After lunch, we settled in the departure lounge filled with passengers bored of waiting like us. Lia, Lucas and I sat down close together, leaving some alone time to Anne and Mark.
"They should get a room before someone reminds them how to behave in public places," Lia whispered, making us laugh.
"Honestly," Lucas chimed in, "I've never seen Mark like this before. He is head over heels for your friend, girls."
Lia giggled and I smiled at hearing this. We have seen our friend like this before.
"Do you mind if I use your phone to call Mum?" I asked Lia. I was afraid that if I switched mine on again, I would have to reply to more texts from William. I definitely wasn't in a mood for that now.
Lia shook her head. "Sorry, I forgot to charge it last night. It's dead."
Oh well. I took my phone out and switched it on, watching it come back to life. Mum insisted I called or texted her from airports whenever I travelled before boarding a plane, or as soon as the plane I was on landed. She has never taken a plane herself, her fear of flying was much worse than mine.
I was about to dial her number, relieved that I haven't received new texts from William, when Anne came over to us, running.
"Sam I need a favour!" She called sitting down next to me. "Jessica phoned, asking me to swap shifts. I can't, so you must take her shift. I've already promised Mark that I'd stay at his place tonight and I simply can't rush off so early in the morning..."
"You what?" Lucas and I asked in perfect unison.
Anne looked at him as if she just noticed he was there with us. "Hmm... yes. I'm staying at your and Mark's place tonight. Anyway," she went on, turning to me, "if you please please please take Jessica's double shift tomorrow, I'll take yours on Saturday and so on..."
"But, Anne, aren't you rushing a bit too much? You and Mark only met two days ago..." I had to smile when I noticed Lucas nodding vigorously. He didn't seem to like the idea of Anne staying in their place either.
"Samara, that's not what I'm talking about. I already have a mother, okay? Will you please take that shift?"
I looked at Lia for help but she only shrugged. There was no time or space for romance in her life right now, hers or anybody else's.
Sighing, I looked at Anne again, in her big, now pleading eyes of a rather familiar shade of green. How could I tell her no?!
"Fine. So I'll do the double shift tomorrow, and then I'll be off on Saturday?"
"Exactly! You are an angel Samara, thank you." She kissed me on the cheek then disappeared before I could change my mind.
"It seems you've got a guest," Lia announced, her eyes crinkling in the corners with a suppressed smile as she looked at the dumbfounded Lucas. "But for us it works well, Samara," she said turning to me. "You'll work all day tomorrow but you'll be free on Saturday. Our night out is back on."
I met Anne at work nearly every day, but I usually met Lia only a couple of times a week. Our Saturday's night out was a years' old routine.
Lost in memories about mine and Lia's past, our friendship dating back to nursery school, I looked up. Our flight had been finally added to the list of departures flashing on a screen hanging above our heads. Instead of at four o'clock in the afternoon, we would be leaving at seven.
"That's late." Lia muttered when I pointed it out to her. "You'll miss the last bus, Sam. You know what? Call your mum and tell her you'll stay at my place tonight, you save yourself the journey back to Hammersmith tomorrow morning. Tell her you'll be at home tomorrow night after work."
That was actually the best option. I agreed, and dialled Mum's number, realising that even though our relationship has never been the best, I did miss her over the year I spent in the castle.
After assuring her that I had had a great time and I was fine-- apparently she thought I sounded somehow different-- I told her that I would be staying at Lia's tonight. Mum accepted my decision without objections this time. She didn't generally approve of my sleepovers, but she didn't like me moving around London late at nights alone either. Mum was nearly as interfering and strict as my Katerina...
"What now?" Lia asked after I hung up. "We still have a lot of time to wait."
I looked around the lounge surrounded by duty-free shops.
"If I have to go to work tomorrow, I must do some shopping. I need a skirt." I announced, looking at my jeans. I was feeling strange dressed in tight trousers, and I was sure it was not going to change soon.
"You need what?" Lia asked, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. "I've seen you wearing a skirt about ten times in as many years! Who are you and what have you done to my friend?"
She stood up and walked over to me, putting her hand on my forehead, checking if I had a fever.
I stood up too, shaking her hand off. "You don't have to come with me, why don't you stay with Lucas?" I asked looking at the young man who glanced at us distractedly from the screen of his tablet on hearing his name.
"There's no way I'm leaving you alone," she said. "If you are staying here, Lucas, would you mind watching my bag, and our jackets?" She asked him, taking my green jacket and putting it on top of her things, on the free seat next to Lucas.
He only nodded, already immersed in chatting on some social network, judging by the way he was grinning at the screen and the speed of his fingers flying over the keyboard of the device.
We walked in and out of a few shops before I found a long winter skirt made of moss green velvet reminding me of one of the dresses I wore in my other life. My wedding dress, I thought, blinking away a couple of tears. I caressed the soft fabric, letting it slip among my fingers absentmindedly, trying to keep my memories at bay.
The shop assistant, materializing from behind the clothes racks at my side, took my apparent emotion for a sign of appreciation.
"It's beautiful isn't it? The colour would suit you perfectly. It's artificial velvet, it doesn't really crease and you can wash it in the washing machine..." The girl recited in English which I wouldn't really be able to understand if I didn't speak Romanian.
"That's not your style at all. It looks like something taken out of my mum's wardrobe." Lia hissed in my ear. "A floor-length skirt? Is there anything more impractical to wear in the streets of London in the winter than this? That thing will get wet and dirty in..."
"I'll take it. Thank you." I spoke to the shop assistant, ignoring Lia while checking the size. The skirt was so wide and long that there was no point to try it on, it would fit anyone. "Do you have something similar in a different colour, too? Grey, maybe?" I asked the girl who was still smiling at us politely, seemingly lost in Lia's fast spoken English, confused by her not quite flattering words.
"It's official." Lia announced when she noticed how much I paid for my two skirts as we exited the shop. "My friend has gone crazy. You could have bought four pairs of jeans in your favourite shop for this amount of money!"
"Lia. Calm down. Are you coming with me over there?" I asked, indicating a small bookshop on the other side of the hall.
She only nodded, following me to my destination.
"Do you have any good books on Romanian history?" I asked the middle-aged man who welcomed us in the shop.
"We do, but only in Romanian, I'm afraid." He said, preceding us towards the most distant corner.
There, on a small table, lay several large books with beautiful, shiny covers and photographs. I leafed through all of them, finding out that the majority only contained the information I had read online before coming here, or learned first hand over the year. When you only stayed ten minutes...
"Are you a historian, young lady?" The man asked me when I chose the biggest one of the books, titled Rise and decline of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia.
I remembered Katerina telling me where my parents came from and hoped to find something more about my original family in that book. But more than anything, I needed something to keep my mind busy.
"She is just... weird like that," Lia muttered while I paid, before I could reply, making the shop assistant smile.
"Shame that there's not enough time to buy you new shoes," Lia said, looking at the board announcing departures when we walked out of the shop, "you can't possibly wear those skirts with your white trainers."
"They'll be fine for tomorrow. I'll think about shoes later," I shrugged.
We reached the spot where our friends were seated and Lia put all the things I bought in her hand luggage. Then the five of us moved to our gate together.
On the plane we let Ann sit with the boys and Lia sat down next to me, in the row in front of them.
I was feeling exhausted again, but at least my nausea, for the first time in weeks, was completely gone. As the plane took off and ascended quite smoothly, and the air in the cabin filled with soft, constant whooshing of the engines, I had to fight against my sleepiness. I was afraid to fall asleep, knowing that I would most probably dream about Vlad again, and if I did, I would end up crying. So as Lia took out her textbook I stared at the black, endless nothingness behind the window, trying to plan my future rather than to think about the past.
Next Halloween I'd go back. I walked through the time passage once, so I could do it again, why not? But this time I would say my goodbyes to this world before leaving and stay there, with Vlad, no matter what. In the meantime, I'd force myself to get out of the bed every morning, go to work, and try to live my life like I did before...
Without him.
I wrapped my arms around my body, feeling cold and empty. You can do this. You must. For him.
One day of my ordeal was nearly over. There were three hundred and sixty four more to go.