Glass chapter ten

"Where's my boy, and who the heck are you?" snapped Constanza as she saw Dylan sitting on Ben's bed with his head in his hands.

"I don't know! He thought he'd poisoned me… so did I, to be honest, but I just passed out and when I came round Ben had gone!"

"He didn't give you a drink from the green bottle up on that shelf?"

Dylan nodded.

"Oh the silly boy! It's a potion to add years to your life, not poison! He'd got his awkward little eye on it so I told him it was poison to make him back off. It puts you in a death-like sleep first, it's very tiresome when I'm due for a night out."

"What I want to know is, why he'd do such a thing to you anyway" Jacob said wearily.

"He'd been cursed with a demon mirror" Dylan began-

"-Demon mirror?" Constanza shouted in rage, "That-that Jordan actually made one of those?"

"He did. He unleashed it on my Ben. He was the gentlest, kindest person until that thing got him. Please, can somebody just search for him?"

"Organise it, Jacob, darling."

But at that very moment along came the four girls, sobbing, Dervla whining in sorrow, and Cal and Ethan carrying Ben between them. Things didn't look good at all.

"Are those Phantoms in my palace?" Constanza gasped.

A pink flash.

"Tell us we're not too late!" begged Rita and Dixie.

"We can't feel a heartbeat" sobbed Robyn.

"I believe him to be dead" Lily said bluntly. Dylan ran over to Ben. His skin was cold, his face white. Cal lay him down on the bed.

Rita went over to see what she could do, and ended up sobbing on Dixie's shoulder.

"Then there's nothing to be done" Constanza said sadly.

Jacob gave her a long look.

"Liar liar, Louboutins on fire!"

Dervla growled and Constanza backed away nervously.

"But my snow, my lovely snow!" wailed Constanza.

"His Ben, his lovely Ben", Rita answered, indicating Dylan who was kissing Ben's icy face.

"I was special with all that snow. I could take it anywhere with me" Constanza sighed.

"But you are special!" Jacob took her in his arms, "You're my little sexy sulkybutt. And you'll still have the snow here, it just won't be portable."

Constanza was melting.

"Come on, sweetheart, save the poor boy!"

Silence. Dylan gave Ben up as lost to him forever.

"Come on, Connie my pudding, Connie my pie, Connie the apple of my eye" crooned Jacob.

Constanza blushed and giggled.

Then she sighed.

"Dylan, this is nothing personal she said sweetly, and, going over to Ben, kissed his lips passionately, melting the ice she'd put inside him when she first kissed him.

Nothing.

Another kiss.

Ben's hand moved.

With the final kiss, Ben's eyes opened and he sat up and looked round. Life had flowed back into his veins again. Dervla ran to him, licking him gleefully.

"Oh Dylan… please, please forgive me…"

Dylan kissed Ben slowly and tenderly.

"Guess what you've done, Chiltern? That so-called poison was Eternal Youth potion and you just gave me ten years extra!"

"But I was such a swine…"

"You were enchanted, luv. Makes yer nasty, that" Dixie the Pixie grinned.

"What we need here is a good old party" came a familiar voice.

Mad Jeff, held by the collar by Charlie, was 'escorted' in.

"Oi, thee, Frosty-chops, let him go. You come and sit with me luv, I like the look of yer." Dixie was grinning.

"Let him go, Charlie. Go on and I'll give you your head back."

Charlie released Jeff who went to sit with Dixie.

"Are you going to tell him you're gay or am I?" said Rita, rather miffed because Constanza had upstaged her in saving Ben.

"We don't care do we luv?" grinned Mad Jeff.

A bang. Charlie gave a scream and felt for his head. He had his old human one again.

"Preferred yer as a Polar Bear" Dixie mocked.

Then there was a real bang. One that shot red and orange flame and contained a furious Nicholas Jordan and a contrite Louis.

"You lot are all going to die now, and it won't be pretty" Nicholas snapped.

"Phantoms take demon!"

Cal and Ethan yelled their battle cry. They concentrated all their might and strength as they seized Jordan. Another bang. Cal and Ethan were gone and Jordan exploded in a fireball. Leaving a nasty red stain on the carpet.

Dervla ran and licked it up.

"Dervla!" said Dylan in disgust.

"Seize him and throw him into a dungeon!" Constanza snapped, pointing at Louis.

Louis, full of remorse, offered no resistance.

"Wait" Jacob said, "The lad looks truly sorry for what he's done."

Louis knelt.

"I am, Sir. I gave my soul to Jordan for a front seat at a Bruce Springsteen concert and he's made me suffer ever since."

"I'll make you suffer. But in a good way. You're going into training lad, and you'll join the Queen's elite guard once the ten years are up."

"Ten years?"

"It's very intense training. Bearhead – sorry, Fairhead, go and give him some supper and he can have a rest tomorrow. Then Beau Champia Boot Camp begins."

Charlie led Louis, still babbling his thanks, away.

Ben snuggled into Dylan.

"My little pudding, my little pie, my little apple of Dylan's eye."

Ben giggled, then whispered:

"I'll never ever get over what I tried to do to you."

"What Cursed Ben tried to do to me. This delicious bundle I'm hugging here is not Cursed Ben."

"And don't steal my lines!" added Jacob.

"So this has all worked out very nicely. Hot drinks and warm beds for everybody tonight, and then all the way to Casualtiana tomorrow. And not a penny to pay."

"That's really generous!" Jess smiled.

"We feel we owe you" Constanza admitted, pouting at the thought of losing Ben. But maybe if that Louis was scrubbed up a bit, he could be quite pretty…

"How long is it since you and I…" Jacob whispered to her, and all thoughts of seducing Louis went clean out of her head.

Robyn had been quiet for a while. Suddenly she burst out:

"In case nobody noticed, Cal and Ethan vanished when they fought Jordan. Where are they?"

"Well they can't be dead" Rita said cheekily.

Constanza looked at the cheeky little blonde and thought how it might be nice to have a change. She'd never had a female lover.

"Get in there, lass" whispered the shameless Dixie.

Jacob sighed. Oh well, pretty little Aiofe was always happy to oblige.

But Robyn was crying.

"M-maybe the Phantoms got sent to hell when they defeated Jordan. Because of what they did when they were Bad Phantoms."

"But they helped us. Oh, it's cruel…" Jess wept.

Constanza wondered rather unkindly whether Lily and Alicia were going to join the weeping session when she heard a rustle. It got louder, and suddenly there were Cal and Ethan. Shimmering with a different kind of light than before. And they had wings. Not soppy fairy wings. A huge wingspan. Dervla wasn't barking, she was transfixed, and her tail was wagging frantically.

And they were singing with very straight faces, but those who could look into light without flinching might have seen the gleam of merriment in their eyes:

"We're the Angel Brothers, baby, don't we look well?

Beat that, Castiel!"

"Who's Castor Oil?" Dylan asked.

"An angel on 'Supernatural'. You and Ben should binge watch, I'll lend you my DVDs" Alicia smiled.

Cal and Ethan winked in a very un-angelic way and disappeared.

"If that isn't a miracle, I don't know what is" Dylan grinned.

THE END

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