by Nancy M Bell
“How come it’s tipped over? Is it getting ready to fall down?” Laurel asked.
Sarie shook her head and kept sketching. “No, it’s been that way for as long as anyone knows. There’s a lot of speculation it was meant to be that way from the beginning.”
“Why?” Laurel walked around the stone being careful not to get too close.
“Nobody knows for sure. Hamish Miller dowsed the circle and found that the earth energy line changed direction when it came to the stone and went off across country at the same angle as the stone. Like it was placed there to divert the energy for some reason,” Emily said.
Sarie glanced up at the position of the sun. “The stone faces the north-east…” She made more notations in the notebook. “Coll, can you go stand by the quartz stone, please?”
He looked around in confusion until Emily pointed toward a stone and nodded. Coll moved to stand behind it and looked more closely at it. “Hey, it is different than the others. Look at that!”
Sarie made more notes on her page. “The quartz stone is in the west-south-west of the circle. If I remember correctly it is supposed to mark the sunrise on Beltaine.” She walked around the stones stopping to make observations in her book at each one.
Coll leaned a hand on the quartz stone and jumped back with a shout.
“What happened?” Laurel hurried over to him.
“Bloody thing bit me,” he exclaimed. “It gave me a shock just like that one did you.” He nodded toward the central stone.
“Now, that’s interesting, so it is.” Sarie came over to join them. She stood in front of the quartz stone and paced off the distance to the pointing finger in the centre. She stopped as she reached the tilted menhir, the tapering length sloped up and away from where she stood. “I wonder if this is the secret to opening the portal?”
“What do you mean?” Gort joined her.
“Come here and look, all of you.” She motioned for the rest to gather around her. “If the quartz stone reacts to Coll, I think we can assume it likes the male energy, and if the central stone reacts to Laurel, it must be attracted to her feminine energies.”
“Doesn’t that make the quartz male and the menhir female? It makes no sense, the tilted stone is so obviously a male symbol of fertility,” Emily argued.
Sarie shook her head. “No, the white quartz is female which is why it reacts to the opposite male energy, and the same for the centre stone. It is male and reacts to Laurel’s female energies.”
“But why won’t it react to me then?” Aisling laid her hand on the stone needle.
“I don’t know,” Sarie admitted.
“Saying that all that is true, how does it make the portal open?” Gort asked.
“Haven’t figured that out yet.” Sarie studied her drawings and notes.
“What if the quartz stone powers the needle stone…” Coll began.
“And the tilted one acts as a springboard or a ramp,” Laurel broke in. “Remember how when we went through the Men an Tol we actually ended up above the stone…Maybe this will work the same way.”
“It might at that.” Sarie considered the possibility.
As she finished speaking a clear beam of sunlight broke through the clouds and illuminated the angled stone with a golden glow.
“Can we try it right now?” Aisling fairly danced in place with excitement.
“We aren’t prepared, and I think it is wiser to come back tomorrow at the moment of the winter solstice and try it then,” Sarie advised.
“I agree,” Laurel said. “I’m not ready to do it right now.”
As if in agreement, the wind picked up and a cold rain swept across the long grass, tossing the branches of the sheltering bushes. Laurel shivered and pulled the collar of her jacket up. Shoving her hands deep in her pockets, she crossed the circle giving the centre stone a wide berth. Without a backward glance she headed back down the muddy path to the cars. When she reached them she waited impatiently, huddling in the lee of the vehicles. Coll appeared from the bushes first. He unlocked the door and opened it for her. Laurel got in and wrapped her arms around her body for warmth. A blast of rain and wind chilled the interior further when Coll joined her. He slammed the door and blew on his hands before starting the car. With the heat turned on full, they waited for the others to appear.
“What do you think about all that?” Coll tipped his head toward the stone circle hidden now behind the brambles and bushes.
“It’s freaking spooky if you ask me. Why do those stupid rocks only shock you and me? I’m scared to death to come back here tomorrow evening.”
Coll caught her cold hand in his. “Me, too. Are we supposed to be a sacrifice or something? It electrocutes us and then opens the door for the others?”
She gasped at his words. “Do you really think that’s what going to go down? Really?”
“I don’t know, Laurel. Sarie knows more than she’s letting on, I’m sure of it.” Coll squeezed her hand.
“Damn, I wish I could talk to Gramma Bella. Why’d she have to go running away into some other world without me?”
“She loves the seal man and it’s been a long time since she’s seen him,” Coll answered. “If the Council has banned her from seeing him, maybe this is the only way she thinks she can be with him.”
“Sarie always said how crazy she was when they were young. Always chasing some wild idea or something…” her voice broke. “Didn’t she even think about me?”
“Ah, Laurel…I bet she did, but just got all caught up with wanting to be with the selkie.”
Coll leaned closer and she raised her face to meet him. His lips were gentle at first, but when she didn’t pull back the pressure increased and became more demanding. The touch of his tongue on her lower lip startled her into opening her eyes. A bolt of heat shot through her. Kissing Chance never felt like this. Closing her eyes she moved nearer to Coll’s warmth, the gear shift poking her ribs.
A sharp rap on the window broke them apart. Gort’s grinning face looked in at them. “You better look sharp, Sarie and Emily are right behind us.”
Laurel sat back and ran her fingers through her messy hair. Her face was hot and she knew her cheeks were red. She blew out a shaky breath and smiled shyly at Coll. There was no chance to say anything as the rest of the group arrived. Gort pulled the rear door open and got in, Aisling joined him.
“Sarie says for us to ride with you on the way back. She wants to talk to Emily without ‘little ears’ hearing everything.” Aisling pulled a face.
“More like she wants to keep these two apart,” Gort teased, reaching forward and poking Coll in the ribs.
Laurel glanced over at him and almost burst out laughing. Coll’s face was so red it looked like he was on fire. She put her cold hands up to her own hot cheeks. The ride home was silent, except for the whispering of Gort and Ash in the rear. They spoke too low for Laurel to make out anything they were saying.
The remainder of the day passed in a blur for Laurel. She wavered between worrying about what was going to happen the following day and thinking about kissing Coll. When it was finally time for bed she lay awake staring at the ceiling unable to shut off the turmoil of her thoughts.
“Ash, are you awake?” she whispered.
“What?” Ash replied.
“I can’t sleep.”
“Me neither.”
“What was going on with you and Coll in the car? It looked pretty intense.” Aisling propped herself up on an elbow and looked down at Laurel.
“What did it look like?” She avoided answering, her whole body was hot.
“C’mon, Laurel. Spill.”
“Okay. He kissed me…and I kissed him back.”
“Is that the first time you’ve snogged with him? What was it like?”
“It’s the first time he’s kissed me like that. It made me feel all mushy inside.”
Aisling giggled. “Mushy?”
“I guess, I don’t know how else to describe it. What’s it
like when Gort and you make out?”
“We don’t exactly ‘make out’, as you put it. But I guess being with him makes me all squidgy inside,” Aisling confessed.
“Squidgy?” Now it was Laurel’s turn to laugh.
“Has that bloke back home, Chance, has he ever snogged you?”
“A couple of times after a school dance, and once at a tailgate party, but he seemed to enjoy it more than me.”
“Did you tell him that?”
She shook her head. “No, I couldn’t.”
“Why ever not? It’s not fair if you don’t feel the same way he does.”
“It’s complicated. Carly is my best friend and Chance is her brother. We’ve been friends forever, it’s just the last couple of years things have changed between me and him. He’s always around when I’m over at their place.”
“Still, you should let him know.”
“It’s not like I’m stringing him along or anything,” Laurel protested.
“I guess you can’t really control how he feels. As long as you’re not encouraging him.”
“I’m more worried about what’s going to happen when we try to open that portal tomorrow.”
“It’s weird that those stones only react to you and Coll. That’s just spooky,” Ash agreed.
“I’m not even sure how I’m going to find Gramma Bella. What if I get us all lost?” Laurel chewed her lower lip.
“If worse comes to worse, you can use that talisman. It should take you straight to Vear Du, and us with you,” Ash reassured her.
“Do you think it will even work once we go through? Assuming Coll and I can key the portal.”
“I think we need to quit worrying and surround ourselves with positive thoughts. Emily says you run into whatever you carry in with you.”
“What?” Laurel sat up and stared at Aisling.
“It means if a person is thinking bad thoughts or feeling angry, that’s what will be drawn to you when you travel into the other worlds. So we need to concentrate on going straight to wherever it is your gramma and Vear Du are.”
“I guess that makes some kind of sense.” Laurel slid back down under the quilt.
“Let’s try and sleep, okay. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day.” Aisling rolled over.
Laurel stared at the cracks in the ceiling and watched the shadows gather in the corners of the room. Gramma Bella, where are you? The thought repeated over and over until her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted off.
Chapter Sixteen
Laurel chewed on her thumbnail and glanced at Coll seated beside her in the rear of the car. His face was pale and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. He caught her gaze and slid his hand over hers.
“It’s gonna be okay, Laurel. We managed to survive the star paths the last time when your mum was sick.”
She nodded, not trusting her voice to speak. Possibilities skittered across her mind, most of the scenarios ending in disaster. Think positive, think positive. Remember what Ash said, I have to think positive thoughts. The wipers pushed the water around on the windscreen, but did little to improve the visibility. The stormy weather was doing nothing to improve her mood.
Sarie pulled into the rain-soaked layby and turned off the ignition. Laurel peered through the water sluicing down the window, watching for Emily’s vehicle to join them. The thought of going out into the downpour was daunting. She wriggled her cold toes in the borrowed rainboots.
“Here she is,” Sarie announced as Emily’s car splashed to a halt behind them.
“Great,” Laurel muttered.
Coll grinned and squeezed her hand. Pulling up the hood of his mac to ward off the rain, he opened the door and ducked out. Laurel sighed and jammed an old hat of Sarie’s onto her head. There was nothing for it but to brave the weather and get on with it. She emerged into the storm, turning her back to the wind. Emily handed her a waterproof basket and smiled at her. Laurel clutched it like a lifeline to hide her trembling hands. Once the boots of both cars were empty, Sarie led the way toward the gate, the sign post gleaming bleakly in the driving rain. Laurel pushed the water soaked brambles away as she slogged through the mud in the deepening gloom.
“Who are we supposed to know when sunset is in this muck?” she muttered.
“It doesn’t matter if we can see the sun or not, I’ve got my watch set to the atomic clock so we’ll know the exact moment the solstice occurs. The tipping point between the death and rebirth of the sun,” Sarie remarked over her shoulder.
Laurel shivered at the words death and rebirth. A cold finger that had nothing to do with the rain slithered down her spine. She left the dubious shelter of the brambles and bushes that bordered the path and stood near the gap in the circle that served as an entrance of sorts. Her friends gathered around her. Sarie pushed her sleeve back and checked her watch.
“We have a bit of time. Emily and I have a few things to take care of before it’s your turn to take action.”
Laurel huddled next to Coll, Gort and Aisling close by. The wind began to lessen and the rain tapered off a little bit. Sarie and Emily returned from the circuit they had made of the ring of stones.
“Are you ready? It’s time to take your places.” Sarie put her hand on Laurel’s arm.
She nodded and moved to stand at the spot Sarie had marked for her, the angled stone sloped away and upward from her like a ramp. Coll stood behind the white quartz stone being careful not to touch it. Gort and Aisling came to stand between him and Laurel like a living chain.
Sarie’s voice counting down the seconds seemed to come from a long way away. Laurel strained to hear it. As the last seconds passed she thought hard about Gramma Bella and reached out to the stone. She clutched Gort’s hand, Aisling grasped Coll’s arm as he stepped out from behind the quartz. They formed a connection, male and female alternating like a current. Coll touched the quartz with his free hand at the same time Laurel contacted the central needle.
A flash of brilliant light blinded her. Then, just as what happened at the Men an Tol with Gwin Scawen, they stood outside the storm. It still raged around them, but nothing touched them. A golden beam of light touched the quartz stone and illuminated the centre stone. Laurel looked up the sloped ramp and an opening appeared in the heart of the light. Suddenly unafraid, she walked up the angled stone without seeming to touch it and pushed through the flaring light.
The glare faded in a moment and she looked around. The rain swept circle of Boscawen-un was far below her, four odd looking dolls lay sprawled on the grass in a line joining the quartz and centre stone. She turned her face away and looked over the landscape stretching away before her under a sun kissed sky. She was reassured to find that Coll, Gort, and Aisling, were gathered around her. A nebulous silver thread connected them all to the tiny figures of the two women waiting in the rain far below.
Laurel lifted her head and thought very hard about Gramma Bella and Vear Du, picturing them clearly in her mind. She was startled to hear a deep bell tolling, the sound rolling toward her from the south-west.
“It from out in the Scillies,” Aisling’s voice sounded a long way away. Laurel watched her mouth shape the words moments before the sound reached her ears.
“The Isles of Scilly?”
“We need to go there,” Gort spoke in the same disconnected way Aisling had.
“How?” Coll asked.
Gwin Scawen popped into view, clinging to Aisling’s shoulder. “Follow me, we can use the Men Omborth to travel there as quick as thought.”
“Wha—” Laurel began.
Gwin grinned and in a flash they were standing on a huge granite boulder. The rock began to sway under Laurel’s feet. She closed her eyes against the dizzying effect.
“I know where we are,” Gort exclaimed. “This is the Logan Rock by Treen Dinas.”
“How did we get here?” Coll steadied himself and caught Laurel’s arm as the rocking increased underfoot.
“These are the other worlds,” Gwin explained.
“Travelling between places is as easy as thought.”
“Is Gramma Bella out in the Scillies?” Laurel cracked an eye open to look at the piskie.
“Oh yes, Mistress Laurel. And by chance, there is a Logan Rock just near where they hide.”
“Can you take us all there?” Aisling looked the little man in the eye. “No nonsense?”
He placed a hand over his heart and affected a wounded look. “My flower, you wound me to the quick with your question. I would not play you false. Of course, we can all go.”
“I think we should sit down,” Laurel suggested as the rock underneath her increased its gyrations. The whole boulder vibrated and a high pitched whine rattled her bones. She sat down rather suddenly, pulling Coll down with her. Gort followed suit. Only Aisling stayed upright, swaying in time with the movement.
“Can you hear the music?” She looked down at them with shining eyes. “It’s ever so lovely.”
The whine in Laurel’s ears increased in volume and the granite grew warm under her. When she thought her head would burst with the intensity of the noise, a huge wave of dizziness swept over her. It was all she could do not to hurl.
The sudden silence made her open her eyes. She didn’t remember closing them. Coll’s hand was still tightly clasped in hers. Aisling clapped her hands and danced about with Gwin Scawen. Gort looked in every direction as if he didn’t know where he was. Laurel raised her eyes and gasped.
They were still sitting on a granite boulder, but not the one near Treen Dinas. This rock was perched on top of a cliff. All around the low island the sea lay like a turquoise blanket. Laurel was reminded of the Caribbean island of Grand Cayman.
“Where are we?” she whispered.
“This is Saint Mary’s. We’re out at the Scillies.” Aisling stopped dancing and looked down at her.
She scrambled to her feet, keeping hold of Coll. He heaved himself up and put a protective arm around her.
“Where are Gramma Bella and Vear Du?” Laurel turned in a full circle.
“They are down in Tom Butt’s Bed,” Gwin announced grandly.