Song of the Day | Pace It by Magic Dirt | Spotify | YouTube
“You sure you can do this kid?” Red muttered as they stood in the still-squelchy carpet.
“I’m not really doing it, just helping. I hope. I think? I dunno. We have no choice.” Soda was hopping from foot to foot and shaking her hands out as they gathered in a tight circle.
Kevin watched on longingly from outside. There’d been a brief argument about bringing him, transportation of incorporeal beings, calling the regular police about the corpse, and the quickest route home. They’d decided to call Penny as their closest available contact. The Mustang had to be left behind, to Rowan’s displeasure. She cast a glamour over it to make it look like a rust-streaked moving van and gave it a little kiss goodbye.
Dawn, Darren and Soda linked hands, forming a circle around Rowan and Red. Soda felt the strange, alien magic of the Sevenkin rush through her again, intermingled with the warm earthy feel of Darren’s presence. This time, Soda was expecting the night-time desert vision and she concentrated, straining to hear the whispered words on the wind: The king of midnight will eat the sun, eternal night will fall… Then it slipped away and she was suddenly flying and swooping high over steep hills and familiar gum forests, her heart filled with fierce joy. She let out a cry and a bird’s keening song came out… Then she was back in herself, and gold surged from her hands, setting everything into motion.
The spell loomed around her, its instructions and intentions all clear and tidy like clockwork. The different cogs ticked over, just like when the Gate was open, except this time it was roaring through Soda instead of around her. Then -pop-
And they were back at Swingin’ Dick’s.
“Maybe you’ll be a sorceress yet girl!” Dawn said with an approving nod as they landed, still-standing, barely stumbling this time.
“We’ll see,” Soda mumbled, her heart tight with anxiety and grief. No celebrating now. There was only the next task. The strange heavy gloom, the endless towering tree trunks, were just out of sight at all times. She glanced about nervously but they slid away.
“Is everyone ready?” She asked. They nodded. “Okay, see you at the house.”
She looked across the street through the shimmering golden bubble that still stood around the block and gasped. There were people lined up on the road, but they looked… strange. She squinted, and swore when she realised they were Evangeline’s cronies, their mutations distorting their shape through the haze. They were casting some kind of spell. Right by the edge of the bubble, thin-limbed black shadows with fire in their eyes were coming up out of the ground like gas. Their elongated fingers reached for Soda’s shield, and flinched away as it fizzed gold glitter. She nodded, but her victory was short-lived. They quickly tried again, and an inky black finger was slowly pushing through… shit. Not a living thing. It kept out living things. She let out a particularly loud "FUCK!" making everyone else spin around.
“Oh shit son!” Darren yelled. “Let’s go, let’s go!”
Dawn flung his arms wide and the Gate opened all at once, spilling out a small army of Grabbers and Feds. They spotted the group across the carpark and surged forward, weapons raised. Simultaneously, Soda cast the bestiary spell, turning every single one into some kind of farm animal. Utter pandemonium broke out in a flurry of feathers, fur, teeth and horns, and the group rushed past, through the open portal. They were sprinting through the tunnel together, but then the path split in two and they separated: Soda, Big Red, and Rowan in one direction, Darren and Dawn in the other. Soda could hear Dawn’s cackling laughter as he disappeared. Behind them the Gate started to collapse, roaring with fierce energy. They threw themselves through the open end of the tunnel and it puffed into nothing behind them with a burst of black glitter.
Rowan did a very impressive safety roll and finished on her feet. Soda hit the ground and landed in one of the dusty craters Rowan had previously left in her front lawn. Red landed with perfect grace and was already rushing up the rickety front stairs of their house.
“Ow,” she groaned. “One day I’ll be able to do that well, I’m sure…”
For a moment she stared up at a dark, airless canopy swathed in mist. She rubbed her face roughly and banished it. The heavy afternoon heat told her she was finally home. She breathed in the humid air and it steeled her nerves.
She shuffled upright and followed Rowan upstairs, her father’s door wards disappearing in lilac fire. Brisbane’s leafy inner suburbs were still baking hot in the early evening, the city shimmering gently in the distance. The sky was huge and cloudless, its edges twilight pink and purple. A bloody red streak was leaking from the darkening horizon, reaching towards them. Of all the things that had rattled her so far, seeing the infinite Queensland summer sky, her sky, filling with the promise of doom, was somehow the worst. She scowled furiously. How dare they. No one was allowed to curse Brisbane except her!
She stepped inside her house in a daze. How long had it been? Surely not less than a week. Surely it had been years. But the dishes were still in the sink, getting furry, and her ashtray was still on the kitchen bench where she’d left it. She followed Red and Rowan to Frank’s office, barely even glancing at all the wonders as the chest filled her vision. It had been there the whole time, waiting for her. Had Frank known? He couldn’t have. So it was just the biggest coincidence in the history of coincidences? The Stone buzzed smugly. I hope I get some answers from you, she thought fiercely at it. She retrieved the Book of the First and crept towards the chest. Red and Rowan said nothing, standing back by the desk and watching.
The pure crystal note from the Stone started up as she approached. When she crouched down and placed gentle hands on the lid to open it, a baritone thrum joined in, harmonising perfectly. She opened the secret compartment and carefully slid the book into its rightful place. A woman’s voice, impossibly beautiful, started singing in a language Soda didn’t recognise. It was a funeral song, Soda knew that. Keening sadness filled the room and all three silently wept. Wordlessly, Soda grabbed one end of the chest and Rowan grabbed the other. Red led the way down the hall. For a few steps they walked together through the Dark Forest, but the song held them, and they made it outside to the backyard, to the crest of the hill the house sat on. The song ended, and together they stood and looked out at the houses spreading out in neat rows over the hills to the low mountains in the distance, standing in silent vigil. Then they got to work on the house and yard. Soda picked up her phone and dialled.
“Hey Penny. I need another favour, if that’s alright.”
***
The full moon rose, hanging huge and luminous in the sky, bigger than Soda had ever seen it before. It looked ready to plunge into the ocean. Soda and Rowan were alone. The others were noisily banging about the house, anxiously fussing with the preparations, getting everything into position.
“Evangeline… I saw her admit that she killed those kids,” Soda said, not looking at Rowan. “You really were innocent all along.”
But Rowan shook her head. “That day, we found the Stone together. I thought we were still a team… Now we know, something happened, something crawled inside her. But I didn’t know that then. We both tried to get the Stone… I grabbed it first. She attacked me… we fought…” she struggled, then steadied herself. “I don’t know why but it just got so, so fierce. We threw everything we had at each other. All the mounting resentments…It seems so stupid now. I don’t even know why I was so angry at her. Still reeling from Vincent’s betrayal I suppose. We secretly blamed each other, I think. When the smoke cleared, we could see what we’d done. We didn’t even consider that there might be people there, let alone children. They were gathering wild mushrooms for their dinner. The hate we threw at each other, written onto their little bodies… We both fled.”
Then you touched the Stone, didn’t you… Soda wanted to say it, but found she still couldn’t make the words come out. Frustrated, Soda made a slight gesture of touching the Stone around her neck and looked at Rowan questioningly. She gave the barest nod. Why couldn’t they talk about it now? It was like the Covenant, jamming her jaw shut against her will.
“I have been a monster, Soda Jones,” she said finally, looking out at the early evening.
Soda looked at her profile, still as a statue. “What are you going to be next?” She asked, winning a slight quirk of a smile, that might have also been a frown.
Quick movements caught Soda’s eye and she looked over to see a tiny black and white bird with an oversized tail hopping and flitting about on spindly little legs. She gave a little smile.
“Hey willy wagtail,” she said. “The world is going to end here tonight, did you know that?”
The bird gave a few little hops, a rapid flick of its tail, then with a puff of dark green magic, turned into Darren.
“Not if we can help it, hey?” He grinned, taking in the scene, his face immediately twisting into exaggerated concern.
“I leave you lot alone for a few hours and it’s more morbid sad-arse-poor-me shit! Clearly you need me for entertainment and for guidance,” he said, shaking his head.
“Mate if it’s just you, then I will definitely cry,” Soda shot back nervously. But then she could feel the Gate opening. They rushed to the driveway and a car was pulling through, except this time it was the Corolla and it wasn’t so much roaring as gently chugging. Mick was driving, and Soda’s car came to a stilted stop, slid back down the hill a little, jerked back up again, then stopped properly. Mick was not a good driver. Kitty and North Star piled out of the back seat, while Lune slid out of the front passenger side like it was a limousine. The quiet suburban streets were filling with the buzz of motorbikes and cars.
Dozens of people were showing up: a wide array of shifty, untidy-looking misfits, tattooed reprobates, leather-clad bikies and batty nannas with big hair and too much velvet on. There were gardeners in sensible overalls and high vis, and harried-looking mums with aprons on and ladles in hand. There was even an old man with a beard and a pointy hat with stars on, though it looked rather like a cheap polyester Halloween costume. They piled up the driveway and around the side of the house, chatting and laughing as though this was a really weird family reunion and not the impending apocalypse. Some of them nodded to Soda as they walked past, many eyeballed Red and Rowan, and one grizzled old man in a tweed suit stopped to give Soda’s shoulder a pat and gruffly say ‘condolences for yer old man luv, he was a good sort’ before shuffling on. If Soda had imagined some kind of situation where a shining army of superior magicians showed up to save the day, that deflated rapidly. Would it work? It would have to work.
“Soda darling!” North Star cried, holding his arms out to her, still in his beaded kaftan. She pointed an angry finger at him.
“You! You gave me food poisoning and abandoned me! I want my money back!”
"Oh yes, I'm sorry about all that, thought we were all going to die you must understand, terribly sorry, no refunds for acts of unnature…"
"Ugh! I'll deal with you later."
"Sorry, someone's calling me over! Can't hear you love!" He gave her a sunny smile and a little wave as he hurried off into the crowd.
Suddenly she was engulfed in a hug from both sides: Mick and Kitty had enclosed her and were speaking excited nonsense.
“My poor Soda you must be so traumatised,” Kitty cried, pressing Soda into her cleavage so hard she thought she might disappear.
“I’m ughlrighth,” she gurgled, and she laughed and let her go.
“I heard you’re a hero now girl,” Mick teased. “What’s that like?”
“I dunno hey, there’s a lot of bullshit so far,” Soda said earnestly. “Also they tried to make me wear a dress.”
“What! Did it work? Is there proof?”
“No. I wore combat gear instead.”
Mick laughed harder. “Good, you’re still you then. Now, what’s the deal with this ritual?”
He’d only said it at a normal volume, but suddenly, a hush fell over the party and everyone was looking at her. Showtime, then. She headed around to the backyard and everyone clustered closer. Maybe about fifty people all up? Well, that would have to be enough.
“Um, hello everyone, thanks for, thanks for coming,” she stuttered, her guts suddenly water. “I’m Soda Jones and I have the misfortune of having all three Artefacts of the First here with me tonight, which means we need to stop the end of the world. Um, sorry about that.”
She looked out at their impassive faces. Someone called out:
“We thought they weren't real!”
“They’re fucking real okay,” Soda said exasperatedly, and pulled out the Stone from under her shirt, holding it up.
Everyone pressed forward to get a better look, their eyes widening. Sensing the right audience for some drama, the Stone glowed its unearthly green glow and let out the pure singing note. Golden light washed out of the chest and flowed down the hill like a sparkling river as the terribly, achingly sad song settled on the hearts of everyone present. Hushed gasps swept around the yard. When it was done, everyone was staring at her intently (if wetly).
“Right so, um, we need to do this ritual. To close the tear in reality. It was in the Book, and the Stone helped me read it.”
Instantly, a chorus of voices broke the silence.
“I don’t speak Ancient Greek, is that okay?”
“Is this a blood ritual? I don’t do blood rituals.”
“Should I get my kit off?”
“Usually a mass ritual approach requires days of pre-invocational ground work and I seriously doubt that you have placed the correct sigils around…”
Soda groaned low in her throat. They were all going to die. Was now a bad time to astrally project straight out of her body and leave this earthly coil? But then Rowan came and stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder, staring out across the crowd. She said nothing. Dawn and Lune appeared, also silent. Big Red sat at her feet, coming up to her knees with his full bulk drawn up and flashing green eyes daring anybody to do anything at all. One by one, everyone quietened again.
“Just take it easy kid,” came Red’s rumble from below her. She gave him a small smile, and started again, making her voice louder.
“Okay, it’s a pretty simple one. A chant with three parts. We need to call up the doors, we need to close them, then we need to send them away. You really just have to follow my lead, so don’t worry if your ancient tongues are a little rusty,” she joked, causing some chuckles. Steadying herself, she explained the rest of the ritual, and the general shape of their plan.
“Evangeline and the Brigade are coming, probably with a bunch of Feds as well, and maybe a hoard of flesh eating keku monsters,” she added grimly once she was done. “We’ve done our best with the defences but we really just need to finish the ritual, that’s the goal here. Please don’t die, that will make me really sad. Uhhh…. that’s all I got. Let’s go.”
Everyone formed loose circles of clasped hands in rings around the chest, with Soda at the centre standing in front of it, the Book open under her palms. The moon was high but still enormous, its pallid bulk threateningly heavy in the sky. She began the chant, followed hesitantly then increasingly loudly by the group. With both her hands on the chest she thought about the door, what it needed to do. The wood glowed under her hands as a warm wind blew, the unearthly music sang, the group chanted. Suddenly, the jagged bloody streak in the distant sky surged forward into a red storm that made the light go flat and sickly orange. Here they come…
Chapter Twenty: Coalescing
You'll be a sorceress yet girl! Malicious use of farm animals, having been a monster