Chapter 2

Naomi and Rebecca departed for the train to return to University, insisting that Kat and Harry not accompany them to the station. Instead, Flame-headed Kat, with Aibhilin, who was equally flame-headed, if perhaps a shade lighter, set off for the park. Harry, a little reluctantly, settled down to some work.

Kat collected a bag of duck-food from the cafe – bread, especially processed white bread is not good for ducks – and they were soon surrounded by squabbling water-fowl. The ducks were so tame that Kat was able to stroke a head while the animal picked grains of food from the palm of her hand. That was not a great idea, though. Aibhilin tried the same thing and a duck was either less delicate in picking the food out of her hand, or Aibhilin was shocked when the beak nipped her skin, or both.

“Owww!” Any other child would have burst into tears. Aibhillin didn’t, but a tear trickled down her cheek. Kat examined the hand – there was a small pink spot where the duck had pecked the toddler.

“Oh, dear.” She kissed the spot. “Would hot chocolate make it better?”

Aibhilin perked up immediately. “Ye’! Ho’ cho’ola’!” She held the hand up to her mother. “Ki’?”

Kat chuckled and kissed the spot again. They sprinkled the last of the duck food on the path, and Kat took Aibhilin’s hand to walk to the cafe. When they got there, though, just as Kat was about to turn to go in, Aibhilin tugged her hand free. “Ca’ole!” and set off toward the playground. Kat was compelled to follow.

Aibhilin could walk well. Running, however, was outside her competency. She nearly reached Carole though, before completely losing her balance. She went sprawling onto her front. Carole was right there and scooped her up. Immediately obvious were grazes on the little girl’s forehead and nose. There was silence for several seconds before – for the first time in her life – Aibhilin cried.

The tears didn’t last long and she looked up at Carole, who was still cuddling her. “Ca’ole, ki’ i’ be’er?”

“Shouldn’t that be mummy’s job?”

“No! You!”

Carole looked at Kat who smiled and nodded, and she dipped to touch her lips to the abrasions.

Aibhilin smiled. “Swing!”

Kat looked at the grazes. “Those are going to be sore, baby.”

“Swing!”

“Oh, well. An hour or so isn’t going to make much difference.”

It was much less than an hour when Aibhilin remembered she’d been promised hot chocolate. She reminded Kat, and lifted her arms to Carole to be lifted out of the toddler swing. With her arms tight around Carole’s neck, the older girl would have found it difficult to put her down, even had she wanted to. So Carole, carrying Aibhilin, walked with Kat to the cafe.

“I love doing this,” Carole said, quietly, to Kat, “but don’t you mind?”

“No. For one thing, if she was with me she’d be walking. For another, I think she knows you need the love.”

Carole looked sharply at her, but then they were entering the cafe and ordering drinks. When they’d been served and were sitting at a slightly rocky table with Aibhilin on Carole’s lap, she said, “I do. I really do. And ... there’s something about your little girl.”

Kat laughed. “You’re not wrong. She was born in a circle on the solstice, and blessed by Viviane.”

“Viviane?”

“Goddess of childbirth.” Kat decided it was better not to elaborate on the goddess’ other responsibilities.

“It’s ... it’s hard to get my head round ... it’s real, isn’t it? The magic? I mean, I watched you change yourself...”

Kat shrugged. “It’s real. It’s ... it can be dangerous, too. Harry ... Harry made a promise to Viviane. It brought him a lot of pain. Saved me a lot, too, but...”

Carole looked worried and sipped her hot chocolate.

“Carole,” Kat went on, “as long as you do as we tell you, we can look after you.”

Once the chocolate was drunk, they spent a little longer in the playground before returning to the Birds’ house, where Aibhilin’s grazes were cleaned and soothed.

Carole helped Kat prepare sandwiches for their – and Harry’s – lunch and when they were ready Aibhilin trotted off to the lounge to call him to eat. He came, carrying his daughter, who was snuggling against him. “Hello, ladies. Did you enjoy your outing?”

“I fell, Daddy! But Ca’ole kiss i’ be’er.”

“That was kind of her! Did you say thank you?”

She struggled in his arms and he put her down so she could toddle over to Carole. “Thank ‘oo.” with a heart-melting smile.

“You’re welcome,” Carole smiled back, but went on, “Kat, Harry, I thought she was only just one year old?”

“A year and a couple of weeks.”

“But she’s talking...” Carole was puzzled. “I mean, she drops some vowels, but she’s perfectly understandable, but she’s only one?”

“She’s special,” Kat declared with a smile.

Carole just shook her head, wondering.

Kat looked at Harry, “Are you going to get some fresh air, Love?”

He chuckled. “Is that a hint? As it happens, I’m at a stopping point and, yes, I do need a break. Are you going to talk to Carole in the lounge?”

Kat frowned. “Yes. And I think Aibhilin must be there too...”

“Are you sure?”

For once, Harry could see her indecision. “My heart says no, but my mind says yes.”

He smiled. “Remember what she did at the solstice?”

Kat nodded. “I suppose so.”

“Well, I suppose I’ll be an hour or two. If the lounge door is shut when I get back I won’t disturb you.”

Harry left and when they heard the front door close, Aibhilin lifted her arms to Carole, who picked her up to carry her after Kat into the lounge. Carole sat, and Aibhilin curled up, rather like a cat, nestling in her lap.

After several minutes of silence, during which Carole sat, eyes down, stroking Aibhilin’s hair, Kat began. “What’s your earliest memory, Carole?”

“Hospital,” she replied. “I was about three. I never knew my real parents, and I don’t know my proper birthday. I’m told they found me in a small park in London, wrapped in a blanket, unconscious. They couldn’t find anything physically wrong, but I didn’t speak for about a year after. I was in foster homes then until I was eighteen.” She paused, then went on, “I couldn’t afford college, and got a job as a junior in an office. I had a flat – bedsit, really – from a youth support agency, but I had to leave that when I reached twenty-one.”

“So, what went wrong?”

“I ... well ... I kept blacking out. The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong, and I ended up in a psychiatric unit. They couldn’t help; they just wanted to give me pills and I didn’t see any point in that. Anyway, I lost my job. I got way behind with my rent. My landlord, well, you can guess, I suppose. When I wouldn’t give him sex, he put me out on the street. The few bits of furniture, that sort of thing, he kept ‘as part payment of back rent’. All I had was clothes and a sleeping-bag, and they were stolen the day before you found me.”

“But you haven’t had any blackouts, or fainting, anything like that, since we found you?”

“No, but ... at night I get scared, and sometimes have nightmares I can’t remember when I wake. Clare gave me her old teddy-bear and that helped. And a couple of times there’s been a voice in my head... ‘Sleep well. Peace be upon you. Rest safe and secure’.”

“What was the voice like?”

“Very sweet and gentle. It sounded like a girl, or young woman.”

“I see, I think,” Kat was nodding, with a slight smile. “I suspect my daughter has been wandering in her sleep.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know – perhaps you don’t – it’s possible for the consciousness – your spirit or soul, if you like – to leave the body. It’s sometimes called an ‘out of body experience’. It often happens when you sleep and may be remembered as a dream. Someone who knows how can do it deliberately and travel almost instantly through what some call the overworld. In the overworld, Aibhilin appears as a young woman in her late teens. Fortunately, she’s not helpless when she’s there.”

Carole looked at her wide-eyed.

“The overworld isn’t the safest place. It’s a ... an intersection, if you like.”

“But if everyone gets there sometimes...”

“Oh, there are natural protections. Christian Baptism, for example. Purity of heart. The risk comes when someone opens the door, so to speak. Ouija is dangerous. So is trying to raise a particular spirit. Even adultery, especially with the wrong person, if you know what I mean. I am very careful when I’m there. Aibhilin, well ... I suspect she has a powerful sponsor, and she has power already.” Kat smiled. “There’s something about me, too.”

“There certainly is!” Carole spluttered. “So what happens now?” She glanced down at the little girl in her lap, at her hand absently stroking the fine hair.

“With your permission, I’m going to take a look in your mind.”

Carole’s jaw dropped. “But...”

“Don’t worry. I doubt very much there’s anything there for you to be ashamed of. Think of me as ... a doctor. Or ... your counsellor – I am that, you know.”