Chapter three; reunited friends.
"Will! It's great to see you again." they stood somewhat awkwardly until Mrs Stanton broke in,
"You're welcome to stay to tea dear." She offered, "Where are you staying tonight?"
"Um…" Jane hadn't really thought about it "I think in a hotel somewhere seeings as how Mum and Dad are meeting me at the station tomorrow. I have money." She hastened to assure them. Will slid her a sly glance from the corner of his eye
"I'm heading down to the station tomorrow too, to go and stay with my uncle David again, he lives…" Jane broke in swiftly, before Will could shed doubt on her story
"Yes, I remember in Wales, near the hotel where we were staying when we met through Bran."
"Yes." Will agreed smoothly "that's right. Near Aberdyfi." Mrs Stanton left the two alone, while she went to lay another place at the table for Jane. Later, when she poked her head in again she saw their two heads close together, talking in hushed tones. An air of secrecy was around them, as if they knew something no one else knew. 'A lovely pair' she thought to herself.
"That is what he told you? Exactly?" Will questioned. Jane nodded
"Exactly. He said that he was weak. I don't know why; he wouldn't tell me. He said he only had a short amount of time to contact me. And he definitely said the spell of Helm." Her head shot up suddenly so she was looking straight into Will's eyes. They were light blue with flecks of gold in the irises. They sometimes held the age old weary look of an Old One that Jane had always found reassuring. That was the look she saw in Will's eyes now, but with something else, worry and something that Jane couldn't quite define.
"What's wrong Will?"
"I don't know, but we must do as Merriman said. We must gather the six."
"The six. That's you, me, Simon, Bran, Barney and Merry, but how are we meant to gather the six if there are only five of us?" Will had no answer to that so Jane continued " Simon and Barney will meet us at Paddington station Merry said, so they're taken care of."
"Just Bran and Merriman then."
"How are we going to get to Wales?" Jane asked practically, "and where are we going to stay?"
"You can probably stay with John Rowlands" Will said, thinking out loud "I'll be staying with Uncle David. Tonight though," he said, changing the subject "you can stay in Mary's room, she's away on a trip to Manchester." Jane thanked Will and they spent the next few hours introducing Jane to the rest of Will's large family who Jane found to be very pleasant and fun. She was sure though, from the looks that Robin, Paul's twin and Paul himself were giving Will that he was going to be teased tonight about her being his girl friend, she laughed inside at the thought, but she didn't disregard it totally, because she did like Will, she liked him a lot. Will's oldest brother Stephen gave her a few funny looks as if he suspected something about Will and her, not in a romantic way, but as if he knew that they were different but couldn't quite put his finger on how.
After tea, they chatted idly, Jane telling Mrs Stanton about her brothers, and Mrs Stanton sympathising with how hard it was to be the only girl, leaning over to ruffle Will's hair as she did so. They talked no more about their quest and both went to bed with a light heart.