by David Hair
Jones made the introductions. Cassandra gazed at Pearse with something like hero worship, Evie seemed overawed, and Damien and Shui looked very doubtful, throwing unconvinced looks at Jones. Mat himself felt a swell of pride when he was introduced and Pearse grasped his hand and beamed. ‘The lad who dealt to Puarata? Delighted to meet you, son. Delighted.’
They all talked awkwardly for a bit, until Jones clapped his hands together. ‘Dick, we’ve got a matter of some urgency on our hands. Got to get south, and fast.’ He indicated Damien and Shui. ‘These young folk need to be transported somewhere handy to both coasts, without over-committing either way.’
‘So central South Island, eh?’
‘And well clear of Christchurch,’ Jones added. He glanced around the group. ‘Some of you have probably been wondering what the Aotearoa side of Christchurch has been like since the earthquakes. The answer is: not good. There are all manner of dangers, even more than in the real world. Such perils are amplified in Aotearoa. We will not go there unless we must.’
Pearse nodded in agreement. ‘Aethlyn is right. I’ve been ferrying medical supplies there almost around the clock ever since.’
The group fell silent, thinking about the dead and the damage that still scarred the whole region. It was a sobering moment that put their own quest into perspective. They were trying to save one friend, but in Christchurch hundreds had died and thousands had been left with ruined homes.
‘What about Wanaka?’ Pearse suggested. ‘It’s central and safe.’
Jones nodded. ‘Good enough, as long as it isn’t too far out of your way?’
‘No trouble at all, my friend. No trouble at all.’ He eyed up Damien and Shui thoughtfully. ‘You two, eh? A shame you’re not better matched physically, but we’ll manage. I’ll get you to sit on the undercarriage, one on either side.’
Damien’s eyes went to the thin metal tubing and cycle wheels that were all the undercarriage consisted of. ‘No way!’ he protested. ‘You’ll never get off the ground.’
‘Oh, don’t worry,’ Pearse replied. ‘Bessie’s never let me down.’
‘But—’
Mat put a hand on Damien’s shoulder. ‘Mate, we’re in Aotearoa. Belief works better than aerodynamics here, I’m guessing.’
Shui said something tart in Cantonese. Damien stroked her shoulder reassuringly, his eyes going from Jones and Mat and back again. ‘You swear we’re going to be alright?’ he demanded of Jones. ‘Cos you know the rule: if you die in Aotearoa, you’re dead. Shui and I have used up our second chances. We can’t even come back and haunt you if you’re wrong.’
‘You’ll be fine, laddie,’ Jones said impatiently. ‘Get on with it.’
‘Thanks for the sympathy and encouragement,’ Damien said sarcastically.
Jones rolled his eyes. ‘Kids today. I tell you, if I was your age, I’d be on that crate and halfway to Wanaka by now.’
‘Whatever. We’ll do it. I’m just saying, you know, that if we die, it’s all your fault. Don’t expect me to put in a good word for you at the Pearly Gates.’
Mat grinned at his friend, by now convinced that the danger was minimal. This is the world’s first aircraft — of course it’s gonna work! He watched in amusement as Pearse produced gauntlets and goggles for Damien and Shui, and then they all gathered about with their own pieces of advice as Damien and Shui perched beneath Pearse’s feet, crouched on the metal cross-frames of the undercarriage. Up close, the plane looked flimsy, but the engine coughed to life.
‘See you in Wanaka, Aethlyn!’ Pearse shouted. He pushed open the throttle. The little diesel engine roared, and the plane bobbled away down the runway. Mat ran alongside it, laughing at Damien’s terrified face, until suddenly the craft lifted. Shui screamed, Damien whooped, and then they were climbing.
Mat came to a halt, laughing and cheering. He realized that Cass and Evie were a few yards behind him, beaming with excitement. The sight of Evie’s bruised face caught up in the moment tore at him. Then her eye met his and they both sobered up fearfully.
‘That was awesome,’ shouted Cass as she waved. Damien and Shui were now sitting on the undercarriage bars, waving back, as Pearse’s aeroplane shrank against the southern skies. It wasn’t going particularly fast, but Mat guessed it was probably matching the pace that a car could have set, and going more directly too.
Jones joined them. ‘They’ll be fine,’ he said reassuringly. ‘Pearse could fly that thing through an apocalypse, such is its mana.’
Cassandra sighed, eyeing the receding shape in the sky. ‘Well, excitement over, I guess. Let’s get back to the car and get going.’
‘You and Jones can,’ Mat told her. ‘Evie and I have to fly as well.’
Evie felt a sharp thrill of excitement and fear at Mat’s words. ‘What do you mean, we have to fly?’
‘You and I have to stay in Aotearoa today, so you can monitor Hayes more closely. It takes too much energy for us to constantly shift to and fro between worlds. Jones and Cass are going to travel by car in the real world, and Cass will keep tracing Riki’s phone in case it shows up on the grid. You and I will fly south while tracking Hayes’s ship.’
‘Fly?’
Mat indicated the feather cloaks lying beside his pack. ‘With these.’
Oh my.
There weren’t a lot of preparations required. They put on their jackets and Mat produced two pairs of swimming goggles and leather gloves. ‘Riki and I found these kept our eyes from watering and our fingers from freezing off,’ he said in a matter-of-fact voice. He draped the cloak over his shoulders and indicated for Evie to do the same. She found that her heart was beating furiously, but she was unwilling to show any fear in front of people who’d probably seen and done scarier things.
‘Okay,’ said Mat, ‘raise your arms.’
She did, mirroring his actions, and then gave a surprised cry as a thousand needles seemed to jab her arms and sides, right through her clothing. The sensation ran all the way down her torso, past her hips and thighs to the knees. It really hurt and left a deep ache, as if she’d been mugged by a horde of acupuncturists. She gaped at the cloak, which now formed massive wings. The sleek outer feathers were bristling as the cloak extended in a proud sweep from her arms, giving her a wingspan of two or three more feet on either side. She squawked in fright, and for a second that inarticulate sound made her fear she’d lost the power of speech along the way. ‘This is totally weird,’ she managed to get out, relieved to speak at all.
Cassandra looked her up and down with folded arms. ‘You’re telling me. Glad I’m driving.’
Evie looked at Jones. ‘I’ve never flown like this before,’ she bleated, somewhat redundantly.
‘I’d be amazed if you had,’ the Welshman remarked drily. ‘Listen, it’s easier than you think. These cloaks are more or less designed to do all the work. You’re just the pilot — they’re both the wings and the engine. I’m not saying it won’t be tiring, but no more so than jogging, and a lot quicker.’
Mat nodded agreement. ‘I’ve done this about a dozen times now. It’s pretty instinctive.’
When the moment came to leap from a fence post into the air, she found that the wings spread and lifted her. It was like breaststroke, trying to get elevation, but after a hard first few minutes that had her throat raw and lungs wheezing, they levelled out and she was stunned to realize that they were hundreds of feet in the air. She looked back and saw the airfield was already a mile away. Glancing across at Mat, she saw him grinning back at her.
‘This is fun!’ she shouted.
‘Yeah, I know,’ he yelled back, making a fancy roll, apparently to show off.
She tried it too, shrieking when she lost altitude, and then crowing as she pulled out of the drop and soared upwards. ‘Ye-haw!’ A feeling of pure exhilaration filled her. This is really happening! I’m flying using a feather cloak made by a bird-witch. Awesome!
For a few minutes they darted about merrily, before Mat flicked his he
ad southwards. ‘Let’s see if we can catch Pearse’s aeroplane!’ he called, and together they banked and soared on their way.
All day they flew south, maybe at fifty or sixty kilometres per hour, mostly gliding, which took concentration but not much effort. The landscape changed as they went south. The Canterbury Plains opened beneath them, broad swathes of farmland and wide, flat valleys with braided rivers winding down them. It was less developed than Evie had expected, but then she remembered they were in Aotearoa, so of course it would be. The Alps tracked them all the way south on their right, forbidding and cold. The white peaks played hide and seek with them in the thickening clouds, but the rain held off. All in all, it was the most exhilarating and joyous day of Evie’s life. Until now, the Ghost World had really only showed her its deadly side; now she began to realize just why Mat and his friends loved being here. And sharing this with Mat made it all the more special, despite the unspoken presence of Aroha hanging over them.
It was a long day. They never caught up with Pearse’s plane because every hour or so they landed so that Evie could do a reading. Jones had given her an AA map of the South Island to give her reference points, and as the afternoon wore on, Hayes’s ship came up as immobile in the Milford Sound, to the west and not far south of them. Evie wondered if Hayes might be sheltering there from bad weather. The cards indicated that Riki was still alright. It was hard to keep her readings focused, with the fear of Aroha playing on her mind. The High Priestess card kept intruding on her readings, popping up unexpectedly. Mat took it and held it in the end. By now he, too, knew what it meant.
‘Evie,’ Mat said, as they went to take off again. ‘I’m sorry. I never meant to endanger you.’
She smiled tentatively at him. ‘Believe it or not, I understand. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t have said anything about her either.’
‘Yeah, but you wouldn’t have endangered me for a kiss either.’
She looked at him with her good eye. ‘Wouldn’t I?’ He looked away. She reached out, stroked his feathered arm. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said helplessly.
‘You don’t love her,’ she said, trying not to sound accusing or plaintive. Stating a fact.
‘I know,’ he admitted.
‘So tell her to find someone else.’
‘I don’t think it works that way.’ He grimaced unhappily. ‘I think in terms of the people who are capable of reaching her, it’s Byron or me. And if Byron wins, we’re all screwed.’
‘I should just leave you alone, then. Until we’ve found Riki,’ she heard herself say in a voice that sounded unnaturally bright. ‘No contact, yeah?’
He nodded grimly, his expression pained. ‘That’s probably for the best.’
She stared gloomily at the sky. ‘It’s going to rain soon,’ she said, pulling her goggles back on. ‘Let’s get this over with.’
The journey lost its joy and became an ordeal. Mat was exhausted from the strain of flying, each lung-busting effort to gain altitude taking its toll. Evie was probably even worse, as she wasn’t as physically fit as him. She was struggling now, and becoming waspish with it. And Aroha’s shadow lay over all they did, making every moment they shared fraught with hidden danger.
They began to swing towards the Alps, guided by the map and Evie’s readings of where they were relative to Wanaka. Mat only knew the town as being on a famous scenic lake, and as host to the biennial ‘Warbirds’ airshow. He smiled to imagine the reactions of the airshow pilots if they came across two teenagers wearing feather cloaks and flying in their skies.
There were many bodies of water in the foothills of the Alps, but as dusk approached they were sure they’d come across their destination. Lake Wanaka lay black and brooding beneath them as they skimmed the surface, the largest body of water they’d encountered that day. It was surrounded by snow-covered hills. The Alps were lost in thick cloud to the west. They had tired arms and weary eyes, but if they’d read the map correctly, they were only about ten minutes from the southern tip of the lake and their destination for the evening, Wanaka township. The sky was slate-grey, the southerly a numbing headwind that flattened the surface of the lake, sending ripples like shockwaves across the water. The sun was a vivid glow behind the clouds to their right, difficult to look at despite the clouds. Their limbs were numb with cold, and their faces raw from the constant wind of their passage.
Mat wasn’t sure if it was instinct or luck, but he glanced to his left and noticed a strange thing: their shadows were dancing across the surface of the water below, but a third shadow was following them, closer and closer. He looked up towards the cloud-shrouded sun, his vision distorted by the plastic goggles, but in the glow of light he glimpsed a dark shape that imprinted on his retinas.
‘Evie! Behind you!’
She twisted and looked over her shoulder, the movement making her involuntarily bank. Her wings lost air and she plunged towards the surface of the lake.
The sudden drop almost certainly saved her life.
Mat saw a tawny-coloured bird of prey his own size, with a wingspan of at least three metres. It shrieked in fury as its claws raked past Evie’s head as she dropped, its eyes blazing as it banked towards Mat. He felt the rush of air as it shot past, its claws like knives. He rolled, his own wings losing the currents as he made a controlled dive, seeking Evie. His heart lurched as he heard a splash below. He found her, saw that her legs were dragging in the lake, but she was desperately clawing at the air, her cloak billowing and catching an updraft. He looked back at the giant eagle as it swung about, arcing towards Evie again.
‘It’s coming back!’ he shouted, beating his arms frantically. Evie had a panicked look on her face, unable to seek any kind of protection from her cards and rune stones without losing flight and plummeting into the icy waters. ‘Watch out!’ He bunched his aching muscles and dived towards her.
The giant bird swooped again as Evie floundered, its pace unbelievable. It flashed towards her at twice their own speed, which probably meant more than one hundred kilometres an hour, its claws positioned beneath its body to strike. Mat realized that the impact alone could break Evie’s spine, let alone the damage the claws would do if they so much as touched her. ‘Mahuika!’ he shouted, invoking the Goddess of Fire as he conjured flames from his fingernails and desperately sent a gout of fire across the space between the eagle and Evie.
Evie screamed and dropped into the lake, but the eagle had anticipated her. What it hadn’t foreseen were Mat’s flames, and its fear of fire caused it to veer upwards a split second before impact. Instead of splitting the girl’s skull, the claws raked the air above her, ripping a tress of hair from her scalp, but no worse. The bird cried furiously, but another burst of fire was enough to make it pull away, soaring effortlessly upwards, as Evie struck the water with a giant splash and went under.
Mat swooped as Evie popped up like a cork, gasping for air as her cloak fanned about, becoming waterlogged. Somehow he had to get her out before the garment dragged her under, but he couldn’t use his arms or hover without losing flight himself. He could see only one way to do it.
‘Evie, grab my feet!’ he shouted as he swooped down towards her.
She heard him. Her right hand reached upwards and gripped his ankle, followed by her left. Her weight and that of the waterlogged cloak almost dragged him from the air, but he’d anticipated that. For the last year, Jones had been teaching him how to wield the elements. While Mahuika’s fingernails made fire the easiest element for him to manipulate, he’d learnt other skills. He called the winds to him in a surging gust, lifting him. ‘Hold on!’ he shouted, as he was thrown upwards.
Evie shouted in fear, her knuckles white. ‘I can’t!’ she shrieked, her own weight tearing at her grip. Her left hand slipped, found his shoe and grabbed again. They were already thirty feet above the surface, but losing momentum. The bird of prey soared past only twenty yards away, eyeing him warily for more fire. The nearest sho
reline was at least half a mile east.
‘Hold on,’ he shouted back. ‘I’m going to try and reach land.’ Her weight dragged at him, destroying his manoeuvrability and speed.
Her left hand let go again, and he cried out in alarm, looking down. But this time it had been deliberate. She thrust her hand into her jacket pocket, the sodden cloak trailing a spray of water across the lake as she fumbled for something. ‘What are you doing?’ he shouted.
She drew a rune stone from her pouch. ‘Uruz! Rune of strength,’ she shouted aloud. At once her right hand gripped his ankle more tightly. She fished for another stone as the eagle banked in behind them.
‘Hang in there,’ he urged. ‘That damned bird is coming back!’ He tried to keep it in sight, but with the drag of Evie’s weight he was too slow. Its shriek was louder than ever as it came at him. He threw up a desperate flare of fire-energy behind him, losing height as he did. The eagle plunged through the screen of heat, its claws raking past his face, and then it was past him. Beneath him Evie was swinging wildly, her feet brushing the waves. He called the winds and climbed again. The shore beckoned, at least 300 yards away. He made for it, trying to gain altitude. Another slip and they’d both be in the lake. Still the bird of prey circled hungrily.
‘What is it?’ Evie called.
‘Dunno, but it’s huge.’ He beat his wings again, gained another few feet of height. Below him he saw Evie transfer the rune stone in her left hand to her mouth, then dip into her pockets again. He had no idea what she was doing but hoped it was helpful. Her hand came out with another stone, and she lifted it, clenched in her fist, and shouted something he couldn’t catch. At once the wind swung about and hurled them both towards the shore. The air rasped at his cheeks and tore at his clothing, as a gale-force tailwind flung them forward. He glanced back, saw the bird catch the same wind and jet towards them. It was still doing twice their speed. Evie’s cloak billowed about her, shedding streams of water as she dangled from his foot.
