Hidden Fire (21 page)

Morgan lowered his tall frame until he sat cross-legged in front of her. “Hey, we'll find them.
And
your parents. You reckon the tribe is going to let them waltz in here and take off with the opal? I don't think so.”

Gili raised her head and stared at him. “I wish I'd never gone to work for the Grissom Gallery in the first place. Then none of this would have happened.”

Morgan's mouth quirked into a smile. “Then we wouldn't have met.”

“True. But at least then you wouldn't have been thinking of me as a thief for the last six years. All of this started because Jeremy wanted that ring. That damn thing has a lot to answer for.”

Morgan moved to sit beside her, his back resting against the same mullock heap. “Funny you should say that. Jeremy may have stolen the seal ring, but I had the photos of it so I was able to do some research. I'm convinced the blasted thing is evil.”

“How do you mean?” She turned an enquiring glance on him.

“Go with me here, okay? A lot of this is pure mythology. We know that tomb was for one of the disciples of the Aesma Daeva. The engravings on the ring told us that. But at the time, I couldn't understand why the ring was wrapped in the chains that secured that rock across the entrance to the tomb.”

“If I had to guess, I'd say it was a warning of some kind. You ever find anyone to translate the glyphs cut into the doorway?”

Morgan pushed himself to his feet and dusted off his backside before moving to the other side of the gully. “Yeah, I found a scholar who could read the Old Persian. According to him, when the people of the time executed a disciple, they confined his spirit to a ring, trapping him in death forever.”

Gili grinned. “And if this follows the myths of the time, the ring and the mummy have to be kept separate, yes?”

“Yeah, but according to my source, the ring has to be totally removed from the vicinity of the mummy.” He snorted. “Not tied to the door of the tomb within feet of the body.”

“So even thousands of years later, the mummy's going to get up and walk again?”

“Hey, don't mock this woo-woo stuff.” He gestured at the mine. “I mean, look what's happening here. If that's not straight out of the realms of the paranormal, I don't know what it is.”

She clambered to her feet and joined him. “You're right. So tell me what else you found out about the ring.”

Morgan took his hat off and swiped at the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand, before jamming the hat back on and turning to Gili. “It seems the spirit in the ring will do everything to unite body and soul, so to speak. The ring isn't dangerous to everyone, but if you happen to have a major character flaw—”

“Like Jeremy and his greed, for instance.”

“Then the spirit in the ring will corrupt the soul of the wearer and use them to gather energy to reverse the imprisonment process.”

Gili chewed at her lip as she tried to make sense of Morgan's words. “First question. Where is this energy coming from?”

Morgan raised his eyebrows. “Wouldn't you know it? Certain
lost
gems are supposed to be receptacles for the elementals, for want of a better word. In the case of the
Dreamtime Fire
, it's the fire elemental.”

“Which explains why Jeremy wants it.” She held up a hand as he opened his mouth to speak. “Yes, he wanted it before, but according to my dad, since he has started wearing the ring, he's become obsessed.”

“Like I said, don't discount the woo-woo stuff.” He took her hand and pulled her towards the mullock heaps. “Come on, let's go and try to get your parents on the satellite phone. And while we're at it, I might have a little word with the police sergeant in Winton. He just happens to be a member of the tribe.”

Gili trotted after Morgan, one thought uppermost in her mind.
Please let my parents be safe
.

Gili scooped another shovel of dirt into the sieve and gently shook it from side to side. When the soil was gone, she dragged her fingers through the remaining pebbles looking for a trace of color. Nothing showed up so she tipped out the contents and grabbed her pick, ready to drag down another offering from the mullock heap.

Her mind wasn't really on what she was doing. She could have joined the children in their basket-weaving lessons, but had chosen not to. She wasn't very good company right now. Instead, she'd wandered off on her own, choosing to potter about in one of the piles of dirt outside the entrance to the mine.

“Are you sad, Missy Gili?” Piri sidled up to her, placing his small hand on her shoulder.

She dredged up a smile for the child. “Hello, Piri. Shouldn't you be with the other children?”

“I told Nan I was worried about you and she said I could come find you as long as I didn't wander away from the camp.”

“Thank you, but I'm fine. Just a bit concerned about my parents.”

Where are they
?

The question had been bouncing around inside her head since Morgan had tried to raise her parents on the satellite phone. There'd been no response from either their cell phones or their home phone. Unfortunately, Gili didn't know the name of the private hospital so they couldn't try there.

Concern gnawed at her stomach, making her feel slightly nauseous. Had her father discharged himself and taken her mother into hiding to get away from Jeremy? It was entirely possible. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do until she was able to contact them.

“It'll be okay, Missy Gili. The bad men are going to be caught and the opal will be safe, same as your mum and dad.”

Piri's comment drew her out of her musings. She frowned as she stared at the little boy. How did he know about Jeremy and Whitey? Or her being here to find the opal for that matter? She and Morgan hadn't discussed it in his hearing and she couldn't see Charlie telling his grandson.

“It really will be okay, Missy Gili.” He held up one hand and shook a small finger. “I know this.”

His face suddenly seemed too grown-up for such a small body. His voice held utter conviction as if he knew something she didn't. She opened her mouth to question him but before she could, he grabbed her sieve.

“Come on, Missy Gili, let's find some opals.” Within a heartbeat, he changed back into a little boy, grinning at her as he scooped soil into the sieve.

Letting go the worry for the moment, Gili joined him. “Don't think there's much in the way of opal chips left in this pile of dirt, Piri. I haven't had any luck at all.”

She stood and wandered over to the mullock heap she and Morgan had used for a backrest earlier. When she would have squatted down, a strange feeling assaulted her. Heat prickled across her skin and a sense of awareness blossomed to life inside her.

Her pelican tattoo felt as if it were on fire. She slipped her hand over her shoulder until she could flatten her palm over it. The skin rippled and she jerked her hand away. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn the darn bird had moved its wings.

Like an electric current, the heat from her shoulder travelled down her arm. Without her brain giving the order, she stretched out her fingers towards the mullock heap. When she touched the sun-baked surface, the soil undulated as if something underneath stirred into life.

Gili pulled back and stared at the area. The movement continued as if the very earth breathed. Small pebbles and dirt broke loose and rolled down the mullock heap. A fissure gaped and the relentless sun flashed on a spark of color that burned fiery-red.

“Piri, bring the sieve over here.”

Excitement fizzed through Gili, her heart thumping with anticipation. She grabbed the pick that Piri handed her and slammed it into the dirt, dragging down a cascade of debris that the young boy quickly caught in the sieve.

He passed it to Gili and she squatted, rocking the sieve from side to side. Her mouth dried and she held her breath as she waited to see what was uncovered.

There, right in the center amid a tumble of pebbles, was a slither of ironstone. Fingers shaking, she turned it over. This was opal country, the heaps of soil already worked over. At the most, she would have expected to see a trace of the opal colors, blue and green being the most common. But what she saw dragged the breath from her lungs.

All the colors of the rainbow glowed within that sliver of stone, but what caught her attention was the flash of fire in its heart. More than she would normally expect from a fire opal. This fragment spoke to her, calling to something deep inside, something spiritual that spoke to her soul.

Piri reached over and picked it out. A sunny smile on his face, he placed it on Gili's palm. Her shaking fingers curled over it. It was warm, as if heated through, and when she opened her fingers, the fiery-red rays obliterated the sparkling blues and greens of the opal.

“Wow. How beautiful,” she whispered. “It's like the colors in the mine.”

“It's a little bit of the fire,” Piri said. “You hold that and it'll show you where to go.” With a friendly wave, he turned and walked off, heading over to where the other children were laughing and playing.

She shook her head. The wise little man again. She didn't know what it was, but there was something about Piri that set him apart from other children his age.

“That grandson of mine behavin' himself?”

Gili jumped and pressed a hand over her thumping heart as the old Aboriginal man ran down the mullock heap beside her.

“Bleedin' heck, Charlie, you scared the living daylights out of me.”

“Sorry, Missy. I just wanted to let you know we haven't found any sign of that Jeremy fella yet.”

She grimaced. “I am so sorry I brought this trouble to your people, Charlie. It was the last thing I wanted.”

Charlie patted her on the arm. “Don't you be worryin' about that, Missy Gili. Things are meant to happen a certain way. That's what destiny is all about.”

“Now you sound like your grandson.” She chuckled. “That young man is amazing.”

“He be a special boy.” Charlie nodded in response to Gili's words and then laughed. “A chip off the old block. Though if you listen to his Nan, she'd say he's a scamp, and me along with him.”

His mention of a chip off the old block reminded Gili of the fragment of opal she held in her hand and Piri's comments about it. She glanced across at the group of children who had come down the gully to hunt for opal chips. Suddenly, her heart lightened and she laughed.

Piri had climbed to the top of a mullock heap and stood there with one hand balanced on his hip and the other holding his pick aloft. Even from here, she could hear his shrill little voice as he taunted the other children.

“
I'm the king of the castle…”

Charlie threw his head back and laughed, the sound rolling through the gully. “That boy gonna get himself into trouble, the little rascal. One of the other children is gonna climb that heap and topple him from his perch.”

Gili grinned and continued to watch the boy. It was nice to have an oasis of normality amid all that had happened. Right now, she needed the peace being part of this family unit generated in her soul.

Within the blink of an eye, everything changed. Flames licked around Piri's small feet. They grew, flickering and burning, until they towered over him, encompassed him, hid him from view behind the pillar of fire that shot into the sky.

The breath strangled in Gili's chest. Her heart beat so hard she felt as if she were about to pass out. She fought until she could fill her lungs and then screamed, clutching at Charlie's arm. “Oh God, Piri! He's burning.”

She had to help him. Without thinking, she moved towards Piri. She'd taken no more than two steps when Charlie's grasp on her hand brought her to an abrupt halt.

“It's alright, Missy Gili. He's safe.”

She twisted her head and stared at him, tears filling her eyes. “But the fire,” she gasped, trying to pull her hand from his.

Charlie pointed to Piri, still standing on the top of the mullock heap. “Look again. He's fine. The fire is his friend.”

Gili looked. Charlie was right. Piri stood unscathed on the heap of soil, his high-pitched laughter ringing in the still air.

“I saw the fire,” she whispered.

She shivered as the feeling of pins and needles slid across her shoulder, right over the place the pelican rested. She kneaded the skin where her shoulder met her neck. “I saw him engulfed in flames.”

Charlie let go of her hand and slung his arm around her shoulders. “Told you fire is his friend. Piri's the next Guardian of the fire, just like you,
Gili lubra
. Morgan's just a place-holder until Piri is old enough.”

“The fire? As in…” She allowed the words to trail off and stared back at the mine, fingers clenched around the fragment of opal in her hand.

“Yep, the
Dreamtime Fire
,” Charlie said. “That's the fire of the people. Gotta protect the fire.”

For a moment, Gili thought she was losing her mind, but too many things were beginning to line up. Her voice was a mere whisper as she said, “They're not dreams, or visions, are they? I keep seeing the fire and the ghosts in the mine. I thought it was my imagination until I realized Morgan could see the ghosts as well.”

“It's destiny, Missy Gili. You were meant to come here and put the fire back.”

“But why? I'm American. I've never had any connection with Australia until I met Morgan.”

“The spirits know the heart of each of us. If they chose you… well, they had good reason. They knew what they were doing when they had you get that tattoo.”

He tapped her on the shoulder before turning to face her. “That bird is the proof.”

Heat flashed in Gili's shoulder. The skin prickled. A layer of warmth brushed at the flesh of her neck then faded, only to flare again, like the caress of a hand seeking to reassure her.