Whilst Maizie was out of the study looking for the doctor, Yul stared down at his youngest sister in consternation, smoothing the curls back from her ashen face. Her breathing became deeper and then the shaking stopped. Her eyes rolled back down and she gazed up at him in complete confusion.
‘The darkness and the brightness will be torn asunder,’ she whispered. ‘Stonewylde will tremble – the magic will die and the earth and the moon will dance here no longer. The sacred spirals will unravel and all will be eclipsed by the evil that comes. It’s already started.’
‘What?’ he gasped. ‘What are you talking about, Leveret?’
All he’d really taken in was the part about the darkness and the brightness being torn asunder, which was a little too close to the truth to be dismissed. But Leveret merely shook her head and, by the time Hazel arrived with her bag, no longer remembered saying anything at all. Leveret was taken to the hospital wing for the night but seemed fine, other than sobbing for several hours into the alien pillow at her isolation and the injustice of her treatment.
10
Sylvie was unaware of the commotion in Yul’s office. She was busy supervising the girls’ tea and keeping an eye on the clock. It was the Moon Fullness tonight and she could feel faint pulses of excitement in her fingertips; she intended to walk up to Hare Stone before the sun set and watch the Owl Moon rise. It was quite a while since she’d seen it.
‘Eat your boiled egg nicely,’ she said to Bluebell, who was getting into a mess as usual. ‘I’m just going to see if Granny Maizie would like to bath you both tonight and put you to bed.’
‘Why Granny Maizie?’ asked Bluebell. ‘Why not you?’
‘I’m going for a walk,’ she replied. ‘It’s the Moon Fullness and I want to watch the moon rise. I won’t be very long.’
‘Can I come?’ asked Celandine.
Sylvie regarded her elder daughter, who was such a serious little girl.
‘Not this time, darling. Maybe in the spring when it’s warmer, I’ll take you up to Hare Stone and we can watch together.’
‘I’d rather dance.’
Sylvie looked sharply at the girl. Was this moongaziness coming out? Or merely the fact that Celandine was devoted to dancing and danced all the time.
‘Dancing at the Moon Fullness is something I used to do,’ she said quietly. ‘With my moon wings and a magical silver dress.’
‘Like a faerie?’ asked Bluebell. ‘Were you sparkly, Mummy?’
‘I expect you were beautiful,’ said Celandine.
‘I certainly felt beautiful, and yes, I was sparkly, Bluebell. It was the best thing ever – the moongazy hares and the barn-owl would join me, and your father would, too. He’d sit with his back to the stone and watch me dance.’
The girls stared at their mother in fascination, awed by her tone of wistfulness. Sylvie’s eyes were faraway, remembering moonlit landscapes and magical spirals and Yul’s adoration.
‘Why did you stop, Mum?’ asked Celandine. ‘If it was the best thing ever, why did you stop?’
There was a silence as Sylvie thought about this, then she sighed deeply.
‘So we’ll go no more a-roving, so late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving, the moon be yet as bright.’
‘Mummy?’ cried Bluebell in consternation at this strangeness. She jumped down from her chair and ran round to Sylvie, burying her eggy face in her mother’s skirt.
‘It’s alright, Blue,’ said Celandine. ‘I understand, Mum.’
‘Do you? It’s strange – I don’t know why I feel this need to go tonight but somehow …’
‘When did you last dance for the beautiful Moon Goddess, Mum?’
Sylvie thought about this, shocked at just how long ago it was.
‘I stopped going every month when I was expecting you, Celandine, during the winter when it was cold and icy and Father said I may slip and fall. I started again after you were born but only for a while, and then I was expecting Bluebell, and then …’
‘Why not after I was borned, Mummy?’
‘Because I was ill, darling. Remember I’ve told you about this? I was very ill for a while and I had to go to a special hospital in the Outside World to get better again. But after I came home, somehow I never moondanced again. I never felt the need to, not until tonight …’
‘You should go tonight – go quickly. You need to go,’ said Celandine, her deep grey eyes full of concern and love.