This day ten years ago we landed on that mysterious island. Josie had been moody, but when the boat dropped us off, she skipped gaily into a clump of dark bushes.

“Did anyone live here?” she wondered.

“I doubt it”, I said, “there’s nothing to live on.”

“Maybe fish”, Tom suggested.

“I wouldn’t like fish without chips”, said Jennie.

“Why are there trees here, but not on the land?” asked Tom.

“This could be a remnant of the ancient Caledonian wildwood.”

“But these stones look like remains of a building”, said Josie.

“Maybe it was a place for pagan rituals.”

“What’s pagan?” asked Jennie.

“It was the religion people had long ago, they worshipped nature and believed in elves and fairies.”

I began to notice an unnameable odour, and a sudden gust of wind rattled the dead branches around us.

“This place is creepy”, Jennie wailed.

I felt it was a bit eldritch myself, but thought it better not to say so. I decided we’d better have a plan of action.

“Let’s explore the whole island. Jennie, you look over there; Tommy can go to the west; Josie, you run to the south. See what you find, then come back here.”

I returned to the central bushes and waited, but they disappeared long enough for me to begin to worry. Then I heard a giggle.

“Well, what did you find?”

“I saw a dead crow floating belly-up,” Tommy announced.

“Maybe it died of fright”, said Josie.

Jennie jumped up and down to say she’d found a fairy ring.

“Those circles are made by fungi”, I explained; but her face fell.

It was Josie who discovered the worms. They were making that sweetish smell.

“Yuk”, said Jennie, “how could you pick those things up?”

Josie threw one at her, and she squealed. But Tommy shouted:

“Hey, did you see it light up?”

Josie tossed another – and yes, it flashed. Tommy started throwing them back. After a while, even Jennie joined in, and her whoops mingled with Josie’s cackles. The four of us began cavorting around with the flickering flashes. The hills seemed to sway, and I fancied I heard music on the breeze. The whirling lights became more beautiful as the loch turned black. Then our feet seemed to leave the ground, and I experienced a strange lightness of being.

 

Next thing I knew, Jennie and Tommy were clinging to me, shivering. Then a searchlight came rapidly up the loch, and two policemen landed.

“Where were you? The boatman couldn’t find you, and now it’s midnight.”

“Er … we were dancing with the worms.”

“What kind of talk is that? And where’s Josie?”

And I realized, with a chill, that Josie was not with us.

There were searches, recriminations, police interviews. But no adolescent body was washed up on the desolate shores of that loch. Tom is at university now, and Jennie will go next year. We can only presume that Josie went off with the fairies.

 

Leslie Stevenson