The Dream Weavers by Barbara Erskine (books you have to read txt) 📕

the distance the eerie call of a curlew from the hills above the village. This was all so far from the hatred of human beings for each other, the pollution of the land and sea, the carelessness with which humanity had treated the sacredness of the planet with which they had been entrusted. He sighed. ‘Please God,’ he murmured as an afterthought, ‘as well as having all that to keep you busy, help Sandra to mind her own business and please, please, keep a special eye on Bea.’ Bea, who was straying into such a dangerous place and who would never listen to him when he begged her to take care.

The service was beautiful, the congregation friendly and anxious to talk to him and it was nearly nine before he was able to leave at last, turning the car for home.

Putting his key in the door, he pushed it open and went in. ‘Bea?’

The lights downstairs were off except for the lamp on the hall table. ‘Bea, I’m back.’

He ran up the stairs two at a time and, turning on the light, looked quickly into their bedroom, wondering – hoping – she might have gone to bed early. There was no sign of her there. With only a second’s hesitation he ran up the second flight of stairs, hearing them creak beneath his feet as he knocked on the door of her study. There was no reply. He opened the door and looked in. There was no one there, only a faint smoky essence in the air from a recently extinguished candle.

His heart thudding with apprehension, he turned back downstairs, heading for the kitchen. Bea’s phone lay on the table where as so often she must have put it down and then forgotten it. He picked it up. The battery was almost dead. Plugging it in, he checked to see if she had picked up his message. The last message wasn’t from him, it was from Simon, sent less than an hour before. ‘Bea, I’m so sorry to call you at this hour but I’m worried sick. Emma’s disappeared. She heard the voice and got very upset. While Felix and I were in the kitchen she seems to have gone out – we found the front door open – and there is no sign of her. She can’t have gone far. The car is still here and anyway she doesn’t drive yet. We’ve called and called and searched the immediate fields. I’m not sure what to do next. The woman, the voice, can’t hurt her, can she? Or lure her somewhere? I can’t believe I’m saying this—’

‘Just ask Bea and Mark to come, Dad!’ Mark heard Felix’s voice in the distance. He sounded very young and very frightened.

Mark switched off the phone and turned for the front door.

Bea’s car was parked outside the cottage beside Simon’s; every light in the cottage was on as Mark grabbed a torch from his glove box and ran up the steep path to the front door where Simon was waiting. ‘I heard your car. Bea’s gone to look for Em,’ he called. ‘I don’t know where she went, but she seemed to know what to do.’

Mark saw Simon give him a sideways glance and belatedly realised he was still wearing his cassock after the service. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. ‘I’m sure there is no need to worry. They can’t have gone far.’

‘We should ring the police,’ Felix put in. He appeared in the doorway behind his father and Mark wondered if the boy had been crying.

‘And we will if we can’t find them,’ Mark said gently. ‘But first let’s have another look outside. Has Emma got a phone on her?’

‘No, she left it behind in her bedroom.’ Felix was shaking his head violently. ‘It was the first thing I checked.’

‘OK. How long has Emma been gone? You think Bea knew where to look for her? I don’t know this area I’m afraid. So, do you have an Ordnance Survey map? Perhaps we could look at the terrain and see where Emma could have got lost. Are there any hidden valleys and streams where she could slip and fall? Luckily it’s not raining and it’s not too cold. She couldn’t have gone far, surely?’

Already Felix was at the laptop, bringing up a map, focusing in on the contour lines. Simon sat down abruptly. ‘I’m behaving like an idiot,’ he said, rubbing his face with the palms of his hands. ‘I thought – I know it’s impossible and stupid and crazy but, with all this talk of ghosts, I thought somehow she might have disappeared through some portal into the past. I’m being an irrational fool. I panicked. I’m sorry.’

‘Anyone would panic,’ Mark went to stand behind Felix, looking at the screen. ‘I think we can assume Bea and Em are still in the present day, Simon.’ He gave the man a quizzical look, then leaned closer to the screen. ‘You’re pretty much at the top of the ridge here and the hill seems to go down in every direction, but there are woods here ‘– he pointed at the screen – ‘and this part here looks like a narrow valley. If it’s rocky, it would be easy to slip over and turn one’s ankle.’

He looked up as Felix let out a small yelp of distress. ‘We have to be realistic, Felix,’ he said sternly. ‘Emma has not disappeared into thin air and she cannot have gone far. I’m sure Bea will find her, but if she doesn’t we’ll ring the police, who will probably call out the mountain rescue. Don’t worry. She’ll be OK.’

‘Your dad is looking for us, Em.’ Bea could see the torchlight moving in the trees in the distance. ‘I’m going to leave you for a minute while I go and call him.’

The girl was huddled, shivering, against the tumbled stone wall that bordered the wood. Bea had already wrapped her in her jacket and tucked her