✅🎊✂️ Hypnosis Won't Take Me There!! [alternative cut]

Chapter 380: Encounter

"Thankyou soooo much, Mrs Spenser. You won't regret it," the unfamiliar voice continued sarcastically, already halfway up the stairs. Belle caught a glimpse of a girl a few years younger than her, with unruly red curls sticking out in all directions. She heard another footfall at the bottom of the staircase, presumably Jack, and hurried into the bathroom before he saw her in the most unflattering light possible. Her modesty now was all that mattered.

"Oh, and this must be Lillibel! Hi little one, I'm Caitlyn, and I'm going to be making sure the boys don't do anything really dumb today."

"Hey!" Lily turned around and waved shyly. Then she realised that not talking would be even more embarrassing. So she waved properly with both hands over her head, showing off how excited she was, and called back "Hi I'm Lillibel but you can call me Lily I'm pleased to meet you!"

* * *

Adelaide jumped up in shock, eyes wide and immediately wondering what she'd done wrong. She'd been so focused on what she was doing that she didn't even hear Dean come up the stairs. Didn't hear the bedroom door creak open. The first time she was aware of his presence was when he yelled her name. He seemed really angry, and for the first time she could remember, Adi was genuinely scared that the perfect babysitter might hurt her.

"I didn't..." she mumbled, but couldn't get the words out as the urge to cry ambushed her. Tears started to form in her eyes, and immediately Dean was back to his usual self. He took away her phone and turned the screen off then waved it at her while only just hiding his anger.

"You're almost a baby again now," he was saying, and Adelaide knew that right this minute it was true. "There are some decisions you can't make for yourself. I took your laptop away, but you're going behind my back? What did you hope to achieve with this?" He pointed at the screen, and then seemed to realise that turning it off meant the password-entry screen was no longer on display. He dropped it back into his pocket, then went around the room to take the accessories too. A charger and a stand went straight into his pocket, and Adi knew she'd been really bad.

She tried to explain, but she couldn't manage to croak out any words. She didn't know why what she'd done was so wrong. All she'd wanted was a chance to tell Mommy where they were. She could only have said it was a house in the woods, and maybe Russian. But Dean was angry, and he said he was protecting her. That must mean she'd missed something important. He was the best babysitter in the world, after all. There was no way he'd be mean to her if she hadn't done something bad.

"I'm sorry, Adi," he said, a lot calmer now. He offered her a hug while he put the last of the bits and pieces together with the phone in his pocket. Adi squeezed him tight and tried not to cry, hoping she could understand what was wrong so she wouldn't make the grown-ups who were looking after her mad again. "I didn't mean to scare you. But you understand why I'm upset, don't you? I want to help you be happy."

He talked a little. Adi nodded along, and agreed she wouldn't try that again. Then he suggested something else they could do, some fun that wouldn't get her in any more trouble. But when he offered to teach her a little bit of Russian afterwards so she could read the signs, her eyes lit up again. Even when she didn't want to be a little baby, even when she was a long way from home with only one of the people she wanted to be surrounded by, the thought of learning something new could spark the curiosity inside her.

* * *

Lily bounced excitedly as the babysitters introduced themselves. None of them were people she knew, but they sounded really interesting. Caitlyn was the oldest one, and she talked to the two boys like she was some kind of big sister. She was almost a grownup but not quite, and she had almost the same hairstyle as Adelaide, and the same colour eyes, so Lily found herself wondering if this was what her bestest friend had looked like when she was littler.

She teased the two boys while they were talking, so the introductions took quite a while. Lily didn't understand any of the jokes, so she knew these babysitters had known each other long enough to have their own jokes and almost their own language. Some of the jokes were probably naughty too, but Lily was trying to feel like a little kid so she didn't try hard to understand those.

The boys looked like they might be in high school. Lily thought that meant they were twice as old as her, but she wasn't quite sure how old that was. It didn't matter, numbers and school were grown up stuff, and she didn't need to think that right now. She should keep playing along and she could feel like a kid again. The first boy said his name was Jack, and Lily thought she'd seen him once or twice before, but she couldn't think where. She was sure he wasn't her usual babysitter. He was tall and had sandy hair, and a little bruise on one cheek. The other one had slightly longer hair that went wavy at the ends, and a tan that had almost faded away. He looked more like Caitlyn, so maybe he was her brother if they weren't all family. His name was longer, a mouthful for the little girl, and as soon as he'd stood her whiteboard up on the desk she decided it would be easier to shorten it to Gary.

"Okay can we do something fun now?" she asked, practically bouncing in her seat. She'd thought she might be upset that Dean wasn't there, but these babysitters looked like they would have a load of new ideas for things to do. She was sure she was going to do a lot of new things until her brother came to pick her up.