Inside a house situated above a pub called Mother Goose, I had barely set foot inside when I was greeted with a warm hug from a woman with long, fairly curly green hair—her embrace was so tight I could scarcely breathe.
"ALICE! I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE BACK!" she said before planting a kiss on my cheek; in that moment I tried to resist but I was completely powerless—so I could only stand there in silence whilst Robin and Liz watched, waiting until my embarrassment had completely subsided.
"You really are Mother's favourite Fable, aren't you?" Robin remarked in a tone that was both mocking and amused, whilst Liz, watching this, seemed surprised by the affection shown by the woman called Mother towards me—affection that was greater than that of some real mothers out there.
My hand finally reached out to her face and pushed her back; ever since Mother had acquired a much younger body, she'd taken to doing things like this. "Okay, okay, I'm also very happy to see you again," I finally managed to catch my breath a bit more than before.
"This might sound rude, especially as we've only just met again, but… could you send some Fables to guard our ship at the harbour?" I had indeed set some traps, but nobody knows when they'll run out. "And tell them to be careful—there are plenty of traps there."
"Oh! Of course, just tell me what it looks like!" She broke free from the embrace and ran over to the telephone on her desk—I then began describing the ship's appearance, and after contacting the Fables, she put the receiver down and her dark eyes glanced towards Liz—it seemed she'd only just realised the girl had been there all along. "Ah, sorry you saw that—I was just so happy to have my children back after such a major mission."
"So, don't feel special, Alice; I do the same for the other Fables."
"Don't worry; I've never thought of it as anything special."
"That sounds a bit hurtful… Ahem, please take a seat and let's have a chat."
The three of us were then treated to a meal and recounted everything that had happened during our three weeks at sea together—Mother listened intently, a far cry from how she'd been just five minutes earlier; yet, despite this, she remained her usual emotional self—perhaps because I'm such a gifted storyteller, and with the others' help, I moved Mother to tears even though she'd never actually met Captain Hook at all. "May he rest in peace," she prayed, still sobbing a little.
Liz leaned in close to my face and whispered, "Is she always this… emotional?" she asked, though I myself hadn't even got used to her behaving like this yet.
"In her later years, she was more composed and rarely got this emotional."
"Oh, I see… Hm? What do you mean by 'In her later years'?"
"It's a long story; I'll explain it another time."
Mother finally wiped away her tears and smiled again. "So you want people to know about this 'Heart of the Sea' artefact, then?" Mother asked, and Liz nodded in response—she then lifted her head and turned to look at me. "But I suppose I don't need to say it, because I'm sure... Alice already has the answer."
I did indeed already have a few place names in my head, but to pass the responsibility of finding a place onto me? Mother can be rather mean like this at times.
"Really? You're brilliant, Alice!" she praised, and I can't lie—that compliment made me feel pleased with myself. I wanted to boast a bit more, but I remembered that the last time I'd done that, everyone'd placed too many expectations on me.
"That's why I'm the greatest of all the Fables!" But I couldn't help myself.
Mother picked up the cup from the table and sipped the dark tea inside; the light, warm atmosphere inside Mother's house was something I'd really missed—I sunk into the sofa and breathed a sigh of relief; so much had happened, and this was the day I could finally relax again. "By the way, whilst you were away, quite a lot happened," Mother began.
"Hm? Such as?" Robin asked before sipping her coffee.
"One of the members of The Seven Sins, Miralda the Envy, has been defeated," Mother replied, and that took me by surprise—though it wasn't as if the thought hadn't crossed my mind. We'd been away from London for three weeks—it was only natural that one of them would have been defeated by now. "And oh, Romeo and Juliet are dating."
Robin and I spurted our tea out at the same time; the revelation hit us so hard it sent us flying through the air. "WHAT?!" We both jumped to our feet, dropping our cups onto the floor—luckily, Liz caught them just in the nick of time.
"Juliet's decided to leave her team and side with us," Mother added, and it left my mind completely blank—I knew they had feelings for one another, but I'd never have imagined it would go this far. "Romeo even told me he's on a date today."
"I…" My words stuck in my throat; as I tried to speak, I actually forgot what I'd been trying to say—I slumped back onto the sofa with a sigh of bewilderment, whilst Liz, who'd been watching all this, was speechless and utterly confused, as if she were somewhere she shouldn't be. "I'll have a word with him later…"
I glanced over at Liz, who was sitting there awkwardly as I set both our cups down on the table; I started to feel bad because it seemed as though I was excluding her from the conversation—I cleared my throat and touched her shoulder. "We'll go to a place called the Royal Institution later, okay?" I suggested, and Liz simply nodded without asking any questions; she seemed to know her place, as she was the only one who'd never set foot in here before.
"And don't be shy—we're friends, aren't we?" I said, giving her a warm smile. Liz, seeing this, fell silent for a moment before returning my smile with one that was truly sweet—especially as she was wearing my clothes, which hit me like a punch to the chest. "Blimey... you're a danger to my heart."
Thanks to Mother's connections, Liz had the opportunity to showcase our discovery in the lecture theatre, which was already filled with scientists, journalists, lecturers and many other intelligent people—a sight that made Robin feel nervous. "Is it all right for me to be here?" he muttered, his hands already sweaty. Sitting next to him, I glanced his way before giggling. "I used to love playing truant when I was at school,"
The door to the room swung open, and Liz—dressed in her full pirate outfit—walked in, taking everyone by surprise—they'd expected a scientist to enter, but instead, a little girl in a pirate's outfit appeared. As I was sitting right at the front, I could see how stiff Liz looked as she came in, and she had even started to sweat even though she hadn't said a single word yet.
She stood up and looked at everyone in front of her before taking a deep breath and exhaling, then clenching her fists tightly. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Elizabeth… Hook." No one reacted except herself, who smiled upon hearing her say that name. "Yes, my name is Elizabeth Hook—I am a relative of a great man named James Hook."
"He was a man who discovered an artefact that had never before been found or known to anyone," she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the heart-shaped gem, which she held aloft. "This artefact is called the Heart of the Sea."
Liz then began recounting the story of our adventure to them all, and the scientists—who had initially been uninterested and some of whom had even wanted to go home—immediately sat back down quietly and listened attentively to our entire story. Some even asked questions that I truly never expected anyone to ask.
After hearing the story, along with an explanation of the artefact, there was already a tall, large aquarium near Liz that had been prepared to prove the authenticity of this artefact. Liz dived right in—at that very moment, the pearl lit up and enabled Liz to stand upright in the water for several minutes without needing to come up for air.
"How is that possible?" That was the question on everyone's mind at that moment; they were even more awestruck as Liz performed at least one stunt as if the water surrounding her were air—after ten minutes there, she emerged and stepped back onto the floor, raising both hands to let the water clinging to them drip off.
"This is a discovery made by the greatest pirate in the world—Captain James Hook!" Liz announced, but her words were met with only a long silence, as everyone present was still unsure whether it was a genuine artefact or if Liz was actually a Fable trying to deceive them all—I came to that conclusion because Robin had said he'd overheard the snippets of conversation.
And we weren't going to let that happen; we all stood up together and gave a round of applause—Liz, who'd been nervous and afraid because she'd thought no one cared about this artefact, felt relieved and was able to show her sweet smile again, especially when the other scientists stood up and joined us in the applause.
Gradually, everyone joined in, standing up to applaud Liz and the very heart of the ocean—even one of the journalists was already jotting it down on paper. "Thank you! Thank you!" Liz waved both her hands, a broad smile lighting up her face.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she realised she'd finally made her idol's dream—Captain Hook's—come true, and she couldn't possibly be any happier than this; I knew full well that she was screaming inside that this was the best day of her life.
She gazed up at the sky before whispering, almost to herself. "…We've done it, Captain Hook"