Chapter 29
GOLDENWYCH, PRESENT DAY
The moon had risen – the singing moon, thought Caitlin – by the time Lee arrived. Caitlin glared at him when he said, ‘Are you sure this is safe?’
‘Mum used it,’ she replied.
‘Did she?’ he asked.
‘There was no warning not to use it,’ Caitlin retorted.
The hurt in Lee’s eyes made her feel wretched but she would not allow anything to stop her.
Ever since her argument with Lee, she had felt twitchy, unsettled.
A feeling that was exacerbated when, earlier in the evening, Stan had sent her a picture of himself wearing a Newcastle United scarf and not much else.
She had blocked him but with her confusing and heightened emotions towards both men overwhelming her, she felt as though the world was closing in and she needed to escape.
‘There’s a tiny amount of henbane,’ Caitlin said in a conciliatory tone. ‘It can’t be dangerous.’
‘Nothing we say could dissuade you?’ asked Lee, pointing between himself and Sindy.
Caitlin shook her head.
‘Come on then,’ he said in a resigned tone. ‘Let’s do this. Do I have to wear robes and chant?’
Caitlin smiled, despite herself. Lee’s joke meant their row was forgiven and forgotten.
‘It’s your choice, as is painting yourself blue with woad,’ she said.
‘Wasn’t it emulsion we daubed ourselves with when we were children?’ asked Sindy.
‘Yes, and our mothers weren’t sure whether to laugh or be angry,’ he said.
Caitlin looked at her two best friends. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I’ll light the candles.’
They flickered in the gentle breeze as Caitlin stood in the centre of the circle she had created in front of the Three Sisters. The stones bore silent witness as she bowed first to them, then to the west, where she placed an aquamarine.
‘This is to expose spiritual truths and increase psychic powers during the dream-state,’ she intoned, before turning to bow again, this time to the east. ‘I place amethyst for protection and spiritual healing. To the south, I place citrine to protect against nightmares, and to the north, I place tiger’s eye to create order and harmony. ’
She sat cross-legged in the centre of the circle and Sindy stepped forward with a pottery goblet that Miranda had owned since the 1980s.
‘Good luck,’ she whispered.
‘It might be a tea, nothing more,’ Caitlin replied, wondering whether she was reassuring herself or her friends.
‘Travel safely,’ said Lee, his face more serious than Caitlin had ever seen. ‘I have a defibrillator and oxygen in the car.’
Unsure whether he meant this, she did not know how to respond.
Instead, she focused on the goblet, pushing away Lee’s obvious agitation.
She lifted the vessel to her lips and inhaled.
The scent of honey pervaded but underneath were the earthy notes of sage and rosemary and a sweeter smell: the henbane.
Caitlin closed her eyes and swallowed the draught in one gulp.
She placed the cup on the floor, put her hands on her knees with her palms upwards as she had learned when she had once attended yoga classes and waited.
Nothing’s happening, she thought, as she listened to the wind, the rustling of the trees, the gentle sounds of the equinox, flooded with disappointment. It’s a tea, nothing more.
Above her, a rook cawed, then she felt a heaviness on her shoulder and the pincer-like grip of its claws as the bird landed. It crowed again and, with a rush, opened its broad wings, lifting her into the darkness.
Caitlin felt weightless as they flew upwards towards the stars.
She opened her eyes and saw colours streaming past, every shade imaginable and thousands more, sparkling with light, passing through her, around her, she was the colour, they were her, as the rook lifted her higher and higher.
The desire to scream in elation was impossible to resist, to laugh, to shout.
She felt connected to everything, her body dissolving into light as she flew at supernatural speeds, twirling, tumbling, flashing past stars, planets, galaxy after galaxy until she realised they were slowing and, in a rush of brilliant white light, they landed.
She was standing in an Iron Age hill fort, the stone circle she knew so well in its tumbled form lay a few metres away, pristine and complete, but the rook squeezed her shoulder, turning her towards the centre of the oppidum.
An altar had been built and a woman with long white-blonde hair was shrieking a devastating curse.
Caitlin screamed along with the surrounding crowd as the woman swallowed poison and fell dead to the ground, rushing forward to help, but as she moved, the rook whirled her away.
They travelled on again and again as the snippets, the flashes and the shadowy glimpses of the woman with the antler headdress formed into a full and coherent story.
She heard the woman’s name at last and those of her sisters, but what shocked her was the resemblance of Goneril to Gillian and Regan to Rachel as Cordelia was her double.
Finally, they stopped and all around her was brilliant sparkling light, then her chest constricted and she struggled to breathe.
Colours whirled around her, the rook cawed and then she saw her – Cordelia Leardohtor – staring at her across the void.
Tears ran down the woman’s face but Caitlin’s vision cleared.
She reached out to Cordelia, who took her outstretched hands, joining them across time.
‘Help me,’ Caitlin gasped.
Cordelia stared down at the woman’s hands and arms and saw the silver lines.
‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘We shall help each other. Breathe with me, breathe.’
Caitlin’s lungs released and she was able to take gulps of fresh clean air.
‘Where are we?’ Caitlin asked.
‘We’re in the Everywhen,’ Cordelia replied. ‘Your shamanic powers must be strong, I have seen you here many times.’
‘Are you Cordelia Leardohtor?’ asked Caitlin.
‘Yes, what’s your name?’
‘Caitlin Kingdohtor,’ she replied, unsure why she had changed her surname, yet it felt right.
Cordelia considered her, then a wise smile spread across her face.
‘You are the Charmed One,’ said Cordelia. ‘I see it with such clear vision, the truth is blinding in its brilliance. You are the third and the fourth, the Charmed One to save us all.’
Cordelia smiled again and vanished.