Fire in the Sea

by Myke Bartlett

  ‘Listen to me, you stupid—’

  Somewhere nearby, a scream. A long, shrill, terrible wail. Then silence.

  Jake forgot about the nurse and ran back up the corridor. Sadie didn’t hesitate to run after him.

  ‘On your feet,’ Jake said, snatching up Tom’s belongings. ‘It’s here.’

  ‘No way.’ Tom looked at Sadie. She nodded.

  Clinging to his bloodied T-shirt and grubby sneakers, Tom limped down the corridor with an arm around Jake’s shoulders. Sadie felt the sense of panic in the nursing staff as they hurried from ward to ward. The alarm was still ringing, but no one seemed to know what it meant.

  ‘We’ll take him back to Ocean Street,’ Jake told her, punching the button for the lift. ‘I can look after him there.’

  ‘What if the Minotaur comes knocking?’

  ‘I said, I can look after him there.’

  ‘What?’ Tom shook his head, confused. ‘What d’you mean, Minotaur?’

  Sadie decided it would be best if she didn’t use that word again.

  The lift bell rang and the doors opened onto a gruesome scene. A doctor lay on the floor. His crumpled white coat was soaked with blood and gore. He was dead. Sadie felt her throat tighten.

  Standing over the body was a tall, dark figure whose head pushed at the plastic casing of the fluorescent tube above him. He might have made an imposing statue with his thick legs cast from bronze. Every muscle was clearly sculpted, from the broad biceps to his calves. Sparse hair embellished his weight-lifter’s chest. A heavy, rusted lock hung from a chain around his neck. His feet were bare and blackened, the skin thick and crusted, and long, dark nails curled from his gnarled hands.

  Still, nobody was looking at his hands. All eyes were on the matted fur of his head, the exposed and bloodied teeth, and the horns. The head of a bull, the body of a man, the teeth of a lion.

  ‘It’s the Minotaur,’ Sadie murmured. ‘It’s real. Really really real.’

  Head down, the beast charged through the lift doors as they closed. Jake shoved Sadie clear and threw himself left with Tom still hanging from his shoulders.

  The beast barrelled down the corridor, lifting the stunned nurse from her feet and tossing her into the air. She collided with the ceiling, smashing the light there, then fell to the ground whimpering. In two great bounds, the beast was upon her. Its vicious teeth tore at her throat. The nurse screamed, and then she stopped. Sadie couldn’t look.

  ‘Enough!’

  Jake was on his feet again. His voice echoed down the hall. He held up Tom’s bloodied T-shirt.

  ‘I’m the one you came for.’

  The beast stopped, raised its shoulders and turned to glare down the hall. Strands of viscera trailed from its bristled chin. Its nostrils flared in Jake’s direction.

  ‘Don’t be stupid,’ Sadie said. ‘You can’t fight that.’

  ‘Get in the lift,’ Jake replied.

  ‘There’s a dead man in the lift.’

  ‘I don’t think he’ll mind. Take Tom, go back to Ocean Street. I’ll meet you there.’

  The beast was stamping the floor. Sadie helped Tom to his feet, but she hesitated by the lift door.

  ‘Jake, seriously. That thing will tear you apart.’

  ‘Quite possibly. But I’ll still meet you there.’ Jake braced himself, standing between the creature and the lift, putting up two fists as if boxing in some gentleman’s match. The lift door was open behind Sadie. Tom stood there, with his finger on the button.

  ‘Come on Sades,’ he said.

  She should get in, she knew that. She should run. But there was Jake, standing brave and magnificent in his old man’s clothes. She had the strange urge to protect him. Where had that come from? She looked back at Tom, standing impatient and appalled. He was pale and sweaty, barely able to stand. Glancing between him and Jake, Sadie saw the fire extinguisher on the wall.

  ‘I’ll meet you downstairs,’ she said to Tom. When he kept his finger on the button, she snapped at him. ‘Hurry up and go!’

  Tom held up both hands in surrender.

  With a fierce, guttural roar, the beast charged again, closing the distance between them with terrifying speed. Its black lips peeled back and fire sparked in its eyes.

  Tom swore. The doors began to close, taking their time.

  Sadie grabbed the extinguisher from the wall and pointed its nozzle at the floor. A wide spray of foam coated the linoleum. The beast’s feet slid away and it hit the ground hard, sprawling and snarling as it scudded into the closing lift doors.

  Jake gazed at Sadie, astonished and impressed. He snatched the extinguisher and shoved it under his arm. The beast scrambled about on the floor, attempting to right itself, but Sadie and Jake were already running. They passed no one else. The alarm was still sounding, but the panic was happening elsewhere.

  At the end of the corridor, glass doors opened on to a large balcony. It was empty.

  Jake hurried through the doors, pointed at a bench seat to the far right. ‘Sit there.’

  Sadie frowned. ‘Yeah right, great idea. It won’t notice us if we’re sitting down.’

  Jake held up Tom’s bloodied T-shirt. ‘It won’t notice you. It’s only interested in me.’

  ‘You can’t still be thinking of fighting it?’

  Before Jake could respond, the balcony doors exploded in a paroxysm of bent steel and shattered glass. Jake grabbed Sadie by the shoulders and shoved her backwards onto the bench. A dark mass flew through the air and collided with him, throwing him to the paving. The beast was taller than Jake and twice his width. Its thick arms easily pinned him to the ground. Having found its quarry, the beast threw back its head and bellowed at the night. Its triumph reverberated out across the city, echoing off the dark apartment blocks and around the empty market.

  Jake struggled, unable to shift the beast’s bulk. Sure of its victory, the creature took its time, sniffing at its prey. Its shoulders shook with what might have breathlessness or laughter. Its anthracite eyes gleamed, its spine arched and—

  Jake lashed out with his knee, lifting the tattered loincloth and connecting with the organs behind. The beast howled and bent over in pain. Jake was instantly on his feet, brandishing the fire extinguisher. He clubbed the beast’s skull with the steel canister. Once, twice, three times. Dark blood gushed from a wound above the creature’s right eye, and the beast staggered backwards blindly. Again, Jake swung with the extinguisher, cracking it down on the back of the beast’s head. There was a terrible crunch, like a boot on a gravel drive, but Jake kept on. His eyes were wild. As he raised the extinguisher again, the beast struck out with its left fist. The impact knocked Jake a metre up and two back, sending the extinguisher flying over the edge of the balcony into the car park below.

  Jake hit his head against one of the large pots but managed to stagger back up. The beast roared, mouth wide, spraying blood and spittle. Its head went down and it stormed towards Jake, horns thrusting.

  Jake stood his ground. When the beast was upon him, he fell backwards, rolling with his attacker. He gripped the beast by its shoulders and, using its weight and momentum, diverted it up and over his head. The Minotaur cleared the balcony wall and disappeared, sprawling, into the darkness below. There was the soft crunch of bone and metal, and a car alarm sounded.

  Sadie peered over the balcony. Five floors down, the most incredible and deadly creature she had ever seen lay prone on the crumpled roof of a 4WD. She wasn’t sure how she felt, seeing the beast so still, so dead. It had killed two people in front of her, it had gored her best friend and it had tried to kill Jake. And yet, now that it was dead, she felt sorry for it.

  Jake was standing beside her. His nose was bloodied and a graze ran from his right elbow to his shoulder, staining the sleeve of his shirt.

 
‘It frightens you,’ he said quietly.

  ‘That thing would have frightened anyone,’ Sadie snapped.

  ‘I don’t mean the Minotaur. I mean death.’

  ‘Yes. Of course. Totally.’ Sadie turned to face him, drawing in her bottom lip between her teeth. ‘Yesterday we found your friend murdered and you didn’t bat an eyelid. Like his death meant nothing. Is that what happens when you don’t ever die?’ she asked, her chin tilted at his. ‘You stop caring?’

  Jake didn’t look away. ‘You didn’t run. The Minotaur could have killed you. You could have escaped in the lift. You made sure Tom did.’

  They were connected now, Sadie realised, she and Jake. Connected by this violence, more tangibly than they had been by secrets, by confessions. This was real.

  Below, the dark figure of the Minotaur twitched and lifted its head. It dropped to the ground and limped away into the shadows, towards the harbour. Above, dirty pink daylight was rising behind the hospital.

  Downstairs, there were police and fire-fighters and frantic paramedics. Plastic tape unfurled and lights flashed. Tom waited with the other hospital evacuees, wrapped in a blanket. In the confusion, it was easy enough for the three of them to slip out into the morning and find a taxi.

  The taxi stopped three houses down from Sadie’s. She got out and peered back in at Tom, who was shivering in his seat. His eyes were pale and wide. Jake craned his head around him from the far side of the back seat.

  ‘If you’re free tomorrow, perhaps you could take me shopping. For new shoes.’

  He wasn’t talking about shopping. The relic was out there, and Sadie knew, as she nodded, that she was agreeing to help Jake find it. ‘Okay, sure.’

  Tom’s frown deepened. ‘I thought we were hanging out tomorrow?’

  ‘Oh yeah,’ Sadie winced. Maybe she was surprised to realise which offer appealed more. Maybe she wasn’t surprised at all. ‘It’s just, this is kind of important.’

  ‘Shopping? For shoes?’

  It all sounded awful. ‘Yeah. The thing is—’

  Tom shrugged. ‘Nah, forget it, it’s cool.’ He looked towards her front gate. ‘Stan’ll be off fishing soon.’

  Sadie nodded. She glanced at Jake, bloodied and battered. He smiled. The door closed, the taxi drove off, and Sadie walked along the silent street.

  She wished Tom hadn’t been sitting there between them, and maybe she felt guilty about that. Without him there, Jake might have walked her up the side of the house. The idea seemed strangely irresistible. There was something new beneath her skin. Something halfway between anxiety and anticipation.

  The house was quiet and she made it unseen from the back door to her bedroom. Through her window, the garden was a still and perfect scene of bright greens and warm light. Magpies were carolling. Sadie took off her boots and sat on the end of her bed, feeling suddenly exhausted.

  Head on her pillow, she remembered the rose. It was still in her bag, which had been carelessly thrown onto taxi floor and along hospital corridor. She imagined the flower would be torn and bruised, but there it was, as perfect as the moment Jake had picked it. She used the mug on her bedside table as an impromptu vase. It was the last thing she saw as she fell asleep.

  12

  LOST TREASURES FOUND

  Sadie slept four and a half hours, but only felt impatient on waking. She hurried through a piece of toast and a quick shower and pulled on the first dress she found in her cupboard. Wheeling her bike through the front gate, she called out an easy lie about meeting Tom at the beach.

  Tom answered his phone on the second ring.

  ‘Hey Sades.’

  ‘Hey, look, I have a favour to ask. Okay, I lie. Two favours.’

  ‘You sound out of breath.’

  ‘I’m on my bike. If Nan or Grandpa ask, can you say I’m with you today?’

  For a few seconds, all Sadie could hear was the echoed rush of the morning air. ‘Yeah, sure. Cool.’

  He agreed too easily. Now she felt even worse. ‘You don’t have to.’

  ‘Nah, it’s cool.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘It’s cool, really.’

  ‘Thanks Tom. You are awesome.’

  ‘Right.’ Tom didn’t sound convinced. He hesitated, allowing the wind to again echo down the wire. ‘What was the other favour?’

  ‘Oh yeah. I’ve had a look at this website, but there’s no street address. You reckon you could find out who it belongs to?’

  ‘Maybe. What’s the website?’

  Sadie told him. In the background, she could hear typing. Trust a boy to be in front of his computer.

  ‘Right, yeah, got it. Looks like lots of antiques stuff, is that it?’

  ‘That’s the one.’

  ‘Lots of those Greek vase things—’

  ‘Amphorae.’

  ‘—some old maps, goblets, jewellery. International shipping is available. Yeah, you’re right. There’s no address, just an email.’

  ‘I know. So?’

  ‘So give me a sec. Shouldn’t be too tricky.’

  ‘You’ll do it now?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘Thanks Tom. Two thumbs up.’

  A beat. ‘Sades.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Be careful.’

  ‘It’s just shopping.’

  ‘Right. Look, I don’t want to sound ungrateful or anything, but he beat that thing to a pulp.’

  ‘Yeah, well. If he picks up a fire extinguisher, I’ll jump straight back on my bike.’

  ‘Sades, I’m serious.’

  Only half-listening for traffic, Sadie cut across a corner and collided with a cyclist coming in the other direction. Her first warning was a young man’s yelp, before her front wheel tangled with his, throwing her sideways to the dry grass of the kerb. Her phone bounced away from her.

  She was already apologising when she saw the man’s messenger bag. The buckles had popped open, unleashing a manilla folder. Five photographs slid out. Each was grainy and speckled with colour fuzz. There was Sadie, wheeling her bike through her front gate. There was Tom, hands in his pockets, crossing her drive. And Sadie and Jake leaving the house in the early hours.

  Sadie looked up, outraged, and saw the God squad staring down at her.

  ‘I knew it. You are stalking me!’

  She tried to snatch the bag, but the blond one—Brother Jason, his name badge claimed—was too quick, swooping down and clutching it to his chest, as if rescuing a fallen bird.

  ‘What’s he like?’ he asked.

  ‘What’s who like?’

  ‘You’ve met him, we’ve seen it, you know we have. What’s he like?’ He was Australian, Sadie realised, unlike most of his two-wheeled brethren who sounded like they’d been shipped in from Ohio.

  Her legs still tangled in her bike frame, Sadie scrambled to reach her phone. ‘I’m calling the police, psycho.’ It was an empty threat, and the man seemed to realise.

  ‘What is he like? Where does he live? How can we get in touch with him?’

  These questions burst from him at high pressure. It was all Sadie could do to back away, drag her bike upright and get her feet onto the pedals. Even as she hurried off towards the railway, queries and demands skittered along the bitumen behind her.

  ‘Is he the one? Will he save us? Is he the one?’

  Jake came to the front door in bare feet, carrying a Turkish coffee on a small china saucer. For a moment, Sadie wasn’t sure it was him. The old man clothes were gone, and instead he wore a tight-fitting white T-shirt and dark blue jeans rolled up to his calves. A battered grey trilby was squashed down to his brow. He might have modelled himself on black and white snaps of some fifties film star. It really had been a while since he was young, Sadie thou
ght. But the new look suited him.

  Sadie had stopped halfway up the wooden steps. Her teeth clicked as she closed her mouth, far too late. She really hoped Jake hadn’t noticed.

  ‘I wasn’t sure what time to expect you,’ Jake said. Walking back into the house, he seemed more relaxed than she had yet seen him, almost smiling as he indicated the freshly cleaned lounge-room, the polished floorboards of the hall and the newly stocked shelves of the pantry. He stirred the coffee pot and poured Sadie a cup of the sweet, earthy brew. There was a plate of fresh pastries on the kitchen table and a bowl of fruit. Light fell through blinds that hadn’t been opened in years. Sadie barely noticed.

  She told Jake about the morning’s altercation, trying to ignore the new heat rising in her cheeks. Jake sat across from her at the kitchen table and listened with an irritating calm.

  ‘They must be after the relic.’

  ‘Oh right. No biggie then. Thing is, they weren’t asking about that, they were asking about you.’

  ‘Sadie, I told you. Whoever killed Frobisher wanted to get to me. Because I had the relic.’

  ‘Yeah, but it was weird. They wanted to know all about you. They were all like: Is he the one? Will he save us?’

  ‘Save them? I haven’t even met them.’

  ‘Right, weird. But you think they killed Frobisher?’

  ‘Evangelists on bicycles?’

  ‘Okay, so not obvious suspects. But we should tell the police. I mean, they are stalking me. I have stalkers. There must be a hotline or something.’

  ‘No.’ He put down his coffee cup. ‘Right now, the relic is the only thing that matters. The police would only get in the way. I want you to tell me about this website. Starting by telling me exactly what a website is.’

  Sadie nodded, reaching into her handbag for her phone. With two swipes of her thumb, she opened the message Tom had sent as she pedalled down Ocean Street. A name and an address in East Perth. Jake peered at the screen with curious, quiet amusement, which quickly broke into astonishment.