Until the Stars Burn Cold

by Nicole Hurley-Moore

  “Were all the cars damaged?”

  “Pretty much, but I’ll give you one guess whose is the worse.”

  “Okay Mia, we’ll take your car now. I’ll give you a call tomorrow to let you know what’s happening,” the mechanic said as he rounded the small smash repairs truck.

  “Thanks Pete.”

  “No worries, mate,” he said as he gave her a wink before climbing into his truck. “Hey, she’ll be right. Me and the boys will get it fixed in a jiffy.”

  Abbey put her arm around Mia and gave her a squeeze. “Well do you guys need a lift? My car is just across the street.”

  Mia looked across the road and saw Abby’s little blue car parked outside the café. Next to it stood Jason McCreedy, looking a little uncomfortable. Mia raised an eyebrow and stared at her friend.

  “So what’s that all about?”

  “Oh, I don’t really know. He keeps begging me to see him, so I gave in and said that I would meet him for coffee.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “I’ll hear what he has to say, but other than that I don’t know. I’ve always cared about him, even when we were kids, but he cheated on me and broke the trust we had. I’m not sure if we can go back.”

  “Then perhaps you shouldn’t try. Maybe you should try and move forward,” Jinn said.

  “Possibly, but we’re just going to have to wait and see. Now do you need a ride home?” Abbey said with a shrug.

  “But you’re having coffee.”

  “It’ll take literally two minutes to drive to your place. I think McCreedy can wait that long.”

  “All right thanks, that would be great. Hang on a tick and I’ll tell Grandad.”

  “Does he need a ride as well?” Abby called out as Mia sprinted back inside the building. She turned to Jinn and gave him an easy smile. “Other than her car is she all right?”

  “Yes, she will be.”

  “Now that sounds cryptic.”

  “I wasn’t meaning to be. Mia is fine, don’t worry Abbey, I won’t let anything happen to her. I give you my vow.”

  “Jeez Jinn, you’re scaring the shit out of me. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing, truly everything is fine. Do not concern yourself,” he said in an even voice in an attempt to placate her.

  Abbey stared at Jinn and he knew that she didn’t believe him. But before she could try and pin him with more questions, Mia jogged back from inside.

  “Grandad said that he would be alright. He’s locking so he said for us to go.”

  “Great, come on then,” Abbey said as she ventured across the road. “I’ll just go and tell Jason we will be awhile.”

  Chapter Eight

  Walking into the spare room, Jinn yanked open the wardrobe door. He was in the middle of hanging up his jacket when it dropped. Reaching down he saw that it had landed on his old clothes which were neatly folded at the base of the cupboard. As he scooped up his jacket, his hand brushed against something hard. Intrigued, he reached for his vest. Inside the hidden pocket he felt the outline of an object. A river of clear, blue stones fell into his waiting hand. Each gem was captured in etched gold and in its middle was suspended a glowing white pearl drop. Turning it over in his hand, he saw that the sapphires flashed with colored fire. It was Shuri’s necklace. Pocketing the necklace he left the room and went downstairs to have dinner with Mia. She still may not remember their past but as least he could finally return her mother’s necklace to her.

  They sat in the garden and watched the full moon. A wind had blown up and it pushed the night dark clouds across the sky, casting the garden into dimness. Jinn tightened his arms around Mia as she sat leaning against his chest. He felt the pale green silk of her robe smooth against his fingers. The scent of full blown roses and jasmine filled the air and if he closed his eyes for a moment he could see himself in Shuri’s long dead garden in Adwan.

  “I love you Mia. I will love you forever.”

  “Forever Jinn?”

  “Yes, until the stars burn cold,” he said as he dropped a kiss onto the top of her head.

  “I love you,” Mia said as she lifted her head and kissed him.

  Jinn felt his heart fill and in that instant he was almost complete. He felt her soft mouth opening against his lips as he held her. Everything was perfect and time seemed to stop – in that moment Jinn felt the past and the present. Shuri was Mia and the two gardens that were separated by more than a thousand years became one. He was the constant, he connected them all. Breaking the kiss he reached into his pocket and withdrew the necklace. With infinite care he draped it around Mia’s slender neck.

  “This is yours. I know that you still don’t believe it, but once long ago you asked me to keep it safe. What was once divided is now restored.” Like us, he thought as he clicked the clasp shut. “It was your mother’s necklace.”

  Mia’s fingers touched the sapphire necklace; the gold was warm and tingled against her skin. The gems sparkled in the transient moonlight, the large pearl drop fell between her breasts.

  “Jinn, it’s beyond beautiful! I mean it’s…” Mia’s words trickled to halt as a warm buzz began to radiate within her.

  As her hand clutched the pearl drop, her head began to swim, and a wave of dizziness rolled over her. In the distance she could hear Jinn’s voice asking if she was all right, but he seemed so far away. Like he was shouting down a long tunnel. Feeling as if she was falling headlong through a swirling mist, Mia tried to call out but the words stuck in her throat. Suddenly the mist cleared and she found herself standing in a broad and busy street.

  A long row of buildings and shops stood before her, yet something was not right. This was not Ghost Gum Creek; the women wore long, old fashioned dresses and hats and the men were dressed in suits. On the corner a boy in breeches and a cap held a bunch of newspaper and called out the headlines. He’s a paperboy… we don’t have paperboys anymore! People hurried to and fro and the sound of a honking horn filled the air. Her eyes sought where the sound had come from and to her surprise an old car came into view.

  It was vintage, just like the ones she had seen when her grandfather had taken her to an old fashioned car rally when she was thirteen. The scene began to melt away as if it was a freshly created painting and someone had thrown a bucket of turpentine over it. The colors and the people began to elongate, fade and drip into one.

  Next she was standing upon a cliff, the sun shone brightly upon her as she looked out to the clear blue sea. Below, several small boats bobbed in the inlet and a sailing ship was anchored further out. A fledgling settlement of tents and low wooden huts was dug around the mouth of the bay. Yet before she could fully grasp that she was looking at a tall ship, the image melted into another.

  This time fear shot through her before the scene crystallized. She was hiding in the shadow of a building on a cobbled street. Looking down she saw that she was barefooted and wearing a long tattered grey skirt. As she raised her eyes she saw that the square was filled with a laughing and jeering crowd. The air was heavy and tainted with the warmth of summer and the metallic scent of blood. On a high wooden platform in its center sat a guillotine, its blood smeared blade glinted in the sunlight. Oh no, I don’t want to watch this! Don’t make me watch this! I don’t want to see! To her relief the scene began dissolved the crowd roared with approval as the blade started to descend.

  Standing on a craggy outcrop of rocks, Mia saw an ancient woman with long white hair before her. There was a fire warding off the darkness of the night and she could hear the roar of the sea in the distance.

  “ I can see it. It is a pale blue light which surrounds him, flows through him… protects him.”

  “I do not understand.”

  “He is protected by the magic of your necklace. Do you not know?” Alima dropped the ring in her hand.

  “The necklace is old, it passed down through the women of my family. My grandmother said that the necklace was charmed with protection and understanding
. I did not understand what she meant and thought it was just a pretty tale.”

  “Your grandmother was a wise woman. The necklace gifts understanding. Whoever wears it sees and hears with clarity. They are also protected… Your soul, child, will always search for Jinn, life after life after life until one day you will be reunited.”

  The scene dissolved again and Mia found herself in a night dark garden. She could hear the sound of bubbling water and the air was scented with roses, jasmine and the sea. A man was with her, and he had taken her by the hand and was urging her to run down the path past the almond trees. She trusted him and allowed him to pull her along. Ahead she saw the delicate pavilion that was covered in honeysuckle, it had always been one of her most favorite places in the garden. Why only yesterday she had spent most of the morning there, sitting on silken cushions and reading poetry.

  Come beloved, we must fly this place. We must escape Adwan before your uncle realizes that we have gone.

  Mia heard the words, but as they ran through the night, her lover had yet to turn around. She knew that she loved him, and that she only ever wanted to be with him, but no matter how hard she tried she could not picture his face. She hurried on behind him, watching his broad back and over long dark hair as he dipped in and out of the shadows. He held her hand in a vice like grip, as if he was terrified that she should slip from his grasp. Yet as they passed the still waters of the pool of reflection, he turned to her and smiled.

  Quickly Shuri, the door is just over there.

  Mia felt her head throb and her heart catch as she looked into the dark eyes of her beloved, into Jinn’s dark eyes. Her world and her perceived place within it, turned upside down. She felt the weight of her love for Jinn, slam into her and settle in her core. The scene melted and she found herself standing at the bottom of some roughly hewn stone steps. She could hear the lapping of the sea and the cry of the gulls above. She heard Jinn call out her name and lifting her head she saw him half way up the steps. She felt a cry claw at her throat as Jinn’s handsome face took on a pale, silvery shade. In the horrifying moment everything about him appeared to be made of molten silver, his skin, hair even his clothes, but still somehow alive and conscious.

  Her mind screamed at the impossibility of what she was witnessing. The man she loved was rolling down each cursed step, with each revolution his form became more circular and reduced in size. Until with a metallic rattle and clang, he fell from the last step and rolled towards her uncle’s feet. The horror overwhelmed her, her mind rebelled and she felt herself slipping into darkness.

  Silent tears of joy and loss began to roll down her cheeks. Alima had once said that her necklace gifted the wearer with understanding and clarity. She saw each of her past lives and how in each she was always searching for someone… searching for Jinn. The impact of the lonely lifetimes washed over her. The endless, aching years of her being without him weighed down her soul. She loved him so completely, how could she not have recognized him when he entered her life once more. Long dusty centuries had torn them apart and yet through some sort of miracle, they had been reunited.

  “Jinn!” She said as she raised her hand and caressed his cheek. “You found me.”

  “Mia… Shuri?” He asked hesitantly as he brought her hand to his lips.

  “Yes.”

  “Mia what do you mean?”

  “We are one in the same. I am Mia… I am Shuri, and I love you with all my heart,” she said as she repositioned herself and turned and faced him. “I have spent countless lifetimes waiting for you.”

  “You’ve remembered!” Elation shone in his eyes. “You’ve remembered what we were to each other and how I loved you.”

  “I remember everything, our love, the night we spent in the little room above the souk, the day Kansbar cursed you into the ring and the long years I searched for a way to release you.”

  “You tried to release me?”

  “For so many years I searched for an answer, but I found none. I sought out wise men, magicians and sorcerers, not one knew how to break Kansbar’s curse. I was given a glimmer of hope when I went to the witch, Alima. She said that the spell would eventually break and if we defeated Kansbar by destroying the amulet then we would be able to live our lives together. In this time, so many years from where we began, we are given a second chance.”

  ~* * *~

  “Then we shall live it, my love and rejoice in every moment that we are together,” he said as he leaned in and captured her lips. He felt her soften and surrender to him, her arms encircled his waist and she pulled him closer.

  Her mouth sought his in a slow, deepening kiss. They had found each other. Tonight was theirs and he would allow nothing to ever separate them again. Somehow he would find a way of killing Kansbar so he and Mia could have the life that was once so cruelly taken from them.

  Jinn broke their kiss and trailed a hundred kisses down her neck. He loved the taste of her, the silkiness of her skin and the scent of rose that lingered. Pulling open her robe his hands reached for the soft, round mounds of her breasts. A smile tugged at his mouth as he heard Mia’s intake of breath. With achingly slow determination he ran his tongue over her warm skin until he captured the bud between his lips. She arched towards him and he felt her hands run over his shoulders.

  She looked up at him, her eyes darkened by desire. “Come to me Jinn, we have been apart too long.”

  Not waiting any longer he slipped into her, filling her completely. She was warm and welcoming and for a moment he was lost. He kissed her once more as he began to move within her, and heard her sigh against his mouth.

  “I love you, Mia with all that I am.” He said as he gazed into his beloved’s face. She did not respond, but raised her hand and wiped the single tear from his cheek. “I’ve found you and I’m never letting you go.”

  “Promise,” she said.

  “I promise.” Jinn closed his eyes as he reveled in the sensations. In his mind’s eye images of the past mingled with the present. Once more he was climbing up Shuri’s jasmine covered wall, and he heard the sound of the busy souk. And for the first time since he had awoken in Mia’s bed did he feel whole. He increased their pace, bringing her higher to the heavens until they collapsed in each other’s embrace.

  Mia felt Jinn’s arms tighten around her as she was seized with a sudden realization. “Oh God, I’ve just remembered! The creepy man from the auction, Kane Barton is Uncle Kansbar! He’s here Jinn! He’s here in Ghost Gum Creek and he’ll be hunting us.” Mia pushed herself up from the bench and reached for her robe.

  “I know.” Jinn answered and he followed suit and pulled on his jeans.

  “What do you mean?”

  “At the auction, he warned that I had two choices if I wanted you to live. I could either allow him to cast me back into the ring or…”

  “Or what?”

  “Die,” he said with shrug.

  “What!”

  “Mia, we have to face him together and manage to break that damned talisman around his neck, only then will he die. Which means; that he cannot let both of us live and he will do anything to keep us apart. We’re a danger, a threat to him, and that’s why he wants me dead.”

  “But why didn’t you tell me?”

  Jinn lifted an eyebrow and a crooked smile tugged at his lips. “Galiya, would you have believed me? You would have run off to your Uncle Arthur convinced that I was having a psychotic episode.”

  “I suppose you’re right, but we have to do something! I won’t sit meekly waiting for Kansbar to come and kill us. I will not live another lifetime without you,” she said as she stood up. But with the abrupt movement came a wave of dizziness that made Mia sway on her feet.

  Quickly Jinn wrapped his arms about her and pulled her back down beside him. “Hey, are you all right?”

  “Yes, yes, I think so. It’s just that my head is swimming.”

  “Just sit still for a moment. I’m sure it’s just…”

  A loud bang cra
shed inside the house. It sounded as if the front door had blown open.

  “Stay here.”

  “No, I should come with you.”

  “Stay. I want you safe.”

  “Jinn, it’s the twenty-first century – this whole alpha male thing is sweet but I can look after myself.” Mia called out but was he sprinting inside the house, leaving Mia alone in the scented garden.

  ~* * *~

  Jinn ran through the house to the front door. He found it locked and intact, yet he had been so sure that the sound had come from the front of the house.

  “There’s nothing here. It must have been outside, on the road,” he called as he drew back the drape and look out into the street. All was silent.

  “Hey Mia, I can’t see anything…” his words faltered as thin spiral of purple smoke curled under the door. In an instant it grew heavier and snaked its way through the house and towards Mia. “Oh no!” Running back as fast as he could he saw that Mia was no longer alone in the garden.

  Kane Barton stood behind Mia, with one arm at her throat and the other holding a wicked looking short sword to her side. It was an akinaka, the hilt was highly decorated with Persian patterns and animals carved in a naïve style. Its scabbard hung off Kansbar’s belt; it was made of bone and was highly carved in relief. It depicted a garden and in the middle of each flower a gem was set. A small smile graced his lips and his cold grey eyes shone in triumph.

  “I’m sorry Jinn, I guess I have to take back what I said. He just appeared from nowhere.”

  “It will be all right.” Jinn assured her as he stepped forward.

  “Always so trusting Jinn, always so gullible and optimistic. I told you that I would choose the time and the place of your final binding. I also said that I wanted our little Shuri to witness it.”

  “Just let her go, Kansbar.”

  “Of course, as soon as you are bound back into a ring.”

  Mia struggled, but Kansbar’s grip held fast. “You took him away from me once, I swear I’m not letting that happen again.”