ring of pools. It looked ancient and carved into its surface was the image of Seb’s birthmark, the same oak leaf, the same intersecting lines, shining silver in the light. Scarlet nudged Seb; he stood, speechless, a sick feeling in his stomach.
Mr Duir said, “We have obviously brought you here for a reason and you must surely now have seen enough to raise many questions, suspicions maybe?” He moved towards the circle of pools. Without crossing the ring he faced them and said, “Dryad, speak your name!”
A faint rustling voice said, “I am Dierne.”
A blur of dark colour appeared beside Mr Duir and a Dryad materialised, hovering in the air beside him. A larger version of Alice, his leaves were denser and matted and tinged with yellow. This Dryad, silver irises sparkling, looked like Mr Duir.
“So there are more of you,” Zach said to Alice.
“Just a few.” Alice smiled at Dierne.
“Any place where nature chooses to bring forth water from the ground is a magical place,” Mr Duir continued. “Here there are five springs in one site, linking together to form one source. The potency of this place was understood by the souls who trod this ground centuries before us. More crucial, however, is the fact that this site lies along the path of a powerful ley line.” He beckoned them closer. “Greg West explained to you the significance of ley lines. They carry the collective memories, existences, energies of all who have trod them, creating an imprint, a path for the use of more than the substance of humankind.”
The dome above them magnified the sounds around them, the water, the gentle rustling of the leaves on the Dryads in a barely noticeable breeze and Mr Duir’s words. “And now we are going to show you something that you must not speak of outside this company.” He gave the briefest wave of his left hand. Seb thought he saw a flash of silver but the movement was so quick he wasn’t sure. The light in the cavern intensified as, within the boundary of the ring of water, a column of sparkles rose. Like the column within the fairy ring at Explorers, the sparkles danced in a rising pillar and another shape formed – a door. It solidified and its shining silver knob turned. The door opened and Mr West and Miss Angel stepped out onto the heather bank. Mr Duir waved his hand again and instantly the door and the column of sparkles disappeared.
Alice whispered in Seb’s ear, “Now you must believe?”
Seb turned to him, mouth open.
Mr West joined them. “So you have found the Five Springs. Are you impressed?” He beamed at Seb and then Zach who, recovering quickly, smiled.
“Well it’s better than the field.”
Now Mr Duir stepped inside the ring of water. “Seb,” he called. “Come over here.”
Seb didn’t move.
Aiden turned towards him. “Seb …”
Seb faced him and whispered, “Aiden, this is crazy. This is not real.” He turned to the others. “Surely none of you actually believe any of this!” He looked at their stunned faces. “I haven’t a clue what is going on here,” he muttered.
As he was about to continue, Alice zipped in front of him. “Seb, what will it take to make you simply start believing, open your eyes, see the reality around you? You are holding everyone up and you are in danger!”
Seb felt a surge of adrenaline. Danger? Dierne gave a rustling hiss and Mr Duir said, “Enough, Alice, he cannot. He has come to this early; they all have.”
Stepping out of the ring The Head moved over to stand in front of Seb who stared at the ground. He placed his closed hand in Seb’s line of sight then opened his fingers to reveal the palm. In the centre of his hand was a discoloured patch of skin in the shape of an oak leaf, inside which was the same mark Seb bore on his own palm!
Seb stumbled back, as Mr Duir said to him, “Seb, in order to understand, I need to open your eyes.”
Scarlet seemed to be finding all this thrilling. “Come on, Seb. Close your mouth. This is fantastic!”
He glared at her. “You don’t even know what this is. None of us do!”
She glared back at him but didn’t answer.
“Step into the circle.” Mr Duir gently took hold of Seb’s elbow. Feeling the pressure of everyone’s expectations Seb reluctantly walked with him, to stand beside the time-worn stone. “Seb, you have this marking on your hand for a reason.” Seb’s eyes latched on to the crude image in the stone. “It is the sign of the Oak,” Mr Duir said. “The symbol of protection and strength. For you to understand why you bear this symbol I need to open your eyes.” He looked down at Seb. “The sad fact is this next part will cause you some pain and I cannot spare you that.”
Seb glanced over his shoulder at his friends’ eager faces. Alice zoomed across and appeared beside him.
“Is this like some weird ancient ritual?” Zach laughed.
Pain? Ancient rituals? Seb desperately wanted to leave but didn’t know how to say it with everyone watching, so he stood in silence, staring at the stone.
“Seb, there is danger and we cannot stay here long. You must hold your hand out, palm down, and point it towards the stone. When this happens you will need to close your eyes and focus on my voice because what you will see will overwhelm you at first.
“As soon as I do this your eyes will be opened to every trace, every historical memory that has passed this spot … and that will include every creature from every other reality you have the inability to see at the moment.”
Seb blinked but didn’t move.
“Seb,” Scarlet called out. “Come on!”
“Open your hand,” Mr Duir said gently. “Close your eyes and listen to my voice.”
Seb opened his hand as he had been told and pointed the flat palm towards the stone. He was about to shut his eyes but curiosity got the better of him. He watched as in a sudden movement Mr Duir lifted his own hand and pointed it towards the stone. Light reflected off the pool beside him and struck his palm. A bolt of white light shot from it and struck the carved symbol then rebounded to hit Seb’s palm.
Pain ripped through Seb’s hand, as if a branding iron had been pressed against the skin. It was so excruciating he fell to his knees, clutching his hand to his chest. The line of light disappeared.
Mr Duir knelt beside him. “Close your eyes. The pain will pass quickly but what comes will be more disturbing.”
Horrified, Seb stared at him. The pain had indeed gone but now it was as if he had suddenly been thrown onto a crowded tube train during rush hour. Everywhere he could see throngs of ghostly bodies: tiny babies; old crones; young boys; old men; and images of people overlapping one another sometimes four, five, six bodies occupying one small space. Interspersed among them were thousands of animals – horses, foxes, rabbits, sheep, deer – animals and people were everywhere, all seemingly oblivious of Seb and of all those around them.
Among them Seb saw hundreds of Dryads and then more incredible creatures, creatures he could only imagine were from fairy stories, folklore and myth, indescribably strange and overwhelmingly disturbing.
And the noise … the raucous, deafening noise of conversations, laughter, crying, animal bleats, howls.
Over it all Mr Duir’s voice rose. “Close your eyes, Seb!”
But Seb couldn’t; he was aghast. He looked frantically through the crowds for one of his friends, his sister, then a woman, holding the hand of a snotty-nosed tot, walked towards him. They ignored him and he shivered as woman and child simply passed through him as though he was a ghost.
He stared at the thousands of figures around him, feeling engulfed by the enormity and density of the crowd of life flowing through the cavern.
Mr Duir took hold of his chin and pulled his face up to stare into his eyes. Images swam between them.
“Close your eyes. You cannot deal with it all at once. Close them!”
Shaking with shock and fear, Seb obeyed. In the artificial shelter of the darkness his closed eyes gave him it was like he could pretend the masses no longer existed. But the noise was so loud it was impossible to eradicate the visions from his mind.
/> Mr Duir, close to his ear, spoke firmly, “You now have the most precious of gifts Seb, but you will see it as a curse until you learn to control it.”
Then Alice spoke as if his voice was inside Seb’s head. Seb found his presence comforting.
“Aelfric has opened your eyes to the other realities you were unable to see before. You need to filter some of it out. Focus on one thing; the others will disappear. Think only of Dryads. Think of me. Are you doing that?” Seb nodded. “Now, open your eyes again,” Alice whispered. Seb obeyed. And then he relaxed. Around him was space, empty space … and peace. The noise had stopped. He turned to look at Alice who had a big smile on his face. “Better?”
Seb smiled back, relieved to be free of the overpowering images and the oppressive din. He looked up at Mr Duir who nodded. “We must go. This is no place to be now.”
Seb felt his palm throbbing.
Through the Door
Mr Duir took Seb by the elbow, pulling him to his feet, and guided him out of the circle towards the others. He waved his hand and the sparkling pillar with the door within it appeared.
“We will continue at the school,” he said and Miss Angel and Mr White ushered the others to the door.
“So what was all that about?” Zach asked. “What did you see, Seb?”
As Seb was reminded of the overpowering press of humanity it once more became reality. He was instantly surrounded.
An old man hobbled towards him and passed straight through him. Seb