Ruby noticed this.
“Don't stroke him like that, dear, it gives him ideas.”
“Ideas?”
“Ideas. He hasn't been done you know.” Ruby raised her eyebrows, pointedly.
The Reverend smartly withdrew his hand, then, politely but firmly, shooed Tobias from his lap, brushing off the remaining cat hairs.
Tobias skulked off, muttering and mewing, occasionally looking back over his shoulder and giving both the Reverend and Ruby filthy looks.
Slightly embarrassed, the Reverend stood up and brushed himself down.
Sensing his growing discomfort and unease, Ruby suggested that he should return home to his wife, and try to calm down.
“And don't worry! Pearl and I, and our various familiar... associates will be along bright and early tomorrow morning to help you deal with any unexpected or untoward 'excitement' at the fête.”
At the doorstep, she surreptitiously slipped a small envelope into the Reverend's pocket, crossed her fingers behind her back and asked him not to forget the small booth that she would be occupying tomorrow:
“Remember... I am to be 'Gypsy Rose Lee', Fortune teller to the stars and the Royal Houses of Europe. World Famous in Bradshaw!”
The Reverend looked perplexed; he couldn't ever remember Ruby booking a booth for the fête, but he promised that there would be space for her. Any help to the church roof fund would be gratefully received.
Ruby breathed a big sigh of relief as she shut the door. Tobias looked at her curiously and she shooed him into the kitchen, following him in so she could put the kettle on, all the while muttering, both to him and to herself:
“All right, all right, all right... Maybe I didn't originally book a booth. But we need a base to keep an eye on ALL the goings-on. And as the Reverend said, any funds will be gratefully received. As for the packet I placed on his person? It was merely a crystal that may afford him a little more protection from the malefic elements that are abroad at the present time. Now shut up and eat your fish. I have a couple of incantations to recite in order to empower the gem that I have placed upon the Reverend.”
Ruby filled the teapot, allowing it to brew. She then went back into her main room, brought out a silken cloth emblazoned with a pentacle, spread it over a table, and placed a candle centrally upon it. Near to the candle she placed a small-sized clear crystal. This crystal was the sister of the one she had just placed into the Reverend's pocket. Ruby carefully lit the wick of the lavender candle and, as the glow began to grow, she took two paces backwards away from the table. She stood perfectly still, breathing silently through her nose, calmly, regularly... in... and out, in... and out, with a slow, gently calming rhythm. The crystal began to absorb the dancing flame, as Ruby continued to breath in and out, eyes shut, casting out any negative doubts and feelings...
After a few moments, a small dim ring of light began to grow around Ruby's feet. Once it had joined, the ring began to grow in intensity, and then to rise. Ruby could feel its positive energy flowing through her. The light cascaded around and the pulsating, humming energy filled the caravan and beyond. With every breath Ruby took, the ring rose higher and higher, until it was forming a dome that completely enveloped her, from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.
Ruby continued to breathe deeply, feeling the crystal light thrumming through her. She inclined her head, raised her arms a little to touch the brilliant white energy field surrounding her and in a steady, even voice, quietly intoned:
“Within this crystal, I am safe from negative thought. And will be so, whenever I return to it.”
She remained silent and still for a short while after this, thinking of herself and Pearl and wishing the positive energy to be projected into Reverend Phullaposi.
Presently, she sensed that the time was right and that the crystal had done its work. The energy began to subside and fade. Ruby stepped outside of the circle of power, feeling refreshed, relaxed and a lot more positive about the ordeal to come. She approached the table, picked up the crystal, popped it into the pouch attached to her cassock and sauntered back into her kitchen.
She had decided that a quiet cuppa and then an early night would be in order after all of her exertions. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy and eventful day indeed, and she would need all her wits about her to be able to thwart whatever nastiness Devizes, Nutter and Hariman had up their grubby little sleeves.
After her tea and a light snack, Ruby bid Tobias, Chen and Eddy a good night's rest, extinguished the lights, locked the caravan securely and, mumbling to herself to remember to order more burdock root, away she toddled, off to bed.
All was still, all was silent, except for the echoing hoots of the two old owls living in the stunted oak tree nearby.
Chapter 12
A Crazy Old Bat
For a couple of hours nothing disturbed the serenity. All was at peace, just as it should be.
Sleep, perfect sleep…
And then, suddenly, the small squeak of an un-oiled aluminium window frame being forced open!
A squat, shadowy, black-clad male figure pulled itself up, through the window, and into Ruby's main room. The moon glinted off the rim of his distinctive, circular, brass glasses frames; but the real clue to his identity was the awkwardness of his jump, due to a childhood leg injury that had left him with a slight limp ever after.
Once in, having dropped his torch outside, the intruder was completely in the dark – in more ways than one. He groped his way around, trying to be as quiet as he could. Just when he thought that he had found the item he sought,
