05/10/2024
Silver – Part Four: How is a Girl to Earn Her Stars?
In this final instalment of Penelope Silver's progression from being a rather badly dressed woman through the ignominy of singed tail feathers to the possibility of attaining Super-Hero-or-Heroine status, what do you think could possibly have been her eventual end game? And, what's more, did she manage to achieve it? Read on to find out... and to find out even more, because these snippets are only tantalising glimpses of what's really going on in the Glastonbury Above and Below, you'll have to press the button on the buy-the-book post at the top of the page 😁😁😁.
No single quotes for FB's missing italics this week, although it is very annoying not to be able to use italics for other things, and there are a lot of other things in these excerpts that were italicised... sorry 🤷♀️🙄🦹♀️.
’Penelope Silver took a chew from the bag Marjorie was holding. “Mmmm, tastes of strawberries and cream. They’re yummy. Can I have another one, please?”
“Ok,” Vanda said. “What is she going to do next?”
“Well,” Penelope Silver said with her mouth still half-full of May-Bell’s chewy confectionery. “Perhaps I actually meant what I think she’s going to do next. Mmmmm. These things are to die for. Can I have another one?”
“When you’ve told me what you think Marketa Salimbeti’s going to do next.” As Vanda held up her hand to stop Marjorie from indulging the girl any further, she was careful to keep the sense of urgency that was upon them all out of her mouth as much as she could, but it still sounded rather more abrupt than she had intended.
“Why are you calling her that?”
“Well, what do you call her?”
“Nothing, if I can help it. Old bag behind her back. But her name’s Mrs M Stealbit. That’s steal as in stolen, not as in stainless. Don’t know what the M’s for, mind you.” She thought for a second, then seemed rather pleased with herself as she realised something. “Oh, look, that’s an anagram of Salimbeti, isn’t it? Well, fancy that. Wonder wh––”
“Because she’s as old as the hills,” Theodora interrupted. “And changes her name to fit the times… probably.”
“The matriarch of a long line of very powerful black witches,” Vanda continued to quote under her breath from the pictures of that file still visible on the screen in her head.
“Slippery, dangerous, and not to be encountered,” Brian added.
“For, like the Hydra, she is a potent and toxic force. Yes, we know.”
“Well, I didn’t know.” Silver sounded a little disgruntled until Marjorie slipped her another Beriġean-and-Ream. “I suppose that would account for what I thought I saw when I followed her through the shimmery light into that underground pool where she blasted the gold, sparkly thing that took off like a spaceship.”
“Why is she being likened to the Hydra, I wonder?” Vanda was really only thinking out loud, so she was surprised to receive a coherent answer.
“Oh, that’s easy! That’s what I thought I saw her turn into as those dragons in the pool tried to stop her from entering the shimmery light thing. It was only for a split second, but it was long enough for her to get off a good shot from one of her heads. Almost as if she’d surprised herself and done it by accident, it was. Not actually sure if she had a plan as such. Not even sure she has now, either.”
…
“She really didn’t like him, did she?” Silver sucked on another chewy thing. “I think she’s looking for something.”
Everyone looked at her as if she had several heads.
“I mean, she got all kind of sharp focused when I told her about the little fella with the parcel and the sparkly net thing; her eyes went all black and evil-looking. And she must’ve somehow dragged me back to the dig site and the foundations again. I’ve no idea how she did it… one minute I was in the Bristol shop with her, and the next, she was demanding to know exactly where he was when I saw that multi-coloured doughnut thing just appear at your waist then turn itself into the net you threw over the man… and there we were, right in front of that funny little bush.”
“Yes,” Vanda stared into space for the moment it took her to See what she had been missing. “That funny little Juniper bush. All peppery-piney and turpentiney.” She laughed as she hugged Marjorie. “The Mystery of the Savin Plant, indeed.”
“Well,” Marjorie began, looking rather chuffed. “I’m so glad someone has finally noticed. There has to be a connection, you see; the above has to be connected to the below by something, otherwise, the telluric currents below can’t be activated to work above at their full potential… can’t provide the connections between the currents and the water below that creates the spirit magic above. The thing with Juniper is that it does rather tend to magnify what’s below somewhat exponentially, as if the telluric currents were on veritable steroids. It’s my own special way of ensuring that the magic always happens. It’s also really good for protection against the dark arts, and it does smell rather good, too, doesn’t it, my dear?” It wasn’t really a question, so no up-speak attended the punctuation at the end of her sentence.
“Do you know how many centuries it’s taken not to solve that particular little mystery?”
“Of course I do! And I’ve enjoyed every minute of them all, particularly those through which the true Gothic spirit endured; the Juniper bush took them all to unimaginable heights… at least before the Romans almost figured it out. I must say, it’s very gratifying to have you finally solve the mystery, my dear.”
“What are they gabbling on about,” Silver asked Brian.
“No idea,” he answered with his widest grin firmly in place. “But I don’t think it’s anything you should be overly concerned with. Probably one of those you had to be there things. Bit like The Da Vinci Code, really. I thought Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was the dog’s bo****ks, though, so I let that one slide, just as you should with this, little Miss, you’re-one-of-us-now, Silver.
And Penelope Silver beamed.
…
“So, what’s her game plan, Silver? Any idea?”
“Don’t think she’s got one.” Silver was now concentrating, obviously intent on doing her best to perform well as one of the real good guys for her newfound friends. “Ooh! She did stop to perform some weird-looking-and-sounding ritual that produced clouds and darkness, but I got this strong sense of her not knowing exactly why she was doing it… like she was winging it… panicking a bit, even?”
“And what exactly did she do to get through from there to here?”
“Well, I’m not really sure.” And she certainly didn’t look it. “There we were by that bush one minute, and… oh, yeah… There was this bright flash from somewhere way up above, like in the sky… big pointy rod thing, and she grabbed hold of me.”
“If I may, ladies?” It was Leo… being uncharacteristically tactful, probably to save Silver from fainting at the sight of an eight-foot-tall talking lion wearing full Federation dress uniform. He needn’t have bothered; Silver took one look at him and instantly fell in love with leonineness… and its uniform. “I think that may have been one of our… I mean, one of mine… my people’s. I’ve just had comms to say that an Urmah ship is in the vicinity and that it may be conducting some form of reconnaissance it… shouldn’t. Direct Energy Weapons are usually a part of that type of mission, sanctioned or otherwise; they look like what I believe some Terran ufologists are calling the Rods of God. But I’m pretty sure that, even if they were using one, they wouldn’t have zapped any real juice through it.”
“No, nothing came out of it,” Silver responded. “It just frightened the old bag into doing the multi-headed thing. It was just for a moment, but it did the same for me, and I went all golden eagley, too. Next thing I know, we’re travelling through some kind of sparkly tunnel and facing the shimmering portal thingy. She was so dazed – bit like me the first time – that it’s a wonder she even made it through, ’specially with those dragons trying to stop her. That’s when one of her heads fought back, zapped out the blast that made that golden spaceship takeoff and, well… knocked her out, I think. That’s how I managed to get out of her grasp; got a bit wet but flew away as best I could. Next thing I knew, I was flying into you. Couldn’t believe my luck.”’
Much Love, Light and Freedom, as always,
from the Sovereignty Gang 💥🧙♂️🧝♀️🧚♀️🐉🦁🦄👑🌹,
and me, Tally 😎😇🐝💚💜
🐐
Pics this week: two models with red hair coz I don't know whether she should look angry or alluring – you chose; a juniper bush in St Cat's on Mount Sinai; Hydra Sal in her alter 😁😍🤪.