James
Carrying a tray with tea all round, I find Michael and Ben in the back ‘garden’. A great swathe has been cut through the tangle of briars. Both are hot and sweaty.
Ben scowls as he sees me, but Michael brightens, taking a mug from the tray. “Ah great, thanks, James.”
Ben nods, barely polite, but takes a mug anyway.
I glance up at the sun, beginning to beat through the last traces of the morning mist. “Perhaps I should have brought something cold.”
“Nah….” Michael waves a beer can at me. “Just had one. Not a good idea to have another while we’re still waving machetes and axes around.”
“Have you seen Charlotte?”
Michael nods back to the house. “In her room, I expect. She said something about revision for her exams.”
So, I go in search of my mermaid.
Not in her study….
She sho
