'EMMA, WAKE UP!' Anne screams. She's jumping on my bed, and I grab her to stop her.
'Happy birthday, Annie!'
'You remembered!'
'Of course, I did. We all remembered your birthday.'
I check the subgroup chat once Anne leaves.
SpanishQueen: Do either of them suspect yet?
QuestioningHybrid: I don't think Anne suspects anything. She was in here just now, jumping on my bed.
QueenfromCleves: Poor you
QuestioningHybrid: Anne seems excited; let her have this.
Then, Catalina switches over to the main group chat.
SpanishQueen: LambethQueen will not be joining us in class. She's ill and wants to feel better for the party.
QuestioningHybrid: LambethQueen I hope you feel better soon.
SilverSeymour: I hope you feel better soon, Kitty.
LambethQueen: Thanks, everyone. I'll try and be better for the party.
BeheadedBoleyn: Don't push yourselves for our sake. We can always celebrate another day, right Jane?
SilverSeymour: Right.
BraveBoleyn: Get well soon, Kitty.
I get dressed, and I hear someone running down the stairs. I open my bedroom door to see a flash of green run past. Anne, of course. I follow her downstairs, and we find ourselves in the kitchen. I stop and stare in horror.
Mummy is standing at the stove, cooking. 'Miss Smith, we don't have time for you to burn down the kitchen!' George yells when he joins us.
'I wanted to do something nice for Anne,' Mummy says. 'Besides, how hard can pancakes be?' The frying pan catches on fire. Anne snaps a picture, and I run to get the fire extinguisher.
'Miss White, Miss Smith is burning the kitchen down!' George yells up the stairs. Mum runs downstairs, and we all help put the fire out.
'I think I need to ban you from the kitchen from now on,' Mum says, folding her arms. 'That's the third frying pan, Sarah.'
'I know,' Mummy says. 'But I wanted to make pancakes for Anne.'
'You didn't have to do that,' Anne says, and she hugs Mummy. Mummy looks shocked, but she hugs Anne back. 'It's the thought that counts.' Anne releases Mummy and sits at the table. 'But I do think you shouldn't cook again.' My phone bleeps. Anne sent the photograph to the group chat.
BeheadedBoleyn: #SarahJanecan'tcook
BraveBoleyn: 😀
QuestioningHybrid: Mummy is in the room, Anne!
SilverSeymour: Was anyone hurt?
BeheadedBoleyn: No one hurt, Mum.
SilverSeymour: I'M NOT YOUR MUM
LambethQueen: All caps, it must be bad
QuestioningHybrid: QueenfromCleves we haven't heard from you yet
SilverSeymour: Anna?
SpanishQueen: Anna, are you there?
After a few minutes, when we finished eating breakfast, we get a response. Anna wants to call us on the group chat. We accept the call, but Anna is hiding in a dark place. 'Anna, what's going on?' Anne asks.
'Keep it down!' Anna hisses. 'I'm hiding in the basement.'
'What are you doing down there?' Catalina asks. Compared to Anna's screen, she and Kitty sit in Kitty's new bedroom, which is full of light.
'My brother is beating Mum up. I don't want to go up there in case he targets me.'
'Your brother?' I ask, then I look up. The front door slams and I realise that Mum's gone. 'Mummy, did you see Mum leave?' Mummy shakes her head.
Then, from Anna's end, we hear Mum shouting. 'Anna, what's going on?' Kitty asks, and Jane connects.
'Sorry I took too long,' she whispers. 'What's going on?' Jane is also sitting in a dark room.
'Jane, are you okay?' Anna asks.
'I could ask you the same. What's going on?'
'My brother's turning the rest of my family against me. Well, he's beating up my mum, but he convinced the others. He might kill me if he finds me.'
'Ruby won't let that happen,' Anne assures her. 'Jane, what about you? Why are you in a dark room?'
Jane starts crying but tries to stop making any noise by covering her mouth with her hand. 'It's my siblings,' she finally whispers, her voice cracking. 'They killed Mother and Father.'
'What?!' Catalina almost yells, and Jane puts a finger to her lips to remind Catalina to be quiet.
'They hate me because I'm pansexual. But they've gone beyond wanting to kick me out.' Jane buries her head in her hands.
'Jane, we won't let them kill you,' I promise. 'I'm coming over. Try and stay as quiet as possible.' I dash out the front door and into the early April sunshine.
I've seen Jane's house plenty of times, so I know where to go. The problem now is getting in and getting Jane out without anyone noticing. I look around, then decide to go up to the front door and ring the bell.
Thomas answers the door. I remember years ago that he tried to hit on me and try to stop myself from shuddering. 'Is Jane there?' I ask.
'What is it to you?'
'She's my friend, and I'm not leaving here without her—alive, of course.' I narrow my eyes at Thomas. 'So, step aside and let me in, or...' I pull my stomach out of my body. Thomas steps back, and I head inside.
I decide to use my powers to find Jane, but I must keep Jane's siblings away from her if I want to find her. 'If any of you get in my way while I try looking for Jane, I'll make sure you live to regret it. Keep your siblings away from me, and if you find Jane, tell your siblings not to hurt her. Do you understand?' Thomas is still standing by the open door, so I take that as a yes. I head upstairs and start sniffing Jane out.
I find her up in the attic. 'Jane,' I whisper. 'You okay?' Jane nods, and I hear someone climbing the stairs. I turn to find Edward climbing the stairs and walking towards us. 'Don't make me do something I'll regret, Edward,' I growl. 'Let us pass.' I help Jane out, and she clings to me. Edward doesn't move aside. 'Edward, let us pass.' Edward doesn't move. 'Do I need to get my stomach out?' Edward turns and flees.
'Please, don't do that,' Jane whispers.
'I wouldn't dream of it,' I assure her. 'Come on, let's get your stuff packed and get you out of here.' Jane nods, and she leads me to her room.
'I used to share it with Margery, my little sister before my siblings killed her and Anthony.' Jane whispers before her legs give way, and she takes us both to the floor.
'We will get them locked up for what they've done,' I promise. 'Get your things together.'
Of all the times that Anna and Jane need to go through this, today is the worst day. But I cannot focus on that; I need to be there for Jane. I snap my attention back to her and find some bags that she can use to pack. One of the first things she pulls out of her wardrobe is her silver costume. It catches the sunlight streaming through the windows, and it sparkles slightly. She carefully folds it up and packs it into one of the bags before she turns back to the rest of her clothes. From what I remember, Kitty and Anne also packed their costumes before they left. I guess it reminds them of our friendship. 'I'll head to the bathroom and grab my wash bag,' Jane says.
'I better come with you. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you.' I go with Jane to the bathroom and watch the hallway as she packs her bag. We head back to her room and continue packing. During that time, none of her siblings disturbs her. I keep looking out the door to make sure the coast is clear while Jane continues packing.
'We should get going soon,' I warn Jane. 'Do you need my help?'
'I've got almost everything packed,' Jane calls back. 'But I might need some help with some of my books.' I turn back to help Jane, and I hear the front door open.
'Emma, is everything all right?' Mum asks. 'I've got Anna out.'
'I'm just finishing up with Jane,' I call back.
We finish packing Jane's books, and we pick up the heavy bags before making our way downstairs. Mum is standing by the front door with Anna, both of them looking nervous. I look around as Jane carries her bags outside. We walk out, and I'm about to close the door when Edward puts his foot in the way. He starts pulling on the door, trying to keep it open. 'You're not taking my sister! She's ours.'
'Jane belongs to nobody,' Anna snaps back. 'She's her own person, and she's amazing.'
'We'll have to agree to disagree.' Edward throws the door open and reaches for Jane. Part of his lower arm is exposed.
I will not let Edward or his siblings hurt Jane.
I'm not quite sure what I did, but one moment, Edward was reaching for Jane, the next, he starts screaming and retracts his arm. 'You bit me! You flipping bit me!'
'If you don't want her to do it again, leave me alone,' Jane snaps. 'I want nothing to do with you.' She pulls the door shut, and we hurry up the path.
'You need to learn to control yourself, Emma,' Mum says when we return home. I open my mouth to argue, but Mum holds up a hand to stop me. 'I'm not saying that Edward didn't deserve it, but what I am saying is that it could have gone a lot worse.' We are all sat in the living room instead of a classroom. When Mummy realised what happened, she called the school to let us know that we'll be late. She also called Isabella and Ferdinand to tell them what happened.
'I'm not apologising to him.'
'And I'm not expecting you to. But you do need to learn to keep in control of your actions. A Qetesh growing out of control of their hunger starts by biting, but it'll get a lot worse.'
'I don't want to grow out of control. Mum, please, you must help me!'
'I will. Maybe you should take the rest of the week off school, learn how to control yourself better.'
'What? Mum, I already missed time off school this year; I don't want to miss any more.'
'I'm sorry, Emma, but we can't let this escalate. What if you attack someone in school? Someone will notice, they'll call the police, and...' Mum shakes her head. 'We can never let it get to that. No, it's better that you take time off school now so you can learn.'
'To be fair, Ruby has a point,' Catalina agrees. 'If something in your childhood doesn't go right, then there could be a chance that history will change. We can't risk that.'
'You're right,' I sigh. 'And it'll be better to take time off school now rather than during my GCSE years.'
Then, the discussion moves to who will move in where. Isabella and Ferdinand only have room for one more person. 'I'll move in with Isabella and Ferdinand,' Anna says. 'I've known them for most of my life, and I know their place well.'
'Then I'll move in here if that's okay with everyone,' Jane says, turning to Mum and Mummy.
'Of course, it's fine.' Mummy assures her. 'We've got plenty of space.' Jane smiles and says she's going to put her stuff in the spare room. Catalina and Kitty take Anna over the road so she can put her stuff there.
Anne stays in the living room with us. 'Come on, Anne, you better get off to school,' Mummy says.
'But why can't I—'
'You still need an education, and since your education and wellbeing has fallen to us, we want you to keep going to school, okay?'
Anne nods. She stands up and heads for the door. Jane soon follows her. 'We'll bring you work from school, so you don't fall behind,' Jane promises before she leaves.
'We better make a start,' Mum says. 'Come on; we don't want to be in a residential area in case something goes wrong.' We all get ready to go out, but the neighbours from over the road ring the doorbell. We were all in the living room, so we saw them walking up the driveway.
'What could they want?' Mummy asks. She goes to the front door.
'Hello, Miss Smith,' the man says. 'Is it all right if we have a quick word?'
'I'm afraid we're about to head out.'
'It won't take too long,' the woman adds. The two of them walk through into the living room, and Mummy shuts the door.
I never liked our neighbours much. Then again, I don't try to interact with them. But it seems like the universe wants to laugh at me as now they're sitting in our living room. 'What can we do for you?' Mum asks, closing her eyes. The two of them look at me, and I break eye contact with them.
'Why does your daughter never see her dad?' the woman asks.
My eyes snap to them at once. How dare they suggest I have a dad! I clench my fists tightly and start shaking. 'Where were you living when the Planet Three Scandal broke out, dear?'
'We do not give private information to just anybody,' I snap. 'And what happened to me in my childhood isn't your business.'
'Were you living with your dad?'
'How dare you suggest I have a father?! I have the two greatest mothers in the universe, and I could never ask for more. They are the best parents I could ever ask for.'
'But you must have a dad. Why do you never see him?'
'I don't have a dad, and I never want one!'
'Is she adopted?' The man asks.
'Nein! Mum and Mummy are my biological parents.'
The neighbours don't seem to notice my outburst. 'She looks similar to both of you, but she has blue eyes instead of brown or green.'
'I'm still their daughter; eye colour doesn't matter.'
'Where did she come from?' The woman asks. 'Who are her real parents? If she's here, then they mustn't love her at all.'
'LOOK AT ME!' I yell, and the two neighbours turn to me. 'I'll repeat what I said, I have no dad, and I never want one. Mum and Mummy are the best parents I could ever ask for, and I'd never want to replace either of them with a father.'
'It's unhealthy for you to grow up without a father.'
'Unhealthy? UNHEALTHY?!' I start laughing. 'When are you two going to grow up and listen? It's not unhealthy to have two mums or two dads, but what is unhealthy is the two of you barging in here and trying to tell us how to live. If that's all you want to talk about, I suggest you leave.'
The neighbours stand up and walk out the front door. At least they know to walk away from a losing battle.
'That wasn't pleasant,' Mummy says, then turns to me. 'Did you mean what you said?'
'Of course, I did. You two are the best parents I could ever ask for.' I pull Mum and Mummy into a hug, and we stay like that for several minutes.
Instead of heading out that day, we stay at home and start decorating the living room. 'Do you know what your friends would want to do when they get back?' Mummy asks.
'I don't know, but I'll check the group chat to see if anyone messaged me.'
BeheadedBoleyn: I want to play monopoly with no rules
SilverSeymour: Me too. QuestioningHybrid, please ask your parents if they want to play
SpanishQueen: Will they join in the chaos?
BraveBoleyn: I don't know if I can take on too much chaos
LambethQueen: Bring on the chaos!
QuestioningHybrid: How are you feeling, Kitty?
LambethQueen: Much better, thank you.
QueenfromCleves: I've made a new board I want to try out if that's all right.
SilverSeymour: We'll play both boards and see which we prefer.
'Tonight will be chaotic,' I warn my mums. 'We're playing two different games of monopoly with no rules as Anna made another board.'
'What?' Mum splutters.
'And they want you two to play with us.'
'That sounds... chaotic,' Mummy pauses, trying to find the right word. 'Okay, let's do it.'
By the time my friends get back, we have everything ready. Balloons and banners are hanging in the living room, and we brought our presents down for Anne and Jane. Since Kitty was ill and I wasn't going to school, Catalina and Anna decided to save their presents until we join them.
'Shall we start with a game?' Jane asks.
'Which board do we want to use? The one we started with last time?' Catalina asks.
'Let's try Anna's first,' Anne says, and Anna starts sorting out the board.
George looks worried. I'm not surprised, considering that he never played before. Then again, Mum and Mummy look confused. 'I thought the game doesn't have any rules,' Mummy says, and she nods to the sheet Anna has. 'That looks like a sheet of rules to me.'
'There are some rules, but "Monopoly with Some Rules" doesn't sound as cool as "Monopoly with No Rules".'
Like with our last game, we all start at £1,500. However, the squares are different. 'Instead of basing things that happened—or in Emma's case, will happen—in our lives, the squares are based on different films and things like that.'
'Okay,' Anne nods.
The game we play isn't as fun or crazy as our other game. We follow what happened in the films, at least until the following happens:
'I think my brother is still trying to control what we do,' Anna says. She's looking through the prompt cards and reading them. 'Most of these films we haven't heard of—oh, we know this one.'
'What makes you think your brother's trying to control us?' Jane asks.
'All of the cards that have a film we recognise are the same film. I'm picking all those cards out because one of us had a traumatic experience with that film.'
'No film can be traumatic,' George shoots back.
'Said film is for someone in this group. I'm not dropping the name of either the person or the film as that won't be fair.'
'Shall we go back to our other board?' Jane asks.
'Yeah,' Anna agrees. 'I'm not putting up with this if we can play something more fun.'
We set up the board on the table and start playing. Chaos gets thrown into the mix as soon as it's Anne's go. 'I'm kidnapping J. Bruce Ismay and holding him for ransom!' George spits his water out.
'I'm not paying his ransom,' Lina replies, and Anne sticks Ismay in the Tower. 'Why's he going into the Tower?'
'For being a coward. Jane, your turn.' Jane ends up having to put someone in the Tower, and she chooses George. Anna breaks George out of the Tower, and they steal half of Jane's money, Kitty goes on a rampage, but Catalina puts her in the Tower.
'How much more crazy can this get?' Mum asks when I roll the dice. I get the same square as I did last time, and Anne takes the first card off the Edwardian pile and hands it to me.
'It's the same card as the last time we played,' I say, and Jane picks up an officer card, checks who it is, and hands it to me.
'Can we guess who you got before you turn it over?' Catalina asks.
'There aren't that many officers, so we're bound to get it right at some point,' Anna agrees.
'No, Emma can tell us who she's got when she turns it over,' Anne says. 'I want to continue with the game.' I agree with Anne and turn the card over.
'Is it a coincidence that I got William Murdoch a second time?'
'I checked it,' Jane argues. 'I gave you Charles Lightoller; what happened?'
'Right, time to check all the officer cards,' Anne says. 'Turn them all over!' We turn them all over, and I return my card.
That's when I notice that all the officers, but Captain Smith, Henry Wilde, and James Moody have a queen's name as one of their wives. 'My love interest was James Moody,' Anne says. 'Watch his card carefully.' We watch his card, and when Anne places her hand on Henry Wilde, the card changes to James Moody.
'That's odd,' I say. 'What's causing that?'
'We all fell in love on the Titanic, during a point in our lives when we thought about ending it all,' Jane says. 'You were the only one to try acting upon it, and Will saved you.'
'Why were you all thinking about ending your lives?' Mummy asks, trying not to show the horror in her eyes.
'Henry tried to arrange marriages for all of us so he could keep us under control,' Jane explains. 'He paired everyone else with his friends, and I ended up with him. We left Mary, Elizabeth, Edward, Mezza and Janie behind at Labyrinth Castle because we didn't want Henry getting hold of them and hurting the people we love.'
'I was engaged to my former husband, Henry's older brother, Anne was engaged to Henry Percy, Jane was engaged to Henry himself, Anna was engaged to Thomas Cromwell, Kitty was engaged to Thomas Culpeper, and Emma was engaged to Jane's older brother, Thomas.'
'That's a lot of Thomases,' Mum says. 'But what made Emma want to end it all?'
'Seymour was pushing her to the edge,' Jane butts in. 'He was hitting her, abusing her, and Emma wanted it to stop. On the twelfth, she ran to the stern and planned to jump off.' Before Jane can continue, we hear a knock at the door. Mummy goes to answer it.
'Emma,' she gasps in surprise. 'What are you doing here?'
'I know I'm interrupting Anne and Jane's birthday party, but I need some advice.'
'That's okay,' Mummy agrees. 'Ruby, Emma wants our advice.'
'I'll be back in a minute,' Mum promises, and she heads out.
'Maybe we're all either bisexual or pansexual,' Catalina considers. 'We all had relationships with men—'
'But we might have only liked the officers on that ship because they helped us get out of abuse and heartbreak,' Anne is resting her head on her hand as she thinks. 'But most of you had relationships after that. Only Emma and I didn't.'
'Thanks for talking with us, Emma,' Mummy says, showing the older version of me to the door. 'If there's anything else you want to talk about, you know where to find us.'
'Thank you for listening,' Emma says. 'I better get back. There is lots I need to do in preparation for my next voyage.'
'Okay, goodnight.'
'Give my love to Mum.'
'I will.' Mummy shuts the door behind her and pops her head through. 'We'll be a few more minutes, but you're more than welcome to continue without us.'
Instead of continuing, we check the other officer cards. Each time one of us place a hand on a different officer, they change to the one we fell in love with on Titanic. 'I guess it shows none of us got over what happened,' Anna sighs.
'But normal cards shouldn't do that,' George argues. 'Hang on, let me try.' He touches Herbert Pitman, but it changes to Henry Wilde. 'Weird.'
When Mum and Mummy return, we realise that they were crying. 'Mum, Mummy, what happened?' I ask.
'Emma asked us not to tell you,' Mum says. 'What happened, she just...'
'Did she lose her job?' Kitty asks quietly. 'The White Waves Line keeps on trying to fire her, but it always backfires.'
'No, but they want her to start working again this month.'
'Was that the reason why she came?' I ask.
'Partly,' Mummy says.
We turn our attention back to the game when it's clear that neither Mum nor Mummy will tell us anything. Jane hands me an officer card. I understand that the older version of me wants to keep secrets, but it could be important. I might ask her another time, but only if I see her again and if she seems emotionally stable enough to have such a conversation.
Mum and Mummy don't get chaotic in their first goes, and we keep playing. Then, Catalina says there's an earthquake that kills George, and Anne claims all his money. When it's Anne's turn, she says she's going to be planning a wedding—only she's not telling us who will get married. We keep trying to guess, but Anne doesn't give away any clues until it's my turn. I'm about to roll the dice when Anne picks my piece up and places it in the chapel.
'Emma, you better watch out,' Anna warns. 'Anne could be planning your funeral rather than your wedding.'
'I wouldn't be so cruel!' Anne takes my officer card and places it beside my piece.
'Wait,' Mummy says and picks up the card. She looks at it, then glances over at me. Mummy might be trying to keep a straight face, but I can see the tears building up in her eyes. She puts the card back.
We continue playing until Anne announces that an epidemic struck, and everyone (including her) is dead.
'That's a depressing way to end the game,' Anna says.
'But we had a wedding! We didn't have one last time!' Anne cries.
'All right, you lot,' Mummy says before the argument escalates. 'How does pizza sound?' We all agree, and Mummy goes to order the pizza.
