Becoming P.T. Lyfantod - 16
A serial fantasy novel
What follows is Part 16 of Becoming P.T. Lyfantod
If you missed Part 1, start there:
Though our group still felt incomplete without Merry, I was eager to tell Iain and Stuart about everything that’d happened at school on Monday. But first I had to listen to Iain, gloomy as ever, grouse about his nonexistent love life. Then Stuart launched into his visit with his cousins. They’d gone to Margam Park.
“It’s brilliant,” he explained breathily, ticking off on his fingers. “There’s three castles. And an abbey. It’s nearly a thousand years old. They’ve all sort of animals…birds and deer. And they’ve got a radar station built in World War II to keep watch for German warplanes trying to bomb us. And there’s a stones museum. It’s in this old schoolhouse, and—”
“Stones?” I repeated forcefully enough that Iain and Stuart both gave me looks.
Stuart seemed happy for the attention. “Yeah. Like old crosses, milestones left by the Romans, and grave markers.” Stuart held out his hands. “There’s this one, just a carved rectangle really, called the Bodvoc Stone. People used to say you’d die if you read the inscription.”
“Did you read it?” asked Iain.
Stuart scratched his head. “It was in Latin, so I couldn’t actually read it. But basically it says something like, The Bodvoc Stone. Here lies err…the great grandson of somebody.”
“Huh.”
“Were there any stones from Swansea?” I asked. “Anything discovered after…1960?”
Stuart frowned. “Uh, no… All the stones are from Margam, I think. Why are you so interested in stones all of a sudden?”
“It’s a bit weird,” Iain agreed. “I expect him to get excited about boring old stuff—”
“Hey!”
“But it’s not usually your sort of thing.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” I swung my rucksack onto one shoulder so I could fish around inside for the Book. “I got this—”
The bell rang for the start of classes.
“Looks like a history book,” Iain said, standing.
“You can show us later,” said Stuart. “It looks interesting though.”
I sighed but nodded and returned the Book to my bag. I had to suffer through two periods—first maths with Mrs. Evans, then history with Mrs. Williams—before break at eleven, when I got a chance to try again.
“I’ve had the weirdest weekend,” I told them. “My mam came to visit. It was horrible, as usual…”
“Sorry about that, P.T.,” said Stuart.
I waved him off. “It’s fine. That’s not the point. D’you remember that old man I told you about who always wears green and—”
Iain groaned. “Are you on about him again?”
“He was eating a salad. By himself.”
“So now he’s eating green food too? Wait here while I find a phone. This is clearly a job for the police.”
“You know, you’re a lot less fun since Merry rejected you.”
Iain’s face darkened a shade or two, but he said nothing.
“I was going to say that he was eating a salad by himself at Deep Pan.”
“Oh—you went to Deep Pan?” said Stuart enviously.
“That is a bit unusual,” Iain admitted grudgingly. “And a bloody waste.”
“Then, later on, when I was…hiding from my mam, I ran into him a second time.”
“Hiding from your mam?”
“It’s a long story. Let’s just say she hasn’t changed, and she’s got a boyfriend.”
“Gross,” said Stuart. Iain made a face.
I nodded. “Gareth. Anyway, I was hiding at the back of Baughan’s bookshop, and he came in—”
“You’re mam’s boyfriend?”
“No, the man in green. He went right to the aisle next to the one I was in, and…got into an argument with two girls over this.” I held up the Book. “I think one of them picked it up, and he tried to take it. When I came to see what was happening, they were tussling over it. He won, and then the weirdest thing… He saw me, set it down on the shelf, and just left.”
“So you bought it?” asked Stuart.
“No! I was looking at it when my mam found me. I ran away, and I guess she bought it. My mam-gu gave it to me the next morning.”
“Random,” said Iain.
“So I went out, planning to go see the two of you—”
“Oh. My dad took us to watch his footie team.”
“And Stu was off at Margam Park, but I didn’t know that when I left my house. And when I went outside, he was there.”
“The green man?” said Stuart.
“At your house?” said Iain.
“Yes. Then my mam-gu comes out with my jacket, and I turn around for half a second, and he’s gone! Vanished!”
“Whoa,” Stuart breathed.
“You reckon he came for the book?” Iain asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Why leave it in the first place if he wanted it so badly? But then, after I went to both your houses and found out you weren’t there, I went to the park to look it over.” I opened the book to the page with the ribbon. “I found this.”
“It’s green.” Stuart’s eyes widened.
“It’s velvet?” Iain frowned.
“Silk,” said Stuart and I simultaneously.
“Okay. So?”
“So obviously the man in green left it there for some reason, right, P.T.?” said Stuart. When I nodded, he added, “Can I see?”
I handed him the Book, while Iain reached for the ribbon. He examined it, brow furrowed. I watched Stuart’s lips move as he read. “Anuran.” He glanced up. “I’ve never heard this word before.”
“Yeah. It means frogs, and toads, and that, I guess. But—”
“I thought that was amphibian,” said Iain.
“No, that’s any animal that lives both in the water and on land. Anuran is more specific.”
“Oh.”
“But I don’t think that’s the page he meant to mark.” I leaned forward and tapped the other page. “It’s this one.”
“Tuatha Dé Danann,” Stuart read. “That’s Irish mythology.”
“I know.” I nodded excitedly. “And—”
Stuart went on, “The goddess Danu—where the Danann comes from—she’s considered by some to be the same person as the Welsh goddess Dôn.”
I opened and closed my mouth. Blinked. “Wait, really?”
“You read entirely too much,” said Iain.
Stuart shrugged. “It’s pretty basic knowledge. It’s in the encyclopedia.”
“See?”
“Dôn…” I rubbed my chin. “Does that mean that the Tuatha Dé are actually Welsh?”
“Uh… I don’t know about that.” It was Stuart’s turn to frown. “They’re pretty strongly associated with Ireland. But it’s tough, right? Because there was undoubtedly travel among the British Isles throughout history, so ideas would’ve been shared—”
“Oh my God,” Iain squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples. “We just finished history!”
“But this is interesting!” said Stuart.
“And important!” I added.
“Well, can you get to the point? You’re giving me a bloody headache.” He opened his eyes to glance at his watch. “And break is over in one minute. Then I’ve got to listen to Mr. Jones rattle on about protons for an hour. I hate chemistry.”
“Later,” Stuart mouthed while Iain dug the heels of his palms into his eye-sockets. “So what’s the short version?”
I stared blankly. “Uhh…I think the man in green is a faerie. And there’s a magic stone in Clyne Woods.”
“That’s it?” Iain peeked out, red-eyed, from behind his hands. “That’s definitely going to require some more explanation.”
Stuart and I groaned.
“I’ll tell you later,” I said, and at that very moment the bell rang. “Because there’s a lot, but the point is I want you two to come help me find that stone!”
