Page 162 of The Moon Sister
We hugged and then walked along the narrow corridor towards our rooms.
‘Night, darling Tiggy. Sleep well.’
‘And you, Ally. And I’m really sorry if . . .’
‘Shh,’ Ally put a finger to her lips. ‘Once I’ve managed to actually process it, what just happened is going to stand out as one of the most special moments of my life. Oh . . .’
‘What?’
‘You know he said he liked the name “Bear”?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s not a good name for a girl, is it?’
‘No, it isn’t,’ I said, and gave her a little wink. ‘Night, Ally.’
*
The next day, I staggered out of the blackness of my cave-room and into the bright sunshine. Sitting at one of the tables in the courtyard was the unlikely mix of my boss, my sister, and my newly discoveredgitanorelatives.
‘Hello, Sleeping Beauty,’ Ally teased me. ‘I was just about to come and get you. It’s noon already.’
‘I’m so sorry, I’ve never slept in as late as that in my life.’
Angelina muttered something and shrugged her shoulders expressively.
‘She says you need your sleep,’ said Charlie.
‘You speak Spanish?’ I asked in surprise.
‘I spent my gap year working in Seville. Angelina and I have had a very interesting conversation. She tells me she’s a practising doctor of medicine too.’
‘She is.’
‘She’s also told me that she has been treating you for your heart problems since you arrived here.’
‘Really?’ I looked at Angelina. ‘Is this true? ‘That stuff you’ve been making me drink . . .’
‘Sí,’ Angelina shrugged. Then she spoke again in Spanish to Charlie, gesticulating at me, which really irritated me as I couldn’t pick up most of what they were saying.
‘She said that your “ancestors” came to help you when you went to the woods. And they are helping you still.’
‘Did they? Are they? Well, if they are, I’m really happy. Especially if it means I don’t have to go to the hospital . . .’
‘Sorry, Tiggy, even though I have an open mind when it comes to alternative treatments, we still need to do those tests. And we need to leave now, if you don’t mind.’
‘Okay,’ I sighed, surrendering.
‘Marcella has said she will drive us there. I’ll be back in a moment.’
Charlie departed to go to his room, whilst Angelina, Ally and I sat in the sun eating warm bread and jam, washed down with another dose of potion.
‘This must be good for me,’ I said, crossing my eyes exaggeratedly as I sucked the last couple of mouthfuls from the straw. ‘Angelina, why didn’t you tell me you saw my sickness?’
‘Sickness makes fear, and fear becomes a sickness itself. Better you do not know. Then you get better quickly.’
‘You certainly look well,’ Ally put in. ‘I told her and Charlie what you said to me last night, that you couldn’t have known. Honestly, Tiggy.’ Ally put her hand on mine. ‘I’m still getting over the shock.’
