Chapter 9

Forest

Aquila grunted as she opened her eyes.

“What the ..?” she began as she struggled upright from the depths of a thorn bush. “Who the hell hit me?”

She staggered slightly, feeling things she was unaccustomed to feeling. Faint. Sick. Disjointed. Weak. Recent memory was temporarily unavailable. Before that .. it was confused, foggy.

I can think it thru. This is not a problem I cannot beat with a little application. But I don’t have to stand up while I do it.

Aquila sank down onto the ground and put her arms around her knees. Slowly, the strength started to return. The faint feeling dwindled. The nausea reduced. The sense of disjointedness, however, remained at full power, like a hangover after a not so good party.

Okay, she thought. I was on the island. I sent Kat to my place for safety. She’s a smart kid, she’ll make it there. I went into the house. The door seal had been broken. Carl did it by accident. It was quiet. Too quiet. No one answered when I called. I started for the stairs .. then changed my mind and went toward the kitchen. The new butler, the guy who got Kat creeped out, isn’t who they think he is. He’s a plant, a .. a saboteur, sent by Hitchcock. The others would dismiss any feelings of unease simply because the guy is new, a stranger but one who is supposed to be there – someone probably picked him up from the airport. Yeah, it’s coming back now. I went to confront him. I was in the kitchen. I asked him who he was and he lied to me. I asked him what he’d done, he didn’t answer with the truth. I went .. toward him …

Aquila was fighting to remember what happened after that because it had all happened so fast.

He .. backed up. I kept on going .. and then … There was this godawful wrenching pain, like … It was like an explosion inside my body. I got thrown out – no, I got torn out, and I landed .. here.

She looked round and her shoulders dropped.

I’m in the forest. Great … Some dumb ass idiot put the bomb together. So much for keeping it safe in three pieces. So much for trusting others. Jeez .. I should have taken it and locked it away at home. Question is now .. am I dead, or am I just disembodied? I guess there’s only way to find out. Go back an’ look.

Aquila uncoiled and straightened. She thought about it again. If that’s all the bomb did – throw me out here – it isn’t such a big deal. If I am dead, well, it’s unfortunate but I can still go back and the thing can’t hurt me again. It’s a one time weapon, and it’s been used. And if I’m just disembodied, the two of us can put it right.

She concentrated, searching for the exit point, that place where the veils were thinnest. It wasn’t there. Aquila tried to punch a hole thru, and she failed.

Then she understood how the weapon worked. It tore out the spirit and exiled it on the other side. Flamefalls from the first times would have died instantly. Merlin, however, had enhanced powers. She could exist, and function, separately. There was a chance, albeit slim, that she had survived the forced ejection of her soul.

But she wouldn’t survive very long. There was a limit to the length of time the vulnerable shell could last without the soul to nourish it. Aquila had a nasty feeling that Merlin wouldn’t be treated kindly in that house. She would at the very least be locked up and denied basic human rights like food and water. She might be chained up, possibly beaten. She would be seen as the enemy. Merlin could take punishment if she started out strong but the effect of the initial explosion must have weakened her.

And I’m stuck here, Aquila thought. What the hell do I do now ..?

*****

Time was a strange commodity over here. Each day was different, but, this side of the river, there was no climate, no day or night. It was simply a forest with paths, some pieces of open rough parkland but most of it was forest. It was limbo. The place after death and before judging. Aquila decided that waiting in the forest was pointless because she wasn’t going to get back any time soon. If she crossed the river, she could visit her parents, ask their advice. Form a council of war and marshal her troops, if she had to.

She set off, walking smoothly if not briskly. She still felt out of phase. She had what could only be described as an echo in her sight. If she took her time, the sensation was less. If she looked around, she saw .. and then the surroundings caught up again so she saw twice. It was like existing in two different time frames. So, while she felt a pressing need to hurry, she covered the ground evenly and didn’t rush. This really proved the old saying of less haste, more speed.

And then a voice called out to her.

“Um .. excuse me? May I trouble you, madam?”

Aquila halted and slowly turned to her left. “What is it?”

“You seem to know where you are and where you’re going. I woke up here .. recently, and I don’t understand.”

There was no easy way to say it. “Hate to tell you, but you’re dead,” she replied but she did try to soften the blunt edge.

“Oh. And I so wanted to see the house. It sounded wonderful.”

She nodded. “I’m going across the river. You can come with me if you’re ready for the judging.”

“There doesn’t seem to be any reason to linger here,” he agreed, falling into step beside her.

“What’s your name?”

“Hugh. Hugh Satterley.”

“Aquila,” she responded. “You remember what happened to you?”

“I was going to evaluate a new job offer. In San Francisco. I was met at the airport and .. well, I don’t know the city but we appeared to take the back streets. We stopped so I could admire the view across the Bay and then … I felt pain, briefly. A rather savage pain too. I woke up here.”

“The person who met you, did he have a name?”

“Yes, he did. He told me he was Randolph Hitchcock.”

“There’s a surprise … ” she muttered.

“Do you know the gentleman?” Hugh inquired.

“I’ve heard the name, yeah. An’, Hugh, he is no gentleman. He’s a vengeful, obsessive sonofabitch. He’s the reason I’m here as well.”

Hugh watched the path. “He seemed so .. mild. So modest and unassuming.”

“Yeah. He would. But, behind that mild mannered exterior is a heart which is rotten and a mind like a steel trap. He murdered you just because he needed to use your name. He could’ve taken you someplace, kept you there, let you go free once he’d had his revenge, but no. He killed you because you were in the way.”

Hugh stumbled and Aquila steadied him.

“That’s a little harsh,” Hugh remarked with true British reticence.

Aquila had to laugh. “You’re way too forgiving, Hugh. But don’t worry. He’ll pay for it. I just gotta figure out how to make it happen.”

They arrived at the river. “What happens now?” he asked quietly.

“I build my bridge an’ cross over. Your bridge will be built for you. When you cross, take your time. I’ll wait for you over there,” she pointed. “You’ll be okay.”

He nodded, his expression a shade anxious. Aquila began to build her bridge and, while she was fast, Hugh’s bridge was completed first. Aquila’s went from this bank to the other. His was the other way round.

“I’ll see you over there,” Hugh whispered and began his final journey.

Aquila walked across to the other side and, as soon as she set foot on the soil, the strange out of phase sensation stopped. The slight nausea and dizziness faded away to nothing.

“Man, that’s a long shadow if it can reach all this way,” she mused. “Powerful magic …”

Hugh stepped off the bridge and she grinned at him.

“Hey, you made it. Nice job, man!”

He looked bemused. “I did a good job?”

“You’re here, aren’t you? Okay, where d’you wanna go?”

“I have no idea,” Hugh admitted.

“I know someone who I’m sure will be happy to put you up for a while, just till you find your feet an’ you’re ready to choose your own place. He’ll be able to tell you all about the house. You have a lot in common.”

“Really? And he’ll put me up?”

“I’m sure of it. His name’s Joseph. He’s the butler you were going to … I don’t wanna say replace.”

“Follow in his footsteps?” he suggested.

“Right,” she nodded. “This way.”

*****

Joseph was in, and without Maude. He opened the door, blinked, and smiled. “Peri!” he exclaimed, wiping soil from his hands onto an apron.

“Ah .. not quite,” Aquila replied. She thought about explaining it, and the questions which would follow. “But Peri’s good enough. Joseph, I need a favor.”

“Anything,” he agreed at once.

“This is Hugh. He was … I’ll let him tell you. He’s a newbie. He needs a place to stay for a while.”

“Of course,” Joseph nodded. “Hugh, I’m Joseph. Please, come in and make yourself comfortable.”

“Most kind of you, Joseph,” Hugh replied.

It’s a two man butler convention, Aquila thought. The politeness is enough to drown you.

“Won’t you come in as well?” Joseph asked her.

“Got a situation back home. I need to go talk it over with my parents. Later, okay? Rain check.”

“I understand,” he nodded. “This .. situation? Is it to do with the message I received?”

“Yeah. Didn’t pan out quite the way Derek hoped .. or I hoped too, for that matter. Gotta run. You two .. enjoy yourselves.”

She backed down the path to the lane. Joseph waved then closed the door. Aquila dismissed them. Joseph would take Hugh under his wing. Hugh would probably end up living nearby. For now, she had other matters to think about. She ran.

*****

Joe opened the door. “Since when did you ever have to knock ..?” he began, then took a step back. “Aquila. Where’s Peri?”

“In trouble,” Aquila replied.

“Come on in. We’ll talk. Shauna!”

Shauna came in from the yard. “Aquila,” she acknowledged.

“Mom.”

“Peri’s in trouble,” Joe relayed. “Sit. Talk.”

“Does this have something to do with Peri’s last visit?” Shauna inquired, sitting right on the edge of the sofa.

Joe frowned. “Sodom ..?”

“The magicians back then, on orders from the priests, made a weapon targeted at us,” Aquila replied. “They got as far as shaping the pieces and placing vast amount of powers into them. Then we hit and the city got wiped. They never had the chance to assemble it or to test it, or to use it. Now these pieces have re-surfaced and they’ve .. found their way to the Legacy.”

“Oh my God … ” Shauna whispered. “Someone’s put it together and used it.”

“Is Peri dead?” Joe asked in a tight voice.

“I don’t know. The effect of this weapon is to forcibly and instantly tear the soul from the body and exile it over here. I can’t get back. And it’s only on this side of the river that I’m free of the side-effects. In the forest, I feel .. out of phase. Sick, faint. Slightly weakened.”

“Okay. Rest up for a while. Get strong,” Joe ordered.

“But not too long,” Shauna added. “Peri can’t last forever.”

“If she isn’t already dead, you mean,” Joe muttered.

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes,” Aquila responded. “I can’t get back to do anything. The door’s been slammed shut an’ I can’t open it.”

“Who’d do this?” Joe demanded, rising to pace and running both hands thru his hair. “Who’d be so stupid as to put this thing together? You did tell them, didn’t you?”

Aquila nodded. “I received assurances that it would not be assembled.”

“And you accepted those assurances. You trusted them.”

“I trust Nick. He had the key to the container.”

“Then he’s in trouble too.”

Aquila looked up. “They all are. This is just one part of a hugely complex plan, Dad. At the end of it, there’s revenge and death. I think there must be another artifact in that house, another magical construct. I’m not affected by it so I had to be taken down first by a weapon which doesn’t affect them. Without me there to protect them, Randolph Hitchcock will be able to do whatever he wants to them .. and he’ll get them to do it to themselves.”

“Let me just see if I understand this,” Shauna began. “A second magical construct aimed at the Legacy members but which doesn’t affect you .. was used on them so they would assemble the first magic construct aimed at Flamefalls but which doesn’t affect them. What does this second construct do?”

“Takes away their free will,” Aquila replied. “Nick would never have built the weapon otherwise. It’s some .. thing which exerts an influence. That’s how he got William to help him.”

“Sloan’s involved in all this?” Joe exclaimed.

“Yeah but he isn’t to blame. He had no choice. None of them have any choice. They were told to build the weapon .. an’ they did.”

“How’d these things get in there?” Joe demanded. “And why the hell didn’t you stop it?”

“I wasn’t there. I knew the components were in the house, Dad, but they were secured. It’s magic from the first times. It’s brutal. I was trying to see if there was a way to render it safe and then William turned up. I told you, it’s a hugely complex plan. I was watching him, he was watching me, keeping me away from the house. While I was doing that, the new butler arrived .. only he isn’t, he’s working for Hitchcock, and he must have brought the second construct with him. The real new butler was murdered. He’s staying with Joseph; I just dropped him off there.” Aquila shrugged. “It’s a mess, I don’t deny it. But what can I do? How can I get back?”

“What about the weapon? How did that get into the house?”

“William told Hitchcock of the long standing arrangement between the Luna Foundation and the university. Hitchcock sent it to Carl Chang, anonymously, knowing Carl would take it to the island for examination. It broke the door seal, Dad. That’s how tough this magic is.”

Joe sat down abruptly. “This guy’s smart. He’s covered all the bases.”

“How can I get back?” Aquila repeated.

“I don’t know if you can,” he replied.

*****

“That wasn’t exactly helpful, Joe,” Shauna murmured, watching Aquila standing in the yard.

“Helpful .. no, I guess not. It’s still the truth,” he pointed out. “I don’t know. None of us do. We’ve never faced this before.”

“Is there something we can do?” she asked.

“Such as?”

She shrugged. “Aquila told me she believes it’s a one time use weapon. It’s been used against her. She can’t get back .. but can we? At least if only to check on Peri. We have no bodies, we’re just spirits. Is the door slammed shut against all the Flamefalls on this side?”

Joe shook his head. “I'll go check.”

“If you can get back .. light a candle. It can only help, Joe. If you can destroy this weapon .. it may open the door for Aquila and a candle will light her way home.”

He nodded. “I’ll try. No promises.”

“Try real hard,” Shauna smiled. “It’s rare she asks for our help, Joe .. an’ I hate to see her like this.”

“Sure.” Joe hurried out.

Shauna hesitated then went outside to stand by her daughter. Aquila held her arms folded tightly around her body, and her eyes were guarded.

“How are you feeling?” Shauna asked.

Aquila twitched her shoulders. “Helpless .. but then I’ve been helpless since this started. I feel ineffective. Useless. Paralyzed. I want to fight this thing .. and I can’t, and, even if I could, I don’t know how.”

“It isn’t your fault.”

“Isn’t it? I could have acted when I first felt uneasy. But I didn’t. I tried to find a way to resolve it. It was a mistake.”

“You tried to do what was best, Aquila.”

She laughed bitterly. “Best isn’t always good.”

“What could you have done?” Shauna persisted.

“Gone to the boss.”

“Overridden every instinct you possess an’ asked him for help? You? Who stands on her own in the darkness? Who is so strong, she doesn’t need anyone else? We raised you to solve your own problems. Michael knows that. He’d tell you to go figure it out for yourself.”

“Nice speech, but I’m here an’ I can’t get back. How does that help anyone?”

Shauna put a hand on Aquila’s arm, fully expecting it to be shrugged away. She was surprised when it wasn’t.

“Aquila, those people are strong too. You can’t always be there for them.”

“I could’ve been.”

“No, you were afraid. It’s okay to be afraid. There are some times and some things which justify it.”

Now the hand was shrugged away. “No, you’re wrong.”

“Being afraid doesn’t mean being a coward.” Shauna flinched as Aquila turned to stare at her. She had to remind herself that this was her daughter. “You went there, didn’t you? You were prepared to die an’ save others. How is that being a coward? You didn’t know what was being planned! If you had, you would’ve done something. You’re a Flamefall, not God. You’re mortal and you make mistakes. No one’s perfect. Not even Aquila.”

“Everything happens for a reason … ”

“I’ve usually found that to be true,” Shauna agreed, “even if the reason is only discovered after the event.” She smiled gently. “You have to have faith in your husband and in your friends. They’ll come thru this, with or without you. Was everyone in the house? Were they all affected by this magic?”

Aquila’s face cleared of its frown. “No. Rachel Corrigan wasn’t there.”

Shauna nodded. “Then maybe she wasn’t there for a very good reason.”

*****

“Where is she?” Joe inquired in a whisper.

“Sleeping,” Shauna replied. “This has really knocked her sideways, Joe. She isn’t sick, but she’s very worried.”

“She told you that?” he frowned. Shauna just looked at him. “Right, stupid question. Well .. I tried. I can’t get back either. We’re all trapped on this side. And the few of us alive an’ still in the world who weren’t in the blast damage zone .. I don’t know. Maybe they can’t get thru but, if they can, they’ll find it’s on a one way ticket. Those magicians really knew what they were doing when they put this bomb idea together. If they had gotten to use it .. there wouldn’t be any Flamefalls in the world. And .. if it isn’t destroyed, the Flamefalls who are left are on the fast track to extinction.”

Shauna closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. “How can it still be affecting us? It’s been used. Detonated, if you like. Yet .. it’s still working.”

“Think of a nuclear bomb,” Joe invited. “Big explosion kills hundreds of thousands in one hit .. then kills many more with the radioactive fallout. I think it’s the fallout which is blocking us getting back.” He shrugged. “In time .. we’ll be able to make the journey again, but it could take years, decades, before the residue fades naturally.”

“Then what can any of us do?” she inquired.

“Trust the Legacy people, I guess,” he replied.

“Put trust in people who have no free will? In the people who did this to us?”

“Honey, they didn’t do this. Well, yeah, they did, but I don’t suppose they realize what they’ve done. They’re under the influence. You can’t blame them. I mean, c’mon. William Sloan? Giving up secrets he’s guarded for years? It’s totally outta character.”

“He’d do it for revenge,” Shauna remarked quietly.

“He might want to .. but he wouldn’t, not even to avenge himself on Derek Rayne. Using this magic to enslave people, to subvert their free will, and exploding this bomb .. it isn’t him. He wouldn’t use a tool, he likes to use his mind, he likes to get a psychological edge. No, these are the acts of someone who just doesn’t care anymore. And that scares me, Shauna. A man who doesn’t care is capable of doing anything to anyone.” Joe sighed. “I think he already has.”

“There has to be something we can try,” Aquila said from the doorway. “Some way of getting thru to the other side.”

“How?” Joe asked bluntly. “Sit around and wait for a medium to try contacting us?”

“Joseph got a message. Someone over here knew what was planned. If I have to, I’ll go to every soul this side of the river and I’ll find out how they knew.”

“And then?” Shauna pressed.

“Gray Veil. I can take her back over the river. She could punch holes thru to the other side,” Aquila answered. “She can do it one last time, for me.”

*****

Hugh opened the door to Joseph’s cottage. “Oh .. Aquila. Please, come in. It’s so nice to see you again. Will you stay for some tea?”

“I really can’t, Hugh, but thanks for the invitation. Is Joseph around?”

“He’s in his herb garden. I wanted to say thank you for bringing me here. We are getting along so well.” He followed after her as she headed thru to the back door. “He’s been telling me about a cookery school he’s thinking of starting. He’s asked me to help. It’s a wonderful opportunity.”

“Sure, go for it.” She opened the door and paused there.

Joseph looked so happy, on his knees, tending a batch of new plants. He glanced up.

“Joseph, I need a moment of your time,” she said.

He straightened. “Of course. Hugh, would you give us a few minutes?”

Hugh promptly retreated to leave them alone.

“This message. Who gave it to you?” Aquila asked.

“A woman. Tall. Dark haired. Very anxious. She knew Dr Rayne.”

Aquila thought back to the conversation she’d had with Nick. “What was her name ..? He did tell me … ”

The memory came. Long story cut short – Hitchcock was engaged to a woman named Alicia, but Derek was in love with her too. She was killed by a demon cos she didn’t stay by the car.

“Alicia! Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Joseph, where did you meet her?”

“I wouldn’t say it was exactly that, Peri. She found me. It was quite a distance. There was a lane, fields on one side, a wood on the other. It came over very black and I sheltered in the wood. She was in there, waiting for me. She called me by my name. Maude says the Legacy leaves a mark, that’s how she recognized me.”

“Okay, thanks. I’ll track her down.”

“Good luck,” Joseph urged soberly. “And .. will you tell me if it all works out?”

“Sure. And good luck with your cookery school. May even take a few lessons myself.” She smiled at him, hiding the gnawing sense of concern she felt inside. “Gotta run.”

“Take the back way. Go along the lane in that direction,” he pointed. “It’s more or less a straight line.”

“Thanks,” she nodded. “Later.”

*****

A wood. Fields on one side of a lane, a wood on the other. An anxious woman.

Yeah, she would be anxious. She knew what he planned to do. And death by demon .. even if you get thru the judging, it can be tough over here. If working for the Legacy, even in a support capacity, leaves a mark, so does death by demon. You get shoved out to the fringes, not totally trusted. How did you get so close to a demon that you were killed by one? That’s what people think, even if they don’t come out an’ ask. It can take a while for that kinda mark to fade.

Aquila hurried on into the growing twilight, heading for a wood on the fringes. The wood was probably huge. Beyond it were the so-called badlands. No one bad lived there, it was just the name for a massive expanse of nothing. The truly bad lived elsewhere. No one could cross over from that side to this, not once they’d been judged. At least, no one could cross unaided and without an escort. There were barriers to prevent it.

And that was the truly sad thing in all this. Alicia, dead these .. however many years, stuck on the fringes. Hitchcock, devoting his life to the cause of cold revenge, committing murder without a second thought yet planning it all so meticulously, would end up in another place entirely. All this effort, and they’d never be together.

Maybe that was why Alicia was so anxious. Why she’d betrayed her fiancé.

It was too late now. The warning had been given .. yet had been impossible to act upon. A cryptic message wasn’t enough to thwart the planning skills of Randolph Hitchcock. It didn’t bring enough light of understanding to dissipate or even pierce the darkness of his shadow.

For Joseph to have come all this way, Aquila mused, he must have really wanted to explore.

She reached the area Joseph had described. The twilight was quite deep here and the sky over the badlands was black with angry cloud. Thunder muttered in the far distance. Aquila plunged into the wood and began searching.

“Alicia! Alicia, if you’re here, answer me!”

Aquila paused to listen but only heard the thunder grumbling to itself.

“Alicia, for crying out loud! This is important!”

Aquila heard a rustling sound and a pale shape crept around a tree.

“Alicia ..?” she frowned.

“Yes. It’s too late, isn’t it?” the other woman said on a despairing sigh.

“For him, yeah. Not for Derek, not if you help me.”

Alicia closed her eyes. “What do you want me to do?”

*****

Aquila marched her away from the wood and back up the lane. Alicia didn’t want to leave the cover of the trees but Aquila didn’t give her any choice. Too much was riding on this.

“When we’re done, you can go back there if you want, but it’s a miserable place to spend eternity. You can do better.”

Alicia walked in silence.

Once Aquila could no longer hear the thunder and the night sky was empty of cloud, she halted.

“How did you know what he was planning?” she demanded.

“Randolph told me,” Alicia replied. “He talks to me. He visits spiritualists, mediums, psychics. Never the same one twice. He loves me so much .. yet he won’t listen. He is so determined. I can’t sway him at all.”

“He told you the entire plan.”

Alicia shook her head. “Only about the Eye of Thoth.”

“Say again?” Aquila frowned.

“The Eye of Thoth,” she repeated. “It’s a copper bowl with a stylized eye in the base. It’s from Ancient Egypt. The magicians there were proficient. Magic was a real power. Thoth is the god of magicians, as well as of scholars. Thoth is the Great Magician. Hence the bowl was named in his honor.”

“How does it work?”

Alicia shrugged. “Very easily. Fill it with ordinary water. Get your .. target, your victim, to look into it. Say ‘the Eye of Thoth’ and the magic is activated. The victim falls immediately under its spell.”

“And they lose their free will.”

“Not exactly,” Alicia replied. “It … It’s like they’re hypnotized. They’re open to suggestion. And they will act on those suggestions, even if they are self-destructive. They can’t resist the effect of the spell. But, like anyone in an hypnotic state, they can act normally, with the will to choose, outside the suggestions. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah,” Aquila nodded. “Is it permanent?”

“The bowl is used once, but, with the right suggestion, the effect can be used many times, and, yes, even permanently. You just need to put something in place the first time. Whenever I say .. a key word .. you will receive fresh orders, that kind of thing. If you don’t do that, you’d have to use the bowl again.”

That explained a lot about William and what he’d done. He had mentioned a bowl in Randolph’s collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. Some of his actions he couldn’t remember, some he could. And he’d been told which was which.

“How d’you break the spell? Do you know? Is it even possible?” Aquila asked, folding her arms.

“It can be done. Simply empty the bowl of its water and say the words of ritual greeting among Thoth’s followers – truth is sweet.”

That has to be down to me, Aquila reflected. I’m immune to this magic. But first I gotta break another magic spell, and that won’t be so easy.

“I loved Derek,” Alicia said quietly. “I knew it was wrong. I was engaged to Randolph but .. I loved Derek too. I don’t want him to die. That’s why I warned him – don’t believe your own lies.”

“It’s too late for that, Alicia. Derek and others are in danger. If Randolph gets into that house, it’ll be an exercise in cruelty. He’ll have them running rings around each other, killing each other, and the last one standing will be told to kill himself. Randolph will have gotten his revenge an’ won nothing.”

“You have to stop him. I died thru my own stupidity. I didn’t stay near the car. I wanted to help. It wasn’t Derek’s fault and he shouldn’t blame himself. It wasn’t Randolph’s fault either .. but what he’s done since … Yes, he is to blame. There is no one else.”

“I’ll try to stop him. I’ll try to save Derek and the others. What I can’t do is prevent Randolph going to a very bad place when his time comes to die.”

“I know,” Alicia whispered.

“So, keeping that in mind, do you wanna go back to your wood? Or do you wanna stay out here? I can’t see any mark on you which sets you apart.”

Alicia smiled sadly. “I should forget him .. but I can’t. I’ll go back to the wood. But maybe I won’t stay there forever.”

*****

Aquila knew it would be wiser to wait till morning but she wasn’t tired and, now she knew how to break the spell binding Nick and the others, she felt a driving need to bring this to a conclusion. With this firing her up, she considered it would be easy enough to track down Gray Veil. She just had to find the dance school. Even so, it took longer than she wanted.

The building was in darkness. Along a path to one side, she located a small house which was also in darkness. Aquila banged on the door, using her fist.

Eventually, a light glimmered behind closed drapes and the door opened.

“Hi. Remember me?”

“Yes, and with affection.”

“Good. I need your help.”

*****

“When we get over the other side, I’m gonna slow down. There’s a .. something affecting me. I’ll do what I can to help you,” Aquila said, “but it may not be much.”

“How do I get back?” Gray Veil asked as Aquila built the bridge. “If you’re returning to the world of life, who will do this for me so I can return to my school?”

“I’ll do it,” Shauna said, coming to join them. “Aquila has another job to do.”

“Thank you,” Gray Veil smiled.

They crossed and entered the forest. Aquila at once felt herself weakening and she stumbled. Shauna was there to support her, even though she could feel it too. Mother and daughter led the way together, Gray Veil bringing up the rear.

At last, they halted.

“I make you no promises, but I’ll try for you.”

Gray Veil took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Aquila concentrated as well, pouring strength into the other woman. Shauna watched, biting her lip, willing them to succeed.

“Pierce the shadow,” Gray Veil whispered and flung out a hand.

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