Shadows at Stonewylde (22 page)

‘Window cleaning, grate polishing, stone floor scrubbing – I shall make sure Cherry gives you the hardest jobs. I am very, very angry with you for your rudeness, Leveret. You know our fundamental laws as well as anyone, and children don’t ever behave so rudely towards their elders. To show such contempt and insolence towards me, especially in front of the whole school, was unforgivable.’

Leveret was pleased that Miranda felt she’d lost face, and still felt perfectly justified.

‘I think it’s unforgivable the way Magpie’s treated,’ she retorted.

‘Oh come now, Leveret – I was trying to make light of the situation in assembly. I could see he was becoming distressed and I was —’

‘No!’ cried Leveret. ‘It’s more than that. Nobody cares about him! Nobody makes sure he has enough to eat or looks after him! I’m sick of everyone laughing at him and —’

‘But that’s Maizie’s role, surely? Haven’t you spoken to your mother about this, if you’re concerned for his welfare?’

Leveret flashed her a look of scorn.

‘Of course I have! And all Mother says is that his family are a law unto themselves and she can’t interfere.’

‘I can’t believe that Maizie hasn’t said anything to them, if there really is a problem,’ said Miranda firmly. ‘And anyway, looking at Magpie, he’s tall and well-grown for a sixteen year old, isn’t he? So he obviously is fed reasonably well.’

‘But he’s so dirty, and —’

‘Yes, I’ll give you that. And we can insist that he washes properly – I’ll have a word with Maizie about that. But Leveret, his family aren’t the easiest of people, as you know. They remind me of how it was when I first moved here from the Outside World all those years ago. Some of the Villagers seemed really filthy but it was just a way of life here, living close to the land and not worrying about a bit of dirt.’

Leveret shook her head in despair.

‘You don’t understand and you’re doing just what Mother always does when I try and say something! You just don’t know how Magpie’s really treated. And as for Jay, his cousin – he makes Maggie’s life a misery.’

Miranda frowned at the stubborn girl.

‘Seeing as how Jay goes off to college in the Outside World every day, and boards at the Hall, I don’t really see that he gets much opportunity to interact with Magpie. And anyway, Leveret, how come you know all this? We’re all aware that Magpie’s mute, so how do you know what goes on in his home? I think you’re just getting yourself all worked up about nothing much, and —’

‘I don’t know why I ever expect anyone to listen,’ said Leveret bitterly.

‘I think you’ll find I have listened, actually,’ said Miranda sharply. ‘I’ve listened and told you I’ll speak to Maizie about Magpie’s lack of personal hygiene. I don’t believe the other issues you’ve raised to be valid. And besides, we’re here to discuss your rudeness this morning and your complete lack of contrition or apology.’

Leveret sighed heavily and Miranda glared at her.

‘I’ll have to tell Yul about this and I know he’ll be as disappointed as I am. You’ve really let your family down with such behaviour. Maizie will be equally upset.’

‘As you’re punishing me already, do they really need to know?’ asked Leveret, trying to keep the dread from her voice.

‘Yes, they certainly do need to know – exactly as I’d want to know if Rufus had behaved badly. You two have to set an example to all the others. Rufus knows that and I’m sure you do too!’

Leveret rolled her eyes at this, having heard it a hundred times before from her own mother. It was no fun being related to the leaders of Stonewylde.

‘Now you’re being rude again, Leveret! What’s the matter with you? I know Maizie’s a good mother who brought you up properly so there’s no excuse for this sort of behaviour. Do you want me to make it two weeks instead of one?’

Leveret merely shrugged at this, her eyes stonily glazed into an expression of bored contempt. Miranda was reminded of some of the fights she’d had with Sylvie at this age. Leveret was fourteen, going on fifteen, just the age that Sylvie had been when they left the Outside World and moved to Stonewylde. Sylvie had argued and flounced about during their arguments so they always had a good fight and cleared the air. But this girl was far more insolent and something in her eyes said that she knew she was above all this and bored by such mundane engagement. It was difficult to ignore the deliberate disrespect.

‘Right, two weeks it is! Go back to your lessons and wait to hear from Yul.’

Yul had exploded and actually reduced Leveret to tears, which was some feat given her normal defensive tactics. His anger was formidable. He seemed to glow with it, sparking fury with every flash of his eyes. He said that for the next two weeks while she was on work detail, she’d move into his family apartments and sleep in one of the bedrooms further down the corridor so he could watch over her. She’d not be allowed to leave the Hall for the whole time – no roaming around Stonewylde and no wandering off and disappearing. As Leveret thought of the Moon Fullness that night and then the Dark Moon in two weeks’ time, her heart plummeted. Now she wouldn’t be able to gather anything for her collection and there was a whole list of things she needed to prepare. She’d intended to try her spell at the Winter Solstice having missed her chance at Samhain. She bowed her head in misery.

‘Good, I see I’ve finally got through to you! We’ll find Mother and tell her what’s happening.’

He smiled triumphantly as Leveret gazed at the floor in tearful despair. Maizie stood with her arms folded and nodded.

‘’Twill be strange being on my own in the cottage,’ she said, ‘but you do what you think best, Yul. I’m pleased you can all see now what I’m up against. Good to know ‘tis not just me. She’s become a nasty young girl and let’s hope that this punishment sorts her out once and for all. Sweyn and Gefrin were only asking today what’s to become of her, and could they help at all. Those two are really turning out well after all – I feel proud o’ them.’

Leveret let out a strangled cry at this.

‘Do you have something to say?’ asked Yul coldly.

‘None of you know!’ cried Leveret. ‘The things they’ve done to me …’

‘Sweyn and Gefrin? What things?’

‘All sorts, always, all my life!’ she shouted, her voice cracking with emotion. ‘They’ve hurt me, broken my things, mocked me, shouted at me, almost drowned me—’

‘So why didn’t you tell Mother?’

‘I did!’ she wailed. ‘I’ve always tried to tell her!’

‘Aye, she’s a great one for telling tales,’ frowned Maizie. ‘But after a while I took no notice. If even half of what she claimed were true, they’d be complete monsters. Don’t believe her, Yul. She tells lies to try and get them into trouble, I reckon.’

‘No I don’t!’

‘This “drowning” is a good example,’ said Maizie heatedly, her cheeks flushing. ‘She told me Sweyn had tried to drown her in the old apple-bobbing barrel at Samhain! She’d even managed to convince Clip and he came telling tales too! I spoke to our Sweyn and he laughed. He admitted it straight away, dunking her head in the water, but he said ‘twas only a quick bob to bring her back to her senses, seeing as she were in some sort o’ trance . But o’ course Clip got the wrong idea and took her away with him up to the Dolmen of all places! It ruined my Samhain, worrying myself about her and all the time she were fast asleep up in that cave!’

‘You
always
take their side! You never believe me even when someone else backs me up. And last time they came round to babysit I almost died of suffocation!’

‘Don’t be daft!’ said Maizie sharply. ‘I recall you were told to do the weaving and you didn’t. ‘Tis just another of your —’

‘It’s
true
!’ Leveret was crying now, a terrible combination of anger and frustration. ‘They told you I’d fallen over but they’d locked me in the cupboard for hours.’

‘Which cupboard?’ asked Yul. ‘I don’t—’

‘The one in your old bedroom! Under the eaves.’

Yul stared at her, any half-conviction he may have harboured turning to cold disbelief.

‘Now I know you’re lying, Leveret. That cupboard’s tiny – you’d never fit in there.’

‘
But I did!
’ she screamed. ‘They shoved me in so hard I thought I was going to die! They
are
monsters and they make my life a misery! Why won’t anyone believe me?
I hate you all!
’

Leveret became hysterical, screaming and flinging the things on Yul’s desk to the floor. She wanted to destroy everything in her frustration at their indifference to her suffering. Yul restrained her, kicking and screeching, pinning her flailing arms to her side and lifting her bodily onto the sofa where he held her down.

‘Get Hazel, with something to calm her down,’ he commanded. Maizie was paralysed with shock at the sight of Leveret so out of control; the girl had lost all reason. She tried to phone through to the hospital wing but Hazel wasn’t there. Then abruptly the screaming and thrashing stopped and Leveret’s eyes rolled up to reveal the whites. She started to shake.

‘Oh goddess, she’s having one of her turns,’ moaned Maizie.

‘What’s the matter with her? Have I hurt her?’

‘No, no she does this sometimes. Remember? How she used to go blank when she were little? She still does it sometimes, never grew out of it as we thought she would. Let go of her, Yul. She’ll come round in a minute.’

‘Can you find Hazel anyway? She should see this.’

Whilst Maizie was out of the study looking for the doctor, Yul stared down at his youngest sister in consternation, smoothing the curls back from her ashen face. Her breathing became deeper and then the shaking stopped. Her eyes rolled back down and she gazed up at him in complete confusion.

‘The darkness and the brightness will be torn asunder,’ she whispered. ‘Stonewylde will tremble – the magic will die and the earth and the moon will dance here no longer. The sacred spirals will unravel and all will be eclipsed by the evil that comes. It’s already started.’

‘
What?
’ he gasped. ‘What are you talking about, Leveret?’

All he’d really taken in was the part about the darkness and the brightness being torn asunder, which was a little too close to the truth to be dismissed. But Leveret merely shook her head and, by the time Hazel arrived with her bag, no longer remembered saying anything at all. Leveret was taken to the hospital wing for the night but seemed fine, other than sobbing for several hours into the alien pillow at her isolation and the injustice of her treatment.

S
ylvie was unaware of the commotion in Yul’s office. She was busy supervising the girls’ tea and keeping an eye on the clock. It was the Moon Fullness tonight and she could feel faint pulses of excitement in her fingertips; she intended to walk up to Hare Stone before the sun set and watch the Owl Moon rise. It was quite a while since she’d seen it.

‘Eat your boiled egg nicely,’ she said to Bluebell, who was getting into a mess as usual. ‘I’m just going to see if Granny Maizie would like to bath you both tonight and put you to bed.’

‘Why Granny Maizie?’ asked Bluebell. ‘Why not you?’

‘I’m going for a walk,’ she replied. ‘It’s the Moon Fullness and I want to watch the moon rise. I won’t be very long.’

‘Can I come?’ asked Celandine.

Sylvie regarded her elder daughter, who was such a serious little girl.

‘Not this time, darling. Maybe in the spring when it’s warmer, I’ll take you up to Hare Stone and we can watch together.’

‘I’d rather dance.’

Sylvie looked sharply at the girl. Was this moongaziness coming out? Or merely the fact that Celandine was devoted to dancing and danced all the time.

‘Dancing at the Moon Fullness is something I used to do,’ she said quietly. ‘With my moon wings and a magical silver dress.’

‘Like a faerie?’ asked Bluebell. ‘Were you sparkly, Mummy?’

‘I expect you were beautiful,’ said Celandine.

‘I certainly felt beautiful, and yes, I was sparkly, Bluebell. It was the best thing ever – the moongazy hares and the barn-owl would join me, and your father would, too. He’d sit with his back to the stone and watch me dance.’

The girls stared at their mother in fascination, awed by her tone of wistfulness. Sylvie’s eyes were faraway, remembering moonlit landscapes and magical spirals and Yul’s adoration.

‘Why did you stop, Mum?’ asked Celandine. ‘If it was the best thing ever, why did you stop?’

There was a silence as Sylvie thought about this, then she sighed deeply.

‘
So we’ll go no more a-roving, so late into the night
,

Though the heart be still as loving, the moon be yet as bright
.’

‘Mummy?’ cried Bluebell in consternation at this strangeness. She jumped down from her chair and ran round to Sylvie, burying her eggy face in her mother’s skirt.

‘It’s alright, Blue,’ said Celandine. ‘I understand, Mum.’

‘Do you? It’s strange – I don’t know why I feel this need to go tonight but somehow …’

‘When did you last dance for the beautiful Moon Goddess, Mum?’

Sylvie thought about this, shocked at just how long ago it was.