Otherworlds
Pairing(s): George/ Nina, possible Mitchell/ Annie later.
Rating: M for swearing and violence. If you can watch the show, you can read this.
Disclaimer: All I own is the story. The characters belong to BBC Three and Toby Whithouse.
Summary: Mitchell, George and Nina know that getting Annie won't be easy, but when confronted by their own feelings, their own secrets and the strange wonders of the world, they aren't so sure if Annie should come back.
Author's notes: This is still a work in progress. More chapters to come.
Chapter Two: George.
What happens now Mitchell? What do we do?
We're gonna get her back.
George came out of the cafe, his mind a jumbled mess of thoughts. He was worried about Mitchell, worried about Nina, worried about Annie, just worried in general.
He paused and glanced over at the Otherworld. Barely twenty four hours had passed since he'd been in there. The front display had changed. There were mannequins wearing medieval dresses now.
He pushed open the door, bells jingling over his head. He looked around, but didn't see Sarah. He decided to browse around until she came back. There was a small table in the middle of the store, with a deck of tarot cards and a crystal ball set out. Discover your future: £15
He rolled his eyes. He turned to inspected a shelf of colourful crystals, each neatly labelled with the name and properties.
Amethyst... fluorite...iolite... lapis lazuli...quartz... turquoise. He snorted, dismissing it. He might have had a slap to the face with discovering werewolves, vampires and ghosts were real, but putting power into gems? Rubbish.
He moved on to a jewellery display case. Various pendants, crosses, celtic knots, rings, pentacles, earrings, the obligatory dragon and fairy pieces in one corner. A talisman with a few Hebrew symbols caught his eye.
"That's the fourth pentacle of Mercury. It helps with understanding and gaining knowledge."
He spun around. Sarah grinned broadly at him. As Nina had commented last night, Sarah didn't fit in with what he thought the owner of a magic shop should look like. There was no gothic black velvet dress, no heavy eyeliner, not even black lipstick. Just a young woman in a pair of blue skinny jeans, a white shirt that said 'Easily distracted by shiny things' and dark brown hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail.
"Oh, ah, well, that's good to know," he fumbled, hurriedly putting it back in the case. He looked back up at her.
She scratched behind her ear, looking sheepish. "I'm afraid I haven't-"
"No, no, that's not why I'm here," he cut her off quickly. She blinked in surprise and waited for him to go on.
"I just wanted to apologise for yesterday. I don't like... I'm still not..."
Sarah smiled kindly. "That's understandable. I didn't mean to freak you out or anything. But I know what Haul is like."
George glanced around the shop, relieved. "It was good of you to warn us."
Sarah sat down and motioned for George to take a seat across from her. He looked at the tarot cards. "Going to read me my fortune?"
Sarah laughed. "I don't believe in that stuff."
He was surprised. "You believe in werewolves, ghosts and vampires, but you don't believe in fortune telling?" He frowned, suddenly wondering if he should have used the word 'vampire'.
"I can see those. They're real. How can you believe in something that hasn't happened yet?" She picked up the crystal ball and began tossing it from hand to hand like it was a tennis ball.
Not being a terribly philosophical person while sober, George just nodded. "So how do you know about these things?"
Sarah glanced up. "I know a few supernatural beings. I trust them."
"You think they can help?"
"They'll probably know a way for you to contact her, wherever she is," she said. "But you won't be able to bring her back to life."
"That doesn't matter," George said quickly. "We've only known her as a ghost anyway."
George wondered if she was trying to hint that their mission to get Annie back would only end in disappointment.
If he was entirely honest with himself, though he would miss her terribly, he would be happy for Annie if she chose to move on. He just wanted her to be happy and safe.
"May I ask why you came to Fôrforwynllyn?" Sarah inquired, interrupting his train of thought.
"We couldn't stay in Bristol after Annie left," he said. He noticed her eyebrow go up when he said 'Bristol' and wondered if that was a mistake. If she had supernatural friends, she might have heard of them.
"How did you meet your supernatural friends?" he asked, anxious to change topics.
"I met a water spirit when I was a child. Since then, I've just sort of attracted different kinds of people. Different spirits, shapeshifters, werewolves, witches, vampires... all sorts."
George felt a chill run down his spine. Annie had been right. Ghosts, werewolves, vampires... they really were just the tip of the iceberg. There was a whole other world out there, yet it still existed in the same world as Miley Cyrus songs, Keira Knightly, Twitter, and iPhones.
George felt strangely disorientated by her words. He stared blankly forward, turning this new revelation over and over in his mind.
After several minutes, he saw the crystal ball floating in the air.
"Shit!" He jumped back, knocking over his chair. "Shit!"
He stared. The crystal ball rose slowly until it floated a few inches from his face. He stumbled backwards, banging into a shelf full of cauldrons.
"Stop!"
Sarah had jumped to her feet, watching the knocked shelf intently. Her hands were splayed in front of her. The cauldrons froze midair. It's like a real life pause button, George thought.
The crystal ball had dropped out of the air, and rolled against his foot. Then one by one, the cauldrons began to drift back onto the suddenly righted shelf.
It took a few seconds for George to figure out what was going on. She's moving it with her mind, George realised. Sarah's fucking telekinetic!
It took a few minutes for her to direct everything back to its proper place. Chagrined, she picked the crystal ball up.
"Sorry. I was, um, showing off." She set the ball neatly back on the table. She blinked and the chair that he'd knocked over drew upright, tucking itself under the little table.
"Okay. Well. That was weird," George said. "Very, very, very weird."
"It's handy for stocking up the shop though," Sarah said, breaking the awkward silence. "No heavy lifting required."
George laughed.
"Why don't you three come over on Sunday for lunch?" Sarah said impulsively. "I make an excellent roast."
The idea of a roast made George's mouth water. It had been ages since he'd enjoyed a roast. In the cottage, they had a hard enough time making the stove work, let alone the oven.
"That would be lovely," he replied. "I'm sure Nina will want to come. Mitchell, I'm not so sure."
Sarah clapped her hands together, delighted. "Excellent!" she squealed. "It's fine if Mitchell doesn't want to come. You can take him home something."
George smiled, chuffed that he'd accepted the offer.
***
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Chapter Four: Nina II will be posted soon.
