Circle of Stones by Catherine Fisher Read Free Book Online Page A

Forrest give a wheezy laugh. He was silent a while. Then he said, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, old friend.”
    â€œWe will succeed. We have built our hospital, and soon we will make this a city where even the poor have fine homes. It’s not a dream, John. You are making this happen.”
    It was low & heartfelt. I turned away, uneasy.
    Then I looked up. At the top of the stairs the girl was sitting on the highest step, watching me. “Don’t eavesdrop, Master Peacock,” she said. “You might hear the truth about yourself.”
    I shrugged. “So might you.”
    She laughed, a saucy laugh. “I know it all. I just won’t be telling it to you.”
    As she stood I said, “You know the rich boy too. What are you really here for, Sylvia?”
    She was still a minute. Then she walked into the drawing room & slammed the door.
    Well. She might have taken Forrest in, but not me. She’s no little innocent.
    This might be getting interesting.

Bladud
    I can’t tell you how long I lived by the water.
    Its warmth was a wonder, as if the sun had sunk secretly into the ground. Although it was winter I lived in a small hollow of steamy heat, where summer plants bloomed in the soaked earth. Snow melted as soon as it fell.
    I drank, I washed, I scrubbed at my raw skin.
    The water became all I had lost. The warmth of humans.
    The soothing of speech.
    I felt it ripple in my hands, slither through my arms. Like something living. Like a girl.
    And sometimes, in delirium or half asleep, I thought I saw her, the spirit of the spring, standing over me and watching me, clothed with green algae, her hair weed, her face sharp and laughing and full of secrets.
    Slowly, over weeks, I unfolded.
    I walked upright.
    I ate the plants and beasts that haunted the place.
    On a day of blue sky, I cleared the algae and lichens of the sacred spring, and I knelt down and bent over it and among the bubbles I saw my face.
    For a long time I stared.
    Tears ran warm down my clear skin and fell into the spring. There were no more scabs, no pustules, no oozing sores. I was cured, and I felt my strength gather even in the bones and nerves of my body.
    And she was standing behind me, her shadow darkening the water.
    I said, “What payment must I make to Sulis?”
    Her answer bubbled from the depths of the world.
    â€œEncircle my wildness. Hold me in a circle of stone.”

Sulis
    S he looked at herself in the mirror. The uniform was simple—black trousers, black sweatshirt with
Roman Baths Museum
on it, and the famous image of the gorgon head that had been found here and that they used as their logo.
    The clothes were featureless and she was glad. She wished there had been a cap, or something to pull down over her eyes, but that was silly.
    As she stood in the cold staff cloakroom she wondered if all jobs were so easy to get. Was this how the world worked—you knew someone who knew someone? The interview had taken less than ten minutes. The woman, Ruth, had looked stressed and in a hurry; she’d checked a few facts, name, age, the fake ID, and then said, “Right, well, the sooner you can start the better. Tomorrow?”
    Sulis had said, “I’d rather Monday.”
    â€œFantastic. Seven thirty sharp please. I’ll get someone to take you around.”
    She had needed the weekend to reassure herself about the man. When she’d left the building on Friday the cafe table had been empty. She’d slipped into the crowd of tourists, and to be completely safe she’d taken a long, looping walk home, doubling back in the streets and ducking down alleyways and cobbled lanes.
    Then she’d gone up to her room and out on to the secret ledge on the roof; crouched down and holding tight to the giant stone acorn, she’d kept a watch on the Circus for at least half an hour, intent on every stroller and vehicle, until Hannah had pulled up in the car below,