Chapter 19

Chapter

Nineteen

A s Hugo jogged towards us, I ran my fingers through my hair, straightened my top and licked my dry lips.

Hester frowned. ‘What are you doing, Daisy?’

‘She’s making herself look pretty for Hugo,’ Otis told her.

Hester snorted; when I glared at her, she pulled a face. ‘You always look pretty,’ she told me, with an expression that suggested just the opposite.

I gave up on my efforts; instead I drew further back into the dense trees and watched and waited. Act casual , Daisy, I told myself .

When he drew level, I called out softly, ‘Well, well, well. Fancy meeting you of all people here.’

Hugo froze for a moment before turning slowly in my direction. A broad smile spread across his face, displaying his dimple in all its glory. ‘I thought I heard something,’ he grinned.

He smoothed down his tawny hair, stepped off the road and walked through the trees until we were facing each other. He paused, looked at me expectantly – and then lunged forward to pull me into a tight hug. ‘I found you,’ he breathed into my hair.

‘I think,’ I said in a muffled voice, ‘that I found you .’

His voice was emotional and he didn’t try to argue. ‘Daisy Carter, you are a sight for sore eyes.’

I clung to him for several long seconds. I felt wild magic surging deep inside my belly but I did everything I could to tamp it down; Hugo was here and that was what mattered. I burrowed my head against his chest and inhaled his warm, familiar scent. Suddenly I felt certain that everything would be alright.

Eventually we moved apart and gazed at each other like idiots. ‘I was planning to play it cool when you finally showed up,’ he said. ‘So much for that plan.’

‘Are you telling me that I make you lose your cool?’ I asked archly.

His voice was low and gruff. ‘You know you do.’

Hester zipped into the space between us. ‘Hello? We’re here too, you know. Aren’t you pleased to see us as well?’

Hugo smiled at her. ‘Of course, I am.’

Otis squeaked and flew towards him, his little arms outstretched. Hugo raised his hand and opened his palm; the brownies landed on it and hugged his fingers. My glow of happiness only increased.

‘How did you get here? How long have you been here?’ I was still amazed – and I had so many questions. ‘Is Gordon alright?’

‘Gordon’s fine. He was knocked about a bit and had to spend a night in hospital, but there’s no lasting damage.’ Hugo drew in a long breath. ‘It takes a lot to scare me, Daisy, but when that explosion happened and I ran in and you weren’t there…’ He inhaled deeply. ‘I thought you were gone for good. Don’t ever do that again.’

I met his blue eyes. ‘I didn’t plan to vanish,’ I whispered. ‘What happened to Athair?’

The warmth in Hugo’s eyes disappeared. ‘It was him dressed as a postal worker, then?’ I nodded. ‘You know he’s wearing the same face now, and that he’s staying in that damned castle?’

I swallowed and nodded again.

Hugo exhaled. ‘He scarpered pretty quickly after the magical explosion in 2024. He’d already gone by the time I was out of the Jeep and at Gordon’s front door.’

So nobody else had been hurt. That was good.

‘We searched for you,’ Hugo continued, ‘and got help for Gordon. He couldn’t explain what had happened for several hours. It wasn’t … nice.’ His voice cracked. Hester and Otis tightened their grip on his fingers while I wrapped my arms around him once more.

‘Gordon recovered enough to talk and told us what the golden skull does,’ he went on. ‘I’ll admit I took some convincing.’ He gave a baffled shrug. ‘Time travel? It’s crazy.’

I smiled faintly. ‘Imagine how we felt.’

Hugo gently nudged the brownies away and cupped my face in both hands. ‘It must have been awful.’ He paused and a teasing glint lit his eyes. ‘Especially because I wasn’t around to save you.’

I curled my lip and he laughed. ‘Once Gordon was discharged from hospital, he reset the skull and sent me to join you. I arrived right after you did, but you’d already run off and there was a very angry woman throwing plates. I figured that you wouldn’t be able to resist showing up at Lady Rose’s door so I came here to wait for you.’ His tone was gently chiding. ‘You took longer to get here than I thought you would.’

Hester bristled. ‘Daisy was busy killing a posse of vampires, a nasty fiend and then inventing Vamp Spray.’

Hugo blinked. ‘Huh?’

‘I’ll explain later.’ I nodded towards the castle. ‘How did you know Athair would be holed up here? If he spotted you sneaking around… ’

His mouth flattened. ‘I followed him here from the Assigney mansion yesterday. This is Culcreuch Castle. It’s not far from Pemberville, but I’ve never been here before – I thought it had been abandoned in the sixties. Apparently I was wrong.’

Oh . I looked again at the imposing building and wondered if Athair was still hiding there thirty years from now. Had he been this close to Pemberville Castle – and me – all this time?

‘I waited until Athair left today,’ Hugo said, ‘then I thought I’d snoop around to see if I could find anything useful. He wasn’t away for long, so I couldn’t do much. I’m assuming you did the same and followed him from the Assigney mansion?’

‘I’ve not been to see Lady Rose yet.’ I eyed him. ‘I followed Athair here from Pemberville Castle.’

Hugo stiffened. ‘You were at Pemberville?’ He pulled back. ‘And Athair was there? With my parents?’ He scanned my face.

‘And you,’ Hester chirped cheerfully. ‘You’re a cute toddler, Hugo.’

He stared first at her and then at me.

‘She’s not lying.’ I tried to smile. ‘Athair has told your parents that he’s Lady Rose’s doctor. He wants them to persuade her to leave her house and take some air.’

A muscle throbbed in Hugo’s jaw. ‘If he tries to hurt them…’

‘I don’t think he will. He seemed more concerned about using them to get to Rose.’ I gazed at him questioningly. ‘You’ve not been to see your parents? You’re not curious to meet them and find out what they were like when they were younger?’

A growl rumbled in his chest. ‘Desperately so, but I can’t risk it. Even if my father didn’t recognise me, Mum would spot me in a heartbeat.’

I was surprised. ‘Are you sure she’d recognise you? I could see the resemblance between you, but I know the truth. She wouldn’t have a clue.’

‘She might not understand it, but she’d know it was me. Mothers are like that.’ He shook his head. ‘It would become far too messy, no matter how much I’d like to see them.’

I squeezed his hand. ‘What about Lady Rose?’ I asked. ‘Have you spoken to her?’

‘No. She won’t answer her door, not to me, not to anyone. And the Assigney mansion is heavily warded against intruders.’

‘That must be why Athair wants your parents to encourage Lady Rose to go for a walk – he can’t get past her ward.’ I hesitated. ‘But why does he want to get to her? Why go to all that effort?’

‘I honestly have no idea.’

‘It doesn’t make any sense,’ I whispered.

Otis and Hester exchanged glances. ‘Well,’ Otis said with forced cheeriness, ‘not all mysteries can be solved. We’re reunited now, so let’s get back to 2024 where we belong.’

Hester nodded vigorously. ‘I want Google. And cat videos. And avo on toast. Get out the skull so we can go home.’

Hugo frowned. ‘I don’t have the skull. It’s in 2024 with Gordon.’

She stared at him. ‘You mean,’ she said, her voice rising, ‘we’re still trapped here?’

I hushed her. We were some distance from Culcreuch Castle but Athair still might hear her. ‘It’ll still be under the Fonaby Stone,’ I told her. ‘We can get it once we’re done here.’

‘We don’t have to retrieve it, Daisy,’ Hugo said. ‘The skull’s magic will only last for so long. Gordon told me we’ll probably stay in this time period for several days, but not for weeks. He couldn’t give me an exact time frame but sooner or later we’ll be pulled back, whether we want to leave or not. We don’t belong here. Natural order will force us to return to our own time.’

Otis somersaulted in mid-air. ‘Thank goodness! ’

I wasn’t so happy. ‘So we have limited time to help Lady Rose.’

‘Yes,’ Hugo said. ‘But we will help her.’

We exchanged brief smiles then I thought of something else. ‘If my time here is limited and I’ll soon be pulled forward to 2024, you didn’t have to travel here, Hugo. You could have waited until I returned. You didn’t need to save me.’ I looked at Hester and Otis. ‘You didn’t need to save any of us.’

He gave me a long look and dropped his voice. ‘That’s where you’re wrong, Daisy. Whether you need me or not, I’ll always come and save you. No matter what.’

My mouth went dry; so he had heard me when I’d whispered after him after our encounter with Baudi. For a long moment we gazed at each other until Hugo cracked a mischievous grin. ‘And I think now you’ll find that I’m definitely in the lead. I’ve rescued you more times than you rescued me.’

I thumped him on the arm. ‘Piss off.’

He planted a swift, hard kiss on my mouth. Almost immediately, I lost the tight grip I’d been maintaining on my magic and the ground beneath my feet rumbled. I hissed with irritation and stepped back, fumbling for a spider’s silk pill. ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘We need to get away from here before Athair realises I’ve just set off a mini magical earthquake near his house.’

Hugo grinned. ‘As my lady commands.’