With a sigh, I continued my way through the marketplace, with Jack at my heels. It wasn’t until we came to the end of the crowded street that we saw anything of interest.
I hadn’t noticed immediately, but Jack was no longer behind me. In fact, he had stopped following me several moments ago. When I turned to talk to him, I found that he was not there. Looking around, I saw that he was a good twenty meters behind.
‘What are you doing?’ I called back to him.
He did not move. Instead he was staring at a shop front. It looked like an apothecary.
I backtracked and made my way towards Jack.
‘What is it?’ I asked once I was at his side again.
He did not speak, instead he pointed to the shop in front of us.
‘What?’ I asked, but as soon as I turned I saw exactly what Jack was pointing at.
It was indeed an apothecary and the sign that hung upon the door read ‘Greenwood Apothecary’. Underneath these words was a picture of a mortar and pestle.
‘Jack,’ I breathed. ‘You don’t think-’
‘Who knows?’ said Jack. His voice was strained. I watched as he gulped audibly.
‘Well? Let’s go in!’ I said.
‘No!’ Jack grabbed my arm and stopped me.
‘Why?’ I said, staring at Jack in disbelief.
I suppose I did not know what he was feeling at this moment. Jack’s father had abandoned him almost ten years ago – and left him in the care of the manor staff. He had grown up working for the Forsythe family. His mother had died giving birth to him, I knew that much. So why didn’t Jack want to find out if the owner of this apothecary was indeed his father? Didn’t he miss him? Or was he still mad?
‘Jack,’ I said, ‘if we leave Scyre without going into this apothecary, you will regret it for the rest of your life.’
Jack did not respond, but merely stared at the apothecary in fear.
I touched his arm lightly. ‘You know you have to go in.’
‘You’ll come with me, right?’ he said looking down at me. His eyes were as round as dinner plates.
‘Of course,’ I took his hand in mine and knew that the warmth of my own hand would comfort him.
Together we walked to the apothecary door and I pushed it open. A bell clanged loudly as we entered, hand in hand. My own heart was racing as we stepped into the shop and I knew that Jack’s heart must have been beating twice as fast. His hand clamped down on mine so hard that I had to clench my teeth together to stop myself from gasping. The shop was currently empty, but we could hear footsteps from a storeroom beyond the counter. We walked to the counter and waited a moment, but no one came.
‘Hello?’ I said, after a minute had passed.
‘Shh!’ Jack hissed at me.
‘Why?’ I looked at him. ‘We’re here for a reason, aren’t we?’
‘Hello!’ The woman’s voice startled us.
Whipping around, I saw a woman of about fifty, standing behind the store counter. She was quite pretty for her age, with long golden hair.
She smiled at us. ‘How can I help you?’
‘Hello,’ I stepped towards the counter, dragging Jack with me. ‘Um, this might seem like an odd question, but-’
‘Do you have any spine of lionfish?’ Jack interrupted.
The woman raised her eyebrows. ‘No, we do not stock that, I am afraid. I could order some in for you though, if you wish.’
I looked up at Jack. ‘What are you doing?’ I hissed.
‘This isn’t it,’ Jack muttered out of the corner of his mouth. ‘It’s just a coincidence.’
Turning back to the woman, who looked quite confused, I smiled apologetically. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘Do you … are you Mrs. Greenwood?’
‘Yes,’ She said, looking first at Jack, then I. ‘Um, what did you say was a coincidence?’
Jack shook his head. ‘It’s nothing, just a misunderstanding.’
‘My friend Jack thought that perhaps the name ‘Greenwood’ was -’ I began.
‘Drop it, Avalon, okay?’ said Jack through gritted teeth.
‘Jack?’ the woman repeated. ‘Jack Greenwood?’
Jack looked at her and slowly said, ‘Yes?’
‘My goodness,’ she gasped and before we knew what was happening, she had stumbled from the room and up the spiral stairs in the corner of the shop. We watched as her feet disappeared.
‘Where’d she go?’ I said in shock.
Jack stared after her, speechless.
‘She knows who you are,’ I said to him. ‘She knows you.’
‘I’ve never met her before,’ he said, bewildered.
We heard hurried footsteps overhead, muffled voices and running. A moment later, the woman’s heels appeared upon the stairs and she came halfway down to say to us, ‘Please, come up!’
‘Wh-What?’ Jack stammered.
‘Up!’ she said before vanishing again.
‘Let’s go!’ I said tugging Jack’s sleeve.
‘It might be a trick,’ he said, holding his ground.
‘Jack! She knows who you are, her surname is Greenwood and she is married. Put two and two together, will you?’