Outback Spirit

by Nicole R. Taylor

  “The seal,” Coen said with a nod. “A great magic sleeps underneath.”

  Eloise shone the light on the stone. It was smooth, with no markings that gave any clues as to what it was or why it was here. Flashing the torch around the chamber, the walls were also bare. If it wasn’t for the magic she felt pulsing from the bluestone, she wouldn’t have known what it was.

  Where the key everyone was fighting over went, was another piece of the strange puzzle. There was no hole for a key to go, but she was assuming it was a key key. Andante hadn’t said what it looked like and Drew hadn’t admitted he’d taken it, at least not to Eloise.

  “Do you know the Rainbow Serpent?” Coen asked, standing beside the seal.

  “I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know the story.”

  “He goes by many names, spoken by many mobs across this land of Australia,” he murmured. “Goorialla. Numereji. Wanamangura. Yurlungur. Borlung, and many more. His story is told in as many ways as he has names. In the beginning, in the Dreaming, he came from beneath the ground, waking from a deep sleep. He set off across the world, searching for his tribe, waking others as he went. He woke the frogs who brought water, their croaking waking the seeds in the earth. The seeds drank and grew, bringing colour and life to the barren land.” He placed his hand on the seal as Eloise listened, transfixed. “Now there was food to eat and water to drink, and the Serpent woke others as he searched, his body carving the rivers and forcing up the mountains. Everywhere he went, animals awoke. Kookaburras laughing in the sky, goannas in the deserts, fish in the sea, wombats in their holes, kangaroos, koalas, dingoes. They were all happy as they gathered food for their mobs.”

  “Did he find his mob?” Eloise asked. “The Rainbow Serpent?”

  Coen grinned and held his finger against his lips. “Seeing what he created, the Serpent decided to make rules for the animals. Rules to protect all. Some followed and were rewarded by being transformed into humans. Others did not and were punished. They were turned into stone and placed in the mountains.”

  Eloise’s smile faded. Mountains.

  “One day, it began to rain,” Coen went on. “It rained and rained and rained until the world was flooded. Two young lorikeets came to the Serpent and asked him for shelter, but the Serpent was hungry and tricked the lorikeets. Take shelter in my mouth, he said…” He clapped his hands together with a snap that made Eloise jump. “And he ate them all up.”

  “What happened next?”

  “The Serpent was ashamed. He knew the lorikeet’s mob would come looking for the missing birds, so he hid in the sky. Then he decided to try to make the people happy once more and made his long body stretch from horizon to horizon,” Coen waved his hand through the air, “and turned his scales into a beautiful rainbow. Now…after every time it rains, you can see him in the sky and remember the Rainbow Serpent.”

  “But did he find his people?”

  He smiled, his eyes glittering in the eerie light cast from her torch. “We are all his mob. His search awoke us all.”

  Eloise’s gaze turned back to the seal. There was a moral to the story she was missing. The animals the Rainbow Serpent punished were turned to stone and put in the mountains. Did it have something to do with the black mountain from her dreams? Was it a warning?

  And if the bad animals were made into stone and sent above ground, what was buried in what used to be the ocean? Andante had implied it was the heart of the ocean, but was that description literal or abstract?

  “Stories are a way of explaining what cannot be told in words,” Coen said, watching her with a knowing that was unsettling.

  “Isn’t that a paradox?” she asked, her head aching.

  He laughed and pointed to the feather in her hair. “Bunjil created things, too.”

  “Was he a shapeshifter? Was the Rainbow Serpent an elemental? Is that how the dingo shifters came to be?”

  Coen shook his head. “So many questions about things that don’t matter. Think about today. What comes.” He took her hands in his, gaming her to try to jerk away, but he held her firm, unafraid of her power. “You came here for a reason. The Dreaming carried you to this place. Make paths by walking.”

  Eloise frowned, more confused than ever. What was she meant to do? How could she help protect the seal from the Dust Dogs? They’d come in full force with guns and violence. She was just one woman who didn’t know what the hell she was doing. She’d never fired a gun or fought anyone. She didn’t even know how to use her elemental powers properly—destroying Kyne’s mine was a prime example of that. What if she accidentally tore open the seal? Was that even a possibility?

  Coen tightened his grip on her hands, his touch calming. “When the river ebbs, you will know.”

  Drew had barely been awake for an hour or two before he convinced Vera to let him go to the pub.

  The shower he’d taken stung like hell, and the fabric of his navy-blue T-shirt rubbed the cuts on his chest, but he was feeling a lot better. Well, as good as the aftermath of being mauled by Roth allowed him to be.

  He limped across the side road, past Hardy’s shop, and over the yard in front of the pub. Stopping out the front, he listened to the sounds of the Exiles inside, his heart heavy. Vera had told him not to worry, but he couldn’t help it.

  Drew hung his head, his damp blond hair falling into his eyes, and pushed open the door.

  Blue was behind the bar, while Kyne, Hardy, and Wally sat on stools, talking quietly. The radio was on, but the volume was turned down. It was playing one of the various classic Aussie rock CDs Blue kept in scratched cases stacked beside the equally battered and ancient CD player. Luckily, Finn wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

  Hardy was the first one to stand. “Drew,” he said. “You should be resting, mate.”

  Drew collapsed onto a seat at the nearest table and rubbed his one good eye. The other was still black, but at least he could see out of it now.

  “I’m fine,” he told them. “I owe you all an explanation. I wanted to come.”

  “Well, I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I wished you’d gone about it differently,” Blue said. “But you were trying to do right by Solace.”

  “Hear hear,” Kyne declared.

  Blue rounded the bar and set a pint of beer in front of Drew.

  “Is that a good idea?” Wally asked.

  “The man’s earned a beer,” the publican said, drawing up a chair next to the shifter. “Let him drink.” It was the first time he’d referred to Drew as man and not a kid.

  “You don’t owe us an explanation, but we’d like to hear it,” Kyne went on. “Regardless of what you did, the Dust Dogs would’ve come here anyway. We’re in the calm before the storm together.”

  Drew was still feeling raw after his admission to Vera, so he started with the easiest part—when he found out the truth about what exactly the Dust Dogs were up to.

  “I’d been running with them for a few months when I overheard Roth talking to someone about something he’d found,” he began. “A key that unlocked something powerful hidden underneath the town. Something supernatural that would help them become the dominant pack in the country.”

  “Wait, how many packs are there?” Wally asked, sitting across from him.

  “Five or six, I don’t know,” Drew replied. “I still don’t know how Roth got his hands on the key, but it doesn’t matter. He had it.”

  “You knew about the seal when you were with them?” Blue asked.

  “They weren’t in the business of telling me anything,” he went on. “I was still new. Unproven. Packs have a hierarchy. Alpha, beta…” He waved his hands, counting on each finger. “The Dust Dogs follow a military-style rank system, kind of like human bikies do. Lieutenants, sergeant… I only overheard because I can’t leave well enough alone. By the time I figured out what they were up to, Roth had the key.”

  “What made you take it?” Kyne asked. “We didn’t know you then.”

  Drew grimaced. The elementa
l was right. He’d owed Solace nothing then and hadn’t even met Vera or the other Exiles. “I didn’t come until the night I overheard their plans,” he explained. “They were going to roll into Solace and shoot the place up. Take it by force. They knew the seal was here, and they knew you wouldn’t let it go without a fight. I… I never signed up for that shit. I might be an idiot dingo, but I’m not a killer.”

  “No, I don’t believe you are,” Hardy said, watching him closely, not elaborating which thing—killer or idiot—he meant.

  Drew glared at the vampire. “I wanted to see what you were like. If you were the same as them. But… Vera was nice to me. She gave me a job and a place to stay. Vera…” He trailed off, his thoughts on the witch who’d saved his life twice now. No one had ever stuck their neck out for him, not until her.

  “So, you decided to steal the key,” Blue mused.

  Drew could only nod, his throat tight. There was no way in hell he was crying in front of these guys. Man, if Finn was here, the fae would have a field day.

  “Where did you bury it?” Hardy asked.

  “Out in the scrub,” he replied, “about thirty K’s past the windmill to the northwest. It’s under a boab. Uh… Coen told me it was a safe place.”

  Kyne snorted. “Bloody Coen.”

  “Coen might know things we don’t, but it’s probably best to get the key and bring it back to Solace,” Hardy said. “Eloise said that others would come looking, and if they’re looking—”

  “Anyone could dig it up,” Wally finished.

  They all looked to Drew. The attention made him sink his shoulders and he lowered his gaze.

  “What do you reckon, Drew?” Kyne asked.

  He looked up again, surprised they’d care after all the trouble he’d caused. “You’re asking me?”

  “Mate, you’re one of us,” Hardy told him. “Of course, we’re asking you.”

  He blinked, struck dumb by their easy acceptance. He’d fought for everything his entire life—his grandpa’s approval, his place in a pack, work, food, money, everything—and this… He didn’t know what to do with it.

  “I want to help,” he told him. “I want to take you.”

  “Mate, you can barely walk faster than a shuffle,” Hardy said. “If the Dust Dogs come sniffing around, you’d better stay hidden. You’re in no condition to fight, though I know you want to.”

  The vampire had hit the nail on the head. “The Dust Dogs didn’t just screw with me or this town,” Drew snarled. “They murdered my entire pack. This is about more than a key to me.”

  The Exiles were silent for a while, their expressions equal amounts of troubled.

  “I gather you only just found out,” Kyne said, breaking the awkward silence.

  Drew nodded. “I challenged Roth. It was the only way I could get out of their camp, but I never got to finish what I started.”

  “Shit,” Hardy cursed. “And I just left him in that clearing. If it wasn’t for Coen, I would’ve already taken his head.”

  Drew looked up. “Coen was there?”

  The vampire nodded. “Yeah. He told me not to bother. Getting you back was more important. Now I wish I’d done something.”

  The dingo shook his head. The kadaitcha… Had it just been Hardy, or was it Coen? The answer didn’t seem to matter.

  “Maybe he died anyway,” Blue mused. “That’s why he asked you to leave him.”

  “No,” Drew said. “The entire pack was on the hunt. They knew exactly where he was. Roth will be back.”

  “All the more reason to get the key to Solace before they sniff it out,” Kyne said. “Hardy?”

  The vampire nodded, his gaze still on Drew. “I’ll go get it, but we should figure out where to keep it.”

  “It has to be one person,” Blue said, speaking up. “One person hides and knows the whereabouts. The more people who know, the more opportunities others have of finding it.”

  Everyone looked to Kyne, who sighed sharply.

  “You can hide things places no one other than another elemental could ever get to,” Wally told him. “Unless you have a better idea.”

  Kyne’s eyes narrowed, but he agreed. “Right. I’ll find a place.”

  “Uh,” Wally said, raising his hand. “What does this key look like? I’m imagining a key, but there ain’t no keyhole on that seal.”

  “It’s a flat, round rock,” Drew told them. “About yay big.” He held up his hand and traced around his palm. “And about an inch thick. It’s a strange kind of pinkish crystal with darker flecks through it like a vein of quartz. I wrapped it in an old hessian bag.”

  Kyne frowned. “I wonder what kind of mineral it is.”

  “Well, you’ll be able to tell us when we get it back here,” Wally said. “It might give us a clue as it what’s behind the seal.”

  “I don’t think I want to know,” Drew murmured.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Hardy said, then he flew out of the pub so fast, Drew almost blinked and missed the door opening and closing.

  He went to stand, his joints stiff and aching. Vera would be waiting for him.

  “Stay right there,” Blue said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Breakfast’s up. Someone fetch Vera, and Eloise if she’s back.”

  Kyne nodded and rose. “I’ll get Vera. I don’t think Eloise will be back until later.”

  As the elemental left, Wally turned to Drew. “You up for some grub?”

  “Always,” he told them. “Shifting’s hungry work.”

  The werewolf grinned. “Sure is.”

  “Before I whack on an apron, just promise us old timers one thing,” Blue said.

  Drew nodded, his eyes wide.

  “Don’t keep any more secrets from us,” Wally finished. “Us Exiles are family, and family helps one another.”

  The dingo’s hands began to shake and he reached for the beer. “I promise.”

  Chapter 23

  Eloise was climbing out of the shaft underneath the boab when she spotted Kyne walking down the road.

  His black hat shaded his face from the sun and his T-shirt clung to his chest just so. She bit her bottom lip, her gaze following his movements as Coen climbed out of the shaft behind her.

  Eloise had never felt so drawn to someone before. Was that what attraction was supposed to feel like? Despite their argument, all she wanted to do was know everything about him, and she wasn’t just talking about his hopes and dreams.

  Coen closed the metal hatch and kicked some dirt over the top. Seeing Kyne, he smiled at her. “It didn’t take much convincing.”

  She turned. “Huh?”

  He nodded towards Kyne, who’d spotted them standing by the boab. “For him to return. For him to help.” He chuckled as she flushed.

  “Coen…”

  “We’ve done all we can,” he told her. “Now we wait.”

  “Hey,” Kyne said as he approached. “There you are.”

  “Coen and I were just…” She turned, only to find the Indigenous man had disappeared.

  “Coen?” Kyne frowned and looked around.

  “He was just here,” Eloise said, scratching her head. “He took me to see the seal.”

  Kyne whistled. “Really? So, you’ve seen it now?”

  “Yeah, but… He was just here.” She looked around but there was nowhere for him to hide.

  “Don’t mind him.” Kyne didn’t seem surprised. “He comes and goes.”

  “Does he do that often?”

  “All the time.”

  Putting yet another Coen mystery out of her mind, she asked, “Did I miss anything?”

  “Yeah, Drew told us about the Dust Dogs and the infamous key.”

  “He did?” Her eyebrows rose. “What did he say?”

  Kyne relayed the story to her—about how Drew was running with the dingoes, how they operated, how the alpha Roth had come to have the key, how and why Drew stole it, and about his relationship with Vera.

  “He was just trying to k
eep us safe,” Kyne added. “But the Dust Dogs were coming here with or without him.”

  “At least we have it now,” Eloise said. “And Drew is safe and sound.”

  “He’ll have those scars for the rest of his life.” He frowned, his gaze turning towards the horizon.

  “Where is the key now? Did he say?”

  “Yeah. Hardy went out to get it,” he replied. “I’m the lucky bastard who got to hide it and the only person to know where.”

  “Well, I know how you love responsibility.”

  Kyne groaned and pulled her close. “I didn’t know you were a comedian in training.”

  “What does it look like?”

  “The Eloise Hart Comedy Club or the key?”

  “The key.” She elbowed his side, his joke easing her anxiety over the upcoming standoff.

  “It’s this round, pinkish crystal,” he replied. “Part coral, salt, and quartz. The pink makes me think it’s chalcedony.”

  “Chalcedony? What’s that?”

  “It’s a form of silica, but not really like opal. It’s more like quartz, but only looks like crystal under a microscope. Quartz is used a lot by supernaturals. Vera says it amplifies and stores magic.”

  “Like a supernatural keycard?”

  “That’s one theory.”

  Eloise thought about what she’d just seen down in the mine and didn’t remember anywhere a key could be put in the bluestone slab or the surrounding wall. Maybe it was a good thing no one knew how it worked, then the seal would stay shut forever.

  “Did you find her?” Kyne asked.

  She blinked. “Huh?”

  “Andante? Did you and Coen manage to find her?”

  She shook her head. “No. Apparently, she’s the kind of women who does the finding, not the other way around.”

  “So Coen knew her?”

  “Oh yeah, for sure. He implied she lived in another dimension, which I would’ve totally thought was crazy two weeks ago. Finn’s from another world, so who am I to argue otherwise?” She sighed. “So we’re on our own, I guess.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Kyne told her. “We’ve got six different supernatural races living here, each with unique abilities. We’re not exactly starting out on the back foot.”