As the sun rose over the horizon, the warming rays of gold lit up the half moon shaped bay. The slight tang of fresh sea salt hung heavy in the air. The dull pounding of the waves upon the rocks sent shots of white foam into the air. The golden sand seemed to glisten in the early morning. As the early morning sunlight fell upon the sand, a small sliver of green shone deep against the faded gold of the sandy beach.

An hour passed before a single car pulled up near the beach. The car had seen far too many moons and as such was dented and rusted. A layer of dust had turned the car from a pale cream to a coating of dirt road gray. As the car sat on the side of the road, a single solitary seagull drifted lazily overhead calling out to no one in particular. Slowly the driver’s door opened, and into the sunlight stepped a girl, no older than twenty-five. Slowly she strode across the cracked tarmac road and stepped onto the beach. As the girl began walking across the beach, she took in the sights and sounds of the bay. She moved closer to the water and stood looking vacantly out to sea.

As she stared out to sea, the sun warmed her body. The pounding of the surf boomed across the small bay. With a deep breath, she turned and walked parallel to the waters edge. As she got to the middle of the bay, she was struck with a felling of pure cold. Every hair on her arms, legs and the back of her neck stood up. Looking down, her eye was drawn to the small sliver of green that was contrasting to the golden sand. Without thinking, she reached down and brushed away the sand that obscured the small ponamu (a green coloured stone similar to jade, and highly prized by the Maori people) statue. As she revealed the statue from the claws of the sandy beach, the statue revealed itself to be a small-carved taniwha (a sea serpent like demon from Maori mythology). As she picked up the statue, she could feel a strange power emanating from the object. Slowly she slid the small green statue into the pocket of her shorts. Once the statue was in her pocket she turned and looked back at the ocean. For almost fifteen minutes, she stared at the water, before grudgingly turning and heading away from the water.

As she strode away from the water, the statue in her pocket seemed to weigh heavily on her. As she crossed the road, she could hear the same solitary seagull crying out again. As she arrived at the car, she looked back almost wishfully at the open beach. Slowly she climbed into the car and slowly began the drive back to her flat. About halfway between the flat and the small bay, high up on a sea facing cliff was the remains of an old Maori pa (a fortified village). As the car drew closer to the pa, the statue began to pulse with power. This pulsing grew stronger as the pa drew closer. The pulsing seemed overwhelming as the car passed below the pa. Slowly the pa began to slide back into the distance and with it the pulsing of the statue.

It ha been fifteen minutes since the pa had disappeared from view, and the edge of the city had just drifted past the car, when the feeling of extreme cold rippled up and down her spine. Another minute passed before the cold feeling began to subside. The girl arrived at her well worn flat several minutes later.