Chapter 38
There was relief all round when I reached the beginning of the pumpkin path where Mia, Mel and Callie were waiting for me, along with Quintus Severus.
Honey sprinted ahead of me as we neared them and, seeing her, Mia broke away from the group and ran towards me. She wrapped a blanket around me and hugged me.
‘You’re cold,’ she said. ‘Come on, let’s get some hot soup down you.’
She was right, I was cold. Funny how I hadn’t realised it until that moment.
They all gathered round me, and I handed Callie the bag as Mel poured the soup and Mia rubbed my arms and hands to warm them up.
They didn’t ask questions until I had drunk the soup and had stopped trembling. Then there was a tentative, ‘Did it work?’ from Melissa.
An expectant silence fell as everyone waited for my answer. How was I supposed to reply to that?
‘I’ve got a lot to tell you,’ I said eventually, ‘but the main thing is, I think Charlotte and Grace have gone.’
‘You think?’ Callie asked nervously.
‘Well, they disappeared into a mist,’ I said. ‘I have a feeling they’re not coming back.’
‘Oh, well done, Verity!’ Mel cried, giving me a hug. ‘I knew you could do it.’
‘That’s what he said,’ I said with a shiver. ‘“Well done, Verity.”’
Callie gave me a quizzical look. ‘What who said?’
I looked round at them all, seeing their anxious faces. Even the Roman looked concerned.
‘The shopkeeper,’ I said. ‘He turned up, and Charlotte and Grace realised they knew him.’
There was an immediate burst of questions until Quintus Severus said, ‘I think you should be silent and let the lady find her words in her own time.’
They all shut up and stared at me, trying to hide their impatience as I figured out how to explain the incredible events in the stone circle.
Mia lay a blanket on the ground and we all sat down as I recounted what had happened – my failed attempt to recreate the ceremony, the cry of the vixen, the sudden mist, the arrival of the shopkeeper, and the extraordinary moment when Grace and Charlotte seemed to remember who he was and what they were doing here.
‘He asked them if they remembered what they had to do and they said yes,’ I recalled. ‘And then they just vanished into the mist. It was insane. And then…’ I hesitated. ‘Then he vanished, too, and it was just me and Honey. That’s when I set off back to you.’
‘But who was he?’ Callie asked. ‘Didn’t he give you his name?’
That I could honestly answer. ‘No,’ I said. ‘He didn’t.’
‘Did you ask him about himself?’ Mel pushed. ‘Did you ask why he’d given you the brooch and the cup?’
‘Of course I did. He said it was all too complicated to understand but that I’d know one day. It – it wasn’t the only thing he said, though.’
They waited, their expressions a mixture of nerves and excitement. They were going to think I was crazy.
‘He said, “The King and Queen had three children”.’
There was silence, apart from the sudden clanking of Quintus Severus’s armour as he shifted uneasily.
‘What,’ Mel asked in bewilderment, ‘is that supposed to mean?’
‘I honestly don’t know. Except that I was standing right beside the Queen Stone and the two smaller stones. Her two children.’
‘You’re not suggesting…’ Callie gave a half laugh. ‘You can’t mean it?’
‘I’m not suggesting anything,’ I said. ‘I’m just telling you what he told me. Make of it what you will.’
‘It’s impossible,’ Mia breathed. ‘Surely? Those stones are thousands of years old.’
‘Verity, think carefully,’ Mel urged me. ‘This shopkeeper. Could he have been a ghost?’
I shook my head. ‘Definitely not.’
‘Are you sure? I only see ghosts as blurry, indistinct images, but you see them clearly. You said they’re as real to you as any living person.
Could you have been mistaken? After all, Grace and Charlotte were able to touch things and move things, so if he was like them, he could have passed you the brooch and cup in the shop and opened and closed the door with no problems. That could have fooled you. ’
‘No,’ I said stubbornly. ‘Ghosts look clear to me, but I always know they’re ghosts. Don’t ask me how, I just do.’
‘I understand,’ Callie said. ‘It took me a while when I moved here, but when you see ghosts regularly you get a feel for them. However clear they are, you’re aware that they’re not flesh and blood.
I can’t explain it, but I know what Verity means.
If she’s sure he wasn’t a ghost, then he’s not.
But what the heck he is I can’t begin to imagine. ’
‘Well,’ Mia said firmly, ‘that’s a problem for another day. We need to get back to the Hall and get Verity properly warmed up, and fill Brodie and Lawrie in on what’s happened. I’m sure they’re waiting to hear from us.’
We all agreed that was best, so with Quintus Severus leading the way we set off back through the estate towards Rowan Vale. The Roman left us in the village and headed back towards the home he shared with Harmony Hill, while we took the opposite path.
Harling Hall was a welcome sight, and I was relieved to finally walk into the hallway and feel the warmth enveloping me.
‘Brodie will be in here,’ Callie said, pushing open the door of Lawrie’s sitting room. ‘He said he’d wait with his grandpa.’
She stopped and we all stood silently as Brodie, who was sitting by Lawrie’s bed, raised a tear-streaked face to us.
‘He’s gone, Callie,’ he whispered. ‘Grandpa’s gone.’
As Callie hurried to comfort him, I noticed Agnes standing by the window, gazing out over the grounds, her face etched in grief.
‘What happened?’ I asked her, shock making my voice crack.
She turned to face me. ‘It was his time,’ she said calmly. ‘A great mist descended on the house. I was looking out for Aubrey because he’d gone to comfort Silas, but I realised I couldn’t see a thing. I came downstairs to tell Lawrie and then…’
She shook her head. ‘I would never have believed it, and I don’t know what to make of it all. Charlotte was here.’
‘Charlotte?’ I gasped. ‘But I thought she’d gone.’
‘She has – now. She finally did what she was meant to do. She came back for her son, and she took him with her.’
She let out a noisy sob and dabbed her eyes.
‘She said – she said she and his father are together again, and that Jacqueline is with them. And Lawrie – oh, Callie, you can’t imagine!
He wasn’t an old man any more. As she took his hand, he was a young man again, and she was a young woman, and it was all… ’
She shook her head again and fell into a nearby chair. Lawrie’s chair.
‘He’s gone,’ she said. ‘But he’s with his mother and father and Jacqueline. I wanted to tell Brodie that, but of course I couldn’t. Tell him now, Callie. Make him understand. His grandfather is happy.’
‘That’s what Charlotte meant,’ I murmured, as Callie comforted Brodie with the news that Agnes had given us.
They all turned to look at me.
‘I thought she was talking about her leaving,’ I explained. ‘She said to tell Brodie and Callie not to grieve. That everything was all right and as it was meant to be. I’m sorry, I forgot to mention it.’
‘Grandpa’s back with his family,’ Brodie said tearfully. ‘He’s all right.’ He stroked his grandfather’s hair and managed a watery smile. ‘You’re all right, Grandpa. You’re back with the ones you love.’
‘Oh no!’
Callie and I looked round at the arrival of Aubrey. Even for a ghost he seemed surprisingly pale and breathless, which was bizarre.
‘Aubrey, you’re too late,’ Agnes sobbed. ‘Our dear Lawrie has gone. Oh, Aubrey, you won’t believe what happened. Charlotte—’
‘I think I can guess,’ Aubrey said sadly. He gazed down at the frail body on the bed. ‘Goodbye, my old friend,’ he told him. ‘You’re the second farewell I’ve said tonight.’
He turned to face us as Agnes went to his side for comfort.
‘I saw Grace earlier,’ he said. ‘I have something to tell you all. It’s about Silas Alexander…’