Chapter 29: Ask Me No More, part 5

"So they're all becoming caricatures?" Baird sighed as the group met up again, Cassandra and Jake being the last to arrive. Every one of the contestants still in the competition had been interviewed. Every one of them was displaying ridiculous levels of stereotypically bad behaviour.

"Where to next?" Cassandra asked. She had changed back into her ordinary clothes as her gown was proving to be too much of a distraction, and not just for her.

"Our event organiser has kindly given us the name of the residence the competitors are staying in. Apparently it is always here and always fairly small, so they just stay in her own home. She's given us the keys and permission to search the rooms, so long as we do so carefully. She'll join us there later. Once they've cancelled the remainder of the competition."

"What size of house does she live in?" Jones wondered aloud. "There's twenty competitors and two other judges to put up!"

"It's an estate just outside the city," shrugged Baird. "Apparently her driver will take us there whenever we ask. And apparently we'll all fit in the car!"

There wasn't a limo waiting for them, as Jones had expected, and Cassandra had hoped, but a people carrier, with two additional seats in the back. Ezekiel got sent into one of the back seats, while Baird took the front passenger seat and Flynn took the last middle seat, sandwiching Cassandra between him and Jake. Once they were out of the city and on to the narrower country roads, the ride became bumpier. Ezekiel grinned as Jake's arm went protectively around Cassandra's shoulders and she edged even further over to his side of the vehicle. Finally, they turned up a long, winding gravel drive lined on either side by trees. When the house did eventually come into view, there was an audible gasp from everyone except the driver, and Ezekiel.

"Now that easily has enough rooms for everyone in the competition," said Flynn as they pulled up outside the door. "Without anyone having to share either!"

"It has wings!" Cassandra murmured as Jake lifted her down from the car.

"Ahem!" Baird coughed. The pair had still been standing with his hands on her waist and hers on his arms. They jumped and turned to catch up with the others, her hands behind her back, his in his pockets.

"Now this," said Eve quietly to her co-conspirators. "This is the problem we're going to have if we do get those two together. They are difficult enough to keep focussed now. You really think that's going to improve any the closer they get?"

"I think the sooner they get there, the sooner it'll improve," shrugged Ezekiel. "They're only like this now because they're still trying to figure out what the other one is thinking. Get them to own up to it and it's a weight off both their minds!"

"Much as I hate to admit it, my love, Mr Jones does have a point," said Flynn. "It's the uncertainty that's distracting them. Well... not just the uncertainty..."

"We were never like that," said Eve. "Were we?"

"No, we weren't," agreed Flynn. "But we don't have either of their levels of emotional baggage. We had some, sure, but we dealt with that head on, together. Plus we never spent months dancing around each other not knowing what the other was thinking! The first time I left to look for the Library, you made it pretty clear what your feelings were. The second time I... reciprocated. We've never hidden anything from each other. They have."

They reached the door and waited on Jake and Cassandra catching up. There was a butler holding the door open. They ascended the stone steps and went inside.

"Ms O'Shea gave me this note for you," said Baird, handing over the note in question. "She also gave me her set of keys, and said that you could supply us with a second."

The butler nodded and handed over a ring of keys from his own chatelaine. "The guest quarters are on the floor above, madam," he said, gracefully floating an arm round in the direction of the stairs. "If you would care to follow me.."

"Thank you, that's quite alright," said the Colonel with a smile. "We prefer to work alone. If we need you we'll call."

"As you wish, madam," nodded the butler. "There are working bell pulls in every room. One shall await your convenience in the pantry, where they are easily heard."

With a short bow, the butler disappeared into the recesses of the vast mansion house.

"Okay," Baird said, holding out a ring of keys to Stone as they reached the top of the stairs. "You take those two and head West. Flynn and I will go East."

"But!" Jones began.

"I trust you more to keep him from stealing too much without damaging him than I do myself," she continued, ignoring Jones.

It was decided, by general agreement, to start with the rooms closest and work away from the stairs. Flynn and Eve disappeared into the first western side room before Jones could attempt to mount any more complaints. Stone unlocked the first two rooms.

"We'll get this done faster if you two take one side and I take the other," he mumbled, disappearing into the other room. Without comment, Cassandra dragged a confused Jones into the room opposite and sent him over to start checking the far side.

"Did you two fall out again between the car and the house?" Ezekiel asked.

"No, what makes you think that?" Cassandra asked, leafing through the books on the shelf.

"You've been joined at the hip since your little 'trip' earlier," he replied, rummaging in the chest of drawers.

"You saw that?" Cassandra looked round. "Were you watching us?"

"I just happened to be looking in that direction," he shrugged. "I see you're not denying it though."

"Denying what? I tripped. You saw me, apparently."

"Tripped or 'tripped'? There's a difference," he grinned.

"I tripped."

"Yeah, right!"

Cassandra shook her head, but she let it go: he was even less likely to believe her if she protested and besides, he was right. She began looking through the bedside table as he started nosing through the small stack of CDs on the dresser by a old stereo system.

"Seriously: who uses these anymore!" Ezekiel exclaimed. "And they are all ancient! Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Annie Lennox, Billy Joel..."

"Hey! Those are classics!" Cassandra objected. "And they are not ancient!"

"Really? Let's see," he picked up the Cyndi Lauper CD case and turned it over. It was called 'True Colours: The Best of Cyndi Lauper'. "When was 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' last in the charts? Or 'Sisters of Avalon'? Oh, no, wait: I know which one will be your favourite! Track eleven! Or is it track four?"

Cassandra grabbed the CD case out of the thief's hands and scanned the list. Ezekiel ducked, laughing, as a pillow flew in his direction, scattering the remaining CDs on the dresser.

"Do you know where your ulnar nerve is?" Cassandra asked, with acid in her voice.

"Nope. Should I?" Ezekiel giggled, watching the other pillow for movement.

"Do you want to find out?" Cassandra continued in the same tone. "Because I know exactly where it is, and exactly how to disable the feeling and movement in the outer half of your hand!"

"Shutting up!"

XXXX

"What are you thinking," Eve asked, watching Flynn's face grow more and more vexed as they methodically searched their second room.

"There's something I'm missing," he mused. "Something important..."

"Something about the case?"

Flynn shook his head slowly. "I don't think so. Something we've come across though..."

"Here?"

Flynn nodded, then stopped. "Well, York in general really."

"Give that big brain of yours a rest for a bit," she said, taking his face in her hands and kissing him. "It'll come to you."

"Not if you keep doing that it won't," he smiled.

"Well then you'd better focus on your job and stop distracting me, Librarian!"

"How did we get from you kissing me to me distracting you?" Flynn grinned, wrapping his arms around Eve's waist before she could escape.

"Oh really?" Eve smiled back. "And you don't think your making me want to kiss you had anything to do with that?"

"How did I make you want to kiss me?" Flynn frowned with a lopsided grin. "All I said was..."

"By being you," Eve interrupted with a smirk.

"Oh," he smiled. "Oh well, in that case we are never going to get through a case without distractions. I can't help it: I'm no good at being somebody el...!"

She kissed him again, silencing him. When they broke apart this time, he loosened his hold on her waist.

"We should probably get some work done," he said, clearing his throat.

"Before we get too distracted," she agreed, going back to the side of the room she had been searching.

XXXX

Cassandra and Jones had got through the next two rooms in relative silence. They'd got through them faster because of it. They were now a full room ahead of Stone. He opened the door and frowned at the quiet industry going on in there.

"Hey!" Jake called over to Cassandra. "Keys?"

She handed the ring of keys over, pausing as their hands, and eyes, met more than was necessary.

"That is the stupidest grin I have seen on his face since you geeked out about the STEM fair," said Ezekiel once Jake had disappeared again. Cassandra turned round and leant back against the door, completely unaware of his presence for the moment. Ezekiel laughed. "And on yours, apparently!"

Turning away from his fellow Librarian, Ezekiel continued his search. When, after a moment or so, he still heard no movement from the door, he started humming the tune to track four. This time the pillow hit him square on the back of the head.

"Okay! Okay! I'll stop with the song!" Ezekiel protested.

"I wish you would!" Cassandra snapped back, picking up a nearby flashlight and raising her arm threateningly.

"Your wish is my command," said an echoey voice behind her. Ezekiel's eyes widened.

"Please tell me it's not..." Cassandra began.

"Oh, I think it is," Ezekiel nodded. "Look at your hand."

Cassandra looked up. She was no longer holding the flashlight. Instead she was holding an ancient bronze oil lamp straight out of the Thousand and One Nights.

"Oh no," she groaned. She turned slowly to face the floating visage of a man wreathed in smoke.

"I am the genie of the lamp," boomed the smoky figure. "Whoever awakens me shall have three wishes. No more, no less."

"Can he answer questions without them counting as wishes?" Ezekiel called over, still staring at the face in the smoke. "What are the rules?"

"The rules are simple," intoned the genie. "Only three wishes may be granted. They must begin with the words 'I wish'. One wish has already been granted. Two more remain. You may wish for anything that it is in my power to grant."

"So your power is limited then?" Cassandra asked, slowly lowering the arm holding the lamp.

"I have no power over life or death," said the genie solemnly. "I may not kill, or resurrect the dead, or give life to the dying. For the same reason I cannot create a new life. I have no power over human hearts. I can neither create love nor destroy it."

"Sounds straightforward enough," said Ezekiel. "Well, I wish..."

"Yours are not the wishes that I will grant," boomed the voice. "You do not hold the lamp!"

"What do you want, Ezekiel?" Cassandra asked wearily.

"I want to know where Dulaque's secret stash of magical artefacts is," he shrugged.

"Fine, I'll wish for that, now go and get the others."

Ezekiel hurried out of the room, slowing to edge past the billowing smoke and the disembodied face that floated round to follow his departure.

"Okay," said Cassandra, as the face completed its circuit and returned to her. "I wish that Ezekiel knew how to find Dulaque's secret stash of magical artefacts."

"Your wish is my command," intoned the genie, with even more echoing than before.

"You're just doing that for show now, aren't you," said Cassandra dryly.

"Maybe," the genie admitted. "Makes life interesting. You could have just transferred your wish to the boy, you know. That is allowed. Didn't I mention it?"

"Not really no."

Jake was the first of the group to join her, with the news that Ezekiel had gone looking for Flynn and Eve.

"Genie's lamp, huh?"

"And I have to make another wish," she nodded. "Just one."

"What'd you wish for already?" Jake asked, walking over to stand beside her.

"Well, the first one was an accident, but at least Ezekiel will have one less way to annoy me," she admitted. "Then Ezekiel wanted to know where Dulaque's hoard of artefacts were."

"That's what you wished for?" Jake's eyebrows went up. "Really?"

"Tell him the rules," Cassandra sighed at the genie. "Then give my last wish to him."

"I have no power over life or death," repeated the genie, with added echo.

"Sensibly!" Cassandra snapped.

"I may not kill," the genie continued in a resonant, but more normal voice, "or resurrect the dead, or give life to the dying. For the same reason I cannot create a new life. I have no power over human hearts. I can neither create love nor destroy it."

"Huh," Jake looked thoughtful.

"What?" Cassandra's eyes narrowed. "You have that face again."

"What face? I don't have 'that face'! I don't even know what 'that face' is!"

"The 'I think I see the flaw in this' face. You get it whenever you find something out of place or that you disagree with. Which is quite a lot when you're reading certain books."

"Really?"

"Not the only one who pays attention."

"Huh," Jake grinned at her. She couldn't help but grin back.

"Okay, Romeo, make with the wish already before I puke," grimaced the genie.

"Oh, right," said Jake looking back to the genie, then back to Cassandra. "I wish I knew how to heal Cassie."

The temperature in the room dropped instantly as Cassandra's jaw tightened and she shook her head, stepping away.

"Only true love's first kiss can heal such an ailment," said the genie sadly. "And only then in people imbued with magic. The first step on such a path... First you must find her true love."

The genie vanished in the hollow silence that followed.

"How could you..." Cassandra gasped through threatening tears. "How could you ask that? What if he'd said there was no way to heal me? He might as well have!"

"Then at least we'd know, for certain!" Jake shot back. "How could I not? I can't just stand here and watch you die! How can you just give up hope like this? We've seen so much! Done so much that we thought was impossible! How can you not have some hope! I have hope! And there is hope! He said it! And I will do whatever I have to to save you, even if that means letting you go! You heard the genie: there is a better man out there for you than me! If he's your true love: he can save you! We just have to find him."

"I thought I already had!" Cassandra yelled back at him. "Don't you get it? I don't want anybody else! I had accepted my fate! I was happy! I would rather have a day with you than a lifetime with somebody else!"

She stormed to the door.

"Cassie!"

"Don't!" Cassandra spat turning back as reached the door with a look that could have cut diamonds. "No more!"

Jake slumped down to sit on the bed, his head in his hands. Sure, it had hurt, hearing that answer. They had kissed twice now and the brain grape was still very much around. But he would rather she was alive with someone else than dead. He would rather face any hurt, any torment, than that.

XXXX

Cassandra stormed towards Flynn, Eve and Ezekiel, walking down the corridor to meet her.

"What happened?" Baird asked as she passed them.

"Ask Stone!" Cassandra yelled back without turning round. "I have to get this to Jenkins."

"What the heck did he do this time?" Baird asked, mystified.

"What I would have done in his shoes, I'm guessing," said Flynn, chewing his lip. "And I'm guessing he got an answer they didn't like."

"Oh no, he wouldn't," Eve looked round in the direction of the room Cassandra had come from. "What am I saying, of course he would. I would if it were you."

"That wouldn't explain why she's mad," said Ezekiel. "If the genie told you there was no way to save the person you loved, you might be mad at the genie, but would your other half be mad at you?"

"Only one way to know for sure," sighed Flynn. "Let's go find out."

XXXX

Cassandra reached the hall of the mansion just as Erin was walking through the door.

"I need you to take me back to the museum," said Cassandra without ceremony as she marched past her.

"So you can get that lamp back to Jenkins?"

Cassandra froze.

"I think I'll drive," smiled Erin as she walked back to the door, past the still frozen Cassandra. "We need to talk."

"Morgan le Fay?" Cassandra asked, with a sideways look.

Erin laughed. "No, I'm not Morgan. Trust me there are many more than five immortals in this world."

"Jenkins is an immortal?" Cassandra frowned, mentally ticking off Morgan, Santa and Mrs Claus, and Dulaque.

"He's over a thousand years old, child. What did you think he was? The paragon of good health and clean living?"

Cassandra pulled a face. "Fair enough," she said. "So who are you then?"

"I am Erin O'Shea," said Erin simply. "Or Erin Roisin to my mother if she's upset with me."

"You have a mother?"

"Everyone has a mother," she smiled. "Even those who no longer speak to them."

Erin walked down the steps then turned back to see Cassandra still frozen in place, watching her suspiciously.

"Come," she commanded. "You have questions that need answers. I can answer them. Mostly. Some you must find out for yourself."

XXXX

Cassandra got back to the office late. So late, in fact, that even Jenkins had disappeared. She had told him not to wait up when she grabbed a jacket and headed back through the door after delivering the lamp with a curt explanation. She unhooked the door, walked over to her usual chair and slumped down, her head in her hands. She had long since run out of tears. She had walked the streets of York until sunrise, stopping occasionally at an all night cafe or a quiet bar. The latter were much rarer than the former, even in the early hours. By the time she made her way back to the gardens, the sun was well up and sneaking in was easy as the gates were already open. She had walked around until the museum opened, then made her way back to the door in the storeroom, forgetting, in her melancholy, that it would still be night back home. The darkness had come as a shock at first, but now it was a relief.

She considered putting her head down on the desk and sleeping there, at least for a few hours, but as she moved her hands she found a small punnet of raspberries in her way. Beneath them was a short note and two book references, all in Jake's handwriting. The note simply said 'Couldn't find their flowers anywhere'.

She sighed at the note. She was too tired for cryptic messages. She'd had enough of those in the car with Erin! She looked up.

"Could you...?"

Two books floated over to the desk, one brushing up against her arm like a cat. She looked down at them, then up again.

"Thank you."

A rustling of pages swept around the room like a sigh and she wondered how many times anyone had actually said that to the library. Looking down again, she drew the first of the two books towards her. It was entitled 'The Language of Flowers'. With a glance at the punnet of fruit, and the note, she looked up raspberry. There was only one word next to it: remorse. He was sorry. That didn't help much. It didn't change things.

She switched the first book for the second. It was a book of poetry by Tennyson. The scent of oranges that hit her was enough bring out tears she never knew she had in her. There was a bookmark attached to a page, the kind you can use to mark the line you stopped reading at. She opened it to that page and looked down. The poem it marked was a short one, only three stanzas. She read it.

'Ask Me No More'

Ask me no more: the moon may draw the sea;

The cloud may stoop from heaven and take the shape

With fold to fold, of mountain or of cape;

But O too fond, when I have answer'd thee?

Ask me no more.

Ask me not more: what answer should I give?

I love not hollow cheek or faded eye:

Yet, O my friend, I will not have thee die!

Ask me no more, lest I should bid thee live;

Ask me no more.

Ask me no more: thy fate and mine are seal'd:

I strove against the stream and all in vain:

Let the great river take me to the main:

No more, dear love, for at a touch I yield;

Ask me no more.

XXXX

It was early the next morning before the group had a chance to fill Jenkins in on their adventures in the land of the White Rose. Cassandra had gone home long before, taking the book of poetry, the note and the raspberries, and replacing the other book on the shelf. When she returned, Eve was busily reporting on the archery contest and its mystery organiser. Cassandra's eyes sought out Jake involuntarily and met his. His eyes dropped to the book in her hand. She nodded her head slightly. She couldn't smile. Couldn't do anything more than acknowledge him. Not yet.

"And this woman was?" Jenkins asked, without looking up, noticing the sudden and growing silence since Cassandra's arrival.

"Erin O'Shea," said Eve, turning her attention back to her story. "She organised all of the archery side of the fayre."

"Erin Roisin?" Jenkins asked, looking up this time. Eve shrugged.

"She mentioned her middle name to me," said Cassandra. "It was Roisin. She knew you too. How do you know her?"

In reply, Jenkins lowered his head into his hands, running his fingers over his forehead. Ezekiel could have sworn he was trying not to laugh.

"Oh my word," sighed the old man, in an oddly amused voice. "I am beset by fools and idiots!"

"Hey!" Flynn cried out, rising to his feet indignantly.

"Hey, yourself!" Eve responded with a glare that made him sit back down on the desk and hang his head sheepishly.

"You're right I'm an idiot," he sighed. He looked up and threw her his most charmingly soppy smile. "Or at least a fool in love..."

"Don't try that," Eve warned, but her stern tone was not accompanied by its usual matching look. Flynn was ignoring her now though. That didn't help.

"Oh! I am an idiot!" Flynn shouted, jumping up with a grin on his face this time.