Currents of Change

by Darian Smith

  “Abi! Abi!” Nate turned in circles, his gaze raking the darkness. His chest felt like he was being electrocuted. It was hard to breath. “Abi? Sara? Shit!” He fumbled his cell-phone out of his pocket. With Sara’s ex here and now Abi missing as well, there was no telling what had happened. He punched the numbers for the police. The phone crackled and disconnected.

  He dialled again.

  Lightning flashed across the sky.

  The phone screen flickered and went black.

  “No, no, no.” What was it about this place that drained the batteries of things? He rummaged in the car for a charger. Nothing. “Damn it.”

  He thumped the steering wheel and barely felt the pain. How could they have just vanished? Abi, Sara, and even Moana. His body felt hollow, the way it had when he’d heard the news that Emma had been in an accident. It was the feeling of loss and helplessness. They were gone. Gone and there was nothing he could do.

  He gritted his teeth. “Not this time.” He wasn’t ready to give up yet. The landline at his house would be working. He’d call the police from there and have the whole area swarming with searchers in minutes.

  He turned the key in the ignition and the sound of the engine turning over almost drowned out her voice.

  “Dad. Help!”

  He shot out of the car and stared into the darkness. “Abi?”

  The sound was coming from back toward the bush behind the house. A light bobbed among the trees like a torch. “Dad!”

  Then Sara called as well. “Nate! Over here.”

  His feet barely touched the ground as he hurried after them. “Are you okay? What’s going on?” He followed the light into the trees, always just a little too far behind to make out who was carrying it. “Wait up,” he called, but they kept moving forward, deeper and deeper into the bush, mysteriously silent.

  Then, horrifyingly, the light blinked out. Spots appeared in front of his eyes as they adjusted to the darkness.

  The spots resolved into lights in a clearing ahead. A few steps later, Nate stepped out of the trees into something impossible.

  The clearing contained a pool of water that glowed like the moon and bubbled as if boiling. In the centre of the pool, a stunted kauri tree twisted and groaned, its branches reach out towards the women who surrounded it. They were old, Maori women, in a range of clothing styles from traditional woven flax fibre to seventies garb. They were singing in their own language, a melodic chant of some kind and stood, unflinching, as the tree thrashed against them, clearly fighting their song.

  “What the...?” Nate stumbled forward, feeling a sudden pity for the tree. “What are you doing?”

  Lightning burst upward from the pool, spiking into the night sky. The shock of illumination showed clearly what he had not seen before – the women were transparent! All but one.

  The one solid woman turned to face him. It was Moana. His sister in law had tears rolling down her face as she sang. “You shouldn’t be here,” she said, breaking off from the song. “Sara is the key. She’s back at the house. Go to her.”

  He frowned. “But I saw...” He hadn’t seen her. He’d only heard. It had been a trick. “What’s going on?”

  “Go!” Moana said through gritted teeth. “Run!”

  Around her the ghosts all threw back their heads and screamed.

  Nate ran.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Sara forced open bleary eyes, her brain fighting against the pounding in her head for consciousness. She remembered very little after Greg had hit her again. A familiar tickle on her cheek told her she was bleeding. Her arm ached almost as much as her head, but those seemed to be her only injuries. She’d had worse.

  Her body was on a hard surface, cool and smooth. Floorboards, her mind told her. He’d carried her inside.

  She blinked a few times and her vision cleared. She was in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The door creaked open and Greg appeared, a small form in his arms. He bent and laid it on the bed.

  Abigail lay still where he left her, her eyes wide and fear filled. She was gagged and bound at her hands and feet.

  Sara’s heart sank. She hadn’t realized Abi was here. God knew if Greg would draw the line at hurting a child.

  “Just close your eyes, Abi,” she said softly. “Think of this as a game. It will be okay.”

  Greg turned at the sound of her voice. “You’re awake. Good. You can explain what the hell you think you’ve been doing. Do you have any idea what it was like to have some policeman knock on our door and hand me a piece of paper that says I’m not allowed to speak to you? Or to have to chase my wife down some country road? Hmm? You think you’ve got the right to take my money and my car and spread stories about me like that? After everything I’ve done for you?”

  Sara wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve and pushed herself up into a sitting position. “It wasn’t your money, Greg. It was my share. And I didn’t spread stories. I just told the people I needed to tell so that I could move on. I can’t be with you anymore.”

  “Why?” His fingers curled into fists.

  Sara felt her chin tremble. She knew what those fists could do. “You know why.”

  He stared at her for a long time, jaw jutting, breathing hard through his nose. “You know we argue,” he said at last. “We always have. But I don’t mean to get angry with you. You just do the stupidest things, Sara. Like this running away bullshit. I mean, what the fuck am I supposed to do when you pull something like that?”

  “Let me go,” she said quietly. “Let me live without being scared all the time. If you loved me you’d give me that.”

  He snorted. “Yeah, well, if you loved me you wouldn’t be such a bitch all the time.”

  “I’m not...” Sara let her voice fade. This was the pattern, she realized. This was what would give him his reason to hit her again. If she argued, he would feel justified in getting angry. If she stayed silent, he would assume she would do as he said and be angry if she varied from it. Two paths to the same outcome. She couldn’t afford to travel either of them. “The girl isn’t part of our issues, Greg. She’s just the neighbour’s kid. You can let her go.”

  He paced, back and forth, between her and the door. “I don’t think so. She was tooting the horn in the car outside. I think she’s gonna be a little bitch about it. We need to sort out our issues first.”

  “Okay.” Sara stood up, her muscles ached and her head was spinning, but she forced herself to smile at him. “Okay. We can sort it out. Just...I think she’s scared, you know? She’s just a kid.” She reached out and touched his arm.

  Greg froze, staring at her hand.

  “What the fuck is on your finger?” His face was red and eyes bulging. “That’s an engagement ring. Sara, who the fuck gave you an engagement ring?” His fist clipped her jaw and sent her flying backward. Her knee caught on the edge of the bed and she fell, landing across Abigail. The little girl screamed into her gag.

  Greg advanced on them both. “You’re cheating on me? That’s what this is about?”

  “No, Greg, no!” Sara sat up, pushing at him, trying to keep herself between the advancing man and Abigail’s wriggling body. “It’s not what you think.”

  Greg snatched at her hand, pulling the ring from her finger. He held it up to the light. “What is it then? Hmm? It looks like you ran away with another man, Sara. So who is he?”

  Outside, a peal of thunder rolled across the sky and lightning lit up the window. Sara felt the dread in her stomach intensify. She had no idea how long she’d lain unconscious or how long Moana’s chant would slow down the fae. Jereth was breaking free.

  “Greg, please, give it back.” She couldn’t keep the urgency out her voice and reached for the ring but he jerked it back out of reach.

  “Why? Do you love him so much already?” He sneered.

  She shook her head and reached for it again. “It’s not from another man, I promise. But I need it back.” She left her hand out, palm up, waiting. “Please?�
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  The window lit up again, this time the thunder came after the lightning. Green lightning, like spring leaves sheeting across the sky.

  Greg’s lip curled. “I don’t think so.” He casually backhanded her across the face.

  Sara twisted as she fell, moving with the force of the blow with instinct born of experience. Resisting would only make the damage worse. Nevertheless, her cheek ached with the shock of the blow and the cut on her brow started bleeding again.

  She braced herself for the next blow but it never came.

  “Hey,” a familiar voice bellowed.

  Sara’s breath caught in her chest.

  Nate stood in the doorway, his muscular body framed by the wooden beams like an avenging forest god of builders. His biceps stretched the fabric of his t-shirt. His right hand held a hammer. His eyes were dark as he took in the scene before him and settled his gaze on Greg.

  “Leave them alone.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Sara watched as Greg circled around, keeping his eyes on Nate like a shark, waiting his chance to strike. “So, no other man, huh, Sara? Lying bitch.”

  “I didn’t say there wasn’t another man,” Sara said quietly. “I said the ring wasn’t from him and I didn’t cheat on you. Those are both true. I met Nate after moving here.”

  “Whatever.” He turned his back on her. “So you’re the big hero are you?”

  Nate kept his arms spread. “Just looking out for a friend. I think you should leave now.”

  “Is that so? I think you should mind your own business.”

  Sara saw the tension in Nate’s face. The muscles in his jaw went hard. “You’ve kidnapped my daughter and you’re hurting someone I care about. This is very much my business. Get out.”

  Greg’s gaze flicked from Nate, to Sara, to the hammer. “Fine. You want the dumb cow, you can have her.” He walked toward the door.

  “The ring,” Sara called out. “I need the ring back.”

  Nate turned to look at her. “What ring?”

  Greg took advantage of his momentary distraction and swung his fist at Nate’s head. His fist connected with a crack and Nate stumbled back. The hammer dropped from his fingers and clanked on the floor.

  The second blow was aimed at his ribs. Nate twisted his body to one side and returned a blow of his own. Then another.

  “Like to beat up on women, do you?” Nate growled. “How is it with someone who hits back?”

  Greg grunted as the air left his lungs. He lowered his shoulder and charged back at Nate. The two men collided, crashed into the wall, and fell, pummelling at each other with their fists.

  “Stop it. Stop!” Sara grabbed Greg’s shoulder and tried to pull him back, but he jabbed back with his elbow and caught her in the stomach. The jolt of pain made her gasp. “Damn it, Greg!” She slapped at the back of his head over and over again. “Get out! Get out, get out, get out!”

  The lights flickered and sparks fountained from the wall sockets. Outside, thunder boomed, drowning out the sounds of struggle.

  The men rolled and Sara found her legs swept out from under her. The three of them tangled like eels in a creek before breaking apart, panting for breath.

  A glint of light shone from the floor at the foot of the bed. The fae ring.

  Sara reached for it, but a vice-like hand gripped around her ankle and pulled her back.

  “No you don’t,” Greg growled.

  “Leave her alone!” Nate grabbed the other man’s wrist, trying to force him to let go.

  Sara turned, twisting her leg in an attempt to get loose. She saw Greg’s hand raise up behind Nate, holding the hammer. “Look out!” she screamed.

  Nate jerked back, but not quickly enough. The edge of the hammer grazed his skull, just above the left ear, and he slumped to the floor.

  “No!” Sara scrambled to Nate’s side, putting herself between him and Greg. “Nate? Nate? Are you okay?”

  He moaned.

  “It’s okay, Nate.” She pulled him into her arms, cradling his head. “You’ll be okay.”

  Greg spat blood onto the floor and sneered. “Oh, isn’t that sweet. You’re such a whore, Sara.”

  Lightning crackled outside and the house shook with the impact. Whatever was happening at the circle was intensifying. If she didn’t reactivate the spell in the basement soon, there would be no stopping Jereth and his hordes from breaking free.

  She lifted her chin and met Greg’s eyes. “Then why are you bothering with me? You’ve had your revenge. Just give me back the ring and leave us alone.”

  “Perhaps I will.” He scooped up the engagement ring and stared at it for a long time. The hammer dangled loosely in his other hand.

  Sara held her breath.

  Greg set the ring down on the dresser. “Do you love him?” he asked.

  Her fingers clenched on Nate’s shoulder, feeling the hard muscle beneath his torn t-shirt. Her heart trembled as the answer spilled from her lips.

  “Yes. I think I do.”

  Greg raised the hammer.

  “Tough.”

  He brought it down hard on the ring.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The gem shattered. A blinding flash of light and energy burst through the room. Greg screamed as green electricity surged up his arm from the hammer and threw him back across the room. His body hit the wall, twitched several times, and lay still.

  Through the window, Sara could see the sky was alight with ripples of colour. The generator exploded, shooting a geyser of flame up into the air, yet the lights stayed on. Sparks showered out of the wall sockets in rainbow colours, singeing carpet, bedding, and clothes alike wherever they landed.

  Throughout the house and yard, dozens of stray and neighbourhood cats began to yowl, a haunting chorus of feline voices, revelling in magic’s awakening. Beneath it all was a low rumble, like a rockslide of gemstones: Jereth’s laugh.

  Sara stared at the flattened and broken remnants of the fae ring – the one last thing between Jereth and his freedom. Terror sawed at her insides with sharp, serrated teeth. Greg was nothing to what Jereth could do. She scraped at the squashed gold.

  “Oh God, oh God.” She could feel her breathing race and her stomach cramp. “Bridget! Bridget! What do I do? The ring is gone. What do I do now?”

  The ghost appeared, sparks rippling down her skirt like silver embroidery. She took in the destroyed ring, the unconscious men, the terrified Abigail, still bound on the bed. She closed her eyes. “It is too late,” she said, her voice low and whispery once more. “He is coming.”

  The wind howled louder and louder and the glass in the window burst inward, shattering in a rain of crystal pieces all over the room.

  Sara screamed and covered her face. When she looked again, Jereth stood where the window had been.

  He was every bit as beautiful as she remembered from Bridget’s memories, but his face was cold and hard. The light that played around him like tendrils of glowing mist seemed filled with glittering fragments of ice.

  “You could have been on my side, Sara,” he said. “I would have rewarded you. But you are the same as all your human kind. Vapid and scared. You don’t deserve this land.”

  Sara looked at Bridget. The ghost woman seemed smaller somehow. Bent, even. As if Jereth’s presence had broken her. She wouldn’t look at him, staring instead at the golden flakes and shattered gemstone that were all that was left of the ring she had worn as a sign of her love for the fae.

  At her feet, Nate stirred. He reached up and touched her hand. Sara closed her fingers around his, feeling the warmth of him against her skin.

  She realized she was no longer afraid. The worst had come to pass, but she had weathered the worst before. She had suffered beatings and abuse. She had lost her child and felt the bite of rejection. She had endured guilt, pain and heartbreak. And she had survived and found love again. She had Nate. He might be injured and there was a good chance they wouldn’t survive this, but she knew he cared for
her. He had come to her rescue when no one else could. He had faced her demons with her and that demon, Greg, lay unconscious on the floor. Magical or not, she knew what the fae were. She had struggled with their kind for years of her life. Not anymore!

  “You’re a bully.” She spoke the words clearly, strongly, with no shaking in her voice. “You’re stronger than us, and you’re a bully. Why did you even pretend to be in love with her if you were only ever planning an invasion?”

  The fae frowned. “Why did I pretend? Oh, human, that’s rich. Ask your precious witch who it was that betrayed our love first. It was not I who was the trickster here, but I’ve had nearly two hundred years to pay for my folly and consider my revenge on your kind. Two hundred years trapped in a tree while my treacherous lover ran free with my power bound up in the symbol of my love!”

  Bridget looked up at that, her eyes blazing. “You murdered my grandmother! Who does that to someone they love?”

  “Lies! Human deceit and lies!” Electricity crackled around the edges of the room, turning the house into a kind of faraday cage. On the bed, Abigail whimpered and curled into a ball.

  Nate let go of Sara’s hand, crawled over to his daughter and pulled her into his arms.

  “You see that?” Sara said. “Family is important to us. You’re angry that Bridget trapped you when you’re threatening to kill everyone we love?”

  “That was never my intention,” Jereth snarled. “But why shouldn’t I after what was done to me? She lies so sweetly, this one. My Bridget. She was the bait for my trap. The nectar for my honeybee. And this bee will sting when it is cornered.”

  “She’s not lying,” Sara said. “I’ve seen her memories.”

  The fae lord’s head tilted and he stared at her. “Have you indeed? Then see mine.” He threw out his hand and a bolt of lightning shot from it, straight to Sara’s heart.

  “Don’t hurt her!” screamed Bridget, and leapt at Sara. The world dissolved in a spray of colour and they tumbled into memory together.