Chapter 11

Emma and Sandy were waiting for Mercury in the kitchen. They have already eaten their breakfast. It was rather strange to Sandy that Mercury could be so late for breakfast. When you live in a palace you have to get up in time to eat or you’ll stay hungry until lunch. Kids were trained since 5 to get up in time without anybody waking them whatsoever. Once you’ve learned the lesson the hard way you really don’t want to repeat the process.

“Maybe we should go check on him,” Emma suggested after another 20 or so minutes of waiting. Sandy nodded.

The girls got to the room where Mercury was supposed to stay. Sandy knocked on the door. When nobody answered she called out: “Mercury? Is everything all right?”

Still they heard no response. Emma couldn’t help but feel like something wasn’t right. So she elbowed Sandy aside and opened the door, saying loudly: “I’m coming in”.

Emma didn’t know what she expected to see but it was not that. Mercury had a rather simple room: a double bed, a table with an armchair and a wardrobe. The bed looked as though nobody slept in it previous night. The blinds were wide open and the sun was shining through.

“Where do you think he is?” Sandy asked.

“I mean, the library?” Emma shrugged.

The girls went to the library. It indeed looked as though somebody spent a whole night in it, looking through books. Books were everywhere, thus that the books were in different stages of reading. Some were not open at all.

“God, I hope he’s OK,” Sandy said. But Emma’s worries left her. She knew exactly where he might go.

“I’ll go check outside and you look in all the rooms,” Emma suggested. She wanted to find him by herself.

As she suspected, she found Mercury in the garden. He was lying on the grass under one of the trees. The weather was wonderful for the late autumn. Bright sun lit the flower fields in the distance. And as far as the eye could see there was not another soul in sight.

Emma had her coat on. It was the one she wore when she first got to this Earth. But it really was not necessary.

Emma came close enough to Mercury so that she was able to see him and he was not. But Emma didn’t know that Mercury was raised by a wood’s guide so he could hear his pray from afar.

“Sneaking doesn’t have a good face on you, you know,” he said loud enough for Emma to hear.

She was surprised but not shocked. She knew he had a lot of hidden talents that might come in handy one day.

Emma came closer to him and sat beside.

“It’s breath-taking, isn’t it?” Mercury asked after a little while.

Emma nodded. “How did you know I approached?”

“I didn’t know exactly who it was,” he said, still looking on the fields. “But my father was a woods guide. So I have an excellent hearing from those times of my life”.

Emma looked at him puzzled. “How come you are living in a palace when your father was a woods guide?”

The expression on Mercury’s face didn’t change. He kept staring. But after a minute or so he said: “My father died when I was 11 and his friend took me in. Sebastian is his name. He soon became rich thanks to his Woodworking company. So you could say I was lucky”.

“You don’t sound like you were lucky”.

Mercury finally smiled a little. A sad smile. He turned to Emma and looked carefully in her eyes. “I miss him every day of my life,” he whispered, any hint of laughter escaped his voice.

“I miss my family too,” Emma said. And realised it was true. She never really sat and thought about this since she appeared here. “You know what’s funny? I really was annoyed with my mother. So I didn’t want to go home that day. I went the other way just for a cup of hot chocolate. And then this happened,” Emma made a movement to indicate the space around her.

They were silent for a moment. Then Mercury said: “It’s really not as bad here”.

Emma laughed. “I bet”.

“No, I’m serious,” he then got up and held out his hand her get up. Emma was surprised but took the hand anyways. When she got up Mercury started drugging her down the hill towards the forest.

“Where are you leading me?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” Mercury answered, still not letting go of her arm.

“Seems to be the case with you,” Emma muttered under her breath, but went after him anyways.