Chapter 3: Home…?

Nathaniel lay down on the plane, still wondering whether he had made the right decision. But even if he reconsidered, he knew it was too late. He was now on the voyage going to Wales, together with his said 'parents'. Nathaniel recalled their previous conversation:

He had backed away, refusing to believe it. "I don't believe you... this is a lame joke you're playing on me..."

The girl stood up, saying, "I know you remember us, I do know. Nathaniel, what can we do to prove to you?"

Nathaniel suddenly found himself crying. "There's nothing to prove. If you really are my parents, I still wouldn't go with you; if you do care for me, why did you leave me alone? You don't know how much I had to put up with, and it's your entire fault. It's your entire fault why I've become like this, growing up with all the torture. And now that I've found a new home, you come telling me to go with you? You're crazy. If you did want me all this time, why did you have to wait until now?"

The girl stood up, and Nathaniel could actually see her heart breaking. "If there's nothing we can do, we won't force you to go," she said softly but lovingly. "It's up to you what you want to do with your life. But please, give us a chance to explain."

The man came forward. "Come now, Barbara. Give him space."

Nathaniel knew that voice so well, the one that always had his dreams. "It was during that year; someone gave us a business proposition. We decided to accept, and we had to travel and stay in another country for over a year. We left you to my sister. I'm afraid they were not so... caring to you. When we never returned for a whole year, they thought something happened to us, and so they did what they did to you. We're so sorry for that, and a week after the incident, we returned but we received word that they were burned to death in a fire. We thought you died with them too, and all these years we've been trying to track you down. Nathaniel, we've finally found you and please say our efforts were not fruitless."

It was the story that shocked him. After an hour of consideration, Nathaniel decided to take back all the years that had been wasted. And that was how he ended up on the private plane going to Wales.

His mother entered the room, and Nathaniel could see she looked different, glowing, as if she had reached the greatest dream of her life. She had soft, black hair, and emerald- green eyes. It was his father that Nathaniel inherited his eyes from. His hair was like his mother's.

She went up to him and said, "If you don't mind, I'd like to spend a few moments with my son."

Nathaniel didn't know what to say, so he nodded.

She sat down next to him and smiled. "Have you ever learned to eat with your fork and knife in the right hands?"

He smiled suddenly and before he knew it, he was talking. "Of course, I just couldn't get the hang of it when I was three."

His mother laughed. "I had a lot of trouble letting do it properly."

"Well, now, I've managed to do it. Have you learned how to whistle?" he asked.

"No, until now, I haven't."

"I can teach you how to."

His mom laughed. "So you do remember? See? All it took was something to trigger those memories of yours."

Nathaniel bowed his head. "Right now, I don't want to think about anything else. I wonder what the others will say." He paused. "Well, I don't care what they say. Past is all behind us."

His mother looked at him. "It's not as easy as you think it is, Nathaniel. You'll find out we've got to make hard decisions by ourselves."

"I know." He decided to change the subject. "What are we going to do next, when we get home?"

"First, we take a good rest, and then, we prepare for our journey."

"Journey, you mean we're going somewhere else after this?"

"Yes. There's this huge gathering of half- royals at another part of England, and we're invited. Mostly, it's consisted of counts, dukes, earls, and barons. Of course, our family is one of them."

Nathaniel sighed. "I don't know how to act like royalty."

"Are you sure? After working for the government, the way you handled the conversation awhile ago, I would've assumed you were the prince himself."

"I guess I could do my best." A thought suddenly struck Nathaniel. "Can I still do my incantations? I did bring my things with me."

"That's up to you. You can as long as you'll do it with care."

"Oh, I will."

His mother stood up, preparing to go out. "Then I suppose there's nothing wrong with it, is there?" She smiled at him, and he smiled at her too.

oOo

Meanwhile, in the bowels of Whitehall...

"WHAT?" Jessica Whitwell, Julius Tallow, Henry Duvall and Jane Farrar exclaimed.

"Yes," Rupert Devereaux said wearily. "He's been found by his birth parents, and now he went off with them to Wales. I guess we'll have to make a few changes."

"No... he couldn't," Whitwell stammered.

"The brat's done that?" Duvall said disbelievingly.

"No one's going to help me manage Internal Affairs!" Tallow complained. "Rupert, how could you let him go?"

"Because he was too young, and... and... I felt we owed him something after all."

Jane Farrar had kept silent all this time. "I suppose he's going to suck up to his new home?" she said venomously. "Well, we can do better without him. Parents, indeed; if I'd known any better, I would have reckoned—"

"Do you have a problem with that, Ms. Farrar?" Whitwell cut off. "After all, we all know magicians have never had the privilege of their own families."

Jane Farrar stomped off haughtily after an icy glare at Whitwell. The others trailed their eyes on her.

"Well, I guess that about sums it up," the P.M. said, still looking at Ms. Farrar's back. "We can manage it on our own without John Mandrake, can't we?"

The others merely nodded, but the looks on their eyes were enough to tell it was otherwise.

oOo

The plane landed with a whirr on the huge grounds of a mansion, which in Nathaniel's opinion, was almost as big as Whitehall itself.

He carefully threw his gaze all around, taking in every detail of the home he once had, then lost, and regained once again right now.

His mother and father clambered down the steps, beckoning him to follow them. Nathaniel walked up the grounds, trailing behind his parents. They reached the large patio of the house, and were immediately ushered inside by three waiting servants.

"This is going to be your new home," his father told him.

"It already was, wasn't it?" Nathaniel asked. He swept his eye around, still recalling a bit about the home he had once loved so much.

"Well, it's going to be again, so you better start unpacking your things," Barbara told him. "Henry will show you the way to your room."

A butler stepped forward. "Come, Nathaniel. This is the way to your room." He picked up the bags, and Nathaniel followed him up the stairs. When he looked at Henry, he saw that he was limping, and Nathaniel had a vague memory of himself hidden behind a large cabinet, while giggling silently at someone who apparently had tripped across his wire trap.

"Henry, may I ask you something?" he ventured to inquire.

"Of course you can. I knew you before, you know. You always used to run away from me. Well, what are you about to ask?"

"Why are you limping? Where did you get your limp?"

"Ah, this was from years ago, when I accidentally stumbled on a piece of wire. That day, furniture was moved around the house, and I guess that string was unintentionally left out. Anyway, it left me a big sprain, and this limp after that."

Nathaniel meekly said, "I'm sorry, Henry. It was intentional, you know."

Henry looked at him. "Oh. Well, that was years ago, and I should think you have indeed learned not to do things such as those, I take it? Here's your room. Better take a look around."

Nathaniel looked around, and said, "It will do. It already did, when I was small."

Henry looked at him approvingly, saying, "You've got a good memory; I have a feeling things will get more interesting with you around.

"You've got that right, and you can bet your other leg that things will go much more interesting with me in the house."