Simone hit toes first, the briny, cold liquid a bracing antidote to the clammy fear. She popped up to find her and Nada surrounded by their clutch.
"You okay?" she asked Nada.
Nada opened her rosebud mouth as if to wail and screamed: "whoo-hoo".
"What?" Simone asked.
"Whooo," Nada yelled again, babbling: "That was so amazing, like flying. Don't you think it was like flying? I felt like I had control of the whole world. I just didn't think about it at all – what about you?"
"Nada, I thought you couldn't swim, said Simone. "I'm ok, I guess but you should probably hold onto me. "
She grabbed Nada just as the desert dweller went under for the fourth time.
"Show off," muttered Janie. Alexia, moving like a hungry shark in the water, ducked the blonde casually before noticing: "Where's Due?"
"Bugger," said Simone, choosing one of the milder of the array of multilingual swear words at her disposal. "Where did the tree hippy go now?" She projected her thoughts outwards in the hope Due would hear her and answer.
"What do you think is wrong with her?" asked Nada. "Why doesn't she talk?"
Simone was saved from answering by a black robed figure that swooped off the ledge towards them. It was Priestess Brody, whose majestic dismount looked like a massive bird of prey sweeping towards them.
"Is she... flying?" Asked Nada.
"Wouldn't surprise me," said Alexia. "The Principal have unbelievable powers. We are extremely privileged to have them teaching us. Some years they cannot spare the time and their deputies or an appointed Coven member instructs us. We'd better hurry and assemble before she gets there."
"Alexia, my leg is starting to play up a bit. Could you look after Nada please. I'll follow you. Otherwise I'll just slow us all down and we don't want to look bad."
Alexia grabbed Nada just as she gulped another mouthful of seawater courtesy of the frothing waves. "Love the confidence Nada but how about you learn to swim first."
The three swam slowly towards the beach, Simone with a lame doggy paddle. She was glad Joli wasn't there. It made it easier to lag behind until she could hardly see Alexia and Nada between each surging swell. She waited until a particularly massive wave broke, cutting her off from sight then ducked and swam strongly underwater in the opposite direction. So long as she kept the waves between her and the beach it was highly unlikely anyone would spot a solitary swimmer. Simone was sure she'd spotted a land mass not too far from shore as she jumped. If she could just reach the island she could hole up overnight and try get away the next morning.
Her leg ached. Simone swam a few strokes with her face above water, straining to catch a glimpse of the island. As she crested the peak of a frothy wave she could see it, slightly to the left of her course. It felt like half the day passed with the small outcrop staying out of reach. The sun burnt her exposed crown and parched her throat. Finally, as desperation reached for her, the island loomed overhead.
"Oh crap". As she reached it she realised, too late, that it was impossible to climb out. Chards of jagged obsidian and lava rose sheerly out of the sea, pale guano coating the sides. The swells were sucking her closer to a lazy whirlpool at the base of the dark cliffs. For an instant she wondered if it might be a portal back to her own world then saw that even if it was, the whirlpool would spin and grate her against the sharp rocks better than any food mixer. She'd never make it back to the other side in one piece.
Simone struck out furiously for the open water, praying for a rip to take her further out to sea. Her leg was cramping and she could feel herself being dragged back half a stroke for every stroke she took.
"I don't want to die alone out here," she spluttered and desperately projected: Help. The soothing green presence of Due's thoughts filled her mind. It was so calming she almost stopped swimming.
Due. Help me.
Her head filled with joyful music and images. She could see Due take her hand and the two of them duck dive under the waves and smoothly swim away from the island. Her body followed her mind and eventually the waves let go their sucking grasp on her.
Thank you Due, she projected. But it's no good, I'm still stranded. I can't see anything but waves and sun.
Due flashed in her mind, turn left, right, left, straighten up. Exhausted, Simone followed the directions numbly, wanting nothing more than to give up and sink under the green and blue crests. She didn't, Due wouldn't let her.
Simone stumbled up, dripping seaweed as Brody loomed up in front of her. She looked guiltily at the rest of her damp clutch, the only ones left standing on the beach and mumbled something about getting lost and needing the infirmary.
The priestess wasn't in the least bit concerned. "You may be cold. You may be uncomfortable. This is life. You need to learn to embrace the extremes around you and adapt. Always remember, you may not be able to control your environment but you can always control how you react to it. This can make all the difference. Now run."
She set off at a brisk pace. Simone had no choice but to keep up with her and the other acolytes. At least they'd had time to rest. Simone's leg was burning but she refused to complain. One look at the expression on the priestess' face and they knew they were in for the long haul. Clearly their other lessons had been dismissed so they could complete this surprise examination.
Her clutch jogged along slowly until she caught up. Simone had neither the time nor the energy to look for further escape routes.
"What are you trying to do, ruin all my chances?" Hissed Alexia. "I know what you were doing."
"I told you. I got lost."
The rest of the day passed in a blur of physical exhaustion as the group ran, were exercised like gladiators and stretched to their limits until one by one they collapsed and were dismissed. By the time the clutch made it back to the bath house they were aching and exhausted. Simone felt grey.
***
They would have skipped the bathhouse but it was a treat, a reward for passing Brody's exam, that is, if they'd passed. They didn't know yet, especially after Simone's incident.
"I'm just going to the bathroom," said Simone, avoiding Alexia's angry stare.
"Are you okay, do you need me to come with you?" asked Nada.
"No, I just need to splash some water on my face and have a few minutes alone, I'll be alright."
Simone ducked into the first empty alcove she could find, closed the curtain and drew her knees up to her face. With eyes closed she tried to calm herself. "What's wrong with me?" she thought shivering. "I almost died during that stunt."
Her thoughts suddenly echoed loudly in the stone room.
"What's wrong with the girl? She could have died during that little exercise."
"So what. That could easily happen in the battlefield. I was testing her, she shouldn't have deserted."
Simone recognised the strident tones of Lady Brody, followed by Lady Miriam's sheathed steel.
"She said her leg was hurting her and she got disoriented. Remember Brody, the girl just broke a leg. I think she's done exceptionally well under extenuating circumstances and should be marked as such."
"Pah, if you believe that you'll believe anything. She was trying to escape. And even if she wasn't, with her abilities she should have been able to cope with a little leg pain. She's clearly being lazy."
"Brody!" Lady Miriam sounded furious. "We don't know that. She's an Earth Year, same as the others. Stop testing her as if we know she's definitely..."
The voices stopped. The two must have turned a corner, exiting whatever air pocket had carried their voices so tantalisingly close to Simone.
She returned to the others to find Nada fizzing. "Where were you Simone? We were just given our assessment. We passed so we can enter the bath house. Lady Miriam told me the hot waters in the bath house come from the depths of Sanctuary itself and have magical healing powers. They're supposed to be mesmerising."
Simone snorted.
"It's true." Alexia wore her earnest face. Clearly now that they'd passed Simone was forgiven - temporarily. "Earth Years are only allowed in once we've passed a base level of endurance. I've been looking forward to this for cycles."
"But you grew up here. You mean you didn't sneak in even once?"
"Oh no," said Alexia. "It's not like playing with the data jellies, or riding the Komodos. The bath house is sacred."
"Right," said Simone. She knew she would have sneaked in. Probably from the moment she could toddle.
The four followed roughly hewn steps deeper into the ground where the whiff of egg was growing stronger.
"If it's sacred why is the way all sloppy?" asked Simone. "What happened to all that stuff you told us about carving every inch of the place and blessing it?"
"You paid attention!" Alexia looked startled.
"I do, sometimes."
"This is sacred. We keep it natural, the way the Goddess made it."
Simone shook her head. That made no sense at all to her but for once she was too tired to argue.
"Stop, we're here." Alexia threw aside a woven tapestry covering a haphazard archway and ushered them through.
"Is this it?" Simone was bitterly disappointed. It looked like a small rustic stone locker room. About eight other girls were in the process of washing underneath gushing pipes, sitting on little turned-over wooden buckets. A low shelf to the left of each housed a natural yellow sponge, course wooden brush and vials of sweet smelling liquid.
"Yes, this is where we start, then we go through there."
Simone headed for the indicated exit.
"You can't go in yet," squeaked Alexia indignantly. "You're not clean enough."
"Bath. House. Place of bathing. Correct?"
"No, no, no." Simone thought Alexia was going to explode. "We undress here. And put our robes in this hamper. Then you sit on the wooden stool like this and wash three times."
"Seriously?"
"Yes, do it. And stop staring, it's not polite."
"I wasn't, I was trying to see what to do." Simone followed Nada and Due to the wooden stools and turned her back to the room. Talk about awkward. Simone hated people seeing her scrawny, naked butt. And it was really hard to know how to turn the spouts on and off and which vials to use as soap without peeking at someone else. She could smell rosemary, lavender and lemon which made her hungry again.
"Can we go now?"
"No. You're still not clean enough."
"Fine," said Simone, sitting back down on the cypress stool. "I'll clean myself for the third time. I still think it's daft."
"It doesn't matter what you think, that's the rule."
Simone was surprised Nada was so relaxed, she was usually a complete prude, continually telling Joli off for her casual naked wanderings from the wash closet in the Snug to her hammock.
Alexia impatiently handed her a soft cotton robe and matching towel. The weave alternated yellow bars with brown and felt amazing on her scrubbed skin. She snuggled into it.
"Come on. Let's go."
"Oh, so now you want me to go in."
"Alexia, Simone, stop squabbling," said Nada. "Honestly, the two of you are like children sometimes."
They eventually made it through the second tapestry and into a dappled watery world.
"You're right, this is mesmerising," said Simone.
They were in yet another enormous cave, with low ceilings spanning a series of steaming, bubbling pools hewn from the rock. The sharp eggy smell was even stronger here and Simone finally recognised it as a type of sulphur mixed with herbs.
"How did they make it?" she said in a low voice.
"It bubbles up naturally," said Alexia. "It is stunning."
"Can we go in any pool?"
'I think so," answered Alexia.
Nada was already testing a few with a delicately arched foot.
"Come feel, they're different temperatures," she squealed.
"Nada, behave yourself. We need to look... assured," said Alexia.
Bloduewedd was flashing so many images to Simone that she couldn't make any sense of it. Something about water calling water, a tide of red, wombs, a world of swaying plants.
Due. You're making my head hurt, she flashed back. The images faded and she could concentrate again.
"We must be near the outside wall of Sanctuary," she thought. Holes bored in the flanking rock let thin beams of light and gusts of air into the cave. The four picked their way around five pools of differing sizes hosting a range of initiates floating, lounging and relaxing.
"What's over there?" asked Simone. A bright blue glow shone from behind a thick rounded wall.
"Let's find out."
They rounded the corner and gasped. The glow emanated from a small, isolated pool at the end of the passage. It was bordered by emerald ferns and red rocks but even more impressive was its backdrop. The cave wall was mostly open, revealing a steep drop into the ocean below.
"I'm going in that one," said Simone.
"Where's everyone else?" said Nada.
The pool was empty and they sank happily into its warm embrace.
"Is this going to stain our skin?" asked Nada.
"Not likely," said Alexia. "And could you please take that towel off. You look odd."
"I don't care. It's immodest to sit around naked with other people."
"We're all girls and we can't see anything anyway. It's dark and the water is milky."
Nada ignored her but Simone noticed the towel was eventually shrugged off.
"Joli would love this," she sighed.
They let the heat and minerals go to work on their aching muscles and tired brains. Simone in particular had been suffering from stomach cramps ever since the poison melon ball incident. Finally she felt the tight knot in her lower gut ease.
A quaint well next to the pool delivered cups of icy water each time they turned its handle and they toasted their achievement and general cleverness as the sun set with a fiery display.
"This is more like it," said Simone. If this is what Sanctuary was going to be like, she'd pass all the exams they wanted her to. She felt only the tiniest bit of guilt at her lie. It wasn't like she hadn't exerted herself. Maybe, just maybe, she could learn to enjoy this first year. It couldn't be worse than the convent in France. Or boarding school in London, military school in Israel... the list went on. She scrubbed it from her mind.
The sunset stained the cobalt water with plumes of red. Simone looked more closely, admiring the effect. But it wasn't fading with the sun. If anything, it was getting more intense. With a growing feeling of horror she realised the colour had nothing to do with the sun and more to do with blood. Her blood.
Her clutchmates all had their eyes closed. Simone didn't know what to do. This was by far the most humiliating thing that had ever happened to her. Until Alexia opened her eyes.
"Simone," she screamed. "What are you doing? You're defiling the sacred waters of the Sanctuary. How could you?" She shot out of the pool with Due and Nada close behind her, leaving Simone in the pool like some unclean leper.
"Shout louder why don't you? I'm not doing anything. It's just happening."
All Simone wanted was her mother to hold her and make her feel better. She didn't know whether to climb out or stay in. Thank goodness the sun had just set, with the full moon yet to illuminate her.
Alexia was tart. "Control yourself. It's full moon, you're supposed to be ovulating now, not bleeding."
At this point Simone was so embarrassed she wanted to drown herself in the pool. "How would I know? Look, I think I need to go to the infirmary."
"What for? You're not sick."
"I need, you know, a tampon or something." Just because she'd never had a period before didn't mean Simone was completely naive. Alexia seemed to suddenly clue onto this.
"You mean you've never experienced moon flow before?"
"No."
"But Simone, how did you get here? It's a condition you can't start training unless you've celebrated menarche, the first moon flow."
"Geez Alexia, could we debate this later, please. If you hadn't noticed..."
The water hissed and bubbled violently. The heat became searing although it felt strangely pleasant on Simone's skin, as if she was sheathed in a massaging wrap.
"Get out, get out now."
Simone followed the compulsion order in the voice and stood up to come face to face with Lady Alva. She wrapped Simone briskly in her robe and marched her straight past her bewildered clutchmates.
***
"The most important passages in our lives as a woman are marked by the blood mysteries. Menarche is usually celebrated with a ritual feast and time spent learning from your elders."
Simone was sitting wrapped up in a soft wool blanket in Lady Alva's wholesome blue and yellow chamber, sipping camomile tea. The hysterical sobbing had stopped and she now just sniffled from time to time.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to defile the pool," she said between heaving breaths.
"Who told you that?" said the Hearth Mother. A muscle jerked in her stern jaw.
"Alexia."
She patted Simone's back gently. "Moon flow is sacred and should not be referred to as anything other than that. It is true we should not bathe in the sacred waters during moon time but that is because the blood is powerful, especially that of the first."
Simone sniffed again. "Why did the water start bubbling like that?"
"If only I knew," answered Lady Alva, sounding more like she was talking to herself than to Simone. "But then, perhaps I do, perhaps I do."
***Well, well, well, wonder what this will foretell? Let me know what you think by voting, commenting and sharing :-) x ***