Abby the Witch (38 page)

'Yes.'

'Then fix the
bracelet.'

~~~

Fix the
bracelet. That's all she had to do… fix the bracelet.

Did he
understand what that meant? Fixing this bracelet, winding her own
hair into it… did Pembrake honestly understand what that meant?

She looked up
at him again, her bottom lip trembling.

'Abby, it's
okay, just do it.'

She was the
Witch of Bridgestock right…. She could fix this bracelet… and….

'If it doesn't
work,' her voice seemed to be speaking of its own accord, 'what
then?'

'If it doesn't
work, we'll try something else.'

She nodded.
'And if that doesn't work?'

'Something
else ,Abby, we'll try something else.'

'And what
if-'

'Don't say it,
don't think that way. There'll be something we can do,
stop writing the end of the story before we've got there.'

She pressed
her lips together and looked down at the bracelet in her hands. The
truth was… she'd already fixed it… but nothing had happened.

How was she
supposed to tell him that it hadn't worked?

She looked up,
trying to keep the defeat from misting over her eyes. 'Are you
sure?'

'Abby, yes,
just fix the bracelet.'

She moved it
around in her hands. What had she really thought it would do? Had
she actually entertained the idea that this would work?

What part of
her had wanted to believe in this… fairytale ending? Really, how
can fixing a silly bracelet actually transport two people through
time?

'Abby, what's
wrong? Abby?'

Keys to Time,
broken destinies….

'Abby?'

What did she
know?

'Abby?'

What could she
be sure of?

'Abby?'

Nothing….

'Abby?'

'It's fixed,
Pembrake… nothing happened.'

'Well is it
just supposed to work like that?'

She blinked
hard. 'How else would it work?'

'Well you
could say a spell or something? Is there some kind of word that
might make it work?'

'No, Pembrake…
it's fixed. If it was to anchor us to the future, then fixing it
would re-establish that connection. But we aren't back in the
future, are we… so it didn't work.' She moved closer to the bars
till she could release her weight onto them. 'I don't know why I
believed it would.'

He reached
through the bars and placed a hand on her back. 'Because it seemed
like the kind of thing that would. Because you deserve a happy
ending,' he spoke into her hair, 'and… it seemed fitting.'

'But it didn't
work,' she leant further back into the bars, twisting her head to
the side until she could see him staring at her from the other
side.

He leaned
down.

She leaned
up.

Through the
bars they kissed and the world moved for them. It tipped to the
side, then tipped to the other side.

There was a
rushing sound, like a strong wind trapped in a tunnel.

Then the world
turned the right way up and became silent again.

They broke
apart.

'Did the world
just move?' Abby stared out at the world, daring it to move again
now that she was paying attention.

Pembrake
chocked back a laugh. 'Good response.'

'Pembrake,
seriously,' she jumped up. 'Seriously!'

'Oh I was
serious.'

There's an old
witches tale. It tells of two travellers lost in time. But how did
it end? Finding an end fit for a witch is a hard thing indeed….

Witches don't
believe in fairytales, even though most people find fairytale
endings so appealing. Fairytale endings are usually considered to
be the most fantastic, after all. But that doesn't mean that
witches don't support happy endings, they just frown on pumpkins
turning into carriages and men using lost shoes to find their
apparent true loves. No, witches don't like fairytales because
witches are never represented well in them. Witches are lurking in
the background cursing people or shoving children in ovens. A
fairytale does not offer a fair ending for a witch.

So witches
have to look elsewhere for a happy ending. But if you cannot look
to folk lore or legend, where can you look? Where can there be
found an ending fit for a witch?

Wherever there
is magic, mystery, philosophy, and a great cup of tea.

~~~

'Pembrake, I'm
being serious,' Abby stared wildly around the cell. Things looked
different, right? It wasn't just her. 'Things look different in
here!' She swivelled her head to look at Pembrake.

Pembrake was
leaning down and looking at the bars of his cell. There was a
curious look on his face. He ran his over one of the bars. The
metal was shiny and he almost looked surprised when nothing came
off on his hands. 'These bars were rusted through a moment
ago.'

'A moment
ago?'

'Or 28 years
ago maybe,' he admitted quietly.

She walked
over to him, more excited than she'd ever been. 'You don't think…
do you?'

He nodded
mutely. 'Unless someone sneaked in and changed the bars while we
were… busy.'

'Oh my god,
Pembrake!' she wanted to jump through the bars and hug him.

But that was
the problem wasn't it…. They were still technically behind bars.
Abby stared at the bars then across at the locked door.

There was
still a problem here.

'Oh, you've
noticed, have you?' a voice said from a dark recess near the
door.

Abby jumped.
She knew that voice, 
she knew that voice
.

The figure
stepped closer. 'And what have you been doing flying around time
and ruining perfectly rotten timelines?' Mrs Crowthy stepped
closer. 'Saving princes and princesses. Trying to kill Colonels and
failing,' she shot a pointed glare at Pembrake, 'and worst of all –
you went and fell in love, Abby.'

Abby looked
down at her hands.

'I mean
really,' Ms Crowthy strolled all the way up to Abby's cell. 'Do you
call yourself a witch, Abby? Would a witch have done what you did?
Would a witch have gone back in time and tried
to change things? Would a witch have taken on the most
powerful force in the universe? Would a witch have gone
head-to-head with time?'

Abby
sniffed.

'You're damn
right she would. Congratulations, Witch of Bridgestock.'

Abby shared a
startled look with Pembrake before looking back at Mrs Crowthy.
'What?'

'You did
good.'

Ms Crowthy let
them out of prison and filled them in on what their messing about
in time had achieved.

'Things will
be different out there,' she warned, 'you'll be a bit shocked by
what you did. It'll take some time to readjust it will, so you'll
both have to rely on each other, I thinks.'

'So we changed
the timeline then?' Abby screwed up her hands. 'For the
better?'

Ms Crowthy
shrugged her shoulders. 'Why don't you go and find out?'

Abby suddenly
remembered something important. 'But where's Charlie?'

'Scratching at
the door,' Ms Crowthy nodded towards the large door to that
separated the prison from the rest of the palace. Now that Ms
Crowthy had mentioned it, Abby could hear a scratching sound.

'You're in so
much trouble, Abby,' Charlie called from the other side.

'Ignore the
little bugger,' Ms Crowthy sniffed, 'and go out and see the
world.'

'But how did
you get here?'

Ms Crowthy
paused with her hand on the door, ready to push it open to the new
world that awaited beyond. 'Oh I'm a witch, Abby. We're meant to do
mysterious things. Now come along, a new world is waiting.'

Ms Crowthy
opened the door.

Abby put her
hand in Pembrake's and walked out.