Molly walked behind Fritha past the central herb table and past the fireplace to the entrance of another inner cave. Fritha lit a torch.
Steps had been hacked out of the sloped floor. They paved the way into a tunnel that went deep under the ground. The walls were damp and clammy, but the air was cool. Molly followed the old woman down, wondering what would happen if her torch went out.
Fritha turned to look at her and began laughing. “Don’t you worry, I’d feel me way back. I know this place like the back of me hand!”
“Have you read my mind often since I got here?” Molly asked.
“No, just the once, when I first saw you outside the cave. I wanted to check who you were. Though it was obvious you weren’t from this time because of your clothes. You were thinkin’ about how much I look like a turtle!” Fritha patted Molly reassuringly. “Don’t worry! I do!”
“So you’re a hypnotist, a time stopper, a time traveler, and a mind reader,” Molly said, smiling, as they walked. “Can you morph?”
“Of course!” Fritha laughed. “I’m a floomer, too. And a coin caster, a weather turner, a stoner.”
“A stoner?” Molly was puzzled.
“It’s like it sounds. I can turn meself into a stone. Don’t like doin’ it much. It’s a bit frightenin’. Turnin’ into stones always makes me feel like I’m a gravestone! An’ turnin’ into a chair or a table isn’t much better. It’s like morphing, but you turn into an inanimate object.”
“Was it in Dr. Logan’s book?”
“Oh, I don’t know, dearie. I didn’t learn things from a book. My grandfather taught me.”
“Dr. Logan said you were the best hypnotist ever.”
“Oh no. There have been others just as good as me. Me great-uncle, for instance, he was a genius. He found this place. He’s your relation, too.”
Molly followed Fritha down the passage. At one point it grew so narrow that they had to squeeze themselves through it. Eventually they reached a large cave.
Fritha lit some more torches. A high dome curved over them. A silvery pool, like a blob of mercury, lay before them. The nearest walls were streaked with gold and on the far wall were paintings of wild animals—bears, lions, and horses.
“Those are thousands of years old,” Fritha said. She directed her torch at the water. “And what do ya see there?”
Molly looked. Under the still surface, things were flashing and glinting. Gems and crystals. Dotted about were lumps of gold and silver!
“Choose a piece of gold. Go on, get a good lump, one that will do as I tell it!”
“What? Just fish it out?”
“Yes.”
Molly stared into the water. “Are those time-traveling gems and time-stopping crystals?”
“Yes. There are a lot here.”
“Where do they come from?” Molly asked, wondering for a moment whether she was actually awake. “How do they get here?”
“It’s a mystery.”
For a moment Molly stood stock-still, absorbing the magical atmosphere of the cave. Then, spotting a nice round lump of gold, she stepped into the cool water. She waited for the ripples to clear, then she bent down and scooped it out.
Fritha took a small stone bucket from the edge of the cave and scooped some water from the pool. “Good girl. Come on then.” She extinguished the cave’s wall torches. As the flames spluttered, the cave pictures flickered, so that the animals on the walls seemed to come alive. Molly took a last look at this amazing place before following Fritha out.
“Don’t you ever have problems with people finding the cave?” Molly asked as they retraced their steps.
“This is a remote place. Over the years a few people have found it—but as hypnotists have always been the guardians of the cave, none of them have ever spread the news o’ the place. I feel sorry for the ones I’ve had to deal with. They are so excited to find the gold. I feel mean, havin’ to blank their minds and take all their thrill away, but it has to be done.”
Molly held the lump of gold in her hand. It reminded her of the music coin.
“Beware,” Fritha advised. “The cave gold is powerful stuff. Don’t let it make you want it.”
“Right . . . OK.” Molly nodded back. “Definitely don’t want the same trouble as last time.” Fritha laughed. “You know, Fritha, that last coin sucked all my powers away.”
Fritha stopped laughing. “I know, and I’m sorry.”
Back in the main cave, Fritha placed her stone bucket down by the furnace and tended to the furnace, feeding it more charcoal, while Molly gave the bellows a good working.
Over the next hour she and Molly took it in turns to keep the fire raging. Eventually Fritha was satisfied. Putting large thick cotton mitts on, she went to the other oven, lifted out the clay mold and carried it over to the furnace.
“Here is best. For the gold pouring,” she said, putting the mold on the ground.
Fritha gingerly picked up Molly’s chosen lump of gold and placed it in the iron crucible. Then, gripping the edge of that with a pair of pliers, she carefully placed the crucible into the furnace.
“How long will it take?” Molly asked.
“Not long. The furnace is like an inferno—that gold will melt like ice in the sun.”
While they waited, Fritha made more tea and woke Dr. Logan with a cup. He sat up and watched with interest as she got on with her task. She took the crucible out of the furnace.
To Molly’s surprise, Fritha didn’t pour the gold into the mold. Instead she tipped a small amount into the water she’d brought from the gem cave in the bucket. Instantaneously, steam rose and hissed as the drop of gold cooled. Fritha put the crucible back in the furnace. She then put her hand into the stone bucket and scooped out the now-cold gold and popped it into her mouth. She sat on a stool beside the furnace with her eyes shut, sucking the metal as though it were a hard candy.
After ten minutes of this, during which Molly and Dr. Logan kept completely silent, Fritha opened her eyes. There was no expression in them. She reached for the pliers and once more pulled the crucible out of the furnace.
She took the small lump of gold from her mouth and placed it in the pool of hot liquid gold in the iron crucible. Like butter melting in a hot frying pan, the lump disappeared. Now Fritha poured all of the gold into the mold.
“It’s full. That will do.” She looked up at the darkening sky. “You twos should stay the night. The coin will be ready by the mornin.’”