Outback Spirit Page 13

  The land beat a slow rhythm as she walked, her steps the drum and the hard, unforgiving red dirt the skin. The kangaroo was her guide, silent and warm, a point of light amongst the darkness. Marlu.

  Smoke rose into the sky, a thin stream of greyish-white against the midnight blue. The horizon glowed yellow and orange, the rhythm reaching a crescendo made up of a low droning that reminded her of a didgeridoo, clicks of wood against wood, and unknown animal calls…then stopped dead.

  Eloise collapsed and rolled onto her back, her breath shallow. This was it, a slow, quiet end with nothing and no one to show for her troubles.

  A low whine echoed in the distance, and a hand reached down towards her, a human shape silhouetted against the fading light, surrounded by stars.

  “Marlu bring you,” Coen said, lifting her up. “You are on your path now.”

  “Coen?” Eloise croaked, a tear slipping from her eye. It seemed like the last bit of water inside her. “Am I dead?”

  “Just about, but not today.” The Indigenous man sat beside her, holding her battered body against his. He reached behind them and offered her a bright green bottle.

  “Our greatest power is to heal ourselves and connect with the earth,” he murmured as he held the bottle to her lips. “Water will heal all or sweep it all away.”

  “I was lost, I…” She gasped as the cool liquid hit her stomach, desperate for more.

  “They name me for the thunder,” he told her, helping her hold the bottle. “The thunder brings the lightning, and the lightning brings the rain.”

  “If you’re the thunder, who is the lightning?” she wondered.

  He smiled and looked across the fire. Eloise followed his gaze and found a dingo sitting at attention, its creamy yellow coat burning orange in the glow of the embers.

  “Drew?” she whispered.

  “It’s time I bring you home,” Coen said.

  “Home?” She clutched the drink bottle against her chest. “I have no home.”

  He laughed and grinned at the dingo. “See? This is what happens when you leave people out in the sun. It bakes ‘em like a biscuit.”

  Chapter 14

  Drew sat on his haunches, looking at Coen over the campfire as the flames popped and cracked.

  His dingo eyes saw more than his human ones did, his senses sharpened through his sensitive ears and keen nose. Dingoes were born hunters, stalking the twilight for their prey, howling at the rising and falling sun.

  As he studied the Indigenous man, he saw him for the first time and wasn’t quite sure what it was he was witnessing. Coen burned with an aura that was both warm and chilling, his supernatural power like nothing Drew had ever encountered—and he’d seen many supernatural things travelling the outback: shadows, sprites, shifters, and all the people living in Solace.

  It made him wonder who Coen really was. A man without a mob, or a creature who never had one to begin with.

  They shared the fire, resting after a long day walking. Coen seemed to be waiting for something but hadn’t told Drew what it was. He was just glad he hadn’t asked about what he was burying when he’d found him in the scrub, his claws scraping at the baked earth.

  Drew knew Finn would be after him and it was safer to travel as a dingo. A wise move considering the Dust Dogs were still out there. They hadn’t returned to Solace and he hadn’t seen them, but they wouldn’t stay hidden for long. He just hoped his stolen treasure would remain buried…for all their sakes.

  His ears pricked as he detected movement in the scrub. Coen looked up with a knowing smile and stood. Drew waited, trusting the Indigenous man knew was he was doing. The breeze was flat and no scent was close enough for him to pick up.

  Then a kangaroo hopped into the ring of firelight and propped up on its tail, nose twitching.

  “Greetings, Marlu,” Coen said. “Did you bring her?”

  If the kangaroo replied, Drew didn’t hear it. The question was answered with the arrival of another visitor. One who’d seen better days.

  Eloise collapsed beside the fire, her mousey blonde hair splaying out around her as she rolled onto her back.

  So this was what Coen had been waiting for…

  It took them the better part of an hour to return to Solace. Coen carried Eloise most of the way, though she tried her best to walk.

  Drew was impressed by her courage. She was lucky to have made it as far as she did, considering the heat and lack of water. The woman was utterly exhausted, but still had fight left where most would have given up long ago. No wonder Coen had been waiting for her.

  He surveyed their surroundings, keeping a watchful eye, but the outback was calm, the threads of the Dreaming barely a flutter against his fur.

  The outline of the town emerged from the scrub, the glow of electric lights guiding their final steps. They were met on the outskirts by Hardy, who appeared out of thin air, his vampire enhancements leading him to them.

  “Coen?” he asked. “Eloise?”

  “Ah,” the Indigenous man replied. “Hello.”

  Hardy rushed forwards and took Eloise out of his arms as Drew slunk out of the shadows, warily sniffing the air.

  “She is unwell,” Coen told him. “She needs water and rest. Her skin is burned by the sun.”

  “Vera can help her,” he replied, glancing at Drew. “She’ll want to see you, too.”

  Before Drew could think about what he should do, the vampire was gone, carrying Eloise to safety.

  He looked up at Coen, a question in his caramel eyes.

  “The path is never easy,” he told the dingo, “but you walk the right direction.” He nodded towards the Outpost. “Go. They’ll understand soon enough.”

  Turning around, Drew looked to the Indigenous man but he was gone. There was nothing else for him to do but return to the outback or face Vera and the others.

  Best be a man about it.

  Hardy was talking to several fae—a man and two women—when he approached Vera’s. The vampire glanced at the dingo as he shook hands with each of the fae, then approached Drew.

  “Still a dingo, I see,” he said. “Is it easier for you?” Drew wagged his tail a couple of times and the vampire nodded. “Well, go in then.” He held the door open and the dingo slipped inside.

  Finn’s lip curled when he saw Drew pad into Vera’s lounge room. “And here he is, slinking back with his tail between his legs, too frightened to be a man about it.”

  Drew had never shifted in front of anyone before, but he did it now, ashamed as his body changed and his bones snapped and popped into place.

  Kyne, Hardy, and Finn watched him, though when he became more man than dingo, the vampire and elemental had the grace to look away. The fae, however, took great delight at his discomfort.

  When he finally stood before them as a man, Finn launched himself across the room, his fist flying through the air.

  Drew winced as knuckles collided with his cheek and he stumbled backwards against the wall.

  Kyne placed a hand on Finn’s chest as the fae was gearing up for a second shot. “I think that’s enough.”

  “You gave up the mantle of leader, Kyne,” Finn raged. “I want what I’m owed.”

  “What you’re owed?” Hardy asked. “And what’s that?”

  “Blood for blood.”

  Kyne snorted and handed Drew the crocheted rug from the back of the couch. “We don’t do revenge in Solace. We’re here because we’re Exiles, not perpetrators of endless violence.”

  “You should be angry,” Finn seethed. “It was because of Drew that Eloise was out there in the first place!”

  “I didn’t tell her to go walking out in the outback without water,” Drew hissed, wrapping the blanket around his bare arse…and all the other bits. “I’ve hardly spoken to her.”

  “Wally escaped last night,” Kyne told him. “That’s why she was out there. She was lost.”

  Drew swallowed hard. “He got out of that mine?” Even he was smart enough to know a lo
ose werewolf during a full moon was bad news, and Eloise… She’d been out there for almost twenty-four hours. She should be dead.

  “We think the Dust Dogs sank a shaft in somewhere,” Hardy explained. “There’s no other way out that doesn’t involve a ladder.”

  “I’m going to check it out at first light and plug the hole,” Kyne added.

  Drew’s heart twisted and he felt like throwing up. Maybe he should tell them. Maybe they’ll understand. Coen said they would…in time. Though time was something they didn’t seem to have enough of.

  “It’s your fault,” Finn raged. “If those dogs come here looking for trouble, they’re going to find it!”

  “Shut it,” Kyne snapped, jabbing a finger at the fae. “There will be no fighting or killing. The last thing we need is a bunch of cops poking their noses around here. Solace needs to be protected.”

  “Now you want to be the hero!” Finn scoffed, throwing his hands in the air. “And here I was thinking you were too busy pouting in your hole to give a crap about us.”

  “Will you shut the hell up?” Vera exclaimed, barging through the beaded curtain. “Eloise needs her rest.” When she saw Drew, her expression faded.

  “Vera…” he began, but the witch held up her hand.

  “Not now,” she said. “I’m all out of potatoes.” She pointed to Drew’s bag and boots laying in the corner of the room. “Take your things and go to Blue’s. I know he’s been feeding you.”

  “It was just one burger,” he complained. “Vera—”

  “Out.”

  “But—”

  “I don’t want you here, Drew. Please, just…” She sighed as her magic crackled. “Get the hell out of my house.”

  Kyne, Hardy, and Finn were glaringly silent as he pulled off the crocheted rug and flung it onto the couch. Stark naked, he grabbed his stuff and strode through the annoying bead curtain and didn’t look back.

  Maybe he shouldn’t have listened to Coen after all.

  Chapter 15

  Eloise’s eyes opened. Her body felt heavy, sinking into a soft mattress.

  A soft glow illuminated a whitewashed roof and walls, the chisel marks from a jackhammer making a mottled pattern in the rock. The blankets smelled like chamomile—soft, sweet, and a little apple-like—and the large yellow and blue sun and moon tapestry that hung on the wall reminded her of Vera.

  Her gaze fixed on Kyne, who was laying back in an armchair, his battered hat sitting low over his face.

  God, she must look like hell. She felt embarrassed about everything. The raw sunburn that must be tinting her face lobster red and not to mention running into the scrub in the first place. Hindsight was delivering a brutal truth.

  Raising her hand, she pressed her palm against her forehead and groaned. The sound roused Kyne, who jerked awake.

  “Eloise,” he said, leaning close to the bed. “How do you feel?”

  “Like an overcooked sausage,” she rasped.

  He helped her sit, not afraid of touching her, and picked up the glass beside the bed. He held the green metal straw to her lips as she drank, the water soothing her dry and irritated throat.

  “Where am I?” she managed to ask. “How did I get here?”

  “Vera’s,” Kyne replied, setting the glass down again. “Coen and Drew brought you back.”

  “Drew?” Her brow creased. “I think I remember seeing a dingo.”

  “That’d be him.”

  She pressed her hands against her cheeks and groaned. “I feel like crap, but better than I ought to.”

  “Vera used her magic to help you heal,” Kyne explained. “The sunburn is almost gone, but it’s not a cure-all. You’ll still have to rest.”

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Not two minutes after you ran, Hardy went out looking for you, but you’d erased your trail. You’d lost Wally and the rest of us.”

  “I didn’t mean to,” she said. “I didn’t even realise…”

  “I know. Now you understand what you are, it’s a double-edged sword, hey?”

  “Be careful what I wish for?”

  He smiled. “Yeah, something like that.”

  She frowned, remembering the water she’d tried to rise out of the ground. Telling Kyne, he shook his head.

  “Normally, you’d be right, but out here, the water table is patchy at best. Out east, it’s pretty much non-existent.”

  “Then how does anything survive?”

  “Nature adapts quickly,” he told her. “And the wet season sweeps all the way down here. From November, there’s six months of rain that can turn all those dry riverbeds into raging torrents. The outback comes alive.”

  From the look in his eyes, Eloise knew it was beautiful…or the kind of beautiful an elemental would appreciate. Floods out here would likely bring a great deal of trouble for the human population, cutting off the road to traffic and the limited power supply.

  The thought of so much water triggered something in her mind. This entire area had once been an ancient coral reef, and when it’d almost dried up, a vast network of rivers and creeks. That’s why there was so much opal. Water and silica settled in the cracks and millions of years later, formed the glittering rock that was so sought after. It was also the reason people came here looking for gold. The rivers.

  “Wally is beside himself,” Kyne said. “He’s a blubbering mess.”

  “It wasn’t his fault,” she said. “He’s not himself when he changes. He told me so.”

  Eloise reached for the water again, holding the glass against her chest. It was cold, the relief on her flushed skin instant.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Kyne murmured after a moment.

  She scowled, her thoughts going to the last day. Walking, hoping, hiding. The shadow flitting through the trees, the kangaroo leading her to safety, Coen and Drew. Andante.

  They will try and open it, and others will come in their wake.

  She was beginning to realise her dreams were manifesting in life. The knocks in the dark from the kadaitcha, the blurry person standing over her that she now realised was Coen, but what did the mountain mean?

  “It was my dream,” she whispered. “I saw it all. For months and months, I saw it. Just a dream… Just a dream…”

  “A dream?” Kyne asked.

  Eloise rested her forehead against her knees. Was everything she experienced out there part of it? Was her power driving her mad or was it just dehydration? Andante had seemed so real, but Eloise had woken up in the same place where she’d lost consciousness.

  The ocean had a heart, long ago.

  “Eloise? Are you okay?”

  “There’s been nothing but trouble since I came,” she said, lifting her head.

  “Most of it’s because of Drew,” Kyne argued, “not you. I’m going to go out and check in a bit, but we think the Dust Dogs sunk a shaft into a hidden tunnel in Wally’s mine. That’s how he got out.”

  Maybe it was old wounds reopening or maybe it was just exhaustion, but Eloise felt a wave of emotion crash into her all at once.

  “I didn’t want to cause any trouble,” she whispered, tears beginning to well in her eyes. “I didn’t mean to.” Great, now she was crying in front of the guy she had a crush on. Yeah, that’s right. A crush.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” Kyne murmured. “None of this was because of you.”

  “The mine, the secrecy, getting lost, Hardy giving me a pointless job that costs him money. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to pay Wally for my van repairs. It’s going to take all the money I have, but I’ve still got to eat, and then there’s Dust Dogs and kadaitchas, Min Min, and who knows what else. None of this seemed a problem until I came here…until my stupid, bloody van busted a head gasket. And I still don’t know what a head gasket is!”

  “Hey now,” Kyne said, reaching towards her.

  She jerked back, folding her hands underneath the blanket. He frowned and leaned back.

  “I’m sorry,” she moaned. “I…
I’m not used to…”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re okay.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to worry about your van, either.”

  “I have to, Kyne,” she said. “It’s my home. It’s all I have.”

  “I disagree.”

  She glared at him, her anger rising with a blinding headache. “My real parents didn’t want me, and I made my adopted ones hate me. I have nowhere else to go. I have no family. No house. No roots. Everything I own is in that van. If I can’t fix it, I have nothing.”

  “That’s not true,” Kyne murmured. “We could be your family.”

  It sounded like a dream, but that’s exactly what it was.

  She rubbed her eyes, trying to hide her frustrated tears. “I barely know any of you and you know even less about me.” Eloise knew Kyne had his own secrets, but the whole town had baggage, including her. Secrets didn’t make for a wholesome family environment, Exiles or not.

  “You’ve been through something awful,” he said. “Something none of us will ever understand, though we’ll try. At least there’s that. Not many people would.” He picked up his hat and worried his fingers around the brim. “You should rest and try not to think about money or your van. None of it matters if you don’t have your health, hey?”

  Eloise sniffed and wiped her eyes.

  “I’m going to let Vera know you’re up,” he added. “Give you some quiet to sleep.” He stood and walked towards the door.

  Eloise felt a strange twist in her heart. “Kyne?”

  He paused in the doorway and turned around.

  “Will you…” She took a breath. “Will you let me know what you find?”

  A smile tugged at his lips as he put on his hat. Tipping the brim slightly with his index finger, he said, “Will do.”

  Kyne leaned against the outside wall of Wally’s garage, his gaze turning towards the Outpost.