The girl who would wear green

Chapter Six

Finally, the day she had been longing for! Essie's Eleventh birthday was here, and it was a day full of sunshine, and still mild for the first of November.
Which was just as well as her dad told her they were going camping.
Camping?? Essie was feeling rather confused as she and dad packed up and left.
Her mum, of course, was too busy to come.
"Actually," said her dad as they drove away, "don't feel bad about mum not coming on this trip. Her work at the moment is crucial to our future, and she also has no part in what we have to do Essie, in fact it scares her a little, to know what could be in store for you."
Essie, who had been feeling rather bad about both her mum not coming and Amelia not being allowed, now started to feel worried about what was ahead for her. No presents this morning, just a hurried "happy birthday" from her mum and a quick kiss as she left. Nothing from dad either, really very unusual. What was going on??
Essie had dressed in another of her green tops and a pair of jeans, but felt just for once that even tying bright green ribbons in her hair did not make her feel particularly happy or like she was celebrating anything.
When they arrived, Essie looked around at the grassy valley they were in. No other campers. Just the two of them, lots of trees, grass, some rocky ground and a hill. She could hear birds calling, but really no other noises at all.
She helped her dad unpack the car, and then set up the tent and their sleeping bags and other gear.
"What now?" she thought. This birthday had better have something good happen soon, it was a bit of a fizzer so far, even if the place was quite pretty, she thought.
Her dad pointed to the fold up chairs and asked her to sit with him.
"Essie, we will eat. Then we will head off. You will see some things today that may surprise and confuse you, but again, I remind you that you must never tell a soul anything that happens. Also, no matter what happens, don't be scared, Ok? There is nothing here that will hurt you, and I will be right beside you all the way."
After they had eaten, Essie and her dad set off, walking through the valley towards the hill. Pretty soon they were climbing and the going got a bit hard with lots of rocks and spiky bushes to climb over and around. Essie was glad she'd worn jeans with all the spiky stuff she had to walk through, but she was starting to feel hot and sticky.
By the time they had almost reached the top of the hill, Essie just wanted to sit down.
Her dad said, "Just a little further" and walked across the ground towards a slightly bigger collection of rocks.
"This is it!" thought Essie, heading for the rocks. But no, her dad walked past the rocks to a really wild and spiky group of bushes close to the hillside, and started edging his way carefully through the side of them.
Essie's first thought was "I'm NOT going in there!" when suddenly dad disappeared.

"Dad?" Essie called..."Dad"?
"Follow me, Essie, carefully through the side here, don't be scared." Her dad's voice was coming from somewhere behind the spiky stuff.
Very carefully Essie made her way around the spiky plants where her dad had disappeared and found it was easier than it had looked, the plants lining the hillside formed a path. Suddenly she was through and in a cave, with her dad waiting for her. It was quite dark and cool inside, and just a bit spooky.
"Follow me" he said as he led Essie towards an even darker area at the back of the cave, and Essie heaved a sigh of relief as she saw him take a torch and a small hammer out of his pocket. The torch lit up the back of the cave, the smooth wall and the small ledge near the top. It was very quiet in there.
Her dad moved towards the ledge, high up on the back wall, and with the small hammer he started to carefully chip at something Essie could not see above the ledge.
Essie waited, feeling rather sore and tired, and very much over the birthday adventure. Right now she'd settle for a nice warm tub, followed by cake and a tall cool glass of juice. Then to sit in her comfortable chair and read, and yes, a present or two, would be perfect!
"Essie?" Her dad called "Look".
While Essie had been thinking about long baths and cake and birthday presents, her dad had chipped a piece of rock from the small alcove at the back of the cave. Essie looked at the uninteresting piece of rock in her dad's hand.
"Hold out your hand Essie" and when she did, he placed the piece of rock in her hand.
He closed her fingers gently around it. The rock fit easily into the palm of her hand.
"Now, just hold it and wait".
At first she felt nothing except the wish for it to not be there at all. The cave was dark beyond the light from the torch. Essie shivered.
Suddenly the rock felt warmer, and then to her surprise it started to glow, a faint blue.
Her hand started to glow as well, and as it did, her dad said softly "Don't drop it Essie, and don't be scared, just hold it." Essie did, feeling quite strange. The rock and her hand continued to glow, an iridescent blue.
They waited, Essie holding the rock, her hand and the rock glowing blue, and Essie feeling very strange. Her dad looked thoughtful and a little sad, and a little excited too, all in one.
Essie couldn't help herself, she asked "Dad what does this mean, I feel sort of funny, sort of happy and sad at the same time, but what does it mean? Why is my hand blue? Why is the rock blue?
"Oh no, is my hand going to be blue now??"
"Ok Essie" said her dad, "Keep hold of the rock, this is your talisman. This is the source we come to when we need to find the gift you may have. The fact that your hand and the rock have the blue glow does mean that you will have a gift of some kind. We will head back now and talk about what this will mean."

Essie kept hold of the rock, which still felt warm, as they made their way out of the Cave. Outside it was still light, but it would be dark soon.
She noticed as they slowly made their way back, that her hand did not glow quite as much now, which was quite a relief. I mean, how on earth would she explain a blue hand to everyone?
Especially Hallie, who would pounce for sure as soon as she saw it.
Essie's mind was full of blue hands and blue rocks and what would be next, all the way back down the hill. She tried to think about whether she felt anything different, but her thoughts of what could happen next kept getting in the way. What did this mean now?