Gabriel must have seen how nervous she was of pushing Hedge and stepped in to help her. “The New Moon Ceremony, is it part of the Plough Festival?”
Hedge started rolling another cigarette. “People think the arch is a place of blessing because some old lord built it for his wife. But they’re wrong. The arch is there because the place itself is blessed. And it wasn’t an arch, that’s just what’s left of the wall. All gone now.”
She and Gabriel exchanged an excited look. Of course, the stones.
“Where it’s built,” Hedge explained. “That’s the best place to see the new moon in winter, right above the clearing. If girls saw the moon, it told them how long before they married.”
Finally! This was what she had come for.
“How?” Short open questions seemed to work best with Hedge.
“You’ll have to see it for yourself.” He shrugged, getting up from his low stool and starting to clear up.
She gave Gabriel a helpless look. Surely, they hadn’t wasted half the morning talking about ancient harvest and land superstitions and now he was going to dry up just when it got to the information they needed.
Then Gabriel’s face lit up with a thought. He quickly scribbled something and showed her the page. It said simply, “White lie. Go with it.”
She didn’t understand but he seemed to have a plan.
“See what?” he asked. “Because Pierre was saying earlier that she didn’t know if she would ever get married.”
What the…? She glared at him, but he held up a finger to keep her quiet.
Hedge, stowing away his jars, eventually turned back to Pierre. “You would believe in the old wisdom?” He pinned her with a look.
She met his eyes as best she could. There was something there, something he wasn’t telling her. A lot of what he had told them before was about giving something in exchange for what you needed. Giving to the earth before she could give back.
Okay.
Swallowing, she said, “I left my boyfriend two years ago and since then there has been nobody. I just wondered if that was it for me…” Her face heated. She hadn’t thought about that for a long time, actually never. In her heart she had assumed one day she would meet the right man. But now speaking those words to draw out Hedge, a small bell chimed within her, a vague fear.
Cook and Laura’s words from two days ago: Who are you going to meet here on this island?
“If you really want to know and you have the courage to dare a night in the open,” Hedge said, and his tone had changed into something much more serious, “come to the Plough tonight. It starts at sunset, in the clearing before the arch. Dress warm and bring something to sit on. And bring a piece of silk with you.” He held his hands six or seven inches apart. “White silk. New and unwashed.”
“And?” she asked when he didn’t say more.
“You’ll find out.”
Eleven
“What have you got me into?” She laughed a little later. She and Gabriel were walking their bikes across the village square.
“Do you think there is some occult ceremony going on?” he asked.
“If they ask me to strip and dance naked around the fire, I’m going to kill you.”
“I doubt he’d have asked you to dress warm if you’re meant to strip. But I promise if there is going to be any stripping, it’s my turn.”
“Your turn?”
“The first time we met, you were the one to strip. So, if there is any dark magic tonight, I’ll be glad to strip and take it on the chin.”
She turned her thoughts away from where else on his body he’d take any danger. “Lunch?”
This too, reminded her of their first meeting. At the time, he had been the one to invite her to lunch.
“Your chippy is closed.” He nodded towards the fish and chip shop where she’d sent him the day before. “But perhaps we can—” He suddenly looked up.
