Helen Speaks

Introduction: https://helenspeaks.wordpress.com/2025/04/06/lucy-skylarks-magical-year/

Characters: https://helenspeaks.com/characters/

Dear Vera,

Well, some strange things have happened in the last week. I got out that map of Barkmouth you gave me and looked at it, and it looked like it was shining somehow, right near the cinema, the one I thought might be staffed by Fae. Suki has laid seven eggs by now so she was busy tending them, but Teddy was eager to get out and he was keen to find out what might be happening… And he pointed out that he wouldn’t accidentally eat the food.

I remembered you’d said they could make very tempting offers, so I asked Mrs Webfoot if she would be all right to make me a packed lunch. She seemed so happy to be asked, honestly, and she made an incredible lunch. Honestly, I have to hope she’s not somehow Fae because I would be beholden to her for a very long time.

Teddy seemed so happy to be out. He’s a bit nervous of Suki, especially because she talks to him, and they aren’t getting on. And actually it was really nice to be out with him. I had to bring the case with me (that’s how it works, he can’t go far from it) but he didn’t mind me putting my lunch in it.

And people don’t seem to notice me talking to him? It’s a weird thing, but their eyes sort of slide off him. I think to be honest I really enjoyed talking to him on our way. I’ve never really liked small talk and lengthy conversations but he seems calm next to Suki. He definitely listens more. And he’s grateful to have me as a friend. It feels so weird. I used to always be the odd one out. I felt like you were maybe the only person who really got me. But I think Teddy doesn’t just want me for company. He likes me as I am. And I like him too. I know ghosts don’t stay in one place forever, but I hope he stays my friend for a little while yet.

When we got to the cinema, the frontage looked strangely like it had been laying in ruins for at least twenty years and when we walked inside… Well.

“I don’t think the outside is meant to be inside,” Teddy said, and I agreed. The ceiling looked like the sky, gloriously blue, and the entrance hall carpet looked more and more like moss, the wood on the seats sprouting twigs and leaves and the girl at the counter kept adjusting her woolly hat to stop her pointy ears from poking through the stitches.

“We’re closed,” she told me hurriedly. “You should forget you were here…” She fixed me with her green eyes. “Forget…”

I blinked at her. Nothing happened.

“Oh it’s useless!” she said. “Everything’s stuck.”

“Well,” I said, “Maybe I can help. I’m a witch – my name is Lucy.”

She blinked at me. “You don’t want to banish us?”

I remembered your advice about not trying to be friends with everyone! “Should I want to banish you?”

She shrugged. “People have tried. There was a witch in 1875…” She got a faraway look in her eye.

“Just how old are you?” Teddy blurted out.

Her cheeks turned a little green… I think she was blushing.

“I’ve come to Barkmouth to help people,” I said. “If you’re trying to trap people or bind them to obedience to your Queen, then…”

She laughed. “Oh dear, you must think we’re dreadfully old fashioned! We don’t have a Queen anymore. We live in a state of community with shared goals…”

“And are those goals kidnapping mortals?”

She turned even greener. “No, not anymore. We didn’t realise they didn’t like it. You know, that they had feelings. Simple creatures… not you, obviously.”

I just looked at her.

“But they bring a little life force through with them when they come in, and they enjoy an old movie! But we can’t let anyone in while it looks like this. Something’s gone wrong. The veil between our worlds…”

“It’s like a… leak?”

“Yes. Sort of.”

She took Teddy and me down to a basement room where some kind of bright light was pouring through into the room through a thin crack. “It opened yesterday. And ever since then, we can’t keep anything under control. No glamour is strong enough!”

I looked at Teddy. “Should we try to get in?”

“Aw, no, definitely no!” he said. “What if it swallered you up?”

I had a vision of when we’d gone to see Little Shop of Horrors the week before.

“Well, I think we need a barrier of some kind. That’s something that witches can do.”

“What do you need?” the girl asked.

“Peace and quiet, for now,” I said. “Could you leave us here for ten minutes?” She shrugged and walked… or maybe she floated upstairs.

I shrugged at Teddy. “I don’t know how to do it,” I said. “But I know this gets done all the time.” I thought of you, of so many witches I’ve read about. It seems like beginner magic but every witch seems to have their way of doing it. Just a basic safety spell, but… Vera, you never told me how to do it! Something that stops raw magic from leaking and doing what it shouldn’t! Shouldn’t that be the first lesson?

I tried willing the walls to close, like I’d willed the plants to grow. But they didn’t. I suppose walls don’t close on their own.

Teddy gave me a bleak look, and then he said, “What kinda barrier, though? Something solid, like a dam, or soft, like a net?”

As he said it, I could see it… strands of light like a web, woven together to catch the stray magic as it spilled.

I remembered that day, willing the plants to grow. This was something that seemed so much rawer, like a sorcerer in a book. I found a little needle in my pocket, and I imagined darning the gap like a sock.

I only thought afterwards that the needle was made of steel, and maybe that’s why it worked. Left and right, up and down, over and over. Gradually the light faded. As it did, the room, which had been silent, seemed to get quieter somehow. As if the breach was making some music too strange for us to hear, but now it had stopped.

We went upstairs. A girl with normal ears, wearing jeans and t-shirt, was at the counter. “Two for Four Weddings and a Funeral?” she asked us brightly, as if nothing had happened.

I smiled. “Sorry, we’d love to, but I’ve got no money…”

“We’ll have that,” she said, snatching the map from my pocket. “And call it even.” She handed me two tickets. “Enjoy.” She seemed to blush, but it was just a slightly pinker colour. Nothing too strange. “Free popcorn?”

“We’re fine,” I said, and we went in to take our seats.

Well Vera, the film was also pretty strange, I have to say. I’m sorry to have lost the map but I think the whole incident was a real embarrassment to the folk at the cinema. I hope I did the right thing. In any case, I’m happy to have such a useful skill. Please do tell me how you normally do it, though.

Pass on my love to my family and our neighbours in Grainthorpe.

Your friend,

Lucy.

Question: If there was a magical world or fantasy realm that you could get to… perhaps through a wardrobe… would you want to go?

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Next entry: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/04/06/lucy-skylark-entry-3-24th-march/

Next entry about the magical cinema: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/04/20/lucy-skylark-entry-9-20th-april/

Next entry about Teddy: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/04/06/lucy-skylark-entry-4-31th-march/