Half an hour after Jeannette got their drinks it was time to board the plane. They took their seats near the middle of the plane. Brynn sat by the window and Jolyn sat next to her, in between her sister and an elderly lady who smelled strongly of some old lady perfume and kept coughing up phlegm every so often. It was so gross. Jolyn turned in her seat so her back was partially to the old woman, hoping she didn’t cough all over her Marc Jacobs raincoat. Jolyn had bought it specifically for this trip. She had spent a lot of money amassing a new wardrobe for her change in life. It wasn’t every day a girl moved all the way to England.
The flight to England was too dark to see anything until they were near Heathrow airport. Once they dipped below the clouds to begin circling to land, Jolyn woke up Brynn so she could see the ground as they came in for a landing. Brynn ooh’d and ahh’d about everything, saying how beautiful it was. Jolyn tried not to burst her bubble even though beautiful was not the word she was use once they landed. From everything she had read about London, it rained a lot – like more than half the time this time of year. Transplanting to England during April couldn’t have been a worse idea.
She sighed as the plane taxied on the runway, finally coming to a stop outside a huge sprawling building. Heathrow airport looked twice as big as JFK from this vantage point. She gulped and silently hoped everything would be okay. Her uncle was sending someone to pick them up from the airport and drive them another two hours to his house. She held Brynn’s hand when they were finally able to get off the plane, finding comfort in her sister’s familiar hand in hers.
The girls walked out of the long aeroway hall into the airport to find total chaos all around them. Jolyn screamed as someone dressed head to toe in black with a black hood over his head and a shiny, silver bladed katana in his hand jumped over her head, landing behind her with his blade drawn. She cowered down, pulling Brynn close against her chest as the man’s eyes flicked to them. He shook his head and ran back into the melee a few feet away.
A knot of people swathed in black and carrying katanas battled another group of people dressed in white with similar swords. Jolyn’s mouth fell open as a lone fighter dressed in brown leather britches, a brown tunic and black knee boots made of some kind of soft leather leaped out of the middle of the brawl, a larger sword held in both hands. Rubies glinted in the black hilt of the sword. He pivoted on his heel, a rakish grin on his handsome face as his black hair flopped across his forehead. He took a step towards them as his blue eyes landed on Jolyn and Brynn, only to be stopped by one of the black clothed ninjas. They engaged in battle once more and Jolyn tried to scramble away while still using her body to protect her sister from the fight.
“Misses Kingsley,” an urgent, hushed voice said to them from a few feet away. Jolyn looked up to see a black man dressed in livery crouched few feet away. From the way his eyes widened and kept darting behind Jolyn, she knew he could see the ninjas and the guy fighting them. Her eyes darted to the guy in brown leather just as he pivoted towards her and their eyes met. He gave a grin that sped up her heart rate and tossed something in her direction before turning back to the ninja attacking him. Jolyn reached up to catch the gold glinting in the sunlight as it flipped over and over on its way towards her. The flat round piece was cool in her hand and she opened it to take a closer look. The man who’d called for her appeared at her side and sucked in a breath when he saw what she held.
“Oh lordy, the Professor ain’t gonna like that at all; not at all, Misses Kingsley. Do you know what that is?” the man asked. Jolyn shook her head. She’d never seen a gold coin before – in fact, this was her first incident with gold coins, ninjas and a leather clad hero. She had never thought anything like this would happen to her. The black man shook his head as Brynn took the gold from Jolyn’s hand.
“There’s a castle and a crest on here, but it’s not the Queen’s crest,” Brynn announced as she flipped the coin over, looking at both sides. Jolyn took the coin back and inspected it herself, realizing her sister was right. Whoever that guy was, his gold was not from England.
“No, it wouldn’t be the Queen’s crest on that gold,” the guy agreed. Jolyn was starting to wish she knew who he was. How did he know so much? And who was the Professor? It sounded like something out of a Harry Potter novel. His dark brown eyes flicked to the fight still going on behind them. Jolyn glanced back at the guy who’d tossed her the coin as she slipped it into her pocket, but he was lost in the throng of black and white ninjas.
“Come now, girls, let’s get you out of here while we can. He can’t hold them off for long now,” the black man told them.
“Who are you?” Jolyn wondered, finally voicing out loud what she’d been wondering for five minutes. “And why are there ninjas? And who’s the guy holding them off?”
“The ninjas are secret agents for the Queen.” He shuddered. “The man is someone loyal to the King. And I am loyal to the Professor, who will skin me alive if I don’t get you girls out of here right away.”
He steered them away from the terminal, directing them down the hall towards the baggage claim area. Jolyn glanced back one last time when she realized the sounds of fighting had ceased. She stopped walking when she saw that the ninjas and brown clad man were gone. No sign of the melee that had just occurred could be seen.
“Jo, let’s go,” Brynn said to her, tugging on her arm. Jolyn closed her mouth and continued walking. What the hell was going on?