Ondine (6 page)

A soft chuckle sounded on Ondine's shoulder. It came from Shambles.
He must be enjoying himself
, she thought, a little puzzled. Maybe Shambles liked a bit of argy-bargy?

Ondine cajoled her father again. At times she felt like exploding with frustration. ‘Please let me go, Da.'

‘We both know someone out there . . .' her father pointed in the direction of the train station, as if they
didn't know where it was ‘. . . wants to kill the Duke. It's dangerous. What kind of father would I be if I exposed my daughter to that kind of peril? The safest thing for us to do is to stay here.'

Was he being deliberately daft? If Ondine's eyes could roll any further into her head, she'd be looking into her brain. As much as she tried to keep a cool head, her pulse skipped up a notch and her clenched fists wanted to pummel something. ‘You've got it all wrong, Da. Nobody's going to be interested in us. We'll stay out of the way. I want to see the people who planned this get caught. I want to see them hauled away, and when that happens, it might be nice if the Duke perhaps caught sight of us and acknowledged our help.'

‘You mean if Lord Vincent caught sight of you,' Josef countered.

‘You're impossible!' Ondine clenched and unclenched her fists in impotent fury. Up until this point, she hadn't even thought of Vincent. Well, not much anyway, and what chance he'd even be there? Pretty slim, she suspected.

‘It's a fiddler's biddin'
²²
then,' Shambles said behind her ear, which didn't help at all.

‘I thought you'd have a bit more natural curiosity about you.' Ondine tried one more time to bend her father's will to her own. ‘We spent all that time last night warning him, and now you're not even interested to see how it turns out? What if by being there, we can stop it somehow? There could even be a reward in it for you.'

‘Aye, and then yer arse'll fall awf!'
²³
Shambles said, rumbling with laughter.

A terse silence filled the kitchen, broken only by the sound of Chef cracking eggs into the poaching pan.

Her father practically glowered at her. ‘You're that keen, aren't you? Fine, we'll go, but we're not staying more than half an hour. Then it's straight back to work for you.'

Tension fell away from Ondine's shoulders, making her feel taller and lighter. ‘Thank you, Da.' She kissed
him firmly on the cheek, then gave him a huge hug, nearly knocking Shambles off her shoulder in the process. A broad smile split her face. ‘This is going to be so exciting!'

 

17
Filthy and disgusting. Like armpits and roadkill.

18
Leftovers from the stove. Builds up the immune system.

19
The average age for a first marriage in Brugel is one of the lowest in Europe. It's 22.4 for men and 21.1 for women, so Marguerite is bang on average. In Poland it is 26.2 for men, 23 for women. Sweden is 32.9 for men, 30.4 for women. Brugel's positively medieval welfare system for single parents also makes it a more secure option for a woman to be in a marriage before having children. There is no single-parent pension. Somebody really should do something about it.

The link between early age of first marriage and lack of anything decent on television is yet to be proved.

20
‘Stoat the ba'' is when a man and a woman love each other very much and have a very special cuddle. Only in this case the woman is very young and isn't yet legally supposed to be having those sorts of cuddles. And the man is well aware of that fact.

21
Chefs work long and odd hours. They are awake at night and catch up on sleep during the day. It's rare for them to get out much, or to see the sun. Just as you should never trust a thin chef (because if they're not eating their food, neither should you), you should never trust a chef with a tan.

22
‘A fiddler's biddin'' is a last-minute invitation.

23
To say this is flat-out rude. It means ‘you're talking pish'. Keep track of these; there'll be a test later on.

A
huge crowd gathered that morning at the railway station, bringing a carnival atmosphere to something that was normally, well, pedestrian. The smell of fried onions and sausages at the fund-raising stalls filled the air, making Ondine's stomach rumble. Buskers entertained the crowds and played violins and accordions. Women dressed as fairies did a roaring trade painting children's faces in lurid colours.

‘I'm off to get me some sausage.' Shambles leapt off Ondine's shoulder and disappeared into the milling crowd in a blur of black.

‘No, Shambles, wait!'

Too late, the ferret was gone.
Damn that impetuous bampot
, she thought, borrowing one of his words to suit her means.

‘Right then, let's get a good position so we can see the Duke cut the ribbon,' Da said, holding Ondine by the hand. This only served to take her further from where she last saw Shambles.

‘Hang on, Da, Shambles has run off. I need to find him,' she said, trying to tamp down the rising sense of panic in her gut.

‘He'll be fine. Come on.' Squeezing through the crowd, Da found them a good vantage spot, where they could see the Duke standing at the podium, a pair of scissors in his hands. Standing beside him was a woman of indeterminate age. She had that caught-in-a-wind-tunnel look about her, with arched eyebrows that looked like they were trying to run away from her. Sunlight sparkled off the tiara that sat on her blonde head. Under her arm, she held a furry white dog.

‘Is that the Duchess?' Ondine asked.

Da laughed out loud. ‘She wishes! No love, that's the Infanta, the Duke's oldest sister.'

‘She looks so fancy!' Ondine saw more sparkles of sunlight – even the little dog had jewels in its collar. The thought of the small animal having such a fancy
collar made her wonder about Shambles, and whether he might look quite handsome with sparkles around his neck.

Another chuckle from her father. ‘Fancy is one way to put it. A bit overdone perhaps. She might have been Duchess if her little brother wasn't born.'

The crowd milled about them and someone stepped on Ondine's foot. A ripple of worry rippled through her. Shambles could easily be trampled in the crush.

‘Da, we need to find Shambles.'

‘He'll be wherever the food is. Now hush, let's listen to what the Duke –'

Shots rang out. Real gunshots that were so loud you'd swear someone had smacked you on the inside of your head with a brick.

People screamed.

‘Get down!' Da yelled. With a jolt he pulled Ondine to the ground, shielding her body with his.

Confusion and turmoil took hold. Everyone around them crouched down, huddling in fear. Noise and screaming filled the sky. Police officers blew their
whistles. From a gap under her father's arm, Ondine saw a man running away down the street.

People say that when a big, scary event happens, it takes place in slow motion. In this case, nothing could be further from the truth as it all took place at lightning speed. The police closed in, chased down the culprit for half a block, then tackled him into submission.

‘They got him!' Ondine said with relief.

The Duke must have taken their warning seriously. He must have organised more police. Ready to pounce at the slightest provocation.

For the next few minutes everyone stayed low to the ground as the police rounded up another two suspects. With her heartbeat hammering in her ears, Ondine heard her father say something. She couldn't make out the exact words because her ears were still ringing from the gunshots.

‘I said, “They've given the all-clear,”' Josef said even louder this time.

But still nobody moved. Well, why would they? Only moments ago shots had rung out above their heads. From their crouched position, Ondine looked around
to where the Duke was, to see if the show would go on. The Infanta remained huddled behind a chair. The Duke was on his feet, looking perplexed. In his hand was his traditional three-cornered hat, only now it had a bullet-sized hole through the top of it.

‘Ohmygosh! They nearly killed him,' Ondine said, her heart still beating far too quickly.

Josef wrapped his arms around her and held her close, kissing the top of her head. ‘Now do you see why I didn't want you to come here? If anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself.'

‘Thanks, Da.' She wanted to say, ‘You worry too much,' but in the present circumstances, his worries were perfectly justified.

‘I love you so much, my darling girl. And I know you're all grown up now, but I can't help it. To me, you'll always be my baby and that's just how it is.'

‘It's OK.' Ondine returned the hug, not caring that he'd called her a baby. At this moment, she'd forgive him just about anything. Trembles rippled through her body as she let the shock take hold. ‘I love you too, Da.'

So much remained unsaid as they embraced. Ondine nearly suffocated in the crushing hug but she didn't care. As a father, he suffocated her in so many ways but right now she wasn't complaining.

To their surprise, the Duke indicated he'd carry on with the ceremony. The mere fact that he was bodily unharmed brought many more people to their feet. The cheers ringing in Ondine's ears told her they'd done the right thing. They'd warned the Duke, he'd organised police protection and the crowd had witnessed a nasty scare rather than an assassination.

‘Right then,' the Duke called out, gathering his composure and dusting himself off. He picked up the enormous ceremonial scissors and held the blades apart. ‘I declare this new pedestrian access open.'

What an amazing man
. Ondine marvelled at how quickly he'd recovered his senses. By now she and Josef were on their feet too. The Infanta, however, kept her distance from the podium.

With a gracious nod, the Duke cut the ribbon and the two halves of fabric fluttered to the ground. People applauded, probably with gladness but also a great deal
of relief. A group of schoolchildren cheered and raced on to the overpass. They reached the highest point and threw coloured streamers into the crowd.

The Duke acknowledged the gathering. ‘Thank you, everyone, for coming. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a drink!'

The crowd laughed and cheered again, and Ondine could only marvel once more at how well he'd recovered. His poise in the face of such danger seriously impressed her, and she couldn't stop smiling. If she'd been the one in the firing line, she would have been a gibbering mess like the Infanta. But that Duke, wow, what composure!

There was little time to think further about this, because at that moment Da spotted Lord Vincent standing near his father's entourage.

Josef grabbed his daughter's hand. ‘Time we got back.' Without further explanation, he led her down the road towards their hotel.

Ondine stole a glance over her shoulder for Shambles and thought,
I hope he's all right
.

In the next glance she saw the Duke and (oh goody!)
Lord Vincent, following them to the pub. Something jumped in her chest, as if her heart suddenly had to beat double time to keep up with rapidly unfolding events.

‘Hey, Da, when the Duke said he needed a drink, he was serious. They're right behind us.'

‘In that case, we'd better get straight back to the bar so they can have that drink.'

‘But where is Shambles? He won't know where we are if we run off and leave him,' Ondine said, trying to hide the panic in her voice. How would one little ferret cope in such chaos? All on his own?

‘I wouldn't worry about Shambles, he knows he's on to a good thing with you. He'll find his way home.'

‘But, Da, he could get trampled to death. Or worse. Someone could steal him!' A fluttering sense of panic took hold of Ondine. Wrenching her arm free, she turned away from Josef and scanned the streets for any sign of black fur.

‘For goodness' sake! He's just a ferret. If he doesn't come home, I'll get you another one. Now hurry up
before we're overrun by the mob.' His firm hand gripped Ondine's upper arm, dragging her at a fast clip towards the pub's front door. They hardly ever entered by the main door. In this case her father made an exception, lest the patrons get into the pub before they did.

‘But he's not just a ferret, Da, he's a real man! He's only in ferret form because Great-Aunt Col turned him into one!' Ondine yelped as they stumbled across the threshold. ‘He needs me or he won't survive!'

‘He's a
what
?' Josef's eyes grew round like golf balls. If golf balls were lined with red squiggles from stress.

There was no moisture in her throat when she swallowed. Oh dear. Now she'd blown it. And she had his full attention so there was no getting out of it. A pulse trembled at her neck as Josef stared her down. The secret was out and she had nobody to blame but herself. Her sisters knew how to keep secrets; why couldn't she?