Chapter 28

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

I didn’t know what to feel. In the space of a few minutes, I ran through the full gamut of emotions from shock to burning rage, which didn’t do my drug-addled body any favours. My hands shook and my heart missed several beats.

Then desperation took over and my mind flitted to panicked ideas about how we could steal a car and catch up with our departing parents. Once I got my breathing under control, I felt myself yielding to deep sadness. We were supposed to save Rose, not cause her disappearance.

I dropped my head and stared at my shoes, while Hester sniffed, Otis hugged himself, and Hugo paced up and down the forecourt.

Several vehicles had arrived, filled their tanks and left by the time I realised that my turbulent emotions were twisting into something more positive. A flicker of pride was spreading through me, and there was admiration, too. Rose had analysed the problem, considered all the facts and chosen the path she believed was best. Despite the ongoing churning in my belly, I suspected that I’d have made the same decision .

I sighed and looked up. ‘They trust us,’ I said finally.

Hugo stopped his furious pacing. ‘What?’

‘Our parents trust us,’ I repeated and drew in a shuddering breath. ‘That’s pretty amazing when you think that we’ve arrived from the future, waged a bloody battle on their doorstep and presented ourselves as their adult children, all in the space of a couple of days.’

I rocked Baby Daisy in my arms. Her cries had subsided and she was now producing little more than an occasional hiccupping sob. ‘Rose gave me her child .’

‘You are her child,’ Hugo said pointedly.

‘You know what I mean.’ I kept my gaze on him. ‘It’s the same with your mum and dad. They trust both of us to do the right thing by Baby Daisy and Older Daisy.’

‘We’re not children,’ he muttered. ‘We’re older than them.’

‘But we’re still their children. Could we do the same if this happened to us? If our children appeared out of the blue as adults?’

A muscle jerked in his cheek, then something flared deep in his blue eyes and I caught a glimpse of old, arrogant Hugo. ‘Well, Daisy, there’s one way to find out,’ he drawled. He stepped towards me. ‘Let’s have a baby of our own and see what happens. In fact,’ he said, ‘let’s have several babies.’

I didn’t get the impression that he was joking, not in the least. With no immediate response to offer, I pretended he’d not said that last part. Yeah: that was the sort of kick-ass, ball-busting, brave heroine I was. Go me.

‘Let’s find a way to get out of here,’ I told him.

‘And do what?’ he asked.

I looked again at Baby Daisy. ‘What we’re supposed to,’ I said simply. ‘Take me to hospital and leave me there so that I can be adopted by Michael and Alison Carter.’ I lowered my head and whispered to the baby, ‘I know it’s scary. But they will love you so much. Everything will work out. I promise.’

She reached up a chubby hand and grabbed a fistful of my hair. ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘You’ll need a lot of expensive conditioner to keep that under control when you’re older.’

‘But your hair will always be beautiful,’ Hugo said to her. ‘And you’ll be a beautiful soul.’ He crouched down until he was face to face with Baby Daisy and gently brushed her cheek with the tip of his finger. ‘When you’re an adult and you finally meet Hugo Pemberville for the first time, remember that he’s also a wonderful, charming man despite your first impression of him.’

I rolled my eyes and Hugo gave me a smirk that was an open challenge. Fine. Two could play this game. ‘Trust your gut when you meet him,’ I told her. ‘He’s not as bad as he first appears. But remember that it won’t take long before you’re a far better treasure hunter than he is.’

A gasp of mock horror escaped Hugo’s lips. ‘Sorry, Baby Daisy,’ he said. ‘That’ll never happen.’

‘Oh, it will,’ I smiled.

Then I inhaled deeply. Fuck it, I was going to say it. I would take that leap. ‘It also won’t be long,’ I said, trying to keep my voice steady, ‘before you fall head over heels in love with him.’

Hugo became very, very still.

I was dimly aware of Otis and Hester clutching each other and staring at me with wide eyes, but I was more aware of Hugo. Painfully aware. ‘Goddamnit,’ he muttered under his breath.

Oh no . I’d made a mistake; I should have kept my big mouth shut.

He shook his head with dismay. ‘You always have to get one up on me, Daisy.’

Huh ?

‘I wanted to say the words first.’ He brushed Baby Daisy’s cheek again. ‘Let me say it first next time,’ he whispered to her, ‘because I’m in love with you, and I always will be.’ He lifted his head and we stared at each other.

‘For fuck’s sake,’ Hester said loudly. ‘Really? Really ?’ She threw her hands up in exasperation. ‘We’re stuck in 1994. We’ve been abandoned at a petrol station without any transportation. We’re surrounded by petrol fumes and skid marks. We’re fleeing a maniacal fiend. And this is when you choose to tell each other that you’re in love?’

Otis added his voice. ‘Who said romance was dead? All we need now is some stirring music.’

As if on cue, a taxi pulled up at the nearest petrol pump, music blaring from its windows: ‘Whatta Man’ by Salt n Pepa. Hugo grinned and took a bow. ‘What a man I am. You know that has to be our song from now on?’

‘That is not our song.’ Baby Daisy lifted her arms to Hugo and gave a happy gurgle. I frowned at her. ‘Whose side are you on?’

‘We could take our chance now and escape from these two,’ Hester said to Otis. ‘If their parents can run away from them, we can do it too.’

Otis pursed his lips and considered it seriously. ‘Yeah, but if we leave them on their own they’ll only mess everything up. They need us to save them from themselves.’

She sighed. ‘Sad, but true.’

Hugo leaned across and brushed my mouth with his. A wave of light-headedness assailed me and my breath caught in my throat. It wasn’t drug-induced or fiend-induced or anything to do with my magic; this, I realised, was love. Love that gave me the sudden knowledge that everything would work out fine.

I smiled at Hugo, then glanced across and caught the eye of the taxi driver. ‘Are you free?’ I called out. He looked surprised but nodded.

‘It’s clearly meant to be,’ Hugo murmured.

I couldn’t argue.

We took the taxi back to Edinburgh since there appeared little point now in avoiding the city. We didn’t take any risks or waste any time with diversions but travelled straight to Freemark Hospital, where I knew I’d been left as a baby.

The building loomed large in front of us. Although I was doing the right thing, it still felt awful – and this was only a flavour of what Rose must be feeling. I adjusted the slight weight of Baby Daisy in my arms while Hugo wrote the note.

‘Are you sure that you want me to write that she is – that you are – a low elf?’ he asked.

I nodded. ‘Yes. My identity has to stay hidden. It’s the only way I can avoid Athair and keep everyone safe. And you have to include that my mother is dead. The police and my parents will still do a search to begin with, but anything we can add that will keep them at bay in the future will help. Include my first name, though – it’s the only thing of my real self and of Rose that I’ve got. We know it’ll be fine. It will probably never occur to Athair to check on his own doorstep for any babies left in local hospitals.’

Hugo did as I asked. Once he’d finished, he gave me the letter to look over.

I hadn’t expected to start crying. He was alarmed. ‘Daisy? We don’t have to do this. We can think of another way.’

‘No.’ I wiped my eyes and tried to smile. ‘This is how it has to be. It’s just that…’ My voice trailed off.

He touched my arm. ‘What? ’

I sniffed wetly. ‘My parents kept everything from this time because they knew I’d want to have as much information as possible.’ I pointed to the note. ‘They still have this letter – I’ve read it a million times. This is the letter that was left with me – it was always the letter that was left with me. You always wrote it, Hugo.’

He stared at me. ‘Then your theory is right and the past can’t be changed. That much is clear.’

I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse. I sighed heavily and held Baby Daisy a little tighter for a few more moments. Perhaps babies weren’t that terrifying after all.

Hester sniffed and nuzzled the top of her fuzzy red head. ‘Take care, sweetheart. I’ll see you soon when you’re much bigger and much less cute.’

I scowled.

‘I don’t have to tell you to be good, Daisy,’ Otis told her. ‘I already know you will be.’ He patted Baby Daisy’s cheek with his tiny hand, then he and Hester stood back.

I handed Daisy to Hugo and swallowed the lump in my throat. He waited until I nodded, then turned and walked into the hospital. I already knew that he’d leave her in the emergency waiting room, in the blind spot in the corner where the fuzzy old CCTV wouldn’t pick him up. And anyway, nobody would ever find Hugo; he didn’t belong in this time period and he wouldn’t be here for much longer, not as a thirty-two-year-old man.

I turned my back on the hospital and wrapped my arms around my body. This was how it was supposed to be; this was the best thing for me. I gazed across the busy car park at the horizon and stared, unseeing, at the familiar Edinburgh skyline.

Hester landed on my left shoulder and Otis flapped his way to my right. ‘Are you alright, Daisy?’ he asked anxiously .

‘I will be.’

‘Of course you will,’ Hester said briskly. ‘And now all that yucky business stuff is out of the way, we can finally start having some fun. There must still be a few days left before we get magically yanked back to 2024. Let’s enjoy ourselves! I want to party!’

‘We could do that,’ I said. ‘Or?—’

Hester was already shaking her head. ‘Oh no. Don’t say it. Don’t you dare!’

I smiled, but there was no humour in it. ‘Or we could take advantage of the time we have left and make sure that Rose and Hugo’s parents have the best head start possible.’

‘We don’t know where they’ve gone,’ Otis said. ‘So how on earth can we do that?’

Hugo came up behind me and put his arm around my waist. I searched his face, and his expression told me that everything had gone as planned. Baby Daisy was safe, at least for now. She would be looked after.

‘Simple,’ he said. ‘We go after Athair ourselves. It’s always better to be the hunter rather than the hunted.’

‘No. Oh no.’ Otis shook his head vigorously. ‘We’ve agreed that it’s impossible to change the past, and we know that Athair is alive in the future. You don’t kill him. You probably can’t kill him, now or later. He’s too strong. There’s no point in going after him! This is a terrible idea! You can’t change anything.’

‘We’re heroes,’ I told him. ‘This is what we do.’

‘Besides,’ Hugo added, ‘my parents survive this. We don’t know for certain what happens to Rose, but there’s a chance she survives unscathed, too.’

‘ You might still die! You might not survive this!’ Hester screeched.

His response was matter of fact. ‘I’ve got Daisy to protect me. I’ll be fine.’ I kissed his cheek.

‘Who will protect Daisy?’ Otis asked, arms flailing.

Hugo’s dimple appeared. ‘I will.’

‘You’re as bad as each other.’ Hester clicked her tongue in mock derision. ‘Ridiculous. Honestly, you idiots deserve each other.’

Our eyes met. Yep. I grinned – and this time my smile reached my eyes.