Solstice - The Goddess Awakens

Falling in through the door, overloaded with bags and blankets, Lola found the house full. Hearing the commotion, her mum and dad came to the rescue and helped carry her stuff into the nearby kitchen.

‘Well the traveller has returned I see. Did you have a good weekend, pet?’ asked her dad, instinctively filling the kettle. He must have been able to read her mind as she was dying for a cup of tea.

‘Yeah, Dad, it was great, very different, but good nonetheless. I met some very good people and wait till you hear this, it was a wedding. And guess who’s wedding it was. It was Aibgrene’s!’ said Lola before either of her parents had a chance to answer. Lola was anticipating the same reaction she had when she found out, but they were quite subdued considering the news.

‘How did she look? Did the dress fit her okay?’ asked Eileen.

‘You knew about this, Mum?’

‘Well not really, love, she just asked me to help her out with a dress, she didn’t go in to detail and I didn’t ask, but I had an idea that it might be for her.’

‘Nobody bothers bloody telling me anything these days,’ huffed Lola. Rolling her eyes in bemusement she took a seat at the table.

‘Where’s Liam? Did he come back up to the house yet?’

‘He’s out gallivanting with that dog. He has that poor mutt tortured!’

Lola saw a copy of the Ballyvalley News and began to flick through it. ‘Did you contact work, Lo, to let them know that you wouldn’t be in?’ asked her mum.

Pre-occupied Lola just nodded to her mum. She was reading the match report on the back page. ‘The Town were beaten again, Dad? Were you and Liam at the game?’

‘Yeah,’ sighed her dad. ‘They were unlucky, lost to a last minute goal, which was offside by the way, and they had a goal disallowed as well.’

‘Some start to the season that is!’ she replied. Flicking on through the paper Lola finally came to the front page. She noticed her mum and dad stiffen at the table as she read and then re-read the bold headline.

Ballyvalley man accused of engaging in Occult activity.

In an exclusive interview with Ballyvalley News reporter Abbey Williams, a close friend of the deceased astronomer Arthur Delphian has sensationally claimed that he was not the ‘gentleman’ that his local community believed him to be. Mr Delphian was found dead in his Brook Mill Manor estate back in June after digesting a rare poison. A murder investigation was then launched by local detectives after they believed that all evidence pointed towards foul play.

In this exclusive interview, our source, who claims to have been very close to Mr Delphian, said that he was involved in Occult activity and that he was present at the estate on many occasions and saw Mr Delphian performing satanic rituals.

‘Arthur would often invite me to stay at the manor and I didn’t really like to refuse. There was this one occasion where about thirty men and women arrived and I just thought that it was a normal party. But after a while I realised that I was gravely mistaken. Let’s just say that the good Christian morals that Mr Delphian built his reputation in this town on were nowhere to be found. I left the place soon after and refused to return.’

Our Source also claims that mock sacrifices were made, where Mr Delphian and his followers would pretend to drink the blood of their victim. Since the revelation, many people have come forward to the Ballyvalley News to say that they had often heard the sound of drums and chanting coming from the estate late at night. One man who lives in a housing development beside the 40-acre estate said that he always feared for the safety of the young girl that frequented the manor regularly because of the things that he had heard about the place. The Ballyvalley called Mr Delphian’s solicitor regarding these allegations but he has refused to comment.

Lola shook uncontrollably with anger. She couldn’t move, her body was rigid, if she had Abbey and Bryce in front of her now, she would have slit their throats without even a moment’s hesitation. This was the Hell Fire Club; it had their filthy name written all over it. Her editor had published this poison, and yet forced her off what was a legitimate story. They printed this when Arthur was dead, thinking that there would be no one to defend him, but they were grossly mistaken. He had family and friends and there was no way they would get away with this. Lola lifted the phone and made a call.

Felix Tennyson’s chirpy secretary told her he would only be five minutes, but she was on hold for ten. She didn’t want to hang up, as she needed to speak to him before she headed for the Ballyvalley News. Listening to the hold music, Lola was growing more and more irritated.

‘Lola, my dear, thank you for holding. How can I help you?’ answered Mr Tennyson.

The old solicitor’s raspy voice wheezed down the line making Lola feel guilty for getting mad. She didn’t want to be rude to the old man, nor take her bad mood out on him, so she tried to compose herself before speaking.

‘Good morning, Mr Tennyson. I’m really sorry to bother you, but it was important that I spoke to you as soon as I could.’

‘What is it, dear? Are you alright?’

‘Well no I’m not, sir,’ explained Lola trying her best to keep her emotions in check. ‘I have seen the most disgusting story in our local paper defaming a dead man. The Ballyvalley News has printed a front page story claiming that Arthur was some sort of satanic abuser.’ Lola spat the words out down the phone before Felix could muster a response.

‘And what makes matters worse,’ she continued, ‘is that they claim they contacted his solicitor and he refused to make a comment. So I was hoping you would give me some sort of explanation. And I also want to know where I stand in taking the paper to court.’

’Slow down, Lola. Slow down, dear. Firstly let’s get the record straight, I received no such phone call, and I am not aware of any such article. What I will need is for you to send me a copy of it. I’m not good at this inter-web stuff, emails and all that nonsense, so I will put my grandson on, and he can give you all the information you need.

‘If indeed, as you suggest, Arthur has been defamed in any way, we can certainly look into that, but first we need to get in touch with the editor of the paper. Who is in charge now?’

‘The editor is called Bryce Neal and I can email the Ballyvalley News contact numbers for you along with the article. I won’t let this go, Felix, and just to let you know, there are sinister forces at work here.’

The old man considered this for a moment before answering Lola.

‘I would guess you are right, my dear, but we need to play a shrewd game here. So please do not do anything rash, okay?’

Lola couldn’t and wouldn’t promise any such thing.

‘Okay, Mr Tennyson, I’ll try my best.’

Lola waited on the line, as he called his grandson to the room. Lola listened as he explained the situation handing the phone over to his grandson.

‘Hello, is that Ms Lola Paige?’

‘Yes, I take it Mr Tennyson has explained the situation to you, sir?’

‘Oh yes. He has. Please call me Andrew; you don’t sound much younger than me, Lola.’

Lola took down his contact details including his email address. As soon as she hung up the phone, she scanned the article, before sending it through to him. Next was the Ballyvalley News, Lola needed to clear out her desk and the rest of her things. But she wasn’t going to show any restraint when she confronted her editor.