The old woman flipped back her hood, letting tangled grey hair spill over her shoulders. Jack's eyes were fixed on the scarlet stains on her hands. Her nails were blood red. He still gripped the branch in both hands, wondering where she'd come from, who she was, and mostly about those red fingers.
She raised both eyebrows.
"And you, young man. Go put that log in the pile. Can't be wasting good firewood."
With that she released Kerry and swept fingers through her hair, pulled it back and quickly knotted it in a bun, which made her less dishevelled.
"Oh, where are my manners?" When she straightened up, she was tall and lean, with sharp features and lines around eyes that were so green they seemed to glare in the firelight. "Come in, come in. Sit down."
She gestured to some stools around the table. "Bring them closer to the fire and warm yourselves. You children look ready to drop."
Kerry picked up two stools, while keeping his eyes fixed warily on the woman. Jack took a third. As he carried it closer to the fireplace, he saw the little door ajar on its hinges. He hadn't heard it open, hadn't heard the woman's approach. She caught his glance and nodded slightly. The door slowly swung shut with a muffled thud, making Jack start.
Kerry and Corriwen exchanged glances. She had put the sharp knife down, but kept her hand close.
"Oh, it's so nice to have visitors," the woman said smiling at them. "Young visitors!"
Jack saw Kerry's look of apprehension. He felt just the same.
"It's been such a long time since anybody bothered to come visit old Megrin and now here's three of you, all alone in the darkwood."
When she smiled, wrinkles made big creases on her skin, deepened by the shadows.
"Not a good place to go stumbling when the sun's down. Yet here you all are."
She shooed them forward. "Go on, sit down and take the weight off your feet. You've come a long way."
Further than she could imagine, Jack thought. But how could she know they'd been travelling?
Tentatively they sat while she bustled about on the other side of the room. A tall broom was angled against a wall, the kind you would find in a fairy-tale. An ancient rocking chair swung back and forth as if she'd just got up from it, even though she hadn't been sitting.
"Simple fare is all I have," she said, her back to them. "But good food and sure to fatten you up." She turned quickly and beamed at them.
Kerry looked at Jack nervously. Fatten us! He mouthed it silently. Jack got the message.
Maybe she was just an old woman, but there was something in the way she moved that made her seem somehow powerful, and maybe dangerous too. As she poured a thick liquid into three stone beakers, a faint scratching noise came from outside.
She opened a small shutter and two lithe white animals scurried in. They ran down the wall, landed on her hand and disappeared up her sleeve, fast as rats.
"Slink and Slither," she said. "Always up to mischief. You two been a-wandering, have you? Guide our new friends to our hideaway, did you?"
Now Jack looked wide-eyed at Kerry. Whatever had howled and snarled in the forest might have been pale, but they were hardly little polecats. They'd been big and fierce and they had hemmed them in on either side, forcing them to hear in one direction…straight towards the old woman's home.
Megrin deftly sliced a loaf of bread that smelt as if it was fresh from the oven. Despite his misgivings, Jack felt his mouth water and his stomach grumble.
"Go on, go on. Don't stand on ceremony," she urged.
The three of them looked suspiciously at the food, each not sure quite what to do.
Before any of them moved, the old woman was suddenly behind them, faster than anyone her age should have been able to move. It took them all by surprise.
She bent over Corriwen and her long fingers stroked her cheek.
"All out of breath you are, my dear." Corriwen tried to turn around, but the gnarled fingers of the other hand had latched on to her shoulder. Jack gauged the distance to the knives hanging on hooks, ready to move. He and Kerry were already on their feet.
"And you're all bent out of shape, are you not?"
The red-stained fingers trailed down Corriwen's cheek, on to her neck, then both hands were on her shoulders. They gripped tight, nails digging in hard. Corriwen yelped.
"Leave her alone…!" The words were out of Kerry's mouth before he could stop himself.
The fingers twisted and the blood drained out of Corriwen's face. Jack heard a loud, click and then the old woman's hands moved back to cup Corriwen's cheeks again.
Corriwen let out a long shuddery sigh and Megrin beamed at her.
"Painful, I know, but better cruel to be kind to fix a wrenched socket." The colour slowly crept back to Corriwen's face.
"Back together again, good as new," Megrin said. "Now, first things first. And you might as well sit down and eat, for no harm will come to you under my roof."
Corriwen gingerly rubbed the shoulder, then grinned. She nodded and sat back down. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.
"Brave girl," the old woman said softly. "Now, to introductions. I'm Megrin Willow of Foresthaven. I'm good with potions and simples and a few other things, and this is my place, my wildwood."
Taking encouragement from Corriwen's nod, Jack took the lead and they all introduced themselves.
"Now eat. And don't worry, there's no potions and you won't turn into frogs overnight, as some people fear. I'm used to that nonsense. Sit a while and fill yourselves. It's a long time until the dawn, and we have all sorts of matters to discuss and discover."
She watched with satisfaction as they fell on the food until there was nothing left but crumbs, then hauled the big pot off the coals, ladled out a broth as thick as stew and sat on her rocker as they devoured that too.
"I was expecting you any moment," she finally said when they'd eaten their fill. "You're far, far from home…and you have lost what you had, am I right?"
"How do you know?" Jack began.
She laughed, a high and tinkly giggle that made her sound much younger than she looked.
"Oh, some of us have a knack for knowing," she said. She leaned forward and jutted a red finger at Jack. "I saw you come through the gateway, of course. You first, and then your friends soon after. And I knew you'd come visiting, sure as day."
"We were hunted," Kerry said. "There's things out there. Horrible things chasing us. And then we hid in a village, but they found us and tied us up. Out in the open."
"And that's how this young darling hurt herself," Megrin said. "Quite the heroine, I think."
"She sure is," Kerry agreed, with feeling. "Once, when we were in Eirinn, she…"
Jack kicked his ankle. Once Kerry got talking it was hard to rein him in, and Jack needed to know more about this old woman before he told her anything about themselves or the other worlds they'd visited. Kerry shut up. Megrin seemed not to notice.
"Ah well, you've met the Malahain, and not for the first time, I imagine. The people here call them Nightshades. Foul little imps they are. And you can see that all's not well in Uaine, not when the sun goes down."
"The moon turns red and foul," Corriwen said. "like…" she pointed at Megrin's fingers. "Like blood."
Megrin raised both hands, saw the stains and burst into a peal of laughter.
"Blood? That's what you thought? No wonder you were all backward about coming forward! What did you think, that I'd butcher you in your boots?"
"Something like that," Kerry said, still not quite sure she couldn't. Or wouldn't.
"Oh, don't be daft. I've never eaten a boy who didn't deserve it. Not for weeks anyway."
Kerry's jaw dropped. Megrin's hand reached out and he cringed back. All she did was ruffle his hair.
"Oh, I'm just having my bit of fun, young man. No, my dear, you were a bit earlier than I expected. I was mixing a potion for a wife who's due tomorrow. She's afraid she might be imp-touched and her baby born a changeling. But that mixture does stain like stink, I can tell you."
She rocked back again, still chuckling.
"Best laugh I've had in a long time," she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "And you," she pointed at Kerry. "Don't eat me!"
Megrin was off again, giggling so helplessly she began to cough and splutter until Jack found the nerve to stand and clap her on the back.
Kerry glared. "It's all right for you, in here with the light. But we got chased by ghoullies, caught by nutcases and then hunted by ghoullies all over again. And then you come sneaking up with your hands all red."
She howled with laughter again until tears streamed down both her cheeks.
"Oh, I needed that. A good laugh clears the cobwebs. And now, what was I saying?"
"When the sun goes down?" Corriwen prompted.
"Ah yes, so I was. Well, you've seen for yourselves. Things have come to a pretty pass and that's why I was waiting for you."
"For us?" Jack leant forward. He didn't understand what she meant or why she might have been waiting for them.
"Of course. I've expected you for some time." She stood up and beckoned them towards a narrow window. Outside, silver beams lanced down. Here in the clearing, the moon was no longer red and angry.
Megrin took a candle from the table, snuffed it out, and let the smoke drift up the clear window pane. Almost immediately their reflections fogged out and the window became opaque.
As if began to clear, despite the dark outside, they could see daylight. Sunlight. And the tall standing stones of the Farward Gate of Uaine.
"My window on the world," Megrin said. "I don't often leave Foresthaven. This allows me to see what's happening in the world. And what has happened before."
She breathed on the glass, then drew some curved lines on the condensation before using the heat of the candle to evaporate it.
This time the light was different. They watched fascinated as Jack hurtled out from the stones and stumbled to his knees on green grass. Seconds later, the air between the pillars twisted and spangled and Kerry and Corriwen came tumbling through and bowled him flat.
"It's been a while since a traveller came through that gate, and now here you are. Three of you. That means it's time to put on my own travelling cloak."
At the mention of a traveller, Jack's heart thumped hard and a multitude of questions leapt into his mind. His father had been a traveller between the worlds. A Journeyman. Had she seen him? Did she know him?
Megrin held a finger to his lips before he could ask.
She clasped Jack's arm and drew him closer to the fire. "It's a long story," she said. "But we have the night ahead."