Twenty

Dylan pulled into the car park at Hurlers Stone Circles and killed the engine. “I think we should set up on the rise over there. We’ll get a good view of the whole site.”

“Are you sure this is wise?” Cassie asked, as she grabbed her backpack and exited the van.

“Yes!” He looked at her, incredulous. “This is the night. I’m hoping we see something impressive. This is the biggest and most powerful of the circles, and it’s on a ley line.”

“And,” Ben added, checking his pack to make sure he had everything, “we have the drone.”

Dylan grinned, pleased at the modifications he’d made that afternoon. It had taken him longer than expected, but he knew it was the perfect way to get the best view.

“All right,” Cassie said, falling into step behind them as they marched across the moor in the darkness, their torches lighting up the dips and rises in the uneven ground. “I’m not entirely sure that this will tell us any more than we already know, though.”

“All data is useful,” Ben remonstrated, “you know that.”

“If I’m honest,” Dylan said, thinking of the hours they had spent on this over the past few days, “I’m over stone circles. But what’s happening is fascinating and unusual, and we can’t ignore it. Besides, if I can get the drone high enough, I may be able to get images of the other circles close by.”

For a while, they trudged in silence. The moor felt uncannily still. Even the wind had dropped. The only sounds were the odd hoot of an owl and the trickle of streams.

“All right,” Dylan finally said, scoping out the area they’d arrived at. “This should do.”

The old mining works were close by, the remaining walls of the pump house dark grey against the night sky and endless expanse of the moor. Cassie spread a waterproof blanket on the ground, and they placed out their camping stools. They’d come prepared for a few hours.

“You did bring the spells, didn’t you?” she asked, pausing in her work.

Ben patted the bag across his shoulder. “All here.” He gazed across the moor and pointed. “Dylan, can you send the drone over there, too?”

Dylan looked up, puzzled, and saw the uneven stones of the Cheesewring against the stars. “Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem. Why there?”

“They’re on the ley line, too. They might be affected by whatever’s going on.”

“Fair enough.”

The Cheesewring was a rocky outcrop caused by granite slabs stacked on each other, and was named after the cheesewring tool that was once used to make cheese. A very unsuitable name, Dylan always thought, for such a majestic and unusual formation. It seemed to demean the place, rather than elevate it. Myths said that a giant had formed the stones, part of a contest between giants and saints as to whether the giants should follow Christianity. Of course, Christianity won, it always did in these tales; that was the point of them. They perched on the very edge of the Tor, where the sides fell steeply to the moor and what had been a quarry at the base, but next to the Cheesewring were signs of an old settlement. One of many on Bodmin.

Dylan lifted his thermal imaging camera and panned it across the skyline. “Bloody hell, Ben. I can see it from here. It’s like a bloody beacon!”

Ben and Cassie immediately dropped everything and scooted over to look at the screen.

“Holy shit! What does that mean?” Cassie asked, sounding both horrified and excited.

Dylan lowered the camera and looked at his friends. “I have no idea, but this seems bigger than I initially thought. That’s not exactly close to the circle.” Looking beyond Cassie he saw a light by the old engine room that was now a small Visitor Centre, and pulled both to the ground. “Turn the torch off, now!”

Cassie was the only one with a torch and it had landed under her. For a moment she fumbled, and then said, “It’s off. What’s going on?”

Dylan rolled to the side and pointed at the old pumphouse. “I saw a light, just briefly, at the head of the old mine.”

Ben whispered, despite the distance. “Trick of the eye, perhaps?”

“I don’t think so, but maybe I’m just jumpy,” Dylan admitted, staring at the spot. “Let’s wait.”

For a few minutes they lay immobile, and then Ben said, “I saw something at the edge of the building. Get your camera on there, Dylan.”

“What if it’s the witches?”

“What if it’s a bloody spriggan?” he hissed back.

Dylan looked at him, horrified. “Dude! What did you have to say that for?”

“We’re too far and too close to the ground to be seen from here,” Cassie insisted. “I can barely see the damn building, it’s so dark. Get your bloody camera out!”

“All right.” Cautiously, Dylan rolled to the side, easing up his camera from where it had been uncomfortably wedged under his stomach. Making sure the screen was facing him, he turned the video on and immediately, three figures sprang into view. “Oh, fuck! There’s someone there.”

Cassie and Ben squidged close, Cassie so close that he could feel her breath on his cheek as she leaned in. “Men or women?”

“Does it bloody matter? One of them is being supported by the other two.”

The figures walked towards the largest stone circle, which could also be seen on the camera, the stones glowing with the orange light.

Cassie groaned. “Remember I told you that Reuben and El hoped they’d bound Lowen? What if that’s him?”

“With Harry and Zane?” Ben asked, squinting at the figures. “Mariah is still at Reuben’s, right?”

“Right,” Dylan said, his heart now pounding. “They must be here to do some kind of rite using the planetary parade.”

Ben glared at him. “I thought you said this would be solstice thing!”

“I don’t bloody know, do I? They could be planning to use it for both!”

“Stop bickering!” Cassie said. “This is the perfect chance to see what they’re doing and record it. This could give our guys the edge. What I’m more interested in right now is where they’ve come from!” Dylan’s eyes had adjusted to the light now, and he could see the stubborn frown on Cassie’s face. “There wasn’t another car in the car park, so unless they parked in the village and came earlier, what were they doing in the pumphouse? Have they come up from an old mine?”

Ben sounded exasperated. “They’re all capped off, you numpty.”

Tearing his gaze from the three figures making their way to the centre of the circle, Dylan stared at Cassie. “Are you serious?”

“No. I’m just making up random shit! Of course I’m serious.” She jabbed Dylan on his head. “Think. They are hiding somewhere. Zane and Lowen live in Bodmin. Bodmin’s stone circles are lit up like a bloody Christmas tree. Beneath us are old mine workings. Probably a warren of them! They’re hiding below us. Minions village is close. They can pick up supplies there.”

Dylan looked at Ben. “She’s right. It’s highly possible. Let’s face it, they broke into all kinds of caves in their search for Coppinger’s gold.”

“And,” Cassie added, “there are smugglers tunnels below here, too. This is Bodmin! The epicentre of all the smuggling routes.” She looked across at the pumphouse. “We need to look in there.”

“Are you nuts?” Ben asked. “With them out here!”

They checked the screen again and saw one figure pacing out a circle, the other crouched next to the third figure, who sat on the ground.

“Look!” Cassie said. “They’re caught up in their spell! We have time to at least look. I’m not suggesting we head down there or anything!”

“She’s right,” Dylan admitted. “This is a great chance to see where they came from.”

“We can do that in the light,” Ben argued. “I am trying to think of our safety. I don’t want to end up another one of their victims.”

“I’ll go, then,” Dylan said, seeing the frustration on Cassie’s face and fearing she was about to head there on her own. “You can film it. With luck, we’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

Ben glared at him. “Great, now you make me sound like a pillock. All right. I’ll go with Cassie, and you film. Just be careful!”

Dylan sighed. Sometimes Ben could be such a pain. “That’s not what I meant!”

“Too late,” he said, rising into a crouch. “Come on, Cassie.”

“Well, you be careful, too. Don’t fall down any shafts,” Dylan hissed.

But it was too late. They’d already gone.

El stood in the centre of Stannon Stone Circle, ready to start on the next spell of the night.

Their new Hunt Coven, as she thought of it, just to give it a name, had met on the lane not far from the circle, a few cars marking the spot, and they had trudged across the tussock-filled ground together, with much cursing.

The moor was a forbidding place, even more so at night, with clouds scudding across the almost full moon. The air and earth felt charged with potential. They had worried that they might be late after finally completing the spells at Avery’s, but thought that had gone well. They had charged a selection of stones, pirate gold, and weapons with Jupiter’s expansive energies, and then had decided to combine a few of the planet’s correspondences, too. One of El’s swords was at her side now, and it was a comforting presence in the brooding landscape.

Hunter’s energy had added an extra dimension to the spell, too. However, he wasn’t taking part in this one. He’d already changed into his wolf and was exploring the stone circle. And it was big, so much so that it was hard to see it all in this light. While Cornell completed his preparations with Hemani, the other witches gathered together, talking in low voices as if someone would hear them.

Eve examined the bag of coins that Cornell had brought with him. “Wow! So this is some of Coppinger’s gold?”

Avery eyed it warily. “Yes, but there’s so much more.”

“Plundered from wrecks and earned through bloodshed,” Nate said. He picked up a coin and held it up to the moon. “If these coins could talk! I bet the stories would be gruesome.”

Eve shuddered. “No, thanks. Fascinating though that history is, I’m glad it’s behind us.”

“Except it’s not,” Avery reminded her. “It’s having repercussions right now.”

Ulysses had also picked up a handful of the coins, and they slithered in his hands. “You know,” he said, his deep, rich voice rolling around them, “we’re forgetting the power of gold.” He looked up sharply. “Or perhaps I am. We know the potential value of these coins, and how rare it is to have so many, but we need to think of it for its spellcasting potential. This is gold! How often do we have access to this much of it?”

“Never!” El answered, realising what he was driving at. “I buy it in small amounts to make jewellery with, but nothing ever on this scale.”

Ulysses’s eyes flashed in the dark. “Exactly. And what properties does it have?”

“Self-confidence, power, inner strength. I combine it with certain gemstones to add to its properties.” El shrugged. “I do the same with all my jewellery, whichever metal I use.”

“And it’s related to the sun—its most powerful correspondence.”

“We all know that,” Briar said puzzled. “What are you getting at?”

Ulysses looked above them to the whirl of stars and the moon. “Somewhere up there, five planets are aligning. It’s a powerful time. Alchemists strived to turn lead, the most mutable of metals, into gold. Not only for the wealth it offers, but for its magical properties.”

“Cornell and Hemani are charging it tonight with Saturn’s powers, and the jet, of course,” Nate pointed out.

“And it’s worth doing. But,” Ulysses said, looking at the gold in his hand again, “this will be of most value on the solstice. We’re thinking too small. We need as much of this as we can get.”

“To use as part of the solstice celebrations, you mean?” Avery asked.

“Yes. We don’t know what Mariah and the others are planning, but it’s something big. We need something equally big to counteract it. We know this…we’ve talked about it. But forget about the blood on this gold,” he said, noticing El’s grimace. “We can cleanse it all tomorrow under the full moon, and then use it at Litha. It will provide protection—and a cleansing for us. We’ll probably need it.”

Nate flipped the coin through his fingers. “You’re suggesting that rather than doing a traditional solstice celebration, we add to it?”

“I’m not sure Genevieve will like that,” El said. “She doesn’t want to be involved in this. Most people don’t.”

“We have four rogue witches, and another we think might be involved,” Ulysses said. “She can’t afford to be squeamish now. Bad energy is building. Energy we must banish.”

Cornell’s voice broke into their conversation. “I’m ready. Bring the gold and get in place. We need to begin.”

Without another word, Ulysses hefted the bag up and carried it into the large, candlelit circle, and the others followed.

El nudged Avery. “He’s right. I guess it’s a good job we have so much of it. Is it secure?”

“It’s in Reuben’s attic right now. I didn’t want to leave it anywhere unattended.”

El’s stomach tightened. “But Mariah is there.”

“Bound in a cage.”

“But the others really want it. And we don’t know where Harry is. What if they’re planning an assault and we’ve conveniently left both the gold and Mariah in one place?”

Avery gave El’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “They’ll be doing their own rituals right now, I’m sure. We need to trust Reuben and Alex.”

Avery hurried to join the others and after a moment’s hesitation, El followed. Reuben was much more confident after breaking the curse with Caspian the other night. But, El also knew that deep down, he still doubted himself. She could only hope that in the event of something terrible happening, he would be okay.