“Whoever he is, all I can say is he’s in one big heap of trouble.”
When, later that afternoon, the telephone rang at Hoki and Bella’s house, Hoki answered it immediately. She’d been waiting.
“Good morning Ma’am,” she heard. “This is Sergeant Pilkington. I’m the duty officer at Nelson Police Station.”
Hoki dropped the receiver with fright. “Something’s happened. Something’s wrong.”
Bella hurried over. “Yes, Officer?” she asked.
“Would you know of a young man by the name of Piwaka?”
“You mean Arnie? He’s my nephew. Is he with you?”
“So you do know him?” Sergeant Pilkington sounded disappointed. “You can verify his identity?”
“Of course I can. What’s he done!”
“Well, Ma’am, the doctor’s with him. He’s got a dislocated shoulder and some other wounds that are being attended to. We’re holding him here for questioning. He’s being charged with trespassing on government property.”
“Is he all right?” Bella asked. “I would like to speak to him please.”
“Yes, well, hang on, I’ll put him on.” Bella heard muffled noises at the other end and then, thank God, Arnie was on the line.
“Arnie? Is that you, nephew? Did you do it? Were you able to get back in time to tell the manu whenua about the seabirds?”
“Yes, Auntie.”
Bella smiled with relief. “They did it, Sister!” she called. “They did it!”
Hoki gave a whoop and snatched the telephone from Bella. “Put Skylark on the phone, Nephew. I want to speak to her.”
“I can’t,” Arnie said.
“Why not! What’s happened to Skylark?”
“We had an accident. We were attacked and Skylark —”
“Please don’t say it, Arnie.” Hoki began to tremble. “Please tell me that Skylark made it home with you.”
“She’s still back there,” Arnie said. “And it’s all my fault. If we’d come back when we should have, we would both have made it. But I wanted to stay to help the manu whenua win their second battle with the seabirds. Then, when we were coming home, the winds took us right to the top of the Heavens.”
“Oh no.”
“Skylark got us down again but I lost my cool, Auntie. I really lost it. I was so glad to see the portal that I rushed to get there. That’s when the pouakai saw me and came after me. Skylark tried to save me and —”
“Yes, Arnie?”
“The pouakai got her.”
Mitch and Francis were on duty at the cliff face when Bella told them the news.
“Only Arnie got back? Not Skylark as well?” Mitch asked.
“No, Skylark didn’t make it,” Bella answered. “As for Arnie, I’m driving to Nelson to collect him. Will you two be all right while I’m away?”
Mitch turned to Francis. “You go with Bella. I can keep guard myself.” Then, quickly, so that Bella wouldn’t see his tears, he raised his rifle and began rapid firing at the seabirds. “Damn you,” he cried. “Damn you all to hell.”
Bella and Francis hit the road with Francis in the driver’s seat. Actually, Bella had wanted Hoki to make the trip but Hoki was too distraught, huddled in her chair and moaning to herself.
“Arnie blames himself, but I’m the one to blame,” she kept saying. “I shouldn’t have let Skylark go up north with him.”
“You weren’t to know they’d both actually go through the portal,” Bella said. “They did that of their own choice and their own free will.”
“No, no, no,” Hoki wailed. “I could have stopped them. If I’d been there, none of this would have happened. If there was a price to pay, I should have paid it, not Skylark.”
“I will not have you talking like that, Sister,” Bella said. “You hear me? Do you hear me Hoki?”
The atmosphere in the car was tense. In an effort to break the silence and lighten the mood, Francis switched on the radio: Crowded House. But although he sang along with the lyrics, Bella clearly wasn’t up to it, so Francis switched the radio off. Anyhow, he had a question. “Auntie, what did Hoki mean when she talked about the price to pay?”
“You never want to take notice of everything that Hoki says,” Bella said, “but sometimes, when the gods have granted you something, a payment has to be made.”
“Skylark’s the payment?” Francis asked, shivering.
They arrived in Nelson. Bella had to post bail for Arnie before the police would release him into her custody. She was shocked at his appearance. He was trembling, feverish, and although his arm was in a sling and he managed a one-armed embrace, he wouldn’t look her in the eyes.
Immediately she had signed for him, Arnie began to go over and over his sorrow. “I shouldn’t have left Skylark there, Auntie. When the pouakai grabbed her and took her back to its nest, I didn’t go after her and save her. If I had been the one taken, that’s what she would have done. I failed her.”
“No,” Bella answered. “Don’t even go there, Nephew. Don’t blame yourself.”
“But I’ve got to get back there,” he yelled. “I have to try to save her!” He snatched the car keys from Francis, who’d been jiggling them nervously, and stormed toward the carpark.
“Stop him,” Bella said.
By the time she arrived at the carpark Francis and Arnie were fighting. Francis had managed to wrest the keys from him, but was nursing a bloodied lip after Arnie socked him in the mouth.
“He’s gone mad, Auntie,” Francis said, and threw the keys to Bella.
Eyes bulging, Arnie approached her and raised a fist. “Give me the keys, Auntie. Give me the goddam keys.”
“No. And if you hit me, I’ll hit you with my handbag.” Bella was cruel. She looked Arnie in the eyes and didn’t try to make it sound pretty. “Face facts, all right? Pray very hard that the pouakai broke Skylark’s neck as soon as it caught her.”
“No, Auntie.” Arnie lunged for the keys again. “Skylark may still be alive.”
“Not after all this time,” Bella said. “You mustn’t hope. Instead, you should pray that she had a quick death and not the slow death of being taken back to the nest and being eaten alive piece by piece, or being fed to the chicks. Do you know what the chicks will do with Skylark if she is in the nest? They’ll play with her at first, like a cat does a mouse.”
“She was alive when I saw her last. Even in the pouakai’s beak I could swear she was alive —”
But Bella was relentless.
“The chicks will think it’s great fun to have this screaming little plaything running around in their nest. After a while they’ll get bored — and one of them will accidentally jab her with its beak and taste her — mmm, yummy. It’ll jab her again. The other chicks will join in the fun. Then they’ll dismember Skylark a piece at a time. She may even remain conscious for a long while. Hers will not be an easy death.”
Such horror took Arnie over the brink. “No. No. So help me, Auntie, I’ll hit you if you don’t give me the keys. I’ve got to go back. I’ve got to.” Arnie gave a shuddering moan, his eyes rolled up and he collapsed, unconscious, into Bella’s arms.
By the time Bella, Francis and Arnie arrived back at Manu Valley, Arnie’s condition had worsened. He was drawn, shivering and incoherent. Immediately, Hoki put him to bed and gave him two sleeping pills. Even so, his mind was filled with images of Skylark being pecked at by ravenous chicks and he thrashed about on the pillow.
“Skylark! Save yourself! No, oh no —”
For a long time, Arnie lay sweating and screaming out Skylark’s name, over and over again. And every time he did it, Hoki was stabbed with remorse. Then gradually the sleeping pills took effect and he quietened down.