A shadow passed over Ike’s deeply furrowed brow. “I’m beginning to fear he’ll never wake up. It’s been four days. I don’t know what we’ll do if he’s still unconscious when … I mean if … the door closes.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I don’t know whether I should bring him to Faerie or not. I don’t know his wishes. He’s very attached to Fairwick. Since we came here, he’s seen himself as the guardian of the town. And I know he won’t want to leave you here unprotected. But then, if Dory goes …”

“Dory is planning to go?” I asked, shocked and dismayed that she would think of leaving Fairwick. She was such a fixture of the town – a member of the Rotary Club and head of the library board. What would the town do without her? What would I do without her and all the other good neighbors? I felt a tug at my chest, as if someone had tightened a knot there.

Ike gasped. Looking out at the fields I saw that the gold patterns were quivering like live electrical wires.

“What happened?” I asked.

“It’s your pain at the thought of your friends leaving.” He looked at me strangely. “You’re part of the pattern of Fairwick now. You feel the loss of all our good friends.”

“Of course I do,” I said, laying my hand over my heart. The knot hurt like a cramped muscle, but I had a feeling that it would hurt more if the knot weren’t there. Then there would be only an empty place. “That’s why we’re not going to let them leave.”

Ike gave me a hopeful smile and then turned to lead me around the side of the house. “We’re outside today,” he told me. “The Norns thought that the circle would be more powerful if it were held in the labyrinth.”

“The labyrinth?”

“Yes, Brock built it some years ago for our Amma so she could use it to meditate. It’s always available for the circle and anyone who wishes to walk the labyrinth.”

We passed through a wooden arbor covered with roses and followed a stone path bordered by hollyhocks, dahlias and poppies toward a formal garden of neat boxwood hedges and parterres surrounding a circle marked out by sunken bricks. Brock lay on a bench at the center, his honest face looking as serene as if he were sunbathing instead of in a coma. The members of the circle were assembled around the perimeter, some sitting on the grass, a few standing. Moondance, rather regal in a flowing orange and purple caftan, greeted me by demanding what I had been doing. “The Norns say the wards have been disrupted.”

“Sorry, I guess it’s this.” I took the Aelvestone out of my pocket and unwrapped it from the flannel cloth. Twelve heads leaned in to look at it.