Beltane

by Thea Hartsong

  Chapter 15. Seeing double

  When I got back to college after our trip to London the big thing everyone was discussing were the preparations for the May ball, the pinnacle of the Brockbourne social calendar, except for graduation. Personally I was dreading the whole of May. Not only because it looked as though I was going to have to fend off a bunch of wannabe occultists on the first of the month, but also because on the third it would be the first anniversary of dad’s car crash.

  Over the last few days of April I noticed Shanty hovering nearby whenever I got off the college bus, or when I went down to the Post Office. She never approached me, too scared that Rebekah would spot her I imagine. I couldn’t decide if she was watching to make sure no black witches from the Sisterhood tried to abduct me, or if she actually wanted to abduct me herself. Either way I’m afraid I ignored her completely.

  I was determined to look into this thing in my own time and in my own way. If I could get through the next couple of months without anything untoward happening, then I planned to use the summer break when I’d have plenty of time on my hands to devote to the task of looking into my past.

  In the mean time I decided to keep my eyes and ears open and see what happened. There wasn’t much else I could do. I could hardly head off to New York, and demand that someone exhume my mother on the grounds that someone had told me I was actually the daughter of a Goddess – they really would lock me up in a lunatic asylum and probably throw away the key too.

  In spite of all the excitement about it I wasn’t planning to go to go to the Brockbourne May ball until the night before it was due to take place. Rebekah surprised me in the kitchen of Rose Cottage, handing me a large cardboard box wrapped up with a silk bow.

  “It’s an early birthday present TT.”

  I pulled the ribbon off and opened the box, peeling the tissue paper aside to reveal a beautiful emerald-green full length ball gown.

  “Wow!” I exclaimed, holding it up against myself, ”it’s beautiful.”

  “I think I got your size right. Why don’t you go and slip it on?”

  When I finally came back downstairs wearing the dress I had a flashback to my thirteenth birthday party. At least this time I wasn’t wearing orthodontic braces.

  “You look lovely.” Rebekah ushered me out into the garden for some photographs.

  “I wasn’t planning on going to the ball you know,” I said, as she took her first shot.

  “I know that,” she said, giving me a serious look, “I just think it’s important that you don’t let yourself become a recluse. I want you to be able to have a normal life. You need to be around ordinary young people, like yourself”

  “I don’t have an escort to accompany me,” I said, pointing out gently that she was blocking the camera lens with her thumb.

  “Then you’ll have to do a Cinderella and find one at the ball.”

  Not wanting to go completely alone I threw together some snacks and arranged for Millie, Sim and Lucy to meet at my place before we set off for the ball. Sim hoovered up the entrees in a single mouthful and was getting stuck into the crisps when the sound of a car horn outside made Millie and Lucy jump to their feet and rush to the window.

  When we stepped out of the door there was a pink stretch limo parked in front of the house and a uniformed chauffeur standing next to it. We would certainly be making a nice subtle entrance. The others piled in and I was just about to follow them when I saw a figure standing in the shadows next to the cottage. It was Jem Masterson.

  I knew it was a foolish thing to do, I don’t even know why I did it; I just couldn’t stop myself. I told the driver to wait a second and walked over to him.

  Under his long dark coat I could see he was wearing a bow tie and a tuxedo.

  “Are you going to the ball?” I asked him. He seemed confused and then looked down at his clothes murmuring dismissively.

  “No. My mother’s holding a party.”

  “Well,” I said backing away, “I hope you have a nice time.”

  “Thea!” The urgency in his voice stopped me in my tracks. “I need your help.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked uncertainly.

  “I need you to come with me. Now… please!”

  He sounded genuinely desperate. I began to shake my head, my friends were waiting, I was on my way to the May ball, I didn’t have time for this.

  As if to highlight the thought the horn on the limo sounded. I looked around to see Millie gesturing at me to hurry back.

  “Sorry,” I said, “gotta go.”

  “I saved your life,” he whispered to me huskily, “don’t you think you owe me something for that?”

  He had me there, I couldn’t deny it. Whether I liked it or not, whether I liked him or not, I did owe him. “You guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you later,” I called back to the limo.

  Millie pulled a face and shook her head at me in disgust. She was right, I knew I was being stupid. I just couldn’t stop myself. I turned back to Jem as the doors to the limo shut and the engine caught.

  “This had better be important.”

  “It is,” he replied, “I promise.”

  Even if I wasn’t sure how much weight to give to a promise from Jem Masterson at least he seemed grateful I’d agreed to help him.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “You’ll see,” he responded, indicating that I should follow.

  Parked in a lane a few hundred yards from the entrance to the cottage was a bright red sports car. Jem pointed a set of keys at it and the lights blinked as the locks released.

  “This is yours?” I asked incredulously, “I didn’t even know you could drive.” He held passenger the door open and guided me into the seat with his hand.

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me Thea.”

  I instantly felt certain as he said it that there was a lot I didn’t want to know about him. However it was too late to get out now, the die was cast. The engine caught with a deep rumble and gravel sprayed behind us as Jem pressed hard on the accelerator and we swung out into the road.

  I had never been so confused about a person in my life. Sneaking a glance at his profile as he focused on his driving I couldn’t help feeling the familiar butterflies in my tummy. I’d always wondered how anybody could find someone attractive that they neither trusted nor liked. Now I knew.

  After a few minutes I knew where we were headed and sure enough a couple of miles further on we sped through the gates to Draxton Manor. The driveway was decorated with hanging lanterns, and when we reached the house itself the meadow had been transformed into a parking zone for dozens of large expensive-looking luxury cars. A party was obviously in progress as I could see people dressed in long black capes and wearing Venetian style masks moving towards the house.

  “What’s going on?” I said, “why have you brought me here?”

  Jem climbed out of the car and then leaned back in to answer me.

  “I told you. I need your help. Please?”

  Without saying another word he began to walk up the steps towards the house. I sat for a moment reviewing my options. At least if I didn’t like whatever it was he wanted from me I could get his mother to call me a cab so I could get back to the ball. Sighing I slammed the car door and hurried after him.

  Jem didn’t enter the house by the main entrance. Instead he led me around to the side towards a set of ramshackle outbuildings. He stood waiting next to a pile of logs, in front of an iron barred gate which completely filled an alcove leading into what looked like a barn of some kind. Through the gate, lit by a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling was a dingy stone corridor with what appeared to be store rooms on either side. Each of the doors had metal grille window set into them, making them look a little like old-fashioned prison cells.

  I stopped a good distance away from the iron gate and watched Jem cautiously, there was something weird about this whole thing, I could s
ense it clearly. There were goose-bumps running up my spine. There was no way I was going in there with anybody. However it didn’t seem as if that was what he wanted as he made no attempt to enter the building himself.

  “Can I use your mobile?” he asked.

  I dug in my bag and pulled out my phone, handing it to him. The instant the phone was in his hands I felt my breath being cut off, as if something was squeezing the life out of me. It took me a moment to realize that an arm had been clamped around my throat from behind.

  “Get her inside quickly!”

  As the words left his mouth I found myself being hauled like a sack of flour towards the iron gate. Jem pulled a key from his pocket, released the lock, and swung the gate back on its hinges. Throwing out my arms to either side I tried to resist, but the crushing weight against my neck was beginning to make me dizzy and my fingers couldn’t maintain their grip on the crumbling stone around the gatepost.

  I was on the point of collapsing unconscious when something bizarre happened. I heard Jem’s voice shout “Lechkov!”

  There was a dull thud and a groan of pain. The pressure round my neck loosened, and I was able to pull myself free. Gasping a breath of air into my lungs, I twisted around to see what was going on behind me.

  I was faced with an extraordinary and confusing sight. The huge psychiatric nurse- cum-manservant Lechkov was clutching his massive head, a trickle of blood seeping through his fingers.

  Jem, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, stood over him brandishing a log in his right hand. He had presumably struck out, forcing him to release me. What made the scene remarkable was that Jem was also standing on the other side of the injured Lechkov looking furious.This Jem was wearing the evening suit under a dark coat I had seen him in earlier that evening. He was holding my mobile phone, and looking daggers at the other Jem…. there were two Jems.

  So that was the answer to the Jekyll and Hyde mystery. The thought passed through my head quite calmly even though I was on the verge of compete panic; they were identical twins.

  T-shirt Jem, the one holding the log, spoke first taking a step towards me.

  “Thea are you alright?”

  I drew back into the corridor. I wasn’t ready to trust any Jem Masterson again for the foreseeable future.

  “What are you doing with her? Why is she here?” he said, aiming the questions at Evening-suit Jem, who gave a sneering smile.

  “Mind your own business.”

  “This is my business!” T-shirt Jem threw the words back at his mirror image, and moved to block the gate with his body glancing back momentarily in my direction. “She’s my business.”

  The two Jems stood glaring at one another with the same face. Seeing them together at last it was possible to see some minor differences between them, aside from the clothes. T-shirt Jem seemed slighter, more delicate, while evening- suit Jem’s features seemed a tiny bit thicker, and coarser; as if he had been over indulging his appetites. Evening-suit Jem was speaking now,

  “Our darling mother needs the girl. You wouldn’t want to disappoint her would you?

  “I don’t care what she wants.” T-shirt Jem answered. “I never have. You know that as well as I do. And I don’t see why you should all of a sudden either.”

  “Step aside big brother. I’m afraid you’re not the Alpha twin anymore.” As he spoke he gave a nod.

  Lechkov, who had been quietly moving to around to flank the second Jem lumbered into action. Ducking under another swipe of the log aimed at his skull he grasped T-shirt Jem in a bear hug crushing both of his arms against his sides. Dragging him off his feet he hauled him aside and simply walked away carrying him towards the house, like a rag doll.

  Evening-suit Jem watched until they were out of sight, before turning his attention towards me. There was a malevolent gleam in his eye which reminded me that it must have been him I’d run into in the stables brandishing a whip.

  I retreated into the corridor as he started towards me. With a sudden rush of speed he darted past the gate and launched himself forward. I side stepped, causing him to lose his footing and slip. As he tried to recover his balance I heaved open the door to one of the store rooms, slipped inside and slammed it shut behind me fastening the bolt.

  His face pushed up against the grille, I could smell slightly sour breath. He grinned nastily.

  “Congratulations Thea Hartsong. You’ve put yourself exactly where I was going to put you myself.” The sound of a key turning in the lock punctuated the statement with a chilling finality.

  I waited until the sound of his footsteps faded, and I’d heard the Iron Gate at the end of the corridor clang shut before I ventured a look around my prison. It was a brick store room filled with an array of dusty boxes, garden tools, and wooden pallets. The walls looked damp and there were patches of mould growing on them, which made the air smell musty.

  I sank down on a crate and put my head in my hands. One thing was crystal clear I was in big trouble. From what Evening-suit Jem had said it seemed that Circe Masterson needed me to be here. It was the first of May – the festival of Beltane. It was obvious that I was going to be the special guest star at a witches Sabbath.

  At least my friends knew who I was with. They’d seen Evening-suit Jem pick me up from Rose Cottage. Perhaps they’d get tired of waiting for me at the ball and…and what? Ride to the rescue? Gatecrash a party at the home of one of the richest women in the district – a pillar of the community, and a close friend of the local police force?

  I had to admit to myself that it wasn’t a very likely scenario. With a sinking feeling I realized something else even worse. Evening-suit Jem had taken my phone. He could text anything he liked to Millie and the others and they would think it came from me.

  I sank down against the wall and tried to rack my brains for a way out of all this. If this were only one of my mythological tales I’d be able to use my magical powers to free myself with a single bound. Unfortunately myths were myths and the reality was that, whatever nonsense Shanty and Circe believed about me, I was caught like a rat in a trap.

  The instant I thought of rats I heard a scuffling sound from the back of the room. A shiver of horror went down my spine. I’ve never really been fond of rats, not since I saw a movie about giant mutant rats during a sleepover when I was twelve.

  The noise came again only closer this time. Backing myself up against the door, and grabbing a rusty spade from a hook on the wall I stood watching the pile of cardboard boxes intently, ready to defend myself against an attack of killer rodents, when the figure of a man shuffled into sight. I recognized him right away in spite of the poor light.

  “Doctor Masterson?” I asked tentatively.

  He lifted his head and peered towards me. It was definitely him, the patient I had seen at the Lodge, and whose file I’d seen. This was Jem’s father… both Jems’ father? Although his face was hollow and drawn his eyes twinkled in the darkness.

  “Is that you Thea Hartsong?

  I stepped forwards into the light which was seeping through the grille from the corridor. His face lit up.

  “Ah! It is!”

  He seemed on the verge of embracing me then, much to my relief, stopped himself, and shook his head sadly.“I can’t tell you how sorry I am to see you here.”

  A hacking cough suddenly racked his emaciated frame. Before I knew it I’d taken him by the arm and helped him to sit on the packing case. Squatting beside him I waited impatiently until the cough subsided. I had a million questions I wanted to ask him.

  “How do you know who I am?” I asked.

  He took in a wheezing breath before answering. “I recognized you the moment I saw you at the hospital. You look just like your father.”

  “You knew my dad?”

  “We were colleagues…and friends. I was his technical support.”

  “Support for what?” I interjected.

  “For his research project,” he replied as if it
were obvious.

  “Here in the New Forest?” I asked.

  “Of course.”

  “But he never told me anything about coming here,” I argued, “I didn’t even know he’d ever been to England.”

  Doctor Masterson shrugged his bony shoulders before answering. “He was going to tell you everything Thea. He prepared a package for you explaining it all.”

  “For my sixteenth birthday?” The words almost stuck in my throat.

  He nodded and repeated the words back to me, his voice sounded as dry as sandpaper.

  “For your sixteenth birthday,” he looked at me closely, “though I can hardly believe you’re that old.” Lowering his voice still further I had to lean in to catch what he was saying, “…electronics. That was my field. Built up a successful business in it. It was my responsibility to get it all on tape you see?”

  I didn’t see at all and told him so.

  “I set up the cameras in the grove and he, your father, went into the pool. The next thing I remember is that most of my equipment was wrecked. I saw something in the water. Something….Anyway suddenly there he was again and in his arms was a tiny baby.”

  He reached a hand out and touched my arm, almost as if he wanted to confirm that I was real.

  “You.”

  We sat for a moment in silence as I took on board what he’d said. So Shanty had been telling the truth all along. My mother wasn’t my real mother after all. My true mother was the woman I’d seen that day in the grove and in the pool. The Mistress of the Wild Hunt. The Goddess Frijja. I actually was what Shanty had tried to tell me I was. But how could that be possible, and what did it mean?

  My mind was reeling as Doctor Masterson explained how he had helped to smuggle my father and me back into the States through contacts in the shipping industry. Together he and my father had laid a false trail by inventing a dead wife, and an empty plot in the graveyard.

  “It’s surprising what you can do when you have plenty of money,” he

  added, obviously aware of the irony as he looked around at the filthy dungeon we were both inhabiting.

  “What happened to you? And why would you do something like that for my dad? For me?”

  “First and foremost I’m a scientist,” he said, as if this explained everything.

  I waited. Eventually after a short silence he continued to speak.

  “What I saw and experienced that night changed me forever. I learned that there are things in the world which cannot be explained rationally. I… I wanted to keep you both safe. I failed.”

  It was hard to tell in the poor light, but I thought he might have tears in his eyes.

  “You asked what happened to me? The answer is love”

  I waited again, but this time he needed prompting. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped as if he was carrying a great weight on them.

  “I promised your father never to speak a word of what happened to a living soul. It was a pact between us to guard the secret until you were old enough to know the truth. Unfortunately I’m a hopeless liar, particularly with anyone I care about. My wife Circe knew something had happened that night in the grove though I swore blind nothing had. She pried the whole story out of me bit by bit. She used every weapon in her armory. She even threatened to take the twins away, telling me that she couldn’t be married to a man who kept secrets from her. When I finally did blurt out the story to her she pretended not to believe it, and told me I must have been drunk or that I’d read too many of her novels, so I showed her the only recording that survived.

  There isn’t much to it. Ten minutes of white noise fills the screen, then it finally clears and shows a grainy monochrome image of your father emerging from the pool holding you in his arms. I swear to you I had no idea that my wife was an Occultist, a follower of the left-hand-path, though Lord knows I should have suspected it when I look back on the way she brought up our children. Circe is a woman of infinite patience. She waited until the time was absolutely right before she showed her hand.

  About three years ago when I was planning a business trip the States, so that I could meet up with your father to discuss his plans for you when you finally reached sixteen, my wife began putting hallucinogenic drugs into my food. Within a couple of months my behavior had become so erratic that she succeeded in having me sectioned, and locked up as a mental patient in the Lodge. It was all very convenient; she’s on the board of governors there. Once I was under lock and key and she had control of my fortune, she had someone break into my computer so that she could track both you, and your father down.”

  I could barely believe what I was hearing, it was all so incredible. Yet why would this sickly shell of a man lie to me? What would he have to gain? What he said next shocked me to the core.

  “Your father’s death was no accident.”

  He looked at me imploringly, as if he needed my forgiveness for something. “It’s my fault he’s dead. If I’d kept my mouth shut….” His voice cracked and then failed.

  I wrapped my arms around myself. I wasn’t sure I could take much more of this.

  “That’s nonsense,” I said trying hard to keep my voice level, “if it wasn’t a genuine accident then whoever set it up is to blame, not you.”

  He smiled as if to thank me for my words whether he believed them or not.

  “I’m certain the so called accident was the first in a chain of events designed to draw you to this very place at this precise time,” he added. “The ceremony is tonight.”

  “Beltane” I said, encouraging him to continue.

  “The celebration of new life. I’m sure this whole prophecy business Circe’s so obsessed with is connected in some way to the twins. Jem and Jem.”

  I looked at him to see if I’d heard correctly. His face looked skeletal in shadowy room.

  “They have the same name?”

  He seemed slightly thrown by the question.

  “No. Well yes. In a way. It’s really Jeremy and James, but in the family we’ve always called them our two little Jems. Though as you may have noticed they’re like chalk and cheese. Jeremy, the younger by two minutes, is truly his mother’s son. He’s been nothing but trouble since the day he was capable of opening his mouth to tell a bare-faced lie.

  His older brother James took care of him for most of his childhood, making excuses for his behavior and protecting him, though I think a lifetime of taking punishments for a brother who doesn’t seem to appreciate the sacrifice may finally be wearing thin. He’s only stayed here in Baring because Circe used me to put pressure on him to return here. He’s terrified she’ll do something to hurt me, though what she could do to me that’s worse than this I’m sure I can’t imagine.

  I almost succeeded in regaining my freedom a few days ago. I managed to escape from the Lodge only to hitch a ride with my own dear wife. Unfortunately she carries an unlicensed pistol in the car. Why she didn’t just shoot me and have done with it I can’t begin to guess.”

  There was something nagging at me, something I needed to remember. While I was searching for it I quickly asked another question.

  “Why does nobody around here know that they’re twins?”

  “They’ve spent most of their time in boarding schools abroad. James narrowly avoided a prison sentence last year so when Circe brought them both back to Baring it seemed easier to let James register and keep Jeremy at home. Though of course Jeremy isn’t the stay at home type.

  “Single and twain” I said, “twins. Two and one at the same time. The prophecy. How does it run?”

  An uncannily high man’s voice grating like chalk on glass answered me.

  “Mortal, fae, single, twain, blood of birth, got on Beltane, Meka Mater rise again.”

  Lechkov’s moon face peered in at us through the grille on the door. How long had he been listening? The jingle of a key, and a grinding sound as it turned in the lock indicated that he ha
d come for one of us.

  As he stepped into the room I tried to grab for the spade in order to swing it at him, but I was too late. He held me firmly with my arms trapped behind my back and was already shuffling back out of the room and locking Doctor Masterson in.

  “Courage Thea!” Doctor Masterson’s fragile paper-thin voice carried after me as we moved back down the corridor towards the Iron Gate, and the night outside.