Free The Moon Spun Round by Elenor Gill Page B

And carry the opal with you, near your body. In a pocket will do. Give it a few weeks and we’ll try again, see if there’s been any change.’
    ‘Thank you, that’s great, but you must let me pay you for this. I know those drops cost money and that opal must be worth something. What’s your usual charge?’
    ‘No. Actually, I owe you. Shall we say we’re even?’
    ‘Owe me for what?’
    Abbie hesitates, then takes a deep breath. ‘I’ve been trying to find the right time to talk to you about this. There’s something you need to know. For a start, I’ve a confession to make. The thing is, I’ve been trespassing on your property. And stealing.’
    ‘Really? Stealing what?’
    ‘Water.’
    ‘Water? Oh, for heaven’s sake. You are joking, aren’t you?’ But Abbie looks too serious. ‘I don’t believe this.’
    ‘There’s a natural spring on your land. The water’s very pure and I’ve been using it for my medicinal work. And, er…’
    ‘How much water are we talking about?’
    ‘Oh, only a few bottles a year.’
    ‘So, what’s the problem? I don’t—’
    ‘But, the thing is…I’m not the only one.’
    ‘Oh, I see.’ Sally is thoughtful for a moment. ‘That might explain something. I told you I’ve been sleeping well, and I have. Up until last night. Something woke me, though I don’t know what exactly. Don’t worry, it was long after your party had finished. But there was this woman. Cat was with her and she came out of the trees and across the lawn. She was carrying what looked like a water jar.’
    ‘I’m sorry, we should have told you before.’
    ‘We? Who’s “we”?’
    ‘There’s a few of us who go to the spring. I don’t know all of them, I don’t think anyone does. No one goes there very often, and we never take much,only what we can carry away and never more than we need.’
    ‘I found the spring this morning, and the pool, on the shortcut through the trees. And there are things under the water. Lots of old things, like jewellery.’
    ‘It’s a sort of tradition, a gift for the Goddess. It’s a way of saying thank you for…Look, this must sound really crazy. It all started a very long time ago. You have to understand that this village is old, built over and over again on the same site. It goes back centuries. The spring has always been there and people have always believed the water is somehow special. More than that, they believed that it has certain properties and that it is looked after by a guardian spirit.’
    ‘What, like a sort of sacred grove?’
    ‘Something like that. This whole area used to be forest, you see. Gradually the land was cleared for farming, especially around the time the manor house was built. That’s this place, of course, though, like your cottage, the original building was much older. But the area of trees around the spring was always preserved. At some time someone put a house there. Probably just a one-room shelter, but it got altered over time. That’s how it got its name, Stonewater Cottage—from the spring. Anyway, the woods gradually retreated down towards the river and the stream still runs through what’s left of it. But you would know that: you said you’d taken the walk across the fields and through the woods to the bridge.’
    ‘Yes, the first time I came. The day of the accident.’
    ‘Well, anyway, that’s how your cottage and land became separated, like a sort of island among the manor farmlands. It was for the women of the village, you see, they still needed the water. And the place itself, it has its own power, not only in the water. I’m not explaining this very well.’
    ‘Are you trying to tell me that I own some sort of shrine?’
    ‘Yes, you could put it like that.’
    ‘What, like the one at Glastonbury or something? Does this mean I’m going to get coach parties arriving in the summer, trippers wanting cream teas and bottles of holy water?’
    Abbie smiles. ‘Oh, no, no. Nothing like that, I promise