4. Chapter Four
4
CHAPTER FOUR
ELODIE
T he leaves crunched satisfyingly underfoot as we walked through the woods. It was a tradition of ours to visit Rock Ruin when Briar came home to us. Named affectionally by me as a child due to the abundance of jagged stones that littered the outcropping of rocks nestled up one of the steepest hills within the acres of woods we lived in. Their distorted shapes the bones of the giants that once roamed this land. Remnants of what reason says could never be true. A place almost between worlds. If it had a real name, it was a secret it kept to itself.
I went with Nanna sometimes, too, or by myself, but the three of us here just made sense. The path was one we walked with familiar ease, our feet knowing the way without having to put much thought into it.
The conversation flowed as always as we continued side by side. Talk of how Briar had found a rare tanzanite that she would show me once we got back, that Nanna had to remove an entire Rhododendron because the roots had run amok and that Polly was dragging me away for a supposed relaxing weekend.
I’d learned early on to steer clear of asking where Briar had been, how long she would stay.
There was no point.
Soon, the floor started to incline, and I mentally prepared myself for the challenge ahead, knowing we only had a few more turns in the path before things started to get tough. I brushed my hand over Titan’s head, he would stay at the bottom never venturing up with us though I had no doubt with his size he would have no problem.
The hike up to Rock Ruin was rough, intended to ensure sufficient effort was put into accessing it. The mud lining the way was slick beneath our feet and the trees grew tightly together up the steep slope, thick roots weaving over the ground like the world’s biggest trip hazard. The further you went, the harder it became to avoid catching yourself, and I’d lost count of the scraped knees I’d gained over the years. Eventually it was more of a climb, needing to use the exposed roots to haul yourself up. The old timber steps that had been set sporadically into the earth for as long as I could remember were little help against the punishing ascent.
The burn in my muscles wasn’t one I normally welcomed but it was worth it for what was waiting at the top.
As the ground evened out, we found ourselves on the edge of a circular space, one side sheltered by the continuing rocky slope, the rest bordered by a dense tree-line. The colours of the world was different here. A change so subtle it was barely perceptible, lingering on the realm we walked into. Sunlight filtered between the gaps casting a hazy glow as we crossed into the circle, a gentle pulse of energy rippling over my skin as I breathed deep, filling lungs that no longer struggled as we stilled.
The packed earth was interspersed with large, jagged rocks. Most no higher than my knee with the biggest of them reaching shoulder height. Their flat tops were covered with moss, the cracks between them just wide enough to walk through.
We picked our way across, the sun warm and the air cool. Aside from our laboured breaths and the light scuff of our feet over stone, the quiet lapping of water from the pool that spread from the base of the steep stone wall and the chirping of birds were the only sounds to be heard.
Thin trees that I’d never seen grow anywhere else rose from between the stones, the silver bark split in long slashes as the pale trunk expanded, squeezing themselves upwards and displacing the rocks even more than they already were. Their branches were long and low, and on more than one occasion I would use them to haul myself up onto the rocks and cross the space when the floor became tricky to navigate.
All around us the reaching boughs were covered in hundreds of strips of ribbon, creating a woven tapestry that threaded far beyond us. Exposure had bleached the colour from most of them, the faded fabric frayed with age, their tails fluttering like ghostly figures in the wind that blew softly through them. Tied around every available inch, I had always known that while I had never seen another soul here, this place wasn’t just ours. They were wishes, dreams, favours asked.
The same could be said for the blanket of coins which filled the bottom of the pool. Every so often a sliver of brightness would stand out between dull grey letting me know another token had been offered.
Reaching the end of the stone walkway where, the floor flattened out until it met with the edges of the pool ahead of us. Small stones had been placed at the boundary, I wasn’t sure how deep the water was but there was definitely no gentle shore.
Briar caught my elbow as she guided me towards the flattest stone, one we had sat on many times over the years.
“You look tired,” Briar said, as we sat down on the mossy rock, her voice low.
“And you’re not after that climb?” I raised an eyebrow at her as I wiped my sweaty head on the sleeve of my cardigan, keeping my voice equally quiet. This wasn’t the place for loudness.
“You know what I mean.” She laughed softly, her eyes following Nanna as she walked further from us towards the still water and I knew it wasn’t just the tranquillity of this place that we were trying not to disturb. “It’s deeper than not keeping up a decent fitness schedule.”
I waited for a moment as the innate calm of the clearing sunk under my skin and settled within me, soaking in the soft hum of magik which was undeniable here. I knew what she meant and as I followed Nanna's movements, I found myself reluctant to give her answers.
“I haven’t been sleeping well.” My fingers hooked into a hole in my cardigan, worrying at the threads.
“Bad dreams?”
If I told her the truth, I knew she would have a better suggestion than tea, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to take her advice. “Something like that.”
“Have you been writing them down like I told you? So you can interpret them. I can help if you need me to.”
A journal of the dreams that plagued me sat beside my bed, but I didn’t want to admit I was even contemplating that they were anything other than just regular dreams. Even to her.
“And what about the cards?” Her eyes were glued to Nanna, watching as she stared into the expanse of water before her. “They have anything to say about it?”
“Not much.” I shrugged, hoping to appear as unbothered as possible.
Nothing good, anyway.
Tarot reading had been the one thing Briar had taught me that I had held onto. Nothing else held any interest, and any excitement I felt for it would fade to nothing at all whenever she left.
Briar’s fingers drummed on her knee as she remained quiet next to me. The ring I had made for her the last time she had showed up glinting against her sun-kissed skin.
“The answers are always there, you know that.”
I did because fuck were they accurate.
I had practised with tarot cards for hours after Briar had taught them to me, checking and rechecking the notes she had given me. Shuffling until a small blister had formed on my thumb. I knew better than to try a reading on Nanna, and instead took them to school, excited to practise on others.
Doing so had of course added another layer of weird onto my already targeted head. Some kids thought it was fun, and Polly never said no when I asked her if I could read her cards, but mostly it gave them another reason to see me as other than them.
The little white-haired girl, who made weird things happen and would forever be different.
Her voice was barely a whisper as she hooked her finger around mine. “It’s in you, El, just like it’s in me. You have to hold it close.”
I’d lost count over the years the amount of times Briar had told me she was a seer, that she came from a long line of seers and that I, too, was gifted in the art of prophecy. As a child I had hung on her words, desperate to be something special and not the strange little girl with no parents who lived in the big house in the woods. But the time of childhood hopes were long gone, and I paid less and less mind to her insistence I was anything more with every passing year.
There were hazy childhood memories of Briar holding onto my palm, her finger tracing over lines as she showed me what they meant. I couldn’t remember much of what she had said but I did remember Nanna’s anger when I had asked for her hand to practise on. How she had ranted about Briar ruining everything while she slammed around in the kitchen.
I had been put to bed with a tea and slice of toast, feeling overwhelmingly guilty to have caused trouble between them. When I woke, all thoughts or ideas of reading palms had been gone.
Ahead of us, a gentle splash broke my musings, and I knew Nanna’s ritual here would soon be over, as would this conversation.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, deciding not to disclose the extent the dreams were haunting me. “Honestly, it’s just the usual. Teeth falling out, being naked at school.”
“It’s starting again, isn’t it?” A knot formed in my stomach as she cut straight to the heart of my issue with no effort at all. The flashes of death weren’t something I could predict; I just had to ride it out until they stop.
“I promise, I’m ok.”
Nanna turned to us then, a soft smile on her face as she started our way. Briar's hand squeezed mine, and when I looked at her, her green eyes crinkled in a concern that made me feel like shit for not telling her the truth.
“I always knew when you were lying, Elodie. Nothing’s changed.”