The Moon Spun Round (31 page)

‘Any news of Ruth?’ Naomi asks as soon as she is through the door.

‘No, nothing. George rang about ten minutes ago. He’s staying with Jack. Poor man’s distraught.’

‘I’ll go down to the pool in a while, see if I can find out anything. But first I think we ought to do something about making this place safe.’ She tells them about the answerphone message.

‘What do you make of it?’ Sally keeps her voice low, aware of Claire awake upstairs.

‘I don’t know. It scared the hell out of me. If he’d been angry or threatening, it would have made me furious. But that…It was creepy.’

‘It doesn’t sound as if he intends to come looking for her. And if he did, he’d be looking in the wrong place.’

‘You don’t think he was watching your workshop, do you?’ Abbie asks.

‘I thought of that. When I left there I drove out of the village, up to the main road, then came back by a different route. He definitely wasn’t following me.’

‘Good thinking. It would also be safer if you two came and went via my house. Use the shortcut through the trees, he wouldn’t know about that. Naomi, you’d better park your car round the side of the stable where it can’t be seen from the road.’

‘That makes sense. In any case I think we need to set seals around the house.’

Abbie puts a hand on Naomi’s arm. ‘You still look shaken. And I’m sure none of us has eaten today. It won’t take a minute to put something together.’

‘No, I don’t think I could eat. I just need to get myself centred. Is Claire awake?
I’ll go up and see her for a moment, explain what we’re doing, and then we’ll get straight on with it. But I won’t tell her about the phone message. She doesn’t know about Ruth yet, does she?’

‘No, I was waiting till you came back.’

‘Setting seals, what does that mean?’ asks Sally.

‘OK. You’re going to have to help with this anyway. So, your first lesson in practical magic. We’re going to build an invisible barrier all around the house and then around the edge of the property. He won’t be able to get in. He won’t even be able to think about who’s in here or what they’re doing. If he comes anywhere near, he’ll forget what he came for and go away.’

‘Are you sure this is going to work?’ asks Sally.

Naomi gives her a withering look, not even bothering to reply.

They begin, as before, with the casting of the Circle and the invocation of the Goddess.

‘This is a smudge stick.’ Naomi lights a bundle of incense, taking it around the room. ‘Frankincense and myrrh, good for driving away any evil.’ The billowing smoke fills the corners. ‘Now we have to explain to the Goddess what we’re doing. We have to be very specific.’

Before they started, Naomi had asked Sally to find some salt—lots of it. Sally had searched her kitchen cupboards and poured all she could find into a glass bowl. Naomi now holds her hands over it, asking that it be blessed. ‘Here, you take charge of this.’ She pushes the bowl into Sally’s hand. ‘It’s your home, so the spell will work even better if you’ve had a hand in casting it. Now, walk round the outer edge of the room and sprinkle a little of the salt at each of the quarters.’

Sally does as she’s told, though she can’t really see how this is going to work. As she drops the first of the salt, Naomi’s voice fills the room, clear and commanding: ‘Guardians of the South, Element of Fire, bar the means of entry to Ayden and anyone intending to harm Claire and Sally and any occupant of this dwelling.’ Sally moves to the next quarter. ‘Guardians of the West, Element of Water, send confusion to Ayden should he seek to reach anyone within these walls.’ Her voice seems to gather strength into the room. Sally feels a shift in the atmosphere, as if something is tightening around them.

‘Guardians of the East, Element of Air, send back to Ayden the hurt he would cause to anyone in this home.’ Sally moves to the last quarter, dropping the fourth handful of salt. ‘Guardians of the North, Element of Earth, lend Claire
and Sally, and all within these walls, your strength should Ayden approach this place.’

Sally returns to the altar. ‘So mote it be,’ Naomi declares, then whispers: ‘Well done, you.’

‘Something’s changed. I really felt it,’ says Sally. ‘What about the rest of this salt?’

‘Hold on to it, you’re going to need it in a moment. Now this is the important part for you. Abbie, you can help with this, too. I want you both to visualize the circle of light that I drew around the room when we opened the temple. Can you see it in your mind?’

‘I think so.’ This is actually much more difficult than Sally expects.

‘Well, take a moment to get the image really strong and try to keep it there. It takes a lot of practice to be able to create and control images, but do your best. Now, we’re going to push that circle outward, widen it so that it surrounds the whole house, and then push it even further to the gate and the garden. Have we got that?’

After a moment, the other two nod.

‘Right. We’re going to put spikes on it, like a thick barbed wire, only made of white light. Can you see it?’

Sally finds this easier. She’s beginning to understand what Naomi is doing.

‘Inside the circle is a sheet of dense fog, so that even though we can still see through it to the ring of light and beyond, anyone looking
in
from outside can see only a grey mist. Really concentrate on that. Now, repeat this with me:

As Sally and Abbie master the words, the simple lines become a chant that gathers power and reinforces the images their minds have created.

Then, suddenly, it’s over and Naomi is extinguishing the candle.

‘Don’t relax, we haven’t finished yet. Come with me, Sally, and bring the rest of that salt. Perhaps you should check on Claire, Abbie. She’s bound to have picked up some of the energy from what we’re doing.’

Outside, having made sure there’s no one to observe them, Naomi tells Sally to seal the wider circle around the property. Starting at the front gate, they walk all around the cottage, sprinkling salt and chanting the spell while visualizing the sheet of fog and the ring of incandescent barbed wire beyond. Back again at the gate, Naomi gives a deep sigh of relief.

‘Oh, well done.’

‘I can’t say I think much of your idea of poetry,’ says Sally.

‘It doesn’t matter what it sounds like, so long as it’s easily remembered. And if at any time you feel uneasy, just visualize the barrier of light and repeat the spell. And now perhaps someone could put the kettle on. And something to eat wouldn’t go amiss. We’re all going to be starving after that.’

As Naomi packs away her magical implements, Sally sets about producing soup and sandwiches.

‘Exactly what we need,’ says Naomi. ‘You’re a lifesaver.’

‘No problem. Abbie’s taken some up to Claire.’

‘Good. And after we’ve eaten I’ll make a visit to the pool. And then I don’t think we can put off telling Claire any longer. Not about Ayden’s phone call, though—no point in worrying her needlessly. But she ought to be told about Ruth.’

Behind her, Naomi hears the key turn in the back door. She sets out across the grass towards the trees. Last night’s rain has left the garden dank, the grass muddy and spotted with worm casts. Clouds hang low, and the air is cold and heavy with moisture, promising to turn to mist in the early evening. As she enters the copse, there is silence; no birds sing on the bare branches, no small creatures skitter through the undergrowth. She’s conscious of her breath intruding on the stillness. The rain has washed the tree trunks black as ebony; the carpet of ivy leaves is polished jade. For a moment she catches sight of something moving that could be Cat, but it’s there and gone. The water in the stream is deep and, although the spring runs swiftly, the surface of the pool is dark and inert.

Naomi stands at the water’s edge, eyes closed, her mind reaching out, searching, feeling, touching. A prayer to the Goddess, the Mother. A plea for help and guidance.

‘What has happened to Ruth? Where is she? Will she come back?’ She forces her own thoughts to clear, leaving the way open for whatever she may be told. But there’s only the soft burble of the spring. Nothing. But still she has faith, even as she gives thanks and a blessing and turns to leave.

There, beside the path, a flash of white. She crouches down, pushing aside the grass, and pulls out something that has been caught on a frond of dried fern. A black feather, long and sleek, with the streak of white that had caught her eye. She recognizes it immediately as a flight feather from the wing of a magpie. There was a song they used to sing as children, a song about magpies.

She searches in the grass, stands up and scans the trees overhead. Frantic now, she hunts through the undergrowth, around the pool, runs along the path by the stream, tears at the bushes, the rocks, the brambles, anywhere. But no, there’s only one magpie feather. One for sorrow. The Lady has heard her, and She has given Her answer. There will be no joy.

Sally and Abbie are with Claire, trying to stop her from crying. Each choking sob jars her ribcage, sending a knife of pain down her side. Abbie is only too aware of the further damage this may be causing.

‘You’re going to have to stop this. You’re making yourself worse.’

‘Look, we know nothing yet,’ says Sally. ‘She may have wanted to be on her own, taken herself off for a couple of days.’ Even she realizes how stupid that sounds. ‘There may be all sorts of reasons.’

‘George is with Jack. He’ll let us know as soon as she turns up.’ Abbie tries to force Claire back onto the pillow.

‘This is all my fault. I should never have come here.’

‘There’s no way you’re responsible for what happened. Besides, that may have had nothing to do with Ruth running off like that. You know how she’s been lately.’ A knocking on the back door echoes through the house. ‘That’ll be Naomi.’