***
When the cousins met at the bus station on Saturday afternoon, Demi-Lee was keen to go straight to Aelwen’s grove, but Vicky pointed out it would be polite to drop in on her mum first, and it would allow Demi-Lee to ditch her bags. ‘Besides’ Vicky said, ‘Heledd’s barbeque starts at 5, so you won’t have long to wait ’til we go over.’
Heledd and Vicky were becoming experts at making excuses to meet up. Heledd was allegedly holding a homegrown vegetable barbeque that evening, to which Vicky and Demi-Lee were invited.
‘Can we take beer?’ Demi asked.
‘No, missy! You’re supposed to be learning tonight. You know you haven’t got long until…’ it was harder to say than Vicky had expected.
‘Are we going to see them tonight?’ Demi asked.
‘Of course. They’ll be there when we…get there.’
The barbeque was good cover. It allowed them to meet earlier and wear warmer clothes, and sounded less risky for a wild 14 year old than ‘party’. Demi-Lee and Vicky called at Heledd’s, where Heledd told her parents she was ‘going for an evening walk’ – something totally believable in their world – then they headed to Aelwen’s grove. Demi-Lee was practically bouncing with excitement when they arrived, and Vicky wondered whether the kid would learn anything that night. But Blackbird soon put Demi to work, and made her demonstrate all she’d learnt over the previous weeks.
Vicky and Heledd sat to one side, watching the sky and the clouds change colour as evening drew on. Heledd was pointing out different features of the landscape to Vicky, who was starting to realise just how beautiful Tanybryn really was. But there are other views, and bigger skies, she thought, and I want to see them before I get bogged down in this business of earning a living. The most frightening thing about travelling abroad, she realised, would be having to make friends with new people every day. But hadn’t someone once said to her that if you don’t fit in anywhere, you can rub along everywhere – something which had immediately made sense to her.
Blackbird called to Heledd to help explain something to Demi-Lee, leaving Vicky to daydream of coral reefs and shoals of sealife. Could she do it? Save up some money, work on her diving skills, maybe get a job in a tourist resort? Hell, if her baby cousin could become a witch, couldn’t she become a diving instructor? She’d already got some forms for a Marine Conservation project, but was agonising over which future to commit to.
She was pulled from her daydreams by Demi-Lee calling out, ‘Watch this, cuz!’
As the sun set, painting the clouds a golden pink, Demi-Lee showed off what she’d learnt. She sought the signs of the tiny creatures that surrounded her in the dusk – their whispering breaths, their soft heartbeats, their flickering attention – then charmed them to her. She heard the rustling of a rabbit in the undergrowth, and coaxed it over. She smiled as it scampered around her feet, looking up at her with adoration in its eyes. A little bird singing its evening song was next; it came and perched, tense, on her finger, just for a moment, before its instincts took over. Finally she sought out the tiny, quiet wing beats of the moths, and stood in the twilight as dozens of them beat around her in a pale halo. She coaxed them into a swirling globe. Blackbird said nothing, but glowed with pleasure and pride. Then Demi-Lee laughed, breaking the spell, and the moths scattered.
‘That was brilliant,’ Vicky said. ‘Awesome. I’m proud of you, kid.’
Demi-Lee scooped up Blackbird and kissed his forehead. ‘Was that good, boss?’ she asked.
‘Super-good. You know that,’ he replied. ‘You gonna be top witch soon.’
‘Do I get a gold star?’ Demi teased.
‘I give you all the stars. But the moon is for Vicky,’ Blackbird replied.
‘What about Heledd, boss? Doesn’t she get anything?’ Demi asked.
‘She gets that one. Flashing red and green.’ He pointed to an aeroplane blinking its way across the sky.
‘A plane? Heledd, you get all the planes. All the useful stuff!’ Demi laughed.
‘The moon’s useful too, you know.’ Heledd replied. ‘Keeps the earth steady, controls the tides. And powers your magic. The stars are useful too. All your atoms are made from old stars, remember that. Before our sun was born, we all shone unseen.’