Beech - Legend of the Dryads, Book 2

Chapter 9

"I can't believe I've been friends with a bunch of tree huggers!" cried Tiff, pinching the sides of her face with her thumbs and forefingers.

"Shh!" emphasised Todd, "you're drawing attention!"

Jayne closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It had been a group decision to let Tiff in on the Willow secret, but now it was a choice they were all regretting. Jayne had phoned Tara two nights before on her mobile phone (the only piece of electronic that was still working in the house) to inform her about the impending quest to England and to ask her to come along with her, as were Sue's wishes. But in true Tara style, her excitement about the dark and dangerous trip had caused her to blurt it out at the lunch table the very next day. Todd, of course, understood the meaning of their little expedition and so, inevitably, offered his services for their mission.

Todd was useful. He had insight that none of the others did – for example, first-hand experience with the so-called Lumbers, so he had been a welcome addition to their party. But things then became a little complicated when Tiff overheard about their "holiday" and, for fear of being left out, insisted that she come along, too. And so it was, for reasons unbeknownst to the three, that they had allowed Tiffany to tag along with them. And if that wasn't already a dangerous enough of an idea, they had then figured it necessary to spill all the crazy information about the whole kerfuffle to the melodramatic teen.

Well, Jayne had done worse things. The trouble was, she couldn't quite think of one at that precise moment in time.

"So you're saying that the three of you have creepy magic powers given to you by a bunch of trees?" she asked to the floor from where she sat on the blue-painted aluminium chair at the airport. It had already taken them the bus journey here, a meal of burgers and fries (Jayne didn't eat much – she'd been too jittery) and the trek through customs to semi-convince her about the existence of Willows and their powers.

"Not the three of us," Tara answered, "just Jayne."

"So what are you two then?" was Tiff's next question. "Do you get magical powers from cats or something?"

Tara raised her eyebrows. "Hardly," she guffawed. But when Tiff kept her gaze fixed on both of them for an explanation, Todd and Tara stared each other down, daring the other one to go first. The stayed that way for about twenty seconds before Todd finally relented. He sighed, rolling his head back round to face Tiffany.

"Okay, okay, I guess I owe all of you an explanation."

Jayne sat down on the chair beside Tiff, equally interested in what she was about to hear. She had kind of been wondering what Todd's involvement in the whole ordeal had been, but had for some reason been too afraid to broach the subject.

"I have nothing really directly to do with the Willows, but my own line of duty pretty much led to my involvement. I'm what they call a medium – one who can communicate with the deceased."

Jayne couldn't suppress the gasp that escaped her. That surely explained his link to her father.

"Ahem," Tara butted in. "You're forgetting to mention that time you spent as a squirrel," she said, hardly able to hide her mocking giggle.