Fire in the Sea

by Myke Bartlett

  ‘You broke into my house. You stole the most precious thing in it. The most dangerous thing. And, for what? A few debts?’

  ‘Oh, come on, man. I did my research. I’m not going to sell it off to just anyone, am I? His client was some religious group. Live out of town in an old—what do you call it?—seminary. Just mortals though, nothing sinister. All they wanted was to lock it up behind glass and admire it. You know what mortals are like.’ Vincent straightened up in his chair. ‘You were dead, I figured it would be safer with them. There’s no way Lysandra would go looking for them, is there?’

  Jake fumed. ‘Don’t you dare suggest you were acting in anyone’s interest but your own. If we don’t get that box back, this city, and your shop, and your fortune, will be lost. And I will make you suffer.’

  Vincent swallowed hard. ‘Look, I didn’t know she was out there, honest. I didn’t know she would go crazy trying to get it. You think I want this city sunk?’ He sat forward in his seat, clasping his hands together in a desperate prayer. ‘I know where they are. I went out there, didn’t I? Just to make sure, to be careful. I knew you’d make everything all right, in the end. I mean, hell, that’s why I’m here. There’s a killer out there, but I knew I’d be safe with you. You’re our leader, you’ll protect us.’ He threw himself from the steps and dropped to his knees in the dirt.

  Jake recoiled from him. He turned away and kicked at the dry grass. Sadie followed him.

  ‘We can do it,’ she said quietly, so that Vincent, sobbing by the back steps, wouldn’t hear. ‘We can get the relic.’

  ‘We can.’

  ‘You can stop Lysandra.’

  ‘I could.’

  Sadie waited for him to say more. She wanted him to look at her. ‘Will you?’ she asked.

  Jake stared at his hands. He stared at Sadie, his chin trembling. His fingers entwined themselves in the brass chain around his neck.

  ‘You said I should choose. Choose where I belonged. Who I cared about.’

  Sadie nodded.

  ‘Do you care about me, Sadie Miller?’

  She took a deep breath. ‘I want to.’

  Jake tore the chain away from his throat and stared at the talisman in his palm. He looked as if he might cry, or be sick. Slowly, he tilted his palm and let the disc fall to the dirt by his shoes. ‘We’ll find the relic,’ he said, with sudden determination. ‘I’ll use the demon’s power to stop Lysandra. I’ll save your city. And I’ll face the consequences as a mortal.’

  A fat droplet of rain landed squarely on his forehead, like an anointment. Within seconds, they were caught in a downpour. The water was clean and blissfully cold. From here to the Darling Ranges, sweaty figures in their underwear ran from airless rooms to dance on wet lawns. Another rumble of thunder rolled up and over the dunes towards them. In the rain, Sadie couldn’t tell if Jake was upset, or relieved.

  At his feet, new mud swallowed the tarnished talisman and its broken chain.

  There was no respite from the rain. Furious torrents roared down Ocean Street, along footpaths and gutters, as if determined to wash away any trace of the heat.

  Tom pulled up at the kerb at around one. The tyres of the 4WD parted the rising water. He hit the horn, twice, each time only lightly, worried about the neighbours.

  Sadie had eighteen missed calls on her mobile, but she couldn’t bring herself to check them. She sent Kimberley a text, asking her to tell Margot that she was fine and that she would be home soon. That way, her grandparents could stop worrying and she could postpone any trouble until morning.

  But, as she opened the passenger door, her cousin looked out at her, confused. ‘You just sent me a text saying you’re okay. I know you’re okay, I can see you’re okay. Why wouldn’t you be okay?’

  Sadie had been bent over to shelter from the rain, but now she straightened up. ‘Oh, bloody hell. Tom was supposed to drop you home.’

  ‘He did, I got changed. I mean, come on Sadie, a midnight road trip? You are never this exciting.’

  ‘Get out.’

  ‘No way! It’s pissing down.’

  ‘Get out or none of us are going anywhere. I’m shotgun.’

  Kimberley reluctantly unbuckled her belt and squeezed between the seats to join Heather in the back. Sliding into the passenger seat, Sadie could see them both in the rear-view mirror.

  ‘Oh, seriously? What is she doing here?’

  ‘Mum said she had to come. Like it makes things safer. Like she could protect anyone from anything. I mean, from a good time, maybe.’

  ‘There isn’t room,’ Sadie growled. ‘Jake and Vincent are coming too.’

  Kimberley sniffed. ‘Heather, get in the boot.’

  Heather climbed over the back seat and dropped down into the boot.

  Soon Tom was turning right onto Marine Parade. To the west, the storm was low and close over the dark sea. There was little gap now between the electric flash and shattering thunder.

  Kimberley had insisted on sitting in the middle, pressed tightly between Vincent and Jake. She now seemed to regret this, recoiling from the odorous man on her left. Every time she looked west, her nose bunched. When she looked east, she batted her eyelids.

  Sadie watched her cousin in the rear-view. ‘I can’t believe your mum and dad let you out of the house.’

  Kimberley shrugged. ‘Come on, you know what mum’s like. She thinks worry gives you wrinkles. Dad’s a lawyer. He knows when it’s not worth arguing.’

  ‘Kim, you nearly died.’

  ‘I know. It’s all over Facebook that I drowned. Seriously, people are so upset. Celia Black’s going to be totally pissed off. Her dog got run over last week but, come on, that was a dog. This pisses all over her dead dog.’

  On her right, Jake winced. ‘What a delightful turn of phrase.’

  Kimberley turned to him, feinting a shiver. ‘I am seriously in love with your accent.’

  Sadie rolled her eyes.

  As they drove east, through white rain, Sadie plugged her iPod into the stereo.

  ‘This is worse than Heather’s stuff,’ Kimberley complained. ‘At least some of those singers are cute. You know, in an emo kind of way. These people sound old.’

  ‘If you don’t like it, you can taxi home,’ Sadie said. ‘This is my road trip.’

  Still, Sadie was touched by a strange sense of camaraderie. She was no longer an unwanted stray. This was her adventure, and the others wanted to share it.

  Through the windscreen, the hills rose up against the low sky like a damp memorial. Memories littered the roadside. The past’s geography surrounded her but it no longer seemed to be a map of her loss. There were wonderful things that had once happened here, just as there were terrible things. Which wasn’t to say that she didn’t think of that wet afternoon, bobbing and weaving along steep roads. Her mum had been lightly scolding her dad, who always pushed the speed limit. On empty country roads, he would hunch over the wheel and cackle like a cartoon racer.

  That was how Sadie remembered them, playfully arguing. She didn’t think they ever shouted, and she knew they loved each other. She had always felt lucky, when she saw other kids’ parents. Tonight, somehow, she still felt lucky.

  The handbrake crunched on and Tom leaned across to turn down the music. They had left the main road and were on a soggy dirt track that traced the first twists and turns of the Swan River. The city was half an hour’s drive behind them, but felt much further away. Even in high summer, the greenery here was dense around the brown water. Tom had parked by a steel gate. A hand-painted sign warned trespassers to keep out. Beyond it, a gravel path was quickly swallowed up by greying trees.

  ‘I don’t know why I had to come with you,’ Vincent complained, pressing himself flat in his seat. ‘I could have drawn you a map. I mean, what am I going to do? I’m not a
talker. I shake. My palms sweat. I drop things. And you can forget violence, I’m no fighter. I wasn’t made that way.’

  Jake and Tom shouldered the gate open and soon the 4WD was edging along the muddy track. The headlights seemed to find faces in pale tree trunks.

  Finally the path opened onto a broad, wet clearing and a large sandstone mansion. Two utes, a station wagon and a shiny black Merc were parked beside a rainwater tank, but there were no lights in any of the windows.

  Jake leaned forwards between the seats. ‘Turn off the engine,’ he muttered.

  They waited in silence. A wet possum poked through the undergrowth then, spotting its audience, scurried away.

  ‘Maybe there’s nobody home?’ Sadie suggested.

  At the sound of her voice, the back window on the driver’s side imploded. Heather shrieked, scrabbling about in the glass rubble.

  Bright lights flared above the front veranda. A bearded man in singlet, shorts and thongs was striding purposefully towards them, a shotgun thrust out in front of him. With a free hand, he gestured for Tom to roll down his window.

  ‘Do it,’ Jake muttered.

  Despite the gun pointing in her direction, Sadie saw little sign of aggression, merely a wry twist to the man’s top lip.

  ‘G’day,’ he called, spitting rainwater, as Tom wound his window down. ‘Been expecting you for a coupla days now.’

  Tom’s mouth opened and shut again with little more said than, ‘Well’ and ‘Cool’, strung together by a few ‘ums’.

  ‘Jeez Louise, I hope you’re not the one we’ve been waitin’ for. Don’t just sit there, mate. Get your arse out of the car.’ He ducked his head to peer in at Sadie. ‘Same goes for you darlin’, and your pals in the back.’

  ‘He’s got a gu-un,’ Kimberley noted in a high whisper.

  ‘Well spotted Hawkeye,’ Sadie muttered.

  ‘This is what we came for,’ Jake said. ‘Just do what he asks.’

  ‘But it’s raining!’ Kimberley trilled.

  ‘Open the door,’ Jake said.

  Kimberley jolted into action. Her long legs unfolded and she quickly flattened herself against the side of the car.

  ‘Hands up now darlin’,’ the man said. ‘All of you keep everything where I can see it.’

  Dropping down from the passenger seat, Sadie moved around the bonnet to join the others. Tom was squinting into the light, Kimberley was squeaking and Jake was somehow managing to look casual while holding his hands in the air. The heavy rain soaked their clothes and gave each of them an excuse to tremble. Vincent got out last. He took long, arched steps that kept him low to the ground. The house’s front door flew open and another three men appeared, each of them holding a weapon.

  ‘All good Alan?’ the youngest of them shouted. Even from this distance, Sadie recognised him as one of the God squad men.

  ‘Get the women and kids to stay inside,’ the first man yelled back. ‘Jason, take this lot around the back.’

  At that, Kimberley whimpered and Sadie found it hard to keep holding her defiant sneer. Around the back sounded bad. Clearly Vincent thought so too, as his hands dropped and he spun on the balls of his feet, making a run for the trees.

  Jason, panicking, let loose both barrels from the veranda stairs. Sadie threw herself left as the windscreen shattered. Behind her, Kimberley was screaming and Jake was shouting at everyone to stay calm.

  Too late, Sadie thought. She crouched in the black mud, watching Jason fumbling shells into his shotgun. She saw Kimberley make a break for it. There wasn’t time to think. She ran after her.

  Alan fired again, shattering the driver-side window. Tom and Jake dropped to their knees, keeping their hands behind their heads. Another shot went off and Sadie weaved right. Her cousin was already crashing through the scrub.

  It was strange, but Sadie felt responsible. She couldn’t let Kimberley get herself killed. Tom and Heather would be all right, she knew that. Jake was there.

  Bloody hell, she thought, as a bullet thudded into a nearby tree, do I trust him?

  There were men chasing her. She could hear their shouts. Despite the downpour, it was a bright night—crisp shards of moonlight made her an easy target. Her hair was plastered to her face. The sharp leaves of the undergrowth scratched her legs. Her dress snagged on a branch and tore to her waist.

  She ran downhill, skidding and sliding towards the river. She had some idea of swimming to safety. Across the river, there might be a farm or a winery. Maybe she could find help. Would she call the police? Could they help? Her own phone was back in the glove box.

  Halfway down the hill, she tripped and ploughed headfirst into the mud. She somersaulted twice, then rolled sideways into bushes, spitting black earth. Her right cheek and bare arms were bleeding, her left ankle was twisted. Her lungs felt raw and breathless and her ears were ringing. She lay in her sparse shelter and waited to be found.

  Heavy footsteps approached. Branches were snapped and tossed aside. Peering out from her bush, Sadie could see it was Jason, the trigger-happy cyclist.

  ‘I saw you come down here. You and your friend. You better come out, unless you want the snakes to get you.’

  It was an empty threat, probably intended to scare a city girl who didn’t know better. It was an insult to Sadie’s intelligence, but told her a bit about his.

  Her fingers felt the edges of something warm, hard and uneven in the mud. It was a rock, still holding the day’s heat. Without shifting her shoulders or the bush around her, she prised the rock free. It was heavier than she expected. She was barely able to lift it.

  ‘Last chance,’ Jason taunted. ‘I’ve got two shells here. At least one of them’s got your name on it.’

  He crashed through a thick bush, cursing. He was close enough to make Sadie jump.

  She rolled the rock towards her hips with her fingertips. Twice it slipped from her touch and almost rolled downhill.

  Jason slid in the mud and landed on his backside. He was even closer now. It was all Sadie could do not to flinch and betray herself.

  She rolled the rock closer. Finally, she could feel its crags against her hip. She drew it to her chest.

  ‘Out you come now.’

  He was nearly on top of her. She gritted her teeth and thrust the rock out and away from her.

  It crashed through the bushes and thundered away downhill. As she’d hoped, Jason was stupid enough to mistake it for her in the heavy rain. She waited for him to move away, then raised her head above the shrub-line. There was no sign of anyone else.

  Five minutes later, Jason retraced his steps, but still didn’t find her. As he continued uphill, she could hear him on his walkie-talkie.

  ‘Guess they all coulda doubled back, yeah.’

  They. Were both Vincent and Kimberley out there?

  The river was a murky brown, run through with moonlight and shadows. About its edges, small dark yabbies twitched. Sadie followed the bank downstream until she reached a rusty iron fence, topped with barbed wire. The fence was high and ran out a metre or so into the river, making it impossible to climb over or around it. Anyway, she was no longer sure that was such a good plan. She was already thinking of an impossible rescue. What other choice was there?

  A nearby bush shivered, announcing an interloper. Sadie dropped into a squat, hoping for invisibility.

  A pair of tanned legs appeared. Like hers, they were scratched and bloody.

  ‘Kim!’ Sadie hissed.

  Kimberley dropped to her knees. Her cheeks were streaked with tears and mud.

  ‘Oh wow, you’re alive! We’re both alive! There was this tree trunk thing and I’m like no way am I going in there, but I can hear someone coming, and he’s like, stay still you little bitch, so I’m like I’m going to have to crawl in there, even though there’s p
robably snakes or spiders or shit. Oh wow Sadie, I thought, no way has anyone else got away.’ She held up her phone. ‘I tried to phone everyone, but there’s seriously no signal here.’ Kimberley sat down and drew her blackened knees up to her chest. ‘I mean, how do people even live out here?’

  Sadie took her cousin’s phone. There was still no signal. ‘You didn’t try calling the police, I suppose.’

  ‘Yeah right. Like they could do anything. Besides, aren’t they after Jake, or something? He’s like a fugitive, isn’t he?’

  ‘No Kim, he’s not a fugitive.’

  ‘Oh.’ Kimberley seemed disappointed. ‘So, are you and he—?’

  ‘Because this is totally the best time to be having that conversation.’

  ‘Wow, touchy or what?’ Kimberley stuck out her bottom lip. ‘Why are you always so prickly?’

  ‘I’m not prickly.’

  ‘We’ve all made an effort, you know. But you really don’t make it easy.’

  Sadie squirmed. She really wasn’t prepared for such acute analysis from her dippiest cousin. ‘Shut up.’

  ‘You shut up. You saved my life tonight. You know that was the first time I’d ever thought that maybe you actually like me.’

  ‘Seriously Kim, shut up.’ Sadie sat forward and pressed a finger to her lips. Nearby, a man was shouting.

  ‘Maybe one of us should, like, make a run for it or something,’ Kim said. ‘You know, to cause a distraction.’

  ‘I’ve sprained my ankle,’ Sadie whispered. ‘It’ll have to be you.’

  ‘Okay, bad idea.’ She smiled. At Sadie, at herself.

  Sadie felt a new tenderness for her cousin. Maybe any distance between them was, partly, her fault. Maybe she had been too busy looking at the horizon. ‘I do like you,’ she said, her eyes to the mud.

  The shouting was getting closer. Someone was crashing through the undergrowth towards them. Sadie could hear a high, panicked tenor in his voice.