Ondine (17 page)

O
ndine had the strangest sensation of having had a particularly awful dream. Shambles had become a real man, and a stunningly handsome one at that, but then some force took it all away and he was back to being a ferret. As her brain clicked and whirred into wakefulness, she knew it was no dream. Waking up further, she sprang out of bed and clutched her stomach. She wanted to be sick, and for so many reasons. Last night, she'd made a fool of herself in front of Hamish and in front of her mother. Topping it off, she'd robbed her middle sister of any privacy she might have enjoyed while her parents were distracted with Margi and Thomas.

There was a choice to be made. Get out of bed and face her mother and sister or stay in her room forever.
A staccato rap on the door put paid to any notion that it was hers to make.

‘Ondi, get up, family meeting,' Da said.

‘I want at her first,' Cybelle said.

With an angry look that could strip paint, Cybelle burst into her room and slammed the door behind her. Black panda smudges circled her eyes where the neat eyeliner used to be.

Nasty, heavy things tumbled around in Ondine's stomach.

‘How dare you!' Cybelle's face was red with fury. ‘Do you have any idea what you've done? Chef's going to get the sack because of you!'

‘I'm . . . I'm sorry,' Ondine blurted. Hot tears sprang into her eyes and blurred her vision. ‘I'm so sorry, Cybelle. I didn't mean it. I was so angry with Ma . . . it . . . it . . . just came out.'

Cybelle stood there with her hands on her hips, her lips pressed white in a hard, straight line. Just as her mother's had been the night before.

‘Sorry's not good enough! You've just ruined my life. I hope you're happy!'

With that, Cybelle slapped her hard on the cheek. Pain seared Ondine's face, but she didn't put up a fight.

‘I deserved that.' Hot tears splashed her face. ‘Belle, I'm so sorry, I really a–'

Cybelle slapped her other cheek, spreading the pain. Behind Cybelle, Da charged in, grabbing his middle daughter in a bear hug.

‘That's enough!'

Cybelle flailed her arms, kicked her legs out and screamed so hard bits of spit flew out of her mouth, ‘I hate her, I hate her! She's not my sister!'

‘Calm down, love. It's all right, I'll not sack Chef.'

Fresh tears sprang from Ondine, and she covered her face in shame. Heavy guilt roiled in her stomach and curdled her brain. All she wanted to do was stay in her room and cry. Her father would have none of it, demanding her attendance downstairs.

Not caring what she looked like, Ondine shrugged on a dressing gown and trudged down to the gathering.

Old Col sat regally at the top of the table, while Shambles stood before her, pleading his case, ‘What did ye do to me, Col? I thought ye lifted the spell.'

‘I did,' the elderly woman said with a tired shrug. ‘I'm as much in the dark about this as you. My only guess is the full moon must have played some part. We all know there's nowhere to hide on the night of a full moon.'

‘Spare yer epithets,' Shambles said, and he turned to see Ondine, Da and Cybelle walk in.

Da's mouth fell open in surprise. ‘Ondi, I can hear him talk now.'

If her father could hear Shambles, it would save time with translations. It also eroded any last vestiges of privacy she might have had with him. Not that she deserved any privacy after what she'd blurted out about Cybelle last night.

Shambles nodded to Ondine to acknowledge her entrance, then resumed his pleading to Old Col, throwing his short arms around as he talked.

‘But I didn't do anything wrong. We all
know
that. I was being responsible for the first time in my life. It was
just a kiss,
it was never going to go any further. Why would that make me turn back into . . . into this?'

Just a kiss
had been the same words Ondine had
used. They were a lie so she could save face. But hearing Hamish-as-Shambles say it to someone else, with everyone listening, well, that was a different matter entirely. Maybe to him it was
just a kiss,
but to her it was everything.

Old Col looked at the ferret. ‘Ah, but you see, Hamish, maybe this isn't a punishment after all. Maybe the full moon shone a light on the kind of man you could be.' Her eyes glistened with confidence.

Ondine had no idea what the old woman was banging on about. Forget sage advice, this was more like scratching around for answers like a chicken in a compost heap.

‘Enough of that,' Da said, taking his seat at the other end of the table and pulling Ondine down beside him. Cybelle sat across from them so she could shoot her sister filthy looks. The fact that Cybelle also sat beside Chef was not lost on anyone, particularly Josef.

Incredibly, Ma stayed quiet as Shambles approached Ondine and climbed on to the crook of her arm. If this had been last night, if he'd been a man again, his touch would have sent searing heat into her bloodstream.
But it was the morning. He was a ferret again. What a passion killer!

‘I am sorry about last night. I'm sorry I made ye cry,' Shambles said.

‘It's not your fault,' Ondine managed, giving him a wan smile that didn't reach her eyes. Maybe he was a ferret again because she didn't want him to leave. Wasn't that what she'd been turning over in her head yesterday? If he became human again, he'd probably leave. If he remained a ferret, he'd stay with her.

The head of the household cleared his throat and directed his comments to Chef. ‘I have a blinding headache from last night, so excuse my lack of manners. Henrik, I want to know what your intentions are with Cybelle.'

They could all tell by Da's clipped tone that it was not a request. And he'd called Chef by his real name for the first time in ages. Ondine's heart sank. Their father had been softening so nicely lately – now he seemed to have reverted to caveman mentality.

Cybelle kept her head bowed, her hands clenched into fists on the table. Every now and then she lifted her
eyes to shoot Ondine a greasy look of utter contempt, before resuming her sulk.

Nobody said anything for a few seconds as everyone else's eyes fell on Henrik.

When Henrik spoke, his voice was quiet but determined. ‘No, Josef. It's private. This is something between me and Cybelle, no one else.'

In shock, Cybelle lifted her head and smiled as she looked with pride at her paramour. Henrik glanced back at Cybelle, and traced his fingers over her white knuckles.

Nothing came out of Da for a moment, such was his surprise. He swallowed and started again. Like a spluttering lawn mower, it took a while before he got a good spin going. ‘You
will
tell me, because it concerns my daughter, and your tenure here as an employee,' he demanded.

So he
was
about to sack him? Ondine couldn't believe how nasty her father sounded.

‘Remind me never to play poker with your da,' Shambles whispered.

‘I heard that,' Josef said, turning his now-famous
frosty stare towards Ondine, which nailed her to the spot. After he'd turned her blood to ice, he looked over everyone at the table. ‘Who else heard him? Show of hands.'

Gradually, everybody raised a hand to about shoulder height, even Henrik.

‘All of you?' Ondine blurted.

They nodded. Her heart sank. There really was no privacy in a large family and, judging by the extra people sitting around the table, hers was about to get larger.

Shambles piped up, ‘That's great news! If ye can all hear me, it must mean the spell is breaking.'

Da turned to Henrik, waiting for an answer from his earlier question.

Henrik kept his voice low and steady as his eyes locked with Josef's. ‘Mr de Groot, if you sack me, you'll be minus a chef. I'll go and find another job. But it won't stop me seeing Cybelle. Only Cybelle can decide that.'

A strange icy feeling spread through the room.

‘That's right,' Cybelle said in little more than a
whisper as she touched Henrik's arm for support. ‘If Henrik goes, I'll go too. Then you'll be short one chef
and
one daughter.'

Blotches of red bloomed on Da's face, while the veins on his neck doubled in size and threatened to burst. Ondine felt she might be sick from all the excitement.

‘What he means is, he wants what's best for Belle,' Ma interrupted. ‘We want you to be happy, sweetheart.'

‘My head is killing me,' Da said by way of explanation. ‘I know this is coming out wrong, but this is all a big shock to me.'

Henrik spoke again, ‘It's only an hour till lunch, so if you want to sack me, better do it now, otherwise I've got work to do.' At that he rose from his seat.

Josef said nothing more. Henrik kissed the top of Cybelle's head, not gloating in victory, just confirming that he and Cybelle were united. A team.

A stab of jealousy pierced Ondine's heart as she watched her mother wrap her arms around Da's shoulders in comfort, while Margi rested her head on
Thomas's shoulder. Hope sank like a stone as she sat there with a talking ferret instead of the real man he should be, a real man she could fall in love with.

Things then took a turn for the worse as Ma looked towards her.

‘Ondine, you may give me that apology now.'

It would have been so convenient if Melody or even Mrs Howser had come in at that point, to break the tension. No luck – they were sleeping off the party. As they weren't family, they'd been spared the meeting. A hard lump formed in Ondine's throat as she swallowed. She'd never shouted at her mother like she had last night, and it called for a grovelling apology. Everyone was looking at her, and it made it that much harder to deliver when all she wanted to do was crawl into a cave. Preferably one with a big rock she could shove over the entrance. Life as a hermit held tremendous appeal.

‘I'm sorry, Ma.' Ondine's voice was barely above a whisper as she bowed her head.

‘Didn't quite catch that,' Ma shot back.

Ondine tried to swallow again. ‘I'm sorry, Ma.' This
time it came out like a squeak, but it was louder and at least her mother would hear it.

‘For what?'

Ondine lifted her head and looked directly in her mother's eyes. ‘I'm sorry, Ma, for being rude to you last night, and for answering back, and for implying you talk out of your ear.' Tears blurred her vision.

Ma smiled and said, ‘Thank you, I appreciate that. Now you may apologise to Cybelle.'

Oh great, she had to go through it all over again.

‘I'm so deeply sorry, Belle, for betraying your trust and telling Ma about something I shouldn't have.'

‘I don't accept it. You had no right to say anything, you –'

‘Belle, that's enough,' Da interrupted.

An uncomfortable silence descended around the table.

Ma cleared her throat. ‘Good. Now go to your room, Ondine. You're grounded until I say so. I'll let you say goodbye to Melody and Mrs Howser, but that's it. And then we'll talk about changing your electives for school. Joining the ski team is no longer an option.'

Something heavy drained out of Ondine. It could have been her fighting spirit, or perhaps her sense of justice. Had her parents just taken her choices away from her? For what? Gossiping about her sister? She couldn't move her legs. Shock rooted her to the spot.

‘You're going to take my ski lessons from me because I was rude?'

Da spoke up. ‘No, we'll need to change your electives because we can't afford them any more.
⁵⁹
You'll need to choose classes that have the least number of excursions and the cheapest text books. We now have two weddings to plan and they cost more than your education.'

‘What?' Cybelle looked shocked. ‘Why should I get married? I'm not getting married! Nobody gets married any more.'

‘I don't care how modern you think you are, there are some traditions I insist on. You are getting married. That is one argument you will not win,' Ma said.

Forget her sister not wanting to get married, Ondine was still reeling about her curtailed studies. ‘But what about all the jewellery and money you kept?'

It was Ma's turn to blush. ‘It's gone, Ondi. We spent it on renovations. That's why we couldn't afford to close the dining room last night. We need everything we can get.'

Shame and frustration made Ondine's chin wobble out of control. To add to her misery, she felt hot splashes of unrestrained tears on her cheeks.

Just kill me now, my life is over.

‘And leave Shambles here. He's not to be in your room again.'

‘I'm sorry, lass,' Shambles said, leaning up to give her a cold, wet and a little bit whiskery kiss on her neck.

There was nothing for Ondine to do but trudge up to her room and rot.

 

59
Brugel's government school system is nominally free, a legacy from the Soviet days. However, parents are required to make ‘voluntary' payments in exchange for copies of their children's term reports. There are also fees for subjects that incur extra costs for excursions or equipment. The most expensive electives are winter sports (ski fees) and media studies (camcorder fees). Both these subjects were high on Ondine's list of electives.