Comet Weather

by Liz Williams

  “Can I turn round now?” Ward said.

  “I think you’d better. Be prepared for a shock, though.”

  “Good God,” he said. He and the ghost gaped at one another.

  “I can see the wall. Through that dress.”

  The ghost held out her hand, indicating the garment. Then she shook her head.

  “I don’t think she wants me to wear it,” Bella said.

  “Dearest Bella, it is not for you,” said the ghost, in a small, sweet voice.

  “No? Then we won’t.” Serena put the dress back on the box. “I’m sorry,” she said to the ghost. “We didn’t know.”

  “Have we upset you?” Ward asked. But the ghost gave him a lightning smile. She held out her hand. A little bird – a linnet, Serena thought – fluttered out of thin air and perched on her fingers. She whispered to it and vanished.

  “I’m going to take that as a ‘no’,” Ward said. “Jesus Christ.”

  Bella, realising that she was standing in front of a man in her knickers, gave a small shriek and pulled on her sweatshirt. But Ward was still staring at the place where the ghost had been. Serena picked up the dress.

  “I assume this has shown up for a reason, but I don’t know what that reason is. I don’t think this should stay in the box. I’m going to take it downstairs and put it with the clothes from the show.”

  And it occurred to her, as she laid the beautiful rose dress carefully in a plastic clothes bag, that perhaps this was what Dana Stare had been searching for, and not the box at all.

  Luna

  Luna paused at the mouth of the barrow. She found that, in spite of her multiple layers, she was starting to shiver. Beside her, Moth whined and cringed against her leg. But she knew she had to find out what was inside the barrow, that events had pushed and shoved her into this place and time, that she had no choice. She took a deep breath and said to the dog,

  “Well then, Moth-mate. Here we go,” – and she walked down the short avenue to the black mouth of the barrow.

  Inside, it was even worse than she had thought. There was no light at all. She liked dark places, she told herself. She felt safe in them. She’d had no problems spending all that time in West Kennet… But this was not the same. It felt wrong. When Luna, frantic, glanced back, she could not see even the indigo hollow of the sky. She focused on the hardness of the ground beneath her feet and kept a tight grip on Moth’s collar. Reaching out, she found the wall, smooth stone. She wrapped the red thread around the thorn and put it in a pocket; it was no use to her in this lightless place. Trying to breathe, she shuffled forwards.

  There was something in the darkness ahead. She could hear it moving. Luna closed her eyes for a moment and prayed to the goddess. She imagined her as an antlered woman, dressed in deer skin. Her face looked like Ver March’s. The goddess held out her hand in Luna’s mind’s eye and Luna scrunched up her courage, that ragged, tattered thing and kept going.

  The passage twisted and turned. She could not remember how large Wayland’s Smithy was supposed to be. From far within, deep in the earth, she could hear a faint, regular thumping sound. It was like a heartbeat; Luna found herself breathing in time to it. Hadn’t she heard something similar, in West Kennet? Ahead, something was scraping against the stone.

  The passage wall came to an abrupt stop. Luna groped thin air and stumbled. Moth gave a sharp, warning bark. Hands grabbed Luna by the shoulders and shoved her backwards. She gave a yell and struck out, connecting with nothing. There was a flare at her side and she put her hand in her pocket to meet the prick of the thorn.

  “Fuck!” She pulled out the thorn and thread: the thorn had become a needle of light, stitching through the blackness. Luna looked into her mother’s horrified face.

  “Shit! Did I hurt you?” Alys said.

  Luna was so relieved that her knees gave way under her. She sank to the floor, clutching at Moth. “Mum! Oh!”

  “You made it,” Alys said. “I am so proud of you, Luna. You came to get me. And your dog, too! How far have you come?”

  “A long way. Sam – my boyfriend – his grandmother helped me.”

  “Which way? Did you take a lych path or the Second Road? The dead road or the star path? Or something else?”

  “I don’t know what all of those are. I think this was a lych path. Ver March – Sam’s gran – came with me.”

  Alys’ voice was sharp. “Luna, where is she now?”

  “She’s outside. She said she’d wait for me.”

  “We’ve got to go. We can’t leave her out there on her own. You don’t know what can come down these roads.”

  “Can you come, though? You were trapped, stuck –”

  “I was but I got free. I was way out on the lych path but you pulled me out and I had to run. I took a path back into White Horse Country. You won’t know what I’m talking about. There’s a lot to explain about this place.” She grasped Luna’s wrist and hauled her up. In the flaring light from the thorn, Luna saw that her mother’s hair was shorn, cropped close to her head and silver-blonde, although there was a faint henna’d aureole around it. Red ochre had dried across her brow and her cheeks and she had those old tattoos. But she was more the mother Luna had remembered: early sixties, still with few lines. From a distance, at the time of her disappearance, she could have passed for thirty, disconcerting a number of male admirers.

  “Come on,” Alys said.

  They ran back down the winding passage, Moth at their heels, and out into the night. The stars blazed overhead and Luna saw that the lych path now carried on, down the hill and into the valley. She could hear a church bell tolling, somewhere below.

  “Where’s Sam’s gran?” Alys asked.

  “In that thorn brake, over where those puddles are.”

  But Ver March was nowhere to be seen.

  Luna and her mother searched the hillside, together. Having found Alys, Luna was reluctant to let her out of her sight, but it seemed Alys felt the same.

  “We’re not splitting up. It’s too risky.”

  “I don’t know what’s here.”

  Alys stood still for a moment, head cocked to the sound of the tolling bell. “Eight… nine. Keep away from the path, Luna.”

  “Why?” Luna asked but Alys, grabbing her hand, was already striding back towards the beeches. They searched the side of the hill but there was no sign of Sam’s gran. Luna felt a pang of despair: she’d found Alys only to lose Ver.

  “Luna, come here!” Alys’ voice was urgent. She drew her daughter behind the trunk of one of the beeches. “Don’t make a sound and don’t argue.”

  Luna did as she was told. Independent as she was, there was a relief in having someone else make decisions. Even if she did seem to have reverted to her teenage relationship with her mother. Together, they watched as a group of black-clad men came over the brow of the hill, following the lych path. The church bell once more began to toll, a set of single strokes. The man wore frock coats and top hats from which shadowy streamers fluttered out. They were carrying a coffin.

  “Do you know who it is?” Luna murmured into her mother’s ear.

  “Let’s hope it’s not Sam’s gran. They’re not bearing a body to rest, Luna. They’re looking for someone to put in that coffin. Now shhhh.”

  Serena

  “What do you mean – you’re in a pub?” Serena had been so relieved to hear Bee’s voice on the other end of the phone that she felt quite faint. She sank into the kitchen chair. On the other side of the table Ward mouthed “Who is it?”

  “It’s my sisters. Bee and Stella. Now please shut up. I need to concentrate.” She ran a hand over her head as if trying to hold it in place. “Where have you been? We’ve been really worried.”

  Bee said, quite calmly, “We’re in a pub called the Master Builder. It’s in the New Forest, near Beaulieu. Dark was with us and so is – someone else.” She lowered her voice. “I don’t want to say too much over the phone because this is also a hotel and the receptionist
has very kindly let me use the phone for free, but she might come back at any minute. She’s showing a guest to their room. We don’t have any money and we’re going to need a lift.”

  Stella glanced at the clock. It was six in the evening.

  “I’ll come and get you, of course. We’ll come.” She glanced at Ward, who nodded. “But how did you get there?”

  “Really long story. We told the hotel we’d been in a boating accident. God knows whether they believed us although it is sort of true.”

  “Are you all right? You said Dark ‘was’ with you.”

  “We’re more or less okay. Dark was with us when we came in but he disappeared. Look, the receptionist’s coming down the stairs. I’ll have to go.”

  “One quick thing,” Stella said. “Luna’s gone missing.”

  “Oh God! Serena, she could be anywhere, literally. Is Sam there?”

  “Yes, and he’s worried. I’ll tell him to stay here in case she comes back and Ward and I will drive down. Expect us in a couple of hours. Set up a tab. Get some dinner and I’ll pay for it.”

  “I’m going to hand you over to reception,” Bee said. “We’ll sort it out later.”

  Serena read out card details, while Ward’s eyebrows rose higher and higher. When she finally put the phone down he said, “So what’s happening?”

  “Fancy a drive to Hampshire?”

  She came clean to Bella.

  “Can I come?”

  “No, darling, because there won’t be room in the car for all of us.”

  Bella frowned but she was not a sulky child. Serena said, “You can do what you like. Surf the net. Read books. Make chips – well, maybe not make chips because that involves a deep fat fryer and I don’t think…”

  “Can I make a cake?”

  “Yes. Do you know how to use the oven?”

  “I can work it out.”

  “Please don’t set the house on fire. But Nell and Sam will be here.”

  Sam took her explanation surprisingly well and agreed to remain behind in case Luna showed up. Nell, however, was nowhere to be found.

  “She must have gone for a walk,” Serena said, firmly rejecting a host of other catastrophic possibilities. “She does do that sometimes.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out,” Sam said. “For all sorts of things.” He clammed up then, for Ward had come back into the kitchen.

  “He knows,” said Serena. Ward’s mouth twitched.

  “Fly, fly, all is discovered.”

  “It’s a bit of a relief, though, mate, to be honest.”

  “Apparently there are family secrets in mine, too.”

  Sam gave him a curious look. “Really? What sort?”

  “I’m not quite sure.”

  Serena ran up to Stella’s room and fetched, on Bee’s instructions, jeans, a sweatshirt, knickers, a sponge and a packet of sanitary towels, which she loaded into a carrier bag and stuffed onto the backseat of the Landrover. Then they set off, Serena at the wheel, bumping down the drive and onto the lane which led past the churchyard, and then at length out onto the A37, once the old Roman road of the Fosse Way. As they sped along, Ward said,

  “You mentioned something on the phone about it being dark?”

  “Okay. It’s Bee’s boyfriend.”

  “I didn’t know she had one. Caro told me a couple of years ago that she’d been worried about her, that she’d tried to set Bee up with some chap but Bee didn’t seem interested in men. Or anyone.”

  “That’s because she’s been seeing someone. Except that, how can I put this, there’s a bit of an issue…”

  And that conversation lasted until well onto the A303 and the turn-off for Salisbury.

  There wasn’t a sat nav in the Landrover so Ward navigated by phone, and did so well enough that, two hours after they had left and despite some confusion around Beaulieu, they were pulling into the car park of the Master Builder.

  “This looks like it might be rather nice in daylight,” Serena said.

  “If things ever calm down, we should come back and have lunch.”

  They found Serena’s sisters sitting at the back of the main bar, nursing drinks and the wreckage of a fish and chip supper. They were not alone.

  “Thank God,” Stella said. “Did you bring the bag?”

  Serena held it out.

  “Thank you so much. I’m going into the Ladies and I may be some time. Send a search party.”

  Ward was staring at the third member of the party. She did not have an empty plate in front of her.

  “And who is she?”

  “I’ll explain in the car,” Bee said.

  “She’s rather – blue.”

  “I know. That’s why we’re sitting in the back of the pub although actually most people don’t seem to be able to see her. Thank God. One lad gave her a bit of a funny look, though, so I don’t want to risk it. We’d sit outside in the beer garden but it’s too chilly.”

  “Does she speak English?”

  The woman – surely one of the Behenian stars, Serena thought – was staring straight ahead.

  “Yes, but it seems she doesn’t really like to.”

  “Fair enough. What’s up with Stella?” Ward asked.

  “Women’s mysteries,” said Bee. “I hope she’s not going to be too long. I want to get back. Any news of Luna?”

  “Not yet. Also we couldn’t find Nell in the house but I’m hoping she’s just gone for a walk or something, I did send her a text but I don’t know if she’s seen it.”

  “Any sign of Dana Stare?”

  “I’ll tell you in the car.”

  At this point Stella returned, wearing clean clothes and looking a lot more confident in herself.

  “Better! Are we going?”

  “Yes. I’ll sort out your bill.”

  “We haven’t been sitting here quaffing endless rhubarb gins, by the way. We had a half of Old Peculiar each and stopped there in case you wanted to share the driving. But she’s a cheap date.”

  The star rose, fluidly, and drifted out in their wake. She accepted a seat in the back of the Landrover without comment and Serena pulled out into the 40 mph zone that enclosed the heart of the forest.

  “It’s not really a forest, though, is it? More like a heath.”

  “Dark said one of the Henries – King Henry – cut a lot of it down for shipbuilding.”

  “Wasn’t it actually planted for shipbuilding?”

  “I think so.”

  “This is an old land,” the star said suddenly, causing Ward to drop his phone on the floor. Due to the rather cramped conditions of the Landrover, she had spoken almost into his ear.

  “Jesus! Sorry.”

  The star did not speak again. When they pulled into the driveway of Mooncote, it was not far from midnight: roadworks had held them up. Serena and Ward had swapped the driving.

  “Are you staying here tonight?” Serena asked him in an undertone as she stepped out of the Landrover.

  “If you’d like me to.”

  “Yes, I would.”

  Stella was hauling the bag of dirty clothes out of the boot.

  “Might as well put this straight into the washing machine. Or on the bonfire. Pity we’ve had Guy Fawkes.”

  “Are you coming in?” Bee said to the star. But the star was fading. Serena could see the hedge through her silk-clad frame. She gave her faint smile and was gone.

  “Without even a word of thanks,” Stella said. “You’re welcome.”

  “I don’t think we can hold them to our standards,” Bee said.

  “No, I get that. But it’s been a hell of a couple of days.”

  “Never mind,” Serena told her. “Hopefully you’ll get some rest tonight.”

  But the kitchen lights were still blazing and when they walked through the door, it was clear that rest wasn’t going to be an option.

  Luna

  The lamp was swinging, casting wild shadows through the beech wood. Alys and Luna, crouching behind a bramble thic
ket, kept silent and still: mice before the hunting cat. The lamp bearer did not call out, nor did his footsteps make any sound on the layer of mast that covered the floor of the wood. Luna had glimpsed his face as he strode by and it had been a white, gaunt oval, lit by eyes like copper coins. They glittered and glinted, not a man’s eyes, but something else, something wearing human clothes. There was an insect stiffness to his limbs; he strode with jerky, puppet motions, but very fast.

  Alys breathed into Luna’s ear, “If he takes hold of you, don’t try to fight him. You’ll die.”

  Luna gave a very small nod and kept her hand clenched around Moth’s collar. The dog was very still and he trembled: she had never seen Moth afraid. She kept thinking of old Ver March in the hands of this man and the thought made her cold with horror. She did not know how she was going to face Sam and tell him that somehow she had led his grandmother into the hands of a monster, left her alone in the woods while things walked the lych path intent on hunting women. But Ver knew more about this world than you, her rational voice said. She must have known what dangers it contained – she said so. She made you stand away from the path.

  She kept very still. It must be like this for badgers, with the cull running and the men and dogs and guns and no way out. Luna hated hunting and killing, one reason she’d become a vegetarian, and the prospect of being seized and stuffed in a coffin was certainly reinforcing that decision. Into her ear, Alys hissed,

  “Luna? Who is this with you? I don’t mean the dog.”

  At first Luna didn’t understand. She looked around, trying to keep her movements as small as possible. But then she got it.

  “I’m going to have a baby, Mum.”

  “Oh, crap!” As maternal reactions went, this was not what Luna had hoped for.

  “He’ll smell it. Luna, I’ll have to draw him off. Take this.” Something long and hard and round, like a small pencil, was thrust into Luna’s hand. “Don’t lose it. Run down the hillside as fast as you can.”