Chapter 16 Nightingale

Mum and dad went back to Britain the very next day, I'd now forgiven dad about what he did to Kook, and he'd now promised that he wasn't going to be as protective around any of the guys that I'm going out with, and Kook's wounds had now nearly completely healed, all he had now was a couple of scars.

Three days after they'd all left, things were finally getting back to normal, we were back on our duties and most of the incidents that had happened were now forgotten, I thought that it was all now going to be nice and quiet until the next time our families visit, until I got a letter from my sister.

"Hi sis. Thought that I might come and visit you for a few days, see how you're settling into your job, I've recently got a new job, loving it at the moment, and maybe you can introduce me to this new boyfriend of yours. Love and cuddles from your crow sister."

"Oh no." I said.

"What?"

"My sister's coming to visit."

"We didn't know that you had a sister. You've never mentioned her before."

"And there's a perfectly good reason why, she's nothing but trouble, and she's always jealous because I've got something better than her, I've got a better voice than her, I've got a better job than her, the list is endless."

"What does she look like?"

"She looks just like me, but we're not twins."

I've got to be honest, I'm really not looking forward to my sisters visit, no doubt that she'll attempt to rub in the fact that she's useless compared to me, making me feel bad, or she'll most likely do something mischievous, maybe pose as me and nearly lose me my job.

One Saturday morning, I was in my room giving it a quick tidy around, when there was a knock on my bedroom door, answering it I was confronted by my sister stood there, she may look exactly like me, but she's completely different, I take after our mum whereas she takes after dad.

"Alright sis?" She said in her Yorkshire accent just like dads.

"Hi." I replied.

"I've got to say sis, you really 'ave done well for yourself, your room's nearly as big as the living room back 'ome."

"I see that you're still your original self. How did the job interviews go?"

"Three turned me down, but one of them accepted me."

"What's your new job then that you said that you love so much at the moment."

"Well...mum and dad hate me for this but...I'm a maid."

I sniggered. "A maid?"

"Yeah, it's really good money."

"How much do you get paid?"

"Five silver coins."

"An hour?"

"No daily. How much do you get paid?"

"Twenty silver coins."

"Daily?"

"No per hour."

"By 'eck sis, I wish that I was as lucky as you. By the way, where's this boyfriend of yours, I thought that you were gonna introduce me to 'im."

"He won't be long, he said that he was going to come down here to see me at half eight before we go to our duties."

"Mum said that he's an Australian, is he?"

"Yeah, he is."

"That's not like you, I thought that you weren't that keen on Aussies."

"Yeah, that's true, but that was before I met him, he's the nicest guy that you'd ever meet. Talking of relationships, have you got a boyfriend now?"

"Nah. But I have just met a guy that I'd quite like to get with."

"What does he look like?"

"He seems to be like a very strong guy, he's got amazing muscles, long dark hair and a face like it's been carved from marble."

"Where did you meet him?"

"I haven't exactly introduced myself yet, I've only just seen him now."

"What? You mean one of the other defenders?"

"Yeah." she walked me towards the door and pointed at Gildar. "That guy there."

"Gildar?"

"Yeah, he's well fit."

"Yeah, he is quite handsome, but I don't think that he's the guy for you."

"Why what's he like?"

"Well, let's just say that he's a bit too obsessed with how he looks, he always got a mirror with him twenty four seven."

"Oh, yeah that's not really my kind of guy. Okay, I'm over him."

"Geez, that was quick, you are the ficklest person that I have ever known."

I looked down the corridor and Kook was just coming down the corridor.

"My boyfriend's just coming down the corridor."

"Great."

"Knock knock." said Kook knocking on the door, he looked at my sister and then looked at me, he had a look of shock and confusion on his face, and he obviously couldn't tell which one of us was the real Nightingale. "Who, what, where, when, how?" he said.

"Kook, it's me, I'm the real Nightingale, this is my sister." I said.

"Alright mate, I've gotta say, you really 'ave picked the ripest apple from the tree 'ere. Back 'ome Nightingale couldn't get away from all the fellas who admired 'er."

"You are such a liar sis, it was just the one guy, he was a great looker but he wasn't my type."

"Erm, well it's great to finally meet you...err...what can I call you?" Kook asked shaking my sister hand.

"You can call me Crow if you like, because that's what I am."

"I thought that you were a Nightingale like your sister."

"No, Nightingale is more Nightingale than Crow, whereas I'm more Crow than Nightingale, if you get what I mean."

"Err...I think so."

"What she's trying to say is that she takes after dad while I take after mum." I explained.

"Oh right."

"You're not going to be causing any trouble this time are you sis?" I asked.

"What do you take me for, I'd never cause any trouble."

"What about when we were at school and you caused a riot in the school hall, you posed as me, so it was me who got into trouble."

"Yeah, that was a pretty good joke."

"Joke? I had detention for a week."

"I said sorry didn't I?"

I didn't trust my sister when she said that she wouldn't be causing any trouble, she's well know for it, no doubt that she was going to attempt to get me into trouble or try to lose me my job, like she did before, to make sure that she didn't go blabbing around the castle about mine and Kookaburra's relationship, I had to tell her that it was a secret.

"By the way, you know how me and Kook are in a relationship at the moment?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's a secret, we're not really supposed to be in a relationship, it's against the rules."

"Whoa, you rebels. Don't worry, I won't say a word."

I could tell that she had something planned, I could see it in her eyes, a look of mischief. After she'd been in the castle for three days, she still hadn't done anything bad, maybe she's seen the error of her ways and has decided to put her mischievous days behind her, but knowing her, she's probably just waiting for the right moment.

I got out of my nest the next morning, my sister was in the nest next to mine, we created her another nest for her to sleep in for the time that she was going to be staying here, it took us a good few hours, but working together we got it completed in double quick time. I walked over to my wardrobe and got my dress out along with my gloves and boots, I looked over at my sisters nest and she was still asleep. I was just about to finish fastening my boots when I saw a shadow looming over me, I looked up and my sister was in front of me, I opened my mouth to speak, but she placed her hand over my mouth to stop me.

"Shh." she said.

I had no idea what she was doing, but whatever was going to happen next wasn't going to be good, she opened the draw next to me and pulled out three or four ropes, getting a handkerchief she wrapped it around my mouth preventing me from saying anything, what was she doing and what did she have planned? Taking the ropes she tied my wrists together along with my feet, taking a third rope she wrapped it around my waist strapping me into the chair.

"You may have a great job right now sis, but what abou' in a couple of hours from now when I announce your little secret? I'm surprised that you didn't even see this coming, you must 'ave thought tha' I'd come here for another reason than just t'see you, I'm ever so close to finally being better that you, when you're jobless, I'll be ahead of you with the only job that I 'ave, and that's another thing, what's Kookaburra going to think of you when I say that it was you who spread the word, maybe he'll lose the job too, it'll probably be "bye bye boyfriend" after that."

I couldn't believe that she was going to do this, out of all the 'pranks' and 'jokes' that she's done, this is way too extreme, not only is she going to lose me my job, but she's going to attempt to make the man of my dreams leave me, she's just like dad, she doesn't care about the fact how happy I am, she's just overrun with jealousy, I had to stop her before she had succeeded with her mission, I attempted to get up, but it was impossible with the chair that I was strapped into, she backed away from me, put her dress on and left for the lookout tower, where Kook was already waiting, he was going to get a real shock when he finds out what's going on.

"See you in the job market sis." my sister said laughing her unusual laugh, it's more like a squawk than a laugh.

When she left the room I started to wriggle and tug at the ropes attempting to get free, I raised may hands towards my mouth to remove the handkerchief, I couldn't reach, so I lowered my head bringing my head down to my hands, I could only just reach bringing the handkerchief down to under my chin, now this was going to be tricky, having to untie my hands, lowering my head again I grabbed the rope tightly with my teeth and eased it off bit by bit, it took me a rough 15 minutes, but the rest probably wouldn't take me that long, when my wrists were untied I gradually eased each arm up from behind the ropes around my waist, when they were free I reached behind the chair for the knot, it was a tricky knot too, it was one of those double knots, I kept on picking and tugging at the knot until the ropes loosened and fell onto my lap, pushing them off I reached down to untie my feet, I must have spent nearlly and hour trying to untie myself. The second that I was free, I jumped up, ran out of my room and to the lookout tower to put an end to my sisters plot.