Hi guys! I'd like to thank you all for the positive feedback I've been receiving; it's great to know what you think, so please keep reviewing – if anybody spots anything with the plot or characters that doesn't seem right, let me know. I want this to be right for you all. This chapter isn't very exciting (way to sell it, I know!) but I think it's important (at least for me!) to establish the scene and characters, and really just to get the story going in the right direction. I'm going to try to update every Sunday in school holidays but it does get a little tricky when school starts again, but I'll do my best. I'm hoping to really get into this story, and, with any luck I'll keep it running even when Season 4 starts. Without any further ado... here is chapter 2, I hope you enjoy it.
The Case of the Missing Girl Part 2
As the plane touched down, all of the fears and anxieties that Eleanor had been pushing down for so long slammed into back into her. She felt torn between yelling to the pilot to take off again and taking the controls for herself in a desperate attempt to find Robert's island and live there for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, she couldn't convince her body to do either. She shook her head, clearing her mind temporarily. Rising, Eleanor smiled at her decision to wear flat shoes to return home in rather than her usual heels as her head gently skimmed the low ceiling of the aircraft.
Outside, she could see a small, brave group of photographers and journalists all clumped together, battling the driving rain. Not one of them spoke, the icy spring rain having, quite literally, dampened their spirits.
Thoughts of spirits aside, Eleanor gratefully received an umbrella from an exhausted-looking air hostess and hurried down the stairs from the plane. A black Mercedes waited at the bottom, its windscreen wipers tirelessly fighting on, despite the negligible effect that they had on clearing the rain.
She couldn't turn back now. It's for Sarah-Alice; she reminded herself and took a deep breath, diving into the car.
"Len!" A familiar voice shouted, "I've missed you so much!"
"I've missed you too Liam!" Eleanor said, giving him a mock punch on the arm, "I didn't expect you to come out and meet me, especially not in this weather!"
"Somebody had too- unfortunately, I drew the short straw on this occasion!" Eleanor gave him a real punch on the arm. The car started to move off, spraying the press with more water. A camera flashed. Eleanor put her window down slightly and gave the photographer a royal wave – and a slightly less royal gesture – before rescuing her hand from becoming too soaked.
"How are you, anyway?" Eleanor asked, worried as to what Liam's response would be. His hair looked messy and unwashed, complimenting the bags under his eyes rather well.
"I'm great, Len. How are you?" Liam replied in a voice doing nothing to disguise the fact that he was a long way from being fine. "I can't believe you're so tanned!"
"Quite good actually." Said Eleanor, glancing down at her arms, which, she supposed, were slightly darker than they had been before she'd left. Yet, Eleanor didn't really tan, she burned. A sound metaphor for my life really, the Princess thought bitterly. The twins looked at each other.
Liam sighed. "Let's cut the bullshit, Len. I'm terrible. The only things that are keeping me going right now are cider and the thought that you are safely away from all of this drama and are genuinely happy."
Eleanor snorted and looked out into the rain. She could see people rushing to and fro underneath black umbrellas, running the endless race that life in London seemed to enter them into. When she was younger, she had been glad of not being like the average Londoner, glad of not being stuck in an office, stuck in traffic, stuck with nowhere to go at the end of the day except a cold flat in Arsenal with a leaky drainpipe outside the bedroom window. Now, she had never felt more trapped.
"Evidently, I'm going to need a lot more cider." Said Liam, only half joking.
Eleanor made a face. "I thought that you had better taste in drink than that, big brother."
"Cyrus only gives me the cheapest stuff he has. Fortunately, there's a lot of it. I'll show you the stash when we get back, if you want." Liam's smile faded. "Jasper, is Robert busy today? Are we safe?"
Eleanor almost jumped. She felt stupid for not recognising their driver, her hands tensing slightly in her lap as a flood of emotions flew through her head. Before Jasper could answer Liam's questions, she cleared her throat, "Hang on, aren't you Robert's security detail? How did you, of all people, managed to get leave to come and pick me up?"
Jasper exchanged glances with Liam in the rear-view mirror (while still managing to keep a large amount of his attention on the road, something that Eleanor doubted she'd ever master) with a question in his eyes. Liam nodded.
"I'm technically still on duty. I swapped with Rosie, who has been Liam's detail while you've been away. Seeing as Rosie can't drive, I managed to convince His Majesty," Jasper said these words with a hint of sarcasm and a bucket full of scorn, "that you had had an argument with the palace driver on the way to the airport before you left and that I would be able to accompany Liam to pick you up." He paused. "So, Rosie went with Robert to a meeting with the PM and I ended up driving this stupid car in this stupid British weather."
Liam and Eleanor at once became defensive. "Our weather is fine!" Liam declared; a glint of amusement in his eyes. "It gives us something to complain about!" Eleanor nodded enthusiastically.
Jasper decided to change the subject. "So, in response to your questions: yes, I am Robert's security detail, for now anyway, and Robert will not be present on your arrival back at the palace. The Queen and Cyrus, however, will. Although, I'm not sure what state Cyrus will be in."
Eleanor rolled her eyes. "Same old Uncle Cyrus, huh?"
They were all silent.
"I'm not sure if either of you will like this question, but why can't-" Eleanor started.
As if he'd read her mind, Jasper answered. "Because we want to avoid any unnecessary interaction between you and your brother for now, at least until we've filled you in on everything that's been going on while you've been away."
Liam angled his head away from Eleanor at Jasper's words, appearing to be slightly embarrassed.
"Then," Jasper continued, "you will be the one to talk to Robert, knowing what we know about him, while also loving him as his sister."
Eleanor turned to her brother, who was scowling. "You don't love Robbie?" She asked, unable to believe this.
"I'm not sure, Len. I haven't been for some time now. It's difficult, you know?" Liam looked beseechingly at Eleanor, as if he was willing her to understand.
"No." Eleanor replied, in a hard tone. "Loving people is easy. It's trusting them that is the hard part."
Jasper let out a stream of expletives at a driver that had just cut in front of them and swerved the car violently, only just missing an elderly pedestrian. Then, impossibly, the world felt like it was completely still.
"Exactly." said Liam, his voice barely above the volume of a whisper. "You're the only one that Robert trusts, out of all of us. He may love some of us because we're his family, but he loves and trusts you out of choice. And, most importantly, so do we: all of us."
Jasper's eyes rested on hers in the rear-view mirror as they pulled up at the foot of the palace steps. Eleanor tried and subsequently failed to tear hers away from his, some kind of invisible force making her unable to look away.
Liam carried on, not entirely oblivious to the growing tension inside the car, "There is not one of us in the palace who doesn't trust you. There is not one of us who does not love you."
Eleanor sat on her bed, a million memories circling her head, each travelling at a million miles per hour. She heard fractions of each but was unable to catch any, unable to quieten her restless mind.
A knock on the door at last broke her reverie. Liam came in and sat beside her. He looked tired and smelt distinctly of apples.
"Are you okay with this?" He asked, cautiously. She'd texted him earlier, demanding that he tell her everything once she'd unpacked this evening. Her case, however, still stood by the door and was still filled with clothes, as if waiting to be picked up and then taken abroad once more. "It seems bad right now, but, I'm telling you, it's about to start looking a whole lot worse."
Eleanor nodded, unable to form a reply that would communicate the immense amount of dread that she could feel building in her stomach, climbing up the back of her throat and wreaking havoc in her brain.
"I mean," said Liam, anxiety flitting across his face at the lack of a response from his sister, "I know you're worried about Sarah-Alice – I am too – but there's been a heck of a lot more than that going on."
Eleanor smiled sadly and moved her head so that it rested gently on Liam's shoulder, comforted by its warmth. "I shouldn't have left."
Liam absent-mindedly twirled a piece of her hair around his finger, letting a familiar silence fill the room.
"I want to hear it," Eleanor whispered, "all of it."
The force in her quiet words startled Liam. "I just need you to promise me that when I've told you everything that you won't think about me, or any of us, differently." He said this loudly, as if trying to appear confident. As always, Eleanor saw through his façade.
"I-" Eleanor began, and then abruptly shut her mouth. Could she really promise her brother not to change what she thought about any of the inhabitants of the palace after hearing everything that had gone on behind its walls in her absence?
She thought about it, her mind skimming over each person in turn.
James: he'd been there for her when she'd needed a shoulder to cry on, certainly. But, how well did she really know him? Then again, he trusted her enough to ask for her help when he needed it.
Her mother: it stuck Eleanor how similar she was to her mother – passionate, creative and independent. Yet, Eleanor had no trust in her mother's ways, having been wounded far too many times by the Queen's icy tongue.
Cyrus: well... Eleanor was sure that her opinion of him would not be changed by what Liam had to say.
Her brothers: both of whom she loved. And yet, hadn't she got to know Liam a lot better since Robert's "death"? Then, Robert had never really accepted her relationship with Jasper. Whereas, Liam had been there throughout the... rollercoaster of a relationship she'd had with the bodyguard.
She closed her eyes. Jasper. Later, she thought. It was not the time for her to think about the pieces of her shattered heart that he still owned, or the pieces he'd left of his for her to pick up.
Eleanor sighed, turning to her brother. "I promise that I will still love you, no matter what you tell me."
She hoped that he understood from her words that she would always love him, but, after hearing what he had to say, would form her own opinion about whether he was worthy of her trust. She didn't know what to think about anyone any more, even her own twin. But, she thought, I trust Liam right now. I trust that he will tell me the truth, don't I? Maybe it was reckless and stupid of her to trust anyone after the endless back-stabbing and blackmail that had taken centre-stage in her life before she had left. But, she had to trust somebody, sometime.
"Tell me everything."