Of Souldust and Starlight

by J. C. Hart

  KYLE SLIPPED DOWN THE path and into the shadows cast by the trees in the back yard, pulling the keys to Mrs Nolan's house from his pocket. He slid the right one into the door, the click of the lock loud in the night. The house felt strange, the lack something more than just the absence of its owner, who'd been stripped of her soul and taken from the Bay by one of Anahera's other lackeys.

  He hadn't been there when it happened, but here he was cleaning up after.

  Kyle shook his head, his frustration leaching out in the scowl on his face. He'd been at this for years now, doing little jobs for the woman, and he didn't mind that so much except that now they were finally here and things felt...different somehow. There was something about the Bay, the quality of the air, or the way the sea sounded when it slapped against the shore. The people perhaps? Not that he'd really interacted with many of them. Whatever it was, he knew it was special and he wasn't quite sure what Anahera had in mind; whatever it was, it wouldn't be good.

  And normally that didn't bother him. He thrived in the grey areas, doing the jobs no one else wanted to, and that had only gotten easier after he'd met Anahera. Doing bad things for her had netted him a lot more of the good things than a regular life of crime would have.

  Kyle shook off those thoughts and looked around. His bag had the necessary supplies—petrol, paper, matches—he just needed to get it done and get out of there. Burn the place down so that no one could figure out what had happened. Mrs Nolan was the biggest clue, but there was no way she could tell them all how Kyle had convinced her to muddy the waters and stall on getting the barrier back up. She'd been effective too, once he applied the right kind of persuasion.

  He dumped the bag on the ground and moved into the kitchen, scanning the bench til his eyes hit the hob. He skimmed the torch over the top of it.

  Gas. Hell yeah.

  Kyle turned the dials up to full and then knowing he had a few minutes before he could set things off he left the kitchen and moved into the lounge.

  There was blood on the floor, and more footsteps than there should have been, which meant there was a good chance Mrs Nolan's disappearance had already been noted—though if it had, there should be police tape or something right? Who knew what passed for regular procedures in this town though.

  In the short time he'd been here all he'd really learned was that they didn't do things the way normal towns did, and Noah, the guy from the tattoo parlour, seemed like the guy in charge. Kind of. Because Mrs Nolan had also seemed like a person in charge. They really needed to be better organized—Anahera was going to wipe the table with them, and he almost felt bad about that.

  He moved into what must have been Nolan's bedroom and riffled through the papers on her dressing table. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he felt compelled. The last page there was a family tree, but it wasn't like any he'd ever seen before. It had a list of the Maori gods, with names beneath them of children—some of them he recognised: Melody, Tawhirimatea's child. Moana, Tangaroa's child. Alyssa, child of Papatūānuku. Samantha, child of Rehua. The others? Tane, Rebecca, Jordan... none of those names meant a thing to him. At the end was the god Tūmatauenga, name unknown, female child, thirty to forty years of age. He frowned. So they didn't know her name, or much about her just yet. That was good. He ripped the page out and stuffed it in his pocket; Anahera might find the information useful.

  Time was up. He could taste the gas in tickle at the back of his throat, even in here. He moved through the house and grabbed his bag, pulling the container of petrol out. He poured a line to the back yard, right to the fence, climbed over, and then pulled out the matches. The scrape of the flint against the box felt like nails down his back, but he couldn't ignore the sense of wonder he felt when he dropped it into the pool of petrol and watched that small flame race for the house. He didn't wait around, but ran through the property behind Mrs Nolan's, covering as much ground as he could.

  The woomph of the explosion pressed against his back, and a warm pleasure rushed through him.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Sam was organizing stock when the phone rang. Her eyes skimmed the phone, noticing she'd already missed a few calls, so she grabbed it.

  "Noah, hi. What's up?"

  "We need to talk. Now. Get over to my place. The others are already here." His tone was brusque, which wasn't like him. Well, it was, though lately he'd seemed to have relaxed a little. Any trace of the chilled out, loved up Noah from yesterday was gone now.

  "Do you want to give me a little more information?" she asked. She balanced the phone between her ear and shoulder, and took off her apron before rummaging around for car keys.

  "Just, come. It's easier. We'll wait."

  "Okay. I get it. I'm out the door okay? I'll see you soon." She ended the call and threw her phone into her bag as she flicked the shop sign to closed and headed for the car, pulling the door shut behind her.

  There was no point locking it—the kinds of crime that happened here weren't going to be stopped by that. Although, things seemed more settled now that Alyssa had taken over her grandmother's role. The barrier was back in force, even if it wasn't quite as strong, and they'd all started to breathe a little easier. Sam knew that whoever wanted the gods dead was only biding their time. They needed to be prepared.

  But how on earth did you plan for something you couldn't predict?

  According to legend, Tū's grudge against his brothers stemmed from the beginning of time. As far as they knew, nothing had come of that until recently. Had breeding with mortals caused Tū's anger to be woken? Or had the others created children in order to protect themselves from their brother? And if Tū wasn't behind this, was it still Tū's child they needed to be worried about or someone else?

  It didn't really matter. The end result was the same. War, and the end of things as they knew it. Whoever it was wasn't going to stop, in fact they were just getting started. What was that saying?

  Warning shots have been fired.

  Sam frowned and chewed on her lower lip as she got out of the car. The whole absent spirit companion thing, on top of the threat of danger, meant she was feeling just a little frayed around the edges.

  Noah held the door open when she got there and ushered her in, locking it behind her.

  "We've been waiting," he said, his impatience clear.

  "Well excuse me for my slowness. I'm here now, what's the big fuss?" Sam looked around the room, taking in the others. Melody was leaning against the kitchen bench, Jake and Alyssa sat at the table but Brandon and Moana were both absent.

  "Was I the last one to know?"

  "I sent you a message earlier," Alyssa said with a shrug. "I guess you didn't get it?"

  "Receptions been a bit spotty." Sam sighed. "Look, let's just get on with it okay. I'm sorry for holding things up." She pulled out a spare seat and sat, dumping her bag on the floor.

  Melody came over and hugged her from behind. "You okay?" she whispered. "You're normally the calm one."

  "Sorry, I'm just... I didn't sleep well last night." Sam took a breath and tried to reclaim some of the calm she was known for. She wasn't ready to tell them what had happened, because it wasn't like they knew about Shadow. He was her private thing, and she didn't want that ruined by anyone else.

  "There's been a fire, and it wasn't an accident," Noah said. The room was silent for a moment, and despite the fact Noah said they'd wait, Sam got the feeling that she was the only one hearing this news for the first time.

  "Where?" she asked. "And how? I thought the barrier was back in place."

  Alyssa grinned sardonically. "I'm doing the job I was born for, but it appears we have some interlopers."

  Jake scoffed. "Well we know of one." He rested his elbows on the table and leaned in. "Kyle. He was the first new face we noticed, and he knew where to find where the pollution was coming from."

  "Where was the fire?" Sam chewed her bottom lip. She wasn't really shocked by the news, but it wasn't just a threat to a god, this was
danger in the town that could affect anyone living here.

  "Mrs Nolan's home," Alyssa said. "Brandon thought something weird had gone down there the other night, and maybe... Well, maybe they're trying to cover their tracks? It was put out before it leapt to any other properties."

  Silence filled the space again. Sam was relieved it was no one important to her, and at least no one else had gotten hurt. She glanced around the room, noting that Jake had leaned back in his seat, his scowl pensive, and Alyssa didn't look any happier.

  Melody moved across to Noah, slipped her arm around his waist. "Is there a way to tighten the barrier entirely?"

  "What do you mean?" Alyssa asked.

  "I mean, we know that it keeps the regular humans out. Though the odd one will end up here by accident. But it's designed to let those who know about it through, right? What if we locked it down, just, cut ourselves off entirely. Protect the Bay and everyone in it."

  Alyssa was quiet for a moment. She closed her eyes and...shrunk, somehow. When she opened her eyes again they were a deeper brown and Sam could see the earth goddess inside her friend. "It's possible."

  "No." Sam stood, knocking her chair over in the process. Her heart ached. "We can't shut down the borders on this place. The whole point is that it's a haven for those who need it. What are we if we're not filling that role?"

  "Filling the other purpose of the town. Protecting the Gods," Noah said, his voice solemn. "We can't forget how important that is. Without the Gods this place is nothing. Most of us wouldn't even exist."

  Silence filled the space, though it was anything but calm. Sam felt like the air had been sucked out of her.

  "It wouldn't be forever, Sam. But if we can tighten things up it could buy us the time we need to figure out what to do." Melody looked torn at her own words—after all, if she hadn't made it into town she would probably be dead.

  "I'm not sure how long it will take me to get organized, but I'll let you know when I'm ready to go ahead with it," Alyssa said. She glanced at Sam, her gaze might have been comforting at any other time, but right now Sam couldn't believe what they were saying.

  "And those strangers in town? What are we meant to do about them?" Sam tried to keep her voice calm, but her stomach was twisting into knots. Too much change, too soon. This wasn't how it was meant to be.

  "It will mean we've got time to figure them out as well, and wrangle them outta town if we need to," Noah said.

  "And Kyle?" Sam asked. She'd never met the man, but there was no doubt that he was working against the Bay. "We should take him out of circulation so that he can't do any more damage in the meantime."

  Noah mulled on this for a minute. "I don't like the guy, and I know he's trouble, but he might be our best source of information. Do you reckon you could get in touch with him Jake? See if you could get him onside? Maybe finish that tattoo you started." Noah's brow furrowed, then he caught himself, shook it off.

  Jake winced. "I thought we were past this man."

  "We are, I swear. I just think you're our best bet." He paused. "Plus you're good at it. I miss you at the shop, but I know you've got your own path to walk now."

  Jake gave Noah a nod, and for the first time since their falling out Sam could sense there was some peace between them. It made her hopeful, because even though things were bad, that could be the catalyst for change, for healing.

  Only it didn't make her feel any better about what was happening to the Bay. As far as she could see, shutting down the barrier only delayed the inevitable. Maybe they could hide here, wait it out—or gather enough intel to make a more educated guess. She'd feel a whole lot better if she could somehow lure the threat into the Bay, trap it here and deal with it once and for all. That was something she could work on while Jake and Noah toyed with Kyle, and Alyssa tried to figure out how to tighten the barrier.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Kyle shoved his laptop into a bag with the rest of his work stuff and put it in the closet, then scanned the living area for anything else that might give him away before opening the door. Jake stood there, holding a tray with takeout coffee out like a peace offering.

  He’d called Kyle the night before, taking him completely by surprise, and offered to finish his tattoo. He’d been the last person Kyle thought he’d hear from, and it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

  "Hey.” He grinned, motioning for Jake to come in.

  "Just the way you like it," Jake said as he passed the tray over. Kyle caught a whiff of sea salt, but didn't comment.

  "Thanks, man. Feels like a long time since we talked, things all good? Did you sort out that problem with the river?" Kyle didn't have it in him to be nervous about the response. He could play this totally cool.

  "Yeah, not bad. Shit kind of got out of hand with that guy, lost my phone, we got it sorted in the end though." Jake swung his bag off and placed it on the table, avoiding Kyle's gaze.

  "Oh so that's why you haven't been returning my calls?"

  Jake shrugged. "Good thing you left your details at the store right? Once Noah and I got over ourselves I thought I'd offer to finish your job." He nodded towards Kyle's shoulder.

  "Yeah, I tell you what. I really appreciate that. It feels a bit weird with a half-done panther. He's itching to get out." Kyle took a sip of his coffee and then pulled off his shirt. "Where do you want to do this?"

  Jake laughed. "Dude, you gotta give me some time to set up."

  "Oh, yeah. Sorry." Kyle felt dumb, over eager, and that wasn't like him. He dragged his shirt back on and reached for his coffee, sinking into a seat on the couch. "So what’s been going on?"

  Jake shrugged again. He was giving off a weird vibe, but Kyle couldn't pin down exactly what it was.

  "I met someone."

  "Does she surf? I thought I could smell the sea on you."

  Jake laughed. "No, not really a surfer, but we do spend a lot of time in the water."

  Kyle quirked an eyebrow, not sure what was so funny about that. "Well I'm happy for you, man. It's always nice when you meet someone special."

  "What about you?" Jake did finally look him in the eye then. "Did you manage to find some land?"

  "I did. You were spot on with your leads, and my boss was very happy with me, got a nice bonus even." He hadn't, not really. There were no bonuses in this line of work, just the hope that eventually it would all pay off. "She'll be moving in soon enough."

  "She? I don't know why I assumed it'd be a guy." Jake finished laying out his gear and slipped on some gloves. "Right, now you can take your shirt off."

  Kyle did as he was told and sat down, baring his back. They were silent as Jake got to work, the needle steady in his hands, tracing lines of fire into Kyle's skin.

  After a while it all blended together, but then his vision started to blur and he sank forward into the chair and passed out.

  When he came to it was like he could see things differently, with the kind of clarity he hadn't before.

  "You alright there, bro?" Jake asked, gripping his forearm.

  "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry about that... I don't really know what happened."

  "Well, you blacked out for a bit. I don't know why because your pain threshold was bloody epic last time. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Jake gave him a wink. "Anyway, the job is done! You slept through the final bits. Want to take a look?"

  "Of course." Kyle expected Jake to pull out a mirror but instead he grabbed his phone and took some photos. He turned the screen to Kyle and flicked through them.

  "What do you think?" Jake shifted from foot to foot, clearly anxious to know what Kyle thought.

  He wasn't sure he could put it into words. When he'd said the panther was itching to be complete he hadn't been making it up. It was like there was a creature inside waiting to get out, like there was a piece of him missing and seeing it there now, etched in ink, made him feel...

  Well, made him feel. Many things, things he hadn't felt in a long time.

  Jake put the
phone away and handed a tissue to Kyle.

  "What's that for?" he asked.

  Jake pressed his lips together, and then pointed between one eye and the other, and it wasn't until then that Kyle realized he was crying. "Right. Thanks." He took the tissue and wiped his eyes. "Can't remember the last time I cried, let alone over something like this."

  "I take it that means you like it then?" Jake's hopeful smile was infectious.

  "I fucking love it. Seriously man, you have skills." Kyle stood up, still feeling a little light headed. He gripped the back of his chair for balance.

  "Honestly, it was an easy job. I've never done anything quite this awesome before." Jake nodded, then started cleaning up his gear. "You mind if I keep some of the photos? Just in case I decide to continue down this line of work, my portfolio."

  "Of course, just send a few through to me when you get a chance. What do I owe you?"

  Jake stopped what he was doing and looked at Kyle. "Nothing. You had my back in the store, caught the brunt of my falling out with Noah, and helped me see there was more to life than feeling stuck in a rut. Life's changed a lot since then and I appreciate it. I think we're even now."

  "Jake..." Kyle didn't know what to say. He actually had a pang in his gut over the way he'd fooled this kid into thinking he was a decent person or something.

  "Don't go getting all emotional on me, bro." Jake laughed, swinging his pack onto his back and grasping Kyle's unwounded shoulder with a hand. "I'll see you around."

  Kyle locked the door behind Jake and headed for the mirror in the bathroom. He turned on the light and glaring white washed through the room as he looked in the mirror. The panther stared back at him, its teeth barred, ready for anything.

  He felt more complete than he had in his whole life.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Sam peered at the plate intensely, giving all her focus to the dishes so that she didn't have to think about anything else. She was scraping a smudge of food off when there was a snap in the air and the sense of loss hit her so hard she gasped. Shadow was gone. Completely gone. She dropped the plate and it smashed against the lip of the bench into a million pieces—kind of like her heart. She could feel his absence so keenly, as if he'd been snuffed out of existence.