The Hornbeam Tree (36 page)

‘Molly, Daughter of Lilith, prepare yourself to receive the advice of our most Wondrous Mother,’ Cecily said.

Obediently Molly turned around and picked up the flowing red wig that Cecily had brought for her. After settling it over her own hair, she smoothed it back from her face, and bowed her head. Cecily had said she should wear it because she was to play a bigger part in the ceremony tonight than the others, and the goddess wig, according to Cecily, was the highest form of respect.

Cecily began to chant from her notes. ‘Oh Most Divine Mother, Lilith, the misunderstood and maligned creator of the feminine, the limitless source of our power, the one true goddess, we gather to worship you on the night of the full moon so that we can feel the true might of your eternal spirit.’ She squeezed Molly’s and Donna’s hands to give them the signal to respond.

‘Oh Most Divine Mother we are gathered and await your guidance and blessings,’ they all said together.

‘We are now at Stage Five of our Six-Step journey to womanhood,’ Cecily continued. ‘Each of us has faithfully complied with the challenges we have set for each other, which have included acts of bravery,
female
domination, and a rejection of our earthly mothers, for you are the only true Mother. It is now necessary to cleanse ourselves before going any further by confessing our mortal weaknesses and transgressions, whereupon we ask you to grant us absolution, and to show us the way forward.’ She lifted her head, and with eyes closed, said, ‘Allison, Daughter of Lilith, please begin.’

Allison took a breath, felt her mouth tremble slightly with the urge to laugh, then reading from the notes, she said, ‘Oh Divine Mother, I am guilty of still being a virgin, so I am not yet empowered to harness the male ego. I understand that it is my duty to tame him and return his lost soul to his Divine Mother Lilith.’

‘Please tell our Divine Mother what you intend to do about this failure,’ Cecily prompted.

‘On the night of the twenty-eighth I will rectify the failure using your own methods of seduction, oh Mother,’ Allison responded, keeping faithfully to the script. ‘My subject is chosen. His name is Miles Greengross.’

‘Divine Mother,’ Cecily said, ‘please indicate your approval of Allison’s chosen subject.’

In accordance with the instructions laid out, they waited for Cecily to clear the incense and flowers from the board, then leaned forward to place a finger on the upturned glass at the centre of it. Almost instantly it started to glide towards the word yes.

‘Thank you, Divine Mother,’ Cecily said, returning the glass to the centre. ‘Thank you, Allison.’

Allison relinked her hands with Molly’s and Donna’s and listened as Donna was invited to
make
the next confession. Her chosen subject was Martin Quayle, and Lilith readily gave her approval.

As they all rejoined hands Cecily let her head fall back, as though an ecstatic trance had befallen her, then she began to speak softly, making her own confession. ‘Oh Most Beautiful and Compassionate Mother Lilith,’ she said, ‘my own virginity still afflicts me too, but I seek to rectify the failure on the same day as the others. My subject is Toby Fortescue-Bond. Please indicate your approval or not, as the case may be.’

Once again the glass moved to yes, and as they all sank back on to their heels the rain outside began hammering against the window, while the wind whistled like a whip.

Molly waited, knowing it was her turn next. She was starting to feel a bit anxious now, for there were no more words on the page, and it was turning kind of spooky in here, with all the candles and incense and weirdy chants from the CD. She told herself she wasn’t really bothered by the glass moving around the board, because she knew Cecily was pushing it – she had to be, because no way was it moving on its own – but that wind outside was like, seriously scary and for all they knew it could be the devil trying to get in. The trouble was, she had to get approval for Brad, and there was no other way, or not according to Cecily.

‘Dear and Bountiful Mother,’ Cecily began, her voice rising like a wave in the storm as she continued with a script that only she had a copy of now, ‘we humbly present the last of your daughters. I know, because you have spoken
privately
to me, that you have reservations about Molly, but I ask you to be patient with her, and accept our undertaking to keep her in the Way. Yes, she has lied, yes, she lacks faith, and yes, she has a false heart …’

Molly was horrified. Why was Cecily saying those things? How could she know that Molly hadn’t done all she was supposed to? She hadn’t been there. She didn’t know anything, so she was just being mean, trying to frighten Molly, because she’d never really liked her, and had always wanted to get rid of her. Fear began jabbing at Molly like sticks. This could be leading up to a ban from the party …

‘… but we can save her, Dear Mother,’ Cecily was saying. ‘And she wants to be saved, which is why she has changed her hair to match yours. She understands the power of the Feminine, and that you alone are that power. Do you see her, Great Lilith? She awaits your blessing, and she also asks for your help. Please tell us, Mother, if you are willing to forgive her faults and offer that help.’

Molly was breathless, as following Cecily’s lead everyone leaned in to the glass.

‘Not you, Molly,’ Cecily told her.

Anxiously Molly took her hand away, and watched with big, worried eyes, as the glass started to move. To her horror, it set off in the direction of no, but then it seemed to teeter, and almost before she knew it, it had doubled back towards the yes.

‘Thank you, Lilith,’ Cecily said. ‘We value your answers, and shall abide by them. Now, please tell us if you approve Molly’s chosen one. His name is Bradley Jenkins, and though her passion has made
her
vulnerable to his male aura, so that she is handing him all her power, I promise we can help her to bring him to you. So will you approve him, Divine Mother?’

Molly was almost dizzied by the drumming in her ears, for she wasn’t sure what Cecily meant about Brad’s male aura, or handing him her power, but at least this time she was allowed to touch the glass. When it moved to yes she almost collapsed with relief.

‘Now we come to Molly’s request for help,’ Cecily said. ‘There is a person in her life, Divine Mother, a relative, who is an evil presence, and Molly seeks your assistance in obliterating her.’

Molly’s heart gave an uneasy thud. Obliterating was a really strong word, and all she wanted was for Michelle to go back to where she came from, not to die or anything. She’d told Cecily, no poisons, or murder or anything, but the trouble with Cecily was she was always so extreme, and if Molly didn’t do as she said she’d probably get her revenge by messing everything up with Brad.

‘The Divine Lilith is ready to speak,’ Cecily informed them.

Once again they put their fingers on the glass. For several seconds nothing happened, until finally it began inching slowly across the board towards the letter A.

Molly almost snatched her hand away as the word assassinate shot to the front of her mind. She glanced at Cecily but her eyes were firmly closed as she announced the letter A.

The glass edged to the right and came to a stop in front of the letter B.

Abstract. Absent. Abseil
. What did it mean? What was it spelling?

‘B,’ Cecily pronounced.

Molly was leaping from Aberdeen to abstain, when once again the glass started to move. This time it hesitated in front of the W, then proceeded on to the U.

Molly was perplexed.
Abu … Dhabi. Abundance
. She looked up, caught Allison’s eye, then returned her gaze to the glass as it started off again, this time travelling the short distance to S.

Abus
. A thud of fear banged in Molly’s chest. Was it trying to say ‘A bus’ as in push Michelle under one? Well, just no way was she going to do that, not even if it meant she couldn’t go to the party. She glanced at Allison and saw that she was looking baffled too, then feeling the glass setting off again, she watched as it crossed the full width of the board and stopped at E.

Abuse
. She blinked. What did that mean, exactly? Abuse what? She looked at Cecily as she spoke the letter aloud, then waited to see if the glass would move again.

Seconds ticked by and nothing happened. In the end, Cecily said, ‘Divine Mother, do you wish to continue?’

The glass wobbled, stilled, then skated all the way back towards the letter A.

Was it going to spell the same word again? No, because the next stop was at C, and immediately Molly started to get worked up again in case it was ‘accident’, and when the glass backed off an inch, then returned to the C, she was convinced. However, to her relief, the next
letter
turned out to be U. Then came S, then finally E.

Abuse. Accuse
. Molly looked at Cecily.

Cecily closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, then let herself go limp. ‘The Divine Mother has spoken,’ she finally told them, ‘and now she has left us.’

They all sat back on their heels, glancing at each other, then turning to Cecily to await further instructions.

‘The Mother is gone,’ Cecily confirmed, and began packing up the board.

‘But what does it mean, abuse, accuse?’ Allison demanded.

‘It means,’ Cecily answered, keeping her eyes on what she was doing, ‘that to be rid of your aunt, Molly, you should accuse her of abuse.’

Molly’s insides turned to liquid. ‘But I can’t do that,’ she protested. ‘It’s not true.’

Cecily’s patience immediately thinned. ‘It doesn’t have to be true to be effective,’ she stated haughtily. ‘It’s the one sure way of making her leave your house, because no-one will let her stay if you say she’s abused you.’

Molly swallowed hard and looked at Allison.

Allison shrugged.

Becoming suddenly conscious of the wig, Molly took it off and bundled it in her lap. She didn’t want to tell that kind of lie, about anyone, because it was horrible, and even to think it made her feel all weird and sick inside. She wanted to ask what would happen if she didn’t do it, but since she could guess the answer she decided it might be better to say nothing.

‘That was awesome,’ Donna declared, as she got up to change the music. ‘It was one of the best seances we’ve had, don’t you think?’

‘It was wicked,’ Allison agreed. ‘Especially when we had to give the boys’ names. Imagine, if they could have heard us. They would be like, so freaked out.’

Donna and Cecily were laughing, so Molly laughed too, though she was still all shaken up about the abuse thing, and miffed over what Cecily had said about her and Brad, though at least she’d got approval, so she was more prepared to forget about that.

‘So, now we can smoke the joint,’ Cecily stated, having decided earlier that they should wait until the ceremony was over or they’d go all giggly and silly.

Allison immediately grabbed the matches and went to retrieve the joint from the depths of her make-up bag, while everyone else checked their mobiles for messages.

Pleased to find one from Brad, Molly was about to start texting back when Allison passed her the joint.

Nervous, but eager to get in some practice before the party, she put the skinny end to her lips and sucked.

‘Harder,’ Allison insisted.

Molly pulled again, held the smoke in her mouth, then inhaled, swallowed and choked all at the same time.

‘It’s OK,’ Allison assured her. ‘Everyone does that the first time. Let Donna and Cecily have a go, then you can try again.’

With her throat and nose on fire, Molly watched the others to see how it was done, then taking the cigarette back tried again. Not so bad that time, just a little bit of coughing, and her head was already starting to feel all swimmy. She’d better send a text back to Brad before she got really stoned – and one to her mum to say goodnight, because she was staying over at Allison’s tonight so Laurie Forbes could use her bed. That was just like so brilliant, because now her mum had let her stay here once, it should make it easy for her to stay on the night of the party. She’d say it was a sleepover then too, because no way in the world would her mum let her stay out for an all-night party, especially not at Allison’s.

Chapter Sixteen

THE STORM HAD
hardly let up all night, though it was starting to show some signs of exhaustion now as Katie and Michelle prepared breakfast, while Laurie spoke to Max on the phone.

‘No, I haven’t heard anything from Elliot yet today,’ she was telling him, glancing at the clock and calculating that it was three a.m. in Washington. ‘Is there something I can help with?’

‘I’m not sure what any of us can to do about this,’ Max responded, sounding unusually harried, ‘but I’ve just got off the phone with Josh Shine’s lawyer – someone’s tipped him off that Shine’s going to be charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism.’

Laurie felt a thud of unease and kept her back to Katie and Michelle.

‘It’s good news that someone on the inside’s keeping us informed,’ Max continued, ‘but the bad news has got to be what this could mean for Tom, which is why I’m trying to get hold of him. We have to let him know that the stakes have been raised.’

‘Of course,’ Laurie murmured, her mind firing off in all kinds of directions. ‘I’ll keep trying their numbers, though Elliot warned me last night that his phone was going to be off for most of the day. I’m due to see him tonight though, he should be back in London by then.’

‘OK. Anything new your end?’

‘Not really. We spent part of last night going over the pages Nick sent and reviewing the section on Rebuilding America’s Defences. To quote Katie, “it reads like a sweetheart note to the US armed forces”, and with a $480 billion defence budget, I’d say that’s putting it mildly.’

‘And we all know who’s lapping up the profits,’ he commented. ‘Look no further than the current administration and their campaign financiers.’

‘And you don’t care who hears it,’ Laurie said wryly.

‘You bet your ass I don’t,’ he responded.

She laughed, and mouthed a thanks to Katie as she passed her a coffee. ‘Anyway, apart from the dizzying excitement of going over and over your government’s intention to achieve global dominance,’ she said, ‘we’re still trawling through the thousands of articles that have been written about the 21 Project, some of which are mightily entertaining, believe it or not, but I can’t honestly say we’re moving forward now. We need more of the original.’