Kate and the Raptor Dinosaurs

by Thomas Kennedy

  “Could she have taken this jewel from her mother’s stuff?”

  “No, don’t recognise it and neither does her Mom.”

  “If it is from Newgrange you’d better hand it in, National Treasure?”

  “I wonder what it is?”

  “I tried to take a scratch.”

  “What!” Dad inspected it carefully, his voice sharp.

  “Just for further analysis. You know what, it wouldn’t scratch.”

  “Gold would,” Dad said.

  But he was pleased the piece was unmarked.

  “Maybe it has some sort of a glaze. I’d need to stress it,” Brian offered.

  “Stress?”

  “You know, put pressure on it. Try to break a small bit for analysis. We could analyse with chemicals but it would dissolve the sample.”

  “Don’t you dare Brian, it’s too beautiful.”

  “When you hand it in all hell will break loose. If a Doctor of Celtic studies says he has found an artefact at Newgrange…” Brian shrugged. “Well you know Newgrange is older than the Egyptian pyramids, to suggest an object of such craftsmanship came from such a time. It would be a sensation.”

  “So they’d try to smash it?”

  “Don’t be so incredulous. They’d have to verify what it is. I mean some tourist could have dropped it. It looks timeless. It doesn’t look old.”

  “Do you think?”

  “It’s in great condition. But I’m intrigued, so like gold but not gold…?”

  Dad finished his coffee. He put the piece back in the velvet and put it in his pocket.

  “Forget it,” he said to Brian. “I can’t prove it is from Newgrange. Not now, I’m not going to put my reputation on the line. What if you are right and some tourist dropped it?”

  “Look, let Kate have it as a souvenir of her visit,” Brian suggested. “She will think it is an artefact from Newgrange. A memento of the visit?”

  “Well thanks for the analysis Brian. I owe you one.”

  “No bother, sorry the budget didn’t allow the more expensive tests,” Brian smiled. “I suppose it could be a light alloy dipped in gold. You’d need modern technology for that. I’m sure it’s valuable.”

  “I’ll check with the ‘lost and found’ at Newgrange. If nothing like it is reported lost I’ll take your suggestion and give it to Kate as a souvenir.”

  “Right so, must get back.”

  Chapter three

  Magic lesson

  Kate woke up with a start. She knew it was very late because it was very dark. Alone in the room Kate felt scared. There was a faint light from a street lamp around the edge of the curtains. Otherwise…

  Then she saw it. The green spirals were glowing in the dark.

  Heart thumping, Kate climbed across the covers down to the end of her bed. Then she slid off and sat on her stool in front of the mirror. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness.

  There was no sound and the jewel lay where her Dad had left it for her. The spirals were shimmering as if flowing in green lines along the spirals across the gold. It looked like a small moving snake but it stayed in position.

  Kate looked in the mirror and saw her reflection in the dim light. Then feeling scared, she picked up the piece between her finger and thumb to see it in the mirror.

  Slowly the face in the mirror changed. Kate stared and she wondered was she dreaming? Her face was changing into someone else.

  Her face became that a very beautiful woman with red hair and green eyes and wearing a green cloth dress inlaid with golden spirals of thread. Her green eyes weren’t scary, they were kindly, and were light green speckled with gold rather like an untouched meadow is speckled with wild flowers.

  “Kate,” the voice said gently. “Don’t be afraid.”

  Kate froze at the sound of the voice, her panic held in check only by the kindness in the tone of voice and the beautiful smile of the woman in the mirror.

  “Is this yours?” Kate asked in a shaky voice, holding out the jewel.

  The woman smiled warmly.

  “Thank you Kate for finding it.”

  “It was Charlie,” Kate explained.

  Kate felt a rising fear a panic, and she wondered was she asleep and dreaming this. The mirror was talking to her!

  “Stay calm Kate,” the woman in the mirror said softly as if sensing Kate’s alarm.

  “Is this magic or am I asleep?” Kate asked, trying not to scream.

  The woman had a gentle smile. “You are awake Kate,” she said.

  Kate’s panic was subsiding. She felt relaxed by the soft warm voice and kindly face of the apparition in the mirror.

  “Ben studies stones and he said it was something calcified but then all the gunk evaporated and we had a jewel.”

  “The jewel was getting so cold and damp.”

  “How does it work, I mean how did it change?” Kate asked.

  “It needed a maiden’s kiss.”

  The woman laughed with a musical laugh and Kate joined in.

  “Does it have a battery?” Kate persisted.

  The woman seemed to be thinking about how to explain. Sometimes her Dad did that when things were very complicated.

  “The passage tomb at Newgrange is a time traveller,” the woman began.

  “Made of stone?” Kate asked.

  “It has been there for thousands of years and will be for more, that’s what I mean….”

  The woman raised her eyebrows as if inviting Kate to share her smile at the wonder of it all.

  ‘Do you live there? Is it very damp?” Kate asked.

  “No Kate, I live in my time and in my place, just as you do in yours.”

  “And the jewel?”

  “The jewel is more than an ornament. It once belonged to a very, very powerful Druid. It’s called the Druid’s Bracelet.”

  “A Bracelet?”

  “It’s a jewel that can be a Bracelet. This jewel can join times, it connects Time-lines.”

  “What?” Kate was lost.

  “Time-lines Kate, each of us lives in our own time-line and along it we are born and we live until we die.”

  “And the jewel brings us together?” Kate summarised.

  “Yes Kate. You see, everything that is and everything that was and everything that will be exists and always will. The jewel can reach out and touch other Time-lines.”

  “Magic?” Kate said.

  “Technology is the modern word.”

  “Modern?” Kate asked.

  “Kate I am from a time before your time. Once in Newgrange, before the ice age came, there was a connection from our world to your world.”

  “And then?” Kate prompted.

  “Then we came, and later when the people who lived here tried to explain what they were told by the aged ones, they called it magic.”

  “I have a magic club,” Kate said. “I founded it with my school friends. I even have a ‘book of spells’ Not real spells, just fun.”

  “They said I was a goddess. My name is Danu, they even named a river after me, the Danube, have you heard of it?”

  “No.”

  “Never mind.”

  “A goddess?”

  “Very nice, but I am only me.”

  “I like you.”

  “The ice was wonderful, so beautiful and cold, my world became so warm.”

  “Ice? What ice?”

  “The climate always changes. Ireland was once joined to England. Only when the ice melted did it become an island. We came before that time. We came from another place and we were very technical. But we consumed our world so we had to use our technology to come to yours.”

  “Are you still here?”

  “Yes, but not in your time and place.”

  “Can we meet Danu?”

  “Only here Kate, you come to the mirror and I will teach you.”

  Kate nodded and watched as the image in the mirror faded and as she looked at her own reflection the green spirals on the jewel became s
till.

  Kate sat and stared and began to wonder if she’d had a dream. But she was no longer scared.

  She yawned feeling very sleepy, and then she climbed back into bed.

  Kate awoke with a start. Mom was calling. “Breakfast!”

  Heart in her mouth she put on her dressing gown.

  Then she picked up the jewel. She would hide it somewhere.

  Her Mom was cross when she arrived in the kitchen.

  “You not dressed yet?”

  “Sleepy,” Kate said and went to her place and her Mom put some freshly cooked pancakes in front of her.

  “Go easy on the honey, honey,” Mom said with a grin.

  “What are ‘Time-lines’?” Kate asked as Dad started the car and began to pull out of the driveway.

  On his was to work in Dublin, he was taking Mom to the Village and dropping Ben and Kate at school.

  “Time-lines?” Mom frowned.

  “Well,” Dad interjected as he scanned up and down the road, yet anxious to encourage Kate’s curiosity.

  “Time starts and ends so I suppose that’s it. Have you been watching that ‘Star Trek’ nonsense again?”

  “Hmmp…” Ben said, staring out the window, not impressed by his stupid sister.

  “Are there lots of Time-lines?” Kate asked.

  “Could be,” Dad said. “Some scientists say there are an infinite number of universes for each of infinite possibilities.”

  “Dad,” Mom protested. “Don’t confuse Kate.”

  “No, no, we should encourage girls to take an interest in science. They say there aren’t enough girls in science.”

  “Could two Time-lines stick together?” Kate continued.

  “Merge?” Dad considered as he stopped the car. Mom got out and closed the gate behind them and then got back into the car.

  “Everything is possible,” Dad explained. “But don’t ask me. I’m just a historian. I study the past. Celtic studies are a remove from science and physics.”

  “I’m going to be a scientist,” Kate said.

  Ben snorted.

  “Good girl,” Mom encouraged.

  “And study ‘Time-lines.’”

  As the car pulled away Kate glanced back at her bedroom window. She’d put the jewel into her Celtic doll. It had red hair on a loose head you could screw on and off. Nobody would find it there.

  The doll was a present dad had got at a conference with its own stand and a beautiful green dress with gold threads. She had always known it would be magic.

  I must get you some green ribbons for your hair,” Mom commented, smiling back from the front seat. “They’ll go well with your red hair and green eyes.”

  “And a green dress, with gold thread,” Kate said.

  “If you like,” Mom replied and blew her a kiss.

  Chapter four

  Time-line 4941072

  Kate knew it was time for magic lessons when the gold and emerald snakelike jewel on her dressing table began to glow and its green light. It reflected in the mirror of the Dresser gave an eerie appearance to her room.

  It was the hour before dawn and everything was quiet and everyone was fast asleep.

  Kate slid down to the bottom of the bed and sat opposite her dressing table mirror.

  Slowly the mirror filled with Celtic mist, just like the mist that came in off the sea and up the cliffs to embrace the Blackthorn bushes on the mound in the Fairy Field.

  Kate watched calmly, looking into her own eyes, knowing what would happen next. Slowly her reflection merged into that of an older beautiful red haired woman with embracing green-gold eyes and a loving smile.

  “Hi Kate.”

  “Hi Danu.”

  “Tonight we will learn how to use the serpent jewel. Please pick it up. Tonight you will learn its true purpose.”

  Kate picked up the two-inch long jewel and held it in the palm of her hand.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Danu said and added, ‘Snakes slither silently, slippery, secretly.’”

  Kate’s jaw dropped when the jewel began to lengthen, becoming thinner and more sinuous. It crept up the palm of her hand and began to encircle her wrist in a spiral.

  “It’s a very pretty bangle,” Kate said, admiring her arm as it settled into position.

  Danu smiled pleased Kate was so calm.

  “Yes,” she agreed. “And it will give you the gift of tongues.”

  “Tongues?”

  “Languages Kate. In the future Kate, when you meet someone or something that doesn’t speak English…”

  “Something?” Kate interjected with a frown.

  Danu smiled and ignored the question.

  “The jewel will activate automatically from now on if you are in a Time-line portal.”

  “A Time-line Portal?”

  “Your Time-line portal is the mound in the Fairy Field.”

  “Where we meet?”

  “Yes Kate, where the Fairy Field Club Meets. But write this down and then memorise it.”

  “I’m ready,” Kate said, getting her biro and a clean page in her book of spells.

  “Every Time-line has a distinct number with seven digits, and the number for the Fairy Field Portal is 8504922.”

  “Will I write it down?”

  “No Kate you must commit this number to memory.”

  “I’ll try,” Kate promised.

  “Tell you what Kate, write it down backwards and add an extra number. Eight numbers won’t work. But put it somewhere it can’t be found.”

  “In my Book of Spells?” Kate offered.

  “22940587,” Danu said slowly. “that’s the code, you just revese it.”

  “Backwards and the seven is not needed,” Kate checked as she entered the number.

  “Right, and Kate never reveal this in your travels, it is your way home. Memorise it please,” Danu said forcibly.

  “OK,” Kate agreed.

  “Next,” Danu instructed.

  “Right,” Kate said expectantly.

  “Snakes slither silently slippery secretly.” Danu spoke slowly and spelled out the words one by one and Kate wrote them down carefully.

  “Now,” Danu added with a smile. “The way it works is this. If you say those words to the jewel anywhere outside the Portal it will activate and become a bracelet.And then you will be able to understand languages.”

  “And Time-lines?” Kate prompted.

  “You can only cross time-lines from a portal and from nowhere else. Understood?”

  “Understood,” Kate said, mouthing the words silently and trying to learn them off by heart.

  “The real trick is this Kate…”

  Danu paused to get Kate to concentrate on what she was saying.

  Kate looked into the mirror paying full attention.

  “If you say the words backwards, that is secretly slippery silently slither snakes, then it will deactivate the Jewel from a bracelet.”

  “I understand,” Kate said.

  “Be careful however because it will deactivate even if you are in a Portal.”

  “A Portal?”

  “That way you can take it off even if you are in the Portal, understood?”

  “Yes,” Kate said and mouthed the words backwards.

  “Secretly slippery silently slither snakes.”

  The Bracelet slid down her arm to her palm.

  Kate moved and the jewel fell onto the table in front of the mirror.

  “Careful,” Danu admonished.

  “Do I need to write the words backwards?” Kate asked.

  “No Kate just remember them both ways, then it is easy.”

  “One big problem,” Danu added kindly.

  “Yes?” Kate asked.

  “If you let the Bracelet touch the ground in the Portal the Bracelet will become dead.”

  “Dead?”

  “De-activated. But it can be reactivated of course, but not by the spell.”

  “How?”

  “Only if you have
special materials but I’ll explain this later.”

  “O.K.”

  “Just remember. Don’t drop the Bracelet in a portal if you are out of your Time-line Kate.”

  “No,” Kate promised.

  “Otherwise you may be stranded.”

  “Stranded?”

  Danu regarded Kate carefully wondering was she going to fast. She did not want to scare Kate.

  “What next?” Kate asked cheerfully.

  “I have a mission for you Kate.”

  “Yes Danu?”

  “Your mission is to Portal 4941072. It should take less than an hour but may require a day.”

  “Portal 4941072?” Kate repeated.

  “While you are on that mission, just leave your bracelet on, don’t deactivate and risk dropping it.”

  “Don’t drop it in the Portal?”

  “Understood Kate?”

  “Yes Danu.”

  “Now…” Danu began.

  “Why choose me for a mission?” Kate interjected.

  “Because now it is time.”

  “Can you come with me Danu?”

  “No Kate only you.”

  “Should I go ask Mom?”

  “No Kate, your Mom will never know.”

  “But you said the mission might take an hour, even a day?”

  “In the new Time-line Kate.”

  “Pardon?”

  “In your Time-line you will return the second after you left. Nobody will ever know you been to 4941072 and returned.”

  “You really want me to go to Time-line number 4941072?”

  “Yes Kate. Write the number in your Book of spells please,” Danu instructed.

  Kate wrote the numbers down.

  “Backwards?” she asked as an afterthought.

  “No, Kate it’s fine as you have it. Try to remember it for the mission please.”

  “OK,” Kate said with a frown. Now she had two long numbers to memorise.

  “You need to get to the Fairy Field Portal and then run your hand along the serpent as you think of the Time-line number, the rest is easy,” Danu continued.

  “Can I bring Lana or the rest of the Fairy Field Club?”

  “No Kate. However you need to bring Ben. He can be your assistant and guardian. Like a Celtic hero of old.”