Chapter Thirteen

"You know, if the weathermen could do their job properly, this kind of thing wouldn't happen," Amber ranted as she and Hilary stood within the entrance to the Ormeau Park studying the crowds amassed on the long stretch of shorn grass.

Hilary made a noncommittal sound as she took in the red stone columns and black iron gates, the paint looking like melted tar under the midday sunshine. If she had time, she would come back and take a photo. It really was a lovely entrance, historic and dignified.

"I mean, look at all these people? Shouldn't they have jobs to do? It's a weekday; there should be jobs and work to do. In fact, I think I'm in school more than any adult."

That was doubtful, but there were a lot of people here, and most of them were baring vast amounts of angry, scarlet skin. "Are these people being here going to stop you from showing me what I'm supposed to see here?"

Amber slumped and pouted. "Well, no; it's just I don't see why they need to be here."

Because it was a beautiful day and not everyone wanted to go to the beach. Considering how it rained during her first day in Ireland and the child in the air the day before, most of the local population probably hadn't anticipated how warm it would be. She certainly hadn't; her only concession to the heat had been to remove her jacket and drape it over her shoulders to prevent them from burning. She cast an envious glance at Amber's golden skin; she probably never burned, or worse, freckled. Hilary's shoulders always freckled and those freckles never joined to form the kind of tan she desired.

"And the worst thing is that when I leave school, I'll probably work 362 days a year with only Paddy's Day and Christmas off."

Hilary pursed her lips and continued to let Amber vent as they walked down the tarmac route that circled around the lawn. A few couples strolled under the shadows of trees, while two cyclists rode by, their bells trilling as they navigated around joggers and teens on rollerblades. Overall, it was a fairly familiar scene to Hilary though certainly more tranquil and conservative than she'd spied in Tokyo and New York.

A breeze blew up from somewhere and kissed her face offering just a hint of relief before disappearing, and she just knew her cheeks were cooked. Glowering at Amber's back, she regretted not following Ian's advice. Granted he'd been beyond rude and yes, she wanted answers, but now she was in a park, far from her friends, with a girl who might just be bordering on crazy.

Playing with the cuff of her sleeve dangling from the knot on her chest, she frowned. "So where is this place?"

Amber skipped over a remote controlled car and sent two boys a frigid look before she answered. "Well, it's kind of in the woods of this place but not."

"The woods." Right. Because nothing bad ever happened in the woods.

She caught Amber's eye roll before the girl said, "I'm not going to kill you. You're taller than me, by a bit, and I have muscles like spaghetti, besides I need you to hear my story and be on my side. It's not easy doing all of this on my own and no one likes me."

Hearing the almost whine in her tone, Hilary frowned. Was Amber lonely? Was this whole set up an attempt to get people to like her? To make friends? "This is serious, right? You're not just stringing me along so that you befriend Beybladers?"

"Gee let me think, end of the world, serious or not serious… Yeah it's fairly serious and shut up!" Hilary jerked back, only to frown when Amber waved her hand. "Sorry the Voice has decided it needs to start talking again."

Hilary grabbed the neck of her blouse and shook it to relieve the prickling sensation around her throat. "I thought the Voice was always there?" If she ended up with heat rash, she'd never live it down.

"It is, it just doesn't always talk. I like to drown it out with music, plus the earphones act as a disguise of sorts." Something must have shown on Amber's face because she quickly added, "I'm not insane, you know. My mother's a nurse; she's really big on health, both mental and physical so if she thought I had a serious issue she'd make me talk to someone."

They took a rougher path that snaked through a densely wooden area with a smattering of boulders. Here people walked slower as they studied and photographed the tall trees. The grass, lit up by the sunshine, turned a brilliant spring green that clashed with the moss clinging to downed logs almost lost within the long blades. Butterflies fluttered and landed among the wild flowers and an insect with a long body hovered just in front of Hilary's nose. She flicked it away and suppressed a shudder.

There was a sudden burst of noise as a group of boys raced towards them, one carrying a plastic beydish.

"It'll be Tyson for sure. He's the world champ!" one said, raising his voice to be heard over the pounding of their footsteps.

"Nu-uh, it'll be Kai. He's far stronger."

Yet another boy sneered and turned to face the group, jogging backwards. "He doesn't have a bitbeast. What the feck is he going to do against Dragoon? I think Tala will win."

As they disappeared around the corner, with the shortest one lagging behind, Amber cast Hilary a suspicious glance. "Is that true? Does Kai not have a bitbeast?"

Hilary scowled. "I don't think I want to answer that question. Kai wouldn't appreciate me telling you anything about him. He's very suspicious of you and he's someone you should be wary of."

Amber's shoulders hunched as she grumbled, "Don't need to tell me that."

Yeah, Hilary mused, Amber and Kai had weighed each other up and found their measure — or whatever that English phrase was.

As they passed a crumbling stone building, Amber suddenly veered off the lane and meandered down a grassy verge. Their feet kicked up clouds of insects and the air filled with buzzing and chirping, followed by a long hoarse caw. In this haven, it seemed like the city was hours away instead of on the other side of the dense tree line.

A long vine caught her foot and Hilary vehemently wished she'd worn different shoes. She should have known better than to put on a pair of strappy sandals but with the sunshine, she'd wanted to feel summery and girly. Now she was going to have blisters and she'd probably lose a shoe. Couldn't the Voice have taken them along a more pedestrian friendly route?

"Did you ever consider that maybe the voice in your head is actually a bit beast?" Because that would explain why it chose such a bizarre route. Bitbeasts may have been revered creatures of legendary power, but Hilary was fairly certain they had a warped sense of humour, after all, they'd been around forever and a day, they had to amuse themselves somehow.

Amber faltered, almost tripping over a log tangled amongst the lush grass. "It depends on what you think a bitbeast is. Are they spirits in general or are they solely attached to bitbeasts?"

Hilary huffed out a breath. "Is that an evasion?"

"No, I'm just saying that if your idea of bitbeasts are that they're spirits in general, then sure, the Voice is a bitbeast, but then so are ghosts by that theory."

"No, ghosts were human once," she explained, dabbing at the perspiration that dampened her neck. "They're departed beings who cannot move on. Bitbeasts are spirits of nature, deities who form a bond with a human and use beyblades to manifest."

She looked over her shoulder as the park and civilisation seemed to disappear and wild woodland took over. It was almost like stepping into Narnia, or the summer area of it that Aslan had ruled. She just hoped there was a lamppost to help her find her way back.

"To what end though? Just to help a child win a trophy? That seems kind of farfetched for something as grand as a deity," Amber said, swatting at a low flying bug as she trudged down a knoll carpeted with long grass and threaded with yellow flowers.

"Well, maybe that's the only way they can manifest." She shrugged.

"Perhaps," Amber said, "but the Voice in my head isn't a bitbeast. It's a… it was an entity that was cursed to bond with my bloodline. My granddad had it and when he died it passed to me."

Hilary's stomach rolled and she pressed her hand against it. "Well, maybe it is a bitbeast. Dizzi doesn't do much more than talk and guide Kenny. I guess when it's trapped, there's very little it can do."

"It's not a bitbeast — "

"A bitbeast sounds better than a voice in your head."

She caught Amber's disgruntled look as a trickle of sweat slithered down her spine. Even in the stretching shadows, the heat was inescapable. Seeking a little relief, she lifted the heavy weight of her hair from the nape of her neck. At least Amber's cheeks glowed pink too.

Chimes whistled as Hilary followed Amber behind a tree and deeper into the darkening woods. It was stunning, a true taste of Ireland, and were she in a better mood she would have took some photos.

Instead, as she picked her way through the grass, she frowned. "Is this the normal path? It seems very grown over."

"No, but it's fine."

"… Well, maybe we should go the path that's laid out." Maybe she was being anal, but people were told not to stray from the correct path for a reason. Look at what happened to Alice in Wonderland, for instance, that child had ended up taking drugs; Hilary was nearly sure of it even though the book had been a very confusing read, and she wasn't certain her English teacher understood it any better. As for the animated movie, watching it with Tyson and Kenny hadn't helped. Not one bit.

Maybe she should go back. The boys were bound to be worried about her.

"We have to go this way," Amber replied, stepping over a mossy rock.

Rubbing her stomach to ease the fluttering, Hilary paused mid-step. "Amber, I want to go back now."

Amber tossed back her head, eyes closed, bristling with impatience. "Look, I'm taking you to show you proof."

Hilary's temper flared. She was doing Amber a favour by coming out here into a deserted park. She should have gone with Ian; she really should have just stayed where she was. "I get that but maybe we can come back another day. I want to go. It's not safe this way."

"Of course it's safe. Don't be daft. I'm not going to do anything to you. That would defy the whole point, I need you on my side."

"And that means going this way? We're going into nowhere, it's not safe and I don't like it." Her voice rose shrilly.

Amber's mouth opened to shoot back something scathing; then the battle light dimmed. "Oh, I'm such an idiot."

"What? Look, it doesn't matter, we'll go back and it'll be fine." It would be fine. Everything would be fine once she could get back to her hotel. Maybe she could persuade Tyson to skip the tournament and they could return to Japan. She liked Japan. She understood her place in that world.

"No, no, I'm sorry. I - I can't believe I needed the Voice to tell me," Amber grumbled, rubbing her cheeks with her hands. She lifted her eyes to slowly meet Hilary's. "I'm sorry. I keep forgetting you don't know the tricks."

What? What tricks? What was Amber up to now?

Stepping to a tree, Amber pointed to a scored mark in the bark. "See this? This is a rune, or something. It's a mark than warns people away, makes them feel uncomfortable, or reminds them that they have somewhere else to be that's not here. I feel it too, but because I'm aware of why I feel it, I can ignore it."

A mark? A warning? Could that really be why her stomach felt so queasy and slick, as if she'd downed a vat of oil from Kenny's parents' restaurant?

"Just trust me, once we get on the other side of them, you'll feel better. We both will."

Hilary studied Amber dubiously before glancing at the marks. The chimes seemed to toll louder here and Hilary shivered. This was her point of no return, she realised. If she left, she'd return to her safe little world and everything would continue like normal, and she would always wonder about the proof Amber promised to show.

She didn't always make the safe decisions. If she had, she wouldn't be in Belfast with the Bladebreakers.

Sighing softly, she gestured to Amber. "You lead the way."

With her own stomach a mass breeding ground for what felt like an infection of worms, Amber stomped along the broken earth, stepping over protruding roots and around branches trying to sneak across to the other side of the 'path'. A wasp investigated them before soaring off and butterflies scattered as they disturbed the undergrowth.

"It's getting hotter."

Hearing Hilary's soft complaint, Amber jerked a shoulder. "Yeah, well that's something I can't fix. It shouldn't really be this warm…" Amber turned her gaze to the sky and frowned. How much of this was a genuine heat wave? How much of this was her country changing, not because of global warming as the politicians liked to say, but because of the disturbance in the Veil?

A branch cracked under her foot and echoed through the woods. She glowered down at her traitorous feet — she was no Robin Hood — but in that sudden movement, her ears caught another sound under the buzzing and clicking of insects, gushing water. Cheering, because she'd almost reached her destination, she stalked down to the river that snuck through the grass.

Amber paused and hunkered down, trailing her fingers through the cool water. "We need to cross this."

"How?"

"There are stones, just on the other side of that gorse bush," she replied, indicating a dark prickly shrub with butter yellow buds.

"What are you going to show me?"

"Something to help you believe." Amber shrugged, rolling her neck and standing up. Her skin was toasty warm as the air turned humid now that they were hidden under the canopy of trees.

It was gloomy as they walked around the gorse bush, her eyes taking a minute to adjust. The water snaked under low hanging branches that bowed towards it, bridged by a scattering of larger stones. The faintest of breezes seemed to lift off it, relieving the heat.

A sharp crack had both girls scanning the woods.

"Is someone following us?"

Amber pressed her lips together. She understood Hilary's paranoia and admired her for coming here but still, it stung.

Why should she trust you? You haven't been very forthcoming with information. Even now you avoid telling her where you're going.

Amber shook her head, hoping she could shake the damn voice out, then pushing damp strands of hair from her forehead, she answered Hilary. "No, it was probably a squirrel or a deer. They do things like that." She looked at the river, and then glanced at Hilary. "Okay, do you want to try to go over first or will I lead you? It's pretty simple, just step on the rocks."

"I'll follow you," Hilary said, folding her arms and hunching her shoulders.

"Grand so."

Amber approached the edge and hesitated. It would be fine, even if she fell in, she'd dry off fast in the heat. Though knowing her luck the clouds would come and pour with rain and she'd end up lying in a sick bed for the end of the world. Some saviour. The jittering in her stomach turned to slick, oily nausea.

She lunged off the bank. Now wasn't the time to think of all those people who would be gone in a fortnight or so, now was the time to gather allies, amass her army.

She continued her journey across with a few hops, skips, and wobbles. Landing on one particularly wide, flat stone, she windmilled her arms, then leapt to the other side, her feet sinking into the soft earth. Spinning she motioned for Hilary to follow. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I can do this." Hilary stepped onto a stone. "Dr B's Island was much worse."

"Oh?"

"Yeah the island began to break apart while we were still on it."

"Break. Apart," Amber echoed. As far as she knew, islands didn't break apart, unless… Did the Bitbeasts cause that as well? Would Ireland break apart?

"It was a few years ago, a crazy scientist was after the boys' bitbeasts and the island self destructed. If it hadn't been for Kai, I would have died that day. So a little water," Hilary whispered, as she balanced on one foot on a narrow stone, then leapt to the next one, "doesn't scare me."

"Really?" Amber propped a hand on her hip and waited until Hilary joined her on the bank. "Your life sounds exciting. You're probably more equipped to deal with this than I am."

Hilary said nothing, so seeing the conversation was done, Amber dug the toe of her battered trainers into the soft clay and began the trek up the gentle rolling slope. Here the trees had spread out, slender trunks stretching up to the cornflower blue sky; the sun colouring the lush grass a rich spring green, while wild rose bushes added a splash of pink and white.

"You do not have bears in this country, or lions?"

At Hilary's tentative question, Amber shook her head. "Nope. No Lions, no Tigers, no Bears, oh my!" At Hilary's blank look, Amber grimaced. "Lame Dorothy reference." She pursed her lips and stepping over a moss-strewn log, she gestured to the scenery. "Ireland doesn't have many predatory animals, or any snakes or venomous spiders either.

Somewhere to their right, a twig snapped, causing Amber to frown in that direction.

Hilary blew out a breath. "And that was?"

Well, how was Amber supposed to know? Sounds like that didn't give her warm, fuzzy safe feelings either, but she refused to be terrified by a squirrel or a deer or even a stray cat. A human certainly wasn't following them because nobody would get past the sigils. Besides, daylight surrounded them and the road was close by, and, she checked her phone, she had a full bar of reception. They were fine until she lost it, that's when people started to die in horror movies.

"We'll be grand."

Her words didn't reassure Hilary, who constantly looked over her shoulder as they ascended the slope. The light became brighter, the area greener, creating the illusion of complete isolation. It wasn't true. She had to remind herself that some things here were illusion, so she grabbed Hilary's hand to ground both of them.

"What's wrong?"

"Just… don't want you getting lost or falling. This is getting a bit steep."

Hilary nodded, but didn't respond, though she kept her hand firmly in Amber's grip. Up ahead, large objects strewn with greenery and ivy began to emerge: ruins from an old building.

"Are you sure it's okay for us to be here? It's not private land, is it?"

"No, I told you, the wards dissuade people from coming here. In fact, I'm not even sure this place exists for normal people. It's not on any map I've seen, and unless you're shown the way, you can't find it. I know of it because of the Voice in my head. It tells me a lot of weird things, and shows me a lot of strange places. I have a shit load of knowledge in my head that I don't really want or need." And none of it was any good for schoolwork.

Hilary pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, it's coming in handy now."

Amber pulled her damp vest from her back. "I guess. I'm just saying that I know this place is deserted, and you are freaking out because of the wards. It's what they do."

"Well someone must have put them there. Where is that person?"

"Considering they're mostly in Ogham, that person is probably long dead." At Hilary's blank look, Amber sighed. "Ogham writing, it's a bunch of lines and slants that created letters. Heck, they didn't even have a full alphabet. You can research it later, let's just go."

"I can't help it, this place gives me the creeps."

No kidding.

The lush lime green blended into cool teal as the sun retreated behind the trees that began to inch closer. The two girls weaved between them picking their footsteps carefully. Amber tried to see it as Hilary did, but due to the Voice in her head, all her instincts were off kilter. The voice loved places like this, while Amber preferred open fields, most especially the patchwork of fields outside of her grandmother's farm that stretched down to the river foyle.

To the Voice, this area was home, and it was eerie. The further they moved from the river, the stiller everything became. No flies buzzed, no crickets chittered, no birds sang. Light seemed to come from fluorescent green motes of dust and there were just the haunting whispers and vacant moans.

More grass was crushed underfoot and Amber rubbed her rapidly chilling skin with one hand, while clutching Hilary's clammy hand in the other. Goosebumps rose along her arms and back, the damp sweat turning to ice.

"Let's go back," Hilary urged, pressing a hand to a tree trunk. "I have a bad feeling."

Amber jerked her head. "No, we're here."

Hilary wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't a quiet clearing with thick, verdant grass, sheltered by tall trees so clustered together that they created an almost impenetrable wall. She stepped past Amber, drawn by the play of sunlight gleaming on the blades of grass, the sky was open and blue in a circle above them, warming the pale grey standing stones blotched with mossy patches.

"It's like Stone Henge." Delighted, she rounded on Amber, a grin stretching over her face. "It's beautiful."

Oh she had to get pictures and then she could send them to her parents and friends. This was the part of Ireland she'd come to see.

"It is, isn't it?" Amber smiled, but it lacked enthusiasm.

Stepping forward, Hilary brushed her fingers over the rough granite, picking out the pebbly beads of quartz embedded within, like little grains all pressed together until they formed a huge chunk, with each stone placed carefully in a large circle. But it was the tree in the middle that drew her; thick of trunk with stark, naked branches reaching like tentative fingers to the sky. She couldn't have reached her arms around it if she tried.

Slipping between two stones, she approached the tree, raising a hand to touch, then paused, hovering. Curling her fingers, she glanced back at Amber. "Is it okay if I touch it?"

Amber lingered outside the circle. "Yes, it's just a tree."

It wasn't though, Hilary decided. There was something special about it, tucked away inside the woods, isolated from the others by its stony centurions. She pressed her fingers into the knotted bark and felt the hum of power, or maybe she heard it, a muted sound like a thousand distant murmurs. It was ancient and the pulse from it echoed her heartbeat.

"What is this place?" she finally asked, breaking her connection to the tree.

Amber continued to rub her folded arms, glancing up at the sky before meeting Hilary's gaze. "A faerie tree. Once upon a time, the little folk would live in the branches or so the fables say. I think it's more of a gateway now, long sealed."

"But—" Hilary stepped back and looked up into the branches. They were spindly and a rich dark brown — Tyson's eyes were the same colour. She flushed at the whimsical thought.

"It's dead."

Hilary shook her head vehemently. "It's not. It's just dormant, isn't it?"

With a slight frown puckering her brows, Amber inched forward but didn't enter the circle. "Do you sense something?"

"It's…" Hilary sighed. She wasn't sensitive and yet… "I don't know much of this stuff, but I just feel there's a power inside, just waiting."

Amber's head bobbed quickly. "There is."

"And look, there's a bud on the branch." A strange coloured bud, more rusty read than green, like the bud of an autumn leaf.

"Hilary, come here, please."

The urgency grabbed Hilary and reeled her in as fast as a retractable grappling hook. She hurried to Amber's side and glanced back at the tree, almost expecting it to twist around with a face upon its trunk, its branches reaching for her. It remained the same, stoic and empty and yet her heart pounded and her head felt light.

"What just happened?"

"I didn't realise it was —" Amber fell silent, then stepped into the circle and stiffened. Something rippled over her face as a shadow pulled away from her body. Dropping to her knees, Amber gasped and shuddered violently.

Shaking herself, Hilary crouched behind her, ready to pull her from the circle.

"Don't," Amber sighed, lifting her head, breathing heavily. She pushed her hair out of her face and glared.

Following her gaze, Hilary grabbed a stone to steady herself as her body swayed. There was a woman in the centre of the circle, touching the tree reverently as Hilary had. She was ethereally beautiful; pale, pale skin without even a hint of pink along her sharp cheeks and with lips touched with violet. Her hair was like black satin though as the light hit it, she could see it was more like oil, dark yet shimmering with green and pinks. Her long, sheath dress was silk and gauze and feathers, low cut and tight over full curves that Hilary envied. Whoever this woman was, she was as different from Amber as night and day.

TBC

A.N. And so the Voice has appeared. You probably know who she is now. I'm sorry about the wait, I have been looking at this chapter upside down and sideways for a while and then I was sick, so that didn't help. I'm just going to post it now so that I can't cut anything more out of it.

Been playing Final Fantasy X again with the HD remaster release and wow, there are some stories that just get me and that one really does, I even like FFX-2 and it's whole magical girl theme. As long as there's a happy ending to something, I'm okay.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and all reviews are appreciated and gushed over.