Jack Hughes Books - Thomas the Rhymer

25 The last map of Fairyland

Bess gives Catherine a lace map of fairyland and a scrying mirror

Catherine must learn to master them

A beautiful fairy queen welled up from the depths of the scrying mirror

& gave a friendly wave
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Art: Paul

A rainbow, like an oily smear on a wet road, flooded across the mirror's slick black surface. When she was little, one of her sisters told her those iridescent patches on roads were the remains of fairies mown down by speeding cars. She was upset for weeks.

The rainbow congealed into Bess’s throne room. The old lady wore her dressing gown and fluffy slippers. Standing over her, like a ghost, was the handsome Bilquis of dream, who waved and vanished, only to reappear seconds later to wave and vanish once more.

Catherine noticed some of the pale blue threads of the web were broken, and some tiny images dim.

Reaching a dim image, she saw a dead fairy nest where the ghost of a veiled queen kept silent vigil. The ghost did not look or wave, nor did she vanish. She stayed frozen, like a statue guarding a grave; a remembrance of death.

Tracing a finger along one such thread, the image lined with tiny shops and houses, she came to the break, a tiny railway line stretching both ways into the distance.

At Tower Hill, a couple of threads were brighter than the rest. Catherine traced one that took her over rolling countryside to Stonehenge. Starting again, she traced it back to a wide estuary and expanse of salt marsh, before coming to a hill.

The hill was ringed by standing stones. A large handsome house stood concealed by an overgrown wood. It was exactly what Jack described from his dreams. As she stared, a beautiful fairy queen welled up from the mirror’s depths to give a friendly wave.

from Chapter 24 The Scrying Game