by M S C Barnes
Seb strained to comprehend what he was witnessing. But it was like clutching at fog. Whenever he tried to peer through the cloaked visions or listen to the mumbled words, they warped and changed into the next vision.
“I can’t,” he sighed. “When I try to see, it disappears.”
“Let Alice help,” Dom said. “Let him isolate whatever you are remembering.”
Saying nothing, Seb nodded and felt Alice walk through his mind, as though tiptoeing towards the memories that were still playing over, and over. As the next vision began, Alice spoke to him.
“I can see only one thing, Seb.” And now he pulled one shape forward. It drifted out of the haze — a person.
“A man,” Seb said to Dom. “It’s a man. I don’t know who it is though, I’ve never seen him before.” He stared at the mental image. There was still nothing in the background that he could make out, but Alice had worked wonders. Seb had a good view now of this person and he described him as best he could to Dom. “He is quite old, sixtyish,” he said and Dom coughed. “Tall, skinny — really skinny. He has long hair, which is grey and tied back in a ponytail. He is wearing a long black coat, like a winter coat and he has a walking cane.”
Seb thought he heard Dom draw a sharp intake of breath, as if shocked, but he said nothing.
Now the image in Seb’s mind started dancing and twisting as it transformed into the next encounter. Seb felt a fresh bout of sickness. The wolves repelled it as Alice, once more, pulled a solid form out of the hazy image — the same man, wearing the same clothes but, this time, without the walking cane and now Seb could make out something glinting on his right ring finger. He told Dom what he saw.
“The same man now. He hasn’t got the walking stick. I can see a big ring — on his right hand,” Seb said. “It is silver, with a large, green stone in it. He’s saying something. I can’t hear it.”
“Be careful, Seb.” Dom touched his arm. “It will be the words that are the danger. These are what he is using to sow the seed, to make you ill and to make you return again to this event.” He paused, as if realising something. “Is this a different event Seb? You said “The same man … this time, without the walking cane …” Is it a different event?”
“Yes,” Seb said.
“Oh?” Dom sounded surprised.
“Every time I have read a soul tonight,” Seb explained, “one of their last memories, before I got to them, was of a meeting. Each one of them had a meeting. I just couldn’t see the details or hear what was said.” He paused as he felt nauseous again. One of the wolves whined and Seb felt a fresh burst of energy from the pack as the next memory began playing. He shook his head, not wanting to do this any more. “Can I stop now?” he asked.
“And it gets worse every time?” Dom ignoring the question, asked his own.
“Yep,” Zach volunteered. “The first time Seb was just off his food. It was worse the next time, until Helen gave him some of that yucky drink. Hellfire Caves? Seb actually puked. Eiou. And then the last one — well, you saw the effect.”
“Four?” Dom looked at Zach. “Four separate meetings with four different souls?” He sounded worried.
“Yes,” Seb mumbled, watching the next encounter and seeing the same man pushed forward, by Alice, from the foggy memory. The man gesticulated with his right hand, the ring glinting, as he spoke words Seb couldn’t hear.
“So at each one, the symptoms get worse?” Dom asked.
“Yes,” Seb said again, feeling tiredness overwhelm him before the wolves managed to counter it.
Dom, stared at Seb. “I thought it was a cumulative effect, but I believed that was just due to you returning to the same event over and over. But these are different events…” He fell silent, frowning. After a second he nodded to himself. “Seb, I still need to know the words he is using.”
Seb was watching the last encounter. Alice, still helping him, whisked away the fog and the same, tall, skinny, grey-haired man appeared. He could hear faint mumbling and he watched the man’s face; his lips were moving. For the first time, he noticed a humming sound, like a single note being sung without pause. The mumbling of the man’s words was below this note and every time Seb tried to distinguish the words, the volume of the note rose.
“Alice?” he asked. Alice, understanding, suppressed the strength of the sung note and lifted the man’s voice out; suddenly Seb could hear the words. “The man is speaking with a French accent,” he said, surprised, then repeated what he could hear, “He is saying: Sickness plagues you, exhaustion haunts you, remember this and return. Sickness plagues you, exhaustion haunts you, as you witness this one, remember all and return.” As Seb said the last words his stomach cartwheeled and he lurched forward, retching once more.
An Owl’s Insight
Dom stood up, towering over Seb, who had collapsed sideways onto Zach.
“Alice, pull him away from it,” he ordered. Immediately, Alice started swamping the images of these meetings, that were still looping and dancing in Seb’s mind, with memories from his life. “It is subliminal Seb. Look at me!” Dom shouted and Seb jumped in response, snapped back to reality. Zach pushed him upright and the wolves fed more energy into him until, gradually, the nausea went and his strength returned.
Dom, looking slightly anxious, stared at him. “I am going to teach you to block these visions and resist the messages they contain,” he said. In response, Seb’s mind began to dart back to the images and Alice thrust forward new memories from his childhood, distracting him. Dom lowered his voice to his normal drone. “Look at this,” he said and held his hand out. On his open palm lay a silver charm, in the shape of an owl, threaded onto the finest silver chain. Seb was instantly captivated. “Do you understand totems, Seb?” Dom asked. Seb thought back to the black cat at Helen’s house.
“Sort of,” he said. “Aiden says they provide comfort.”
Zach was leaning across, looking at the charm. “Nah, Seb,” he said. “That’s just cats.”
“That’s right, Zach. Different totems have different gifts,” Dom said, moving the charm around his palm with his finger. “Some provide comfort, some protection, some courage and some, like the owl, insight.” He looked at Seb. “An owl can guide you past any veil of deception, removing any illusion or falsehood, revealing what is hidden and enabling you to see real events or the true intent or meaning in a person’s words or actions.” Seb didn’t see how this was going to help. “I want you to wear this.” Dom leant forward and, looping the chain around Seb’s neck, fastened it.
“How will that help?” Seb asked, lifting the owl charm up. He ran his fingers over the shape; it felt pleasing to the touch.
Dom put his craggy hand over Seb’s. “The way to resist any subliminal message is to be warned about it and, therefore, aware of it. Now, put the charm between your thumb and finger and press hard enough to make an imprint on your skin.” Seb did as he was told, feeling the bumps and depressions of the little owl shape. “That’s good, keep pressing. Okay, Alice,” Dom said, turning to Alice, “When I say, you are going to lift just one part of one vision out for Seb.” Alice nodded, looking at Seb’s fingers then back at Dom. “Seb, keep pressing hard; concentrate on feeling the shape of the owl. Whatever Alice shows you in your mind, just concentrate on the shape of the owl.” Dom paused now, watching the tips of Seb’s fingers turn white. “Right, Alice, go ahead,” he said.
Seb, still squeezing the owl, suddenly saw the hazy image of one of these meetings, and the skinny man instantly emerged from the fog. He flinched, and then became entranced by the image.
“Can you feel the owl, Seb?” he heard Dom ask, and his attention was brought back to the physical shape between his thumb and finger, the smoothness of the metal as it rose and dipped to form the contours of the owl. And now he could see a mental picture of the gleaming, silver bird. Distracted, he forgot about the man. The solidity of the object between his finger and thumb told him that was reality, not the image Alice was still trying
to push forward in his mind. The musical tone was there, masking the mumbling beneath it, but once Seb focussed on the owl charm, the note vanished, leaving the voice repeating its order, over and over: Sickness plagues you, exhaustion haunts you, remember this and return. Sickness plagues you, exhaustion haunts you, as you witness this one, remember all and return.
And hearing those words, spoken so clearly, Seb recognised them for what they were, a dangerous instruction designed to debilitate him. So now his mind railed against what it knew was bad for him. As it did, a new vision entered his head — a beautiful snowy-white owl, lifting out of a large chestnut tree and then sweeping away, low to the ground. He smiled at the image and all thoughts of the skinny man evaporated. Suddenly the voice was replaced by a flapping sound and his eyes were drawn to a movement to his left. From the far corner of the room, an owl glided towards him. It landed gently on the bed and its huge, yellow eyes regarded him with interest.
Seb looked from the owl to his own fingers, still pressing the charm, then at Dom.
“Good?” Dom asked.
“I think so,” Seb said, looking back at the owl and reflecting light from his birthmark onto it.
“Okay, we have an owl on the bed,” Zach said, as it became visible to him and Dom.
“Right, let’s do it again,” Dom said, smiling at the bird.
He made Seb and Alice repeat the exercise over and over. He ordered Seb to press the charm between his fingers, concentrating on the feel of it, on its solidity in the real world. He made Alice push more and more of the memories of these meetings forward, eventually bringing all four incidents to the surface of Seb’s mind at the same time. And, each time, the vision of the owl swooping down out of the tree came back to him and Seb would be drawn to look at the bird sitting on the bed in front of him. Captivated by the yellow eyes and the pristine, snowy-white feathers of this beautiful creature, he couldn’t focus on the meetings. Now, he could no longer hear the mumbling or the sung note which accompanied the memories either; they had been replaced by the low hooting sound the owl was making, almost like the purring of a cat.
“That’s enough,” Dom finally said. “Seb, every time you find your mind slipping back to these memories, take hold of this charm.” He pointed to Seb’s neck, where the silver figure glinted in the light from the flamers. “Focus on the feel of it and it will divert your mind away from the memories. If necessary, use Alice to help you. Do you feel capable now of dealing with this?”
Seb felt unusually certain. “Yes,” he said, firmly, still staring at the bird. Then he smiled at Dom. “Thank you.”
“Good. When you feel strong enough, release the wolves,” Dom advised him. “I must go and speak with Aelfric.”
“Can I stop holding his hand now?” Zach asked.
“That will be up to Seb to decide,” Dom said, and left the room.
The owl still sat on the bed, hooting softly and staring at Seb. He reached his hand out and the bird hopped onto his lower arm.
“If it poops, I’m out of here!” Zach said, but ran a finger over the plumage on the bird’s head. “Lovely beastie,” he said.
“It is, isn’t it?” Seb said. “Is it real?”
“It’s a ghost animal, Seb. A totem,” Alice said. “Like the cat. You saw how it appeared from nowhere.”
The grip of the bird’s talons felt cold through Seb’s jumper. Fixated with it, he had forgotten about the wolves, until one gave a small yelp.
“Oh, sorry,” he said. “You can go.”
“You sure Seb? Are you okay now? That seemed quite simple…” Zach sounded doubtful.
“I’m fine,” Seb said. “You can take back your bubble Zach, thanks.” He smiled at his friend, feeling sure he was capable of looking after himself. The nausea had totally gone, he felt energetic and strangely positive.
Now the seven wolves, turning, leapt as one and dissolved into thin air. The fairies disbanded. Most disappeared through the mirror, a few remained to play on the pillows of the bed, jumping on them like trampolines.
“What now then?” Zach asked.
“I suppose we rejoin the others,” Seb said. Still holding the owl on his arm, he got off the bed and, with Zach and Alice left the room.
As they entered the main room, only Scarlet and Aiden were there.
“Where is everyone?” Zach asked, in such a loud voice he made Aiden jump and the owl lift off from Seb’s arm. It flew towards the fire. Halfway there, it disappeared.
“Shh!” Scarlet hissed. Neither she nor Aiden looked up. They were staring into an object on her lap. “Oh, now you’ve ruined it Zach!” she said, tetchily, pushing the object into Aiden’s hands.
“What? What’ve you been playing with?” Zach said, wandering over to them. On seeing what Aiden was holding, he tutted. “Not a time to be doing your make-up Scarlet,” he told her, snatching the object from Aiden. It was a small mirror and, after taking a quick glance at his reflection and smiling, Zach handed it back to him.
“Actually,” Scarlet said, “I was scrying, and you have just ruined it!” She huffed and flounced.
“Crying? What were you crying for?” Zach’s voice turned surprisingly soft.
“Scrying, Zach,” Aiden said. “And it was working.” Seeing Seb, he smiled. “You look better. What did Dom do?”
“Well he didn’t make him puke, Aiden. Hope you threw that disgusting drink away,” Zach said, sitting beside Scarlet who was frowning at him. He nudged her over with his hips, forcing her to make room.
“You know that wasn’t the tea, Zach,” Aiden said, defensively. Turning back to Seb, he looked at him eagerly. “So what did Dom do?”
Sitting down, Seb toyed with the owl charm.
“He got Seb to use an owl totem to help him see the subliminal messages that were making him ill and tired,” Alice said, standing beside Seb. He smiled as Aiden’s eyes widened.
“So where did the messages come from?” Scarlet, intrigued, forgot her annoyance at being disturbed.
“From some man,” Seb mumbled, “I haven’t a clue who he was or why he was trying to make me ill.”
“What man?” Aiden asked.
“I told you, I haven’t a clue. I’ve never seen him before.”
“Dierne says they’re coming back,” Alice interrupted and pointed to the wall where the doorway had appeared.
“Where have they been anyway?” Zach asked, as the door opened and Trudy walked through, followed by Greg.
“Greg and Lily’s house,” Aiden whispered. “Aelfric couldn’t stay here because you were calling more wolves?” he said, questioningly to Seb, who nodded. “He’s been resting there. Obviously his home has been destroyed.”
Trudy had reached them by now. “Zach, come with me!” she ordered and limped across the room to a physical door that Seb had never noticed before. He hadn’t noticed it because it had actually been hidden. Positioned to one side of the kitchen area, the door was obscured by a huge, wire mesh frame that was used by Greg and Dom to hang various bunches of herbs. Trudy pulled the frame forward and the door behind it was revealed. Opening it, she ushered Zach through in front of her, then closed it behind them both.
Greg joined the others by the fire. He looked unusually anxious.
“Any luck Scarlet?” He pointed to the mirror Aiden was still holding.
“Well, maybe,” Scarlet said. “I saw a man.”
“What did he look like?” Greg asked.
“Tall and skinny; I mean, really, really skinny. He had long, silvery grey hair, tied in a ponytail and he looked about sixty — maybe a bit older. He wore a —”
“Long dark coat,” Seb finished for her and she turned to him looking surprised.
“Yes and he had a ring —”
“A ring on his right hand with a huge green gemstone in it?” Seb asked and she nodded, mouth open. “That’s the man in the visions of the meetings I saw,” Seb said.
“What meetings?” Scarlet was confused.
“Every soul I have read tonight had a meeting with someone before I got to them. And it sounds like that someone was the same man you have seen.” Puzzled, he asked, “How have you seen him anyway?”
“I said, I was scrying,” Scarlet answered, thinking that explained everything. Then she turned to Greg. “Who is he?”
“His name is Henri Durand,” Aelfric said, stepping through the doorway and walking towards them. “And he is a Custodian.”
A Very Old Friend
“A Custodian?” Scarlet asked. “Another Custodian?”
“Yes; and one with centuries of experience,” Greg answered her, as Aelfric reached the fire and stood in front of the gathering, Cue and Pace with him. There was no sign of Dierne.
“There are other Custodians?” Scarlet said, sounding stunned.
“There are quite a few others,” Greg said quickly. “Now, Scarlet, did you manage to see where he was?”
Seb’s brain was racing. Quite a few other Custodians? Who? Where? He felt unsettled; like a person who had been so absorbed with watching a wave breaking on the sand they hadn’t noticed the sea beyond.
“A church. I think he was in a church,” Scarlet said. “I could see lines of pews and what I thought was an altar and then a painting on a ceiling. It was weird; it had someone’s eyes watching me.”
“That is Judas,” Greg announced. “The Church of St Lawrence then; as we thought,” he muttered to Aelfric.
Seb was still stumbling over the words: ‘There are quite a few others’ and was hardly listening. He wasn’t sure how Scarlet had seen what she said she had seen but was too disturbed by the revelation that there were other Custodians, not just himself and Aelfric, to ask. Looking up, he found Aelfric was watching him.
“Seb, one or two Custodians could not possibly deal with all the souls in all the world in all the years.” Aelfric knew what had disconcerted him. “The Ley Lines, as well as providing paths, also create areas of influence. The area within the magnetic reach of each main Ley Line becomes the responsibility of one Custodian and their group and their successors.