Midsummer Magic (28 page)

Oh, shit now what should she do? Memories of Mike being very intense with every girlfriend he’d ever had, meant she knew how unlikely it was he was going to let Tatiana out of his sight.

But it wasn’t Mike, it was Ant.

‘Josie,’ he said, ‘are you okay? I just saw Harry. He said you’d given your ring back.’

‘It was the right thing to do,’ said Josie.

‘And you’re okay?’ he said, ‘you’re really okay?’

‘I will be,’ said Josie, surprised. ‘Since when did you care?’

In answer, Ant enveloped her in a big hug. It felt warm and comforting and secure.

‘Oh, I’ve always cared,’ said Ant. ‘I just didn’t realise how much, until tonight.’

Josie looked up into his eyes and suddenly everything made sense, the moon, and the stars, the lapping of the waves. She remembered how she’d felt as a student, when she’d longed and longed to know what it would feel like for Ant to kiss her.

‘Darling, Susan here. How are you?’ Tatiana sighed. What did she want? It wouldn’t be anything worth hearing. These days Susan rang rarely, and then it was mainly to remind her about tax issues.

‘Fine,’ said Tatiana. ‘I know, I know, my tax return is due.’

‘No, it’s not that, darling,’ said Susan. ‘I have a possible opening.’

‘Not Bournemouth Pier again?’ said Tatiana. ‘I think I’d rather starve.’

Particularly as she’d just read in the papers that Bron and Freddie were in talks about a new TV show. Something to do with hypnotism and English myths, she thought. Sounded like Freddie’s usual bullshit. It made her a little sad to think Bron was still falling for it.

‘No, no. It’s a little more thrilling,’ said Susan. ‘It’s Shakespeare. You’ve always wanted to do Shakespeare, haven’t you, darling?’

‘Oh my,’ Tatiana could feel the excitement growing. ‘Where? Is it rep, will it be going to the West End? What?’

‘Calm down, darling, it’s not that grand.’ Susan instantly put a downer on it. ‘It’s a funny little place in Cornwall. A local theatre, trying to revive its fortunes. The producer is, er, let me look at my notes – a Mike Slowbotham, would you believe.’

‘Cornwall? I’m not sure,’ said Tatiana. ‘Sounds muddy.’

‘I’m sure it will be wonderful. There are opportunities for glamping. You can stay in a yurt. It’s by the sea. The theatre’s on a clifftop. It sounds heavenly. Darling, I’m sure you’d love it.’

‘And the name of this idyll?’

‘Tresgothen.’

‘I will undo

This hateful imperfection of her eyes.

And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp

From off the head of this Athenian swain,

That he awaking when the other do,

May all to Athens back again repair,

And think no more of this night’s accidents,

But as the fierce vexation of a dream.’

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
: Act IV, Scene 1

‘Oh, go on then. Yes, I get a bit of a kick out of it. Having people in the palm of my hand, persuading them to do silly things. But no, I don’t take advantage of gullible people. That wouldn’t be ethical. And believe it or not, Piers, I do have a moral compass.’

Freddie Puck on
Piers Morgan’s Life Stories

Diana had climbed back towards the Standing Stones. She didn’t feel like going back to Josie’s now. She couldn’t face any of them: Josie, Harry, Ant. She’d never made such a spectacular fool of herself in her life. Oh, God. Even after their mutual soul-bearing, Ant had still rejected her. The look on his face had been horrendous to witness. He’d looked appalled. She felt sick to her stomach. The best thing she could do was keep out of everyone’s way, Diana thought, so she might as well stay here till the sun rose. Then she would sneak back to the house, get her things and go and find a train. She had a feeling there might not be a train station in Tresgothen, but come hell or high water she was going to make her way home on her own. She had too much pride to go with Harry and Josie, and she certainly couldn’t cope with Ant for four hours in a car in this raw state.

Looking over the sea, she became aware that the sky was becoming a tad lighter, deep blue giving way to steely grey. She watched as seagulls dipped down among the waves, and the light started to spread softly across the sky. After the excitements of the night, she wasn’t sure she wanted to face what this new dawn was going to bring. All she knew was that nothing was ever going to be the same, and she wasn’t sure if any of them were going to be able to come to terms with the consequences of what had happened tonight.

Harry stumbled back up the path, feeling completely heartbroken. He’d tried and he’d failed. Josie had given him back her engagement ring. She didn’t want him any longer. Meeting Ant on the way, he’d sent him down to comfort Josie and then, not knowing what else to do, wandered back to the theatre, where he found a huge commotion going on.

‘Where is she?’ Mike Slowbotham was wailing. ‘Where is she?’ while M’stard and the rest of Tatiana’s gang were holding him back. M’stard turned out to be stronger than he looked.

‘Who?’ asked Harry, intrigued. Yet another weird happening on this very strange night.

‘Tatiana, of course,’ boomed Mike. ‘I love her, and she loves me. The little minx is only teasing me.’

‘She doesn’t love you,’ said Gypsy. ‘It’s called acting.’

‘Oh, woe is me,’ declaimed Mike soulfully, ‘my true love loves me not.’

‘You, me both,’ said Harry.

‘Look, she’s not your true love, and she doesn’t love you,’ said M’stard. ‘I think you need to get home. Someone’s had a teensy bit too much to drink.’

‘Or he’s been Freddieised,’ said Harry with a sudden realisation. ‘Didn’t Freddie Puck hypnotise you, yesterday?’ he said to Mike.

‘Erm, I don’t think so,’ said Mike, looking confused.

‘You stay here,’ said Harry. ‘I’m going to go and get Freddie. He’s done a lot of damage tonight, and he’s got a lot of making up to do.’

He left them to it. Mike was trying to break free again, so M’stard solved the problem by sitting on him, while the other two pinned him down. That was one way of doing things.

Harry walked with a renewed sense of purpose. It was time to tell Freddie Puck this damned experiment was at an end. He felt in his pocket and curled his hand round Josie’s engagement ring. ‘It’s not over till the fat lady sings,’ he muttered. Well, she’d better put off singing a little while longer.

Josie took a sudden step back. She’d been overpowered briefly by the moment.

‘Sorry, Ant – I shouldn’t have – this is just too soon,’ she broke away from him, feeling raw and confused. ‘Please don’t expect anything.’

‘It was my fault too,’ said Ant. ‘I’m sorry, Josie, I couldn’t help it. You looked so sad and lonely. And I remember how I felt about you all those years ago.’

‘That was then, this is now,’ said Josie. ‘And Freddie Puck’s been messing with our heads. I don’t know what’s real anymore.’

‘I’ll give you as much time as you need,’ said Ant, lacing his fingers over hers.

‘I never knew you had such a sensitive side,’ said Josie with a wry smile.

‘I didn’t either till this weekend,’ said Ant. ‘I’m so sorry about all of this.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ said Josie.

‘It is. You were right, and I was wrong about the hypnotism,’ said Ant. ‘I got totally carried away with seeing Freddie Puck. I thought it would be a bit of a laugh. I had no idea it would end up like this.’

‘Does it have to?’ said Josie. ‘Maybe we should just go back and ask to get back to where we all were at the start.’

‘I’m not exactly sure I want to,’ said Ant. ‘I think I’ve been a better person tonight than I have in a long time. And then there’s you …’

Josie didn’t answer him. She no longer knew what she wanted. But she’d give anything for none of this to have happened. The trouble was, could things ever be the same again? Even if they went back to their default positions, she now knew that Harry didn’t want to marry her. And she had a feeling that no amount of hypnotism could make her forget that …

Ant was feeling hyper-aware of his surroundings as he walked back up the cliff path with Josie. She hadn’t said yes, but she hadn’t said no either. Maybe after all this was over and the dust had settled, they could work something out. Maybe …

They arrived back at the theatre to hear a debate going on.

‘Do you think we should have tied him up? Isn’t that like assault?’

‘It was for his own good,’ said another voice. ‘He would have run after Tati, and then where would we be?’

‘Where is she do you think?’ a third voice fretted. ‘I do hope she’s okay.’

‘It’s okay,’ said Josie, pushing the theatre gate open, where she found Tatiana’s three companions holding down a very defiant Mike. ‘She’s safe.’

‘Where is she?’ wailed Mike. ‘She must love me, she must. Why would she have met me here at midnight if not for love?’

‘To get a part in your play, you silly little man,’ said M’stard in exasperation. ‘Why on earth would a goddess like Tati be interested in a mere mortal like you?’

‘Why indeed?’ whispered Ant, laughing. The one funny thing that had happened all night had been watching Mike Slowbotham getting carried away.

They heard more voices, and Auberon and Freddie appeared, Harry hard at their heels.

‘This nonsense has gone on long enough,’ said Bron, ‘Poor Tati. What have we done?’

‘I thought you wanted to punish her,’ said Freddie.

‘I did,’ said Bron, ‘but it turns out I didn’t want to humiliate her after all. Where is she, by the way?’

‘Down on the beach,’ said Josie. ‘I left her hiding in a cave.’

‘Where? Can you show me?’ said Bron.

‘With pleasure,’ Josie said, and took him down the cliff path, Ant following behind. The day was dawning, and white light was poking under grey clouds, so they got a clear view of the beach as they scrambled towards it. Ant suddenly realised the beach was much smaller than when they’d left.

‘Hang on,’ he said. ‘What’s happening? Is the tide coming in?’

‘Oh no!’ said Josie.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Bron.

‘I forgot about the tide,’ said Josie in a whisper; she’d gone deathly pale. ‘It’s going to block off the entrance to the cave and Tatiana’s trapped inside.’

Harry had only just about taken in the sight of Josie and Ant holding hands (it was so swift he thought he’d made it up) before they disappeared with Bron to show him where Tatiana had gone. He was going to ask Ant just what the hell he thought he was doing, but was stopped in his tracks by Josie bursting back up the track, shouting for help.

‘What’s going on?’ said Harry, alert for an opportunity to redeem himself in Josie’s eyes.

‘It’s Tatiana,’ gasped Josie. ‘She’s stuck in a cave and the tide’s coming in. Has anyone got a signal? We need to ring the coastguard.’

Several people tried and failed to get their phones working. Eventually Freddie managed to patch a call through, and was shouting rapid instructions to the person on the other end.

‘Where are we again, Josie?’

‘Tresgothen Cove,’ she said, ‘it’s just beyond Torpoint.’

Freddie relayed the information. ‘They said they know where to find us,’ he said, putting his phone in his pocket.

‘How long?’ said Josie.

‘Twenty minutes, they think,’ said Freddie.

Josie looked anxious, gnawing her lip in a gesture Harry knew and loved.

‘We may not have twenty minutes. We have to get Tatiana out of there. We need a rope,
now
.’

‘What did you tie Mike up with?’ said Harry with sudden inspiration.

‘The belt from my kimono,’ said M’stard. ‘It’s quite long and tough.’

He pointed at the obi belt Mike was tied up with, it was the kind Josie associated with sumo wrestlers and looked like it could do the job.

‘You mean dressing gown,’ said Freddie.

‘It’s better than nothing, and it’s long enough,’ said Harry. ‘Untie Mike and give it to me.’

‘What about Mike?’

Mike was huffing and puffing about the indignity of it all.

‘Oh, leave it to me,’ said Freddie, clicking his fingers, and instantly Mike fell into a deep snoring sleep.

Once the cord to the kimono – which luckily seemed quite strong – was removed, everyone hurried down to the beach where Bron was standing in a pool of water at the entrance of the cave, shouting encouragement to Tatiana. The sea was swirling dangerously round the entrance, and the beach was rapidly being eaten up. Tatiana’s crew stood around helplessly wringing their hands.

‘Right,’ said Harry. ‘It’s not far to your yurt is it? One of you, go and get blankets, towels, a flask; anything that we might need. Someone needs to try and get into the cave and rescue Tatiana. If we tie the rope round that person’s waist, and the rest of us form a human chain, we might be able to do it.’

‘Me,’ said Bron. ‘I’ll do it. Tati, darling, help is at hand. We’ll have you out of there as soon as we can.’

Diana heard the shouting from the top of the cliff. She peered over the edge, and in the early morning gloom, could see a gaggle of people gathering on the beach. They seemed to be panicking. What on earth could be going on?

Curiosity pricked, Diana went back to the cliff path, and found her way down to the beach.

It was definitely getting lighter now. Diana glanced at her watch. Nearly 5a.m. The grey clouds were outweighing the black, the lightening of the sky heralding the arrival of the sun. It was still warm, but a light spray was coming off the sea as she scrambled down the rocky path to where everyone was standing.

‘What’s happening?’ She spotted Josie looking worried.

‘It’s all my fault,’ said Josie, wringing her hands. ‘I told Tatiana to hide from Mike in the cave, but I forgot about the tide coming in, and now she’s trapped. We’ve called the coastguard, but we’re not sure when they’re going to get here. Bron’s insisting he’s going in to get her.’