‘That sounds right. Why?’
Alice frowned. ‘It wasn’t nice, what happened the other morning … Realising I didn’t know where I was or even who I was. I think I’d rather avoid that if I could, but I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to stop it.’
‘I can understand why that would make you anxious.’ Ben thought for a few moments, then added, ‘I might not have a solution for that problem, but I can think of something that might help in a different way.’
‘You can?’
Ben stopped walking and called for Willow to not get too far ahead. ‘Have you got the phone Norina gave you?’
Alice nodded and pulled it from her pocket.
‘If you do lose your memories again, you won’t be able to remember where you’ve been, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep a record to fill in the gaps in your knowledge.’ He gestured for her to give him the phone, opened the camera and handed it back to her. ‘Words and thoughts, maybe not, but pictures and images, yes. At least it would give you a clue.’
Alice stared intently at the phone screen, which was currently focused on the gravelly path and her boots. ‘You mean, like a diary of sorts?’
‘I was thinking more of a visual record of places you visit – road signs, landmarks, that kind of thing, but whatever floats your boat.’
Alice looked at him and smiled. ‘That’s a great idea. I mean, it won’t stop me from forgetting anything, but at least I’ll have some clue what has happened to me until that point, and I can also make a record that I’ve got a tentative diagnosis.’
‘So what’s first? The mountains? The castle?’
She looked around. It was a perfect winter’s afternoon. Wispy clouds smeared the bright-blue sky and clung to the hills. ‘The mountain. But I’d like to take a picture of the front of the castle later.’ It was partly hidden from view by a tall hedge that surrounded the formal garden, and only the upper floors and turrets were visible.
She turned to the low mountain in the other direction, lifted the phone and pressed the red button just as Willow ran back towards them. ‘Are you taking pictures? Take one of me!Cheeeese!’ Alice laughed and did as she was told, catching the fearless glint in Willow’s eyes and the missing tooth in the middle of her bottom gum.‘What do you think we’ll see today, Uncle Ben? Pixies?’
‘Possibly … We could take the bridge over the river to see if we can findfuathan…’ He winked at Alice. ‘Water sprites.’ And then he and Willow spent a full five minutes discussing the best place to hunt mythical beings that day.
After half an hour, during which there had been a possible sighting of benevolent fairies calledseeliein the woods, Willow grew bored and found a grassy clearing to spin around in. ‘Come on, Uncle Ben!’ she yelled. ‘Let’s see who can go fastest!’ She threw her arms wide and her head back, giggling harder the faster she turned. ‘Film me, Alice! Film me!’
Alice held her camera up and started her phone’s video camera rolling. She’d expected Ben to fob his niece off, but he ran into the phone’s viewfinder and started spinning right along with her. It wasn’t long before the pair of them were laughing uncontrollably.
‘Alice!’ Willow called breathlessly as she stumbled out of a spin, tried to walk in a straight line, then tumbled onto the tufty grass. ‘Take over from me! We can’t let a boy win!’
Alice hesitated, unsure of what to do, but Ben was still spinning, a look of fierce concentration on his face. ‘Um … I don’t know …’
‘It’s easy,’ Willow said, looking across at her. ‘Just try. You can do it.’
Her words were so simple, yet so full of faith, that Alice tucked her camera back in her pocket, ran over to where Willow had been standing and began turning on the spot in her stead.
‘Cheater!’ Ben called, laughing as he lurched and then saved himself from going down.But it wasn’t long before both she and Ben collapsed onto the grass a short distance away from Willow. Alice had no idea who’d lasted the longest. ‘Are the trees supposed to spin like that?’ she asked, the grass soft against her back.
‘If they don’t, you’ve been doing it wrong,’ Ben replied, which made her laugh again, a welcome relief from the heaviness that had been weighing her down.
‘Where did you learn all that stuff about fairies?’ she asked, aware that if she tried to stand up, she was probably going to hurl, which wasn’t an attractive option.
‘My primary school teacher was very big on Scottish folklore,’ Ben said, then lowered his voice, so Willow, a short distance away, couldn’t hear. ‘The rest I just make up.’ He let out a groan, rolled over to place his palms on the grass, pushed himself onto all fours and stood up, swaying slightly. He held out a hand to her. ‘Ready?’
Alice wasn’t sure if she was, but she took the help he offered. Once upright, she held onto his muscular forearm with her other hand, using him for balance. His touch was familiar and oddly thrilling at the same time.
For a few seconds, they stayed like that, but then Willow came and tugged his other hand. ‘Can we go and look at the garden near the castle now? I want to pretend I’m a princess.’
‘Of course,’ Ben said. ‘And then we need to get home to do your spellings for tomorrow morning.’
They walked slowly back through the woods until they crossed a stone bridge with a grand balustrade, then joined the drive again, following the sweep that led round to the castle’s front entrance and the formal gardens.
As they drew close, Alice heard voices. She expected to see a group of tourists but when she turned the corner of the hedge, she was confronted with a wedding party. There were bridesmaids in ivory taffeta with tartan sashes, men in morning suits, and a bride with a furry cape on top of her gown.
‘The gardens are this way,’ Ben said, skirting around the edge of the driveway so as not to intrude and pointing to a wrought-iron gate. Alice was vaguely aware of him and Willow disappearing through it. She knew she ought to just take a picture of the castle and follow them, but her feet seemed to have stopped working. One by one, the wedding party cast curious frowns in her direction, but Alice was unable to back away or even shrug an apology.
