Glass chapter eight

Meanwhile, in Beau Champia, Constanza was bidding a fond farewell to the indifferent Ben.

"You can have anything you like to eat. Just ring that little bell, look, and a servant will come running."

Ben pouted.

"They're rude to me."

"That's because you're rude to them, darling."

"Can I have them whipped if they're rude?"

"No, darling, only Jacob and myself have the authority to do that. But you can grass them up to me for when I come home and they can have a good whipping then, can't they?"

Ben turned away sulkily.

"One day I'm going to go over and thump him!" Jacob, waiting in the doorway, complained.

"Oh you won't, sweetheart. You're looking rather good, if I may say so."

Jacob wished he looked good enough for Constanza to love him again like she did in the old days. Oh well… there were always the maids to keep him satisfied, if not completely happy.

"Bye bye, Ben. We'll be back in a few days."

"Yeah, see you around."

Ben was already playing the most violent game he could find on his computer tablet.

"Now!" Mad Jeff beamed, looking like a Jolly Uncle, "Who's up for a lovely party?"

"I don't party" Dylan, who was still anxious about getting to Ben, said baldly.

"You can just watch then, and eat stuff from the lovely buffet. Mrs Duffin's a top class cook. If you'll all just accompany me to the ballroom…."

They followed him, Dylan extremely reluctantly.

"You know what he's going to do to them" Ruth scolded.

"Ahh, he hasn't any friends. And they always manage to break the spell and leave eventually."

Mrs Duffin felt sorry for Jeff.

"Maybe those people don't have time for eventually!" Ruth snapped. It was hard working for Mad Jeff Collier. The thing was, much as they sometimes wanted to overpower him and tie him up in his own castle to stop him creating mischief, they couldn't. Underneath all the quirkiness, Mad Jeff was simply a very lonely man.

"This is really lovely" Robyn grinned, holding up her glass, "What is it?"

Mad Jeff wasn't going to say 'It's my infamous looney juice that makes people lose their memories so they're happy to stay here with me".

"Oh" he said furtively, "It's a special wine."

"It doesn't do much good for potted plants" thought Dylan, who had poured his into the potted plant when Mad Jeff's back was turned. The plant was now drooping and wilting in its pot.

He needed to stay sober for Ben's sake.

"Oh Dylan, you've drunk yours already!" Alicia giggled.

"Refill!" chirped Mad Jeff.

"No, really, could I have spring water this time? I… get ill easily and I want to be around to enjoy your party."

Mad Jeff grinned at Dylan.

"Good lad, keep the party going longer eh?"

He poured what was actually spring water with elderflower into Dylan's glass. He didn't need all of them to be off their faces, just the majority. They'd soon talk this misery guts round.

"Now, WHO's up for sex and quiche and rock and roll?" chuckled Jeff.

"Not me, thank you, we need to keep a clear head for tomorrow when we go to help Ben."

"Who the bloody hell's Ben?" Robyn said, genuinely puzzled, and collapsed giggling.

"You know who Ben is! Robyn, sober up for goodness sake!" Dylan snapped.

"Bugger off, Whiney. Jeff, do you have any Bollywood music? I want to show you my party piece" Alicia said.

"Lily, you're the sensible one…"

Lily, completely off her face on the dreaded Looney Juice, just sang cheerfully:

"I'm a little tea tree, growing high, climbing climbing to the sky,

I'm a little tea tree, boo hoo hoo, I'll never make a brew for you."

She found this completely hysterical and slid off her seat. Dylan helped her up again, and she flopped across the table.

"Jess? Come on, Jess, you're not drunk, are you?"

But even gentle easy-going Jess was singing in a baby voice:

"Aga doo doo doo, flush a Dylan down the loo…"

Dylan had simply had enough. He went to the room he'd been given, got his belongings together, and came back downstairs, almost hoping for a confrontation with Mad Jeff.

"I'm going to find Ben" he announced.

"Oh, okay, mate. See you sometime before the next millennium, eh? You take care" Jeff giggled.

Dylan disappeared into the night.

"I'm tired of rolling in this thing! My muscles are aching."

"Ethan, you don't have muscles. Come on, mate, I know you don't want to face up to this, but we are dead. We might be phantoms and until some a**hole imprisoned us in here, we could float anywhere. We've had our faces restored, so don't be greedy, eh? Let the past go."

Ethan began to cry Phantom tears.

"I- just wanted to believe I was alive…"

"That's it, mate, let it all out."

Ethan continued to sob, then said with a shuddering breath:

"Okay, I'm dead. I accept it."

Bang! The jar exploded. Cal and Ethan were free.

"Which way did Dervla go?"

Over in the dark regions, Nicholas pulled out a chunk of Louis's hair.

"I will not be defeated…"

"I'm not having this" snapped Ruth, "They need to know just what he's up to."

"You wouldn't… give them the antidote without Jeff's permission, would you? Come on Ruth, he always gives it to them and lets them go."

"They're on a mission to help somebody" Ruth said fiercely.

Mrs Duffin sighed.

"It's on your head, Ruth. There's a lot of unemployment in Lush Woods and Beau Champia."

"I'm following my conscience" Ruth declared. Five minutes later she stood beaming at the door.

"Lovely hot chocolate before bedtime?"

"But the party's in full swing, Ruthie!"

"I know Jeff, but this way you can all recharge your batteries and go at it again tomorrow."

"Woo hoo! Top girl!"

Ruth passed Jeff the only drink that she hadn't slipped the antidote into.

"Ooh I love hot chocolate. And this tastes so different. Is it Cinnamon?" Robyn giggled.

"My special recipe" said Ruth quietly.

Alicia and Lily were dancing on the table.

"Come down and try this, it's awesome!"

"Oh, all right then, Jess."

Alicia jumped off the table in a way that would have gained ten points from Darcy Bussell, and had a swig of chocolate.

And another.

"Ben! Dylan! Oh, what have you done to us, you horrible man?" she yelled at Jeff.

Jeff's face fell.

"I just wanted some friends. All my friends run away" he wailed.

"I'm not surprised if you do mean tricks like this on them… oh, look, don't cry."

"I shall make him cry if Ben and Dylan aren't safe" Lily said, her voice more icy than Constanza's back garden.

Jess was wiping Jeff's eyes with a tissue. He really was cute, she thought, despite being a little… eccentric.

"Look, once we know Ben and Dylan are safe, I'll come back and look in on you. We could be Facebook friends!"

Jeff beamed.

"I'll get your coats" he said.

He handed over the coats and a huge roll of banknotes.

"So you can have a taxi from here and travel first class on the plane. Um… you'll need to wait for the taxi down the road. Drivers won't come to my door any more."

Cal and Ethan saw the taxi on its way to the airport.

"They're out of the woods. They're safe. Oh Ethan, they're going to do this!"

Somewhere miles away, Nicholas Jordan sniggered nastily.

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