The woods were full of little paths. Animal tracks wiggling through the trees, crossing and crossing again. Isis just seemed to be taking one turn then another, randomly, but we kept going uphill. And Merlin was with us, even though we’d never asked him to come along. He walked slowly, like he wasn’t in any hurry, but his legs were so long he was going fast anyway. I kept thinking that this was just like one of the stories the police tell when they come into school for those ‘stranger danger’ talks.
I made plans in my mind for what I’d do if Merlin tried anything. Drop-kick him, grab Isis and run. He only kept walking though, and after a while we were so high I could see the whole valley below us, all the leaves rustling in waves. A line of smoke drifted out of the trees, up into the blue. It must’ve been from the protest camp, but for a moment it was like going back thousands of years, to when there weren’t cars or towns or motorways, to when the whole country must’ve been wild woods and sparkling rivers. A robin sang its little up and down song, and everything was moving and stirring so you could almost feel the planet turning under your feet. Then, just on the edge of my sight, I thought I saw a little boy staring at me from between the trees.
Huuuurrr…
I ran to catch up with the others, not looking back.
Merlin was talking to Isis about ley lines, and she had this studied look on her face, so I couldn’t tell if she was interested or just focused on walking.
I followed them, keeping my eyes on Merlin and trying not to see any little boys appearing in between the trees. I wished more than ever that I had a phone, so I could ring Mum, or the police, or someone. I decided on this thing I’d seen on TV, how if you’re kidnapped you should try to make friends with your captor, so they’ll see you as a person, not someone they can skin or whatever.
“How long have you been at the protest camp?” I asked him.
“I’m not in the protest camp,” he said. “I don’t see eye to eye with them.”
I wondered who he would see eye to eye with. Some of Dad’s conspiracy-freak friends probably.
“Okay – how long have you been in the woods then?”
“A year. Year and a half,” said Merlin.
“A year?” said Isis. “But what about in the winter? Aren’t you cold?”
Merlin shrugged. “My teepee’s got a wood burner, and this is a wood.” He picked up a stick from the ground. “I’m not short of fuel and I don’t need much.”
“But you don’t have electricity or anything.”
Merlin shrugged. “I’m not here to write a blog, I’m here to answer the earth’s cries.” He looked at Isis and me, weighing us up. “Same as you.”
“Actually my dad made me come.”
We walked in silence for a bit after that, then Isis said, “I know where we are.” There was something weird to her voice.
“You can feel the energy?” asked Merlin.
Isis shook her head. “I recognise this place. From when I came here before, with my mum in the summer.” She turned to Merlin. “Where the ley lines cross, is there a standing stone?”
“Yeah,” said Merlin. “An awesome one.”
Isis stood still, looking shocked, or scared, I don’t know. I wished we weren’t here, with Merlin and standing stones and invisible little boys. I also wished I hadn’t left a Mars Bar back in the camper van, because I was really hungry. A little further on the trees opened up and we were at the edge of a neat grassy clearing. The standing stone was in the middle, and another footpath led off from the other side of the clearing. The standing stone was small, more like a standing lump. It was the same kind of grey as the rocks at the quarry, but softer-looking, like it was being slowly washed away. Not impressive at all, and there wasn’t any sign of any ley lines, not that they even exist. I wandered over and read the notice attached to a little fence around the stone. I can’t remember exactly what it said…
No, you can remember. You will remember exactly, word for word.
Um, oh. It said: THE DEVIL’S SPEARHEAD. THIS NEOLITHIC MONUMENT IS MADE FROM AN UNUSUAL LOCAL STONE TYPE, THOUGHT TO BE IGNEOUS IN ORIGIN. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THE STONE WAS ERECTED AROUND 3500 BC, BUT ITS ORIGINAL PURPOSE IS UNKNOWN. THE NAME DATES FROM THE LATE MEDIEVAL PERIOD, WHEN IT WAS BELIEVED THAT THE STONE HAD DROPPED TO EARTH DURING A BATTLE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL.
“Come on,” said Merlin, next to me. “Let’s hug.”
I jumped back, ready with my karate kick, but he didn’t mean me. He climbed over the fence and hugged the standing stone, face pressed against it, his eyes shut. When he spoke, it was like he was talking in his sleep.
“You should try it. It’s tingly.”
The day just kept getting weirder. Plus Dad and Cally were probably having fifty fits wondering where we were.
I turned to Isis. “So we’re here. Can we go back now?” She was at the edge of the trees, staring with this blank kind of expression.
Merlin opened his eyes. “I haven’t even done my chant yet.”
“Knock yourself out,” I said. “We’ll go back, I know the way.” Not that I really did.
Merlin looked like a kid who’s been told he has to leave the zoo. “At least hug the stone, or there’s no point even coming.”
I shook my head. “No thanks.” I glanced at Isis, but she hadn’t moved. She was staring like she was seeing something no one else could. What worried me was that this was probably true.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“Yeah,” she said vaguely, like she was concentrating on something else.
“You’ll feel the energy,” Merlin wheedled at me. “Don’t be scared.”
“I’m not scared. This is just rubbish.”
“The stone’s an energy channel, that’s probably why you’re feeling jittery and snappish.”
“I’m not either of those,” I snapped. “Because there’s no energy, and no ley lines! It’s just a rock.” I really wanted that Mars Bar.
“A rock carved by ancient hands and put in this place, thousands of years ago,” said Merlin, settling back into his hug, “soaking up the vibrations like a sponge.”
My life is full of freaks, all of them banging on about their own stupid stuff. Like my dad, like Merlin. Even Isis was being a bit of one then.
“So what if it’s been here thousands of years?” I shouted. “The rock it’s made out of must be millions of years old! Millions of years of being just an ordinary bit of our planet. A few thousand years as a standing stone is nothing compared to that – if I spend a minute in the shower, it doesn’t make me a dolphin!”
I reached over the fence to slap the stone, make my point.
“There’s nothing special…” But even as my fingers brushed its surface, I saw them.
Pale colourless figures, surrounding me in a circle. All different heights and none with a proper face. As I stared, hardly able to breathe, one of the shapes began to shimmer and solidify, turning from a wraith into a human. A black man, with wide eyes and a worn-in kind of frown. He put a hand out towards me and it looked real, even to the bitten fingernails, but his clothes were just smears of colour. A bit of red, a bit of blue.
Meeeeeee, he said.
Another of the figures shimmered into human. An older black guy, his hair going grey, his face wrinkled.
One of the shorter figures shook itself into being a boy. About ten years old, with hair cropped short and sticky-out ears. I took in a shaky-sharp breath. It was me, when I was younger.
Pleeeeeeeezzzzz, he said.
I stared at them, heart battering inside me. More of the shapes shivered and shuddered faces onto themselves and all of the smaller ones had mine.
They began closing in, their hands reaching, all moaning the same words.
Meeeeeeee. Pleeeeezzzz. Meeeeeeee. Meeeeeeee. Pleeeeeezzz.
One of them ruffled into nothing as Merlin moved straight through it. He was frowning at me.
“You okay, man?”
Meeeeeeee. Pleeeeezzzz. Meeeeeeee. Meeeeeeee. Pleeeeeezzz.
“Are you feeling ill or anything?”
What I really noticed was their eyes. Not the colour, but the emptiness. The only thing in them was the deepness of space, and I thought, This is it. This is where the ghosts kill me, or suck out my brains or whatever.
“Isis.” I tried to shout, and it came out a squeak.
I could hear Isis’s feet on the grass, heading into the clearing, and I knew I had to make a run for it. Dodge between the zombie-ghost things before they closed in completely.
My heart was beating so hard I thought I was going to be sick. I counted down to make myself do it.
Three…
Meeeeee…
Isis walked straight past me, up to the standing stone.
Two…
Pleeeeeezzzzzz.
She touched it with her hand.
One…
The circle of ghosts vanished.