Jack paused from his fruitless search. He did not know how it had happened, but he had lost something important. The last time he had seen it was on the night of the Full Moon during the meeting at the fallen oak tree - Primrose’s scarf had disappeared.
Jack had left Velvet and Victor to continue their search for Primrose. He, on the other hand, needed to retrace his steps carefully. Every place of rest and every room in the cottage had been meticulously searched, as well as every forest trail they had visited, but no luck. The scarf had gone. Jack knew that many animals had seen that scarf and any one of them could have taken it; there had been much jealousy, some had thought Primrose did not deserve such a gift.
Jack felt he had failed totally. It had been almost two weeks and along with the disappearance of Primrose’s scarf there had also been no news of Evelyn. Briony’s voice seemed to whisper in his ear, ‘everything will be fine, remember don’t give up,’ but Jack couldn’t help feeling depressed, surely things couldn’t get any worse.
‘Oh, things could get worse, a lot worse,’ an ethereal voice floated on the air and then wafted away gently into the dimming light.
Jack shook his head, hearing voices now, he thought. He knew he must get some sleep soon or he would go mad. Perhaps he had done that already, he smirked at that idea.
A faint howl drifted through the air. Jack’s smirk widened: he was definitely going mad. As the howl continued, Jack recognised the familiar sound, a coded message and a request for help from Orion, a wolf and his dear friend. The message required his surgical skill; a wolf had been injured in a deep gully. Orion was asking him to travel to a certain position, just inside the Ancient Forest on the northern side of the island.
Jack, who had once tended the forest in that area, knew the place Orion referred to straight away. He stood, cupped his hands to his mouth and howled his answer, just as Orion had taught him. He hoped that his answer would travel the distance through the still night’s air and be received.
Gathering up his rucksack, Jack started on his way. He was aware it would take him most of the night due to the distance and his leg, which was becoming more and more painful as the days passed. Sleep would have to wait for another night.
As Jack followed the forest trails, he recalled the events since his wife’s funeral. He was relieved that he would be seeing Orion soon. His friend’s advice and company were important to him and there were some unsettling things that had happened recently that needed to be discussed. He wanted Orion’s point of view and to mull everything over with him.
One of the things that concerned him was Bolter the rabbit, who was becoming extremely worried. Strange messages had been intercepted that were causing confusion and anxiety, as well as a lot of misunderstandings; these messages had not originated from his warren. As a result, Bolter and Jack had devised a new secret code; they would now be able to distinguish which messages were true or false.
The rabbits had also noticed strange things flying in the sky. Things that looked like birds but weren’t. Jack had yet to see one of these contraptions and wondered what their purpose might be.
Jack’s mind went back to the missing scarf again; he felt certain that it had been stolen at the meeting and felt sure the irritating robin was the culprit. The robin had continually interrupted the meeting at the fallen oak tree and didn’t like the idea of Primrose having the scarf, but without any evidence Jack was unable to accuse him of the theft without causing animosity.
Then there was that strange voice that Jack thought he had heard earlier, he wondered whether he should mention that to Orion too.
He glanced at the Ancient Tree as he passed it, remembering old times. Even the Tree looked different tonight, better somehow, less threatening. It was hard to see what was different, though, as the night cast too many dark shadows.
The final and most unsettling thing that had happened, to which Jack had no reasonable explanation - was that Briony’s coffin had vanished. Around the empty, granite plinth four roses had grown miraculously, each one was heavy with many wonderful, exotic blooms and although, only one primrose had been planted, they had spread like wildfire and carpeted the glade entirely.
The vivid, vibrant colours of the primroses complimented each rose perfectly. Jack could not make head or tail of it. It was a beautiful sight, breathtakingly so, but could it be a sign that Primrose was becoming a powerful magician? Or was it Briony’s way of saying that everything was as it should be?
Jack could not wait to see Orion again.