Tomorrows Child

by Starr West

  “So be it, it is done.” They sat with their eyes closed and hummed a tuneless song.

  We waited. Phoenix stepped back, and I felt his warmth as he put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. Time stood still and we waited. I could barely breathe, for fear that I would break the spell.

  Navarre was sitting up now and it seemed the bleeding had slowed, but his face was pale and his eyes dark and filled with pain.

  “It’s okay, she is safe for now,” Tahinah sighed and looked at Ruben, his eyes brimming with tears that glistened in the light of the moon.

  Libby stood and spoke in a distant, hollow voice, “The beast is bound, it is time to rescue the child,” she looked only at the men. “Take the old logging road, the creature was fast, too fast… About a mile past the second bridge, there’s a dead tree that glows in the night. You haven’t seen it this way before, it’s been struck by lightning and its heart still burns. Turn there, left or right, I can’t say for sure, but listen, you should hear the beast. It lies in pain, but it’s not dead. It is bound, its spirit trapped, but only while the moon is in the sky. Jalani is not far, near the beast, near the river. Go now! Go!”

  Libby turned and spoke directly to Phoenix. “Phoenix, you bring me the heart, if the beast has one. We need to know what creature can carry a child and not be slowed by the burden. That beast knew Psyche, what beast could know her? What beast would choose her from a group of people? Go now, but please, you only have ‘til dawn. If you haven’t reached Jalani by then, it will be too late.”

  The men were no longer listening; they were on foot and running down the narrow drive. I watched them leave. I watched Phoenix leave. He carried the knife that Libby had driven into the lump of wax. Ruben and Seth carried guns, Lachlan also had a knife, while Luke carried both. Navarre held his bow and a quiver full of arrows slung over his shoulder. I watched as they all disappeared from sight.

  Libby turned to the other women who were clutching babies in their arms. “Go home everyone. You are safe now. No one will die tonight,” Libby reached out and held Trinity’s hand. “We’ll know if they’ve succeeded by dawn. Come back then, but take your babies home and be thankful that your child was not the one taken tonight.”

  Libby took Tahinah’s hand and they walked silently toward the house. I followed. I’d received no orders, but that didn’t mean I was staying put, out in the darkness beside the fire. Ruben, Phoenix and Navarre were with the hunting party, as they should be. Raven stood in the doorway.

  “Are you okay, Mum?” Tahinah nodded, “Good. Then I’m going to bed,” but she paused and her voice softened as she added, “you can wake me when they get back.”

  Tahinah said nothing to her daughter. She turned to the stove and poured water into a large, cast iron kettle. The wood stove was alight and the hot coals waited, ready to oblige. The water boiled in minutes and the kettle whistled, disrupting the thick silence that had cocooned the three of us. We were all consumed by thoughts that led to places we wished never to visit.

  I had questions, so many questions, but I had no idea where to start. I wanted to know what happened, how it happened, how they knew Jalani would be okay, how could they be sure? I wanted to know why Libby had ordered her friends to do her bidding like she was… what? Their leader?

  “Shall I make sourdough?” Libby asked.

  “Yes, that’d be good. The men will be hungry when they return.” Tahinah answered. Libby pulled a large bowl from a shelf and began scooping large quantities of flour from a bin beneath the bench. She worked as if the kitchen were her own. Tahinah placed a huge pot of coffee in the centre of the table and three cups. Normally, I didn’t drink coffee; it just kept me awake and made my mind race, but that’s exactly what I needed right now.

  “So… what the hell was that?” I needed answers, but both women looked at me as if they were confused by my question. “That thing? What was it anyway? I didn’t think there were any dangerous animals here.”

  Libby spoke first “There aren’t.” She looked at Tahinah, “We don’t know what it was… we can guess, but we really don’t know.”

  “Psyche, it’s likely that it’s not… from our world. It’s something else… from somewhere else. We’ll have a better idea when the men return. If Phoenix is successful… then we’ll know… for sure.” Tahinah looked for Libby’s approval before she continued. “It could simply be a mutant dog, but there are two other possibilities that I can think of. Either it’s a beast from another place and time or it is a demon created by dark energy. There are many names for the first… but hellhound is most often used. Legend says these hellhounds are trapped behind the veil. Their very presence could mean the veil really is beginning to erode. The other explanation is that they were created by someone, a person who can use their darkest thoughts to manifest a beast and command the form to do their bidding.”

  “Either way, it’s not good. If Phoenix returns with a heart, then it was a beast from the other side of the veil. The fact that it appeared to be looking for you may just be a coincidence and nothing more.”

  “Of course, we may be wrong,” Libby interjected. She was pounding away at a lump of dough. The sticky mass was lucky not to be alive, I thought.

  “You’re serious! This is possible?” I exclaimed incredulously. It was all a bit much, but even though I wanted to deny that magick existed, I couldn’t ignore the fact that this creature had walked in and kidnapped Jalani. More than ever, I longed to have my old life back.

  “What was that thing you did? With the wax and the footprints and the hair? And what was that red liquid?” It was hard to remember everything that happened, but I had to know. I wanted to know, no, I needed to know.

  “We used a binding spell. Everything has energy, a spiritual energy that remains behind after it leaves. Even when you’re no longer here, your energy lingers a little and floats around. If you’re in a room, the energy will eventually float out the doors or windows. Sometimes it even gets trapped in the corners. We took the energy the beast left behind in his footprints. It’s the easiest way to capture someone’s energy. Most of the time, however, it’s very hard to do, even for those of us who can see it. The denser the energy, the easier it is to capture.” Libby paused in her explanation and Tahinah continued.

  “The wax was just a medium to hold the spell together. We could have used anything, resin or gum would also have worked, but they’re slower. The hair and saliva were an advantage, like adding spice to a cake. We could’ve managed without it but since it was there…”

  “What about the oil?” The bottle sat on the table so I unscrewed the cap and smelled the thick, pungent liquid. “That is anointing oil, frankincense, betony and dragon’s blood, not from a real dragon, of course. It’s an ancient resin that binds the magick. For our purposes, it represented the blood of the beast and the spirit of the animal. The body of the animal and the blood are combined as one, thus allowing us to bind it. Without the wax, we would have had nothing.”

  “So wrapping the cord was the actual binding?” I was beginning to understand, it was almost logical, I guess. “But plunging the knife in? That was fairly brutal!”

  “Yes, perhaps, but we couldn’t take any chances. It has my baby. There is no way we killed it, but it should be injured… which is enough,” Tahina answered.

  “Do you think they will find her?” I hesitated… I couldn’t finish, so I poured more coffee.

  Tahinah looked at me with concern but not despair, “Of course we expect Jalani will be okay! Libby, have you not told her?” Libby shook her head. “Shame on you, Libby! How are you going to teach this girl anything, if the truth isn’t your first lesson?” I was shocked. I thought everyone listened to Libby. Now, perhaps, I was seeing another version of the truth.

  “Psyche, your grandmother is a medium. She can speak to the dead, she sees spirits and talks to them. Her guides tell her things and answer questions. Usually when someone dies, they come to their family first, especial
ly children. Libby couldn’t see Jalani's spirit, so we know for sure she is still alive.” Tahinah looked at Libby with curious eyes.

  “She is fine. You know I will tell you…” Libby was beating another loaf into submission.

  “I know, I just thought I’d check.”

  “Now, Libby has another gift, a gift we both share. We can see things happening in the future. Everything is changing so fast now. Most of the time, I can only see little scenes into the future. Not very helpful usually, but tonight we saw exactly where the creature was bound and where Jalani was.”

  “Do you see everything?” I asked.

  “No, of course not,” Libby paused and put the dough aside. “The visions used to be quite helpful. These days we only see a short distance into the future. Tonight, it was quite helpful; but often, it’s no help at all.”

  “I don’t see into the future and I do just fine.”

  “You know, Psyche, that every Darnell ever born had the gift, not just to see the future but other gifts, as well.” Libby stood in the kitchen, covered in flour, waiting for me to reply. I just shrugged.

  “I don’t know. You’re the gifted one, you tell me.”

  Libby went back to kneading her bread. I poured more coffee.

  “Do you think Phoenix will be able to kill that thing?”

  “I see no reason why it would be a problem.” Libby spoke to me but looked at Tahinah. There seemed to be an unspoken communication passing between the two. I knew they still kept secrets and wondered what other things they concealed from me.

  “Psyche, there is something else.” Libby hesitated “The beast, did it look into your eyes? I mean, really look? Like it was trying to see who you were? Did you think it was looking at you?”

  I remembered the way it looked, the way it stood facing me, staring at me… In a way, its look was exactly the same as I’d seen from Libby and Phoenix sometimes. “Well it seemed to. Its eyes drew me in and felt as if it were looking right through me or knew me or something. But that’s just weird and creepy, right?”

  “Maybe, but we need to be careful. It may have just picked your scent up in the forest or it may have been sent to find you.” Tahinah broke this piece of news to me and the idea crept into my soul and slithered up my spine. I rubbed my arms to tame the goose bumps.

  “But I am a nobody.” It was true, I wasn’t special and no one even knew me. I wasn’t even gifted. But the suggestion that a wild animal was hunting me was quite unnerving.

  “We need to wait until Phoenix comes back, to be sure. Maybe I’m wrong, but just in case, we need to be cautious.” Libby was obviously concerned. “There aren’t many beasts that can pick up a four-year-old child. Despite how many people were there, the beast wasn’t afraid at all. Most wild animals would never run into a group of people and certainly never so close to a fire. There are only so many options, and none of them are too encouraging.”

  The women turned their heads towards the door, “They’re back,” both voices sang in unison. The yard was brightly lit, still and quiet, yet I couldn’t see anyone. Slowly, however, shadows appeared and the rescue party came into view. One-by-one, the men entered the yard; but there was no sign of Jalani or Phoenix. Once again, fear tightened across my chest. I held my breath and waited.

  Ruben walked out of the shadows carrying a sleeping child in his arms. “She’s fine,” he whispered. “I’ll go and put her into bed.” Tahinah followed Ruben and they disappeared into the house.

  I looked for Phoenix and Navarre; but didn’t see them in the faces who stood near the door. Panic pulsed through me. It came so rapidly, I thought I would scream or pass out or… And then they appeared at the edge of the driveway. Relief washed over me like a wave and I ran down the stairs toward the two shadowy figures. I suddenly stopped. What was I doing? I was extremely happy to see them, but beyond that, what was I doing? I wasn’t about to leap into their arms.

  Neither noticed my distress. They were smiling.

  “Hey, Psyche, wait ‘til you see what we’ve got. It’s the coolest and the grossest thing you have ever seen,” said Navarre. He buzzed with excitement, the adrenalin still had him on a high.

  Phoenix whacked him with the back of his hand. “We’re fine, Psyche. I thought you’d be worried by now.” Phoenix carried a large, hessian sack that was weighted with something… the heart of the beast.

  Phoenix called to Libby and his mother and put the sack on the ground, away from the house. He opened the bag, “Do you really need to look?” he asked and the women paused, then nodded and looked into the bag. They stood silently for a long time, then Libby looked up first.

  “Did it bleed?”

  “Yes, but the blood was as thick as molasses, cold and almost black.” Thick, black blood covered both boys, creating a gruesome scene. Navarre had tied a piece of leather around his injured arm to slow the flow of his blood. His arm hung limp at his side. The red blood soaked his shirt and was dripping from his fingertips, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “And the heart is hard, like stone. Phoenix had a hell of a job cutting it out.” Navarre couldn’t hold his tongue any longer; he had to describe the grossness. “You should have seen it, it was crazy mad, wild and snarling, drooling… all over the place… he almost chewed off his own leg… they were like dinner plates…his feet were… I’ve never seen anything like it… and Phoenix… he was just the coolest… he stabbed it with that knife, but it didn’t die, it just got mad… screaming like the devil had it by the balls… but the binding had it buggered. It tried to attack Phoenix, but he just drove the knife in right to the hilt and slit it from top to bottom… or bottom to top… whatever… it was so cool.”

  I didn’t want to listen, but couldn’t resist, no one stopped him, so he just continued. When he finished, my mind was filled with images of the beast and the thick, black blood. I could see the devil red eyes and hear the screams as the creature choked on its final breath.

  Phoenix and Navarre had run all the way. Navarre’s arrows had taken the beast to the brink of death and Phoenix ended its life. By the time the men arrived, the beast was dead and its heart removed. Jalani was safely ensconced in her brother’s arms. The men had already heard the story several times, but there was something mesmerising about the way Navarre told it. Over the years, it would become a legend and in the telling and retelling, it would become even more fantastic and more terrifying. One day, it would be the story that scared children into bed and drove women to lock their doors. For me, that time had already arrived.

  “Navarre, your arm! Let me look at it.” Tahinah said, she just realised her son was still bleeding.

  “It’s fine, Mum, really. It’s probably just a scratch.” Navarre still smiled as he looked down and saw his blood-soaked shirt. A moment later, Navarre swayed and buckled at the knees, falling to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

  Chapter 9 ~ REVEALING SECRETS

  It was dawn before I crawled into bed. Waiting for the men to return had been agonizing. The truth about the beast was terrifying. But it was the continuous flow of coffee and caffeine that coursed through my veins, pushing sleep away and making my mind race.

  The sun was in the western sky when I woke and the house was empty. Libby had placed two jars of dried petals on the bench, chamomile and St John’s wort. This was her form of gentle persuasion. I’d consumed copious amounts of both after Mum died because these herbs were supposed to relieve stress and depression, as well as ease hysteria. I’m not sure they work.

  I heard voices and took my tea into the garden. Tahinah sat on the wooden bench beneath the fiddlewood tree and Jalani played beside her.

  “Good afternoon, sleepyhead,” Libby greeted me with a smile. She wore garden gloves and held a fine silver sickle. Bundles of herbs had been laid carefully in a basket at her feet. My head whirled from the smell of fresh herbs mingled with the sweet fiddlewood. The sun was hot on my skin and forced me to move into the shade.

  “Greetings, Ps
yche,” Tahinah smiled, Jalani appeared to have suffered no damage. “How are you today?”

  “I’m fine, but how is Navarre?” Navarre had fainted from the loss of blood and I wondered how it affected his warrior pride. The three gashes in his arm were deep and needed stitching, which Ruben did while he was out cold. Running through the forest had made the blood loss much greater than it should have been.

  “Much better,” said Tahinah. “He was up for a while this morning but he’s sleeping now.”

  “I would like to see him, if it’s okay. Maybe tomorrow?” I wanted to see him today, but Libby planned to spend some time discussing the prophecy and he obviously needed rest.

  “You should have woken me earlier so we could work on the prophecy.”

  “You’re still too tired to concentrate, but you probably learnt more in one night than I could have taught you in a week. Practical magick is so much better than theory.”

  Tahinah continued Libby’s line of thought, “And to keep with the spirit of practical magick, we intend to spend some time on protection spells and charms - for everyone.”

  “It’s seems obvious that whatever or whoever was responsible for the attack last night had a specific target, but is unafraid of attacking any of us.” Tahinah was more certain now that I was the target.

  “It’s what we were discussing when you arrived,” Libby said, her brow furrowed with the gravity of the matter. Until last night, I hadn’t really taken magick seriously. Now I was at the centre of a brewing storm and if a lightning bolt of magick struck, I would be standing directly in the line of fire.

  “Good, then talk because I don’t understand what’s going on.” I was so tired, tears welled in my eyes, “I’m so lost, I know that I have something to do with all this, but I just don’t understand. If I’m creating all this danger, then I should leave. If something had happened to Jalani last night and that thing really was after me, it would have been my fault. I couldn’t live with that.” I took a deep breath. I’d said it; now they would have to tell me the truth. A hand rested on my shoulder and gripped lightly; it was Phoenix.