The Witch Stone - Emily Oakes Page 0,28
a lot, Brenna. Gave me a lot of photos too.”
“She gave you photos of me?”
“Sure did.”
“How come you didn’t say anything yesterday?”
“Well, I don’t usually like talking to people, but you remind me of her.”
“Really? I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should. She was a wonderful woman.” He seemed to stare into space, before saying, “Anyway getting back to the walks. We’d go in with a picnic and spend the whole day there. She’d teach me about certain plants, even fixed my sore feet by placing a herb called mugwort in my shoes. Amazing huh?”
“Oh definitely.” Brenna agreed.
“She told me about a cottage in there but would never take me to see it. Said it was kind of a sacred family heirloom. I never pushed the subject; you know I respected her wishes. But strange things would happen in the forest, Brenna. Laughing coming from nowhere, happy voices chattering and all sorts of crazy stuff. It was never scary though, that was until the last time we went in there. Annwyn could feel it too, a dark presence.”
Brenna wondered what could turn laughing and cheerful chatting into sad chanting and eerie crying.
“Anyway, I haven’t wanted to go back in there.”
“What’s the story with the big gate?” Brenna asked.
“What gate?” Clark furrowed his considerable brow.
“The massive black fence surrounding the whole forest.”
“There’s no gate around the forest,” he said, matter of factly.
“Yes, there is. A big one, it was locked and wouldn’t open and then it opened by itself.”
“I don’t know anything about a gate.”
“Was Annwyn planning on getting one installed?”
“Nope, she liked having it open to people, not that many people went in there anyway.”
“Well, I didn’t imagine it. It was a big steel gate. When was the last time you went out there?”
“Drove past it last week. There wasn’t no gate then.”
“Well, maybe the council erected it in the last few days, although a gate that big would probably be expensive and time-consuming. I need to use a phone. I seemed to have lost my one.”
“Oh sure. It's outback,” he moved out of the doorway and motioned for her to pass on through.
The small room was littered with photos of Brenna and her Grandmother. They ranged from baby photos to her high school graduation day, then the opening of her shop. This man she had never heard of until yesterday, must know her whole life story. She thought he must be very lonely; there was no evidence of any family of his own. She spotted a grey phone and lifted the receiver and punched in Maggie’s number. A distant voice answered, followed by a loud clatter, “Hello?”
“Maggie?”
“This is she.”
“It’s Brenna.”
“Oh, hi, Bren! Sorry, it's hectic here. I’m trying to cook dinner.”
“Trying?” Brenna laughed.
“Yes, I’m not a master chef like you are. And I almost dropped the phone into a pot of soup.”
“I’m not a chef I just paid attention in home economics, unlike somebody I know.”
“Ha, ha. Well, how is it? Have you visited the forest yet?”
“That’s why I’m calling.”
“Oh, so you’re not checking to see if Tiddles is still alive?”
“Oh, my goddess, is he?”
“He’s fine, Bren. I have a little trouble feeding myself, but I can handle cats.”
“Good to hear,” Brenna smiled, “there’s something weird happening here.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I read your cards last night.”
“How can you read my cards when I’m not even there?”
“I visualized you and held Tiddles,” Maggie said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Of course you did. Well?” Brenna was almost afraid to ask, but she had to know.
“I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. I was hoping you’d call though.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes. Let’s put it this way, I found out some things and I think I may have dream dropped.”
“Dream dropped?”
“You know like eavesdropping, but I’m listening in on your dreams.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Last night, did you dream about a woman with black hair traveling to Witches Hill?”
“Okay, Maggie I believe you. What are your thoughts?”
“I think I should drop Tiddles into a cattery and get my butt up there because you can’t handle this by yourself.”
“Oh, Maggie you don’t have to,” Brenna lied; the thought of Maggie accompanying her to the terrifying forest was comforting.
“I want to. You know I can’t ignore something this big!”
“Okay, good! Please hurry. I’m staying at the Shady Oak Motel; you can’t miss it. It’s the only building for miles after a long stretch of boring road.”
“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“I’m leaving right now.” Maggie hung up the phone. Brenna placed the phone back on its