It was just a moment, one second, but she knew she had been seen. There was a flicker of displeasure in his eyes.
‘Thank you, Abercolme!’ he shouted, and bowed at the waist. The rest of the band came to the front of the stage amidst deafening cheering and clapping. The crowd were beside themselves, in the same kind of hypnotised delirium she’d been in that first time, at the bar in Edinburgh.
She looked at the faces of the people standing around her, lit by the fluorescent plastic bangles and necklaces they wore. Some of their faces were painted with rainbows and flowers, some wore glittery faerie wings that picked up the firelight from six tall iron cages that were packed with burning hay. The strange half-light gave them all a wild look she recognised all too well from the faerie ball. They were enchanted, and Finn Beatha had them right where he wanted them.
The band filed off the stage, but the stage lights stayed down, and the crowd started to cheer for an encore. Faye started to push through the crowd. She had to get to the stage and stop Finn.
‘More! More!’ the crowd were screaming at the stage.
The gap Faye was following closed in front of her just like the labyrinth had, and she was hemmed in by a group of drunk girls – or, at least, they seemed drunk – who wouldn’t let her through.
‘Eh, stop pushing!’ One pushed her back, and her friend shot her an evil, possessive look. ‘Get back. We were here first.’
Faye looked around, but she couldn’t see a way through. She was starting to panic when she saw Aisha walk onto the stage. Aisha was here! Yes. Of course, she had been so excited about the concert – Rav must have given her a backstage pass. If she could get her friend’s attention, Aisha would help her. But Aishawas on stage, and Faye was still rows away from being able to make herself heard over the chaos.
Faye made her way to the side of the crowd and gestured to a St John Ambulance man, who frowned at her but came over, anyway.
‘What is it? Concert’s nearly over. If you want the ladies’ room, I can’t let you through this way.’
‘No, I…It’s not that. I need to talk to my friend. On stage. It’s urgent,’ Faye replied as politely as she could, but her heart was pounding with urgency.
‘Sorry, love. No can do.’ He smiled at her.
‘Please. It’s that girl I want to speak to. With the dark hair, up there?’ Faye pointed to the stage. ‘Please, it’s urgent. She knows me.’
‘Can’t it wait, sweetheart? There’s still the encore – ten minutes and they’ll be finished, this lot. Not that it’s my cup of tea.’
‘No, really. I need to speak with her now.’ Faye gripped the hagstone charm in her pocket. ‘Please. It’s a matter of life and death.’ It wasn’t necessarily a lie, she told herself, although she felt like she was being overly dramatic. Still, her instinct was shouting that something terrible was about to happen, and she had to stop it.
The man sighed. ‘Ah, all right. But don’t tell your friends or they’ll all want to get through.’ He unhooked the security rope and let her through. ‘I’ve got to search ye, I’m afraid.’
‘Fine.’ Faye opened her coat and turned out her pockets; the man took the sage bundle from her and sniffed it, then gave it back. ‘Going to make some stuffing later, are ye?’ He grinned, then frowned at the hagstone charm. ‘What’s this?’
‘Oh, it’s…a necklace,’ Faye lied.
The man scratched his beard and held up the stones on their ribbon to his eyes. ‘It isn’t a necklace, sweetheart. These arehagstones.’ He met her eyes and stared into them for a long moment, then handed the charm back to her.
‘I can go?’ she asked, her eyes darting to the stage. The band were coming back on stage; she could hear the guitarist adjusting the tuning on his guitar before they started playing again.
‘Aye. Right you are.’ He pointed along a walkway that was delineated by traffic cones along the grass. ‘That way should take you to the cabins, and the side of the stage.’
‘Oh. Thank you!’ Faye tried not to show her surprise, but the man nodded.
‘I didn’t recognise ye at first. You’re Modron Morgan’s daughter, aye?’
‘That’s right.’ Faye didn’t think she knew the man, but he smiled at her again.
‘Fine woman, she was. I know better than to disrespect Moddie’s kin. Not least anyone who carries those.’ He pointed at the hagstones, which Faye returned to her pocket.
‘Thank you.’ She smiled this time, and pressed his hand. He blushed.
‘Get away with ye. Urgent business, ye said.’
She nodded and ran up the walkway. There wasn’t time for pleasantries.
Aisha had come off the stage and was standing in the wings watching the band do their encore when Faye found her.
‘Faye! Where have you been? Where’s Rav?’ Aisha turned her eyes away from Finn reluctantly as Faye grabbed her shoulder; Faye could see that whatever spell Finn had cast on the audience, Aisha was caught in it, too.
