Chapter Two: Melissa Panics

Candy threw herself through the front door and collapsed in the hallway, leaning against the wall by a rack of coats. Don ran through the house like a wild animal, screaming for his mum, and in a panic the hosting family assembled in the hallway looking fearful.

Melissa, Candy's mother held her small son close to her, and reached out her arms for Ricky. She looked at Candy for some kind of explanation, as to why her boys had come home in hysterics. But seeing her daughter's gaze going in and out of focus, and her ghostly complexion, she realised that Candy had not fared any better.

Melissa had not been too keen on visiting Midnight, but her oldest and best friend had moved back to the hour, and she had put off the invitation long enough. Three years in fact, always claiming it was never convenient, but never confronting the truth. Finally she had had to make the journey, for fear of losing a dear friend. But even as she made the decision, she had been reluctant to take Candy. However, despite voicing her disinclination to her husband, Bill, she had lost the argument, when he had insisted Candy accompany her.

Bill's reasoning was a selfish one, looking for a profit to be made on a bargain struck long ago. He had hoped that Candy might somehow be spotted by Lord Carrion, or by one of his servants, and create some kind of interest.

"We saw him, we saw Lord Carrion!" Ricky announced once his tears were under control. He looked up at his mother with red-rimmed eyes. "We really did!" he added unless she should think he was lying.

Melissa's gaze shot back to Candy, and knew that she had been right. This visit had been a mistake. She turned to her friend and her own hesitant family and tried to read their expressions. Her friend looked concerned, but not for the same reasons as Melissa.

"Don, Ricky go with mummy's friend into the lounge," Melissa instructed pushing the boys into her friend's outstretched arms. "You're not in trouble," she said as they clung to her, reluctant to let go.

Candy waited until she was alone in the hallway with her mother before looking up. She was still feeling the effects of her shock, although the shaking was abating. But while she was calming her pounding heart, she couldn't help the sinking feeling that she felt in the bottom of her stomach as she saw her mother's horrified expression.

She knew she should never have let her brother's out of her sight. She didn't know how she would ever make this right, the ending could have been tragic, had she not had such phenomenal luck.

"I just looked away from a second, I swear!" Candy said, her voice a pitch higher in her distress. "There was this stall seller, and he was bothering me. I turned to tell him I didn't want to buy, and when I turned back they were gone."

Candy watched her mother lean against the opposite wall, her eyes unreadable.

"I tried to find them, I searched the town but Don had run to the Twelfth tower, somehow he got through the railings. I didn't know what to do, so I followed him in there. I'm so sorry."

"And Lord Carrion?" Melissa asked in a whisper.

Candy looked down at the floor as the memories so recently lived flooded back. What Candy couldn't shake from her mind was the way he had looked at her, her heart screaming danger as she first locked eyes with him. But it was only after he had spotted her necklace that he had looked at her in a different way; a questioning way, and her heart began to scream against a different type of danger. A danger she didn't yet understand.

"He caught us…" Candy said without realising she had spoken.

"What did he say to you?" Melissa asked nervously. She lifted her eyes skyward as she prayed, please, he didn't know her. Please tell me she didn't find out this way.

"He saw my locket, he wanted to know where I got it. I told him… then… then he let me go…"

Candy didn't see the significance of this, but it seemed to resonate somewhere within her mother. Melissa's hand flew to her heart and she closed her eyes as if muttering a private prayer.

"But it's ok, we got away," Candy repeated, thinking that her mother was considering the terrible what ifs.

"We need to leave Midnight," Melissa declared. "We have to leave right away."

Candy looked out over the crashing waves as the boat cut through them on the way into the daylight. The hour of 9am came upon them quickly, and Candy had the feeling they were running like fugitives, only to be safe in the light. She didn't understand her mother's sudden determination to go home, and could only imagine that it was the fear of what could have happened to her children, that was making her long for familiar streets and faces.

The island of Qualm Ham appeared slowly on the horizon and grew with every passing second. The busy sea-port of Tazmagor welcomed them home, with its cheery buildings covered with distinctive red rooftops. Candy tried to smile at the thought of coming home, but it was blighted by the fact that she was sure her father would not welcome their return. He had not come to see them off the boat them after all.

"Come on," Melissa said struggling with Don and her bags. "We're nearly there."

Candy's father, Bill, stood in the doorway of the three story town house, watching his family dragging their bags up the street. In his hand was a half empty bottle of beer, and on his baggy sweatshirt was a stain that looked days old. Candy didn't look to him for a welcome home, but rather tried to avoid his gaze. She knew he'd be angry that his break from them all had been cut short. She also knew that her mother would have to work hard at making him understand why they had left early, in order to avoid a row.

"Kicked you out did they?" Bill asked as they reached the house. His eyes drifted to Candy, as if out of them all he suspected it to be her fault.

"Candy, help the boys unpack will you," Melissa said, once again resulting to the tried and tested method of dealing with her husband alone, with the children out of the way.

Bill was looking forward to hearing his wife's explanation; he felt a perverse pleasure in belittling her, and laughing at her opinions. Smugly he knew she'd never stand up to him, and within a few minutes she'd be in the kitchen cooking something for him. He saw her keenly watch Candy taking the boys to their rooms, before she would speak.

"She met Lord Carrion," Melissa said in a hushed voice, leaving her husband stunned.

Bill stared at her as if she was crazy, then his calculating mind fashioned her words into a profit. Suddenly the excitement showed in his eyes and he left his worried wife in the hallway and headed to the lounge. From a box that he kept locked next to his favourite chair, Bill pulled out a piece of paper. The heavy paper was drawn up in the style of a contract, signed and sealed.

"It's about time," Bill said looking over the paper.

"He really scared her Bill," Melissa said to his turned back. She didn't know how he was going to react, so she hung back from him. Not that she feared him now, he was in a good mood, but she dreaded him breaking the news to Candy.

He turned to look at her with a disdainful look, as if he couldn't care less. To him Candy was check to be cashed. He'd been bringing her up, a burden on their finances for twenty-one years, now it was time for the return he had been promised.

"She doesn't have a choice," he said without any feeling.

"It still doesn't mean anything though. She's been twenty-one for six months now, and he still hasn't contacted us. He's not interested Bill, we know this…"

"No, he'll come for her now…" Bill replied confidently.

Melissa turned away. She walked into the kitchen without realising where she was going, and began finding ingredients for a meal. She didn't dare refute Bill's prediction that Lord Carrion would now claim his bride, but she hoped he would be wrong.

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews, it's good to know there are Candy/Carrion fans out there! Although, poor Candy still doesn't know what's in store for her.