Helen Speaks

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

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

Dear Vera,

Well it’s been a very interesting week! I went out to buy some food for Suki but the best shop for it is this poky little store on the edge of town. I wasn’t there long, but the thunder started while I was paying and by the time I got back down the street it was pouring. There was a bus shelter, one of those enclosed ones, and I dashed inside. I’ve heard some witches can sense the weather… I’m sure I can’t, yet.

It had been warm when I’d left and I only had my hoodie with me, and there was a woman who’d also taken shelter, in her thirties or forties with bright red hair, and she was also without her coat. She smiled at me. “Come and join. The bus doesn’t stop here anymore though, so we’ll just have to wait until it clears.”

That might explain why it didn’t look like a bus stop on the inside. There were a load of different posters over the timetable and there was a bookcase to one side filled with books.

I felt rather shy. Teddy hadn’t come with me – he and Suki are getting on a little better and they’d promised to behave while I was out. The lady in the bus shelter wasn’t dressed smartly exactly, but she looked more put together and like a proper grown up. I suddenly wondered if, as the only witch in town, I needed to introduce myself or something.

All I came up with was “I’m soaking.”

“Me too,” she said, smiling, then she leaned forward, shook out her dripping hair and it all fell off. Then her hair started growing again, but it was purple. I stared at her in amazement. She didn’t seem like Fae. She looked too… normal, maybe. The cinema Fae trying to be normal always look a little like they’re wearing a costume.

She grinned when I tried to hide that I was staring at her.

“You must be the last person in Barkmouth to have seen that,” she said.

I blinked. “Oh… I… how did you do it? I heard there weren’t any witches here…”

“Oh, I heard we have one now,” the lady said, and she smiled knowingly. “No, I’m not a witch. Bea Furness-” she held out her hand “-I work in tech.”

“Lucy Skylark. I – I’m the witch.”

She smiled. “Lovely to meet you. I thought I knew most everyone here but you’re a new face.” She chuckled. “Do you want to see a new face?”

I blinked at her. She concentrated a second, and then her nose changed shape.

“That’s amazing… are you… is it all right to ask if you’re Fae?”

She smiled. “Ah, it seems like you need one of my pamphlets.” She reached into the bookcase and pulled out a little book entitled “Everything you ever wanted to know about Shimmers but were too afraid to ask” and it was authored by one Beatrice M. Furness.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ve heard of Shimmers before, but… well, I think I thought they were only in stories.”

Bea sighed. “Well, there are a lot of silly tales. And scare stories. You obviously don’t read the Magical Reporter.”

“Oh no,” I said, “I picked it up once in a shop because I always loved magic, and my mother made me put it back like I’d just picked up something filthy, so…”

She smiled. “Your mother sounds sensible – well, there have been some nasty stories circulating down south” (she must have caught my accent) “and a lot of us have gone underground, and stopped using our powers at all. But I’m alone here in Barkmouth and I’m the first Shimmer most people meet, so I’m trying to make first impressions a bit better.”

We talked for a bit and I found out that Shimmers aren’t able to shapeshift like the Fae – it takes time and energy – but they can change parts of their appearance at will and for Bea, that’s mainly her hair or occasionally she goes for a different nose because, well, she says it’s fun. But apparently there have been lots of stories about people with a new face every day, committing crimes, hurting children – lots of horrible stories. I read a bit of Bea’s book and she debunks a lot of the rumours as being silly.

The downpour continued for ages and we didn’t just talk about Bea being a Shimmer though. I told her about you, about learning to be a witch and about Teddy and Suki. And she told me that the bookcase, which seemed so out of place in a bus stop, had been set up by a resident several years ago and she had decided to become its librarian.

“I used to fantasise about having a library,” she said. “And I found this here during a storm last year. Well, I have my little book and I realised that there are lots of good books you might want to read if you’re sheltering from the rain, even if the bus doesn’t come. So I find them in charity shops and I bring them here. It seems to be working… I’ve seen a few people wandering in and out with different books.” She gestured. “My flat’s just over there – I can see it from there! It makes me happy to make a difference… I don’t tell anyone that I’m doing it… And I know I’m not the only one keeping an eye.”

“But you’re telling me?”

“I feel the town witch should know,” she said, and she smiled but it wasn’t an indulgent smile. She talked to me like I was a fellow adult!

We talked for a bit longer, about the books we both enjoyed, and just as the sun was about to break through, she reached into her shoulderbag and handed me a book.

“I wasn’t sure about leaving this out,” she said. “But I thought the right person might need it.”

It was a beautifully illustrated cover, and the title was “People like us: The magical peoples of the British Isles”.

I remembered how you told me that, even though the magic comes to us, we’re still human underneath, and we shouldn’t presume to be better or higher, just follow our calling. “As a witch, I’m not really a magical person…”

“You stand in between,” Bea said. “And maybe that means you can be a bridge, sometimes.”

I took the book, a bit reverentially, and I was a bit intimidated. I do want to know more and more about the world of magic. And of course I want to be a force for good. It just seemed like such a responsibility.

I went home and put it on the side of my bed. I read about Shimmers, and a little about Fae, and then I looked at a section on Ghosts.

I wondered if I should talk to Teddy about what I found out, but I didn’t. I think I should think on it first.

Take care Vera, and give my love to everyone,

Lucy.

Question: When was the last time you had a conversation with a stranger?

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Next entry: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/04/07/olive-framleys-magical-year/

Next letter by Lucy: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/04/09/lucy-skylark-entry-6-9th-april/
Next letter about Bea: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/05/18/lucy-skylark-entry-16-18th-may/