This chapter concludes Season 1 of The Skylark Bell podcast. Fair warning, this season ends on a massive cliffhanger!
Please stay tuned for holiday specials between now and the beginning of Season 2 - Wingspan, in January. Thank you for your support throughout this first season, and I'll see you on the other side!
In today’s episode we end this part of our adventure with the final chapter of season 1, Chapter 26 – Legacy, where Magpie and Lucas make a discovery while packing up Farfalla’s things that will leave you on the edge of your seat.
Music: Nightbridge by Cannelle (www.cannellemusic.com)
Find The Skylark Bell online: www.theyskylarkbell.com
Instagram: @theskylarkbell
Twitter: @melissaoliveri
Patreon: www.patreon.com/melissaoliveri
TRANSCRIPT:
Things with Wings Productions, with the support of Whimsical Productions and Collected Sounds presents: Episode 26 of The Skylark Bell. I am your host Melissa Oliveri.
In our last episode, Magpie and Lucas found out that Farfalla had passed away, and left Magpie a package with letters and the deed to Meadow Lane and a house in Scotland.
In today’s episode we continue our adventure with Chapter 26 – where Magpie and Lucas make an incredible discovery while packing up Farfalla’s things.
So get settled in… grab a blanket, and a warm drink… and let’s get started.
The porch of the house is adorned with birdhouses of every shape and size, interspersed with flower pots containing blooms of every colour imaginable. Magpie sighs deeply. “I can’t believe I was afraid of her at first,” she says, “she had such a hard life, and all she wanted was to surround herself with love, beauty and happiness!” Lucas gives her an understanding squeeze on the shoulder, and they let themselves in the front door.
Upon entering, they are surprised to find the house is mostly bare, with minimal living room furniture and only a few books in the built-in bookcase. Some plates and cups, along with a few pantry items and the necessary pots, pans and utensils are the only items to be found in the kitchen. An open box of canning jars sits on a small round table in the corner that serves as a dining area.
Toward the back of the house there is a bedroom with only a bed, nightstand and dresser. They find no perfume bottles, makeup, jewelry, or anything else that would make the room feel inhabited. Perplexed, they exit the bedroom and stand in the dark hallway facing a closed door, beyond which is the only space they have not yet explored.
Magpie reaches out and carefully turns the doorknob. The door swings open and they both gasp at the sight before them. The walls of the room are covered in sketches and notes, each one carefully pinned into the plaster. In the center of the room is a white rocking chair, on the back of which is a green knitted shawl. Magpie recognizes it as the one from her vision of her Great-Grandmother Elizabeth, she must have given it to Farfalla at some point. She walks into the room and sits in the chair; from this vantage point she can see that the sketches are in chronological order, starting with, then Farfalla and Marius in the orchard, then the Skylark Bell followed by the snowstorm and Meadow Lane falling apart… Magpie’s gaze follows the sequence. She sees a sketch of her first encounter with Farfalla at the diner, then of the blackbird dropping a blackberry into her lap on the lawn of the library. There are a few more sketches of Magpie, some with her mother, some with Lucas, another with Farfalla herself.
“Lucas, do you know what this is?” she asks, amazed. The room remains silent. She turns, looking for Lucas, and finds him standing in front of one of the sketches, his back turned to her. She approaches cautiously, already knowing what she will find.
“It was her, that night,” he says, stepping back. Magpie can see a sketch, practically identical to her own, of young Lucas sitting in the ditch beside the wreckage of a car, Farfalla standing behind him. “But how can that be? What could she possibly have been doing out there so late at night?”
“There are a lot of things I still don’t quite understand, but I think she somehow knew the role you had to play in this story, and was, in some way, able to bring you comfort in a time of great need,” says Magpie. She grabs his hand and they stand side by side for a while, looking at the sketch. Magpie replays the events of the past few months in her mind, and recalls her conversation with Farfalla at the diner, the impossible conversation that happened after Farfalla had died… “So many unanswered questions…” she muses, “but I guess I’m okay with that, for now.”
“Speaking of unanswered questions,” says Lucas, “there’s one more thing.” He reaches into his pocket. “While I was waiting for you to meet me at the driveway earlier, this blackbird landed on the road and dropped something at my feet. I can’t explain it, but I think it came from Farfalla.” He opens his palm and in it sits a small, silver ring in the shape of a curled feather. It is identical to the one in Magpie’s sketchbook. Suddenly everything about her sketch makes sense, she had drawn the orchard where Marius proposed to Farfalla, and then sketched this ring in the margin.
“This must be Farfalla’s engagement ring!” she says.
“Everything finds its way, in time” he whispers, tucking it somberly into her palm.
Magpie’s hand closes over the ring. She thinks about Farfalla keeping it all these years, about the love she must have felt for Marius, and the heartache when he disappeared. She recalls walking through the house at Meadow Lane, the pieces of the Shearwater Family’s life that had been left behind to slowly disintegrate. She hands the ring back to Lucas “I’m not sure why, but I think Farfalla wanted you to have this, you should keep it”. Lucas somberly takes the ring and tucks it into his pocket.
Through the open window, a cool fall breeze blows into the room, ruffling the sketches on the surrounding walls. Lucas reaches for the green shawl and wraps it around Magpie’s shoulders. “It’s time” he says, simply. She nods quietly, and they circle the room together, carefully taking down each sketch and collecting them in a box.
A few mintues later they are standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by empty walls. For a moment Magpie’s heart feels heavy. A cloud passes in front of the sun and the whole room is washed gray. Magpie turns toward Lucas, who smiles warmly at her. He’s been by her side this entire time. There is still so much she needs to tell him… but there will be a different time for that. Right now, it’s time to step back and enjoy the sights and sounds of the world outside this little house. The cloud moves along and sunlight once again filters through the window. The feeling in the room immediately shifts, the heaviness lifting and giving way to a palpable sense of peace.
Lucas grabs the box, and he and Magpie step out of the room into the hallway. As they turn to leave, a gust of wind blows through the window, causing the door of the small room to slam shut. A moment later footsteps echo in the empty room behind the door. Startled, Magpie and Lucas stare at one another wide-eyed.
“Did you hear that?!” whispers Magpie, “those were definintely footsteps!” she says, her voice shaking. Lucas nods, putting a finger to his lips. He leans forward, reaching for the doorknob. Just then, the door swings open on its own, revealing the empty room once again. Magpie and Lucas glance at each other uneasily before stepping through the doorway.
“Lucas, look!” exclaims Magpie, pointing to a sheet of paper laying on the seat of the rocking chair. “This wasn’t there before!” she says, pulling the shawl more tightly around her shoulders as a sudden chill runs through her. Taking a few steps into the room she reaches for the paper and holds it up. “It’s another sketch!” she says excitedly. “It’s Meadow Lane, with a full-blooming orchard behind the house, birds flying high above and horses prancing in the meadow. I can even see the Skylark Bell hanging in the upstairs window! And on the front lawn there’s the Shearwater family all lined up like they’re posing for a photograph!”
Magpie has been so busy studying the sketch it takes her a moment to realize Lucas has gone completely silent. She looks over the paper at him, her eyebrows furrowed. “Lucas, what’s wrong?” she asks.
Lucas is standing completely still his arm stretch out pointing to the back of the sketch , the colour has drained from his face and his eyes are open wide. Magpie flips the paper over. Scrawled on the back of the page are four words that make her blood run cold...
“I AM NOT FARFALLA”
Thank you so much for listening. This concludes Season 1 of the Skylark Bell Podcast. But don’t leave just yet, there are surprises in store to tide us over until we return for Season 2 with Wingspan, the next book in the Skylark Series. So be sure to subscribe, you don’t want to miss a thing!
Before I go, I’d like to thank Phaeton Starling Publishing for this fantastically eerie story, and Cannelle for composing equally fantastic and eerie music for this podcast.
If you enjoyed the story, and would like to support my work, you can become a Patreon Subscriber to get early access to episodes, MP3 downloads of the original music from the podcast, and so much more!
You can also donate to my tip jar via paypal. All links are available on the website www.theskylarkbell.com
You can also leave a rating and a review on your preferred podcast platform. It doesn’t cost anything, and it helps give the podcast visibility so other people can discover and enjoy it.
As always, I thank you for listening. This has been a wonderful year, and I look forward to sharing many more stories with you. Stay tuned over the next few weeks, I’ve got lots of surprises in store.
Thank you.
