by Chloe Daykin
‘I lost my husband already. It won’t be for nothing.’ She bangs her hands on her knees.
‘Matias stays in the forest,’ she says and smiles. ‘People say, how can you let your only son live this way? I say, which is more dangerous? Here with you and your threats, not trusting our neighbours? Or with the trees and the spirits. Keeping watch over our home.’ She shrugs and raises her arms.
Then she reaches out and touches Maya’s hair.
‘Carlos tells me you will help.’
For a moment they just sit there staring at each other.
Maya nods.
‘This makes me happy,’ she says. ‘He says you are special, very special.’ She stares at Maya. ‘He is right.’
Maya goes red and looks at the floor.
‘I think you have a secret.’ She smiles.
Matias’s mum’s always been like that. Knowing stuff you don’t even know about yourself. Knowing stuff before it even happens.
She stands up, gets a purple flower out of a vase and puts it behind Maya’s ear.
‘They say the jaguar hides in the shadows but has the most power,’ she says, and pulls a reed out of the bed stuffing, puts it into her hand and winks.
Maya holds the reed in front of her knee.
The mamis sit and spin in the corner. The yarn and wheels clicking.
Maya stares at the reed in her hand.
A heron walks across the open doorway and sticks its head round. Long thick neck and bendy legs. It stares.
Maya stares at the reed.
And stares.
And an intense look comes over her face. Calm but focused. And fierce.
I watch.
The hairs go up on the backs of my arms. The mamis stop spinning. The bird squarks and lifts off.
A ball of light bursts out of the reed and gobbles it up like a guinea pig with a daisy, then blows around the house like a balloon leaking air and disappears out the roof.
Maya
I go to wake Raul in the middle of the night. The moon is full.
I tap him on the shoulder. ‘Raul.’
He turns over and grunts. He looks funny asleep.
‘Raul.’
I poke him and he wakes up. ‘We need to get up,’ I say.
‘Why?’ He rubs his eyes.
‘Because,’ I whisper. I see Steven’s asleep in the arms of one of Matias’s sisters, his head nuzzled in her chest, as I disappear out the door and climb down the ladder. I sit and wait in the boat at the bottom. The water is quiet. The houses are still. The moon shines out over everything.
I put my fingertips in the water and play with some bright green weed until his face appears above me.
I wave and he comes down.
‘I don’t think you should be in their boat,’ he yawns.
‘I want to try it again,’ I say. ‘I want to call the fire.’
‘Now?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Why?’
‘It just feels right,’ I say. ‘I’m trying to trust what I feel.’ I look up at the moon. ‘I want to call it in the water. Will you row us into the middle?’
‘What’s wrong with the house?’ He tucks his chin on his elbows.
‘It’s embarrassing with everyone else around,’ I whisper. ‘I need to be alone. With you. Like. Us. Alone. It doesn’t feel weird with you. It feels like you don’t feel it’s weird.’
‘Compared to Chullachaki and Mapinguari it isn’t.’
He does an ogre face and I laugh.
‘Rainforest spirits,’ he tells me. ‘Mapinguari’s a one-eyed guardian of the forest who can read people’s minds, and Chullachaki is the guardian of the forest who has his feet on backwards.’
‘Are they always a “he”?’
‘No. There’s also a woman with the face of a dog hidden behind her hair, who uses it to eat people’s brains.’
‘Handy.’ I shrug and we laugh together. ‘Will you do it?’
‘We shouldn’t take their boat.’
‘We’ll bring it back.’
‘I dunno.’ He rubs his arms. ‘Taking people’s things is bad. And anyway, you might set it on fire.’
‘Don’t you want to see it again? Don’t you want to see what I can do?’
‘Yeah, I do. You’re the first magic I’ve seen for real.’ He steps in. ‘I like your powers.’
‘Me too,’ I say. It feels easier to say in the dark. It’s what’s kept me up, this feeling. ‘I want to explore what I can do,’ I say.
He nods and the water moves under us as we push away from the house. We row out into the middle of the water. Right out till the glow of the stilt-house lights bob in the distance and the night breeze blows in our face.
And he stops.
And everything begins.
Raul
Maya sits in the middle of the boat and pulls a fresh reed out of her pocket. She holds it up and it glints in the moonlight, like her teeth as she grins.
I think about her dad’s wallet in my bag. It feels wrong. Like bad luck. Like I’m calling bad luck to us, like I’m sending out a radar. And Maya doesn’t even know.
I take a bag of chulpe out of my pocket and pour it into the water.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Saying thanks to the water spirits for letting us be here.’
‘That’s good,’ she says.
I nod.
‘Matias’s mum made me understand I need to control it,’ she says. ‘The reed helps me concentrate.’ And she holds the reed in front of her face and stares.
And stares. And stares.
The moon stares down. The wind stops. And bubbles rise up from under the surface.
Maya
The light ball doesn’t come out of the reed, it rises up out of the water.
Up it goes. A white light ball like the moon. Strong and bright and floating. Bigger than before.
Then another. And another. Like candle lanterns. They come out of the water and lift into the air like bubbles.
Raul’s face lights up.
The balls come together in the sky into one big giant ball.
Raul grins.
And so do I.
The light beams out over the boat. It’s so bright I shut my eyes and stretch my arms up. And we sit there and soak it in. It feels like glitter soaking down my arms.
And I hear it say my name –
It whispers.
And darts all around over the sky, released and flying. Happy like a balloon leaking its air out. Except it isn’t leaking, it’s growing.
It dives down into the water and we see the ball shimmer right down low. Then it bursts out like a whale and dances round me and Raul. When it goes past, the heat of it warms the goosebumps off my arms.
‘Raul.’ I point at Raul and smile.
it says like a howl and stretches out over us. Kind of like a hug. A very hot ghostly fire hug.
And we sit there and grin.
And the night is alive with magic.
Till a boat bangs into us from behind and it goes out like someone switched the light off.
Raul
I didn’t notice the boat pull alongside us.
How come I didn’t notice? Jungle me would never have missed that.
I rub my eyes. It’s hard to see now the light’s gone. I reach out, but Maya’s already been lifted into the other boat. She tries to fight back, but she’s weak and floppy, like all of her power has gone.
I scrabble to my feet, my legs are stiff and my knees won’t bend. Their boat pulls away.
I grab the paddle and go after them. Everything is hazy, but I see four dark shapes in theirs. I move towards their sounds. The splashing of the water. Their voices.
They shout something between them I can’t hear. The breeze blows in my face. I push the paddle as hard as I can.
There’s three of them. And Maya. Their boat sits heavy in the water.
I’m lighter. And fast.
I get closer. The reed boat wobbles in the
wake and I nearly lose my balance.
The smell of smoke floats out of one of the houses and a light goes on. A shaft spreads over the water. And I see enough to see Charles and Rosa and someone else.
Someone who holds Maya back as she tries to stand. ‘Get off!’ she yells and tries to shake him off.
I try to get close. Close enough to jump. Close enough so she can jump back in with me.
Then I hear her say a word that changes everything.
Charles stands and turns and throws something.
I am too limp to react. It hits me in the chin. I fall back into the water.
SPLASH
I go under.
Maya
Two pairs of arms lift me out and drop me into a boat. I can’t see, my eyes are dazzled.
‘Get off!’ I push but my arms are weak.
Two different hands grab me and hold me tight. So close I can hear his heartbeat. I recognise the smell.
‘Dad?’
‘Maya,’ he says and rests my head on his knee and strokes my hair. I want to fight, but I can’t. It’s like all of my energy went out with the light.
I just lie there. I feel weak. And powerless.
And sick.
We paddle to the shore. Someone shouts something. I hear a splash.
‘Raul!’ I reach out.
‘Shh.’ Dad strokes my hair. ‘He’s gone. You’re safe now.’
We pull up to the jetty, climb out and get into a pickup.
Raul
The water bubbles over my face and shakes me awake.
‘Dad,’ Maya said. She’s been kidnapped by her own dad.
I swim up and gasp. The boat is floating away. I swim over to it and pull myself out. It tips and nearly capsizes but the hand of the water pushes it back. I’m glad I gave the river the chulpe. I wish the waves would tip over the boat in front.
It pulls further away.
I think of her dad’s money in my pocket. I wonder if I drew him here?
I see their boat pulling into the quay. And a black shoe bobbing in the water. That’s what they hit me with.
A shoe? Were they that desperate?
They aren’t tribespeople. They aren’t connected to the earth. It figures. The shoe’s black with a super-thick sole. You can tell a lot about a person from a shoe.
I squat and look for the paddle and see it drifting out downriver in the other direction.
I look back. They’re tying the boat to the jetty.
I can either lose Maya. Or lose the paddle.
Maya stands up and steps out with her dad. If I lose her I’ll never find her again.
I lie on my stomach, put my hands in the water and pull the boat along like a surfboard. I have to dip my shoulder down each time on each side to keep me in a straight line. I keep my head down. My eyes down. If they see me again they’ll find something else to get me with. Something more than a shoe.
The water carries me. Slick and easy. Fast.
It froths over my hands.
I get closer to the shore.
An engine revs.
I keep tucked under by the jetty and lift my head, so my eyes are just above the wood.
Rosa takes Maya and her dad into a pickup. Maya flops. Charles walks away to another pickup.
I climb out of the boat and reach my fingertips up on to the road for a rock. I ease my catapult out of my pocket. I slip the rock into the elastic and aim for the pickup.
Rosa slams the door and steps on the gas. I watch Maya bounce off down the road.
I keep my aim fixed on the second pickup. Cab for two in the front. Open boot at the back. Charles gets in.
I pull back the elastic. And hold my breath.
My foot slips.
I steady myself.
He starts the engine and pulls away.
I let the rock fly.
SMACK CRACK. Direct hit! The wing mirror shatters all over the ground.
The brakes screech. He stops and I drag my body up on to the jetty and run round the back, fast. I jump over the tow bar into the open boot like a ghost and lie flat, jammed up next to the tailgate.
I lie squeezed against the metal barely breathing, hoping the darkness will cover me like a blanket.
The door slams shut and the engine stops. He gets out.
His footsteps crunch up against the car. His hands curve over the top of the tailgate. Every part of me sweats. If he looks down he’ll see me. If he looks up he won’t. I can hear his breath whistling out of his nose.
‘I’ll find you, you little rat,’ he yells.
I hold myself rigid. But his hands drop and I hear the sound of his voice shout out towards the river, behind the truck.
I try not to breathe and shut my eyes. I grip my knife.
What would I do if he found me? Stab him in the foot and steal the truck?
I’ve never driven in my life.
His phone rings. ‘All right, all right!’ he yells into it. I feel him kick the tyre. He slams the driver door and revs the engine. And we go.
Maya
I stand in the hotel room dripping after a shower while all my clothes, Raul’s clothes, drip dry (after Dad washed them) in the bathroom.
Raul. I wonder where he is. Wetter than me right now, lost in the lake, alone. I should never have brought him out in the first place.
Being back in this hotel without him feels weird.
I fold my arms and stare at Dad while water trickles down my face and fire burns in my belly, but not in the air, or my fingers – not any more. Dad’s presence has put it out like a hose and I fight to let the words come out the way I want before he smothers them too.
‘What happened to you?’ he reaches for my head.
‘What happened to you?’ I pull back. ‘You left me and went to work for JVF? What’s wrong with you?’
‘I’m so glad you’re safe,’ he sighs and rubs his elbows like I never said anything.
‘I was. I’m not any more,’ I mumble into my sleeve.
‘You were meant to go home. Why didn’t you just go with Rosa? None of this would’ve happened.’
‘How? I didn’t even know where you were.’
‘Mrs Glidings was waiting.’ Dad spreads his fingers like he’s strangling the air.
‘Why would I go? I wanted to find you. I wanted to know what you’re doing. Now I do and I wish I didn’t.’
‘What do you know about it?’
‘Enough. I know you’re about to destroy life, ways of life. Generations of life …’
‘You’re taking information from the terrorists?’ he yells.
‘They’re environmentalists,’ I say and bury my fists into my elbows.
‘It isn’t that simple. Trees die. Yes, trees die.’ Dad raises a hand and slices the air. ‘But with their death comes light. Sunlight. Sunlight reaches the earth and touches people. Improves their thoughts, moods, dreams. One thing is lost, but something else is gained. Something precious. Nature adapts and restores.’
I slap my head on my hand. ‘You don’t seriously believe that, Dad. You don’t. You can’t. It’s ridiculous. And it’s going to ruin people’s lives.
‘It already has. It already is.
‘People die ’cos of this stuff. Don’t you care? There won’t be people left to feel the light. Their way of life’s been butchered.’
‘I’m not going to cut the trees. The people do that for themselves. They take their own responsibility.’
‘They do it for the money. They do it ’cos they’re desperate. Or tricked.’
‘I don’t see many people thanking Carlos Fernandez, do you?’
Carlos. My stomach jumps at his name.
‘What do you know about Carlos?’
‘I know he took you.’
‘He didn’t take me.’ I don’t tell him about the fireball and the fact that actually he did. ‘Carlos is a good guy.’ I look at Dad. ‘Don’t do anything to Carlos. Everything I did I did myself. Nobody took me. I ran … I ran to find you a
ctually.’
I hang my head. All this time searching for Dad. Now I’m here with him and I want to run away again.
I think about Maitas’s mum. People hate us. People give us death threats. We do what we have to do. ‘People would thank Carlos if they knew,’ I say. ‘They would if there was another way to earn money. If they knew those trees are the lungs of the earth.’
Dad shakes his head. ‘The burning of the trees enriches the soil.’
‘The death of the forest destroys wildlife that won’t grow back. Those trees take hundreds of years to grow.’
‘You don’t understand,’ Dad says. ‘I’m doing it for us. I’m doing something that’ll change both our lives.’
‘Like what? What’ve they promised you?’ I think about the letter. The one that promised to change our lives forever. ‘Whatever they’ve promised, we don’t need it. We’re better off without it.’
He looks at me sharply. ‘Don’t say that. You don’t know that. You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He goes to stroke my hair. ‘Once it’s done, you’ll see.’
I pull away. ‘I don’t want it,’ I say. ‘Whatever it is, I don’t want anything to do with it.’
‘You will,’ he says. He stands up and locks the door. ‘You will once you know.’ He rubs his forehead and looks out the window. ‘I won’t take any more chances. I won’t let anything else happen, I promise. Tomorrow I’ll take you to the airport and put you on the plane home myself.’