The Lighthouse Witches(62)

My mind continued to loosen. I would wake up sometimes completely naked and drenched in blood, clasping an ax, without knowledge of why I was thus nor in whose blood I was soaked. I was no longer certain that I would ever see Amy again. Or, if I did, that she would want me. I was not who I was.

I had just turned seventeen when the guild took action against my employer. There were thirty reports of him selling rotten meat. After a brief trial, it was William O’Daly alone who was dragged through the streets and smeared in horseshit by the peasants before being hauled into the stocks. His business finished, I was sent back to Scotland with a bag of coins for five years’ work and no plan for my life at all, except finding Amy.

And find her I did, or at least a version of her, for she was forever changed. And it was entirely due to Witches Hide.





LUNA, 2021



I

The smell wakes Luna up. The bitter smell of smoke hits the back of her nose. She bolts upright in bed and calls out.

“Are you OK, Clover?”

No answer. Luna scrambles out of bed and tears downstairs, where a thick plume of black smoke is trailing from Clover’s bedroom.

Clover is standing beside her pile of new clothes, but they’re on fire. Bright orange flames dance above the dresses, sparking on the lace fabric. Clover looks up at her, the blaze revealing menace on her face.

Luna darts into the bathroom, where it seems to take an eternity to find something to fill with water. All the pans are downstairs collecting the drips from the ceiling that Luna drenched with bathwater. The room is thickening with smoke, stinging her eyes and the back of her throat. She spies a small bin beside the toilet and grabs it, filling it quickly with water. Then she runs into the bedroom and throws the water over the pile, but it’s not enough to damp out the flames completely. They curl dangerously toward the bed, and Luna has to pull Clover out of the room and order her out of the cottage while she races back into the bathroom for more water.

Mercifully, the fire dies down, though thick black smoke clings to the air. Luna covers her mouth with her hand as she rushes outside, gasping. Clover is in the garden of the cottage wearing only her nightie and a scowl. Luna sits down on an old garden bench, utterly spent.

She sits a long time in silence, her elbows on her knees and her head lowered into the palms of her hands. It was a mistake to bring Clover to an Airbnb. Her training has taught her that children with traumatic backgrounds need to be watched carefully in case of dangerous behavior, that the environment needs to be controlled. In her own home, she’d have put all sharps, pills, and matches in a locked drawer. She has no idea where Clover found the matches, but it’s her fault that she did.

It was a mistake to take Clover from the hospital. A mistake that could have cost them both their lives.

After a while, she feels Clover approach. She raises her head to look at her.

“Why did you do that?” Luna asks. “Why did you set all those clothes on fire?”

Clover doesn’t answer. She stands in front of Luna with her arms by her sides, her face blank.

“I’ll take you back to Inverness,” Luna says sadly. “I’ll call Eilidh, the social worker, and take you to the police station. I’m sorry I brought you here.”

“No!” Clover says, stamping a foot. “I don’t want to go to Inverness! I want to go back to Lòn Haven!”

Clover’s eyes fill with tears. She sits down on the grass in front of Luna and wipes her eyes.

“Who are you?” Luna asks gently.

Clover considers this. “I don’t know anymore,” she says, plucking a daisy. “Actually I do. I’m lost. That’s what I am.”

“Well, that’s a start.” Luna can see she’s getting somewhere. It energizes her, the feeling that she’s making a connection. That some truth is coming out at last.

Clover’s face softens. “I miss my mummy,” she says in a small voice. “I want to see Mummy.”

“Where is your mother?” Luna says.

“Lòn Haven,” Clover says. “She’s going to be so upset because I’m gone. I have to go back.”

“What’s your mummy’s name?” Luna asks.

“She’s called Liv. Her real name is Olivia, but everyone calls her Liv.” She looks up at Luna. “And she looks like you.”

Luna nods, but she’s struggling to make sense of this.

Clover sits down next to Luna, who flinches. She’s still scared that Clover’s touch will hurt her.

“Mummy’s going to be worried about me,” Clover says.

“Is that why you burned the clothes?” Luna asks. “Because you want me to take you to your mum?”

Clover nods.

“Clover, I want you to try and remember,” she says carefully. “Can you do that for me?”

“I’ll try.”

“What do you remember last? Before I came to the hospital and found you. Who were you with?”

Clover takes a deep breath. “I was walking along . . .”

“Where?”

“On the grassy bit.”

“In a field?”

Clover shakes her head. “The road was here . . .” She uses her hands to signal a road to her left. “And the grassy bit was here . . .”