Amulet Magic: "A woman who finds passion and purpose in life thrives like a Pandanus tree in full sunlight"

By Cher Flynn

Jade and Dale Blyth moved to Mount Clover for a new start and to be close to where Dawin Horizon was moored. Jade is disillusioned and seeking purpose and passion. It unnerved her to be labelled as "outsiders" by the locals who had a preoccupation with the town's hidden myths and sorcery. Mount Clover is a charming vi

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cheryl Flynn
• Release date: Mar 16, 2024
• ISBN: 9780645639919

Book preview

1

Amulet Magic

Please, try darling!

I am Dale! Jade stared gloomily at the ceiling.

Mount Clover may be what you, um, Dale coughed and collected his thoughts. Jade sensed his hesitation. She searched his blue eyes and felt disconnected. Lately she had found her solitude, when he went out to sea, a peaceful caesura in the tempo of their fractured marriage.

Dale cleared his throat. Mount Clover may be what we both need.

Jade rolled over in bed and nervously twisted at the wedding band that used to be an analgesic for her heart.

I am happy Jade. You agreed to move here! It is a good solid cottage. Sure, it needs work, but that view and it’s close to Dawin Horizon"

Jade rolled her eyes and pondered Mount Clover. 

Mount Clover is a charming coastal town, with a mountain backdrop, seemingly caught between two worlds, where the dark shadows hovering in the early morning light were like ghosts of long ago creeping up buildings and tiptoeing over cobblestone lanes, still going about their daily routines from somewhere back in the nineteenth century.

Dale, I am three hours away from my sister Kelly, my niece Jacqueline, best friend Renee and not to mention my Mum. You know how close we are!

Just stop! I know your sixth sense works well, but you just want to blame me!

Jade’s eyes welled with tears. Dale’s uncharacteristically harsh words stung like nettles. He had hit a sore spot as she was sensitive to the fact, she had lost her sixth sense since moving to Mount Clover. Bailey she whimpered as he scooted up close for a pat Good boy, pumpkin

Please, give it time Jade Dale said, aiming at a softer tone.

Dale, I am trying okay! Did you hear what Marigold said to us when we moved in? Don’t let the locals worry you, outsiders are not fully accepted in the community".

Getting upset is not helping, Jade.

Why are you dissing my sixth sense Dale? Jade had heard hushed whispers and although some of locals waved toward them or acknowledged them with a nod of their head during their move in, Jade had sensed an iciness to their stares bubbling underneath the surface smile. Mount Clover had unnerved her.

I am not dissing you, Jade!

Dale, why on earth have we been labelled outsiders?

Honey, try not to read into it. You know your sixth sense does not work when you are stressed

Okay! You have a point Jade conceded. My sixth sense is clouded

It will get better. Give it time!

"The locals are secretive and drawn to sorcery. This weekend is the Sirius Festival, which mind you I always enjoyed attending with Renee and my sister growing up. Last weekend it was the Full Moon Festival and the week before was New Age Spiritual Festival! When does this hocus-pocus end?

Oh love, it is just Mount Clover council cashing in on ways to bring more money to town. Smart if you ask me. Anyway, Renee will be here!

Dale rolled up the blind with the cord and opened the sliding door. The view of Mount Clover Mountain and a gush of chilly air poured into the bedroom. Bailey took full advantage to scoot out the door.

The two-bedroom cottage with large bay windows and sliding door leading to the balcony afforded a grand view of both the renowned Mount Clover terraced shopfront, further up the mountain, and an expansive ocean view. Mount Clover Mountain towered above the quaint village scattered amongst it. The renowned terraced shopfront took centre stage sitting snugly in the palm of the mountain with finger like valleys stretching out between the range and rocky escarpment. Morning fog sat unceremoniously atop Mount Clover like milk skin on a cooled cup of cocoa. The mountain stood dignified shadowing a rainbow of floral fields and town below. In the distance ocean with fishing trawlers and cargo boats meander across the horizon. The rocky escarpment was littered with Pandanus trees at its sandy base. Jade heard the stamina of the ocean’s waves methodically chipping away at a jagged cliff face, the sound echoed throughout the village, blighted slightly by the calamity of the new day dawning.

Dale, I was once a tourist who visited Mount Clover every year as a teenager, for the Sirius Brightest Star in night sky Festival. I am aware of the allure of the town. She recalled visiting Mount Clover with Renee and Kelly and feeling the magic of the town enhanced by old fashioned tearooms with succulent high tea, wonderful coffee shops, homemade soaps and essential oils. As a tourist you could marvel at the views, history and step back in time.

That’s why I thought you’d love it here!

Yes

Jade recalled attending Sirius Festival as a teenager. Sirius Festivalcelebrated the brightest star in the night sky. A time of bringing good luck and fortune. A particular time of the calendar year where Sirius, shone down the brightest onto the jagged cliff face of Mount Clover and light ricocheted off the oldest Pandanus tree that had lived in Mount Clover since the nineteenth century. It would bring into fruition a prosperous time whereby the sea and river would fill with abundant fish, crops would thrive and locals lived the happiest of times.  Blessed with gifts. Some gifts that would appear would be a plate of food at the festival, or a gift of jewellery but Jade had received the other kind of gift. 

You told me yourself that it was here you first noticed your gift, while attending the Sirius Festival, with Renee as a teenager.

Yes, Renee received the gift of jewellery. Kelly received the gift of a free reading from a fortune teller who relayed that she would marry a kind man and have a beautiful baby girl and I received my gift of sixth sense

I know love and that is why I thought you’d be happy to be back here.

Jade recalled the morning after receiving her sixth sense gift. Back at the campsite , all the giddy girls excited and relaying teenage stories about the fun they had, fireworks display and whether the ghost stories of Mount Clover were true or myth. Renee had asked  What gift did you get Jade? She recalls lying Nothing as she was disappointed and really had wanted a tangible gift to hold onto. It was only many years later, after harnessing the powers of her gift and using it wisely did she relay her gift to her loved ones. 

Well, visiting was one thing but living here, entirely different. I feel my sixth sense is lost!

Dale, you know that my gift, my sixth sense, is my comfort and guide in life, but since moving here I cannot feel it Jade said forlornly whilst looking out at Mount Clover township.

The terraced shopfront at Mount Clover remained in their original old-world charm apart from a coat of paint and a change of signage which had the township caught between a chasm where the present and past morphed into an otherworld.

I am looking forward to seeing Renee. Apparently, she has been working in conjunction with the curator of Mount Clover Museum to oversee the Ocean Shells and Stone Jewellery Artifact Exhibition at Mount Clover Museum. As a renowned historian she has overseen every aspect of it. Jade recalls how Renee would always amp up Jade and Kelly by saying Did you see that lady dressed in white, sitting down under the oldest pandanus tree that lives in Mount Clover, polishing stones? Definitely a ghost!

The girls all did believe at one time or another that they had felt a ghostly presence. Sometimes shadows hovered around the shops and sometimes ghostly figures were seen down at the seaside where the oldest pandanus tree lives at the sandy base of the jagged cliff face. Jade recalled seeing the lady with stones, kept inside a hessian bag, polishing them against the sand and water, rolling them back and forth on the ground in a trance like state until all the children thought it was just in their imagination and not real at all. A ghost Renee said which frightened them all. Some of the local kids would then relay Oh, no, not a ghost, it’s that witch from the shop.

Visiting Mount Clover was made more exciting by stories of ghostly presence which were embellished by the locals to entice the tourists and enjoy the frivolity akin to celebrating Halloween once a year.

There, see it will be great to catch up with her then. Okay, I’ll see you when I get back. Dale said tersely. He reached over and brushed her check quickly with his lips which functioned as anesthesia and made her numb. Dale sighed when he saw her tear-stained face. Lost in thought about ghosts of long ago, Jade turned around slowly, reaching out her arms toward him as a final act of peaceful goodwill only to be greeted with his back, his shoulders slumped, head bowed as the door abruptly shut behind him.

Dale had had to leave early and meet his crew down at Mount Clover wharf to set sail on Dawin Horizon by five o’clock. This was another solution he had thought of to fix her fix them, fix everything as this move to Mount Clover had brought them closer to where the trawler was moored. She thinks of nicknaming Dale Mr Fix It, forlornly thinking Fixing a broken wife is not that simple.

Thump - tap…tap ensued. Rattled by her environment, sporadic rain drops on tin roof and that darn brush turkey pecking at leaves and looking for food on the wooden outside veranda made her feel alien in her own home.

Brush turkey’s beak tapping ceased as it careened off the edge of the veranda with its stick legs dragging behind it, to forage in the paddock next door for its breakfast of seeds, insects and fallen fruit, as Jade had seen it do previous mornings. As much as the bird annoyed her with its tapping, she was in awe of the way the big bird spent its days foraging in the surrounding yard and at night it would roost high up in the tree overshadowing the veranda in order to safely shield itself from danger.

Tears pooled in Jades eyes. She felt as stale as old bread.

Jade stuck her head outside and contemplated following Bailey onto the veranda and into the yard but reconsidered as one of the wooden boards creaked as she stepped onto it, worn out like soles on old boots.

The rain had eased. Bailey was exploring his new surroundings. Jade felt as grey as the view outside. She made her way to the kitchen and hit the switch on the kettle to boil for a cup of tea then went to the bathroom. Scrutinising her face in the mirror she noticed something on her hairline. But oh, no! Please no! A silver speck amongst auburn.  Gross Jade plucked it out in conjunction with turning on the faucet to wash the hair down the sink. Soothing her face and ego with a splash of icy water, Jade used all her strength to turn the tap off, but it continued its' drip...drip...drip followed by a squeaking sound, banging and an abrupt vibration, eventually, she twists the tap off.  In the mirror an older reflection stared back, someone unfamiliar and bland. Her green eyes packed into bags underneath, like they could take off on their own journey. Jade dabs soothing age defying cream under both eyes. Stop sleeping on your face, dammit! Her heart felt as scorched as a log on a hot fire.

Bailey’s high-pitched bark startled her causing tea to spill onto the floor. She wiped it up quickly then put on her robe and walked briskly to the front door, thankful of his distraction from her self-pity party. Lost in thought she stubbed her big toe on a pile of books, not yet packed away. Ouch

She scooped dog biscuits into Bailey’s bowl. Jade was concerned about him as usually he would have scooted back inside and gorged his breakfast. She opened the front door with its tulip stained-glass door panel, one thing she found endearing about the tired looking cottage, and went out onto the veranda in time to see the sun colour palette streak yellow and crimson through the grey stormy sky. The breeze whistled through her ear, her dark auburn shoulder length hair fell loose and tickled her shoulders as an array of squawking black cockatoos, noisy as fighter jets, flew inland, retreating away from the incoming storm.

Jade spots Bailey, through the dense fog, perched up against the wired fence line bordering the neighbouring property with an abandoned ramshackle barn in the far corner that is an eyesore. On the left were Bill and Marigold her new, she considered, somewhat nosy neighbours, whom Dale had gregariously interacted with during their move in day. Brush turkey is at the barn door. Bailey looked frozen like a deer caught in headlights.

What’s wrong boy? Let’s go inside now. Bailey did not budge. When Jade approached, he barked. Jade self-consciously tied her robe up around her and scanned for trespassers.

Whose there?

Her feet were wet from the soggy grass as she had run out to him without putting any shoes on. Then she heard it, a faint cry, and a loud bang of what sounded like bottles falling over and rattling on concrete. A black cat scooted out from the barn and scurried away.

Here boy. It is freezing, we will catch a cold.

Jade could take the chill no more and with feet as cold as ice blocks ran up the stairs and onto the veranda. Once inside she put on her Ugg boots, grabbed his treats, and then headed back onto the veranda. The rustling of the treat bag brought him rushing up the stairs. She knelt down patted him and gave him a treat when a flash, a spark, in the distance startled her. Was it lightning? She craned her neck upward and her eyes darted toward another flash of light on the mountain towards the distant view of the terraced shops of Mount Clover. It had caught Bailey’s attention too and his barking ensued. She wondered if Sirius was shining down like it did those years ago when she first noticed her gift, but all the shop’s names obscured under fog except for one word lit up, shining brighter than the old-fashioned streetlamp could have provided.

The word magic shot through the fog like a bolt of lightning.

A misty silhouette came into focus. A golden fairy with wings glowed near the roof of the shop with the word magic. Jade sneezed twice and coughed as  gold coloured dust specks rolled down the mountain and pooled at her feet like water. What a strange spectacle. A fairy glowing atop a rooftop months away from Christmas was odd.

The image of the golden figure reminded Jade of a story her best friend Renee had relayed to her when young the very first time they attended the Sirius Festival at Mount Clover.

Look Jade, Renee had said in childhood glee Brightest one is Sirius shining down its light and magic over Mount Clover. She recalled her saying Jade it is our lucky star now, when it shines brightly down on the jagged cliff face let’s make a wish" Jade looked up towards the sky searching for Sirius believing that the brightest star in the night sky might have been shining down and brightening up the shop,