by Isobel Bird
The queen of the faeries looked at Kate thoughtfully for a moment. She seemed to be thinking about something. Her eyes took on a peculiar shine, and she nodded to herself several times.
“Very well,” she said finally. “Then true love it will be. But true love does not always come easily. You must go in search of it and pass my challenge.”
Kate didn’t understand. What was Maeve asking her to do?
“You want me to go find Tyler?” she said.
“I want you to search for the one who is your true love,” the Faerie Queen said. “Whoever he might be.”
That didn’t seem like much of a challenge. All Kate had to do was track down her boyfriend and tell him that she loved him. She’d been hoping the queen might suggest something a little more magical. But she didn’t dare say anything. Whoever this woman was, she seemed to be working really hard at being the Faerie Queen, and Kate didn’t want to ruin the night for her by telling her that her suggestion was kind of lame.
“Sure,” she said. “I’ll go find him. Thanks for the suggestion.”
“It may not be as easy as you think, mortal girl,” Maeve said. “Be sure you know your heart before you choose.”
Kate nodded. She noticed that it was beginning to get darker, and she wanted to start looking for Tyler before it became too dark to see anything. She hadn’t brought a flashlight, and the woods were thick. Even with a strong moon, it would be difficult to see.
“Okay, then,” she said to the queen. “’Bye. Maybe I’ll see you later at the dance.”
“Perhaps you will,” Maeve answered. “Good-bye until then.”
The queen turned and walked back into the trees, her gown rustling softly as she moved. Kate watched her go, then turned to continue down the path. She wasn’t sure where Tyler had run off to, but that was the direction he’d been going in when she’d last seen him, so it seemed like the logical place to look.
The path went deeper into the woods. Here and there Kate saw tents pitched among the trees and people walking around. But none of them was a tall, thin guy dressed in black and wearing a feathered mask, so she kept walking. Tyler had to be around somewhere, and she was going to find him. Although the Faerie Queen’s task for her wasn’t as magical as she thought it could be, it was one she was anxious to complete.
As she walked farther and farther into the woods, the number of tents grew smaller. People seemed to want to stay as close to the main circle area as possible, and she guessed that now she was moving into a part of the forest that was too far away. Surely, Tyler hadn’t gone that far, had he? He must have doubled back and returned to his campsite or to the main circle.
Irritated at having walked so far for nothing, Kate decided to go back herself. She was getting tired, it was getting dark, and she wasn’t about to stumble around in the woods at night looking for Tyler, even if he was her boyfriend. She didn’t know if he had planned the whole thing with the woman playing the Faerie Queen or not, but now she was annoyed at him for running off and leaving her alone.
Before she could turn around, though, she heard voices. They were coming from somewhere in front of her. Was it possible that there was a campsite ahead? Even if there was one, would Tyler be there? She had no reason to think that he would. She decided to forget about it.
Then she looked down and saw a black feather. It was lying at her feet, and she almost missed it in the gathering dusk. But there was no mistaking what it was when she held it up. It was shiny and black, just like the ones on Tyler’s mask. He had come that way. Maybe it was him up ahead.
She walked toward the voices. The camp was only a few hundred feet ahead of her, tucked into a small clearing in the midst of some tall pines. As she approached, she saw that there were several tents set up and several people sitting around a fire in a stone circle.
She walked into the clearing, and the people around the fire looked up.
“What have we got here, boys?” said a guy’s voice.
Kate groaned. She couldn’t believe it. Evan Markson was sitting across the fire from her. He had a can of soda in one hand and a hot dog on a stick in the other, and he was grinning from ear to ear. Just my luck, Kate thought. I come all the way out here and who do I run into but Scott’s best friend.
Then she noticed that the other guys gathered around the fire were also friends of Scott, either from the football team or from his after-school job. They were all staring at her, grinning like idiots, and she wanted to die. There she was, all dressed up like Princess Goatcheese the sugarplum fairy, and her ex-boyfriend’s best friends were gawking at her like she was some kind of wacked-out window display.
“Nice outfit,” one of them said, and the others laughed.
“For your information, I’m going to a costume party,” Kate snapped. It was the only thing she could think of, and even as she said it she knew that they wouldn’t buy it.
“In the middle of the woods?” Evan asked.
Kate decided that ignoring him was the best course of action. She couldn’t tell them she was actually taking part in a Wiccan ritual, and there was really no other explanation for her costume or her appearance in the woods. “So, what are you guys doing here?” she countered.
Evan shrugged. “Same thing as you, I guess, only without the dress and wings.”
Kate wanted to throw something at him. Evan had always been her least favorite of Scott’s friends. He loved picking on her, and she knew that he wasn’t real happy with her for breaking his best buddy’s heart by dumping him. She wondered if Scott had told him about their kiss on the beach.
“Well, have a great time,” she said sarcastically. “Try not to burn the forest down if you can help it. Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.”
She started to leave, anxious to be away from the group of guys, but Evan called her back.
“Hang on,” he said.
“What do you want?” asked Kate, folding her arms across her chest. She wasn’t in the mood for any of Evan’s teasing, and now it really was getting dark. She was far from the main camp, and she was angry. Why did these guys have to show up at what was supposed to be her Midsummer celebration? It wasn’t that surprising, really. A lot of people camped in the woods. But why did they have to show up on this night of all nights?
“I have a surprise for you,” Evan said. “Wait right here.”
He stood up and darted into the trees. The other guys looked at Kate silently, some of them smiling. She was tempted to just leave, but she heard Evan coming back toward them.
“What is it?” said a voice in the trees. “I was looking for more wood.”
Kate recognized that voice. She’d listened to it many times, dreamed about it even. When she heard it now, though, she really did almost turn and run as quickly as she could back into the forest. But it was too late. Evan emerged from the trees, dragging Scott behind him.
“See?” Evan said, pointing at Kate. “I told you you’d want to see this.”
Scott looked at Kate, and his mouth dropped open. She was glad that it was almost dark so that he couldn’t see how embarrassed she was. She wanted to kill Evan. How could he do this to her?
“Kate?” Scott said doubtfully. “Is that you?”
“Hey,” Kate said weakly.
“What are you doing here?” Scott asked.
The guys were looking back and forth from Scott to Kate, barely able to contain their glee. Evan in particular looked incredibly pleased with himself.
You jerk, Kate thought, glaring at him.
“I’m here with some friends,” Kate told Scott. “You know, Annie and Cooper.”
“You should have brought them along,” one of the guys commented. “We could use some help with the cooking.”
The rest of the guys laughed, but Scott didn’t.
“You look nice,” he said.
“Aww,” Evan teased. “Isn’t that romantic?”
Scott hit him in the arm. “Shut up, man. She does look nice.”
&
nbsp; “Thanks,” Kate said. That was one thing she had always liked about Scott—he made her feel good about how she looked.
“Do you want to take a walk or something?” he asked, catching her off guard.
“I don’t know,” Kate answered. “I’m supposed to be getting back. I’ve got to meet the others soon. We’re going to this costume party thing, and—”
“Can I walk you back at least?” he asked. “It’s getting dark, and I have a flashlight.”
Kate considered his offer. She knew it wasn’t a good idea for her to go walking around in the woods with Scott. What if Cooper or Annie saw them? They were already giving her a hard enough time about him. Worse still, what if Tyler saw them? She hadn’t told him about the kiss yet. If he saw her with Scott she would have even more explaining to do.
Then again, it was getting dark. She could really use some light to see her way by. And Tyler was the one who had led her on a wild-goose chase. It was his fault she was so far from the others. He really couldn’t complain if she took Scott up on his offer to help. What if she just let Scott walk her part of the way back? She could leave him when she got to a familiar part of the forest, and no one would see them together. That didn’t seem so bad.
“Okay,” she said. “That would be nice.”
CHAPTER 6
Who are these people? Cooper asked herself as she walked with Spider and the others through the woods. They said they weren’t witches—or at least wouldn’t say that they were witches—yet they had come to the Midsummer gathering. They were dressed in what looked like costumes, but at the same time Cooper could easily imagine them looking like this all of the time. They appeared to be normal teenagers, yet she couldn’t help thinking that something wasn’t quite totally normal about them. But when she tried to put her finger on exactly what it was, she couldn’t. Like the songs they played, her thoughts about them moved too quickly to see clearly. She would think of something that seemed to explain how she felt about her new friends and then it would be gone, replaced by a thought about something completely different. It was as if someone were snatching away the pages of a story she was reading and substituting other pages, from a different story, for them.
She was walking beside Spider. The boy moved quickly through the woods. He clearly knew his way through the maze of paths that crisscrossed the forest, barely pausing when they came to a place where a decision had to be made about which direction to go in. But where were they going? Did they have a cabin or a campsite somewhere? No one had told Cooper anything—they’d just started walking. All she knew was that she was on her way to some kind of trial. But what was that supposed to mean? She still had no idea what it would entail, but she figured she would go along with it. Spider and the others seemed okay, and she really liked their music. If going through with their little games meant that she got to play with them some more, she was glad to do it.
This in itself puzzled her a little bit. Normally, she didn’t care what other people thought about her. She had never been one to try to ingratiate herself into a group. Why did she care now? She told herself that it was because of the music. It had gotten inside her head and was haunting her like a lovely, ghostly voice. She still heard snatches of it from time to time, and she longed to hear it and to play it again.
“Where do you all live?” Cooper asked Spider, tired of walking in silence.
“We live close to here,” Spider said. “But most people never visit our home.”
“Why?” asked Cooper.
“Maybe they’re afraid that they’ll like it and won’t want to leave,” Spider said.
Cooper didn’t understand. Spider never answered questions directly. It was like he was hiding something. I guess it doesn’t matter, Cooper told herself. If they wanted to be all mysterious, that was fine with her. She didn’t like it when people asked her a lot of questions either.
But there were some questions that she did want answers to, starting with whether or not Spider really knew where he was going or if he was just trying to show off. Cooper was happy to walk around in the woods, even at night, but she wasn’t keen on the idea of getting completely lost. Spider seemed to be taking them straight into the middle of nowhere. He’d even left the path and begun to weave among the trees in an apparently random way.
“Are you sure you know where we’re headed?” Cooper asked.
Spider stopped. “Are you doubting me?” he asked, sounding a little annoyed.
“I’m just wondering where we’re going,” Cooper explained. “These woods are huge, and it’s easy to get lost.”
Spider laughed, but the others remained silent. “I could never get lost in the woods,” Spider said. “Trust me.”
He turned and continued to walk without saying anything else about the matter. The others followed obediently, and a moment later Cooper joined them. Spider did seem sure of himself, and Cooper respected that. Spider reminded her a lot of herself—headstrong and confident. It couldn’t hurt to go along with him.
They were walking downhill now, passing between two rows of trees whose branches formed a sort of tunnel above them. At the end of it another hill rose up in the shadows, and Spider stopped at the foot of the hills.
“This is the place of testing,” he said.
Cooper looked around. There didn’t seem to be anything there except the woods and the hills. What kind of a test were they going to do? A line of rocks ringed the bottom of the hills, but there wasn’t anything particularly interesting about them.
Then Spider pointed to a dark space between two of the rocks. “In there is a cave,” he said. “We call it the Cave of Vision.”
“Uh-huh,” Cooper said, eyeing the entrance to the cave warily. “You go inside there?”
“Yes,” Spider replied in a tone that Cooper found almost mocking.
“And what do you do in there?” asked Cooper.
“Why don’t you tell her, Bird?” Spider answered.
Bird hadn’t said a word during the entire walk. Now she stood nervously beside Cooper. “It is a place of seeing,” she explained. “A place of great power.”
“The shamans of old knew the power of the caves,” Spider added. “They came here to perform their rituals.”
“What kind of rituals?” Cooper asked.
“I cannot tell you that until you agree to enter the cave,” Spider responded. “Do you agree?”
Cooper hesitated. Going into a cave in the middle of the woods seemed like a really good way to get into trouble. Caves weren’t normally empty—things usually lived in them. Things like bats and bears and other creatures that wouldn’t take kindly to being disturbed. What if she crawled in there and came face-to-face with a grizzly that was thinking about dinner?
“Do you guys really know what you’re doing?” she asked. “I mean, this sounds like fun and all, but if you’re just doing this because it’s Midsummer and we’re all supposed to be getting into magic and whatever, then don’t do it on my account. I’m perfectly happy to just hang out and play music if you want to.”
“I think perhaps you made a mistake in choosing this one,” Spider said to Bird. “I don’t think she’s ready for us.”
“No,” Bird said, sounding anxious. “She came to me. She’s the one.”
Bird turned to Cooper. “Please,” she said. “You heard the music. You felt it. Don’t you want to play with them?”
Cooper looked at the other girl’s face. She seemed so upset. But why? Why was it so important to her that Cooper play with Spider and the others? Sure, the music had been great, but Cooper wasn’t about to do something stupid just because these kids wanted to play a game.
Bird took her hand. “Please, Cooper,” she said. “It’s important.”
Cooper sighed. Bird seemed like a nice girl. Cooper still wasn’t sure what all of this was about, but she was starting to suspect that it was all part of the overall ritual. She thought back to the night of her Wicca dedication ceremony. They’d been told that there wou
ld be different tests throughout their year and a day of study. Maybe this was one of them. Cooper wouldn’t put it past Sophia and Archer and the rest of the teachers in their weekly study group to plan something like this. After all, they’d done equally strange things before, like dressing up as Tarot cards and having the class members talk to them. Why not do something like this? Maybe one of them was even waiting inside the cave to surprise Cooper.
“Okay,” she said. “But are you sure there are no bears in there?”
Bird’s face relaxed into a shy smile. “No bears,” she said. “Come on.”
She took Cooper’s hand and led her to the opening in the rocks. It hardly looked big enough to squeeze through, but as Cooper watched, Bird ducked into the space and disappeared. A moment later her hand emerged, beckoning to Cooper.
Cooper stepped into the tiny space. She was sure she would get stuck, but after sticking her head through she saw that it opened up almost immediately. She slid her body in as if slipping through the crack of a partially closed door. Then she was in the cave, standing next to Bird.
She was surprised at how large the cave was and how light it was inside. Outside, the sun had been rapidly fading into darkness, and she’d expected it to be totally black inside the cave. But the space was filled with a soft luminescence that came from somewhere up above. Was it possible that there were lights in the cave? Cooper doubted it, but she didn’t see any openings in the cave’s ceiling that explained the pale green glow.
The space itself was about twenty feet in diameter, with smooth rock walls and a stone floor. It was as if someone had completely hollowed out the hill and left only the shell. In the center of the floor there was a circle of stones.
“This cave has been here for centuries,” Bird explained as Spider entered the cave behind them.
“How did you find it?” asked Cooper, amazed. The cave was incredible. She’d never seen anything like it, and she couldn’t believe that something like it existed practically in her backyard.