Captivate

by Vanessa Garden

  ‘Marko. I’m serious. You’ll have to question Sylvia about her involvement with Damir. She’s probably the one who let Philippe and that guard William into the castle.’

  ‘William is dead, Miranda. Sylvia herself stabbed him with a sword after she learned he had murdered one of the kitchen staff.’

  ‘Pat,’ I whispered. Tears bit the backs of my eyes. ‘She was trying to save my life.’

  Marko shook his head. ‘I know. Anne told me,’ he said before turning to face me, his eyes shining. ‘You have to go home, Miranda. Marin is too dangerous for you.’

  I dropped my head forward so that Marko couldn’t see the tears forming in my eyes. He was right. For me to remain in Marin was just plain crazy. But despite the danger, I wanted to stay—more than I wanted to go home. The idea of never seeing Marko again was something I couldn’t stand to imagine.

  ‘What if I want to stay a little longer?’

  ‘I can’t let you do that. You’re leaving today, Miranda— now, in fact.’

  I shook my head and clasped his hand in both of mine. ‘No, Marko. I was forced here, but I’m not going to be forced out. You owe me that much.’

  He swallowed thickly and closed his eyes, his chest heaving.

  ‘Don’t make this hard, Miranda.’ When he opened his eyes again, he wouldn’t look at me. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. He sighed and buried his face in my hair.

  ‘I want to be here with you, Marko,’ I whispered.

  ‘You don’t know how much I want that, too,’ he breathed into my ear, before pressing his lips to my cheek. ‘But you must go home.’ He uncoiled my arms from his neck and firmly set them by my sides.

  ‘But I feel like I belong here now,’ I said, wiping my tears with the corner of my pillow. ‘It feels wrong to be going home.’

  Marko watched me, his eyes dark with melancholy.

  ‘Remember I told you about the compulsion, Miranda?’

  ‘No. This is really how I feel; it isn’t the compulsion.’

  Marko stood up and paced the floors. ‘Listen to what

  you’re saying, Miranda. That’s exactly what people say while they are within the grips of the compulsion.’

  I pressed my palms into my eyes and tried to quieten my mind, find my inner truth, but all I heard was a loud voice compelling me to stay.

  ‘Miranda, you’ve been attacked by Philippe, Damir’s men and Damir himself. I’d much rather that you be safe with your family, at home, where you belong. And surely you want that, too.’ His voice became gentler. ‘You’ve been anxious to get back to your family this entire time. They will be so happy to see you again, alive and well.’

  What he was saying made sense. Despite my inner voice, which may or may not have been the compulsion talking, I decided to trust him.

  He extended his arm.

  ‘Take my arm, Miranda. We’re going to my room.’

  Careful of my wrist, I linked my arm over his and began the long walk through the twisting corridors to Marko’s room.

  There, Robbie stood waiting. Of course. He would be the one to take me home. He was paler than usual, which was ghostly pale, and he wouldn’t look at me. But I crossed the room and made him.

  ‘Robbie, listen to me. Sylvia is a traitor. She’s going to help Damir destroy Marin.’

  Robbie continued to ignore me, and instead paced in front of a metal door to the far left-hand corner of the room.

  Marko turned to me, his face trembling, and drew me in close so that my face pressed against his chest. As he tightened his arms around me, I breathed in deeply, memorising his smell, the fierce pounding of his heart.

  ‘Goodbye Miranda,’ he said in a voice so hoarse that it was almost a whisper, before pulling away.

  I clutched at his hand, but he shook it free before storming off. He swept an arm across the dining table, sending wine goblets and crystal carafes crashing to the stone floor. Then he left the room.

  Robbie, who held the door open, finally looked me in the eye. ‘It’s time to go, Miranda.’

  In a daze, I walked a long, dark corridor that gradually gave way to more light—soon the walls around us appeared to be made entirely of light crystal. We entered a large, brightly lit room to our left, and stood before a row of what appeared to be pods or shuttles.

  Robbie stopped at the first pod, its hatch open.

  ‘This is what I came here in?’

  Robbie nodded and sucked in a deep breath. His face and body, all except his dark-brown eyes, were illuminated by the light crystal surrounding us so that he glowed like some sort of beautiful, otherworldly being.

  ‘We have to say goodbye now,’ he said in a quiet voice. ‘I’m taking you all the way home, but you’ll be drugged for most of the way.’

  I shook my head, tears filming my eyes.

  ‘I don’t want to go home, Robbie. I want to stay. I’m worried about Marko, and what Sylvia and Damir will do to him. I’m worried about you, too.’

  Robbie groaned, as if in pain, and gripped my shoulders to shake me gently.

  ‘Damir is in the dungeons and Marko has stationed extra guards—you don’t need to worry about Marko. He is safe and I’ll make sure that he remains that way,’ his breathing was hard and laboured. ‘You have family waiting for you. There’s nothing for you here, Miranda.’

  He was wrong. I had everything here.

  I swallowed and blinked away my tears. Why did leaving hurt so much when I’d wanted it for so long?

  ‘Take this now—it’s a different drug to last time; still strong, but it won’t leave you so drowsy upon waking,’ he said, raising an oval tablet to my lips. ‘Please, Miranda.’

  With trembling fingers, I took it from his hand and placed it on my tongue, the memory of how Robbie had kissed it into my mouth that night at Bob’s Bay bringing a flush of heat to my cheeks. Robbie must have been thinking the same thing because his cheeks were tinted pink, too.

  The tablet dissolved quickly, and my brain grew fuzzy after only a minute.

  ‘It’s okay,’ Robbie whispered, wrapping his arms around me and holding my face tight against his heaving chest. ‘Just close your eyes and let go. I’ve got you.’ He sighed. ‘Now that it’s goodbye forever, Miranda, I want you to know how much you mean to me, and how I wish things could have been different. That you and I could have been more than just friends.’

  He cleared his throat and wrapped his arms around me tighter still.

  ‘But I know that Marko loves you, and that you love him. And I know that you can never forgive me for what I did to you…for bringing you here. I’m so sorry, Miranda. I’ll be sorry forever.’

  Tears streamed down my face. There was so much I wanted to say to Robbie, about our friendship, our games of War, about everything that had passed between us during my stay. I wanted to tell him I forgave him, that I didn’t hate him anymore. I wanted to thank him for risking his life for me and for Marko.

  But the drugs were quick.

  I closed my eyes, my body wilting completely as I listened to the wild thrumming of Robbie’s heart until the sound died away and a heavy blanket of darkness consumed me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  I WOKE TO a myriad sensations at once: the cushion of warm, dry sand beneath me, the tickle of a westerly sea breeze and the slow burn of the midday sun on my skin. When I opened my eyes, the daylight was blindingly bright, like a thousand hot needles being stuck into my eyes, and I had to shield them with cupped hands while I sat up to get my bearings. Gulls shrieked. Warm, fresh air seeped into my lungs, and I let out a deep sigh.

  I was home.

  After a few solid, deep breaths, I staggered to my feet, absorbing the familiar surroundings that now appeared so strange to me. The long stretches of white sandy beach on either side of me were barren, save for a few clusters of squawking gulls, and the weatherboard-shack windows had been boarded up already. Bob’s Bay summer season was well and truly over. Everyone had gone home.

&
nbsp; I glanced back at the water, my eyes sweeping across the clear blue expanse and, without thinking, rushed into it.

  ‘Robbie!’ I shouted, diving underwater with my eyes open. ‘Robbie!’ I said, over and over again, even beneath the water, my eyes stinging as they searched for him there. I kept at it, plunging again and again into the sea, until I realised, with a heavy ache in my heart, that he wasn’t there and he wasn’t coming back.

  Closing my eyes, I tilted my face to properly acknowledge the sun. As its rays caressed my face, tears of joy gathered beneath my lids. I’d missed it so much.

  I gasped, remembering the sun ring, and wriggled my finger. The beautiful light crystal winked up at me, and I sighed with relief. At least I would have something of Marin with me.

  I stared out at the ocean one last time before I headed to the family shack, where I put my lips to the spout of the rainwater tank. The cool water filled my mouth and spilled down my chin and neck. It was heaven to my dry throat, but I didn’t drink too much in case it gave me a stitch. I still had to take a decent hike on a dirt road to get to the highway.

  Taking off my jumper and tying it around my waist, I headed over the soft, creamy dunes, and started on the bumpy limestone track that would lead me to the main road. While I walked, I thought about the day my grandparents and Lauren and I had driven along it—six weeks ago. It seemed like a year.

  The sun bore into my shoulders and almost made me turn back for more rainwater, but I forced one leg forward after the other until, an hour later, the sound of passing cars pricked my ears.

  I ran until the road materialised before me, and waved down the first car I saw. It was too ridiculous to be worrying about kidnappers now.

  The driver turned out to be a nice old lady, who was horrified at the physical state I was in. She gasped at my ripped jeans and bloodied wrist bandage and ordered me to lie in the back seat, with a crocheted pillow under my head, while she drove me to the nearest police station, an hour and a half away.

  As she drove, I babbled uncontrollably from the back, my teeth chattering and my forehead sweating. I told her all about Robbie and Marko, and how Damir attacked me, but she just nodded her head politely and responded with lots of ‘Yes, dears.’

  When we arrived at the police station, the old lady wouldn’t let me get out of the car until she came to the door and got me herself, but by that time a female police officer had rushed out at me with a blanket, as if she’d been waiting there for all the weeks I’d been missing. My teeth ground together as I was led inside, cocooned inside the blanket.

  As soon as the air-conditioning hit my face, I was slapped with an alertness that made me ask for Lauren.

  ‘What’s your name, sweetheart?’ the policewoman asked me. A male officer stood at a coffee machine with the old lady, asking if she wanted sugar.

  ‘Miranda.’ I said, shivering uncontrollably. ‘Miranda Sun.’

  The head of a moustached man materialised from behind a computer screen as soon as I said it, and he rushed around his desk to my side.

  ‘Miranda Sun? You’re the girl who went missing in January?’ he said with disbelief. His face came so close to mine that I could see the tiny pores in his skin.

  ‘Miranda Sun?’ he said again.

  I nodded, and he advised the policewoman to take me into some other room.

  ‘I’m going to call your grandparents, Miranda, while Dot here asks you a few questions.’ He patted my shoulders. ‘Then you can have a lie down.’

  ‘I just want to go home,’ I said, aching to see Lauren, Nana and Pop.

  ‘Get this girl some water, Jim. Just half a cup, and don’t let her drink it all at once,’ he instructed the policeman by the coffee machine.

  I was led into a darkened room, which I assumed was their day cell, and gratefully climbed up onto the creaking lower bunk bed. The tiredness overwhelmed me as soon as my head hit the pillow.

  Jim appeared with the water and forced me to sit up and take the cup into my shaking hands. As soon as it hit my lips I gulped it down eagerly, but Jim made a tsk sound and drew it away. ‘Slowly,’ he said, before trusting me with the cup again. I sipped at it, torturously slow, and when I finished, Jim took the cup back and exited the room. I heard him asking the old lady, my saviour, if she’d like a bickie with her tea.

  ‘Can you remember where you’ve been all this time, Miranda?’ The policewoman asked, and I could tell by the sound of her voice and the sparkle in her eyes that she was desperate to know.

  ‘I’ve been…knocked out. I woke up on the beach and then stumbled to the road.’

  ‘Knocked out? For nearly two whole months?’ she said, a false smile frozen on her lips. ‘I think you’ve suffered concussion, sweetie, and you’re not thinking straight. Where have you been all of this time?’ She leaned in, her eyes narrowing. ‘Did you run away?’

  I turned away, outraged, and refused to speak after that. She sighed. ‘I think you’d better have a nap—your grandparents will be here in a couple of hours.’

  I fell in and out of sleep, with different officers popping in randomly to quiz me with questions about my ‘runaway stint’, as one of them called it. I stared at them all blankly until they each began to share worrying glances. They wanted to know if somebody took me from the beach, and whether they had hurt my wrist and why, and so on.

  I became so tired of the questions I ended up spinning some story about an old man with a long white beard who took me far away and kept me in his house for six weeks. This sent them into a frenzy of questions as they filled little notebooks with excited scribble, jotting down every phoney detail that spilled from my lips. I almost laughed a few times, and hoped that there wasn’t some poor old guy out there that fitted my fake captor’s description.

  At some point I dozed off again, but my senses immediately alerted me to the little bell on the front door of the office ringing. I leapt off the mattress and ran across to the hallway, my belly rising against my lungs, my lungs pressing against my heart.

  The sound of my grandparents’ voices hit my ears as I bolted into the foyer and I rushed at them, my right leg clipping against the edge of a desk, my eyes tearing up as I caught the shocked expression on Pop’s face.

  ‘Miranda,’ he said in a croaky voice, his wrinkled mouth trembling, as I hurled myself into his open arms. Nana’s frail arms encircled my back, and I turned my head so that I could bury my face into her neck and breathe in her familiar rose perfume.

  When we finally broke away, I saw Lauren in the background, her eyes red with tears and her face blotchy.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Miranda,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t help you. I thought you were gone—like Aiden.’ Her face crumpled up and she broke into a sob.

  ‘I’m okay, now, Lauren.’ I said, trying to stem my own tears.

  Nana and Pop grabbed us both and squished us against them, and it felt so good.

  It felt even better in the back seat of Pop’s car, with Lauren holding my hand, knowing we were heading home and that I’d see my bedroom again and all that was familiar to me.

  However, halfway there as the sun began to set through the trees, I brushed the pad of my thumb over the warmth of my sun ring, and tears prickled my eyes. Marko was at the bottom of the ocean now, dreaming of the sun and the rain and…maybe me.

  He’s all alone now…at the mercy of Sylvia.

  ‘Everything is going to be fine now, love,’ said Nana, twisting in her seat so she could look at me. Tears had made her eyes glassy. They must have hurt so badly while I was gone. I should have hated Robbie and Marko for this…but I just couldn’t.

  ‘I’m sorry, Nan,’ I croaked.

  She shook her head and swallowed thickly. ‘No. No. Don’t be sorry. It’s the monster who took you—his fault. But the cops will get him and lock him away. The main thing is you’re going home now. Whatever happened— and you can tell us when you’re ready—is in the past. You just concentrate, one day at a time, on resting up and eating wel
l.’

  ‘Loz missed you so much she said when you got back she was moving into your bedroom to watch over you,’ said Pop from the driver’s seat. I smiled at his eyes in the rear-view mirror.

  ‘I did n—’ Lauren started to protest, but then she dipped her head at me and shrugged, half-smiling as though embarrassed. ‘Well, yeah, I did say that actually.’

  A lump the size of Uluru formed in my throat. I gave

  Lauren’s warm hand a squeeze. In the past, even as children, she used to cringe whenever I’d tried to hold her hand. I was always the annoying little sister. This time, she squeezed me back.

  ‘Thanks, Loz, but you don’t have to. I’m okay.’

  ‘Later, tonight, of you feel up to it, you can tell me some of what happened,’ she leaned over and whispered in my ear. I nodded, wondering how she was going to take my story.

  When we arrived home, to my parents’ house in the suburbs, where my grandparents now lived with Lauren and me, I saw an old black car in the driveway that I’d never seen before.

  ‘Your birthday present, love,’ said Pop, hugging me to his rail-thin body after we’d gotten out of the car. ‘It’s a ’69 Valiant—solves the Ford versus Holden argument.’

  I smiled, but didn’t move to touch the car—I just wanted to get inside and evade the prying eyes that peeked through the hedges next door. There were even a couple of news vans parked across the street.

  After walking through the front door, I headed straight to my bedroom and spent a good ten minutes running my fingers over my things while listening to Nana fend off journalists and visitors at our front door. I felt trapped in a time warp—as though I’d been away for years, not weeks.

  I took a long shower, and then slipped my favourite T-shirt nightie over my head, before joining my family at the dinner table for our first meal together.

  ‘I bet you’re hungry for a good feed, love,’ said Nana, her eyes watering while she dished up the mashed potato. It seemed to be stuck to the spoon, and no matter how many times Nana shook it the potato remained glued.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered in a raspy voice. ‘I ran out of cream and used grated cheese instead, like on that fancy cooking show.’ A strangled sob escaped her lips. ‘I should’ve used the sour cream instead.’