Once

Forty One

The only thought occupying Elle's mind was: three times this week. Three times you've been running across town, desperately trying to get to one of your friends before something else gets to them. What if this time your luck runs out?

And then another thought came madly into her head. It's always David. Every time this has happened, he's been the one running along beside you.

Sort of a mad coincidence, now she thought about it.

"Just explain it to us, Elle," Jax said. "Obviously we know you must be right, but just tell us -"

"It's Hansel and Gretel," Elle said. This time her voice was resolute and sure; she wouldn't be dissuaded. That had been the problem last night, letting herself be railroaded against her own instincts. These instincts were too strong to be ignored.

"You mean Sellan and Maggie? But they're not brother and sister?"

"But they're like brother and sister," David said. "You said that to me yourself, Elle, the first day I met you. You said you were all surprised when they started dating because you'd all always thought they were more like brother and sister."

"And Hansel and Gretel's dad is a woodcutter, right?" Elle said. "Well, aside from the fact that Maggie and Sellan both live with single dads - which is a weird enough fact in itself, when you think about it - their dads are both sort of woodcutters too, right?"

Jax, looking confused, said, "Maggie's dad works with me, Elle."

She said it as if Elle might have forgotten this fact, when only two days ago she'd seen Mr Cutteridge flung halfway across the garden centre at the hands of a giant.

"But there's a certain amount of wood-cutting involved, isn't there? He, like, cuts down plants and stuff - and those big wooden planks and chipboard things you keep in the back, he cuts those down for people."

"I suppose." Jax still sounded dubious.

"What about Sellan's dad? I don't know anything about him," David asked.

"He's a sort of handyman. Painter and decorator. But he's trained as a carpenter."

David's brows rose as he said, "I see. Must involve a certain amount of wood-cutting too, I suppose."

"The names, though?" Jax put in. "You can't get round the names."

"I don't need to," Elle said. She could tell Jax still had a trace of doubt about this. There was no such trace in Elle's mind. "The name 'Gretel.' We looked it up the other day. It's a sort of nickname for Margaret, right?"

"I think so," David said, in an effort of remembrance. "I only sort of vaguely remember looking it up. But yeah, I think you're right - a kind of German form for the name Margaret. Why, is that Maggie's full name?"

"No, she's just called 'Maggie.' It's not short for anything. But both those names come from the same source, right?"

Jax said, "And... Sellan?"

Elle shot her a look and said, "The syllables, Jax. Sell-An. Put them the other way round."

She physically saw as Jax's mind pieced this together, and a sickly look clouded every pretty feature of her face.

"An-Sell. Near enough, I suppose."

"No 'suppose' about it," said Elle. She wasn't being unkind. But she wasn't relenting, either.

She remembered just the day before, Maggie and Sellan sitting with her outside the exam hall. Sellan, looking at her with a weak smile. 'But me and Maggie... I mean, we could be next.'