Chapter 30 – The Others
Leonidas’ revelation about Deborah had not distracted me from one thought. That Charity should have five fairy daughters, who were all the spitting image of their mother, was statistically improbable. Yes, Faith had been the auburn haired equivalent of her own mother and Audrey St Clair was also the image of her aunt Deborah Kalamia; but five daughters?!? One or two daughters looking exactly like their mother was credible, five was not. So I asked Lena. “While it’s certainly possible that one or two of Charity’s daughters would be the image of their mother; Julian, Alice and I have now found five identical fairies. They can’t all be sisters. Some must be clones surely?”
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“The Simverse is an amazing place, Gobias,” replied Lena. “The improbable is not impossible. Including Alice, I’ve now met four of Charity’s daughters and none have been clones. Nor are my great nieces completely identical although they are very much alike to look at. There are some minor differences in appearances even among the fairies with pink wings, and of course, Dana, the fairy Julian found in Hidden Springs, has green wings. Not all of the sisters share exactly the same traits although they have many traits in common. For instance, Ellen in Starlight Shores does not have the Hopeless Romantic trait, she is a Genius.”
“Oh please tell me about Dana,” Alice asked eagerly. “I’ve had dreams about the green winged fairy. Where does she live now? Is she happy?”
“Dana still lives in Hidden Springs. Yes, she is happy. She and her husband were going on their honeymoon when I contacted her.”
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“That’s wonderful. What about Ellen?”
“Ellen is currently living with a sweet grandmother and her young grandson in Starlight Shores. She is settled there now.”
“Is there something the matter with Ellen? Is she unhappy?”
“No there is nothing wrong with Ellen beyond the amnesia. I believe she is as happy as possible in the circumstances. She is adamant that she wants to stay where she is. She didn’t want to come with me when I asked her. Ellen says she feels safe with Melanie Worthington. They are good people, the Worthingtons. Ellen has some major trust issues and Melanie Worthington is helping her deal with her nightmares. I believe there is also an attachment forming between Ellen and young Francis. But it could go either way. Anyway I think Ellen will improve and grow into her own persona more effectively with the Worthingtons. Nevertheless I will be watching over her.”
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“Perhaps Gobias and I can visit with her, so I can see for myself that she is alright’” Alice said looking at me. I nodded. Alice gave me a quick smile in response and turned back to Lena Kalamia. “So did you meet Cassie or Jayne?” Alice asked, “Neither of them has texted me about meeting their great Aunt.
“I have not yet met Cassie or Jayne but they are next on my list,” replied Lena.
“Hang on a minute. You said you’ve met four fairies but not Cassie and Jayne. Who else is there?” I asked. Was my math wrong?
“So far, in addition to Alice, Dana in Hidden Springs, and Ellen in Starlight Shores, there is Shelly in Dragon Valley. There are now six fairies that we know of.” Our collective jaws dropped with this revelation.
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Unperturbed by our lack of comment Lena continued, “That’s why I was in Dragon Valley when you called me Lee. Do you remember Aunt Lorna?” Lena turned to her brother who still looked thunderstruck. His mind must be a minefield of angst. I felt for my old friend. This must be very hard for him to bear.
“A local Sim in Dragon Valley found another of Charity’s daughters. He was fishing for fairy damsel fish to fertilise his garden and caught a pink winged fairy instead. As you’ve probably guessed, the fairy has amnesia.
The local Sim was very kind but he had quite a few problems of his own, so he took the fairy to his best friend, Dr Lorna McCann, for a medical check-up. Lorna then called me.”
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I remembered the dossier Dudley gave me about the elderly elven physician, Lorna McCann, from Dragon Valley who had a close DNA match with Jayne. From the photograph in the dossier, Lorna McCann was clearly an elf. Given the history we’ve just been privy to, and Lorna McCann being Leonidas and Lean’s aunt, I’d guess Lorna could be a Ludaine elf descendant. It stands to reason that an elf would want to live in Dragon Valley. Although some elves do live in other towns, most of the elves in the Simverse now live in Dragon Valley.
“What happened to my sister in Dragon Valley?” asked Alice.
“Aunt Lorna passed her medically fit and gave her a change of clothes. The local Sim, Daric Ordhen, wanted Lorna to take care of her but the poor girl didn’t want to leave him.” That reminded me of Alice when we first met. I think all of Charity’s daughters would probably have significant abandonment issues for a very long time to come.
“At that time, Aunt Lorna didn’t know that Shelly was her great-great niece. She only knew I was looking for fairies with amnesia. Lorna convinced Daric to let the fairy stay with him. Lorna had hoped the fairy could help Daric with his other problem. Daric had been an alien abductee. Lorna’s intuition proved correct. Daric’s ‘son’ Patrick immediately took to the fairy and named her Shelly Mhňr.”
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That’s sounded like an appropriate name for a fairy found on a beach; Mhňr being the Gaelic word for beach. I looked thoughtfully at Lena when she talked about Daric’s alien son, Patrick. This was the fourth occurrence of aliens within this puzzle: Faith’s first husband; Keith’s girlfriend at Sims University; the alien spacecar at the Twinbrook Police Station; and now a Sim who found one of the fairies has an alien child, presumably from a much earlier abduction. Were the aliens somehow involved in all this or were the events involving aliens simply isolated incidents without any link to our mystery? I had been looking for patterns to connect all the evidence together but there were just too many diverse clues that nothing seemed to make sense. I had been trained not to accept coincidences and to investigate such seemingly random events. I just needed time to sort my theories out.
“Is Shelly happy with her life in Dragon Valley?” asked Leonidas.
“Yes, after a few initial adjustment issues; Shelly, Daric and Patrick have become a very happy family. Daric and Shelly are soon to be married and I foresee a happy future for all of them.”
“What sort of adjustment issues?” Alice asked Lena but she turned to look at me. Do we have adjustment issues?
“Well it seems that Shelly is a little strong willed. She upgraded Daric’s home and his beloved garden without his permission which upset him a lot. But when Shelly created an ice sculpture of Daric to watch over his garden, things smoothed out nicely.”
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Alice and I looked at each other. Shelly sounded a lot like Jayne who had also done exactly that to her husband Dudley. But we also now know that, like Alice, Shelly could sculpt. Could Cassie and Jayne also sculpt? I don’t think we’d ever asked that question.
“So I have five sisters and we’re all fairies. Family reunions are going to be a hoot!” Alice said to no one in particular.
“Well. Actually Alice,” said Lena sheepishly, “You may have six sisters. Five fairies and one witch.”
“What?!?” the three of us again exclaimed in unison. Leonidas eyes were deep blue pools of pain.
“Well I only have Ellen’s nightmares to base that theory on. Melanie and I have been working with Ellen to help her. I believe Ellen may be the youngest because all her nightmares feature six older girls and a woman she thought was her nanny. Ellen couldn’t recall who her nightmares were about, but one of the girls was a witch not a fairy.”
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My thoughts were distracted by Alice clenching and unclenching her hands. Alice said hesitantly, “I have had nightmares about a little witch. I don’t know how much of my nightmares are suppressed memories and how much are simply weird dreams. For instance, I had no idea that we were all sisters, only that I thought I did have at least one sister.” Alice voice caught as she looked at Leonidas. “Now that Grandfather mentioned it, yes, I do remember playing chess. I have this memory or dream or idea that I was playing chess with one of the older girls in what I think we called the ‘Logic Room’. I was ashamed to feel envious that the little witch had discovered all the potions on the chemistry lab without once getting herself blown up. Something tells we all called her Jackie but that was not her real name.”
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“You could be right. Ellen had distinct memories of the little witch and she thought she called the witch, Jase. Do you remember much about Jackie at all?” asked Lena softly.
“Not really. In my dreams Jackie was born a Good Genius. Nanny gave her the Bookworm trait when she aged up. She was an extremely good chess player. She beat all of us, never losing once.”
“Do you remember your real name from the dream or the names of any of the others?” I asked.
“No. I only remember Jackie’s name. I’ve tried and tried to think of my original name but nothing comes to mind, even in the dreams.”
“Yet you remembered Jackie’s name?” asked Lena.
“Some of my worst nightmares are about Jackie. I think perhaps that her name might be Jacǣran because I’ve heard someone screaming that name in my nightmares and whenever I hear it, a petrifying fear grips me and I can’t move.”
“Tell me what you remember about Jackie,” asked Lena.
“I don’t want to remember,” answered Alice her voice barely above a whisper.
Taking Alice’s hand, Lena said in a very soft but commanding voice, “I will protect you. Breathe deeply. Now go back to that dream about being envious of the little witch. What happened to Jackie, Alice?”
Alice’s eyes darkened with pain. “One day she simply disappeared,” Alice shuddered at the memory. “I wake up screaming for her to run but she doesn’t hear me. I think something terrible happened to her!”
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