Dark Confluence (7 page)

Once inside, she sloughed off her wet things into the washing machine and had a hot shower, changing into dry clothes. Slowly and mechanically, she put away the groceries, listening as the rain hammered mercilessly on the tin roof. She turned on the radio, and then gave up as an immediate chorus of whistles and crackles made listening impossible. Shrugging, she decided that the best course of action was to return to work, there were those three chapters left to do. If she put her mind to it, she might get it finished by this evening.

She turned on the computer, and immediately, the screen started to flicker. Alarmed she did a restart, but no change. The computer was acting as oddly as the radio. Annoyed, she shut it down and stood staring at the window, watching the distant trees bending and moving, and the house was imperceptibly shaking in the increasing wind. Despite being almost midday the rain and clouds had plunged the countryside into a creepy grey-green half-light. There was a sudden rattle of hail on the roof and immediately there was a sharp crack, almost like a rifle shot. Inadvertently, Jen jumped and all the lights went off in the house.

Cursing to herself, Jen stumbled around in the dark, finally locating a kero-lamp in the laundry and lighting it. In the eerie half-light, the fury of the storm was readily apparent. She pushed open a curtain and peered outside. The rain was being driven almost horizontal and tree branches were whipped from side to side. A waterfall cascaded from her roof as the holes in the guttering opened up under the cloudburst. Every so often, the house shuddered on its foundations, as a strong gust of wind hit it. Alarmed, Jen hugged herself, not wanting to watch the storm. Yet, she was fascinated despite her fears. She stared up at the flying clouds, watching as the rain squalls moved across the countryside. As she watched, a brilliant, mind-searing shaft of light flashed before her eyes, and before she could blink, she glimpsed with shocked eyes, a dozen or so ghostly horsemen cavorting about in the dark sky. Suddenly, the ground shook and an earth-shattering bang threw her back on her heels and sent her scurrying for the relative safety of the bathroom. Crouching fearfully, she felt the house tremble, and then settle again. Her ears rang from the deafening clap of thunder and she distinctly smelt ozone. Distantly, yet distinctly, she heard a high pealing laughter, then it was gone, and the wind picked up again, howling through the eaves.

Shaking with fear, Jen decided she had had enough. Determinedly, she locked and bolted the front door, did a double check of all windows and with the kero-lamp in her hand, she headed off to bed to try to sleep away the fury of the storm.

*

She woke to her electric alarm clock blinking away. The numerals read 3.25 am, yet there was a half-light peeping through her curtains, which indicated that it was still daylight. She heard a light patter of rain on the roof, which faded away as she listened. It seemed that the storm had not yet passed. However, its full fury had finally abated.

Jen switched on her bedroom light switch. When the light did come on, it was dimmed, and only a fraction of its normal strength. She assumed the power lines were down somewhere, so she turned the switch back off. For the moment candles, kero-lamp and gas stove would have to suffice.

Nothing seemed amiss as she moved through the house. No water had penetrated for which she was thankful. She decided to check outside and opened the front door. Outside a shroud of leaves and light twigs covered the hire car. In the near distance, Jen could see several trees on the property boundary that the force of the storm had struck down. One of the trees showed a muted finger of smoke caused by lightning striking it. Otherwise, the house and land seemed fine, despite the damage elsewhere.

Standing on the verandah, she breathed deeply. The air was fresh with an underlying earthy aroma of crushed leaves, mud, floodwater and something else...unidentifiable. Jen inhaled and closed her eyes; there was something magical about the world after rain. The scents and the light seemed amplified. A shiver went up her spine and goose bumps dimpled her skin.

The sound of a tractor pulling up outside her front gate interrupted her reverie. Pulling on a rain jacket that hung from the hook at the back of the front door, she walked out into the lightly spitting rain to see what was going on.

“Miss MacDonald?” a voice called out from over the rumpf, rumpf sound of the idling machine.

“I’m here,” Jen called back, whilst squelching her way up the muddy driveway.

She peered through the light rain and saw Brett sitting atop his tractor.

“Alice sent me out to check on you,” he explained. “That was a rough storm. The bureau hasn’t called it a cyclone yet, but I reckon it was near Category One.”

“Indeed it was,” she agreed.” Did it cross the coast?”

“Yup, it was a fast moving bugger. The news services reckon it will break the record books. In fact, the eye went through a bit further north of here, up round Noosa they say. Seems that most of the beaches have been washed away and Coolum caught a fair bit of damage.”

He looked past her up to the house, “Any damage?”

She shook her head, “Not really, just some trees down on the boundary fence.” My guttering developed a few more holes,” she grinned ruefully. “Also electricity is doing odd things, like I’m on partial power.”

“You are, in fact, we all are,” he told her. “All the power lines are down in the area. The power companies have brought in generators, but it will be awhile before full power is restored.”

Jen nodded, “I’ve got supplies.”

“Good!” His expression became troubled, “One more thing. Can you keep an eye out for little Lachlan Bryce. He vanished during the height of the storm and his parents are frantic.”

Jen put a hand to her mouth in shock, “He’s only a wee child of three!”

“Yup, it’s a terrible thing. The police are out combing the area now.”

Jen shook her head in worry, “I’ll check my land, in case he’s hiding somewhere.” She looked around at the undulating hills and flooded creeks, “He could be anywhere. I hope they find him.”

“As do we all” he said. Then he tipped his old felt hat at her and slowly drove the tractor away.

*

Chapter 6

“Well, I don’t know how you managed it, but you got your storm,” said Jeremy as he shook the raindrops off his oilskin jacket and hung it up on the wooden pegs on Carma’s front porch.

Brandon laughed, “None of my doing, I can assure you, but the timing seemed... providential. How is the moth situation at the bookstore?”

“A bust,” Jeremy complained. “I think the storm blew them away. I went to check on them on the way here and not one to be seen.”

A voice could be heard from the kitchen, “Green or herbal tea Jeremy?”

“
Ginseng,
thanks Carma,” Jeremy called back.

‘We’re the first,” Brandon said to Jeremy. “The others are still arriving. It was damn decent of Carma to offer to host the meeting here. Especially with Sonja still trying to deal with the gum tree that flattened her house. Good thing she was at Steve’s place today.” Brandon winked knowingly at him.

“So she’s staying with Steve then?” Jeremy asked.

“I assume so.”

“Will we have a quorum?” asked Jeremy. “Given tonight we’re voting on the two issues, moth or underground power lines.”

“I would think so,” replied Brandon. “Carma told me that the local councillor is coming tonight, as well as a representative of the power company, since they’re in the area doing repairs.”

“Fortuitous indeed,” said Jeremy. “Pity about the moth, but we can’t mount a proper campaign without it being present.

Brandon’s eyebrow lifted, “That’s not stopped us in the past...”

Jeremy giggled, “The Spotted Crake? Well, it’s amazing what you can achieve with a recording of its call being played on and off when that local birdwatcher group was present.” He was airily dismissive, “Just a bunch of dotty old ladies, so very easy to pull the wool over their eyes.”

“Well that rainforest needed preserving,” Brandon agreed. “A necessary means to an end.”

“Rainforest?” Carma questioned, emerging from the kitchen and laughed at the two men. “Come now, if that scrubby gully was a rainforest, well then you can call me a fool. However, it was a necessary means to an end, we needed to flex our muscles against the council and I’m glad that I initiated that action.” She indicated the three mugs of tea balanced on a tray, “Ginseng for Jeremy, latte for Brandon, and green tea for myself.” She handed out the beverages. “Still only us three?”

“I’m here,” called out a voice from the front door.

“Maryanne! Good to see you here,” said Brandon as the young student came in through the doorway, her dark hair plastered to her head.

Carma took one look at the dripping figure and went straight to the linen closet to fetch towels.

Maryanne shook the drips off, “Thought it was all over when I left, but it just started bucketing down again.”

Two more figures materialised at the front door, shrugging off coats and closing umbrellas.

“Rod, Adam, any trouble on the road?” Carma enquired as she handed a towel to a grateful Maryanne.

“Few trees down, but the emergency workers are clearing,” Rod replied. “I picked up Adam as his driveway is washed out.”

“A cloudburst,” agreed Adam, “I’ve been living here all my life, and I’ve never seen the like, this was far worse than ’74 and ’11. I had no idea the clouds could hold so much water. No wonder so many trees went down. I heard this area copped the worst of the rain.”

“Adam, Rod, Maryanne. Tea or coffee?” Carma asked.

The others nodded and called out their orders, and Carma went back into her kitchen to boil some more water. She moved five more mugs from the cupboard onto the bench top and going to her pantry, pulled out different canisters of herbal teas. As she waited for the water to boil, she took from a small black bowl a pinch of a silvery grey powder. She then sprinkled a few grains of the mixture into each mug. It had taken most of the afternoon to combine the ingredients correctly and Moira had been most specific about its preparation.

Ah, Moira, now she was a strange one. Jen had answered the knock on her door three days ago to find at her feet a small wooden box placed on her front doorstep. She had taken the box inside to find within a dozen or more small glass (or were they crystal) vials containing a number of strange substances that she could not identify. A handwritten note lay amongst the flasks. The words were in a strangely archaic flowing hand and written on parchment. With some difficulty, Carma had deciphered the words,
“A concoction to bind others to your will. Mix with care, Moira.”
Below the note were detailed instructions.

It had taken Carma several attempts and scorched fingers before she had a finished powder that resembled the description on the note. Carefully, she had put the bowl away, covered as requested with a linen cloth. The note had warned that the powder would only have a onetime use, and its potency would decline rapidly, so she would need to make it on the day of use.

Adam appeared at the kitchen door, “You done yet, Carma? The councillor and energy chap are here now.” Before she could ask he said, “Coffee for both of them.”