Page 25 of The Snow Witch

At least not himself in the twenty-first century. The face that stared back was Ollie’s, but the clothing was not.

The man staring back at him, had billowing white sleeves and some sort of waistcoat on and, most shocking of all, blood on the breast of his white shirt. They locked gazes for a moment, and Ollie felt himself leaning forwards, being pulled, almost, into the dark waters of the Well…

Then his toe slipped on the snowy grass, and he gasped, forcing himself to stand up straight.

The man’s face twisted into a smile that could only be described as arrogant, then his image faded and disappeared, and a shocked and confused Ollie was left staring back at himself again.

‘Fucking hell!’ cried Ollie and jumped backwards properly, his heart pounding. Good God, he had almost done it – he had almost fallen into the bloody thing, just like Violet. He doubted they were both that stupidly careless; he doubted that it was a coincidence.

He had definitely seen someone in there – someone who looked like him. He would swear to it in court if he had to.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts, but the atmosphere started to close in on him, just as it had done at Newbrough.

At the witch’s cottage.

Nope. That was it. He wasn’t going to stay beside this Well a moment longer. So he turned around and ran back to the car park as fast as he could.

17

NOW

Violet pulled into the car park at Chesters and, sure enough, she saw Jake’s van in the corner. She had never been so relieved to see it – well, she had been very relieved to see Jake himself yesterday when he had rescued her from certain icy doom in Coventina’s Well and, by default, she had been pleased to see his van after that, so she could warm up and dry off a little.

But today, it was different. After that experience in Meg’s cottage, she really wanted to spend some time with a human being who was, well, alive.

And who was Jake.

He must have seen her car pulling up as he slid the door open and waved, leaning against the side of the doorway until she had parked.

‘Fancy meeting you here,’ he said.

‘I know. Who would have thought our itineraries would match so well.’

Jake laughed. ‘Do you want a drink or anything before we go?’

Violet shook her head. ‘Let’s just find something in Hexham.’ She’d had enough of remote Roman locations and snow-bound fields for the moment.

‘Great. You sure you’re happy to drive?’

‘Yes. The weather seems better and the roads are clear.’

Jake nodded. ‘I’ll just grab my coat and stuff.’

It wasn’t long before they were on their way on the long, wide roads to Hexham. The journey didn’t take much more than fifteen minutes, to be honest, and the only thing Violet didn’t like too much about the place was the fact she had to climb a very steep hill from the car park into the town.

‘Come on.’ Jake grabbed her hand and hauled her up the cobbled street. ‘There’s bound to be a coffee shop or two up here. It looks like the sort of place you’d find a nice one.’

‘I agree.’

They ended up in the Market Place, surrounded by old, honey-coloured stone buildings, and Violet looked around her. ‘This is so pretty.’

‘Isn’t it?’ Jake spotted a board with a map on it, and they walked over to it. ‘Hey – there’s the Abbey.’ He pointed to the spot on the map. ‘That’s pretty good. I wouldn’t mind visiting there. It looked interesting when I was researching the place.’

‘What, for your itinerary?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘There’s an old gaol.’ It was Violet’s turn to point to the map. ‘Oh wow. I bet that’s interesting as well. Sorry, it’s an Old Gaol with capital letters.’