Catching my eyes, he stopped where he was going and sauntered over in my general direction. My heart was in my throat. Throwing a glance over to Dev and Emma for support, I looked back and the doctor was right in front of me.
"Are you Jeane Crasse?" he questioned.
Crap. I thought. It better not be someone I know. "Y-yes?" I squeaked. The voice crack made Dev snort a laugh, an elbow to the stomach from Emma, and a death glare from me to stop him.
"I need you to come with me."
Frick. I needed to get out of this. "Can they come too?" I responded nervously.
"No."
"Don't worry about us, mon ami. We will be at your house when you get back." She replied.
"But his mo-"
"Will let us go through the back. Won't we, Dev?" Emma interrupted. He mumbled under his breath some sort of curse and looked at me worried. This was not helping my nerves.
"Hurry up, boy." he taunted.
"I'll tell you everything when I get back." And I ran to catch up to him.
"Jeane, the person that the guards were carrying was someone who might have been very dear to you in your family." he scientifically said as he unlocked the metal door. It felt as cold as someone just shot ice on the knob. He hands me a water and keeps one for himself.
The lab was very pristine and clean as could be. I thought I was in NCIS with how the lab was set up. A still body under the blanket behind a glass window. All around me was white as could be. The doctor was more of a lab detective than an actual doctor. Despite the plaited white lab coat and stethoscope around his neck, I still did not trust him. As I took a sip of my drink and watch him take it shot like, I rolled my eyes. Very? No one really is dear to me but my father. I hope it was not him that is in the casket, I thought. "Really?" I managed.
"You can go into the other room and see who it is under that blanket." he waved. He got back to his papers with his neat hair, not one out of place. The shoes as black as could be. He was built as though he were Dev's father.
My throat tightened as I slowly walked over to the other room that contained the bed with the body. A little creepily, I felt him following me. It seemed as though the walk took thirty minutes to the other door because of the suspense and terror that is instilled into me. My chest started to stop. I was in no mood for what I wanted to not see. The day started out fairly well, normal, and now, I can not even be willing to have the chance to know.
Opening the creaking door, I dreamt that the body was still breathing. My heart was pounding to the point that I thought it was about to burst. I hovered over the blue sheet and did not want to go forward with this thought. What if it is my… I closed my eyes, a few tears rolling down my cheek, as I pulled the sheet back. IT WAS THE QUEEN!!!
Lying lifeless in the bed, I saw something that I never saw before. Her grey hair stringed with white was laying frayed on the sheets. Her withered body was all smoothed back, and her dress was her favorite one. Her shape was similar to my mother's and her face structure was scary. But her hands… they were …
"This isn't her, sir. I am not related to her." I replied, horrified at the sight of her arms.
"Her blood work revealed that it is your relative. Unless someone changed the blood cells… that could never happen…" he trailed. "Then again, he is the grandson of…." he glanced at me and exclaimed, "What are you staring at young man? This is your grandmother that the doctors are talking about. It can change the course of history."
"Did you just say," I gulped, "Doctors?"
"Yes. I assume you heard me correct?"
"Anyone who is anyone…" The talk of the town was how a doctor ended up wanting to be tougher and have the stomach to do certain things that other doctors do. So, he ran tests upon himself to release his other half from his body to create two of himself. Then, he did not have to put up with seeming to be crazy. "But how did you get your other half under control?"
"It wasn't easy and telling you this is a bit harder than I thought." A whistle was sounded and all of a sudden, someone else comes in the door.
There was a lock opening and I was nervous at the sound of the screeching of metal on metal. The steps were heavy and slow, having the earth shake. "Yes, sir?" the second doctor said through his pearly whites.
"Here is the boy that I was talking to you about." the first one informed. Standing side by side, they looked mismatched and showed which side was clearly more rough when need be. The build of each other was the same, but seeing them in person was like looking at a fairy tale.
The second one came up to me and said, "Call me Hyde." he walked around me, took some samples and ran them through a lab test. "This can't be?! I thought that the king and queen had no children?"
"Wh- What are you talking about?" I asked.
"I'm saying that this is the former queen at the table. We have preserved her in case anything like this happens." Jekyll said.
"We have pondered the question of what would happen if the queen did have children? You see, she was in the castle for 18 years and on her eighteenth year outing since, she ends up getting killed. I do not think that is a coincidence."
"So when the body was sent to us, we had to run immediate DNA tests and discovered three months ago that this is your blood line. We wanted some tests before we confirmed it, so we had you come down to compare the looks. You have a lot of your mother in you."
"My dad is only 39 and I know my grandmother on his side. She is evil. There is no way that I could have been her grandchild."
"Why would we mention your mother if we did not think that it was her bloodline?"
I did not catch what they said until now. She never talked about her past and I have always thought that she was an orphan. I never bothered to ask for her age, but the chances of her being an heir to the throne, was higher than I ever thought before. It had been 35 years ago that she would be born if this was true. All of these people coming into the town and creating stories of what we do, all of these people fascinated by our stories, all of these people say what we do and say, makes sense now. They were trying to get to the root of the problem.
"How will I know that my mother is telling the truth?"
"Take this," he handed me a device and instructions. "Now go. You are free to leave." Hyde commanded. I ran, but before I left, they started to talk about something that I barely caught.
"You do realize that he has to know sometime soon about who Robin is, right?" Hyde questioned. The door was completely closed and was where the two of them were just alone. Jekyll and Hyde are one and the same, just like in the story, but Hyde and Jekyll are on good terms.
"That is exactly what I am afraid of. Mom would not have wanted this." Jekyll said, waving to the body. "Jeane will know soon. I'm afraid it will be too soon in fact."
"He is too young. Jeane does not need to know that Sister is something that he does not know. Mother wanted to have him know. Sister does not seem to be suited for the position when Father is gone."
"Maybe you are right, Hyde. Unless all these fairytales are for the simple fact that it is time for him to go up and claim that rightful spot."
"Whatever he decides, it will affect what the town does. He needs to decide before the sorceress comes back."
"That is my fear. Jeane may not be suited from the way he acts, but he is surprising though. He could fill the position better than Sister. As long as he finds himself a rightful partner."
"Yes, as long as he has someone he can 100% trust." Hyde shook his head and headed back to the lab. He sighed and went to figure out a way to woo this new girl he had on his mind from the app he made to date.
I was panting when I got home. My mother was the first one to see me. She hugged me tightly and I pushed her away. She was being odd. I never received a hug from her and her cold heart. My thoughts went immediately to my dad.
"Where is dad, Mother?!" I practically yelled.
"He went out on a business trip, sweetheart. I heard about the coffin and my thoughts ran to you, sugarmuffin. I am so glad you are safe." she sobbed. Calmly and collectively, "Oh, and there is a young woman and Dev at the back door waiting for you. If anything, she looks hideous to me." She cackled being herself again.
Opening the back door, I saw Dev in his usual attire of dress up clothing and Emma was wearing overall skirt, a pink long sleeved button up, and pink ballerina shoes without the toe. She was absolutely beautiful and I could not do anything about it. Dev was dating her, but does not treat her the way I would. He treats her more as a queen willing to do her bidding. I was thinking of more partnership than being a rug for her. Emma shows it in her eyes that she is bored with him, but I cannot say anything about it.
"I'll be going to the living room. Before that, I am going to make some food. I'm famished! Waiting for 36 hours is a long time, man." and Dev walked away.
"Hey, Jeane," she silkily said. "Why did they call your name yesterday?" She ran her hand on my chest down to my stomach/
My mind was whirring. I was there for 24 hours? Was that why my mother was saying something to me? "Y-yesterday? But that w-was this morning. I was only g-gone for a couple hours."
"Are you okay? Were you hit on the head?" she whispered. Emma always whispered around me. Sometimes I feel as though she was doing it on purpose to make my blood rush and my heart pound to where I think she could hear it. Her scent made me dizzy, and realize that I was still standing in the doorway. Closing the door behind her, she leaned up to my ear and her lips tickled, "Well?"
"Y-y-you know w-w-we can't do this. My best Fr-fr-friend is your boyfriend. This is not right for me or you. It is completely immoral." I say to get her off of me. No matter how much I want to, I cannot betray my best friend. When we saw Emma, Dev asked me about going out with her a few months afterwards. I saw the looks they gave each other, so I let him be with her. Three years later, being 17 makes life a little hard with trying to control what you want. On top of that, I never had a girl really catch my eye. Besides Emma.
As she backed off, she turned around and headed up the stairs, where the bedrooms were. I ran up after her and wanted to make sure that she got into nothing important. She turned and ended up in a bedroom I most dreaded her going into. Mine. At that moment, I heard a knock on the door.
"You do realize that you can just come in, right?" I questioned Dev while he came in my home.
"Yeah, but what is the fun in that? Hey, babe." And gave her a long and excruciating kiss. It was very sloppy and looked awful. He looked as though he were trying to eat her face off. Looking away, I had gagged giving them a cue that I was still there. With a loud smack, they stopped.
"What did they talk to you about, Jeane?" Dev asked. He popped a chip after dipping it in his famous cheese sauce from the plate he brought up in his mouth.
"Kind of why I sent you a letter by fox earlier. That was as soon as I got out," I claimed, "but apparently you guys were not even at your houses. The doctor claimed that the queen was my mother's mother. How could that even be possible? It has been three years since the accident. Was it true that the queen stayed at the castle for 18 years?"
"You know the history better than us! How are we supposed to know when you are in the more advanced classes? Especially with you going off to college for culinary arts." Dev bragged.
"You can be annoying, you know that? Any way, I did hear about the times when she was not able to come out. How the orphanage ran a muck, how the technicians could not do their normal thing. The place that made this town was Jacques' bakery. That's why I decided to join them. They helped this town thrive. So why not make it where I am helping our economy?"
"Good point. The problem is, how come she died when she was riding her carriage? Usually, people respect the queen by pulling over like for the cops. Not this one. I think this was more than just an accident."
"Dev," Emma piped up, "it is a cold case. What is the point in even trying to go and find out?"
I looked at her and Dev with the half eaten snack in front of them. "We have something deeper than just a murder on our hands."
A cold wind blew threw my room and it was suddenly dark. "I have to go do something really quick." I said, remembering the device in my pocket.
"Okay, but do not be too long! You may not get your bed back."
I knew what Emma meant because we had the three of us over altogether and she would take my bed sometimes just to have me go into a guest bedroom along with Dev. Each of the ten guest bedrooms had two beds in case there were those who were single at a party. All the bedrooms have their own bathroom and came with some really good toiletries. The rooms were always sparkly clean and managed to put smiles on guests' faces. That was just the significance of being in lordship, I guess.
I walked into the living room to see my mother crying. In her hand was a photo that I could barely make out before she heard me. The floor was squeaking and I just had a simple question. With a flick of my hand, I turned the device on and attached it to the hem of her skirt. She quickly put the photo away in the room and turned to me.
"You should not have seen that." my mother said.
"Okay, and? What's the point?"
"That picture is of someone who passed away that was dear to me. They took care of me the best they could before needing to do their duties. They hide me away to have a normal life and I have no idea where the body is. That doesn't matter when you are trying to have the most normal life for them when they shipped you into a marriage that you did not want in the first place." She covered her mouth as if she said too much. "I'm sorry, my son, but you need to go before your father comes in."
As I looked, the device was fully green. The truth was far from over. The thought of her being forced into a marriage made sense to why she fought my father on everything he did. Maybe he went out to help the poor because he knew that she could not for some reason. I did not understand yet about what she meant, but I had a feeling that I would very soon.