Jena stepped out into the cool air. It was one of those beautiful autumn mornings, crisp and bright. Still chilly, but the sun promised to change that soon.
Will stayed inside. She’d asked him to, though she told him he could look out the window if he had to. This was a thing she felt was best done alone, one way or the other.
Jena shoved her hands in her pockets and walked towards the old oak tree. Someone had taken the time to fill in Ernest’s grave, and she was kind of thankful for that. She didn’t know where his skull was now and wasn’t sure it mattered, either. He was dead and gone. Along with his wife. Maybe they could bury Rose’s ashes there, next to her husband, who she had loved at one point. Before he’d got himself possessed.
Jena sat down, leaning against the tree, its bark rough even through her clothes. She let out a breath and looked at the sky, deep blue with a few clouds scudding across it. Mount Taranaki stood there, strong and tall, giving her a little strength. It felt like she was Alice. Like she’d tumbled into some strange land where things were not as they seemed. She, the one who had drunk a potion making everything topsy turvy.
It seemed a simple, beautiful thing to be sitting here, yet surreal to watch the world go by when her grandmother was dead and soon to be cremated, and her boyfriend – was he still her boyfriend? – had killed Rose and run off. Though it wasn’t really him but the thing inside him. If there was even a difference now, and that was a puzzle she didn’t know how to answer but wanted to one day. After this was all said and done.
She was going to have to kill Cade. To put him down. And hope that whatever was inside her solved the problem of the entity.
All the tears Jena had been keeping locked up started to flow from her then. She leaned her head back against the tree for support as sobs wracked her body and she let go of the grief, the guilt that had been twisting her insides up.
Because when it came down to it, even if she told Will it wasn’t his fault but theirs, the blame lay on her shoulders. She could have just stayed away. Should have. Rose had wanted her to, right up until the end, had spent all her life protecting Jena from this thing. If they hadn’t come here, she’d never have taken Cade to the swamp and he never would have found the watch and been possessed. Killed Rose.
This was her fault, so it was on her to end it.
And she thought she knew then what Rose had felt through all the years, that heavy weight of responsibility borne from stupidity. If she’d listened more carefully, if she’d heeded the warnings, none of this would have happened. Rose would have been given warnings too, warnings she’d ignored.
Maybe that was their family curse – not psychosis, but arrogance.
Jena brushed the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand and glanced at the window. Will was there, his face tired and drawn. He gave her a little wave and she smiled and waved back, then crossed her legs and sat up straight.
It was time to test out whether the birds would come when she needed them to. And time to test that niggle, that sense that somehow her family were still involved in all of this, even beyond death.
But that was just wishful thinking. Surely.
Her family were dead, and this triggered more tears and she folded over, curling her hands into her chest to try and hold in the pain. A sob tore loose from her mouth and an echoing call came back. The warble of birds. Magpies. She unfolded herself, put her hands on her knees and looked out from under the curtain of her hair. There were three of them on the ground before her, singing a song, their heads cocked as they looked at her, tried to comfort her with their sound. It wasn’t the harsh shriek she was used to, but a softer noise, a melody that was mournful but upbeat.
‘Have you come for me, little one?’ she murmured, holding her hand aloft. A new bird flew down, perching on her fingers. The weight of the creature was surprising, its talons sharp but not painful. It looked right at her with one black eye and crooned, ducking its head at her until she lifted her other hand and stroked its soft, soft feathers.
‘Aren’t you a beautiful thing,’ Jena whispered. A sense of calm filled her now as more birds landed on the patch of grass in front of her. A dozen, maybe more. All standing calmly, like they were waiting for something.
The one on her hand bounced, making her arm move, and then it pecked gently at her forearm, giving her a little pinch.
‘Ow! What was that for?’ she asked, though she was grinning now. It was a playful thing, reminding her a little of Joel, who’d always liked pinching her. It wasn’t the first time one of the magpies had done something to remind her of him, though, and maybe it was just being here, but maybe there was more to it than that.
‘Is it you?’ she asked, feeling stupid. This was why she’d made Will stay inside. Because it was insane to think that somehow the spirit of her dead brother was in one of these birds, or in many of these birds. ‘I know it’s silly but ….’
The bird pinched her again and then hopped onto the ground. The black spots on its back shifted, or she thought they did. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, and they were still doing it.
All the other birds had gone silent, but now a few more stepped closer to her and their colours shifted as well, the feathers wavering as though invisible hands riffled through them. The first bird gave a long, mournful caw and then it vibrated, a shadow shaking loose.
Jena jolted back, her head cracking against the trunk of the tree as she tried to get away. Then there wasn’t just one shadow, but five. Five magpie-shaped shadows, hopping along the ground towards her, their eyes a shiny silver light. She took in a shuddery breath, wishing now that Will was here with her. If these birds were possessed ….
She didn’t get a chance to finish that train of thought because one of the shadows flew into the air, darting towards her. Jena covered her head with her hands, but when it hit her a sense of love washed through her body. Her arms dropped, her shoulders slumping as she relaxed instantly.
‘Mum?’ She closed her eyes, letting more things come to her. Memories from her childhood, the homemade blackberry jam on fresh white bread – no crusts. The stockings filled up at Christmas time, even in the lean years. The way her mother’s arms felt around her, holding her tight like she could beat back the beasts of the world.
Tears slipped down her face and she opened her eyes. The bird’s form was there again, all black, no white, and it was looking at her, waiting.
Jena didn’t know what to do, what to say, so she just nodded. ‘I know. It’s really you, it’s all of you.’ The spirit birds leapt into the sky then, silently swooping through the air, though she could have sworn she could hear Joel’s whoop of laughter. And then they came back to ground, hopping towards her, sinking into her flesh. Her skin felt like it rippled with the merge, but there was no sign of them there. Nothing to tell her that she wasn’t going crazy apart from the flutter of feathers under her skin.
This. This was what Rose had done. Because by her maths there was one here for each of her family, and one for her grandfather as well. But not Rose. She knew her grandmother wasn’t among this flock of birds, which meant that something in the entity possessing Cade had her essence.
The pounamu warmed against her skin and she felt it spread through her chest like rays of sunlight.
No, her grandmother’s light. This was what she’d been talking about. Gran had put some of herself into this necklace, and it was what Cade had been looking for.
Well, she wanted something from him – whatever part of Rose he’d stolen.
And she was going to get it back, with her family’s help.
How the hell was she going to explain this to Will?