with her back to Val, on a pink flip top phone with a mane of long blonde hair; attached to her arm was a Gucci handbag.

“Wait here.” Val made no eye contact with Fran. If this was who she thought it was she wasn’t taking her eyes off her target for a second. Considering her heart had now gently lodged itself in her throat, she managed to walk steadily towards the blond. If it was Delta how on earth had she gotten back here? She walked up behind her.

“Delta?” Val said in a broken voice.

The girl turned and Val instantly realised it wasn’t her ex-friend. As quickly as her heart had risen it settled again. “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else,” Val said apologetically and went to turn away.

“Stop,” the blonde girl requested. Val instinctively did as she was told. “This is so crazy! A girl came up to me in Topshop and gave me this wig, bag, phone and envelope and said to wait here. She also gave me this.” The girl held a wad of money out at Val. “I thought she was crazy, but what the hell it’s a hundred quid. Then she said someone would come up to me and that I should give this envelope to them.” The girl handed Val the envelope. It had her name on the front. She gently caressed the letters with her finger for a second. She would have recognised that hand writing anywhere. Cautiously she opened it, her hands now visibly shaking. Inside was a card that simply read:
Miss me Alien? Love Yankee xx

This couldn’t be happening. All of a sudden it dawned on Val that she had left Fran alone. She turned on the spot. Where was Fran? It was ok! She was still at the table. She turned back to the girl who saw, from the new expression on Val’s face, that all wasn’t well. The girl started to look for a way out, but she was far too slow. Val lurched forwards, grabbing her by the arm.

“When did she give you this?” Val’s anger erupted into the girl’s face, her aggression highly visible.

“Oy, you’re hurting me!” The girl pulled off the wig and tried to wrench her other arm free.

“I’m going to do a hell of a lot worse if you don’t give me some explanations, now.”

“She came up to me, I told you, about twenty minutes ago, and handed it all to me. She told me to stay here, that you would come and talk to me. How many languages do you want me to tell you that one in?” The girl was squirming. “If you don’t let me go I’m going to call security.”

“Val, what’s going on?”

Suddenly Val realised that they weren’t alone. Her momentary lapse allowed the girl to pull free and she instantly darted away, crossing the shopping centre at full speed. Val hadn’t realised how much of a scene she had made, and this wasn’t a conversation she was willing to have with Fran; if she talked to anyone about Delta she could risk breaking the spell on her parents. She needed to move out of here and fast. She was obviously being watched. She shoved the card into her pocket. How had Delta returned? Where was she? She was going to be so mad with her, but Val was madder and she wasn’t scared of a stupid, blonde, skinny Delta who had possibly managed to time travel from the sixteenth century all on her own.

“I asked what’s going on, Val?” Fran’s voice showed real concern.

“Stupid girl used to pick on me at school, so I thought it was time I showed her that I had grown up,” Val replied. Fran’s expression of unease didn’t falter. “I would like to go back to the bookshop now.” Val ended the conversation by walking back to the table, collecting her bags and heading back to the car park.

Still frowning, Fran followed hot on her heels. As they got into Wendy’s Morris Traveller, Fran asked, “Many more people upset you that I should know about?”

“Not worth worrying about,” Val said dismissively as they pulled out, looking out of the car window and letting the world pass her by as she thought about the possible consequences of the message in her pocket.

As they arrived back at the shop Wendy was waving goodbye to some regulars. Val had completely forgotten she had a business to run. As soon as Fran had parked she jumped out of the car and ran up the stairs.

“I’m so sorry; I should have been here.” Val dropped her shopping bags in the entrance.

“They had some reserved books to collect so I just let them in and dealt with them. Don’t worry, we don’t want to raise too much suspicion, so being open at normal times is a good thing at the moment.” Wendy closed the door behind the girls.

Val walked down to the cleaning cupboard door and knocked on it. It opened just enough for Val to see Zac’s eyes peeking out at her.

“We are hiding from the people.” He said gravely, signalling for her to enter.

“Wow, it’s very close in here,” she said leaning up against the wall.

“Was your trip productive?” Zac asked with interest.

“No.” Val turned to Jason trying to change the subject before Fran arrived. “Any information on the covens?”

Jason tapped away at the laptop without even glancing at Val. “Well, no luck so far, but I’ve e-mailed Sam as he has access to the original drawings of the coven.”

Val remembered the picture of Wyetta with their matching tattoos. She was sure Sam would be able to help; he seemed to have access through his top secret job to a great deal of useful information. When Fran walked in Jason’s attention was taken instantly off Google and turned onto his dream girl. He looked up and gave her a warm smile. “Hi babe, had fun?”

Fran nodded and sat down on Jason’s knee.

“Yak, love stinks,” Val thought to herself.

“I’m sorry, Val. Do you require to be seated on me?” Zac looked from Fran to Val.

“NO!” Val replied sharply. Zac looked taken aback by her reaction.

Jason and Fran burst into laughter. Val couldn’t help but follow. Even Zak smiled, though he was still confused by the peculiar habits of these strange people.

Wendy came to the door, attracted by the noise. “What’s so funny?”

“You had to be here.” Val grabbed Wendy by the arm. “Tell me, my young apprentice, how many sales have we had today?” she asked as they headed back towards the counter.

“Well, it’s not life changing, but for the time we managed to open, it’s ok. Val, I have been making a few calls. My mother says that we can create a protection spell for the bookshop to stop Excariot coming in.”

“Really? That’s fantastic news. What do you need to do?” Val felt very relieved.

“Well, there’s a dark moon tonight and that’s considered a good moon to work against aggressors, but it is also very unpredictable.” Wendy picked up her bag. “I still have time to pop to the
Mystic Box
to pick up some supplies and be back here in time to work on the spell later this evening, if that’s ok?”

Val agreed and handed Wendy some money from the cash box. “Will this be enough? I don’t know how much magic costs these days.”

“That’ll be fine. I’ll be back later. And, Val, don’t worry; everything will be ok.” Wendy called goodbye to the others who were heading up the aisle and she was gone.

Jason and Fran arrived at the counter, “On that note I’m whisking my girlfriend away for a romantic meal of meat, vegetables and gravy that my dad has just prepared. We’ll come back later,” Jason said pulling Fran by the hand.

“If you need us, text, and any more school bullies just walk away. You can do it,” Fran advised as they left.

Val looked around at the empty shop. In one actionpacked day she had been abducted by a hunter, caught five prisoners, lost a high priestess and received a mysterious note from her ex-best friend. Eventful would be a good word to describe it.

“What should we do now?” Zac asked, looking like a lost puppy.

“We need a chat. I have a dilemma and I need your help.” Val walked around Zac, who once again looked uncomfortable at being asked his opinion on anything, and flicked on the kettle. “I have a personal problem that I don’t want the others to know about, but it could be dangerous. I have a criminal who needs arresting, but here on Earth we have to have a very good reason to capture and hold anyone. So, I guess I’m just going to have to watch them until they make a mistake.” Val poured boiling water into two mugs.

“What crimes have they committed?” Zac took the mug she offered. “The worse crime of all: betrayal.” Val took a sip of her coffee and sat on her stool.

“Are you talking about the traitor Delta?” Zac asked, sipping his coffee and politely put it on the counter.

“What?” Val spat a mouthful of coffee across the counter.

Zac, who was on the receiving end, looked at her in utter astonishment. Was this some other weird ritual? He was just about to reciprocate when Val jumped up and passed him a handful of tissues.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Val apologised. “It’s just that you gave me such a shock. I didn’t think anyone else knew about Delta. How do you know about her? Where did you get that information? You mustn’t tell anyone about this.” Val pulled the card out of her pocket and passed it to Zac to examine. “She sent me this today, almost in person.”

Zac swallowed the mouthful of coffee he had been preparing to fire at Val and examined the card. “She says little. We have information on her in Alchany. I’m sorry that she betrayed you. I have images of her and I will keep a close guard to make sure that she does not try to enter the shop. Do the others know her?”

“They did, but when I came back from sixteen forty-five it was like she had never existed. When I mentioned her name they all looked at me like I had gone crazy.”

“Ok. Question: you travelled back with Excariot and Delta to the time of the original protection spell, is this correct?” Zac was walking again, something he seemed to do whenever he had to think something through. Val nodded as he glanced at her and he turned to walk in the opposite direction. “But, when you returned, this Delta was left behind?” Val nodded again. “Ok, the answer is there. When guards travel through time you create a type of time-line. Excariot travelled with you and, as he returned to the present before you did, he travelled back on the same line. Then you returned; you were the creator of the time-line and so on your return it was closed. So, your friend...”

“Ex-friend,” Val chirped up.

“Yes, ex-friend. She missed her chance; she became a nothing; lost in the past without having ever existed. She is what we call forgotten.”

“So, if I understand you correctly, what you’re saying is no one remembers Delta because I came back and she wasn’t on the same ride.” Val had a lump in her throat. How could this be happening?

“Yes. She has never existed. She is gone from your time, and is now forgotten. But my main concern is how she got back. To our knowledge only the Judges have the ability to step into time without magic, and without negative physiological outcomes.”