Queen of Sea and Stars by Anna McKerrow

Author:Anna McKerrow [McKerrow, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786818133
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2019-04-04T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Six

Faye could hear the music from two streets away, and almost turned back more than once before reaching the club where the London covens were holding their annual Samhain party.

It was pronounced sow-in, the old Celtic name for what was now Halloween. In the old pagan days, it was the festival announcing the onset of winter, and traditionally the time when the division between the ordinary world and the otherworlds – the elemental lands of faerie, the spiritual origin of nature and the lands of the dead – was easiest to transgress. Samhain was the night witches remembered loved ones that were in spirit, and, traditionally, it was a night for divination and all kinds of mediumship, being that it was so much easier than usual to talk to the ones in the next world.

At home, Faye always set a place for Grandmother and Moddie at the dinner table, sharing stories and memories of them with Annie. Then they would usually read each other’s cards for the year ahead and walk down to Black Sands Beach to dance under the moon, perform a ritual they had planned out in advance, or just sit companionably and watch the waves.

Yet, tonight, as the city’s children dressed as ghouls and wizards and collected sweets door-to-door, Faye found herself standing outside the wide steel doors of a club on the south side of the river, uncomfortable in a pair of black stiletto-heeled boots and a short black dress that she was glad her coat hid. As it was Samhain, she’d made her makeup darker and more dramatic than usual, and curled her reddish auburn hair into long ringlets. Tonight, Rav was going to some work drinks again – he’d asked her if she wanted to come. It’s Halloween! Your thing, right? he’d asked, but she’d explained she had a Samhain celebration to attend. He’d looked disappointed, but not enough to persuade her not to go.

As she stood there, Faye gazed up at the stars. The night was dark, velvet, magical: the deep layers of the past spread out in black-gold layers; each star, each tree, each leaf a door to another life, another time. Samhain always gave her this special feeling; it was a time of magic, when anything could happen, when the otherworlds were close, and slippage could occur.

Faye was waiting for Annie and Susie. Annie had suggested they invite the cast of Coven of Love ‘for research’ but in actuality the guest list was too exclusive: only members of London covens or their approved friends and contacts were permitted, and no-one without one of the ornately foiled tickets got past the two tall, tattooed men on the door.

She tried not to stare at the people filing into the club, but in some cases it was hard not to look twice. Not everyone was hiding their eveningwear under a long coat, and, in fact, if anyone apart from Ruby at the Coven of Love set had attended, their preconceptions would only have been confirmed: tonight, there were plenty of floor-length gowns, velvet and otherwise.

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