Mutante: Chapter 24
Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Frerichs
Rosie awoke with a start, unsure what time it was or even what had awakened her. Something. She tried to look at her timekeeper, but somehow she and Robert had scooted closer in the night and he’d thrown an arm over her, trapping her arm. Maybe if she just rolled over a bit.
Unfortunately, their legs had become tangled together. Who knew appendages could be such a bother?
Cringing at the thought of him waking and finding her so close, Rosie began to extricate herself an inch at a time. She had nearly succeeded when his breathing shifted. She scrambled away, hoping he wouldn’t notice just how much she had moved.
“Good morning,” she said as Robert blinked at her.
“Is it?” he asked in a gravelly voice.
Rosie combed her fingers through her hair nervously, trying to discern just how tangled it had become. “Well, I mean, I can’t guarantee that it’s a good morning, but—”
“No, I mean, is it morning already?” he croaked.
She froze. “Uh, well, I haven’t checked, but I mean, I woke up, and—”
Robert sat up and pulled out his own timekeeper. “It’s an hour before dawn,” he said tiredly.
“Oh.” She wrung her hands. “Well, um . . . .”
“Go back to sleep, Rosie. You need your strength, remember?” His voice became slurred at the end, and his breathing began to even out.
Reluctantly, Rosie laid back down. Yes, she needed her strength, but they would already be cutting things pretty fine to get the black sand, find a safe place to make the potion, make it, find the monster, magic the kelp into its belly, and then administer the potion to Grandma.
If they simply got up now and started the day, they might be more likely to succeed. Then again, if Thomas was right and she needed the extra sleep in order to perform the spells, they might be less likely to succeed if she didn’t go back to sleep.
Rosie closed her eyes, trying to will herself to stop thinking and just sleep. It didn’t work. If she wasn’t thinking about what they had to do today, her mind wandered back to what would happen after today. Getting home wouldn’t take too much time, and then . . . well, they would have to make a potion for Robert’s father. It might be better to simply call her mother and explain that she’d been caught up in some things with Grandma and then say she’d be home tomorrow evening or even the day afterward . . . . Mariya wouldn’t be happy, but she couldn’t tell Rosie to hurry home if Grandma was having problems—at least not if she wanted to retain her title of “attentive daughter.”
Were politics really as complicated as her mother made them seem? What if merpeople were just trying to choose councilmen who had Aquaria’s best interests at heart?
She bit her lip, imagining what her mother would say to that naïve perspective. Hopefully, Robert would never have cause to meet her mother.
If only she could pretend that nothing had happened on her adventure here. If she really had just come and discovered that Grandma Essie needed help with a few things and then lost track of time, that would have been far easier. Trying to explain magic and being a mutante were far more difficult.
Would her mother send her off to some faraway school? Rosie shuddered. Even if she wasn’t popular in Atlantia, she still had a few friends she would miss.
Maybe Mariya wouldn’t send her away. Maybe she would see Rosie’s mutante powers as something to exploit for political advantage. That would be almost worse. She imagined her mother telling their supporters that if they were stressed about being stuck in some situation, they could always borrow Rosie.
And what if the changes she brought were always negative?
The curse . . . all the times her tail had gotten her into trouble . . . what if she just made things worse?
What if she made things worse today?
Rosie took a shuddering breath. She could kill her Grandma Essie with a single mistake in the potion. And then Rina would rule over Aquaria and—
A hand touched her shoulder, and she shrieked.
Robert jumped up. “What? What is it?”
“Sorry, sorry! You startled me, that’s all,” Rosie said, her cheeks flaming.
Robert shook his head as though trying to shake the sleep from his thoughts. “Oh. Well, you started moaning, so I thought you might be having a nightmare. But now I’m wondering if you even went back to sleep.”
“I didn’t. I can’t sleep. What if I make things worse today? Mutante, remember?”
Robert sighed. “Rosie, what if you make things better? Anyway, maybe we should get another hour of sleep.”
“I can’t. I’m too—it’s too much. My mind won’t stop spinning.”
Robert nodded. “Ok. Ok. We’ll just eat breakfast and collect our things and we can head to your grandmother’s house.” He gave her a tired grin. “It’ll be like an extra adventure leaving so early.”
“I—I wasn’t trying to wake you up.”
He waved aside her concern. “It’s fine. I’m typically an early riser anyway, and we did say it would be better to leave early, so we have plenty of time to brew the potion.”
Rosie opened her mouth for another apology, but then closed it. Really, she had done the best she could and well, there wasn’t much more to say. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” With a yawn, Robert collected the blankets, and together they refolded and stowed them in the old chest.
After breakfast, they made their way to Thomas. The mirror frowned. “I didn’t expect to see you so early.”
“I couldn’t sleep anymore,” Rosie admitted. “Too worried about today.” And other things.
“Are you certain you feel well enough to perform several spells today, Miss Rose?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said quickly. Yes, she was tired, but she wasn’t an invalid and the dragging exhaustion that had so burdened her yesterday was gone. Only a slight ache remained.
Thomas didn’t stop eyeing her. “We shall see. I suppose if we have to, you can sleep on the path while Robert and I keep watch.”
Rosie made a face but nodded. That would be a better alternative than some things. “I’ll consider it.”
“Good. Well, then, shall we?” Robert asked.
“We shall,” she said with a small smile.
Rosie said the spell for the path, adding in a clause about it being opaque and impenetrable. “I don’t want a repeat of yesterday,” she said in answer to Robert’s questioning glance.
“That makes sense. I wouldn’t much fancy that myself.”
“It’s too bad we don’t have time to do further experimentation,” Thomas lamented. “Since you can change the opacity of the path’s protection, I wonder if you can make us invisible. A tunnel might still draw unwanted creatures.”
Rosie shrugged. “It’s an interesting idea. Maybe another time.”
He nodded.
She shifted restlessly, wishing time would both speed by and slow down. “Could you tell me another story?” she asked Robert.
He cleared his throat, glancing towards Thomas. “Another bedtime story?”
“No, just a story. What’s your sister’s favorite bedtime story?”
The mood between them was cheerfully determined, despite the many, many detours the path was taking. Robert continued his storytelling all the way to the entrance to Grandma Essie’s garden, perhaps recognizing her desperate need for distraction.
A/N: We’re getting so close! Thanks for reading 🙂 See you on Tuesday!
