by Jane Keehn
Her hand slapped the pendant tooth at her chest and gripped it for protection. She got up and went to the small room, beyond the fire place.
She opened the door just enough to see that her mothers were not in their bed. The only visible sign of life was something they had prized and it stood waiting for them to return. The shadows revealed a life-size wooden figure propped up on a stool.
Chipped, painted hair flowed awkwardly over the figurehead’s shoulders, framing a frozen damaged face, leading to a long neck and breasts demurely covered with carefully placed wisps of the carved hair. The flaking paint on the wooden waist tapered into a green shimmering fish tail that split into two sides - one for each side of the boat that it had been removed from.
A black burn mark disfigured her back, revealing how she had been lost from her ship.
Kendra’s mothers had kept this flotsam figure as a reminder that they were not the only ones who lived half in water, half on land. She was alone now, but one day Kendra would find her ocean tribe - Giluri - people of the sea.
She shut her eyes as she leaned against the doorway, blocking out the image of the mermaid figurehead that had saved Emily’s grandmother.
Kendra lay back onto the bed and drifted quickly back into sleep mode. Emily’s messy, dark hair came into her mind.
Emily’s singing – a broken magpie song – imperfect and unique. The memory made Kendra laugh out loud in her sleep.
She wanted to hear more of Emily singing but the ocean sent out a wave that grabbed her and pulled her away. Now she breathed heavily as the ocean dragged her down and she saw that the wave had also taken Emily away from the girl she’d been singing with.
The water turned black in her dream and Emily trans mutated into a bird, whose feathery pores were clogged with a black, shoe polish substance.
The weight dragged the black bird under the skeleton frame of the Mandalay ship wreck and Kendra swam towards the bird’s cries.
Her swimming was slowed by the blackness, her own marine pores suffocating. The Emily-bird breathed in a gulp of cold oil.
Then another. Spluttering for air, she flapped her deadened wings in the water but no motion came.
The coal-coloured water’s heaviness drove the body downwards and her lungs filled with black as the bird’s body was taken down to the ocean floor.
Kendra woke up gasping for breath. She remembered the true night of the black water; the slow movement as she tried to push her heavy flukes through the black water searching for her parents.
Her arms floundered against the denseness of the polluted water and globules of grease covered her vision as she tried focussing on images in the distance. When she found her way to shore, near the inlet to the survival cave, there was bogged down sea animals and washed up remnants of the Fortune Petroleum oil rig but her mothers were never found.
Her hands gripped the edges of the blanket and she whimpered softly into its corners. Her eyes squeezed back tears as her mouth cried out to Acacia and Bobbi.
The breath grew like the gasps of air she took as she left the ocean. Kendra’s eyes squeezed tight as the sound erupted from her.
The cry was a black cockatoo howl.
It was the growl of a dingo and the anguish of a trapped fox.
Birds fluttered in fear at the growl of distress. Other nocturnal animals turned their heads at the unknown cry of anguish.
It was a noise her body invented to exorcise the loneliness of another day.
Emily - Chapter 8
Metal above the ute’s tyres was sprayed by coarse grey sand as Emily slammed on the brakes when the dirt track scraped to nothing.
She could drive no further.
- Leo. Out!
Emily flung the door shut after he jumped out and slung a flimsy backpack over her shoulder. A small yellow torch dangled from her wrist.
Leo’s paw prints spotted along the track towards the coastline where Emily had glimpsed a new inlet of limestone while kayaking. The dune spinifex soon gave way to larger bush which in turn became surrounded by tall, scruffy Tuart trees, festooned with large leaved vines and parasitic Lantana bush.
When her grandfather and grandmother took her fishing near the inlet as a child, she was told to never go into this lush crowded undergrowth.
Local kids called it “Green Wood” which made Emily smile at the old memory but she knew the unchartered scrub was dangerous.
Without a land mark or sky point to navigate by, you could get lost in the shadows of the strangely alien Kingia Trees or Bullanocks, looking down at you under their antennae-like clusters. Aboriginal locals knew the area as Bullanockup and Emily still found it thrilling to find one of these rare plants in full bloom before the wind dried their shoots or the cockatoos had gnawed at the seeds, stripping them of their green colour.
Emily knew she could only go so far before she might become trapped by the Lantana blooms and stung by their nettles. The curve of the lower branches looked as though you might be able to climb all the way up to the Nuytsia mistletoe berries clinging around the leaves. As a child, she and her friends had wanted to follow the undergrowth all the way to the water but the sting of the parasitic plants could leave you itchy and stinging for hours.
Emily also knew that in Grandma Meg’s day, a child had gone missing in Green Wood, never to be found. It terrified her school friends and they rarely tried cutting their way through the dense scrub after that tragedy.
She pulled at her backpack. Fixed onto a flap of braid was a keyring compass. She fished around in a zipped pocket for her small notebook with its mud map scribbles. If she and Leo walked towards the water’s edge and turned East towards the Tuart forest they could wade through the water to access the ridges of rock she had seen from her kayak.
Depending on the tide, caves that were underwater could possibly lie just under the surface. Leo led the way breaking a small path through the brittle grass that lurked under the Tuart pines. She ducked her head under a fallen branch. Emily searched ahead for landmarks she spied from the kayak – transposing the images in her head; seeing them from the land instead of the water; marking the coastline in her mind’s eye and measuring where the limestone inlet might be.
They came to a scraggy cliff and clambered down the edge to a clearing the led to grey beach. She momentarily checked her map to get her bearings before paddling in her rubber kayaking shoes through the shallow water.
North to the ocean was where she had been in her kayak the day she spotted the green grey dugong or seal. The coast was a chain of broken stone ridges led to an opening amongst the cliff face.
This was where Emily headed, scrawling lines in her notebook as she raced along. Scratching in the sand, Leo’s claws cut through dried cuttlefish. He sniffed the air and barked at something he sensed through the dense greenery.
Emily peeled off her red jacket draping it over a thigh high limestone stalagmite. Heading back towards the scrub and the outer trees of Green Wood, she waded into a shallow pool, Leo paddling close to her knees.
This area was new to Emily. The downy hairs circling her neck hummed.
A small flutter flew through her heart. She checked her watch. 9.13am.
She looked back over the ocean, trying to remember the tide times for the day. This would only take a short time. The time to wade in, check out how far she could see into the enclosure.
Emily looked for landmarks to ground herself.
- Leo. Stay.
The lip of an overhanging ledge framed a still circular pool and further through, she could see how the water flowed right into the rough limestone beyond. Possibly an underground cave.
There was no time to think things through. Emily strode into the clear pool breathing deeply, in and out, in and out. Then she held her breath and burst through the water causing bubbles to ping against the limestone.
Bouncing water slapped against the edge of rock.
She followed the sound until she found the rippled wall of lime. She prop
elled herself forward, towards where she thought the water would flow into an unexposed cave of empty limestone formations.
Gradually the light from outside dissolved into the depths and blackness enclosed Emily’s body. The torch hanging off her wrist clicked against an unseen rock. Its beam reached forward through the watery room and Emily could see what appeared to be a still surface about ten metres ahead.
Her breath held tight in her lungs but she wasn't sure she could hold out until the beginning of the cave's water-free entrance. Her heart beat in her ears as she padded her hands flat along the edges.
She pressed her body against the curved of the rock wall until her face fit against the scratchy surface. A wave bound her against the stone and cut into her cheek as she pressed tightly against the porous surface hoping to find an air pocket.
Her mouth found an air bubble against the grainy rock, the pores in the stone, and she gulped it in, sucking in the air as if through hundreds of microscopic straws. Her lungs filled.
She patted her hands along the ledge but wasn’t sure which way she was facing.
Too late, she felt the torch weigh down against her arm and the cord wrapped around her wrist slipped off into the darkness.
Emily could no longer tell if she was going further into the cave or moving slowly towards the opening. She sucked the limestone for more precious air, pressing her lips hard onto the rock’s porous surface. The tips of her fingers couldn’t clutch on long enough to grip her in position so she spluttered, swallowing salty water, desperately searching for another small pocket of air to suck into her collapsing lungs.
Her ears pounded with her heartbeat and she heard the rushing, gushing water surrounding her in a whirlpool of current as her fingers tried to grasp the sharp limestone edges.
The tide raced into the cave quickly filling every opening.
The pulse pounded in her head drumming along to her churning arm movements.
She desperately opened her eyes to the stinging water and saw a faint glow of light, a blue green flash, then blackness.
Nothingness.
Kendra - Chapter 9
Kendra awoke.
She had been lying on a jut of stone ledge in the dark water of her safety cave. Far into the underwater limestone features of the Cove, her mothers had made this place their secret meeting point.
She could hear a soft pounding through the stone walls lining the grotto. A defined human voice made its way through the pores of the lime.
Kendra heard an unnatural movement of the water, like a platypus caught accidentally, fatally, in a crabbing pot.
Was there also the word, Help?
A tremor ran through her body as she drenched her human half once again into the pool which lead to the shoreline, via the submerged cave.
Kendra began spinning into the deeper stream with the rotation her Giluri fluke. She plunged into the entrance of the underwater cave following the pounding sounds.
Kendra broke through the surface of the underwater tunnel into the cave, swimming to the smaller enclaved rock pool where the voice trail led.
She brushed past submerged cave ceilings and flipped her tail over the edges of submerged stalagmites hidden in the deep dark pool below.
With the tide rising rapidly, the rock pool would overflow in a matter of minutes and would be totally drenched of oxygen.
Kendra pushed her tail against the flow of the rapidly rising tide. She listened for movement that wasn’t waves tapping against the sides and detected a splashing further into the cave.
As she approached the back of the cave, a human silhouette blurred into her vision, legs kicking frantically as hands grasped to the stone outline.
Just as Kendra reached her, Emily’s body stopped moving, sinking slowly from the air pockets along the ridge of rock, towards the cragged limestone shelf.
Kendra thrust herself under the sinking body and wrapped her arms around Emily’s shoulders, pressing her mouth against Emily’s lips, blowing a forceful blast of air into her lungs.
To prevent Emily’s mouth opening to the rush of water, Kendra kept her mouth firmly over the top of Emily’s, each breath forcing a little more oxygen into Emily’s collapsed lungs while Kendra’s animal half propelled them both to the entrance of the cave.
Kendra’s underwater vision scanned the water for the source of light at the cave’s opening, searching beyond Emily’s face for their escape.
Their bodies burst through the water's surface as Kendra spun her sea-going form through the rising water level out into the rock pool shelf where Leo sat howling to welcome them back into the air.
Kendra thrust Emily’s limp body up onto the sand bar. The only way she could manage to move the weight of a human body on the sand was to grab hold of Emily, holding her close against her body and roll over the gritty limestone pebbles and sand. She forced one more breath into Emily’s slackened mouth before she rolled the rest of her own body out of the water and waited for its chemical reactions and physical transmutation to take place.
Hoping that Emily would not awaken to witness her changing, Kendra willed her body to speed through the genetic routine as she gritted her teeth through the pain of her tail parting and morphing into limbs.
Leo jumped closer to lick Emily’s face, his paws scratching gently at her shoulder as she lay on her back gasping intermittently for oxygen.
Kendra’s changing form alerted a deep instinct and Leo barked a surprised danger warning.
Leo growled and sniffed and barked and swayed in astonishment at the animal he saw before him. He tentatively crept up on Kendra but stood far enough away from this new and unknown creature that he could bound away to his escape if necessary.
His lean Labrador body lowered slightly onto his front legs as he swayed from side to side while keeping his eyes firmly on Kendra’s mutating lower half.
Growling at this new animal he jumped backwards and barked repeatedly as a warning to Emily, who showed no signs of alertness.
Kendra had seen this dog before, at a safe distance.
He belonged to Emily. She’d just dragged his owner, Meg's granddaughter to safety.
Once Kendra was able to shuffle onto her feet she approached Emily, whose eyes were still closed and gave her two more long hard breaths to fill her lungs and ensure that the airway was flowing freely.
She leant her face over Emily’s to feel the slight breath against her cheek.
It made the human blood in Kendra quicken. The lips of the woman were turning blue when they should be a burning red. Kendra brushed her own lips against Emily’s to feel their temperature. It was the same watery cold as her own lips. Slowly she parted them and turned her head.
The lips felt salty, wet and soft against hers. She let a long breath enter Emily’s mouth, slowly and forcefully and the human’s lungs filled.
Emily’s chest moved. Her lips fluttered against Kendra’s, in a reflex.
Kendra sat up and pushed her hands down softly onto Emily’s chest. The expulsion of air brought with it a small stream of salty water and Emily’s eyes opened. Eyes that were brown with small flecks of amber embedded in them. She watched, curious, as Emily’s head moved against the sandbar, trying to open her eyes.
Kendra froze, an instinct that was obsolete, since she couldn’t very well camouflage into the background of the beach. She watched fascinated and relieved at Emily’s breathing - this was Meg’s granddaughter.
Her Mothers were right – Emily had been just about to discover their safety cave amongst the Catacomb Caves’ crazy underwater maze.
Kendra’s shadow cooled Emily’s face as she watched her breathe.
She had enjoyed the new feeling of the slip of her lips against Emily’s.
Kendra bent closer and softly pushed their lips together one quick, last time.
Emily opened her eyes.
Leo whimpered and scampered over to her side to lick her cheek.
Emily coughed up some sea water.
- What’s going on? My head hurts.
Kendra stood upright; It was too late for her to run away.
- You were injured, in the water. Your dog pulled you out.
Emily gained some strength and pulled herself up onto her elbows.
- What happened to me?
Emily asked this strange woman – her head muddled with swirling gravity, currents running around and through her body.
Kendra suddenly remembered her nakedness and placed her hands over her breasts and lower belly. She wished she could cover the red scars on her weak legs and her withered feet.
- You needed help. Your dog was calling.
- Were you in the cave?
Emily coughed up a mouthful of water.
- No. I saw your dog...I heard your dog barking. He jumped in to pull you out.
Emily’s brain started to unscramble the images that flashed around, trying to make sense of what just happened.
She remembered the limestone cutting into her cheek as she gasped for any amount of air she could suck from the pores of the cave wall. She remembered the confusion of not knowing which way was up or down, even as she sank with her last lungful of oxygen.
- Who are you?
Emily’s body ached.
- No one. Do you know where you are? Will you be alright? I have to go.
Emily slowly pushed herself upright on the sand.
- I think so. I feel so stupid.
She traced her finger along the graze on her cheek. A small droplet of blood caught on the tip of her finger.
She looked over to Kendra’s feet. They were bare and covered in sand, strangely curled, as though her toes were gripping the ground.
The girl’s legs were crooked somehow; bent at an odd angle to the ground in order to balance her body’s weight. It was then that Emily noticed for the first time that this strange girl wasn’t wearing any clothes.
She felt Emily’s surprised stare so Kendra folded her arms over her chest, turning towards the back of the cave.
Emily’s prying dark eyes were now piercing into her own white-opal orbs.
