Sunday 21 February 2010, Adelaide, Australia

"I ended up fleeing to Australia, because of what Daryl did I didn't want to run the risk of being found andeverything being put at risk, she threatened you all, imagine how devastated I was, I had to abandoneveryone I love the most for that, I didn't even have the chance to talk and say goodbye, I just left very dry toanother place as if it was nothing and as if you didn't even realise."

"Daniella was very shocked when you didn't come back, she worried a lot, to the point of breaking downemotionally at that time, she knew there was something strange and it took her many years to get over it, Iwas the one who gave her all the support and a home so that she could live peacefully at home before shehad the stability to live on her own, which took about 3 years after that day, things would still change a lotthere."

"For her it must have really changed for the better, she must have thought I'd abandoned her or something,since I only left, well at least she must be happy today with that guy she got, especially since when thingsstabilised I hardly saw you, not even Daryl, which is quite strange that she didn't show up to bother me tofind out my identity and come and bother me for being close to Diana, or threaten our lives."

I arrived here, I slept halfway as I had to wait at a stop in Singapore before the plane went all the way to Adelaide, well it was a few hours before I got everything right, now I'm at the airport, it doesn't look like it, but I've spent a whole day just travelling on a plane, it's so far away that I have no idea, I look at the airport clock and see that the clock is striking 6am, I look at my mobile phone and well I decide to grab a sheet of paper before I leave.

I write down the address she asked me to write down and then I take everything that's saved on the mobile phone and delete it, now it's time to go, I open the battery cover of the mobile phone, throw it in the bin and then with magic I smash the whole mobile phone, now it's time to go, I leave the rest of the broken mobile phone in the bin, which around here has no signal so that's the least of it, time to go, I have no idea what to do yet to live here. I think I'll exchange my money first, I'll get to a bureau de change and with my card I'll go there to get some considerable cash.

"I'll have 5000 Australian Dollars" I say to the cashier.

"Well, just pay here and we'll transfer the money on paper, girl" she said and I put the card in the machine.

The transaction was approved, this is my card linked to my bank account and it can be used internationally too, I had used it on the Shiny Chariot world tour, then she hands me the five thousand dollars, I put it in a bag and take some, well I'm going to do what I have to do for now.

I arrive outside the airport and get into a taxi, it's on the British side, I even forget these things, I leave my bags and show a sheet of paper with the address indicated by the sheet of paper, which the driver takes a look at.

"Look girl, you're lucky I know the whole city inside out, otherwise it would be a complicated situation to go through this whole city without knowing the streets, but apparently you want to go to someone's house, you really don't look like you're from here do you" I nod.

"And I'm not, I came from Edinburgh and I'm moving here now" I say as I chat to the driver.

"It's strange that your accent doesn't sound British, you sound like a Frenchwoman, very peculiar" I'm just going to look at the road ahead, this town is very quiet, it's strange that it's a bit hot here, but I think that's because it's still summer in the southern hemisphere.

"I'm French, I was travelling to Edinburgh and then I came here, but anyway, it looks like a really beautiful place" I say looking around.

The driver continued to talk to me, I'm just in automatic mode, trying not to cry in the car, for the nine witches, I had a perfect and wonderful life, why did I ruin it with an idiotic plan like that, worst of all is that now I have a whole new life ahead of me, I can't even imagine what's going to come now, all I know is that my body won't stop shaking.

[...]

The car arrives at the address, it's an ordinary house, I'm surprised at how quiet it is, I take a deep breath and wow, it's time to go to her house, as I remember the teacher must have left Luna Nova by now, so this is going to be quite peculiar.

"That leaves 36 dollars" I give him a 50 and get out of the car.

"Keep the change" I say, picking up the suitcase from the boot.

Now it's time to see Mrs Watson, as promised I'm at the address where she indicated, I walk to where the bell is, it's a very quiet house I must admit, I take a deep breath, all the bell and it's ringing a melody, it must still be very early in the morning I don't think she should be awake at this time, but soon someone appears at the door, a younger girl, it's not Mrs Watson, she's very sleepy, I even find it strange that she's looking at me like that, she seems to be my age.

"Who are you?" She asks.

"Oh I was wondering if Lucy Watson was here, I'm Chariot Du Nord" I say to the yawning girl.

"Oh Lucy, my sister's here, I'll let her know there's a Chariot Du Nord round here" I shrug and wait.

What a relief, it's really Professor Watson's house, as she had warned me, I'm even waiting a bit, this girl is very strange, she seems to be really my age, but I've never seen her in Luna Nova, very strange that she doesn't study there, I didn't know that the teacher had a sister, how strange, soon she appears, she smiles when she sees me, it's curious how in person Professor Watson seems smaller and her sister is taller, practically my size.

"You've finally arrived Chariot, you can come in, we have a lot to talk about, make yourself at home" she said and I went into the house.

"Thank you, Professor Watson" I say as I enter the room.

"I'm not Professor Watson anymore, you can just call me Lucy, Hey Madeleine, she's the girl who said she'd come here, accompany her to the room we've left for her to stay in" Ah so that's her name.

"So this is the girl, I've been waiting for you Chariot, I didn't realise you were already 20, you look so young" Yeah, I turned 20 at the airport, what's worse, I couldn't even go home to celebrate my birthday.

"You also look very young, it's strange that I've never seen you in Luna Nova, you're how old? 15?" She starts to laugh.

"I'm 25, come on, nobody thinks I'm an adult until today, I have this teenage face that never gets old, I admit I thought you looked like a teenager too" I'm barely out of my teens too.

We get to my room and I even had help to carry my suitcase up the stairs, it wasn't much, but it should have been enough, I leave everything in the room which is very quiet and comfortable, similar to what I used to have at home, a very comfortable bed and everything, which I then leave my suitcase there and leave the room and go towards the living room, I sit on a sofa and there I have a conversation with Mrs Watson.

"So it looks like I've arrived here, but for what reason, Adelaide?" I ask her.

"I knew I'd end up here one day or another, you teased Daryl too much, didn't you?" How does she know that? I'm really shocked, how she knows my aunt.

"I hate what that bitch did to you, little sister, you shouldn't have let her manipulate you like that" said Madeleine.

"I was needy Maddie and the thirst for power got to me at the time, she promised me luxuries I'd never have and in the end I never did, but anyway, I think you're here now with just your clothes and that suitcase" I nodded.

"How do you know Daryl? How did you know all this?" I ask her who then starts to light a cigarette and even offers me one, which I can't resist, my nervousness is intense.

"Look, I'm going to tell it in a very brief way, but going back in time to 1996, your aunt met me, she was talking to me about a plan of hers and that she would put me in the middle if I helped, I already knew your mums, they were the best students at Luna Nova, They joined a little after I graduated and I was one of the most talented before them and because of that Daryl saw me as an opportunity for a bigger plan of hers, something I had no idea about, it started with some luxurious outings, being all romantic, even being quite different from the snake she became... I was falling in love, being seduced, her showing me how all this

could still be mine, how can you not be seduced when you can have yachts, ferraris, mansions, expensive horses, drink champagne, I didn't even smoke at the time, what made me smoke was the anxiety she put me through, all to give off a vibe of confidence, then she went on to promise me some things in exchange for me doing some missions for her" I'm scared, she's saying it could be something I'm imagining it to be.

"My little sister was happy, I was also very happy for her, to see her smiling, we even moved to England for a while, she went to work in Luna Nova this time, got the job as a teacher and stayed for a good few years, teaching Astrology, everything Daryl could get for us, we even trusted her a lot, but little sister also went out on these missions a lot" Who would have thought she'd be such a fake.

"Robberies, espionage, everything you could imagine, I did these things on the sly, giving her more money and power, I didn't understand anything, but things would get even worse when February 1997 arrived, I was already having sex with her routinely, every time we saw each other she went there and did it in all sorts of ways, but on that particular day she used a magic stone and I remember that she made me grow a penis, I didn't find it strange at all, After all, it never took her to create an organ like that, but when things got going I just felt immense pleasure and I released a lot of sperm, and it wasn't like the liquid that used to come out, it was really like sperm, which I just thought was the spell, but the news soon came, she was pregnant" I'm shocked, my world is falling apart, this woman is the mother of twins? By the nine witches.

"You mean... The twins, you're their biological mother too?" I'm much more shocked than I should be.

"Yes, Maril and Merrill are my daughters, after that day when she confirmed the pregnancy she abandoned me, I didn't know anything more about her because I didn't know where she lived until then, I tried to go to Edinburgh when I found out, but she threatened me, and that she would kill me for real if I revealed the truth in any way, she used the children to get money from another man that I don't know, but I know that story, I often ended up working as a go-between for Daryl on some of her cases, like espionage and all that, to find out what was going on between you, but in the end she took me off those missions too, she tried to promise to let me see my daughters, but she didn't even fulfil that promise, I was aware of everything the whole time, I know about your connection with Daryl, I know she must have found out something and kicked you out here, just like she did with me, she threatened the girls with death, I couldn't think of anything else but going back toAustralia" By the nine witches, that's a horror.

"She threatened everyone I love with death if I didn't leave and I thought of you at the time, if I went back to France she could still kill these people? Just when I'd asked my girlfriend to marry me, this happens to me, now she must think I've thrown her away" I said, crying and being consoled by them.

"I'm sorry about all this Chariot, you can make yourself at home, but we can still think of a way for you to gradually come back, a coalition, she thinks she's got away with it, but now we have another witness, I've put together a dossier with some of the things she's done, you can put it together with your testimony so she can go to jail, what do you think?" I just nod my head.

"I can't, I don't have enough proof, apart from the fact that arresting her won't do any good, she'll come back angrier than ever, now I see how right my mum was" She's even shocked.

"My sister doesn't think about it, this dossier criminalises her too, if she goes to jail Daryl will too and that threatens the lives of all of us" It's a disgrace.

"Did you say she was going to jail together? Like a scapegoat? So you were the one to take the blame for Daryl's murder?" She denies it with her head.

"No, I had no idea Laura had gone that far, I'd just give myself up as an accomplice and I'd be in prison for less time, you'd come and you'd have more evidence, she'd be in prison for even longer, but she already had a very interesting plan, but I think the girls would be alone without a mum, I don't know if that would be ideal" I shrug.

"They would be in my care, legally I'm Bernadette's adopted daughter, my guardianship would be the next to pass down the family line because I'm of age, so they would stay with me and Daniella living in France, where I'd left a house ready, I'd take Diana and the twins, we were even preparing the ground by stealing some of the family's things and taking the most precious relics so that we could have a way to breathe, since they were going to burn down the mansion next and Daryl would be killed by this patsy who would take the blame instead of me" I say to her who goes into shock.

"Laura is a real genius with her plans, if I'd known about the idea of executing Daryl I'd have applied it too, I thought it was a pretty brilliant plan to apply, she thought of everything, but I'm afraid of what could happen to

this patsy, if it worked I'd show up for the girls, we'd do a DNA test, but I don't know if they'd accept me as a mother, I've been away for so many years" I imagine that for Mum Laura with Diana.

"That's what my mum thought anyway, now I see how right she is, just arresting Daryl isn't the solution, there are people in this world who have no way of redeeming themselves, she's the kind of person who's beyond saving" I say, huffing.

"Well, anyway, tell me what happened between you and Daryl in this mess, I just put my head down and went, from what I could see in your appearance and your legs you're not just any witch, that's a trained body, you certainly got away with it" She really knows everything.

I'm going to tell her, I can see Madeleine going out to do something, I think she's going to prepare something for us to eat, I'm honestly shocked at the amount of bombshells that are coming out now, Professor Watson is the mother of the twins, I finally found out where they both came from, it was to be expected that Daryl would go after a witch, she would want to maintain purity and everything, even more so since Diana and Hellene are the daughters of two witches.

At least I know I can be safe here, she's given me a bit of confidence by sticking around, but jeez, abandoning everyone is really hurting me, how am I going to stay here? What am I going to do after this? What am I going to be from now on? I can't even have a happy family with Daniella, or be anything with her, or stay in Dublin with Mum and my family, everyone? There's only me in this world now.

[...]

I see Madeleine arriving with some cookies and juice to go with them, it's even less bad, I don't think I've ever felt so much relief in my life after smoking and also letting off steam with someone, to think that this someone is practically my aunt, it makes me feel a lot of things here, she can have a very positive reaction to the fight, I tried, I tried, but I can't reach Daryl's feet, it was close, if I had more magic the bullet would hit the heart and I would win, I would go to jail, but I would win.

But what now? What do I do now? I've thrown away my whole life and now I've got this new life to start, how will it unfold from now on? Well, I still have a lot to think about, it's going to be a long road ahead.

"Well, now I've told you everything, but what am I going to do now that I'm living in this place?" I ask Lucy.

"I'm going to teach you a magic that has helped me a lot, it makes you keep your hair in another colour for as long as you want except when you sleep, even if you're not in a magic zone, it can help you take on another identity, in June you'll enrol in an astrology school nearby, you'll become my successor in Luna Nova" I've been thinking about it and it sounds like an interesting idea.

"Daryl won't be able to recognise me, if I become a teacher in a few years Diana will be in Luna Nova and with that I can look after her when she's older, I'll also have to make the grounds ready for the next chosen one, after all I'll be her mentor, maybe it'll be Diana or some other girl, in any case, I need to prepare, but being the Chariot Du Nord teacher wouldn't solve it" I tell her.

"So take another identity, let your hair grow long and change its colour, that could help a lot" I see, that would be interesting.

"I've even thought about creating an account to make money from art and commissions on the internet, based on the Ursa Major constellation" I say to her as she puts her hand to her chin.

"It could be your future name, what do you think? We have to think of everything for this plan, with you being a teacher in Luna Nova things might even go back to the way they were before, I think in a few years we'll manage" What plan? I had no idea what plan she was talking about.

"What plan is that?" I ask her.

"You'll be the new teacher in my place, I'll train you for it, your disguise will be perfect, to hold you over for a few years until Diana is 18, so she'll be old enough to head the Cavendish and I'll be spying in the meantime and getting more evidence from Daryl, anyway, I think it'll be best for you, I can talk to Laura and we'll make a plan..." I interrupt her and no.

"Please don't reveal anything, I'd rather she stayed safe, don't tell anyone I'm here and it's me, please Lucy" she even smiles at me.

"You can rest assured that you'll have your secret safe here, tomorrow I'll teach you the technique and we'll perfect it, in time you'll be able to leave the house with this new disguise, by the way, did you ever use your money?" I nod and she puts her hand to her face.

"Throw that card away, let's go travelling first, you take as much money as you need and keep it for yourself, this could be a way of tracking you and your mobile phone? Did you bring any electronic devices with you?"I nod.

"I broke my mobile phone at the airport and it was a huge pain, there are more than two years' worth of photos on it, you have no idea how awful it was to lose the money, I took 5,000 at the exchange office here for an emergency" I say to her as she rubs her chin.

"Next time we'll be travelling to another city further away from here, you can take out another deposit when you need it, but the five thousand is already great, you don't have to worry about bills around here, food either, it's all up to us, use this money to buy clothes, or whatever rubbish you want to buy, cigarettes, drugs, drink, whatever you think is best" Well all right then, it'll take me a while to get used to it.

Then we switch on the television after we've talked, the local television is very different and I'm surprised that it's still morning, I haven't even been able to visit my girlfriend, or keep in touch with her, I've just switched everything off and now I'm in this middle of nowhere with lots of people, where I know nothing, but it's going to become my future home for the next few years, I don't even know when I'm going to graduate, but I know it's going to be a very different path from what I expected, to think that I'm going to take on a totally new and different identity from what I was.

I then get up from the sofa, take a packet of cigarettes and go up the stairs, trying to find the balcony, when I reach it I stare at the landscape, very different from what I'm used to, it's morning and I can feel the sun, it's much warmer than at home and Edinburgh, it was close to 0 when I left home and here it must be much warmer, I light a cigarette and stare at the sun and the sky, the immensity of the world, soon Lucy arrives next to me I think she wants to talk.

"Difficult day, isn't it? Processing all this information, I can only imagine how you must be feeling, that marvellous, peaceful life you had before is never going to come back" I nod.

"I should have followed Mum Laura's plan to the letter, I used Anna a lot to create opportune moments to visit Diana, the plan would still be in place today if I'd..." She even interrupts me.

"If I had a handle and bristles I'd be a broom, do you know what would happen? Daryl would find out anyway, do you really think she wouldn't pay one of the house servants to spy on you, what Laura should do is put the plan into practice straight away and get rid of Daryl, you'd run away and leave everything, but you were too scared, in the end you did the right thing, she at least found out and you tried to be friends with Diana, but in the end it didn't work and it wasn't going to, Daryl is cunning, she has contacts all over the world, who can watch the things we do, the best thing to do is to stay very quiet before something worse happens" Unfortunately I can't deny that.

"So will my life ever go back to the way it was before?" I ask her.

"I don't know how long you think your future wife will wait for you to come back? 2 years? 3 years? 4 years? 5 years? 10 years? We don't know, in any case you can't worry about the problems outside, the problems now will be around here, I don't even want to make you forget people, just so you don't care about that place anymore and get worms in your head, don't forget who loved you and still loves you" I know that, but I've only just arrived.

"It's going to be difficult, now I don't have my medication that helped me with my depression and after more than two years without smoking I put a cigarette in my mouth like it's nothing, how could I give in so easily like that? I thought I'd overcome these problems" I say with my hand on my head.

"The beginning is always difficult, but after a while you get used to it and soon you'll be like me, nothing shakes me anymore" God, I don't want to be like this, I'm sorry Mrs Watson.

"I don't want to offend you, Lucy, but I don't want to end up like this, I don't want to become a smoking, depressed lady, I want to be able to smile again one day, to start a family, to return to my beloved" I say to her and she smiles a little.

"I have no control over anything, time will tell what you end up with, but then I'm not a depressed smoking lady, I'm only 42 years old and I've lived through a lot, it's just that my mind is full of a lot of heavy things too,

but anyway, I feel the weight of everything, I just meant that you'll end up like me when it comes to dealing with the situations that life throws at you, you know?" I think I understand that a little.

"Who knows, I just want to be able to cry, but I'm so sad that I can't even do that, I'm just too overwhelmed, I just want to be in my mum's arms, my girlfriend's arms, them saying that it's going to be okay... But now I know that I'm the only one in this world" Tears fall and I even finish smoking a cigarette, which I walk to my room alone.

I go in there and lie down on the bed, I notice that there's a computer and a television, not bad, but nothing to stop me crying, I start crying a lot, I hug the blanket and just imagine, as if I were lying on the bed, with my head resting on Mum Laura's huge thighs telling me that everything would be all right, that this was just a horrible nightmare, but no, I woke up and everything is still like this, I look at the ceiling and it's not the one in my house, it's just a ceiling like any other.

Even the portraits are of other people, they're empty portraits as if they were lifeless photos, what I see afterwards is someone coming in and sitting on the bed, when I look it's not Mum or Daniella, it's Madeleine

"You can cry all you want here, I don't know if I can give you the same comfort as the people you used to live with, but I can be a friend" she said, coming closer, I could feel it, I was facing away from her.

"Everything I had..." I say, crying.

"I know what it's like to lose things, in fact, to answer your question, I was born in 1985, I studied at Luna Nova from 2000 to 2003, I finished my studies before you could even get in, I know how you feel because when I had to leave my life in England to come back here I had the same feeling, even more so... Lucy may not express it much, but she's very emotional too Chariot, we both lost our parents very early, my father and Lucy's father aren't the same and our mother is the same, but she ended up leaving home when I was a baby, since then my sister has looked after me, she always said how our mother had problems with drugs and everything, she sank so low that well... She ended up dying from them... We know the pain of being alone in the world, we didn't start out in this house, we lived in a trailer, Lucy bought this house with the money she got from Daryl, she told me I should be a good mum... She told me that I should be a good mum. She told me never to sell my body like her mum did, as she almost ended up doing, but in the end she feels the same way when it comes to Daryl... Well Lucy isn't always cold, she has feelings, but she always keeps to herself, if you want to be alone I'll leave you alone" It's a really heavy story, all I know is that I want to cry a little.

My life, who would have thought that there are worse people than me, well at least the house is all comfortable and everything, but it's still not the same comfort, I know Madeleine is trying, but she's not Mum and she's not Daniella, I'm not going to tell her to leave, I'm just going to cry quietly for a while and then I'll think about doing something else.

"And it was to Australia that I fled, where Lucy Watson lives, she was the one who looked after me for a fewyears and I gradually adopted my identity as Ursula, getting used to this idea, starting at home, I started tobe called that way so I could answer without getting confused, also not to be addressed as Chariot."

"Wait a minute, she's mum to the twins all the time? You mean my aunt's homophobia is pure hypocrisy?"

"Tsk it always was, I knew that deep down she wouldn't accept mixing with a man since that would beadmitting inferiority, she has these idiotic ideas of pure witch when it makes no difference, I knew she wouldrelate to a witch, but being Lucy Watson is surprising, well now I know where my girl stopped, my suspicionwas even right, in my head I knew I was with her, well I was more right than ever it seems.

See you, Australian witches...