William reached his hand toward one of those shadowy folds and his illuminated fingertips disappeared. Tamara blinked and took several steps nearer, peering more closely until she realized that this was no trick. William had found an oval gap in the tree trunk, several feet from where its roots plunged into the rich, dark earth. This opening was perhaps four feet high and two feet wide. Just large enough for them to slip through.
The wailing of the babies issued from the hole.
She hesitated, her chest constricting and her mouth going dry at the thought of squeezing through that hole, not knowing what might be inside. Images and suspicions flashed through her mind, stories of sinister magic, of the sobbing of infants used to lure unsuspecting fools to horrible death. Her heart beat wildly as she stared at that forbidding door into the core of the tree. Could it be some trap? This was a magical wood. Might the tree be little more than a vicious bit of magic, the babies' cries like the call of the Sirens, drawing young sailors forward to be smashed upon the rocks?
Queen Bodicea drifted nearer to William. She was a full-bodied vapor now, but though Tamara could see the spectre's legs, Bodicea did not walk. Hers was the illusion of life, not the reality. The phantom queen floated beside William, who gazed back at Tamara with a puzzled expression, obviously wondering what was holding her back.
