Tomorrows Child

by Starr West

  “I think Ruben plans to turn us all into warriors. He hasn’t stopped worrying about what we saw in town or what Lon had to say, but we’re not really prepared to defend ourselves.”

  “I don’t think I’ll make much of a warrior.”

  “Ruben still has to convince Libby; and I would be surprised if she agreed to you trading magick lesson for weapons training.”

  The idea that I could trade one for the other was suddenly exciting. I didn’t hate magick; I just didn’t understand it. Hunting, shooting guns, firing arrows, defending against an enemy – that was basic and something I could understand.

  Tahinah looked around, “Has anyone seen Raven?” No one had seen her since we’d been here, which was now hours. “Phoenix? See if you can find her please.” Worry creased Tahinah’s brow as she headed toward the house.

  “She won’t be far. It’s not her style to go wandering off and she isn’t a baby anymore.” Phoenix wasn’t overly concerned about his sister, but he searched for her anyway just to ease his mother’s worry. We checked in and around the house and in parts of the garden we hadn’t explored earlier.

  Raven was sixteen, just a few months younger than I. When we first met, I thought we may have become friends, but she barely spoke to me on the way to town, even though she sat beside me. When we arrived there, she quickly found friends to spend the day with. I wasn’t offended, just surprised.

  We eventually found Raven sitting in the old bus shelter at the end of the driveway beside the road.

  “Where have you been?” Phoenix demanded. She didn’t answer. “Mum’s been looking for you.”

  “So... It took her long enough to realise I was missing.” Raven didn’t smile, she just stood up, stomped off and left us trailing behind her.

  “Well, she’s a nice girl,” I said, unable to hide the sarcasm.

  “Yeh, she used to be, I don’t know why she is being such a bitch. Teenage girl thing, I guess.”

  “Hey, I’m a teenage girl!” I nudged him with my elbow.

  Phoenix paused and looked at me. He squinted and his brow wrinkled in the centre, then he smiled and shrugged. “Yeh sure, I forget sometimes,” he added as he grabbed my hand and dragged me back along the driveway.

  Chapter 7 ~ DANCE WHEN THE MOON IS WATCHING

  The aroma of cooking meat and roasting vegetables drifted toward us as we walked down the drive of the house. The sweet smoky smell made me forget my misgivings about eating fluffy bunnies, as it always did. The group now gathered around the fire as the sun slipped behind the horizon. The wind had picked up a little, rendering the air fresh and crisp.

  I stood watching the flames flicker and grow brighter as the sun set. Roasted meat and yams, along with pots of stew were carried to the tables. I smiled at the children who ate with happy faces and the adults who hovered nearby, tending to their needs. I was happy for the first time in months, I felt safe and peaceful. Tahinah looked up across the fire, then smiled and gave a little nod as Phoenix reached out and took my hand.

  “We should eat,” he said.

  As hungry as I was, I didn’t want to eat. I wanted to hold this moment for as long as I could. Warmth radiated from my heart until I was sure I was glowing. I was surrounded by love and friendship and wanted to wallow in it for just a little longer.

  “Hoy, Psyche! You gonna eat or what?” Navarre called me from across a dwindling mound of roasted rabbit and broke the spell. Deep down, I wondered if I would ever feel this safe or happy again.

  We sat with our plates on our laps and ate with our fingers. Roasted rabbit and yam sat beside chunks of tomato and wedges of cucumber, all piled high on old china plates. Others scooped stew with spoons, sopping the gravy with thick, crusty bread. We didn’t always eat this well, but we’d never gone hungry either.

  “Do you realise how amazing this is? There is so much food! There’s no misery! We live nothing like those people in town,” I remarked. Phoenix was sitting on one side of me and Navarre on the other.

  Phoenix looked around the fire, “Most of us were expecting it though. Some of them were drawn here, but many of us chose to live here. Everyone you see here tonight has spent years preparing for this day.”

  “Yeh, we know heaps of people that live like this,” Navarre said as he tossed his bones into the fire. “There are four other groups in the area that have better set-ups than us. One family has been living off-the-grid for years and has a system that runs everything! As if they were on the mains.”

  “Wow, I wonder if they would let me charge my iPod?” I said. Music was the only thing I really missed.

  “Psyche, you can charge it here if you want. Even Libby has enough power to charge an iPod.”

  “We don’t have power.”

  “Yes, you do. What do you think runs the fridge in the pantry? You have cold milk, don’t you?”

  “Yes… but I thought it was gas like the one in the bus. You don’t need power for gas fridges.” Now I just felt stupid.

  “We all have solar panels and small wind turbines. They’re pretty hard to miss.”

  “I’ve been preoccupied, I guess.”

  Navarre made me feel foolish, but eventually Phoenix came to my rescue. “Another family has a bunker so big they will spend the next twelve months hidden in the side of a mountain.”

  “Seriously? I’ve heard rumours about people building bunkers and bomb shelters, but I didn’t think anyone actually built one.”

  “More were built in the US than here, but there’s plenty in Australia too.”

  “Does anyone here have a bunker?”

  Navarre looked at Phoenix and both boys shrugged. “Not that we know.”

  “But they wouldn’t tell us anyway, not until things got really bad,” Phoenix surmised.

  “Hey Dad! Do we have a secret bunker in the hills?” Navarre asked.

  The men were standing on the opposite side of the fire, huddled in deep discussion. Ruben looked unnerved by the question.

  “Don’t worry, Dad, I know you’d tell us if we had one.” Navarre nudged me with his elbow and lowered his voice so only Phoenix and I could hear him. “Maybe our security clearance isn’t high enough.” We all laughed, but something strange happened when Navarre asked his father about the bunker. It appeared they did have one and were surprised by the question, or they were discussing something else, which they didn’t want to share with the rest of us.

  “Well, I know why Libby has been preparing for years. The prophecy told her to, but what about everyone else?” I asked after a moment.

  “There are lots of prophecies that predict the end of days.”

  “Like Armageddon and the End Times?” I had read about these and seen more than one movie predicting the end of the world. “If they thought it was the end of the world, why prepare for anything?”

  “Because none of the predictions say anything about the earth ceasing to exist. Most mention major changes to the structure of society and a transformation of spirit.” Phoenix answered as he stood up and pulled me to my feet, “But that’s enough talk about the end of days. We are supposed to be having fun.” Phoenix dragged me toward the house, leaving Navarre alone by the fire.

  Emily was gathering musical instruments and putting them near the door. “Great timing, I need a hand to get this stuff outside,” she said as she stood with her hands on her hips, “unless you had something else planned.”

  “No, we’d be happy to help.” Phoenix tossed a piece of wood into the top of the stove in the kitchen and returned to carry a huge drum out to the front yard. I picked up a tambourine and Emily handed me an old guitar.

  Someone whistled as we stepped off the veranda and into the light of the moon, then a chorus of cheers and claps and more whistles filled the air. I saw Libby, laughing. She already knew me well enough to know that I would hate the attention, but she didn’t come to rescue me, she just sat there laughing.

  “Do you sing, Psyche? I know your mother was a singer.” Emily asked
, waiting for me to answer. Mum sang my whole life, she sang in the bus, walking up the street and on the tops of mountains. Sometimes I thought we travelled just so she could sing in every corner of Australia and from the top of every mountain.

  “Well, they say everyone can sing, but not everyone should, at least not in public,” I said.

  “So which are you, a ‘can and should’ or a ‘can and shouldn’t’?”

  “I definitely shouldn’t.” I often regretted that I couldn’t sing, but not tonight. Tonight I was thankful that I had no talent.

  “Hey, Psyche, how do you like living here with all these hillbillies?”

  “Remember Lachlan Taylor?” Phoenix whispered.

  “Yeh, I love it, but I haven’t met any hillbillies yet,” I laughed. I knew it was meant as a joke and although I still felt relaxed, I didn’t want to respond with some foolish answer. I was pretty good at embarrassing myself.

  “Is Phoenix treatin’ ya good? Has he shown you around our little part of God’s Paradise?”

  “Leave the girl alone, Lachlan.” Emily smiled and winked, “Don’t pay any attention to him, he’ll tease you all night if you let him.”

  “I was just makin’ conversation. She’s one of us now. May as well get used to it.” Lachlan screwed up his face as if he were disappointed he couldn’t tease me more.

  The full moon was large and golden and as beautiful as always. I wanted it to glow with blue light, but I knew the “blue moon” was really just an expression. I sat down beside Libby and rested my head on her shoulder, “Thanks for making me come. I was pretty close to running home, you know.”

  “Yeh, I know, but Phoenix would have dragged you over anyway. Or maybe Lachlan and Navarre. You weren’t going to miss this celebration.”

  The music started soft and steady. Two large tribal drums sat side-by-side. Lilly’s hands stroked the drums like she was tending a lover and Emily hummed a wordless melody. As the tempo increased, Emily’s voice rose and the words became a rich, haunting song. The beat thumped through the ground and into my body, making my heart beat faster and in rhythm with the drums.

  Navarre ran up and caught my hand. “Come, dance.”

  Despite my protests, Navarre dragged me toward an open space on the lawn. He swung me round and round, oblivious to the music, as if we were kids in a playground. We spun and the world blurred. The moon appeared to wobble as if it would drop from the sky. When I got so dizzy that I was about to collapse, Navarre slowed, but the world still spun. I felt like a child and laughed. I laughed until tears flowed and then I fell to the ground and laughed some more. I hadn’t laughed in months. It felt good.

  Navarre caught my hand and helped me stand. I was still giddy and the music permeated the air with haunting sounds. “Here, brother! Don’t let her sit, make her dance, make her happy.” Navarre placed my hand into Phoenix’s hand and kissed my cheek.

  Without a word, Phoenix led me to the open space on the lawn, but he didn’t spin me, he drew me close and held me until I could feel his heart pounding. “It was good to see you laugh, I have missed that,” he said.

  “Yes, I have too.” I wasn’t sure when Phoenix had seen me laugh or even smile, but it didn’t matter. He smelt comforting like smoke and sweet incense. He often smelt like incense and it made me want to snuggle in and stay like this forever. The music changed along with the rhythm, but Phoenix held me close and we danced. Navarre had gathered the children together and was dancing with them, spinning in a circle and flopping to the ground. They giggled and climbed on him until he spun them round again.

  Jalani held Navarre’s hand and wriggled her fingers into Phoenix’s hand “Spin, Pheny, spin!” So the two boys held their little sister’s tiny hands and the four of us spun, watching the blue moon wobble as we crashed to the ground.

  Chapter 8 ~ BEESWAX, DRAGON’S BLOOD AND A TASTE OF MAGICK

  “A toast,” Ruben said as he stood and raised an old cup skyward. The others reached down and scooped liquid from a pot that was warming by the fire. “It’s spiced mead,” Phoenix said. As he handed me a cup, I could smell hints of honey, cinnamon, cloves and ginger rising in the steam.

  “To friends, to family and to a new earth,” shouted Ruben. I sipped the sweet-spiced liquid. It tingled lightly against my tongue and its syrupy warmth flowed through me.

  Libby stepped toward the fire “To the Earth, our Mother and Great Goddess, may she provide for us in the days ahead and may the fire in her womb warm our hearts and souls as we head into winter.”

  I was still giddy from our spinning dance as I swallowed the sweet mead and tried to steady my heart. Most of the smaller children had fallen asleep on a rug just beyond the circle of the fire. Jalani was still awake, standing wide-eyed beside Navarre, holding his hand. The music continued, though the drums were replaced by the strings of a guitar as we settled into the tranquil atmosphere of the night.

  Phoenix was never far from my side. We had become friends without the test of time or the necessary trials and demands new friends normally place on each other. But it wasn’t just Phoenix, the entire community had accepted me. I was part of the tribe, I was family.

  In the soft stillness of the night, a noise, sharp and sudden, shattered the serenity. Harsh sounds assaulted the air, destroying the harmony. A screech, a growl, a crash of timber in the forest behind us and the music stopped. In the darkness beyond the firelight, it was coming towards us, but no one knew exactly what was causing the noise.

  In an instant, everything changed. Chaos and commotion surrounded us. Navarre scooped up Jalani in his arms. The screeching grew louder, closer. And then, for a sickening moment, there was silence.

  Breathe.

  A deep growl rumbled across the earth and my chest ached. I could smell it now, the putrid stench of a creature, long dead. The hair on my neck began to bristle and my stomach heaved.

  Out of the darkness emerged a large black animal, its features distorted, its hair matted. It appeared to be a dog, but it wasn’t.

  It stood beside the circle of stones that designated the fire pit and looked into the faces of the people, now frozen in place. The creature growled. It had found its target. Red eyes glowed and thick globs of drool fell in ribbons to the ground.

  The beast took a step closer. Its eyes fixed. Its prey defined. Red eyes burned into my soul and I swallowed my scream like an ember of fire in my throat. I was drawn into a world of death – a timeless space where life was unimportant. It took another step, fixing its eyes on me, its victim. I took a step back, drawn inexplicably into a world where everything ceased to exist. Phoenix reached out and pulled me aside as the beast stepped into the glowing coals of a dwindling fire.

  Ruben whispered, “Navarre! The gun.” The beast whimpered as the hot coals seared its flesh. As Navarre began to move, the beast swiped at him with a paw, sending him crashing to the ground. Jalani tumbled from his arms.

  Everyone’s eyes turned to Navarre. His blood seeped through his torn shirt as he lay in a lifeless heap on the ground. Tahinah rushed to his side. She lifted her face and I watched her eyes grow wide and her skin blanch white.

  “Jalani!” a woman screamed. The beast was gone, but so was the child.

  In no more than a few seconds, we had lost sight of the beast and Jalani. The chaos that erupted was deafening and confusing. Then, a voice of reason rose above the chaos, “Stop!” It was Libby, with Tahinah now standing by her side. Their faces were strained, but controlled. Both women appeared unified and strong, demanding the attention of the crowd.

  “Don’t move! Everyone stay where you are. Look on the ground, do you see any footprints, anything from that beast?” Emily pointed to a footprint, her hand shaking. Ruben pulled a clump of black, wiry hair caught on a shattered piece of firewood.

  “That’s enough, that’s more than we could have expected.” Libby knelt near the fire, stirring globs of drool and ash with a long stick. She snapped instructions at Phoenix, listing items she needed.


  The stench of death fouled the air.

  Tahinah reached for a battered, soot-coated pot and placed it on the fire. She dropped a lump of golden wax in the centre and I watched it puddle in the bottom of the pot as the smell of beeswax and honey slowly replaced the sickening smell of death.

  Libby scooped up the ashen drool and matted hair and tossed them into the pool of wax. Then she hurried to where the footprints were pressed in the dirt and ash. She mumbled in a language I couldn’t understand and took a tarnished copper spoon from Phoenix. I watched as the shadows deepened the lines in Libby’s face and her shoulders sagged under an unseen weight. I saw an old woman scoop at the paw prints beside the fire and toss the dirt and ash into the pot of molten wax.

  Phoenix handed her a small, dark red bottle. She opened it and smelt the contents. Tahinah did the same; then they looked at each other and nodded. One, two, three! Thick red liquid dripped into the wax, which spluttered and sizzled as if resisting the invasion. Tahinah stirred the mix with the copper spoon until the colours swirled, blended, and changed from golden to deep blood red.

  The two women stood facing each other, holding the pot. They poured the wax onto a cold stone slab. The wax began to thicken and the surface grew dull. They stood, repeating the words, “One heart, one mind,” and scooped the wax with their fingers, forming it into a misshapen figure. It was as if one hand moulded the wax, not two, and certainly not the hands of two different women. I understood the words and realised that my grandmother and her friend stood as one… one heart, one mind.

  Phoenix handed Tahinah a long black cord. She wound the cord around the wax, chanting as she intoned, “Bind this spirit, bind this blood, essence of the wounded beast, Bound by spirit, bound by blood”. She passed it to Libby and they continued together, “Bound by spirit, bound by blood, trapped in time.” With steady hands, they both reached for a knife and plunged it into the wax figure.