Beltane

by Alys West

  “You’re not the only one. Winston and I were up half the night. I was filling him in on all that’s happened and we got through a lot of beer.”

  At the roundabout with the A39, Finn went straight across, heading down a lane that knifed across the flat fields of the Levels. Zoe was silent for a few moments watching low, bent trees and small fields flash past. There was something else she had to say and it would be easier when she didn’t have to look at him. “I’m sorry I freaked out yesterday,” she said, her voice low.

  Finn glanced quickly at her before his eyes returned to the road. “That’s okay. I told you too much at once. I should have realised that you’d need time to figure it out.”

  Zoe laughed a little hollowly. “Yeah, like a decade! But we don’t have that kind of time. I figured that out after I had this dream. And then I remembered what you said yesterday and I realised -” as she strove to explain it, she understood what had really driven her to ring him “- that I’ve been scared ever since I found out that Maeve was looking for the damned doll. I know I don’t understand much of what’s going on but I do know that the only time I’ve felt safe is when I’ve been with you.”

  “That’s good to know.” Finn hand’s reached over to rest on hers.

  Moments later he moved his hand to change gear, turning into the narrow lane that led to the cottage. Stopping the car in the parking space, he said, “You need a hand getting down from there?”

  “I’ll manage,” Zoe said. She felt particularly ungraceful as she slithered out of the seat, clinging to the door frame. Luckily, Finn was busy getting her portfolio and his staff from the back seat so he didn’t see her ungainly exit.

  Meeting her at the front of the car, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Zoe peeked up at him. “Is Winston really going to be okay about us waking him up? I feel bad. It’s only just after six.”

  “Let’s get this straight. It’s alright to wake me up at 5.20am. And at about the same time yesterday. But you feel bad about waking Winston?”

  “Well, I’ve never met him.”

  “True. Just so I know, do you make a habit of this? Is being woken up at five something I need to get used to?”

  A warm glow started around Zoe’s heart and spread outwards. He was planning on getting used to her. “I promise I don’t make a habit of it,” she said, happiness bubbling inside of her.

  “Good.” Finn stopped, looked down and then they were kissing. Another long, hungry kiss that left them both breathless.

  Holding her close Finn said, his voice low and husky, “You know, I could just kick Winston out.”

  Zoe laughed. “Maybe later he can go do something that’ll keep him busy for a couple of hours.”

  Finn’s eyebrows rose. “A couple of hours, heh?”

  Zoe nodded. “At least!”

  “Okay, let’s get on with it.” Finn strode towards the cottage. “Sooner we get this figured out, sooner we get the place to ourselves.”

  Finn’s hand held hers and, laughing, Zoe found herself almost running to keep up. Reaching the cottage door, Finn hammered on it with his staff before he unlocked it. “You decent, Grant?” he called, shoving the door open. “Because we’ve got company.”

  A deep Scottish voice said, “What the hell?” Finn stepped inside and Zoe, knowing how small it was, hung back to give Winston time to wake up. She glanced around her. Back the way they’d come, the sunrise turned the sky a pale orange and in the distance the Tor and its tower were silhouetted against the changing light.

  Finn opened the curtains and the window before beckoning her inside. “Winston’s in no fit state to meet a lady so he’s scarpered into the bathroom. Come on, I’ll put the kettle on. Do you want coffee?”

  “Please,” Zoe said. The tiny cottage had transformed since yesterday. Then it had seemed almost empty, an impersonal rented space. Now stuff covered every available surface. A collection of old books was piled on the coffee table, a laptop rested in the bottom of the armchair with papers layered on top of it. Panniers and a sports bag cluttered the floor. The kitchen surfaces were crowded with plates, take away cartons and empty beer bottles. There was also an unmistakable smell of curry.

  Finn piled plates in the sink before filling the kettle. That suddenly seemed deeply incongruous. Weren’t electric kettles a bit conventional for a druid? “Can’t you boil water with the power of the earth?” she said, walking over to lean against the kitchen counters.

  He studied her face, his eyes wary. “Is that a joke?”

  Zoe met his gaze steadily. “I really want to know. I think, maybe, I’m starting to get that you’re a druid. The rose helped.” She smiled, a little ruefully. “It was a smart move to give it to me again. Because I finally realised that I’d felt the energy or the power that you used to make it. I don’t understand how you channel energy from the earth but I’m starting to see that you can.”

  Finn took a single step towards her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her close. His cheek rested on the top of her head. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  Chapter 26

  They were standing like that, not another word spoken, when the bathroom door opened. “Oh, hello!” Winston said, sounding like someone from a ‘Carry on’ film, and they sprang apart. Her cheeks burning, Zoe swung her hair to cover them. But then Finn was making introductions. “Zoe, this is Winston Grant.”

  Winston grasped her hand and, to her surprise, kissed her on the cheek. “Much as I could have done without the wakeup call, it’s good to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “Good to meet you too,” Zoe murmured, wondering what exactly Finn had said. Winston wasn’t anything like she’d expected. In dark grey t-shirt and tight jeans with shoulder length black hair flowing around his face, he was very good looking in an edgy kind of way.

  “And McCloud,” Winston said, pointing at Finn as he walked backwards towards the bed. “Less smooching and more coffee making!”

  Finn made a rude hand gesture at his friend before taking three mugs and a jar of instant coffee from a cupboard. “To answer your question,” he said quietly to Zoe, “I can use the earth’s energy to boil water but it takes a lot longer than a kettle.”

  “Oh,” Zoe said, realising his answer didn’t surprise her. “I guess that’s kind of handy if there’s a power cut.”

  Finn laughed and Zoe joined in. She saw Winston glance over at them. I’m changing their dynamic, she thought. It’s a boys club and I’ve just barged in.

  When the coffee was made she took a mug over to Winston. He thanked her and she said, “I’m really sorry about waking you up so early. It’s just that I had another dream and I think it’s important.”

  “Is it of Finn in the stone circle again?” Winston sat on the edge of the bed putting on his boots.

  Zoe swallowed. It was hard to get used to the fact that someone she’d only just met knew about – and, even more amazingly, accepted - her dreams. “Yes.”

  “Then you were right to call whatever the time.” Winston’s voice dropped. “And I’m glad you’re here because now he’ll stop fretting about you.”

  “Fretting?” she whispered.

  “Aye.” Winston winked. “Though he’d kill me for telling you.”

  “Oh,” Zoe said, inadequately.

  Winston took a swig of coffee. “It’s a good job he met you. Maeve can produce some seriously powerful magic and we’re in danger of being totally bloody outclassed. Even the two of us together. If your dreams can tell us what to expect then he’s in with a chance.”

  “But it’s not Maeve,” Zoe said. “That’s why I thought this dream was important, why I had to tell Finn about it straight away. The hooded figure is this woman with a crone’s face.”

  “I’m not sure that changes as much as you think. This woman – whoever she is – is almost undoubtedly a spellworker and she’s got it in for Finn. He’s never used magic as a weapon in his life. Goes against everything he believes in. I’m a we
e bit more -” Winston gave a small shrug “- pragmatic about these things. There’s some bad shit out there and someone’s got to deal with it.”

  Eyes widening, Zoe spun to look at Finn. Oblivious to her concern, he sat on the sofa flicking through a large black book as he drank his coffee. “Oh my God, I didn’t know....” Zoe trailed off. She felt so out of her depth here. The idea that magic could be used as a weapon was another thing that had just leapt out of the pages of a book. But the fear in Winston’s words was unmistakable.

  She hurried over and sat next to Finn. Unable to stop herself, she reached out and brushed his arm, needing to feel the reassurance that always came when they touched. Finn briefly glanced at her, a half smile warming his eyes. His fingers captured hers. He brought their clasped hands to rest on the sofa cushions and Zoe realised that the tingle had gone.

  Puzzled, she glanced at him, squeezed his fingers but nothing changed. She was about to tell him but stopped when Winston moved the laptop onto the floor and sank into the chair opposite.

  “You know, Zoe, I’ve met a few people who claimed to be able to see the future,” Winston said. “Mainly they were a bit delusional but Finn says you’re the real deal.”

  Zoe blinked. “Does he?”

  “And from what I’ve seen of your picture of the stone circle, I’d say that he’s not wrong.” Winston leaned forward, his dark eyes watching her face intently. “So what else have you got for us, Zoe the seer?”

  With a flutter of anxiety, Zoe unzipped her portfolio and took out a drawing. “This is the dream I’ve just had.” She handed it to Finn. He studied it for a long moment and she saw his face harden with tension.

  “Whoever this crone is she’s not just got it in for me. She wants my staff as well.” He passed the drawing to Winston.

  Zoe gasped. Of course! Why hadn’t she realised that the broken stick the crone held over the fire was his staff? His hand reached out to reclaim hers and she gently squeezed it, hoping to convey through that single touch all of her care and concern for him.

  “That’s not good.” Winston picked up the thick black book that Finn had been looking at earlier and opened it at a page marked with a scrap of paper. “Aye, it’s part of the ritual. It says the staff has to be broken in the presence of its owner.”

  “She has to have me and the staff in the circle to make this work?”

  “That’s what the book says. The ritual requires you and the staff at sunset at Beltane,” Winston said.

  “Alright,” Finn said. “But how’s she going to make me do it? Why would I give up my staff knowing it’s going to be destroyed?”

  “By the look of this -” Winston gestured to Finn’s image in the drawing “- you’re in no position to argue.”

  “True.” Finn grimaced. “Do you think...” He broke off, looked down at Zoe and added quickly, “Never mind.”

  For a moment there was silence with both men seeming lost in their own thoughts before Winston said, gesturing to both of her drawings of the stone circle, “I know which of these you drew first, Zoe. But is that the order they’re going to happen in?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t remember anything about my dreams after I draw them.”

  “But you remember dreaming of the crone?” Finn said.

  “Yes. Back in October last year,” Zoe said.

  Winston’s eyebrows rose. “When in October?”

  “At the end.”

  “Around Samhain?” Winston said.

  “He means Halloween,” Finn explained.

  “Then yes. I dreamt of this woman actually on Halloween because I remember thinking how bloody appropriate it was,” Zoe said.

  A look passed between Finn and Winston. “Why? What is it?” she said, glancing between the two of them.

  “Maybe nothing.” Finn smiled briefly but his eyes stayed tense. “Was that the night of Halloween?”

  Zoe thought for a moment. “No, I was working at the cinema on Halloween and it was a late one with a horror movie double bill and I remember thinking if anything’s going to give me nightmares it’s this. But then I didn’t have any more of the really freaky dreams until I came to Glastonbury.”

  There was a pause. The guys exchanged another glance before Winston said, “You had other dreams about the crone around the same time?”

  Zoe nodded. “I had a series of them. Night after night running up to Halloween.”

  Winston tapped his fingers on the drawing. “Did you draw those dreams as well?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “And did you keep them?” Winston said.

  “Yes. I have a rule about throwing things out. It’s stupid really but I started it when I was a student and couldn’t tell good work from bad. So I keep everything unless it’s obviously rubbish. These drawings were freaky as hell but technically pretty good. I shoved them to the back of the wardrobe and forgot about them until I drew the crone again this morning.”

  “It’s lucky that you kept them. We’re going to need to see them,” Winston said. “They could be important.”

  Zoe looked between the two of them, read the identical tension on their faces. “There’s something you’re not telling me,” she said quietly.

  A significant look passed between the men before Winston nodded very slightly. “We think the crone could be Maeve,” Finn said. “It’d be one hell of a coincidence if there were two women who want to kill me at Beltane.”

  “But the crone doesn’t look anything like Maeve,” Zoe said. “She’s nowhere near that old.” Unbidden the memory of Maeve’s face, looking tired and almost elderly over breakfast and then startlingly rejuvenated only hours later popped into her mind. “Oh!”

  “What?” Finn said.

  “This might sound a bit crazy but could Maeve be using wi-” Zoe broke off. She knew it was silly but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to say the word. Not in connection to Maeve “- erm, spells to change the way she looks?”

  “It’s okay to say it, you know.” Finn leaned in, his voice deep and low as he whispered in her ear, “Witchcraft.”

  “It’s alright for you.” Zoe nudged him in the ribs. “You’re a druid. Witchcraft and magic are part of your world but it’s all new to me.”

  Finn grinned. “You see, you can say it.”

  “And I was asking a serious question before I was so rudely interrupted,” Zoe said.

  “You’re wasting your time asking him serious questions,” Winston said. “But I’ll give you an answer. It’s possible. Maeve could do that. Why do you ask?”

  Zoe explained about the change in Maeve’s appearance on Monday. Finn nodded. “That sounds like magic.”

  “I don’t get it,” Winston said. “No spellworker has unlimited power. Why would she use it to give herself a facelift?”

  “Vanity?” Zoe said. “That’s usually why women worry about their appearance.”

  Winston pointed at the hooded figure in the drawing. “Or because she looks like a circus freak if she doesn’t?”

  Zoe’s eyes opened wide. “You’re not really suggesting that without magic she’d look like that?”

  “I don’t know.” Winston pushed his hair away from his face. “Maybe. At the moment all we’ve got to go on is your drawings. That’s why it’s important that we see these other dreams, the ones you had back in October. The more information we have the better prepared Finn’ll be for what’s going to happen in this stone circle.”

  Unable to argue with that, Zoe turned to Finn. “How soon do you need to see these other drawings?”

  Finn’s fingers tightened on hers. “Soon.”

  Zoe sighed. “I was afraid you were going to say that.” She glanced up at him, saw caution in his eyes, tension in his jaw. He thinks I’m going to argue, she guessed. But she couldn’t. If the drawings from October would somehow help to keep him safe then she had to go home to get them. She knew without asking that Finn wouldn’t agree to her coming back.

&
nbsp; “Looks like you’re getting your way after all,” she said slowly. “I’m going home.”

  Finn studied her face for a long moment. “Whether it’s Maeve or not in the stone circle I need to know you’re safe.”

  “I know. I get that.” Zoe looked down for a moment to summon up the courage for what she wanted to say. Flipping her hair away from her face, she peeked up at him. “But it’s too soon.” Fearing she’d said too much, she held her breath.

  Finn didn’t meet her gaze. “It’s only for a few days. Until this is over.”

  That wasn’t the answer she’d been hoping for. She wanted to know that he felt the same. She stared at her hands, wishing she could take her words back.

  “Can I see the other pictures from your dreams?” Winston said.

  “But Finn’s not seen them,” she said. They were all of him. It didn’t seem right to show them to his friend first.

  Winston’s eyebrows rose. “Tell me when you’re ready to share.” Crossing to the small kitchen area, he muttered, “I need more coffee for this.”

  Zoe took three drawings from her portfolio and handed them to Finn, keeping back the one of him at the Holy Thorn. As forty-eight hours had passed since she’d drawn it she was starting to think that picture was nothing more than wish fulfilment.

  Sipping her coffee, she nervously watched Finn’s reactions. He studied the one of him on the Tor for a moment and then muttered, “I can see why Maeve knew where to find me.”

  He dropped that onto the coffee table and looked at the sketch of him walking through the rain on Saturday night. He put that down without comment, turned to the drawing of the garden after the Green Man’s tree exploded. “I look fucking terrified.”

  “That’s why I knew you weren’t a burglar or an axe murderer.” She hesitated before adding, “I still don’t know why you were at Anam Cara on Sunday night.”

  Sitting close to him she felt his body tense, watched as his head turned away. “Because of Cat.”