Jess turns from the window, her expression transfixed again by the shock of what the vicarage is making her confront. She looks to the bed and at Flo’s lifeless body beneath the covers, the open eyes staring directly into the light. Jess looks to Morag. ‘What is it?’

‘Mother. Goddess. They’re still in some places. Groves. That’s one.’ Morag then nods her world-weary head to Jess. ‘Looks like we’s out of a job. Come on, let’s call ambulance for Blossom.’

Out there, beyond the garden, a new sound seeps from the distant grove. The noise of an object being pulled into a body of water and dragged down. The submersion is followed by joyous cries, a chorus of women.

36

Months later, and Izzy is playing on the grass of the vicarage lawn again. She’s positioning a new collection of the big-eyed soft toys that she coveted in the supermarket. They form a ring about the cat toy that her father gave her.

The little blonde girl, whom Jess once saw waving goodbye to her grandmother who lives across the street, sits beside Izzy, intent on a game that transfixes them.

On a blanket laid out upon the lush grass, Jess sits near the girls. A new haircut frames her face, which is finally more than relaxed – perhaps even serene. Through the lenses of her sunglasses she surveys her happy daughter with evident pleasure, then opens an elegant hamper and removes food for a picnic. She lays these treats upon the blanket for the girls.

‘What about tomorrow?’ asks Izzy’s new friend.

Without looking up from the toys, Izzy answers her friend. ‘It’ll be sunny. We’ll be out tomorrow.’

Jess turns and looks at her new neighbour, crowned as ever with her distinctive sun hat and busy at work with freshly cut flowers.

‘How long you staying?’ Izzy’s little friend asks her.

‘Oh, we live here now. Flo give the house to your nanna. And she give it us.’

The gardener approaches the picnic blanket bearing colourful gifts: floral tiaras, one for each girl, one for Jess. ‘And this will be a happy place again, protecting all who love her.’

Subtly, Jess raises a single hand into the air and discreetly makes Flo’s sign, the sign of the Eadric villagers. A closed circle. Beside her, the two little girls don’t notice.