The three cousins stand facing each other in a triangle on the black beach. Across the water behind outcrops lava and scrubby birchwood, incense burns, carried loft in procession by a dozen monks, hooded behind dark tunics. Helen looks towards Hanna and nods.
“Your hair…”
Hanna pulls a tuft of it in front of her eyes. It’s as black as obsidian again. “How?” Her face convulses with confusion. She seeks answers, staring out at the day with piercingly-blue, iridescent eyes. “How are we supposed to know why it is that we are suddenly here, in lord knows what time, if we don’t know how we got here?!”
She stares from Helen, to Ben – speaking their names.
“Ben?”
He turns. Stepping forward across the yard Bjäkk approaches him. Ben doesn’t answer; his gaze is questioning enough.
“Do you have your computer? I need to show you something I discovered.” His tone is urgent. He has waited long enough; he can wait no longer.
Ben slides the laptop round on the coffee table to face Bjäkk. “Okay. Show me.”
Just what is it that the Fish Man of Hólar has discovered in his northern research station? And in what way does it impact on Ben’s research? Time for me to get with the science and put some plausible reasoning behind these mystical monks appearing in three cousins’ dreams…
Current wordcount: 58,284
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