Isabella continued to visit the big house and care for the fledglings as she had promised and soon the incident with the man in the forest was pretty much forgotten. Spring had turned into summer and she was suddenly facing exams and choices about her future, so other things were on her mind as she climbed into the tree one afternoon. She had her crystals with her and was planning to lie back, watch the sky and make some decisions.
As she reached up over edge of the hand she felt something soft, material like and it startled her, she moved back down the trunk and sat on a lower branch to think about what to do. Her heart was beating very fast and she felt sick with fear. ‘Had someone found her place of solace, her portal to the big house?’ she could feel tears prick behind her eyes when she considered this invasion and was thinking of running away, but knew that she could not leave it all behind.
So, very carefully, she re-climbed back to the hand and eased her way on to one of the fingers as far from the soft material as was physically possible. There was no response from the soft material although she swore she could hear breathing. As she eased her way onto her vantage point she saw that it was the sleeping figure of a man, wearing the same clothes as the man she had met in the forest that time before. She looked around the base of the tree to see if the dog was on guard down there but there was no sign of him and this made her breathe more easily.
The man was fast asleep surrounded by some empty cans of lager, it looked like the heat of the afternoon, or the lager, had overcome him. He had made a pillow out of his hoodie and was fast asleep completely unaware of her arrival. She wondered what she should do, she didn’t want another confrontation, but this time he looked far less threatening and she did remember he had asked her about the big house. She decided however that this was not the time, or place, to throw caution to the wind and started to climb down.
At that point he woke up and looked at her, this time it was he that seemed afraid. He smiled at her and said, “Hello Isabella, long time no see.”
She looked at him blankly, there was something familiar about his voice but his face was unfamiliar and his words were slurred. She said nothing and continued to climb down.
His head appeared over the branches above her and he continued, “Do you not remember me at all? I’m Danny, Raven’s best friend. We danced at your last birthday party and I was at the funeral.”
She did remember this young man at Raven’s last party with blond hair and blue eyes and a wicked laugh, but this could not possibly be him. His hair was darker, his eyes less sparkling and the stubble on his chin made him seem older and seedier. She stopped climbing unsure of what to do and looked up again to see his hand reaching down towards her.
“Do you come here often?" he said with a wicked laugh and in that moment she knew it was the boy from the party, the boy with whom Raven would spend hours out somewhere doing goodness knows what. She took his hand and climbed into the hand to join him.
“Yes, I come here often, it’s my place of refuge,” she replied rather pointedly.
“And the portal to the big house?”
“What do you know about the big house?”
“That is where I can find Raven.”
“You’ve seen him?” she asked forgetting her caution.
“Only the once, quite soon after he died. I was with him you know, when he had the accident, I was there. I don’t sleep so well these days, but yes, I saw him just before the time we last met and he showed me round the big house.”
“What did he show you?”
“He showed me a lot of rooms in different colours. I kept seeing movement, but never who or what was moving, it was all rather vague. What I remember most were the colours and how they blended to make a rainbow that you felt you could lie on. The other thing I remember was a deep hum and whenever I hear that now I think of the big house, but try as I might I cannot get back either to the house, or to Raven.” He said picking up a can and tipping it to his lips. Nothing came out and he threw the cans on the ground as if they were the reason for his disappointment.
“How did you find this place?” she asked.
“Raven brought me here years ago and I thought I might find him here and that this might be the gateway to the big house. I began to think it was all a horrible mistake and a dream until I saw you that day in the forest and watched you climb into the tree once you thought I had gone.”
“You spied one me?”
“No, I watched you from a safe distance and then I climbed into the tree after you had gone.”
“What happened then?”
“I feel asleep and then fell out of the tree.”
“Again?”
“What do you mean again?”
“I mean that you fell out of the tree when I was watching you too.”
“You mean spying on me?” he said with that smile from the party.
She did not answer that question, but was beginning to warm to this young man, and sat in silence wondering what to do next.
“I loved him too you know,” he said after a long pause, “we both loved him.”
She nodded and felt the tears prick behind her eyes.
“I have been to the big house,” she said, “but I have never seen Raven there. He is visiting the Library of Lives apparently and that takes as long as it takes, although it seems to be taking Raven a very long time. Most of the time I help out with the birds that nest around the edge. I have got quite used just to visiting the gardens it means I don’t get disappointed if Raven does not appear. I have learnt to miss him less over the last few months, at first his loss was unbearable, now less so although there are moments of pure pain.”
“Do you think we could go together, even just to the gardens? I do miss him.”
“We could try I suppose, but I find the more I want to get there the less likely it is that I will make it. I just close my eyes and relax back into the tree holding my crystal.” She said reaching into her pocket, unwrapping Aunt May’s crystal and resting back on one of the branches.
