Mia screamed as she forced him from her, pushing him away as she fought not to choke when he leaned his head to the side of hers and bent towards her neck with its preying snarling teeth.
When she woke up, she rubbed her face, removing her blushes at the memory of the dream. And at her side, Charlie was snarling with a low growl in his throat.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Mia shouted as she searched through her gear, looking for a baseball cap. "I don't know what to say. I mean, you turn up, you don't tell me you're coming..." She found her cap and fixed it onto her head then she stood up and saw him standing there like a little-lost puppy. What was she supposed to do with him? Jesus wouldn't like him…that was for sure.
“Mia...” Tom said.
“And another thing…where do you think you’re going to sleep? There’s no room for you in my little tent.” She could feel herself redden. “You didn’t expect...? Oh, this is too much.”
“So, you’re pleased to see me, right?”
Despite her horror, Mia stopped talking and chuckled. She’d always thought when she eventually met Tom Stone she would feel a little uncomfortable at first. After all, it happens. Two people meet on-line and then when they eventually go face-to-face...well, it just doesn’t always work out.
"I can bunk next to your campfire. It'll be neat," he said with his American accent that seemed out of place among the travellers.
She looked at his rucksack resting on the grass. It had a rolled-up green sleeping bag attached to it with frayed string. He was wearing blue jeans with trainers...or sneakers as he called them, and a T. Shirt with ‘I’m sooo Watching you’ emblazoned on the front over an etching of an angel.
Mia was surprised at how tall he was. Six foot plus, she guessed. He was athletic, but she had expected that, seeing as he played a lot of basketball. He had dark, messy black hair and a cheeky smile, which was one of the things she had been attracted to when they’d first exchanged photographs. But technology had done nothing for his blue eyes and the way the colour contrasted strikingly with his dark, unkempt hair.
She stood in front of him with her arms akimbo. “How did you even get here? You’re broke, remember?”
“I hitched.”
She guffawed. “You did not ‘hitch’.”
“Sure did.”
Mia saw Jesus coming towards them. He had a quizzical look on his face and he closed the gap with purposeful strides. “Trouble?” He was looking at Tom.
“No...erm, he’s a friend of mine.” She could not introduce them. “This is Tom Stone.” Maybe she could leave it at that.
“How ya doin’?” Tom said. He was looking at Mia, waiting for a name.
“Tom. This is, uhm...Jesus.”
Tom spluttered. She knew he’d do that. “Excuse me?”
“Something funny?” Jesus asked.
“Jesus! Like...Jesus?”
“That’s right.”
Tom looked at Mia’s face and backed down. It was a good move. “Hey how ya doin’?”
“Jesus is a friend of mine, Tom. We’ve had a lot to talk about.”
“Right! Like what exactly?”
She couldn't believe it. Tom was jealous. She was so cross with him. He was ruining everything. "I'm sorry, Jesus..." She saw Tom stifle a laugh at the sue of the revered name. "My American friend here seems to have lost his manners. I apologise."
“Yeah well, that’s the Americans for you, Mia,” Jesus said, as he turned away and went back to his van.
“Great guy,” Tom quipped.
“He is actually, and I don’t appreciate you being rude to him.” Mia leaned closer to him and whispered. “He’s Kudos.”
He nodded as he looked towards Jesus who was unlocking his van. “You don’t say,” Tom muttered. “You don’t say.”
Chapter 21
The day before the eve of the solstice, a taxi pulled in at the side of the A303 running past the ancient structure of Stonehenge. Keri Rains was alone when she stepped out, and before she paid the driver she had a long hard look at the area around the stones and the fields opposite, packed with cars and camper vans, tents, and hundreds of people. It was nearly seven and as the sun gradually sunk behind the trees, the evening had turned chilly. She pulled her beige cable knit cardigan around her body and handed a twenty to the driver. “Can you come back in two hours?”
"Sorry, love. I'm booked. You might catch a ride back with a drop-off. Just keep your eyes peeled." Keri stepped away from the car as it pulled away, setting off to Salisbury from whence it came.
Harry had let her down and as far as she was concerned, he’d let Elizabeth down too. He had telephoned before she left London, but she was too angry with him to talk. Instead, she ignored his messages and resigned herself to going to Stonehenge on her own, where she could pray for her daughter’s safe return.
A familiar ice-cream van was closing its windows and packing up. She remembered it being there last year and the year before that. When Harry had bought two cones, with his arm around Keri’s shoulders, he’d put his together with hers, as if they were making a toast with two glasses of champagne. That was the first time they’d gone to the stones after Elizabeth’s abduction, but a year on, last year, she and Harry were barely talking. It was just after they’d split and emotions were raw, full of bitterness and recriminations. It was as if each of them needed to have someone to blame, someone to be accountable for letting her go to the park that day.
Keri strolled along the recently worn manmade track running towards the ancient monument. The control procedures were relaxed for the solstice, demanded six years ago by the people who believed the stones belonged to them, English Heritage. Initially, the travellers and locals demanded access all year round, without charge, but English Heritage revoked their demands, claiming they would hope that one day when the recession was over, the historic site could be opened again to the paying public. Now, freedom of access was only allowed on the two most important dates of the year for pagan worshippers; the summer and winter solstices.
As she reminisced, Keri suddenly recalled a strange incident that had happened last year when she went there with Harry.
They had been walking amid the stones. Harry was just a couple of feet away from her smiling at a woman who was laughing as she played around with her boyfriend amid the monument. Right then, Keri ran her palm over one of the giant stones and her fingers touched something smooth. Ina natural motion, she turned her eyes towards the stone and for a second she could have sworn she saw it move. The sensation was gone within seconds, so she put it down to the sun playing tricks on her. Nevertheless, it had troubled her so much that she remembered leaving the circle to find an area of grass to sit down, away from the crowds. When Harry had come looking for her, she told him she’d simply felt a little dizzy.
Now she realised she hadn't thought about the occasion since it had happened. It was as if it had been wiped from her memory…until now when it had returned. Just like that.
She felt tired as she walked slowly up to the stones from the main road.
Last night, as she'd slept in her hotel bed, she'd had the most disturbing dream. At first, it had felt sensuous, as her body reacted to the caresses of a figure lying atop her. Gentle hands had stroked her body like a lover's embrace and when she lifted her hips to connect to his, she'd opened her eyes. She remained unalarmed when she saw a man, his body opaque and moving, looking like a black mist was hovering over her body. As she gradually awoke, his face had changed to the face of a demon, with a snarl of pointed teeth as if he was going to devour her with his deadly bite. She'd screamed and woke up by falling off the side of the bed, where, in a daze, she got up from the floor and sat on the edge of the mattress with its crumpled white sheets. The dream had felt real and it had unnerved her so much, she'd spent the rest of the night reading her book.
Now, she was walking with slow steps towards the stones, where she’d wait for the dawn of the summer solstice, where she’d pray f
or the safe return of her beloved daughter, Elizabeth.
Chapter 22
There was no hand holding when Mia and Tom walked along the track towards Stonehenge. They didn’t do that. So said Mia!
Since Tom had planted himself firmly in front of her campfire, and after her initial reaction of annoyance had worn off, he’d turned out to be quite pleasant company. At night they’d talked through the canvas with him on the outside and her within, both of them wrapped in sleeping bags with the tops of their heads touching through the canvas.
Mia hadn’t relived her dream since that night before Tom had arrived. It had terrified her so much, she preferred to put it out of her mind and move on. She’d explained it away, saying the heat had affected all rational thoughts. Maybe she’d had a high temperature. Then when she sneezed a couple of times the next morning, that had pretty much confirmed it.
Mia and Tom had spent hours talking about the Watchers. They’d exchanged stories of their experiences so many times that Mia knew every part of what had happened during the siege in New York, and Tom knew every last syllable Uriel had spoken to her that night at the Henge.
The aftermath of the incident at the fracking site in Devizes was the most surprising. Its forced closure had reached the news desks of America and now environmentalists were jumping all over the fracking companies, worldwide, claiming that if the Watchers knew the process was destroying the planet, then the government should stop fracking everywhere, and stop now.
Now, the day before the eve of the solstice, on their stroll up to the stones, a dark-haired woman wearing a beige cable-knit sweater walked ahead of them, blocking their way. Without discussing it, as if they were in-tune with each other, Mia and Tom and Charlie stepped onto the grass at the side of the path and went past her until they were in front. There they continued their walk without further obstacle or delay.
Mia wondered if she should have asked Jesus to accompany them on their visit to the stones that night, but with the tension between him and Tom as it was, she could do without any more pressure.
Jesus had kept his distance the whole time Tom had been there, only coming to talk to her when Tom was off the scene. He was respectful and protective of Mia but with Tom, his distaste for him was more than clear and the feeling was mutual, so claimed Tom.
Arriving at the end of the path, they ambled amongst the stones, where by habit, Mia turned her thoughts to the reason she was there.
It had been a fortnight since she’d arrived with her camping gear in hand and a whole heap of determination, but still nothing had happened to bring her closer to the Watchers. She’d spent every waking moment meditating, worshipping the stones, trying to get in-tune with the earth and her surroundings, she’d even used her faithful dousing rod, attempting to pick up a connection to the Ley lines, but still…nothing. Now she’d resigned herself to the notion that tomorrow, after the eve of the solstice, she’d be going home.
She spotted Jesus. He was sitting on the grass a short distance away from the crowds with his back facing the stones. His legs were crossed beneath him and he wore a leather Stetson on his head as if it was a shelter. There was something glowing in front of him. A camping light, she guessed. “There’s Jesus,” Mia shouted, as she turned away.
Tom spluttered as he looked about to see if anyone had heard. “Shush…don’t speak so loud?”
He followed her with his camera in hand, clicking every movement she made. His compulsion to photograph everything he laid his eyes on was starting to annoy her. He had taken at least a hundred snaps of the stones, and the tourists, and the travellers camping in the field. He was obsessed and it was grating on her nerves.
When they reached Jesus, Tom said, “Howdy, JC.”
Jesus moved slowly as he looked up to acknowledge him. He placed two fingers on the brim of his hat as if in salute. Then he spoke only to her. “Hello, Mia.”
She sat on the grass next to the gas lamp burning in front of him and put her hands over it. The evening was wonderfully chilly as the clouds above them had turned grey and ominous. “I think it’s going to rain.” She’d said that so many times over the past two weeks she’d forgotten what it meant.
Jesus shook his head as he took a long drag on his rollup. “It won’t rain.”
“What are you doing over here?” Mia pulled an apple from her coat pocket and offered it to him. He declined so she took a single bite and kept it in her hand as she chewed.
His eyes looked weary as if he hadn’t slept in a week. “It’s too crowded now, amid the stones.” He looked back towards the monument and the people surrounding it. “It will be worse tomorrow.”
She watched Tom linger with his hand on the camera hanging from a strap over his shoulder He looked like a gunslinger. “Why don’t you sit down?”
“Excuse me.” The voice came out of nowhere. It was the lady in the beige cable-knit sweater who they had passed on the path up to the stones.
“Can we help you ma’am?” Tom offered.
Mia rolled her eyes. Stoney was so...American!
The woman was about thirty-five or thereabouts. She was well turned out, wearing dark navy blue trousers over closed toe comfort sandals. She was about five-eight, very slim and her dark hair on her shoulders hung with abandoned curls. “You’ll think I’m rude, but I saw you over here and I felt compelled to come and join you,” she said. “It’s such a strange sensation, I can’t even describe it. I’m sure you’ll think I’m being very presumptuous. So please, do tell me if I am disturbing you.”
Jesus spoke. “You’re not disturbing us. We’ve been expecting you.”
All heads turned towards Jesus. “What?” The woman moved around the group to stand in front of him. She bent at the waist to see his face under his hat. “I’m sorry. Did you say you were expecting me?”
“I did.” He glanced up and looked at her face. “Yes, it is you.”
Mia wrinkled her nose. “Jesus, I don’t...”
Tom chuckled as the woman’s eyes darted towards Mia when she said the J word. “I beg your pardon? Is this some sort of joke?”
“Oh, no! That’s his name...Jesus. He had it changed by deed-poll in the eighties.”
Mia turned back to her Kudos friend. “You said we’ve been expecting her. What did you mean by that?”
With a swipe of the hand, he motioned for the lady to join them on the grass. Even Tom looked intrigued. He sat alongside her until the four of them were grouped in a circle around the lamp. Charlie was sitting on Mia’s lap with his head leaning on his front paws.
“I’ve seen you here for the past two years and I was expecting you again this year, that’s all.”
Mia was disappointed. Was that it? Why then did she get the feeling that Jesus was lying? Did it have something to do with the Watchers? She addressed the woman sitting next to Tom. “I’m Mia Lake and this is Tom Stone. You can call him Stoney if you like.” Mia tugged at some blades of grass so that she could play with them in her idle hands. “And of course, this is Jesus.”
The woman gave a respectful nod. “I’m Keri. Keri Rains. It’s, uhm, nice to meet you all.”
“So what are you doin’ here, Keri?” Tom asked. “You don’t look like the type, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“Oh, no, of course not. I realise I’m not suitably dressed, but I promise you I am here to worship the stones and the summer solstice, just like the rest of you. However, I must admit to having a further agenda.” She leaned forward and plucked at the grass. “It’s silly really...”
“It’s not,” Jesus said, without looking up at her face. “You’re looking for something...or someone. You were with a man the other times you were here.”
She bowed her head. “Yes, he’s my husband. But he couldn’t make it this year.”
“You came alone?” Mia asked.
She nodded. “It’s my little girl’s birthday on the day of the solstice. She’ll be twelve...”
Everyone remained silent. Mia could
tell there was something ominous about Keri’s story about her little girl. She could see it in her eyes.
“She was taken from us...Kidnapped! She never came home.” Keri’s voice cracked as if her throat was sore from too much talking. She coughed as her hand covered her mouth. “We... I come here to pray. Since my daughter was born on the solstice, this is a good a place as any.” She looked at the crowds surrounding the stones. “I feel close to her here. I can’t explain it.”
Then something happened that none of them could explain.
Mia placed her hand on the back of her neck as she felt a shiver run up her spine, like the feeling of someone walking over her grave. Her eyes were transfixed on the lamp in the centre of the group, blinding her with a white glow. She felt as if she’d been turned into a statue and that she was locked in a room that belonged to just the four of them. They all seemed like they were in a trance, yet they were still awake and aware of everything that was going on. Mia could see rings of energy circling the group, only just visible, turning like a force of their own and fighting the darkness outside. The hoops whipped and spun about their four bodies making them feel nothing in the world existed apart from them, as if they were the circle of stones, powerful and strong, connected to one another, charged with light and force, transcending time and space.
Mia watched the others stand as she too stood by no accord of her own. Her limbs began to move as if they were being manipulated by something other than her own will. Her head felt light, as if she was a little drunk. Her whole body felt warm, as the heat of the circles embraced and soothed her making her feel as if she never wanted to break free. And all the while an odour alerted her senses. It was the smell of freshly mowed grass mixed with new soil and lavender.
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