Page 36 of Heart of the Wren
Lorcan’s grip on the blankets tightened and the whole bed shook as he shouted. “A fairy ring is made of mushrooms, not flowers!”
“They can be either!”
“Since when?”
“The stone age, probably!” I ran my hands over my shaved head. “Did you at least move it to another part of the field?”
He didn’t speak but his mouth hung open.
“Ah, Lorcan, for feck sake...”
He curled his lip. “Will you stop? I didn't know it was a fairy ring! And anyway, I didn't think they were real.”
I pointed at him. “Yes, you did.”
“Yes, I did, but the field still needed to be cleared.”
“Why didn't your parents do it? Or your grandparents?”
He swallowed hard.
“Exactly. Because they knew better. Why didn’t you tell me this before?” My cheeks flushed, my hands grew hot, and I couldn’t stop myself from raising my voice. “What kind of person moves a fairy ring…”
“Are you really getting thick with me over a few flowers?”
“I’m getting thick with you because you didn’t tell me about them!”
Lorcan sat up. “I didn’t know you were in charge of them! And what difference would it make? It’s not as if you’re being any use in stopping all this, anyway. Nothing you’ve done has helped at all. For feck sake, Dara, you can’t seriously be this mad about—”
I walked out and slammed the bedroom door behind me.
???
I headed downstairs to the kitchen, banging pots and pans, muttering under my breath. I couldn’t believe how stupid Lorcan had been. Everyone knows you never, ever disturb a fairy ring. There’s not a man, woman, or child in the country who doesn’t know that. But there’s Lorcan, wading through the daisies, digging them up willy-nilly, not a care in the world. And he wonders why he’s having bad luck! The feckin’ eejit.
I gripped the edge of the sink and shook my head. I knew Lorcan wasn’t to blame. Being superstitious is one thing but actually having to curtail your plans because of some old legends is quite another. And while all of this was very real to me doesn’t mean it’s real to everyone else. Still, I wished people would remember this folklore was passed down from generation to generation for a damn good reason. There was power in theland. Dark, hidden power, older than the nation which stood upon it, and older than the people who lived on it.
Had I known about the ring sooner… what? What would I have done differently? The apology should have appeased them. Maybe I would have set out a bowl of cream instead of honey? I didn’t know. And there was the problem. I told Lorcan I’d fix this problem for him but I was almost as lost as he was. I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know how to handle not knowing.
I’d experienced plenty of supernatural occurrences in the past and I’d always muddled through with a mixture of knowledge, experience, and luck, but this was different. There was more happening than I understood. The three birds, the spiky shadow figures, the damages, the injury… They were all building to something but I didn’t know what. My ears and cheeks flushed, and my head grew lighter.
“Are you making dinner?” Carol wiped her boots on the mat at the back door.
“I’m supposed to be.” I had gone into the kitchen with the intention of preparing food for us all but had become stuck in my thoughts instead. I poked my head into the fridge. “Will chops do?”
Carol slumped onto a chair. “As long as I don’t have to cook them: yes.”
I took out a bowl and filled it with potatoes. “How do you feel about peeling?”
“Ambivalent.” Nonetheless, she took a knife and started. After a couple of minutes silence, she cleared her throat. “What techniques?”
“Beg your pardon?”
“In the car. You said you could teach me some techniques.”
“Oh!” I’d almost forgotten the conversation on the drive home. Grateful for the distraction, I set to work. “Yes, yes. Meditations to help focus your mind, mostly. A clear head is key to most things in life, in my experience. And I’ll teach you how to cast a magic circle — a pure space that’s part here and part in the Otherworld. Your gift may well lean towards healing but you’ll likely have talents in other areas as well. I suspect you have a touch of ESP — extra sensory perception. Have you even tried any fortune telling?”
“You mean with a crystal ball or whatever?”
