But I digress. Church was told the Fomorii had broken the old pact and returned to earth. The Tuatha De Danann, the only ones who could possibly oppose them, had been scattered by something called the Wish-Hex; some were trapped, others were temporarily corrupted by the Fomorii's power; a handful had escaped. The task bestowed upon Church and the other Brothers and Sisters of Dragons was to locate the four long-lost mystical items which once belonged to the Tuatha De Danann, and to use them to summon the race back from wherever they had been banished. Four talismans: a stone, a sword, a spear, and a cauldron, more archetypes branded on human consciousness. And it all had to be done by the feast of Beltane-May Day-or the Tuatha De Dannon would be lost forever.

Reluctantly, Church accepted and, with Laura, returned to earth. In the meantime, Ruth had escaped the attack of the Fomorii shapeshifters, but Tom was missing. The three remaining companions set off following the Wayfinder, another mystical artefact which resembled an old lantern lit by a flame of blue earth energy; the flickering light pointed them in the direction of the talismans.

Their first destination was Avebury and its awe-inspiring stone circle. Here they encountered a man known only as the Bone Inspector, an odd fellow who considered himself a guardian of the old sacred sites and keeper of ancient wisdom. His people had once administered their powerful lore to the Celts from the hawthorn groves before they had been driven underground by the invading Romans. The Bone Inspector showed them the secret entrance to the place that lies beneath Avebury, where the blue fire is at its most potent, guarded by the oldest of the Fabulous Beasts. And there Laura retrieved the first of the talismans, what had been known to the Celts as the Stone of Fal which supposedly screamed when touched by the true king of the land; much to his consternation, it cried out when it came into contact with Church.