words were repeated steadily, in a deep, rumbling voice.
“No … um … no,” she hesitated.
Seb knew why. You’re meant to. Scarlet had been fitted for them a year before and had been so excited to have a new thing to bring attention to herself. But the novelty had worn off within days and the glasses now languished at the bottom of her school bag.
There was silence. Moments passed.
“Well, Miss Thomas?”
Scarlet cracked, “I am meant to wear them, but I don’t need them. My eyes used to sting but they don’t any— ”
“Wear them!”
Scarlet didn’t dare answer back to the barked order.
“Master Thomas.” Seb’s heart pounded. The Head pulled open a drawer in his desk and took out something green which he passed to Seb. It was a pair of fingerless gloves. They were made of a bottle-green woolly material and had the Oakwood crest embroidered into them in silver stitching. “These will be available for all students from this week. According to Mr West, your maze design in History was the best and he asked that I give you a complimentary pair as a prize.”
“Thank you, sir.” Seb meant it.
With a curt nod towards the door the Head ordered, “On to your classes for registration.” He turned back to the window.
After a second of hesitation they filed out, led by Aiden, and walked down the stairs, the only sounds the clacking of their shoes on the wooden boards. Obediently avoiding the ogre corridor, they virtually sprinted to the main exit and turned right, around the side of the building, all chattering at the same time. They made a hurried agreement to meet at The Beach at break time and then rushed to their classrooms.
As he dashed into the classroom, Seb ripped open the packaging of his prize and placed one of the thin gloves over his birthmark.
A double lesson of English preceded break. The normal teacher being indisposed, the class was taken by a dull old man by the name of Dominic White whose teaching methods lulled Seb and his friends into a near-sleeping state. It seemed an eternity but the bell eventually rang and the boys hurried to their meeting place. Nat and Scarlet were already seated on the bench.
It was a cloudy day, the biting wind was still present, but not as strong as the day before. The branches of the oak waved lazily in the breeze, shedding leaves which drifted off in all directions.
Scarlet is wearing her glasses! Seb was surprised but relieved. As he approached, the filtered light from the sun, which was trying to push through the greyish-white clouds, bounced off the lenses and reflected back at him. It made it difficult to see her eyes behind the glare.
Each of them tried to speak at once, but their words were stopped instantly by a loud screech. A beastie flew from the woodland, again making for Seb. Zach, quite accustomed to this now, leapt up, snatched it from the air and threw it back.
“What the heck is it with these bat things?” he mumbled.
Aiden sat and began scuffing his feet on the gravel under the bench, hunched forward. “They do seem to like Seb …” his voice trailed off and he suddenly lurched forward. He began scraping the stones and dirt with his fingers.
Seb noticed the movement and glanced down. Then he realised why Aiden was grubbing around in the mud. He could see a glimmer of silver. Now they were all looking.
“What are you doing, Aiden?” Zach asked casually and then dropped to his haunches as he too saw the silver surface of something buried beneath the earth.
Aiden continued scratching the mud away and in a minute he was tugging at what appeared to be a small, flat, circular tin that was stood on its end. A few wiggles and the object broke free. Aiden rubbed it to remove the dirt, revealing a pleasing silver sheen.
Nat leant in towards him. “Oh Aiden, that’s lovely.”
He held it out and they all crowded round.
“My mum’s got something just like it. It’s a make-up compact, Aiden. Great treasure find!” Zach laughed.
“Does it open?” Scarlet asked as Aiden cleared the last of the mud off it. He turned it and sat it flat on the palm of his hand and to Seb it did look like a circular make-up compact.
Scarlet’s voice got a touch louder as she pointed at the tin. “Look, it has engravings on it!” She plopped onto the bench beside Aiden, looking at the curved surface which reflected the dappled green of the leaves above. The quick polish Aiden had given the tin made it look pristine. An intricate pattern of an oak tree was carved into it in fine lines. Within its leaves the letter A was flamboyantly engraved.
“A for Aiden!” Zach declared, smiling at Aiden who frowned.
“No, it has an accent over the A,” he said.
Seb strained to see it more closely but now Scarlet took the tin from Aiden and began moving it around.
“Have you seen among the leaves? Squirrels, acorns, birds …” she became really excited. The others were having difficulty seeing what she saw but she was adamant the images were there. And then she almost screamed and nearly dropped the tin, “OMG!”
“What? What?” Aiden was really concerned now. Scarlet’s reaction made it seem like the tin was a cursed voodoo doll.
“Look!” Her voice was high-pitched and loud. “The pattern in the bark of the trunk makes the shape of a door. It’s like the door you described in the library, Seb!” The others couldn’t see it. “Look at that …” She pointed her little finger at a round object which had looked to Seb like a knot in the wood. As she drew their attention to it he realised it actually was like a doorknob. Suddenly the overall picture became clearer.
“It is a door,” Seb said quietly.
Aiden took the tin from Scarlet’s hand. “Should I see if I can open it?” he said.
“Of course you should!” Zach stated. “It might have money in it or something.”
Aiden held the tin away from himself, as if he thought it contained an explosive. He placed a finger and thumb on the tiny push-button clasp at the front. A small click and it sprang open. Everyone bunched in closer.
Inside on the inner surface of the lid was a highly polished mirror. In the hollow recess of the bottom section were five yellowy-red berries, perfect in shape, without a blemish, as perfect as if they had just been plucked from a tree or bush.
“What on earth are those?” Zach bellowed, snorting in disgust.
“Shh, Zach! We’re right outside the staff room. Keep your voice down,” Seb said, moving round to sit next to Aiden.
Zach stifled another snort and looked over at the staff room window.
“Can I?” Nat put a hand out.
Aiden willingly gave the tin to her. She lifted one of the berries out and held it up in front of her eyes. “These are rowan berries.”
“Now, how would you know that?” Zach mumbled, taking one out of the tin himself and squishing it between his fingers.
“Zach! Why did you do that?” Scarlet had taken one out herself.
“Well it’s not like you’re going to eat them, is it? What does it matter? A bunch of mangy berries in a compact tin.” He reached up to the oak tree above his head and wiped his finger and thumb on one of the leaves.
“Actually you can eat them.” Aiden was rolling a berry between his own thumb and forefinger. “In pagan times there was a story of a mythical rowan tree that was called The Tree of Life. It was meant to fruit every month and it was said to stave off hunger. There was also a belief that it could add a year to your life for every berry you ate and in the old Celtic tales it was believed that eating just three rowan berries could make you years younger.” With this, Aiden popped the berry into his mouth. He chewed and then spat out a couple of small seeds.
“Nice!” Zach said.
Scarlet was horrified. “Aiden, you don’t know that was a rowan berry!” She turned to Nat. “Nat, are you sure? It might be something else. It might be poisonous!”
“It looked like a rowan.” Nat smiled. “My grandmother makes rowan jelly every summer …” her voice trailed off as Aiden began to cough, his eyes dart
ing upward in a sudden panicky reaction.
“He’s choking!” Scarlet stood and began slapping him on the back. “It wasn’t rowan – it is poisonous!”
Aiden was spluttering now and his face had turned red. Through the coughing though, he was trying to point upwards.
“No, not poison. Snake!” he sputtered and then pointed frantically at the branch above Zach’s head. “IT’S A SNAKE!” he shouted as he managed to clear his throat.
Now they all jumped up and Nat gave a small squeal of shock. Seb stared into the leaves of the tree which were being whipped back and forth by the breeze. And then he saw something move. It looked like nothing more than a branch until it began to weave and twist its way through the smaller branches around it. Then Scarlet leapt back as the head of the snake popped out from between a thick patch of leaves above her head, its tongue darting in and out of its mouth, yellow eyes seeming to stare at Zach. It turned its head around towards him, curving its body down and forward until its flicking tongue was inches from Zach’s nose. Zach stared back at the creature, apparently unperturbed. He reached up and grabbed it behind the head and gave a yank. The whole body flopped out of the tree and stiffened. Seb blinked. His mind was now totally confused. In Zach’s outstretched hand was a stick. Just a stick! No tongue, no eyes – a smooth, reddish-brown, shiny dead branch with a bulbous end beneath which Zach’s fingers curled.
“What?” Zach was obviously as surprised as Seb. He twirled the stick like a majorette and then slammed the thin end