The Call of the Sea - Coming Soon!

The Call of the Sea cannot be ignored...

Beneath the waves lies another world, one filled with creatures of myth. Mermaids and sirens who find themselves torn between the land and the sea. As they struggle to choose, they will encounter danger, betrayal and love that cannot be.

Dive into the pages and discover a world you have never seen before. Will they find love or will it all end in tragedy?

A Collection of Dark Fantasy Tales

Preorder Your Copy at 99c Today! Out October 10th, 2026!

This collection of tales includes An Unbreakable Bond, my retelling of the Māori folktale, Kōpūwai the Ogre. Read on for the first chapter of my story!

Excerpt from An Unbreakable Bond:

When one has spent a lifetime believing in the magic of stars, seeing those heavenly lights streak silver across the sky as they fall is a tragedy. The death of the magic struck Hinewai deep in her chest. It was beautiful in its heartache, made more haunting through her cousin’s masterful, drawn-out notes on the kōauau flute.

Hinewai pulled her gaze away from the blazing ruin in the sky to focus on the gathering around her. Her people stood transfixed, horror carved into each face, as if recent terrors in skirmishes with enemy tribes were nothing compared to this cataclysm. The stars were the ancestors’ home, and now their downfall streaked the night in brilliant flashes. What would happen if the spirits of the dead returned to this realm? This ghastly sight made all else pale and insignificant.

What had the people done to anger the ancestors? For that could be the only cause for such disaster. Right? Worry tugged at Hinewai, and she instinctively brushed her fingers over the leather satchel she carried on a string attached around her neck. Her personal treasure, a gift from her father, marginally soothed the anxiety.

Nyra, her cousin kept whispering into the flute as if she were begging the creation lords to answer with an explanation for this dire omen. The kōauau’s lament was met with silence until Hinewai’s aunt, the clan’s Speaker, stepped forward from the throng. Raising deeply wrinkled hands, the old woman who presided over the village’s health in all the forms that took, began an invocation. Her voice carried the plea to the great essence her spirit was connected to. As the Speaker, she could commune with the great beings others merely whispered about. The Speaker’s raven-black hair glinted with silver streaks to match the stars raining across Grandfather Sky’s immense expanse. With each new staccato beat of the chant, the old woman’s voice strengthened.

To aid her, the villagers raised their hands in supplication, and joined in the litany to beg those-who-saw-and-heard-all for guidance while acknowledging fault. A disaster of this magnitude didn’t materialize without cause. Someone somewhere on the Isles of the Crescent Moon must have broken the strictures and risked bringing doom to the Waipura people and the clans beyond their lands. Darkness must lurk somewhere. Perhaps this was linked to the recent disappearances? Whatever the cause, the community would pay if restitution couldn’t be made to the realm beyond.

With a half-hearted sigh, Hinewai added her voice. What point was there in offering supplication when the magic that made the stars dance through the night year after year was dissolving? The community felt too small to fix whatever this omen indicated. Falling stars? It was a much grander scale than Hinewai could ever have imagined. She and her people were mere specks in comparison. Especially Hinewai. No one smaller existed. She was a canoe on life’s tide and went where the waters drove her. Unimportant. A speck. Nothing.

As if in response to her thought, the chanting dimmed to silence. The kōauau held on for one more long, eerie note. Absolute stillness descended. The quiet was vast, all-encompassing, and fixated Hinewai’s awareness on the people’s smallness. Here they all were, huddled in the night. Terrified and lost amidst Grandfather Sky’s immensity and a deluge of stars. She wished she could do something meaningful to help. Feeling useless was the worst.

“I have a message for the elders,” the Speaker announced. She turned to the crowd, and added, “Go to your homes. The omen will be examined. Together with the elders I will interpret this message from our guardian spirits. You have nothing more to do here.”

While the villagers dispersed, Hinewai joined Nyra. The cousins were close in age and had grown up as sisters. Nyra smiled, but the strained way her lips pressed together revealed her unease. The lump Hinewai had in her stomach grew when her eye was drawn back to the sky with an orange-tinged streak headed to her right. She clutched the satchel at her throat again. Could her father’s blessing protect her from what was coming? Did he watch over her from the stars? Or was his spirit among those staining the night?

“What do you think it means?” Nyra whispered, her eyes also glued to the night’s canopy.

Hinewai huffed and drew her shoulders to her ears. “How would I know? Aunty will speak with the elders and come up with a plan. We’re the village ants and will do as we are told.”

“True.” Nyra’s head bobbed. “Between Aunty and Chief Ahi, there are enough experienced minds to solve whatever this is. I just wonder.”

“We all do, Nyra,” Hinewai chuckled. “We’ve spent so much time asking about the girls going missing. Did you hear another vanished a short while ago in Mangamahu? That makes at least five disappearances in less than three years.”

“Really? I missed that.” Nyra nudged Hinewai with her shoulder and turned toward their parents’ huts near the central council building.

Hinewai rolled her eyes. “Of course you missed it. You were holed up somewhere when the news came. What were you doing? Hiding another rescue animal?”

Nyra dropped her gaze and ducked her head.

“I knew it!” Hinewai crowed.

Disapproving hisses rose around the two young women and it was Hinewai’s turn to hunch her shoulders and wish Grandmother Earth would devour her. Self-consciously, Hinewai waved at one of her mother’s friends and gave the woman a small, chagrined smile. Nyra let her hair fall over her face. It made for the perfect curtain to hide behind.

As they hurried toward Nyra’s parents’ hut, Hinewai whispered, “What I mean is that you’re predictable. I didn’t intend to judge you and I’m sorry I drew attention. I know how you hate that.”

Nyra shrugged, but a moment later she grabbed Hinewai’s arm and pulled her around the hut’s side. “I found a duck with a damaged foot,” she said. “But even so, I would not have listened to the gossip. You know me.”

“I do. You stay away from people whenever you can and when you can’t escape the crowd, you use the kōauau as your barrier so no one can approach you. Then again, you don’t want to become our Speaker’s dedicated musician. No, you’d rather do something crazy like tattoo moko on people.”

Nyra’s eyes lit. They seemed almost as bright as the fires said to glow in Mount Karinata, not that Hinewai had ever seen that. From the stories Hinewai had been told, she hoped she never would.

Then again, the mountain’s molten heat was natural. It was supposed to be that way. Stars raining silver was not. That was doom.

“Look!” Nyra tugged a flax basket from under the eaves and revealed a white-headed duck. “Isn’t she beautiful?” Nyra crooned.

Hinewai shook her head. “It’s a pūtakitaki, one of the most common birds out there. You’d best be careful. If my brother finds it, he’ll put it into the nearest cook pot.”

Darkness crashed into Nyra’s gaze and she raised a fist. “Henare can swallow a punch if he tries.”

Laughing, Hinewai tucked the basket into its snug place. “He’ll probably catch your fist, heart-sister. He’s grown big and strong, and takes annoying to the next level. Well then, what are we going to do now?”

Nyra stared at Hinewai.

“What?” Hinewai glanced around but there was no one in sight. Nyra’s reaction was definitely about her. “What did I say?”

“What are we going to do? Knowing you, we’re going to wait in the shadows and hear what the elders say when they come out. You know how they are. As long as they don’t see anyone, they’ll keep talking.”

Hinewai sniggered. It was true. She’d overheard so many things thanks to the elders always overlooking her. Nyra tagged along on Hinewai’s escapades, even though she was older. They made for the perfect team: small, always overlooked, never taken seriously, and able to get away with it because they were both still young enough.

Well, that was before. When they were children, able to slip under their parents’ hawk-like gazes by virtue of being short. In the past few years, much had changed. Although, when Hinewai thought about it, apart from having grown taller and curvier, at nineteen she was still treated the same. Insignificant as ever.

Hinewai’s eyes travelled to the chief’s hut beside the elders’ council. The building there might be new, but it stood exactly where her home had been. Before her father died.

A weight settled on Hinewai’s shoulder and Nyra pressed in close, offering comfort. “I know the tradition for an old chief’s home to be cleared when a new one takes his place hurts. I’m sorry they had to do that.”

Hinewai curled her fingers over Nyra’s, which still rested on her shoulder, and squeezed.

Another streak in the sky drew Hinewai’s thoughts away from all the changes she’d lived through in recent times, and narrowed her focus on the situation at hand. What did the falling stars mean? And what would the village have to do to mitigate whatever dire event lurked within this omen?

“Did you hear the rumor about the ogre?” Nyra asked.

“What, Anahera’s crazy story? You believe that nonsense? She was talking rubbish like she always does. Besides, I thought you didn’t listen to gossip.”

“Nah,” Nyra countered. “Anahera was really spooked. I think she did see something at the lake. And maybe the ogre has something to do with this omen from the ancestors.” She jerked her head upward.

Before Hinewai could answer, the sound of murmured voices drew their attention to the council hut. Sure enough, a moment later the woven mat in the doorway was flung aside and the Speaker stepped out. The other elders were close behind, some hunched but most straight-backed and proud, strong posts to hold up the village in a crisis.

The Speaker motioned for the chief to listen, and he dutifully lowered his head.

“Get your fastest runners to fetch the warriors, Ahi. We need them here as soon as possible. ” Although her tone was low, the Speaker’s voice carried to Hinewai.

The words proved an unexpected dagger in the dark. Hinewai froze and barely heard the chief’s confirmation that the warriors would return before midday on the morrow. This couldn’t be happening. Hinewai was supposed to have way more time to speak to her mother.

Now she wished she hadn’t put the conversation off for the past days, thinking she had plenty more days to raise her feelings. What was she going to do? Panic swooped through Hinewai and gripped her heart in its razor talons.

Hinewai clenched a fist at her side. Maybe she could talk with māmā before sleep?

Time was running out.

Preorder Your Copy at 99c Today! Out October 10th, 2026!