I watch closely as the room quietens down, Paolo’s intense concentration flickers in and out of hope and fear. If this works, then it may prove a key step in solving and ending the disappearances that plague Stonebridge. If it doesn’t, then while we lose nothing, we are no further forward.

‘We can only do what we can. I am so glad I am not in his shoes.’ I scratch my chin. ‘Beard needs a trim, I wonder if they have scissors.’ I hadn’t seen any, but then, back home, I kept mine in the drawer out of sight. ‘Stay focused, Del.’ I know I am getting distracted. The quiet, and the slow, steady breathing of Naomi, combined with the very air of calmness, seem to lull my ability to stay on point. I look at Elara holding Naomi’s tiny hand, her face a picture of calm. Almost as if she is meditating herself, willing the girl to be a Dreamwalker.

That’s the thing. At this point, we don’t really know if she is or not. The dreams she had could have just been that. Maybe they were a bit of a prescience, but some people get flashes of that, but not in a way that can be controlled.

‘Come on, mate, on what are you basing that conclusion, shit from my own time?’ I sigh and continue watching. ‘What real rationale do you have for thinking anything from the old place has relevance here?’ I give a small shake of my head. ‘None, so shut the fuck up and watch.’

In my gut, I feel a small flicker, nothing like when Elara does her thing with plants, but definitely a flicker of something. If Elara’s magic feels like a bunch of butterflies, this is more like a single creature breaking forth from its chrysalis and stretching out its wings to dry. Almost imperceptible but definitely something there.

I can’t help it, I sit forward in my seat, trying to see inside of her and share in what is happening to her. ‘Doing good, lass, keep with it.’ Something tells me this is a crux point. Could she push past the first hurdle and take flight?

Her face is calm, yet in her brow, small furrows of concentration flitter in and out of being. Her breathing is measured and…

With a start, she sits up.

“I can’t do it, Elara,” she sniffles. “I can see them in my head, but I am scared.” A tear trickles down her cheek.

Elara slides off her chair to kneel on the floor so she can hug the frightened child.

“It’s alright, Naomi,” she murmurs softly, stroking her hair. “Magic can be a bit scary at first, but you have it, I felt it in you.” She pulls back slightly to look into Naomi’s eyes. “You just need to trust yourself.”

Gently extracting herself from the hug, she sits on the seat behind the girl and eases her head back down onto her lap.

“Now, I am right here with you. I will protect you, so do you want to try again?”

Giving a final sniffle, Naomi drags a hand across her eyes, gives her nose a vigorous little rub, and nods.

Once again, she closes her eyes and begins the slow, measured breaths.

In, out; in, out; in…

In my gut, I feel once more that tiny butterfly, this time its wings dry and stretched out. It gives them a tentative beat or two, then, with a sudden rush, I feel the surge of magic taking shape, and a beatific smile crosses both Naomi’s and Elara’s faces at the same moment. Naomi’s in wonder and Elara’s in happiness and satisfaction at the success.

The feeling ebbs and gently drifts away, and Naomi slowly opens her eyes.

“I flew,” she says quietly, with awe in her voice.

“You sure did,” Elara responds to her little student. “Now you know you can fly, you just need to learn how to control where to go. What did you see when you were flying?”

Naomi concentrates, her mouth forming a bit of a frown.

“It was strange. I was in here looking down, so up by the ceiling, I guess.” She grins. “I could see all of you, and you were funny colours.”

Elara picks up on this. “What do you mean by different colours?”

“Well,” she nibbles on the tip of her finger as she thinks. “You were all sort of wobbly and had shiny rings around you.”

“Those are auras,” Elara says, pleased. “That’s good because you can use auras to find people. So, what did the auras look like? You said different colours.”

“Yes, yours was sort of green, and the elder’s was a dark blue.” She looks at me then. “Yours was strange, sort of a red that kept changing, like from dark to light and bright to dim. It was funny.” She giggles.

I can understand Elara’s—green suits her very well. ‘No idea about the meaning of colours in this sort of thing, but I guess blue is good.’ I frown as I consider the final colour. ‘So Del, red, huh? Well, well, probably just means I am a confirmed shit magnet.’ I give a rueful little smile and get my mind back to watching the events play out. ‘The key thing is, can she find Vita and the others.’

“I’m okay with being red, my cat is a ginge, so I might as well be a red’n as well,” I tell her.

“Alright then,” Elara states, getting back on topic. “We now need you to fly outside the room and this house, have a little fly about the village and get used to how it feels.”

Naomi nods but looks a little puzzled. “How do I do that? I was just floating before.”

“This is true, but in the astral, you can go anywhere. Just look in the direction you want to go and sort of”—Elara waves her hand in a circular motion—“think or imagine yourself going there. As it’s not you but your mind moving, you can just fly through walls and things as if they aren’t there.”

Naomi nods, her face serious as she takes in the instructions. Looking over, I can see Paolo sitting forward, his whole demeanour a mix of wonder and excitement. I would guess he is as new to this magic stuff as I am.

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“Now, if you look behind you as you explore, you will see a silver line heading back to this house. That’s like a tether connecting you back to your body, so that’s the way to go when you head back.” She looks at the girl to make sure she understands. I can see Paolo is also following along as intently as I am.

“Remember also the trigger. If you want to return straight away, just use the trigger and you will be back in your body in an instant.”

“Okay,” she says. “Shall I try now?”

“Yes, and this time try to tell us what you are seeing as you fly about.”

Naomi settles into Elara’s lap, takes firm hold of her hand, and closes her eyes. The quiet of the room descends again as we all watch on. Once more, I feel the surge in my gut, this time seeming even firmer and more sure.

“I’m outside… Wow, the market is like a sparkly fairyland.” Her voice is quiet but filled with awe.

“The people are all blue, lots of different blues.” She laughs. “I can see where Nate is hiding from the others… he’s in that bush, you doughnuts.”

Elara strokes her hair gently. “You are doing well,” she says quietly.

“I’m going to look at what mummy is doing,” she states with glee. “There she is, what’s she doing with Mr Cooper?”

“I think you should move on,” Elara tells her with a hint of amusement in her voice. “Now, do you know the way to Vita’s home?”

Naomi nods, her face as serious as mine and Paolo’s.

“I want you to go that way and think hard about her.” She considers her next instruction and then continues. “Did you see your silver thread?”

A nod.

“As you get to her home and think hard about her, you are looking for another thread, it may be greenish like mine.”

We all seem to hold our breaths for the minute or so she needs to journey to the Bonesetter’s cottage. A single creak of a floorboard disturbs the still air as I lean forward in my chair.

‘You go girl, I know you can do it.’ I consider my thoughts. ‘Please let her do it.’“

I see her house, it’s all glowy,” she smiles brightly. “It looks like magic.”

“Can you see her thread?”

Naomi concentrates, and I even see her little head moving about a bit as if she is looking.

“I think I do. It’s all sort of a light yellow-green, but it’s all twisted up with black.” She lets out a little gasp. “That black seems bad, angry.”

I feel my jaw tighten, my nails digging into my palms as I clench my fists.

‘This can’t be good, Del, but it confirms that she was taken.’

Elara gives her hand a little squeeze.

“You are doing very well, Naomi,” she reassures her. “Remember that you are safe here with us, this is just like a dream.”

Though she looks worried, Naomi gives a little nod and takes on a determined look.

“I’m going to go find Vita,” she states. “I think the Night Man has her.”

I glance at Paolo, and he looks at me, both of our expressions mirroring the other. It seems to be as we feared. I nod at him in recognition of his concern and turn back to the scene on the couch.

“What way is her thread going?” I ask. Elara flashes me a look that tells me to not interrupt and possibly disturb the vision. Naomi, however, hears and answers without any concern.

“It’s going into the woods east towards woods that way.”

I look towards Paolo questioningly.

“The only thing out that way is the old quarry, but that’s not been used for several generations,” he answers my unspoken question quietly. “Beyond that is just wildlands till you get to the Dwarven mountains.”

“Does it follow a path at all?” Elara asks.

“There is a sort of path, I guess.” Then a small smile. “Yes, it follows it.”

“Alright, Naomi. I want you to follow Vita’s thread but do it carefully and slowly, tell us anything you see that’s odd but try not to lose sight of it.”

“Okay,” she agrees.

We all watch closely, the tension in the air is almost palpable, and we find ourselves in the unenviable position of needing to be part of the action but unable to even watch.

‘It’s like listening to a badly directed radio play,’ I grumble to myself. ‘Too many breaks in dialogue and no sound effects.’ I am finding it just so frustrating, my hands itch for action, my legs ache to be on my way to find Vita myself.

I just have to hold on and wait for this brave little girl to show me the way.

Time seems to tick slowly, moment follows moment.

“There are rocks ahead and a hole in the ground,” she says, interrupting my thoughts.

“That must be the quarry,” Elara tells her. “Can you see anything there?”

Naomi gives a little shake of her head.

“Not from here, but the thread goes into the hole and then down to the bottom.”

She takes a big breath. “This place feels bad.”

Giving her hand another little squeeze, Elara tells her, “You don’t have to go further if you don’t want to.”

“No, I have to find Vita,” she states firmly.

“I’m at the bottom, there is a tunnel, and I am going to look.”

“You are being very brave,” Elara tells her.

“It’s dark in here, but I can still see,” she looks puzzled. “I can’t normally see in the dark.”

“That’s because you are in the astral, it has its own sort of light, I have been told,” Elara tells her.

“I can still see her thread. There are a lot of other blue threads as well here, but the black one is bigger, stronger.” She gulps. “Meaner.”

It is almost possible to see her gathering up her courage as she then plunges on into the darkness.

“I can see lights up ahead, like torches.” She pauses. “Someone is crying, I can hear someone crying.” She takes a tighter grip on Elara’s hand. “I’m going to go see.”

We wait, all of us holding our breath, watching this small child being so brave and grown up.

With a sudden start, she sits bolt upright, a scream ripping from her lips, and, spinning round, grips Elara in a tight, terrified hug.

“The Night Man… He saw me!”

And passes out.