Page 44 of Heart of the Wren
“They match my stubby little fingers.” I wiggled all my digits. I’d kept my silver rings on. In fact, I never took them off, if I could help it. “I'm glad I cut my toenails. If I’d known you liked feet so much I'd have suggested this sooner. It’s really very nice.”
His thumbs kneaded the sole of my right foot. “It’ssomething I’ve always wanted to do. Give a sexy man a foot rub. I suppose it’s a bit silly.”
“It’s not silly at all. We all have our…oh. Oh, Jaysus, yes. Keep rubbing there.”
When he finished, he lay with his head on my broad chest, one hand idly cuddling my belly. Outside, voices shouted and chattered, boots heavy on the ground.
“Shouldn’t we get up?” I asked.
“We’re allowed a lie-in for once.” He slipped his hands under the blankets and fondled my willy. “Michael and Eddie know what they’re doing.”
I kissed the top of his head.
“Are you cold?” He pulled the blankets up higher.
“No, I’m fine. This isn’t cold. I’ve been cold. There was this one day, I was standing at a bus stop and I was shivering, and I thought “I'm so cold, I can't believe I'm not dead” and then — and I know how this sounds — and then the sun was on the other side of the sky, and the clouds opened, and the horned god Cerne lowered a cloak of golden sunshine on my shoulders, and I instantly felt warmer. I thanked him and the sun snapped back to its proper place and the clouds covered over again. I can still feel the cloak on me. It's always there, even though you can’t see it.”
“Is that what Carol meant at the school? She could see the cloak with her ESP, or whatever it is?”
“I think so, yeah. She has some natural psychic talents. I suppose Extra Sensory Perception is as good a name as any for it. It’s a part of magic.”
“Do you have to be born with it? Magic?”
“Oh, no. She has a natural affinity — a gift, if you like — but anyone can learn. All it takes is an open mind and dedication.”
He snorted. “Good luck finding open minds around here. How did you become a witch, then?”
I rubbed my nose. “After my dad kicked me out, I didn’t have anywhere to go so I started walking. I walked, and I walked, and I cried, and I shouted, and I yelled out at the injustice of it all. Have you ever been so upset that you sort of lose your mind for a while? You don’t think the way you usually think, you don’t feel the way you usually feel. It’s almost like an out of body experience? I was lying in a grassy field one night, tears flowing. Just a scared, hungry teenager with nothing but the clothes on his back, and then the moon walked down out of the sky to comfort me and set me on my magical path.”
“The moon?” he asked.
“The actual moon. Right out of the sky.” I walked two fingers along his arm. “She told me there was a way to connect to another side of life. The energy of the earth, of the celestial bodies, of everything. I told her what had happened to me and she said she knew. She’d been watching me. She taught me all about her three aspects — maiden, mother, and crone. She’s all three in one.”
“So weird,” he said.
“Is it any weirder than one God being the father, the son, and the holy spirit? The triple goddess repeats throughout the world’s mythology. The Fates and Hecate of ancient Greece, the Norns of Norse mythology, theMorrígan of Irish myth… She told me what each of her aspects represented and how to tap into her power. And she gave me my new name, there and then.”
“What new name?”
“Crann darach,” I said.
“It’s Irish for oak tree, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “Dara, for short. I never used my old name again. I never needed to. I tapped into something that night. And that one experience led to the next and to the next. Meditation became second nature, and when meditating, I communed with all sorts of spirits who guided me to food, and water, and shelter. They showed me how to cast a protective circle, how to stir the primal powers of the earth, how to commune with ancient gods. I gave myself over to them and they taught me how to survive.” I showed him my inner forearm.
“They taught me some ancient symbols and how to craft my own. I chose to have some of the more potent ones tattooed on myself. They act like a shortcut to the magic for me. I’ve met some other witches who taught me their ways but mostly I stick with my own tried and tested techniques. I tried being in a coven once or twice but I didn’t fit.”
“You know I’m picturing you and a bunch of other burly naked men in pointy hats dancing around a cauldron?”
“You’re not as far off as I’d like,” I said. “One of them did have a cauldron. I think they’d learned magic from watchingLooney Tunes.”
He laughed and touched me again. “What’s it like? Being a witch?”
I couldn’t recall the last time anyone had asked me. “It's about beingconnected to another side of life. Feeling the love of it. Feeling… seen by it. Acknowledged.”
“It sounds better than being overlooked.”
I hugged him more tightly. “I didn’t know you felt that way.”
