by Starr West
Phoenix tried to explain how to organise the herd so they could milk some of the cows. And then he began to teach Ryzer the art of milking a cow. Charity ran off when he started and arrived back with an audience. Everyone was willing to learn, and in less than an hour, the boys had milked six cows and filled three buckets with warm, creamy milk.
“That’s amazing man! We usually get about a cup a day.”
Everyone applauded and Phoenix bowed, “It’s not that amazing; next time we visit you’ll be having milk baths. If they didn’t have the calves, you would have six times that amount.”
There were many things about the school that Phoenix was able to show them. I was impressed. But for Phoenix it was everyday stuff.
A bell began to chime. “It’s time for dinner,” said Charity as she led us toward one of the biggest buildings on the campus.
“This is the old dining hall, but we never actually ate here,” said Phoenix, “they were afraid we would wreck it or something. If they knew what was eventually coming, maybe they wouldn’t have been so possessive.”
“Well, it gets used now,” said Charity. “See how happy it feels in here? When we arrived, the whole place had a really sad vibe. I’m glad I didn’t go to school here.”
Charity was right, the energy was fresh and happy. It had a really good vibe now. I could feel the energy and was able to suck it up like a vacuum, but I didn’t. I was starting to discern the different types of energy, but most of it in the valley was the same: clean, fresh and pure. I’d also never considered that the energy I felt to be the vibe, but it fit.
I expected the dinner to finish with a few rounds of an old camp song, but it didn’t. Everyone just went off, doing really normal things. Some read books and others played card games or board games. A few said goodnight and went to bed. It was a lot more normal than my life.
“Let me read your cards,” said Charity.
“Like tarot cards?” I shook my head, “I know way too much about my future already.”
“Come on, Psyche, she is really good,” said Ryzer “You too, Phoenix. Let it be our way of saying thank you.”
We couldn’t really say no now, it would seem ungrateful; but still, I’d had enough of prophecies and future-telling dreams. It usually just messed with my head.
“Okay, sure,” I said. Phoenix just smiled and shook his head. He probably knew where this was going. I just knew it was a mistake.
“I’ll do you first, Psyche, and then Phoenix.” Charity pulled out a box filled with an assortment of cards and pretty colourful boxes.
“This is going to be fun; you both have this really funky aura,” she said. “I just know it means something. I just can’t figure out what.” She picked up a small box of cards and put them on the table. She handed me the cards and pulled out another set. “Sometimes I only need one set, but every now and again, I feel I need to use more to get the reading right.”
She looked at me and screwed up her nose, “You’re not really into new age stuff. It’s okay, lots of people aren’t, but you’re going to love this. Trust me.”
“You’d be surprised at the things I’m into these days,” I said. Phoenix reached out and took my hand; it was warm and comforting. It was what I needed.
Charity laid three cards out on the table and then another three from the other deck. “Now pick a card from either deck. “That will be your card, the one that represents you. It will show me how you will deal with whatever the cards show me.”
I slipped a card from one of the decks and as I did, another card flew out, flipped upright and sat facing me on the table.
“Persephone,” I said. I wasn’t surprised.
“Oh, you know the goddesses! How cool! Well, when a card flies out like that, it means that she has something important to tell you. It might come out in the cards, but it could come as a sign. You will know it when you see it,” said Charity.
“You picked Diana. She is a warrior goddess and she is you for the moment, okay? These cards are the past present and future; these are events or situations. I’ll turn over some cards as I go and they will tell us more.”
“These aren’t tarot cards, are they?”
“No they’re oracle cards, but the cards choose the reading, and I got nothing from the tarot today.” Charity would fit right into life in the valley. Ironic really, life here seemed a much better suited to me.
“There has been a lot of confusion, but something was causing it, holding you back. But that is gone now and you’re free, like a bird really. You’re flying for the first time and it scares you. But you are Diana, you’re the warrior. You weren’t before, but you are now. Something major changed you.
“You have something really important to do, you have to reach into the past, seek ancient wisdom and you will succeed. If you ignore it, you will fail. Oh. You actually already have this wisdom, it’s already a part of you, but you’re resisting. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because you were betrayed, but you will be betrayed again and it’s not from the one you think. This is hidden from you and from everyone. Also, you need to be careful because there is darkness following you. See this card? This is the dark sorceress card, and it crosses your path many times.” She paused then and bit her lip. “I don’t know, the cards are telling me one thing, but I am seeing something else, something different.”
“The cards can tell you all this?” I asked.
“Sort of, but I get pictures in my head, flashes of things that are important too. I’ve learnt to trust it and just say what I see,” Charity smiled. “Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t.”
“I’m impressed, really!” I looked at Phoenix and shook my head. “Most of it is stuff I already know, but there are a few things I don’t understand.”
Charity began to pack up the cards. She slipped one pack to the side as she collected the cards with brightly painted pictures of the goddesses. As she tried to slip the cards into their case, one flew loose and flicked across the table. It was Persephone. Again.
“She really has something important to tell you. But all I see is a blue light, like this soft blue glow. She isn’t showing me anything, so this is a message that you have to figure out on your own.”
“It’s okay, I think I know what it means,” I smiled. “She’s just letting me know that she is with me.”
“Really?” she said. “Your turn, Phoenix.”
Charity kept a set of cards on the table and chose another set from her wooden box. These cards were covered in pictures of angels.
“Oh, you picked Archangel Jeremiel. He represents you, like the goddess card Psyche chose. This means that you choose to be a guardian first, putting your charge before everything else, even yourself. It also tells me you’re an old soul. See this one? It’s the same, it tells me you’re an old soul too; so maybe it’s all just saying you’re a really old soul. You only have one purpose in this life, to serve and protect. Past, present and future, the cards say you are here to serve and protect. So unless you’re a police officer, and I know you’re not, you’re here to protect someone or something pretty important. And Archangel Raziel, he is about magick and secrets, you seem to be protecting these secrets. Oh, there’s love… but you have to do what’s right… but you already know this, because maybe this is someone else’s love.
“This is confusing too. This is the soul mate card and it says you have found perfect love, destiny. My guess is that it’s you, Psyche. You two are linked together. But it’s also telling me there is a choice, a secret. It just doesn’t make sense. Oh well, the cards don’t always get it right,” she said. “It’s just for fun anyway.” Charity began to pack away the cards.
“So, tell me what you think, Phoenix?” Charity looked up at Phoenix and she smiled. “You already knew all this. I didn’t say anything you didn’t already know.”
“Pretty much,” he said. “But Psyche is right, you are very good; you have a gift. But you already know this. You have visions without the cards, don�
�t you?”
“Hmm, something like that,” she smiled then. “But don’t tell anyone, people get suspicious if they think you know things about them.”
~~~
Many of the schoolrooms were set up like dormitories. Some had beds, while others had mattresses on the floor. Ryzer and Charity led us to their private space. It was a room in one of the smaller outbuildings of the school.
“Ryzer likes to be close to the dairy, so he can get up early and squeeze a cup of milk from those poor cows,” said Charity.
“This is really nice,” I said. The room was cosy and smelt like rose and lavender. They had chimes hanging and pictures on the wall. Little angel ornaments sat on the window ledge and a giant fairy statue in the corner. “But where did all this stuff come from?”
Both Ryzer and Charity blushed red. “In town,” she said, “we felt guilty taking it for a while, but there was no one there, all the houses are empty.”
“Most of the food had already been taken. We just took sheets and blankets and clothes at first. Stuff we really needed. But then it was like a treasure hunt. And we found all this really cool stuff, books and games, things we didn’t really need, but they made our lives a bit better,” said Ryzer.
“You don’t need to feel guilty. I am sure the people that used to live there don’t care anymore,” I smiled.
“Where did everyone go? I never could figure out why the houses were just abandoned. It’s like the place is frozen in time. It’s really creepy,” said Ryzer.
“Early on, we had a lot of sickness, over half the town died from one thing or another. Some moved away to be with family or just to get out of town. I didn’t realise that no one lived in town anymore, but it’s hard to get water now because the houses are on the mains and the yards aren’t really big enough for growing food, I guess,” Phoenix said. He was the only one who had been here in the early days.
“I didn’t realise so many people died,” I said. “You never talk about it, neither does Libby.”
“It happened a long time ago now. We were one of the first towns hit with the green plague. The whole area was quarantined for weeks. As soon as they lifted the quarantine, most of the locals left. Seemed like a strange reaction, considering the area was free of the plague by then.”
“You two can sleep here.” Charity pointed to a mattress on the floor at the far end of the room. It wasn’t private, but it looked comfortable. “I’ll hang a sheet so you don’t feel so exposed, if you like.”
I felt a knot of nervous tension build up and twist in my stomach at the idea of really sharing a bed with Phoenix. I hadn’t released any energy for a while and new feelings combined with my energy build-up was dangerous. I ran from the room, stood at the edge of darkness, and focused on the earth.
When I returned, Charity and Ryzer looked at me as if I were a crazy person. “Nature called,” I said. It wasn’t the type of call they were thinking about, but it really was nature calling.
~~~
We woke up early and left late. The last words Charity said were, “Peace, love and sunshine.” This time, she meant it; it was honest and not hidden behind a mask of grief. We promised we would return and stay longer next time.
“Did you mean it when you said we could come and stay?” I asked.
“Sure, when things settle down, and you’re not in danger. We can do whatever we like.”
“So I was thinking about the cards…” I said, “and… I wondered about the secrets and stuff and the thing about love.”
“You know there are secrets, and you know I can’t tell you. As far as love goes, I told you that you have a choice.”
“But what would happen if you told me? What if you told me everything?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they would create an accident or just take me home in the middle of the night. Or they could make me stay here with the fallen angels until the end of time.”
“Is that possible? You could become immortal?”
“I hope not, that would be the worst possible outcome. Stuck on earth until the end of time? Can you imagine? You would be left waiting for me forever. But it doesn’t matter, because I’m not telling you anything.”
“Yeh, it probably would be terrible.”
“Don’t you think I’ve thought about it? Telling you everything would be so much easier than watching you struggle every day. But I don’t know everything. Some of the things that happen are as surprising to me as they are to everyone else. My job is to protect you, keep you out of danger. So far I’ve done a pretty bad job of that. If I knew about Volante or the hellhounds, I would never have allowed you to be hurt.”
“I know, it’s just she was right about you being a book of secrets. You’re harder to decipher than that old Book of Shadows.”
Thunder rumbled overhead. The sky had grown dark and black and spread from horizon to horizon. The smell of dust arrived on the breeze and I knew we had just minutes to find cover.
“Come on,” Phoenix grabbed my hand and we ran along the basalt that lined the gorge near the waterfall. The rain fell in huge drops of icy water and soaked us within seconds.
“This is where we should have stayed last night.”
“I know.”
We came to a cave carved into the gorge just before the basalt dropped away into a pool of water below. The cave was dry and had obviously been used by someone else, or maybe it still was. Dry firewood was piled in the corner and a fire pit lay just inside the mouth of the cave.
“We might be here for a while,” said Phoenix. There was thunder and lightning all around and I jumped every time the lightning cracked against the basalt.
“This is bad. There is too much energy in the air. It’s coming too fast, way too fast.” I moved to the back of the cave into the shadows until the air was dull and stale. It was easier there.
Fine sand lined the bottom of the cave, “I should stay back here. I think standing on the basalt makes it worse; it’s all connected. I can’t control it.” The sand was different, loose and free; it acted like a buffer against the energy of the storm.
Mum was right to bind the magick. What would have happened if this began when I was three or four? I don’t think I would have survived. There is no way I would have understood it. I had enough trouble now.
As the storm raged on outside, I lay on a bed of sand, avoiding the basalt, surrounded by stale air and stale energy. But it was easier.
~~~
Water washed over my feet, I felt the sand shift and watched the tide retreat and return. Waves crashed on the ocean for a thousand miles that stretched before me. Tiny white peaks barely visible against the grey sky.
“Come on, we’ve got to go. If they find us on the beach after dark, they will think you are a witch.”
“What?” I turned. It was Phoenix, I think, but his clothes were wrong, and his hair was pulled back. It was wrong - all of it wrong.
“Where am I?”
“What’s wrong with you today? They will know you’re a witch if you keep talking like this. Come on, Sara, it’s almost dark.” Sara? He called me Sara.
It must be a vision of a Darnell daughter. I dropped my skirt and petticoats and ran barefoot up the beach behind Phoenix. It didn’t feel like a vision. It felt real in an unreal way. Visions appeared a little hazy and I never felt completely lost in them or attached to the former daughter. But now I felt attached, connected. Then I felt lost.
We reached a house, but it really wasn’t much of a house at all. It was tiny and made from rock and mud and the roof was thatched, but the fog was thick so it was difficult to tell.
“You really need to be more careful,” he said. “They have been called because someone reported witches.”
“Phoenix, who’s been called?” I said when we went inside. “Tell me where we are.” My voice sounded unfamiliar and thick with an accent I didn’t recognise. Even the words weren’t my own.
He reached out and pressed his hand against my forehead. “You must
be ill, that’s the only cause I can think. I am Jasper, you are Sara and we live here in Cornwall and if you don’t stop this, you will be dead and swinging on the end of the inquisitor’s noose.”
Oh God! I was in the middle of the Inquisition.
~~~
Lightning crackled and filled the cave as if it were daylight. The energy poured in and jolted me awake.
“What’s the matter?” Phoenix asked.
“Oh this is really weird, I’m not even sure I know what happened. I think it was a vision of one of the Darnell daughters, but it was different. You were there. I am sure you were there. We were in Cornwall and it was in the middle of the witch trials.”
“It’s not a vision of a Darnell. It’s a vision of you, us; it’s a past life.”
“Really? That hasn’t happened before. It felt so real. I thought I was trapped there.” I told Phoenix about the vision. Filling in details and hoping he could tell me more. I didn’t know if he would, but maybe.
“It was about 1640 or 1650, somewhere around then. It was cold in Cornwall, really cold, always cold. It was the worst place we ever lived.”
“I don’t really see how it’s related to anything.”
“Maybe it isn’t, maybe it’s because you want me to tell you things.”
“Maybe.”
“But it felt important.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much. The storm has almost passed so we need to get going. We should have stayed here last night and gotten much further along than we are now.”
When the sound of thunder was just a rumble in the distance, we left the cave and began walking. The rain still fell lightly and the basalt was slippery. The energy was strong and the air buzzed like an excited child.
We walked for hours until the sun began to slip below the horizon. My wet shoes were rubbing my feet and I knew that blisters had formed beneath the damp socks. It wasn’t a good start to our journey, but at least we were heading somewhere.