Page 75 of The Snow Witch

‘You’re not going for a swim today, are you?’ asked Jake as they walked past the old fort.

‘Not today. But I have to do this for Coventina and Meggie.’

‘Nice.’ Jake nodded. ‘Like making an offering. I’ve noticed offerings on the altars at the Mithraic Temple. Actually, do you mind if I have a look at the temple? It’s kind of – paled into significance somehow. You know – consumed as we have been these last few days with witch trials and past lives.’

‘Sure. Like I always say, witches are my bag.’

‘Of course. Okay – here we are.’ Jake stood at the entrance to the temple. ‘You sure you’re going to be all right on your own?’

‘Jake.’ Violet shook her head. ‘I’m pretty used to it by now. And I’m used to the – feelings. I won’t be long. Promise.’

‘Yeah, but now you’re pregnant…’

‘Just like I was when I came here. And exactly. I’m pregnant, I’m not ill.’ She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him before he could protest again, then she turned and made her way across Meggie’s Dene Burn and along to Coventina’s Well.

She walked as close to the edge of the Well as she dared, and pushed her hands into her pockets.

‘Meggie,’ she said, looking into the Well. The water was clear today, higher than it had been, and the snow around the edges was soft and breaking away, melting into the sacred spring. ‘I know you’re here. I know you’ll always be here, somehow. And I hope, eventually, Emory found you again. I know he went on to live without you, but I know he would never have forgotten you. And he’s always loved you. He still does. Because Jake and I found one another, and we know we’ll be together forever. And Coventina.’ A breeze drifted up from the Well, a thin haze of mist hovering over the surface. ‘I know you’re here as well. I can feel you around the place. All this calm energy today and that expectation – it’s you, isn’t it? You’re the one who’s been here the longest and you’ll always be here. I know what you’re waiting for. So I’ve brought it.’

She paused for a moment, half-expecting an answer, but if Coventina spoke, Violet didn’t hear her. She took the dagger out of her waistband and looked at it. So small, so unassuming; but so – mystical. And cursed or blessed, she wasn’t sure which. But she knew where it needed to rest.

Violet lifted the dagger up and raised it above the Well, balancing it across both of her palms. She held it out and closed her eyes briefly. She didn’t know what to say, but she felt the energy building around her.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. ‘It’s yours, Coventina. You should have it back.’ Then she grasped the hilt of the dagger and threw it with all of her might into the Sacred Well. The water around it rippled outwards and then the dagger tilted, spun slowly three times, and sunk beneath the water. ‘Coventina, I seek your blessings, your protection and your healing. Your love and my rebirth. And I pray you’ll help me when I need it.’ Then she put her hand in her pocket and tossed a handful of flowers into the water, snipped off the arrangement in her room at the guest house. They floated prettily for a few seconds. Then a little whirlpool begun, and the flowers floated towards it, and it swept them down, down and down. Violet had just felt as if she needed to send something beautiful to the goddess as well – like a proper offering.

A tingle ran up Violet’s spine, and she closed her eyes. There was a gentle touch on her cheek, and Violet knew both Coventina’s dagger and the flowers had been received with thanks from whomsoever they needed to be with. Then she opened her eyes, calm washing through her body.

It is done.

Then she looked down at her stomach and smiled. ‘We’ll be fine,’ she whispered. ‘We have people looking out for us. We’ll all be fine.’

Something caught her eye on the top of the fort, and she saw a glimmer: a silver haze that hung there, briefly taking the shape of a man and a woman in an embrace, then the vision disappeared. She knew exactly who it would be.

Then she looked to her right and saw Jake trudging along. He was suspiciously cheerful and tucking his phone into his pocket.

‘I’ve had a message from my aunt,’ he said by way of greeting. ‘The one who did the family history?’

‘Oh yes?’

‘We’re supposed to have connections to Corbridge. I mean, I’m not saying it’s definite, but she says she’s tracked a few of our relatives back to the seventeen hundreds – which is as far as she’s managed. But guess what?’

‘What?’

‘You know how Ollie said Thomas was a family name?’

‘Yes…’

‘Well guess what name came up a lot in our tree?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Emory.’

‘Emory?’ Violet stood stock-still. ‘Really?’

‘Really. And we had a lot of Margarets too. I’m just wondering if – big if – Emory eventually married, but insisted that Margaret was carried through the generations to memorialise Meg.’

‘Wow. It’s a thought. So you belong to the rich Milburn side then?’ Violet nudged him playfully. ‘That’s interesting. Might explain why you look like Emory as well.’