The Tortoiseshell Mirror Ch. 04

This story is a romance but it also contains fantastical elements including a character's transformation into a non-human, feline humanoid which may not appeal to some readers. There is some sex but it only comes at the end of Chapter Five.

*

Marianne woke with a start. She realised someone was shaking her.

"There you are, at last. Didn't you hear me calling? I walked straight in here. The door's not locked. You never know who might come in. I've been driving around trying to find this place. It looks like lager louts had a night of it up the road."

"Was there, was there a fire?" The thought came urgently to Marianne.

"A small one, but it looks like it went out quickly. They'd even left full beer cans lying around. Even in somewhere as remote as this it seems you can't escape the loutish behaviour. They ought to bring back borstals, workhouses."

Now Marianne was coming more fully awake and her eyes could focus in the bright daylight, introduced into her room by the curtains being thrust back so suddenly, she realised that it was Amanda's opinions she was an audience to.

"Amanda."

"Who did you think it was? Prince Charming?"

"Someone like that." Marianne observed wryly, realising that the fragments of the delicious dream she had had were now scurrying from her mind to be replaced by Amanda's wittering.

"Well, Sleeping Beauty, I'm sorry to disappoint. This is a bit of a poor show. Didn't you get my messages? I texted you less than an hour ago. I thought you'd have coffee on at least, especially as I was driving around this district for far longer than I had anticipated."

"Sorry, there's no signal here."

"Bugger! What use is that? I know you were supposed to be getting away from it all, but being incommunicado is taking it a bit too far. I expect Lisa's driving round the neighbourhood too."

"She's coming as well?"

"You've had your head that much in the clouds have you? Yes, of course she's coming. I hope she's brought some decent food; you've got nothing in here."

"I'm living the simple life."

"I can see that." Amanda gestured to Marianne's nakedness. "Well, you get yourself sorted, I'll get the coffee on. At least then you'll be ready to face the world by the time Lisa gets here. This place is our staging post."

"Staging post?"

"Yes, well if you got any of your messages then you'd know we are all going to Mary's."

"Mary's? In Greenwich? That's completely the opposite way."

"No, silly, their place in Exeter. Andy's on some extended trip in the States and Mary's cat has died. If you ask me, I think she's", Amanda lowered her voice, "suicidal."

"Anyway," Amanda continued. "it was Lisa's plan that we all go and see her. I bullied her into telling me where you were so we could bring you along as well. You've had a week here, and I imagine it's done you no good: all alone with your thoughts. It'll just make the thing with Rob much worse and delay you two sorting it out."

"Sorting it out? I don't think that's going to happen."

"Well, it's not going to if you're out here in isolation."

"So you've sorted things with Justin?"

Marianne had been under the impression that earlier that week Amanda had needed the kind of help she was now suggesting for Mary.

Amanda looked at Marianne severely. "That bastard? No he's long gone. Jason's been so wonderful helping me out. Did I mention he runs a firm of solicitors?"

"Yes, I think you did." Marianne lied to head off Amanda's lengthy explanation.

"Well, they have top clients."

"Do I hear Lisa's car?" Marianne thought it might be, it might not, but it was a good excuse to get Amanda out of her bedroom.

"I don't know."

"Can you just check? I need to get myself decent before she arrives."

"You certainly do. You look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards."

"No, I've been running through them forwards." Marianne said soberly.

Amanda hooted with laughter. "Well, at least you've not lost you're sense of humour down here. Right, coffee. I'm starving."

Marianne watched with relief as Amanda headed off downstairs. Marianne wondered what she did look like. She reached for a mirror, but there was only the tortoiseshell one to hand and she knew that that one would give her a whole different view of things. Marianne pulled her fingers back from it. That was a temptation she had to avoid, she could just imagine her friends' reaction if she turned into a catwoman before their eyes.

As she got out of bed and covered herself with her nightdress she did notice the marks of mud and leaves on her arms and legs. She quickly headed to the bathroom to shower it all off before Amanda reappeared to notice.

"Finally." Amanda said as Marianne walked down the stairs.

A meal was had been set out in the living room, a whole pile of fruit and rolls, sliced meat, orange juice and a pot of coffee.

"Hello."

"Hello there. I thought you'd never get up." Lisa said from the couch. "You look like you've changed a bit. That's a rather sassy walk you're giving there. The country air must've been doing something to you."

"Yes, this place, well, I've been having a great time down here, it's doing me a world of good."

"Well, thank me for suggesting you got away. I ran into that colleague of yours, Helena, we're at the same gym. She said she knew you and I asked her, if she cared so much couldn't she find somewhere for you to get away from it all and, voila, here you are. Annabelle, she's the one who owns it apparently, says it's got special properties. I've not noticed them myself, but I suppose it only suits some people. I couldn't be doing with the isolation, but I guess you're social life's always been that much quieter."

"I've fitted in quite well, you knowL walks, a bit of sketching. You found it alright?"

"Well, it was tough; it took ages and the sat nav got very confused. I left later than Amanda but I think I drove around a bit less than her. It's the old map-reading skills which helped."

"I've no time for that. This is a civilised country not the Amazon basin, places should be signposted." Amanda said grumpily.

"Well, I'm glad you're here." Marianne said, pouring her coffee, taking the cream jug and plonking herself into a spare seat.

As she sat down she saw movement on Lisa's lap. Then the small head of a tortoiseshell kitten appeared. Immediately it looked towards Marianne and bounded on to the floor and quickly up again into her lap. It looked up at her and she stroked the back of its head softly. Almost immediately it curled up in her lap contentedly. "Oh then, deserting me. I guess she's found her mummy." Lisa said.

For a shocking instant Marianne saw Rremmah sitting before her talking and she glanced down to see a feylin kit, which she somehow knew to be her kit, in her lap.

"Ah! I don't think so." Marianne said sharply, alarmed.

Marianne quickly put down her coffee, picked up the kitten briskly and carried it back to Lisa, almost dropping it on her.

"I think you'd better look after it."

"Well, she seems to like you more. She's been terribly restless with me, then you turn up and she's hopping in your lap and getting her head down."

"Erm, well, I don't know about that."

"I didn't think you had a problem with cats, Marianne." Amanda chipped in.

"Well, not, I just don't want her to get too attached. I guess you're giving her to Mary." Marianne said by way of an excuse.

"Yes, I think it's what she needs." Lisa said.

"It probably only came for me because I smell of the country." Marianne sought an explanation not least for her own sense of wellbeing.

"I suppose so, you do seem filled with the joys of Spring or should that be Autumn? We'll have to hose you down with the best scents when you get back to the civilised world. But you do seem to have a way with this cat, maybe we'll have to get you one. You can owe us." Lisa concluded, taking the kitten to the carrying basket and putting it back inside.

"No, I don't think it would do, not in London. Somewhere like here it would be a different issue, but it wouldn't be fair cramped up in London with nowhere for it to run free."

"Don't be silly, cats can live anywhere. I think they actually prefer cities. You're getting too infected with this place." Amanda observed.

"So, are we planning to go to Mary's now?" Marianne aimed to change the subject to something less challenging.

"No, we'll set off first thing tomorrow. It took us over three hours to get here and I've no desire to be trying to get around roads like these in the dark." Amanda outlined.

Marianne glanced at her watch and realised it was already well into the afternoon. She had almost slept another day away. "Is that the time?"

"Yes, sleepyhead. It doesn't look like you've seen much of this place anyway, if this is when you've been getting up." Lisa chided lightly.

"I've been out at night a lot; it's magical here at night."

"Oh I guess it must be, though it hardly takes my fancy to be scrambling around in the damp and the dark. By the way, are you going to have some coffee with that cream?"

Marianne looked down in response to Lisa's comment and found the empty cream jug in her hand.

"I thought this break was supposed to be about getting a rest, you seem to be distracted even worse than before."

"I've had a lot on my mind."

"Too much if you ask me. I think it's a mistake being here. Pack up tonight and when we return from Mary's you can head back to London, at least there we can keep a proper eye on you." Lisa stated.

"I'm fine here."

"Don't be silly. You're not safe here anyway. It could have been anyone walking in when we turned up, you can't even phone for the police." Amanda scoffed.

"There's someone local looking out for me." Marianne said proudly.

"Some randy farmer, looking for something in return? You're very vulnerable at the moment, any half decent man is liable to turn your head. If you're not careful you'll get in real trouble. Anyway, you don't know what you're missing. I bet there's no decent restaurants down here; certainly no theatre. You'll not go long without all those things."

"Maybe they don't seem so important any longer."

"Nonsense, you've only been here a few days. It would all pall in time. You'd tire of the novelty of it."

"I guess so." It had been one of Marianne's fears.

"Right. That's settled. Go upstairs and pack. I'll drive us to the nearest market town for a decent dinner and we'll leave promptly tomorrow for Exeter." Amanda said forcefully.

For the rest of the day and into the evening, Marianne found that her time was no longer her own and between them Amanda and Lisa had soon dismantled the life she had began creating, if only for a short period, in the cottage. The feylin world seemed so distant and irrelevant as she was reminded of old likes. The three women headed off through the countryside to the nearest market town and found an old pub which did a decent dinner. It was only as they drove back through the dark village on the return to the cottage that Marianne realised she had broken her tryst with Paurr. Yet, here, travelling in an overheated car with her two friends, he and his life seemed no nearer than a half-remembered dream.

Retiring to bed Marianne found she still had no opportunity to be alone, even with her thoughts. Lisa was keen to avoid Amanda's snoring and Amanda did not trust Marianne to wake up on time her own. So whilst Amanda took the downstairs room, Lisa doubled up with Marianne. It was not quite how Marianne had envisaged the night, but she guessed reality always intruded into dreams. For a moment, Marianne imagined a startled Lisa waking up next to Mouryann, but lying down with her things all packed around her, she dismissed that thought as ridiculous and fell into a dream-free sleep.

Marianne woke at dawn. For a moment she felt bemused, as if she was in the wrong place, as if she had slipped from the path planned for her to be doing for something else. She sat up. Lisa was still deep asleep beside her. In the lightening gloom Marianne looked at her bags, only partly sad to be leaving this place. Maybe Lisa and Amanda were right and it had only brought further confusion to her and not the rest she thought. It was true she had been wearing herself out here and now that seemed to lack any attraction.

Marianne clambered out of bed, carefully so as not to wake Lisa. The satchel holding her sketchpad sat on top of her other bags. For a moment she was tempted to take out her sketches and destroy them. They reflected a time and a place, a frame of mind even, that did not seem to fit in with how she was now. She flicked through the pictures looking at them in the weak light leaking in around the curtains. She came across the one of the catman sprawled on the ground, the catwoman lying in his cupping embrace. It seemed such a foolish drawing now, something fantastical that a teenage geek might draw and certainly nothing based in reality. Yet, Marianne had no desire to tear it up. Maybe it was like a holiday romance. Appropriate to a particular setting, but seeming foolish once you had returned from the idyllic resort to the mundanities of your everyday life. She knew that this picture belonged here, well not even here, but in a place where it would look like a romantic drawing not something for a science fiction magazine.

Marianne now had a purpose. Part of her was for slipping away this moment before the others awoke, but she did not know how long she had before they got up. She remembered how difficult both Amanda and Lisa had found driving through the country roads, and given that Marianne would be leaving in her own car rather than one of theirs, it could give her the breathing space she needed. Marianne tucked the drawings safely away and headed downstairs for an early breakfast.

"Well, that's a turn up. It's all topsy-turvy today." Amanda observed as she stepped into the kitchen.

"I got enough sleep yesterday, and of course I wasn't out running last night."

"Running? So you've also taken up jogging since you came down here?"

"Kind of. Would you like toast?"

"Certainly: two slices and some of that thick cut marmalade. I'm heading to the bathroom before Lisa appears."

Half-an-hour later the three women were all at the kitchen table, knowing that Marianne was clearing out seemed to encourage Amanda and Lisa to eat up everything she had left. Marianne, though, found she was favouring the last scraps of meat rather than bread and even demolished a tin of sardines which she could have taken back with her. Almost two hours after waking, the women were ready to leave.

"Right, you two head off. I'll do one last run round and then lock up."

"Are you sure? We need to get on our way; we don't want you dawdling." Amanda said irritably.

"Yes, it's my duty to do it: I rented the place out. Once you and your cars are out of the way, it'll be a lot easier."

"Well, if that's how you feel. But don't blame me if you get stuck in traffic."

"I'm sure I'll get to Mary's before you two anyway. It didn't take me an hour to track this place down."

"Well, suit yourself." Lisa said and headed to her car.

Amanda did likewise. For a few moments the gravel and dust was being thrown up as the two women fired up their cars and drove off far too fast; Marianne was sure they were simply hurrying to get themselves lost. She stood by the door to the house until the last sound of their engines had faded into the distance. Then she turned to her own car. Of course the house was already checked and locked, but that tale had bought her the time she needed. She drove off, briskly, but not too fast for the country lanes and in a few minutes was pulling off into a farm track at the foot of what she knew as Meytawn Hill. She had not found its human name on the map yet, even if it had one, and she felt now that to do so would some how make its magic fade. She quickly scrambled over the gate worried that some farmer would bellow at her for trespassing. However, the fields that covered the lower slopes of the hill were either fallow or had had their stubble ploughed in.

Soon Marianne was at the clump of trees. It looked different in daytime but she headed for the centre guessing that that was where the chair was. In a couple of minutes she had found it. She ran her fingers over the strangely warm stone before sitting down in it, feeling a tingle of excitement, half expecting Paurr to be there when she emerged. As she sat there the sounds of the countryside around her seemed to fade. She tried to remember how long the process would take. As the wind brought sweet air to her nose and the stone of the chair felt cold, she guessed she was in the world of the feylin. It was so strange to be there in human form and small voices called to her how easy it would be to change, to go to Paurr as a feylin female to make recompense for not coming for him last night. However, Marianne resisted those calls and steeled herself. She was going away and had no idea when, if ever, she would return to this part of England, let alone to the world of the feylin.

Quickly, though, she sprinted to the edge of the clump of trees and looked out across to where she knew Paurr's village was. The whole quiet scene would make a wonderful drawing she was sure. This was all proving a lot harder than she had anticipated and she wondered for a moment if she should have come here. She guessed though that this was a far easier approach than having to say goodbye to Paurr in person which would have happened a week or so from now anyway. At least this way he would know she had thought of him.

Marianne reached into the inside pocket of her coat, the one she had worn specifically and pulled out the tube of paper. She had been loath to bring plastic into the feylin world, but had been concerned that the sketch paper would get wet before Paurr found it. She had a feeling that he would come here tonight. The weather looked fine and she hoped it would stay that way.

The odd artist's supplies left at the cottage had come in useful. She now tied the sketch, which showed the two feylins lounging, happy in each other's company, to the arm of the chair. She was sure that the red ribbon which kept it closed would draw sharp feylin eyes to it immediately. Satisfied, Marianne took a deep breath as if to carry back part of this world's clean air with her. She sat on the chair, feeling its cold stone beneath her. She looked at the sketch tied to the chair and, as it quickly faded until there was nothing there, Marianne realised she was back in the world of humans, her world, though she had to say she felt that was less true now than at any time in the past.

Marianne walked slowly back down the hill, willing herself not to look back to the clump of trees; not to be tempted to transform where she stood, so that she could enter the feylin world, become a true feylin female once more. She focused on her car and soon she was over the gate and in it, driving away a little too fast, heading towards Exeter.

To Be Continued ...