Yeah. It was past time to get out of this little village. The only reason I was still here was because of the memories of Gran in her little cottage. But even that wasn’t enough anymore.
I tucked my hands into my armpits to keep them warm and lifted my head to look across the field. I couldn’t quite see the cottage, but I knew it was just out of sight over the hill infront of me. The hill was bare of everything but grass and an ancient stone circle.
I crossed the road, my feet skidding on the icy surface, and picked my way across the frozen ground toward the base of the small hill, my breath fogging in front of me in the cold air. I’d been here as a child when I’d visited my Gran for the summer. This field was very familiar to me, but with the shadows of night, it seemed different. Mysterious.
Several weathered stones formed a circle, in the center of which a flat, round rock was partially embedded in the ground. The stones that in the day were just weathered rocks, covered in moss, were now towering sentinels. My breath came in pants, my heartbeat thudding as I walked toward them.
I could have walked around them.
I could have taken the long way via the road after all.
But I didn’t.
Something about the stones called me and, step by slow step, I made my way toward them.
When I reached the edge of the circle, I remembered something Gran had told me when I was a little girl. I’d asked her who made the stone circles, and she’d told me a tale of fairies and magic.
But the thing that had stood out to me the most, then and still now, was what she had said the stone circledid.
I had looked up at her. The smile she usually wore had dropped and her eyes had turned from teasing to serious. “Kitty, my girl, the stones are guardians. They keep us safe.”
“From what, Gran?” I’d asked, my childish imagination running riot with thoughts of monsters and demons.
“From the other world,” she had said, her voice quiet. She had taken my hand and squeezed it, dropping to one knee sowe saw eye to eye. “The stone circles mark the boundary between their world and ours. Without the stones, the border thins and whatever is in the other world can come to this world. To our world.”
I must have looked terrified, because she had gathered me in her arms and hugged me, whispering soothing words and telling me now to worry. It was just a legend, and the stones were just stones.
And that’s what I had thought ever since.
Until now.
I tugged off my mitten and reached my chilled fingers out to touch the stone nearest to me.
It was warm.
I jerked my hand back with an exclamation, my eyebrows knitting in confusion as I looked at my fingers.
Don’t be an eejit. It’s probably so cold your nerves are getting confused, like when hot water sometimes feels cold.
But I didn’t really believe that. So, I reached out, this time more cautiously, and hovered my hand over the stone. I didn’t even touch the rock this time before the wave of heat hit my fingers.
How?
I snatched my hand back and pulled my mitten on, a shiver spreading up my arm. I tugged my coat tighter around me and glanced at the stone in the middle of the circle.
It was dark, but a shaft of moonlight somehow broke through the cloudy night, hitting the center stone. It was maybe a foot in height and about three feet square. In summer, Gran and I had would come up here and use it for picnics. Summer felt a long way away now, like another time.
The stone glittered like sunlight on the ocean, and I wanted to see what made it sparkle. I vaguely rememberedsomething about it being hewn from stone far away, with many ideas about how it had been brought here.
It didn’t matter. It was here now, and it was as if it called to me.
I stepped into the circle of stones, and the wind stopped. Just like that. Warmth flooded through me, and my fingers tingled with the sudden rush of blood. I flexed them and loosened my scarf, suddenly feeling suffocated.
I picked my way over the uneven ground covered in tufts of grass and rocks, vaguely noticing that there was no snow inside the circle, and walked unhurriedly toward the center stone. When I reached it, I hesitated.
What are you waiting for? An invitation?
I giggled nervously, and looked around as if expecting to see a ring of onlookers, but there was nobody there.
