Seeing Magic (The Queen of the Night Series Book 1) (9 page)

Chapter Nine

Lunch on the Farm

A bell started ringing to call the field hands back to the barn for break. Evan and I were located in the field closest to the barn so we arrived first.

Lunch was a pot luck affair. Everyone brought something from home and shared it with the rest of the crew. We washed up at a sink inside the barn. Evan headed back to the Jeep to retrieve our contribution to the meal and I helped Duncan spread out the worn red gingham-checked tablecloths on two picnic tables placed end-to-end to form a long dining area.

The other men came in from the fields, washed up and headed to their vehicles. They each returned carrying a casserole dish or a plastic food storage container. Duncan and I brought the disposable dishware, flatware, serving pieces, napkins and glasses. He and another man carried out a large insulated urn of water and placed it at one end. Evan came back carrying a large, rectangular thermally-insulated plastic container filled with Fiona’s homemade meat turnovers. Apparently, they were a perennial favorite of the gnomes. As I helped him lay them out on a disposable platter, I saw Mr. Husk emerging from the corn field.

As he walked, he transformed from a stalk of corn to a very short man. He had all of the limbs and basic parts of humans, but he stood about three feet tall and carried enough brown, leathered skin for a man twice his size and width. The excess skin hung all around him, making it hard to distinguish his features. He wore a simple brown robe over his body and tied it at the waist with a length of white rope. The only really memorable feature he had was his pure white hair. It hung long and scraggly around his face.

He was joined by another gnome who looked and dressed almost identically to him, except she had silvery gray hair and was slightly shorter than he. I assumed she must be Mrs. Plump. Evan gestured for me to take the seat between himself and Duncan in the center of the table. Mr. Husk and Mrs. Plump took the seats opposite us. Six other gnomes and the seven other men joined us. Duncan stood and everyone stopped talking to look at him.

He offered a simple blessing of thanks. “Blessed are the gifts brought to us by Father Sky and Mother Earth. We thank them for this bounty we are about to enjoy. We praise the little people who do the Earth’s good works. We thank them for their toil. We follow the rules of the land, and always strive to keep the balance of nature intact. Blessed Be.”

Once Duncan had finished and sat down, the noise level rose to almost be deafening as people chatted together in many simultaneous conversations and passed the food around the table. Mr. Husk’s eyes shone through the extra folds of his eyelids when he spied me handing him the platter of turnovers.

“Oh ach, look missus Plump, Fiona’s sent steak and kidney pasties. They’re me favorite.”  He took a bite of one, which was still warm, and sighed. “That’s the ticket, that is. They reminds me of growing up in Cornwall.”

“You’re from Britain?”

“Aye, I am, lassie. Me and the missus came over on the second supply ship of 1607 we did. Remember that voyage, missus?”

“It’s a hard one to forget, mister. Almost died of seasickness, I did. I missed my good earth. Yes I did. Six long months it was,” she replied.

Not sure if they were fooling me about being more than four hundred years old, I decided to remain silent.

Luckily, Evan got my attention. “Maggie, before people get too carried away here, let me introduce you to everyone.”

I nodded my agreement.

He whistled and again the noise quieted. “Hey everyone, I wanted to introduce a new member of the clan. This is Maggie Stewart.”

Again I raised my hand for a little wave.

“She’s Fiona’s great-niece. She’s visiting us this summer from California.” 

There were general murmurs from the table but I couldn’t make out what anyone said.

“Anyway, I’d like to go around the table and introduce each of you in turn.”

Four of the young men, including the two older guys, were Duncan’s own sons: Pat, Ken, Mike and Craig.

Evan indicated the youngest of the crew. He sat at the end of the table. “This young gentleman is Kevin Smith. He’ll be joining John and me at Berkeley Springs High in the fall. His family just moved here from Asheville, North Carolina. His father works in DC with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

“Wow, cool,” I acknowledged.

The last two, one in his mid-twenties named Brady, and the guy named John, were Evan’s cousins.

“So does that mean you two are Seers?  I just figured you’d have farming gifts.”

Brady answered. “We don’t have to have Duncan’s rare, natural talent for being able to listen to all of the crops and all of the livestock. He always knows exactly what they need to thrive. We just have to know how to take orders from him. Besides, we’re from farming stock on our mother’s side. And since we can’t all have a seeing gift as powerful as Evan, we might as well do something useful with our lives.”

“Yeah,” commented John, “we can’t all spend our days fending off willing young girls throwing themselves at us.” 

Evan look embarrassed. “I don’t do that,” he grumbled.

Ken piped up, “It’s true. He catches them.”

Everyone but Evan laughed, but Duncan came to his rescue. “Evan has a lot of responsibility as a member of the High Council. He can’t help it if some young women find the lure of power irresistible.”

Craig added, “It’s not his fault the cheerleading squad asked him to judge their annual beauty contest — for the lingerie event.” 

More guffaws shook the table.

As the only girl present, I was beginning to feel uncomfortable, so I commented, “I thought Evan was banned from having relationships?”

Duncan answered before Evan could speak up for himself. He was quite red in the face at this point. “He’s banned from marriage, not
relationships
. He’s especially not banned from one-night
relationships
.” 

The fits of laughter sounded as Duncan continued, “Oh, I remember Logan, in his prime. What a dog.” 

Someone farther down the table barked.

Suddenly, a softer, higher pitched voice cleared her throat and it occurred to me I was
not
the only feminine presence at the table. Mrs. Plump spoke, “I think that’s quite enough to be getting on with, lads.” 

I shot her a grateful glance.

She blatantly changed the subject. “Tell me, Mr. Husk. Will we be having young, sweet white corn at the feast of Litha this year?”

To his credit, Mr. Husk took his cue well. “Ach no, I’m afraid the corn is way too young to yield fruit this early in the season. However, I have it on good authority that Farmer MacGregor has been experimenting with hydroponic gardening in his hothouse, and he’ll be making a contribution of corn to the feast.”

Evan, who seemed to have finally found his voice, inquired, “And how did you hear that, Mr. Husk?”

“I heard it from a dryad who lives in the wood just beyond the lower field. She got it from a nyad, who lives in the nearby spring, who got it from a garden gnome. You know how people around here like to gossip.”

Evan nodded, “Indeed I do.”

This brought me back to my burning question of the day, so I blurted it out. “Will
someone
explain to me: what is Litha?”

For the third time that meal, the table was rendered completely silent as all eyes turned to me. I realized I had made a major social blunder in this community. Apparently, everyone who could talk already knew about Litha.

Mr. Husk, as Evan had predicted, regarded me thoughtfully, and answered. “Litha is one of the high holy days of the year for us. It’s also called the Summer Solstice or Midsummer’s Day. It is the longest day of the year where the sun shines the most brightly and we celebrate it by giving thanks to the King of the Sun for his blessing of warmth and light, without which we could not grow our food.”

Evan added to the lecture. “Litha is always celebrated on June 21, but in our tradition, days are not measured from sunrise to the next sunrise. They are measured from sunset to the following sunset. Therefore, Litha starts at sundown on June 20. Our clan celebrates the holiday with a great party which runs from sundown to sunrise. It is held at a sacred meadow in the middle of the old forest where you found the mushrooms on your second day here.”

That’s one way of remembering the event
. I tend to think of it as the place I met Green Eyes. No one else at the table knew about my first experience with magic, and I was grateful to Evan for not mentioning it.

Mike added “Yeah, the Litha traditions gave Shakespeare his inspiration for the play, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.”

Mrs. Plump said, “All of the magical creatures in the area attend it. It’s one of our most special days of the year.” 

Ken added, “Plus, we have the annual jumping of the bonfire.”

I looked at him. “What’s that?”

“We start the celebration at night, so we build a huge bonfire in the center of the meadow. Those of us who have the courage try to jump over it. We award a prize to the person who can jump the highest and the farthest.”

I made a mental note to myself to find Fiona’s supply of burn relief poultice in the pantry to take with me to the party. Out loud I queried, “So, which families have the edge in the competition, the Warriors with their strength, or the Hunters with their speed and coordination?”

“Neither,” grumbled Pat.

Duncan added, “Evan won last year.”

I gasped. “He did?”

Mike laughed. “He cheated.”

“How so?”

I directed my question directly to Evan, but Duncan answered. “I’m afraid that’s a story for another day. It’s time to get back to work.”

***

Mr. Husk led us down to the lower field after lunch, where we continued to weed and fertilize all of the corn. At one point, I asked him how he communicated with it.

He wiggled his root-like feet into the soil until they were completely covered with the dirt. He stood very still, closed his eyes and commented softly, “When I’m like this, in the shape of the corn plant, and I spread my toes deep into the earth so that I touch their roots, I can hear what the corn is saying. You see, we are all connected on this planet, whether we know it or not. The corn plants tell me if they are sick or thirsty or feeling peaked. If they are under attack by bugs or fungus, I know.”

“Wow,” was all I could think of to say. It occurred to me then that with all the help of the magical creatures, this wasn’t a bad life to have; even without Direct TV.

***

For the next couple of days, we continued to work in the fields with Mr. Husk. On the fourth day, all of the farm hands worked together to harvest the food we would need for the Litha feast. We gathered new potatoes and spring onions, picked all kinds of salad greens and fresh herbs, harvested new zucchini and baby eggplants.

Mrs. Plump helped us find four bushels of ripe tomatoes. We took everything back up to the barn where Duncan had several small wooden crates and a list of all of the families in the clan and their particular orders for produce. Our harvested crops got separated and packed. We loaded the crates into our various SUVs and trucks and were sent out to make the deliveries. Evan and I had three stops before he took me back to Fiona’s cabin.

After several days of hard work outside in the fresh air and the sunshine, I was exhausted, but felt really good that we had accomplished something. I was anticipating the feast so I could see how the vegetables we had gathered with our own hands became wonderful and tasty dishes for us to eat. It was these thoughts of food, sun, warm earth and growing plants that lulled me to sleep that night.

Chapter Ten

The Sacred Meadow

“I want cherry, not rhubarb. What’s rhubarb?  No. Stop pushing me. It’s my pie. Catch it before it flies away.”  I was ripped out of a beautiful dream.

Fiona, wearing her caftan with her hair all astray, pushed on me. Still sore from working in the fields, my whole body rebelled against the idea. The fog of sleep evaporated from my brain when she said, “Wake up. Somebody is very sick. They need our help.”

“What kind of person needs our help in the middle of the night?”

“It’s not a person. It’s a nyad. We’ve been called upon by the Queen of the Sidhe clan. She wants us to treat a water nymph.”

I got out of bed and dressed quickly in the dark. Fiona was already dressed and heading out the door carrying her medical bag. I threw on my old and most comfortable sneakers and trudged after her. Locking the front door behind me, I got into the truck. Fiona pulled out onto the gravel drive and we sped off into the night.

When we reached the paved road she turned right and started climbing the mountain. We drove a short distance before turning left onto another gravel road. I was beginning to comprehend the size of Fiona’s property. After what seemed like a half-mile, the gravel road ended and became a gravel-covered parking lot large enough to hold about ten vehicles. Fiona pulled into the closest parking space and cut the engine. She was already out of the truck with bag in hand before I’d even opened my door.

“We walk from here,” she said as she reached into the bed of the truck and grabbed a couple of flashlights. She handed one to me and started hiking down a clearly worn path that led into a thick copse of trees. I turned on my light and followed her into the dense woods. It seemed darker than pitch black with the trees crouching in on both sides so I hurried to catch up with her. The small beam of light from my lone flashlight did not reassure me. It felt as if we were traveling horizontally along the side of the mountain but the trail wove up and down and side to side so it was hard for me to keep my bearings. At one point the path widened, and I spied an old stone well off the path to my left.

The well looked like those in the fairy tales. The stones used to build it had probably been collected from the surrounding forest. Above the cylindrical wall of stone sat a wooden frame with a tiny shingled roof and a cross brace. A simple crank turned a rope around a spindle on the cross brace tied to a weathered wooden bucket. The quaint structure standing alone in the woods fascinated me, but the loss of light forced me to turn my attention back to the trail. Fiona had breezed on past the well while I stared.

She was quite a distance ahead of me and I had to run again.

Panic had started to set in because of my isolation in the spooky forest, when I felt the trail heading downhill. Eventually, it leveled out and from what little I ascertained of the area with our meager flashlights, it seemed we had emerged into a plateau valley between two mountains.

Suddenly, we left the forest behind and walked into a brightly lit clearing covered in meadow grass. As we got closer, I saw that the source of the light was hundreds of individual balls of fire, like golf ball-sized lightening bugs. They appeared to be floating in the air of their own accord.

“Are the lights part of your magic, too?” I tried to poke one but it flew out of my reach. It was laughing at me. I started to feel sleepy.

“They’re not my lights, but they are definitely magical.”  

Her voice sounded like she was talking through a wad of cotton. My vision blurred, but I thought if I could just catch one of the lights, I’d prove to myself it was a little winged dude with a goatee.

Fiona smacked the back of my head. Suddenly, my vision cleared. “They’re Sidhelas, or fairy lights. Don’t stare directly at them. Stay close to me and do as I say. I’ll do all the talking.”

Still stupid, I figured that plan was fine with me since I couldn’t really offer any aid to Fiona’s healing methods. I had no idea why she had dragged me out of bed in the middle of the night to be a part of this meeting and was getting tired of being hypnotized by fairies.

I couldn’t keep myself from glancing around the clearing with my mouth wide open, once we’d reached our destination. It was a meadow unlike any I’d ever seen. The huge cleared area alone was larger than a football field. Stationed all around the clearing like a silent platoon, were massive rocks that reminded me of Stonehenge. Instead of being laid out in concentric circles, these stones formed two overlapping circles. Most of the stones were much shorter than those in the famous Neolithic temple; positioned at equal intervals around the two circles, they stood two feet tall and 8 inches in diameter. Every fourth stone was larger, four feet in height and ten inches in diameter. Massive archways stood at each end of this figure eight shape. Two gargantuan standing stones of eight feet in height covered by a stone lintel formed each arch. The narrow amount of space between the stones made me wonder if the archways were aligned with an astrological event, like the ones at Stonehenge.

In the center of the clearing, where the two circles overlapped, sat a tremendous  table made from a twin-bed size slab of stone set on top of two wide legs, also quarried from the same rock. The table stood waist-high and was occupied by at least three people. One person lay on the table, and two people stood beside it. From their clothes, I could guess all three were female. I knew they were not human because, like Buach, they were all mesmerizingly beautiful. They wore simple gowns made from a wispy, gossamer-like fabric with gold trim around the neck and arms, and gold rope belts cinched around their waists.

Each fairy wore a different color. The lady lying on the table wore sapphire blue and had shiny, ebony hair that must have been several feet long because it covered the table as it flowed around her head and body. The ladies standing next to her wore lavender and pastel green. The one in green had short red, curly ringlets of hair. The one in lavender had silver-colored hair that trailed down to her waist. She also wore a large ornate necklace of gold and crystal around her neck.

The lavender fairy spoke. Nodding her head in respect, she addressed Fiona. “Thanks be to ye, Great Healer, for coming to us in our hour of need. Thou knowest I would not have called ye if it was not of dire importance.”

In her typical no-fuss manner, Fiona brushed aside any territorial concerns with a wave of her hand. “I know you wouldn’t have called me, Dariene, if you had not already tried to cure her with all of your own magic and skill. What is her ailment?”

I closely observed the silent play of political power and respect between my great-aunt and the fairy she called ‘Dairy Ann’. It was like watching heads of state visit on CNN, until her gaze slipped over Fiona’s shoulder and spied me.

I swallowed instinctively as she assessed me. “Ach, would this be the young Healer then?  Buach had much to say about their meeting.”

Fiona replied, “This is Maggie, my grand-niece. We have yet to determine if she will become a Healer, but I brought her along to observe and assist.”

“Humans,” smiled Dariene, “always so sure that they can control destiny.”

Fiona seemed irked by the comment. “Describe her symptoms and what treatments you have tried.”

Dariene and her companion stepped aside and Fiona approached the patient.

Dariene continued. “This is Easnadh. She suffers from pain in her head, chest and stomach. She has had difficulty breathing, as of late, and is unable to perform her duties as a nyad. As you know, the Sidhe rarely become ill. Our harmony with the Earth and the natural order protects us from many of the diseases that afflict humans. We are gravely concerned there is an illness out there that cannot be overcome by communing with our great Mother. It pains us that our sister continues to suffer despite our charms and water rituals. So, Great Healer, can ye help?”

Fiona had already started to work. She laid her medical bag on the table and retrieved her stethoscope, a disposable thermometer, and a tongue depressor. She started her examination using modern medical methods, and looked in the eyes and ears of the nymph Dariene had called ‘Asna’. She took her temperature and pulse, used the tongue depressor to check her airway, and listened to her heartbeat and breathing sounds. Then she put the stethoscope aside and, as she had done with me and the little girl, placed her hands together about two inches above Easnadh’s forehead and scanned her from head to foot by slowly waving the hands over Easnadh’s body and letting her sixth sense see where the young nymph had pain. When Fiona reached Easnadh’s chest she stopped. Her brow furrowed and she muttered to herself. A look of great frustration appeared on her face.

She opened her eyes, looked up at me and said, “Maggie, come here. Give me your hands.” 

I did as I was told, standing as close to Fiona as I dared and mimicking her by holding out my hands with my palms flat and facing down, about two inches over Easnadh’s body. Fiona laid her own hands on top of mine and guided them to the spot over Easnadh’s chest, which seemed to be the main area of concern. I felt vibrations of energy and warmth flowing from Fiona’s hands to mine. Then I felt the flow of energy reverse, so that Fiona sucked my life force to amplify her own.

She said, “Can you feel that?”

“I’m not sure what I’m feeling but it’s making me nauseous.”

“I agree. There’s some sort of obstruction here, in the lung.”

At this point the fairy in green spoke. “Aye, when I found Easnadh on the bank of her stream, she was bent over double and gasping for air. She hasn’t taken a full breath since I found her two days ago.”

Fiona replied, “Yes, I see.”  She let go of my hands and continued her scan down the rest of Easnadh’s body. She stopped again when she got to the lower abdomen. “A lot of stomach pain as well, I see.”

Easnadh, who had seemed barely conscious up to this point, grunted and nodded her head slightly to confirm Fiona’s assessment.

Fiona completed her scan and took a step back. She addressed Dariene directly. “I agree there is something grievously wrong here. Easnadh should not suffer from the same illnesses that would affect humans. And yet, I treated a young girl just a few days ago who exhibited these same symptoms. We have not yet determined the cause of this illness, but I can offer some temporary relief with my healing hands. I cannot say how long the treatment will abate Easnadh’s pain. I suggest that both our clans make it a priority to determine the source of this disease.”

Dariene looked relieved. “We are agreed. We are grateful for whatever you can do now and will offer any resources you require to solve this mystery before more of our brethren are hurt. Thank you, Great Healer.”

So, taking my hands as she had before, using my energy to amplify her own, Fiona performed a magical healing hands treatment on Easnadh’s stomach and lungs.

When the treatment was completed, the young water nymph opened her eyes and sighed. Easnadh was able to sit up with the aid of both Dariene and the unnamed fairy. They supported her as she stepped down from the table and the three of them hobbled over to the archway on our left.

Just before she passed under the arch Dariene looked back at us and called, “May the Goddess bless ye, Great Healer, and all your good works. My clan looks forward to joining yours at sundown for the blessing of Litha. Until then, farewell.”  As the Sidhe passed under the arch, they simply vanished.

I gasped. “Omigosh. It’s a portal to another dimension!”

Fiona chuckled. “It’s only a portal for the Sidhe. To everyone else, it’s just an arch.”  As she packed up her medical bag and snapped it shut she frowned. “It’s odd though. The entire Sidhe clan never joins us for the Litha feast. We always invite them, of course, but usually only the King and Queen attend. They offer the blessing with our own clan leaders, and then they leave. I wonder what they’re planning now. Remind me to send someone to collect extra rue for tonight’s festivities.” 

I had no idea how the herb rue tied in to fairy plots but there was no time to ponder this as Fiona was already hiking out of the clearing. Just as I crossed the standing stones which formed the circles, the fairy lights swarmed toward the archway through which Dariene had exited. They too, vanished, and I was left alone in the dark. Turning on my flashlight, I followed Fiona back to the truck.