Disclaimer: All characters and plot elements from The Dark is Rising Sequence belong to Susan Cooper. All the rest is mine.
1. The Boy From Before
"Excuse me. Do I know you?" said Jane.
Her stomach lurched for the second time in a minute as the boy turned his head. She clutched the bookshelf next to her. The brown hair with blue-grey eyes set in a round face were so familiar and yet completely unknown. For an instant Jane was sure she saw surprise cross the boy's face, but it was immediately replaced by an impassive look.
"I'm sorry, did you mean me?" he said. He shut the book he'd been looking at – 'Welsh Legends' she saw.
"Er… yes. I'm sure we've met before." Jane tried to keep her voice steady. Her head was whirling as she desperately tried to catch at the images rushing through her mind.
"Well this is the first time I've been here," he said blankly. "Perhaps you're thinking of someone else."
"I suppose I must be. Sorry," she said still staring at the boy. Hastily she turned away and began to walk towards the book shop door. As she reached the entrance she stopped again and looked back. The boy's eyes were still on her and she was surprised to see a look that was half smile and half regret sweep those strange-familiar features before he opened the book he'd been reading again, and other people blocked her view.
She blinked as she walked out into the August sunshine and, finding a bench in the square, she sat down feeling dazed. The boy was about her age, 15 or so, growing tall, but still with boyish features that she couldn't get out of her head. If only she could think clearly. It was like waking up and not being able to stop a vivid dream from slipping away.
"Hey Jane!" a voice called from across the square. It was her friend Becky Williams; they were meeting up for coffee. She stood up shaking her head, trying to shake off the feeling, and walked over to meet Becky.
* * *
Will entered the bookshop, which was cool and dim after the glare of the sunshine outside. He asked for the section on myths and legends and was directed to some shelves near the back of the shop. He scanned the books to find it. He knew there wasn't much time. As he reached down the book on Welsh Legends he felt his senses jump. He'd come all this way to a strange city just for this moment. Would she remember him?
Without looking, he knew she was there now, round the other side of the book shelf. She would see him in a few seconds.
"Excuse me. Do I know you?"
Will looked up from the book. For a moment he was surprised to see how pretty she had become, but he tried to look impassive and said, "I'm sorry, did you mean me?"
He shut the book, deliberately allowing her to see the title.
"Er… yes. I'm sure we've met before." Her voice sounded shaky and Will almost smiled, feeling the confusion of her mind, but kept his expression composed.
"Well this is the first time I've been here," he said truthfully. "Perhaps you're thinking of someone else." He saw the mixture of surprise and doubt in her bright blue eyes. Her blonde hair was longer than three years ago and she wore it loose instead of in a pony-tail.
"I suppose I must be. Sorry."
As she turned and walked away, Will longed to shout after her, to tell her the truth, but he knew that must wait a little longer. Still, he was pleased to know the memory of past events remained, though buried, within her mind. She glanced back at him from the shop doorway and he held her gaze for a second before opening the book he was holding and looking away.
For a minute after she had gone, Will could still sense the churning of her emotions as he stared unseeing at the pages of the book. He wanted to put a word of calm into her mind, but that would stop the memories from re-surfacing and make his task much harder. After another minute, he turned to a page in the book with a photograph of a lake and touched it with all five fingers of his right hand. He shut the book, put it back and left the shop.
* * *
An hour later, having said goodbye to Becky, Jane headed for the railway station to get her train home. It was nearly closing time, although the city streets were still busy and the sun still warm. She passed the entrance to the square and paused, seeing the bookshop in the far corner. She felt much calmer now and a little foolish for the mistake she'd made, as she had convinced herself it had been. But curiosity overcame her and she turned left into the square and crossed to the bookshop.
There were only one or two people left inside and Jane went straight to the shelf where she'd seen the boy earlier that afternoon. The imprint of the book's cover was still in her mind, a Celtic stone symbol of a cross surrounded by a circle on a dark background. Looking up, she saw the book 'Welsh Legends' next to another entitled 'In Search of the Grail'. For a few seconds, it seemed for no reason, she felt her heart pounding as hesitantly she reached down the book the boy had been reading.
She looked at the contents page – lots of names in Welsh she wasn't sure how to pronounce. She flicked through some pages and began to feel it had been a stupid idea to come back. Near the end were some pages of photographs, various views of standing stones, valleys and churches. A picture of a small weed-covered lake caught her eye and she looked at the name underneath: 'Llyn Barfog, where King Arthur cast a monster out of the lake'.
"The Bearded Lake" Jane said aloud with a smile. She stopped and put her hand over her mouth in surprise. 'How did I know that?' she thought and turned her head to the doorway of the shop. The boy from before was standing there smiling, hands in pockets, brown hair slightly flopping down over his forehead. Her stomach lurched for the third time that day.
"Will" she said almost in a whisper.
The world seemed to whirl upside-down, her body felt unreal, she wasn't sure if she had dropped the book. Images flashed into her mind – a swaying, appalling nightmare of a monster, a beautiful delicate ancient lady, a dazzling rose-coloured ring, then strange lovely singing with an echoing harmony. The music seemed to calm the world down; it stopped whirling about and she found herself half lying on the carpet of the bookshop, breathing very quickly, sweat on her brow, with Will kneeling next to her, holding her up.
"It's alright Jane" he said. "You're OK now."
A shop assistant dashed up but Will said "My friend's had a bit of a shock. Is there somewhere she could sit down?"
The assistant showed them to some chairs in the corner. They sat for a while in silence, Jane trying to catch her breath, Will acutely aware of the turmoil in her mind. After shock, the main emotion Jane felt was embarrassment at having fainted in public.
"I'm sorry to do that to you," said Will, "but there's not a lot of time and I had to see how much you would remember."
Jane closed her eyes but quickly opened them again.
"I'm not sure I want to remember it all," she said with a slight shudder. "That monster – was it real?"
"Ah… it was real at the time," Will said softly, "and it served its purpose."
Jane stared at him. She knew now that this was Will Stanton, last born of the Old Ones, and she and her brothers had helped him and the Circle of the Light to finally defeat the Dark. But why was he here?
Will knew the question was in her mind, but answered it in a different way.
"I'm staying at a bed and breakfast on the other side of the city with my brother Paul. He's touring with the orchestra and Mum thought it would be good for me to get away for a few days with him. Look, can we get out of here. The shop's closing and you've got a train to catch."
"How…" began Jane, but Will just smiled and stood up. Jane shook her head and followed him.
They walked quickly towards the railway station. There were five minutes before Jane's train left.
"Can you meet me tomorrow morning about 10 in the square?" Will asked as they approached the ticket barrier. "I need your help, but I can explain everything then."
"Well I'm not sure I can get here that early" said Jane, thinking anxiously of her mother's questions. Simon and Barney were both away visiting friends and her mother expected her to help around the house in the morning.
"It'll be alright," said Will confidently, "just take things as they come."
Jane remembered how things somehow always 'arranged' themselves very conveniently when an Old One was around.
"There's something I need you to bring tomorrow. It's very important. Can you remember someone giving you a little blue-green stone when we were in Wales?" He seemed very serious now. Jane thought hard. The memories were there but they seemed so much like a dream that it was difficult to recall exact details.
"It's like this one" said Will, bringing out a gold ring from his pocket. Set in the top of it was a smooth stone, iridescent and the colour of the shifting sea.
"How lovely!" exclaimed Jane, and at once she saw in her mind an image of a pale-skinned boy with dark glasses and white hair handing her such a stone.
"Yes, I know where it is. I put it in a box where I keep special things. Funny, I haven't ever thought about it since. But I hope I can find it," she said suddenly uncertain. "We only moved here a few months ago and some things haven't even been unpacked yet."
"Just keep the picture in your mind and you'll find it" said Will. Suddenly he smiled at her and all seriousness fell away. "You'd better get your train. See you tomorrow then."
"Yes," she said smiling back, "see you." She walked through the barrier towards the platform and when she looked back Will had gone.