by Baker Chris
They woke when the creature crashed into the room, shattering the window and showering glass over the sleeping family. The man threw back the duvet and jumped to his feet. The creature knocked him insensible with a closed fist, then picked up the woman by her hair. It hurled her against the wall and she sank to the floor, unconscious. Then it turned to the young man, now on his feet and facing the creature, a knife in his hand. The figures stood out in the pale light. The two children, propelled by terror, burrowed beneath their blanket. The young man gulped and swallowed. He held his knife out before him. The creature knocked it out of his hand and seizing him around his throat, locked eyes.
The young man tried to look away but the creature’s gaze was irresistible. Moonlight glinted on scaly skin and he found himself pulled into its eyes as if he was being sucked down by a swirling river current. As the creature squeezed his neck he felt a mounting horror. It wasn’t just killing him, it was drinking him. A weakness grew in the pit of his stomach. He felt his strength vanishing into the creature. His hands hung by his side, and his legs all but gave way. What vision he had left began to blur. He went limp, almost unconscious, and the creature shook him in anger. The last thing his numbed brain took in was the creature bending down towards him, its mouth opening and the moonlight shining on its teeth. He passed out as the teeth sank into his skin and he didn’t feel a thing as it ripped his throat out. With a snarl of fury the creature let the young man’s corpse drop, turned and leapt out the window.
Kevin was awake at first light. He soon had the fire lit and water boiling for a cup of tea.
‘C’mon,’ he cried to everyone. ‘Up and at ’em. We’d better get down to the cell and let Hoheria out.’ Within half an hour they were at the police station. Kevin turned the key in the lock and swung the door wide.
Hoheria was sitting on the edge of her bed, ready to go, with her blankets rolled and tied.
‘Am I ever glad to see you guys,’ she said. ‘That was a really long night.’ She seemed puzzled.
Kevin gave her a searching look. Was that blood on her clothes? ‘What happened?’ he said.
She followed his gaze. ‘I cut my hand,’ she said. It was wrapped in a torn scrap of sheet.
‘Did you change?’ he asked.
‘I don’t think so. Maybe not. I’m really worried, Kevin. I think something happened, but I just can’t remember.’ She looked nervously at Kevin and Paki, then around the cell. ‘Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the heebie jeebies.’ She helped Kevin pick up her gear. ‘Whatever it was, I’m okay now.’ None of them looked upwards at the small high window, its bars bent and shatter-proof glass smashed out.
Back home they sat around the table breakfasting on barley cakes and fresh fruit.
‘Well, where do we go from here?’ asked Kevin. Hoheria seemed cowed, distracted and worried.
‘Best you go to the markets for the day,’ said Paki. He hadn’t moved from his mattress on the floor. ‘At least you guys can. I’m staying here till I feel better.’
‘Sounds like a good idea,’ said Kevin. ‘We can find out from other people what’s going on around the place.’ He looked at Hoheria. ‘You know, if anyone else is possessed.’
The markets were buzzing.
‘Wonder what’s happening?’ Kevin said to Hoheria. She shrugged, and carried on helping Cheryl set up their trestle table. While they were loading it with the seedlings they were selling and trading they heard a loud scream. When they looked up in surprise, a woman standing nearby was pointing, straight at Hoheria.
‘It’s her!’ she shrieked. ‘Look out! She’s a monster!’
Kevin turned to Hoheria, a sinking feeling growing. Something must have happened. But what? The young woman looked baffled.
‘Look after her,’ he said to Cheryl. ‘I’m going to find out what’s going on.’ He moved across to the woman and started talking. Cheryl could see her, wide-eyed and white-faced, no longer screaming, but still pointing and talking excitedly. ‘Monster’, Cheryl kept hearing, and then, to her horror, ‘…killed him…’ She saw Kevin’s shoulders slump. When he turned back to Hoheria, his look was one of despair and hopelessness.
‘We’d better check the cell,’ he said when he returned to the stall. He looked at Hoheria and took her hand. ‘You did change, and somehow you got out and back in again.’
‘I thought so,’ said Hoheria in a resigned voice. ‘I hoped it wasn’t true. Tell me what I did.’
Kevin put an arm around Hoheria and hugged her. ‘This is horrible,’ he said. ‘You killed this young man. You tore his throat out with your teeth. You knocked people out.’
Hoheria’s jaw dropped. Her mouth opened. ‘I didn’t –’
‘You did, girl. They’re terrified of you. You’re too strong for them. Looks like you’re too much for that jail cell too.’
The woman had moved across to the stall, in front of Hoheria. She raised her arm again and pointed. ‘I know how to stop you,’ she said. ‘We’ll kill you. See how you like being shot.’ She sounded righteous as well as scared.
‘Steady on,’ said Kevin. ‘You won’t have to do that. We’ll take care of her.’
The woman looked doubtful. ‘Like you did last night, I suppose.’ She glared at Hoheria, who was looking frightened and vulnerable.
Kevin just couldn’t imagine her harming anybody, until he thought back to the way she’d attacked him and Paki. ‘Look at her,’ he said. ‘Does she look like she’s enjoying this? She’s possessed by one of the Ponaturi.’ He was starting to raise his voice now. ‘She got that way saving a young boy.’ He put a protective arm around Hoheria’s shoulders. ‘I won’t let you hurt her. Leave her alone.’
The woman took a step back. ‘I’m going to get Jim,’ she said. ‘He’ll blow her away. You won’t be able to stop him.’ She gave Hoheria a final glare, turned and stalked off.
‘I know that Jim,’ said Cheryl. ‘If you’ll pardon the expression, he’s as mean as catshit.’ She patted Hoheria’s hand. The young woman was crying, quietly and despairingly. ‘You’d better get out of here while you can.’
‘Where can I go? Where can I hide?’
‘Try the other police cell,’ said Kevin. ‘I’ll lock you in.’ He thought for a moment. ‘We have to figure a way of keeping you safe tonight. We have to find out how you escaped and got back in.’
‘I know,’ said Cheryl. ‘You must have got out through the window bars. There isn’t any other way.’ She looked awestruck at the thought of Hoheria smashing the safety glass and bending the heavy iron bars. Then a thought struck her. ‘Maybe we can use heavy chain and padlocks.’
‘Sounds gross,’ said Kevin. ‘But it might work.’ He spoke to Hoheria. ‘Do you mind? We have to do something. We haven’t got much time.’
‘Of course I mind,’ said Hoheria. The tears had stopped. She sounded angry. ‘But I don’t have a lot of choice.’ She looked around the market. ‘We’d better hurry, too, before Jim gets here.’
They found some heavy chain and a padlock in a hardware shop on the way to the police station.
‘Quick,’ Cheryl hurried them along outside the police station. ‘It’s getting late in the day, and I need to get back to Paki.’
‘We’ll try the other cell,’ Kevin said. ‘I don’t want some redneck fool poking a rifle through the window.’ He raised an eyebrow at Hoheria. ‘The thought of you breaking out of a jail cell is just mind-boggling.’ He wound the chain around and through Hoheria’s legs, and padlocked it. ‘I’ll be back shortly with food and bedding,’ he said. ‘I’ll lock the door in the meantime. Safer for you.’
Hoheria gave Kevin a sorrowful look. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this,’ she said. She threw her arms around Kevin’s neck. ‘Whatever happens, just remember how much I love you.’
‘Nothing’s going to happen,’ Kevin said. ‘You’ll be okay.’ He started moving towards the door, stopped and turned. ‘I’ll wait outside while Cheryl gets your gear.’
&nbs
p; 10
The Smell of Daphne
Kevin sat outside Hoheria’s locked door talking with her. He felt sick with worry. Where was it all going to end? How could he rescue Hoheria? Her voice sounded strained, plaintive.
‘Are you handling all this?’ he asked. There was a long silence, then the sound of a muffled sob, quickly choked off. He had to strain to hear her reply. ‘Just.’
Kevin imagined Hoheria, sitting on her cell floor by the door, at the mercy of a monster and clinging to everything she knew and loved.
‘Knew and loved.’ Maybe that was the key. He called out to her.
‘Wrap yourself in all the good things in your life,’ he said. ‘Make a list of them. Think of them and feel them. Keep saying them to yourself.’
‘I’ll try.’ She started calling out to him. ‘You. Our home at Kokopu Waters. Our life together. Sean and Alex. Cheryl and Paki. Little Eric.’ She went quiet.
Kevin could hear her snuffling. ‘That’s it,’ he said. ‘Keep going. Think of everything you like.’
‘You mean like warm rain and sunny days in spring? My sheepskin jacket? Mānuka honey?’
‘Yes! And smoked fish, Socks the cat, Waha, your horse. Woolly blankets in winter, the smell of daphne …’ Kevin listened for a response, and heard a half-hearted chuckle.
‘You should have been a poet.’
‘See, something’s working.’
Kevin thought back to the distraught woman at the markets. He shook his head as if to wake himself up. Really bad things were happening, things he didn’t understand. But maybe they’d get through the minefield. Maybe they’d find a way.
His reverie was shattered when the station door banged. ‘Good,’ he thought. ‘Cheryl’s back.’ He turned his head just in time to be confronted by an angry, bristling man, wearing a torn windbreaker and clutching a rifle at port arms.
‘Okay,’ the man said. ‘Where is she?’ The dreaded Jim. It had to be.
‘Look, pal, we’d better talk about this.’ Kevin stood, instinctively calculating his striking distance, and took up a stance in front of the cell door. Was this guy used to heavy-duty aggro? He had the look of somebody accustomed to violence. He didn’t sound too friendly either.
‘Never mind the talk. She’s a monster. She kills people. Where is she?’
‘Put the rifle down first.’
In answer the fellow clutched the rifle tighter. ‘I’m going to shoot her before she kills anyone else.’ He looked like he meant it.
Maybe some psychology would help. ‘She’s got one of the Ponaturi inside her. She’s trying to deal to it. Kill her and it might get in you.’ But let’s not be too polite, Kevin thought. That’s my mate he wants to shoot. ‘Anyway, pal, you even try to hurt her and you’re dead.’ Forget the psychology. Let’s all be perfectly clear where we stand.
The fellow took a step back. He clutched the rifle tighter. But he looked wary rather than intimidated. ‘I don’t give a flying fuck who she is. She needs putting down.’
Kevin’s muscles tightened as the adrenaline pumped. No way was this guy going to listen to reason. Then from inside the cell came a noise like a dog whining. Both men stopped to listen. Jim was just swinging the rifle around to point at Kevin when with a huge crash and a splintering of wood the door flew out of the frame, knocking Kevin flat. From where he lay Kevin couldn’t see behind him, but in the fading light he watched Jim’s eyes widen and his jaw drop. And then, to his horror, Jim pointed the rifle and fired two shots.
Frantically Kevin turned, expecting to see Hoheria on the floor. But she was still standing. She was looking straight at Jim. Blue fire was dancing around her hands and a bundle of chain was heaped on the floor.
‘Quickly!’ she said. ‘Get out of here. I can’t hold it for long!’ The flames flickered, like a gas bottle was running low. Kevin scrambled to his feet and rushed for the door, right behind Jim.
Out on the footpath Jim was disbelieving. ‘I shot her,’ he said. ‘Twice. Nothing happened.’
A gibbous moon hung over the eastern horizon, bright enough to cast long shadows. But it wasn’t bright enough for Jim to see the look on Kevin’s face. He didn’t see the punch coming either. It hit him full in the face and he dropped the rifle. Kevin picked it up by the barrel and swung it against a lamp-post with all his strength. The stock split and the breech shattered, scattering metal pieces all over the road. He handed the rifle back to Jim.
‘Here y’go, dickhead,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you do something useful and jam this where the sun doesn’t shine?’
Jim looked at the smashed weapon and threw it on the ground. Kevin couldn’t see his expression in the moonlight but his tone was clear enough, even if his words were muffled by pain. He was afraid of Kevin, but covering the fear was an anger that made him shake with the need to hurt somebody.
‘This isn’t over,’ Jim said. ‘I’ll be back.’ He whirled on his heel and with one hand over his bleeding nose started striding up the road, his legs stiff and his shoulders hunched in thwarted fury.
‘Kevin!’ came a shout from down the road. There was Cheryl, a bedroll over one shoulder and a pīkau on her back.
‘She’s okay,’ Kevin called. ‘I think.’ He turned back to the station.
Hoheria was standing in the doorway. She looked like an avenging angel with blue fire dripping and a halo of light around her head. He stepped back and was about to flee when Hoheria held up a fire-ringed hand. ‘It’s quite safe,’ she said. ‘I’ve got this thing under control.’
‘For real?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘That idea of yours did the trick.’
Kevin moved to her and tentatively touched her on the arm. The blue fire didn’t diminish, but it didn’t burn him either. It made him tingle.
Quickly he pulled his hand away. ‘So it’s over?’
‘Yes. Until I go to sleep, that is. I don’t know what happens then. But I can feel the Ponaturi getting weaker.’
Cheryl looked worried. ‘What do we do about the rest of tonight?’ she said. ‘Tomorrow night?’
‘I don’t know,’ replied Hoheria. ‘The cells are no good. I might as well come home.’
They were walking near where the old concrete bridge crossed the Kahuika River, silent and swirling in the moonlight. ‘How’s Paki?’ Hoheria asked.
‘He’s sore,’ said Cheryl. ‘You broke some of his ribs. How do we know you won’t do it again?’
Hoheria was silent. The blue flames flickered. Then she spoke. ‘See this fire?’
‘Yes.’
‘I can control it. And the Ponaturi hates it. It eats him up like acid. I can feel him getting smaller. He wants to get out but he can’t. He’s trapped. I can breathe him back in to the blue fire if he tries to escape to someone else.’
‘How do you control it?’
Hoheria moved to Cheryl and took her hand. ‘Paki was right,’ she said. ‘It’s love. If I think of all the things I love, like really think of them, picture them, let my feelings towards them rise up, the fire comes out.’ She seemed taller, heavier. ‘Feelings about people are especially strong. When I think of Kevin, you and Paki, I’m very powerful.’ She reached for the blankets and the pīkau. ‘Here, let me carry that lot. You’ve taken enough of the weight.’
‘Paki’ll be relieved. But tell me, what about when you go to sleep?’
Hoheria looked worried. ‘That’s the thing. I don’t know. I guess I just have to stay awake till the Ponaturi can’t affect me any more.’
Kevin laughed. ‘Finally, I’ll be able to teach you to play chess.’
Hoheria turned to him. ‘That might be tricky. I’ve got a feeling if I get irritated or annoyed the creature’ll get stronger.’
‘That’s okay,’ said Kevin. ‘I promise to let you win.’
‘Welcome home,’ Paki said after he heaved himself painfully into a sitting position, leaning against the wall. Cheryl wedged two cushions behind his back. ‘What are you going to do this time?’
Hoheria swallowed. An etched mirror above the woodstove glowed in the candlelight. Moonlight shone through the window. ‘Nothing, I hope. And I’m sorry about your ribs.’
‘Never mind them,’ Paki said. ‘What about you?’
‘I can control the blue fire now, and the Ponaturi, but…’
‘But what?’
‘I’m worried about what happens when I go to sleep.’
Hoheria spent the next half-hour explaining to Paki how she raised the blue fire and how the Ponaturi hated it.
When she finished, Paki nodded thoughtfully. ‘Seems straightforward,’ he said. ‘We just have to keep you awake till the creature’s gone completely.’ He sneezed, and winced. ‘Then you can sleep. What do you have to do to raise the fire?’
‘I meditate.’ She sat cross-legged by the open window in the cool spring breeze, crossed her hands in her lap and started breathing slowly and rhythmically. Her eyes were open, but focussed elsewhere. Paki went to speak, but Kevin put a finger to his lips and shook his head.
After a few minutes Kevin spoke. ‘It’s probably okay to talk now. I’d say she’s got the whole show on the road. You’ll have to work hard if you want to disturb her.’
‘How do you know?’
‘She used to do this back in Kokopu Waters. Sometimes she’d be out to lunch for a whole morning.’
‘She can stay out as long as she likes, if she’s cramping that little monster’s style.’
Hoheria sat till nearly midnight, unmoving and unseeing, her breathing cut to half her normal rate, her back straight as a plank of wood. Finally, when Cheryl rose from her fitful doze to make another pot of tea, she stirred. She opened her eyes wide, raised her arms over her head, and stretched. Then she turned and looked directly at Kevin, sitting half-asleep in an armchair by the woodstove. She held out her arms to him.
‘Come here, sweetheart, give me a cuddle.’ Her voice sounded clear and sharp. This was the old Hoheria returned.