Impulse

by Vanessa Garden

  The crowd simmered into silence.

  ‘I promise, one of us will return or send a message for help when the time’s right.’

  ‘What sort of message?’

  ‘We’ll just send someone? Agreed?’

  ‘My brother, Jordon,’ said Henrietta, standing proud in her tight dolphin T-shirt. ‘They don’t know he’s on our side. My fiancé, who is soon to be my ex-fiancé, doesn’t suspect a thing.’ She turned to her brother. ‘You can slip back into the castle and spy, can’t you?’

  Jordon, who was standing beside Jonathan, nodded, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

  ‘I’ll go now, before you do, so as not to arouse suspicion.’

  A torturously slow hour after Jordon left, Robbie, Lauren and I said our goodbyes to the edgy, grumbling crowd and headed towards the castle.

  ‘Lauren,’ I said, as we rode the gondola, loud enough for Robbie to hear. ‘Sylvia wants me to convince you to give her your baby.’

  ‘As if!’ she said firmly.

  I kept my eyes on the castle before us. ‘Good. But we have to pretend that you’ve agreed.’

  ‘So what’s the plan?’ asked Robbie.

  ‘Well, Sylvia said she’d kill Marko if I don’t convince Lauren to promise her baby. She also said she’d let Marko be banished, instead of killed, if she gets the baby. I’m going to ask that I be sent to the mainland with Marko; but, at the last minute, we’ll swap me for Lauren.’ I reached out and squeezed her hand. ‘That way you and the baby will be out of harm’s way.’

  Lauren drew her head back like I’d punched her in the nose.

  ‘What? No, I don’t want to leave. Nana and Pop are here now. This is where I want to have the baby.’

  ‘Listen. You’ll be safe with Marko on land and, hopefully, before long, we’ll send for you both, when it’s safe.’

  ‘But what about you? How will I know you’re not dead?’ she shrieked.

  ‘Marko will never stand for this; you know that, Miranda,’ said Robbie. ‘He’d never leave Marin.’

  Tears thickened my throat. ‘I know. But he’s got no other choice. It’s either be banished or killed.’

  ‘The Marko I know would rather fight and die. You’ll see.’

  ‘Well, you’ll have to give him a tablet or something. Knock him out.’

  Robbie shook his head. ‘I don’t like this at all.’

  I groaned to myself. I didn’t like the idea of sending Marko and Lauren away, but it was better than seeing them die. I screwed my eyes shut to block out the horrid picture in my head, and opened them again when the gondola glided to a stop and tapped the edge of the bank.

  Before us the castle loomed, pale, magnificent and lit up with crystals.

  ‘Okay, so are we agreed?’ I asked under my breath as we walked the castle steps.

  They both mumbled half-hearted replies.

  After only six steps guards seized us roughly by our arms, their brutish fingers digging into the soft underside of my skin. Like this they dragged us, up the stairs, into the castle and all the way to Sylvia’s room.

  She was freshly dressed, but looked as if she hadn’t slept for a year. The dark circles under her eyes reminded me of the way Marko had looked the last time I’d seen him. How would he look now? Would he be covered with bloody bruises? Would he even be conscious?

  ‘Good. You’ve agreed to my terms.’

  ‘Yes. You can have my baby,’ said Lauren, brilliant actress that she was. ‘Under one condition…’

  ‘Which is?’ Sylvia’s eyes gleamed with eagerness.

  ‘Miranda is to be allowed to go live with Marko on land.’

  Sylvia contemplated this, just as Damir joined her side. He was freshly showered, his hair still wet, and too handsome for someone so rotten inside.

  ‘No. She stays,’ said Sylvia.

  ‘Why?’ said Lauren. ‘We don’t need her.’ She sucked in a deep breath and smiled at Damir, taking his outstretched hand. He stroked her rounded belly and whispered something in her ear, and she smiled up into his face. She was so believable I wasn’t sure if she was still acting or not.

  ‘Send her away. She’s like Marko; a pest,’ said Lauren with a smirk.

  Damir smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. ‘God, I love you.’

  ‘Me too,’ she said and kissed him on the mouth before turning to Sylvia. ‘Let’s do this, then. I want her out of my hair for good.’

  Lauren’s acting was so good a dull ache started to spread across my chest. It hurt to hear her say those things about me. I searched her eyes for some kind of signal, but she wouldn’t look at me.

  ‘Show me Marko,’ I said. ‘He has to be alive and well. It was part of the deal.’

  Sylvia nodded to the guards, and after a few minutes they dragged Marko in. He was coated in sweat and had dirt smeared across his face, mixed in with the blood on his cheek, but other than that he seemed okay and was able to stand when they let him go. His blue eyes widened and exploded with light when he saw me.

  ‘Miranda,’ he rasped, ‘don’t agree to anything.’

  I wanted to run to him and hold him. He was going to hate hearing of his banishment.

  Sylvia stroked Marko’s cheek and kissed him there, right on the bloody bruise.

  ‘Lauren is happy to hand her baby over. The deal is done. Your banishment begins as of now.’

  ‘What? No!’ Marko said, his voice loaded with rage. ‘I’d rather die than be banished. You know this,’ he added, his eyes burning into me. ‘You should never have promised her anything, Miranda.’

  ‘Don’t fret, Marko,’ said Sylvia, ‘Miranda is going with you.’

  He stopped fighting for a second. ‘Is this true?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, through my tears. It hurt to lie. But it was the only way.

  ‘Lauren, are you at least going to say goodbye to me?’ I said, indicating the doorway to the travel chutes.

  She groaned theatrically but agreed.

  ‘Robbie, too,’ I said and he visibly tensed up beside me.

  We walked in a long line to Marko’s room.

  ‘I’ll load them into the chute,’ Robbie said to Sylvia, who turned to Damir and shrugged.

  I touched Robbie’s shoulder.

  ‘Are you sure you can do it? After what—’

  ‘I know those rooms inside out. And I’m not a delicate flower, Miranda. I can handle the light crystal.’ He drew a pair of dark sunglasses from his pocket and put them on.

  The guards followed us all the way down the long corridor.

  When we reached the door to the chute room, I gripped Lauren’s hand and she squeezed mine back. I only let go to hold tight to Marko’s, but he brushed me away.

  He thought I’d betrayed him by agreeing to his banishment, and now he was going to find out that I wasn’t even going with him. He was going to hate me.

  Tears filled my eyes, blurring the near-blindingly white light-crystal walls that surrounded us.

  The guards untied Marko and shoved him towards Robbie, who managed to catch him in his arms.

  ‘We’ll be waiting right here. Any funny business and we’ve been ordered to use force,’ a guard threatened.

  But Robbie was the only guard to have ever been allowed in the chute rooms, so none of them would be able to operate them anyway. ‘You need goggles to go any further,’ said Robbie. ‘And besides, only two at a time can travel in one chute. Believe me, there will be no funny business.’

  They nodded their heads, but I could tell by their eyes that they thought Robbie was speaking gibberish.

  ‘Sylvia said you are both to have this.’ They passed two tablets into my hand. ‘It’s only a half dose, so he wakes up before you land.’

  They pinched Marko’s nose and held his mouth shut. After putting up a good thrashing, he eventually gasped for air, sucking the tablet down his throat. He coughed and retched but brought nothing up.

  ‘I’ll take mine myself,’ I said, loud enough for the guards to hear.
They shared a look before leaving us.

  I tossed my tablet to the ground—because Lauren was pregnant and who knew what was in it—and wrapped my arms around Marko, holding him tight against me.

  ‘I love you, Marko. I love you so much. I’ll come and get you soon.’

  He stared down at me as he caught his breath, the drug dissolving his earlier anger. ‘But you’re coming with me.’

  I stared up into his glassy eyes.

  ‘No, I’m not. I’m so sorry. We lied to Sylvia. Lauren is coming with you—for the baby’s safety.’ Tears filmed my eyes and I looked away. I couldn’t bear the pain on Marko’s face.

  ‘Robbie, quick,’ I said, as Marko began to sway in my arms.

  By the time Robbie strapped Marko into the shuttle, the drugs had taken full effect, and he was out cold. I fitted the goggles around Marko’s head and kissed his unmoving lips, my tears raining onto his pale skin.

  I turned to my sister and took her hand. ‘Take care of your baby, and Marko.’

  Robbie came back and took Lauren’s arm and held a pair of goggles out to her.

  The guards shouted at the other end of the corridor for us to hurry it up.

  ‘One more hug!’ said Lauren.

  ‘Goodbye,’ I whispered, my throat closing up.

  She wrapped her arms around me, her hard belly pressing into mine.

  ‘I love you; take care,’ she whispered in my ear before she started to move away from the shuttle. ‘I’m not going, Miranda. You are.’

  ‘Wait, what are you doing?’

  Robbie raised his brows; this was as new to him as it was to me. But he quickly shook his head and took a step towards me. ‘Quick, Miranda, get in now!’

  ‘What? No. Lauren! Come back!’ I screamed at her.

  ‘I owe you, Randy, big time!’ She came back, kissed me on both cheeks and then shouted, ‘Guards!’

  ‘Lauren!’ hissed Robbie. ‘We’re not ready, yet.’ He turned to me. ‘You heard her; she’s changed her mind. Quick, get in.’

  I stared down at Marko and then back up at Robbie.

  ‘But we have an army ready to fight. They’ll be waiting for my signal. I can’t leave. Lauren can’t stay here. She’s in danger.’

  ‘I can,’ shouted Lauren. ‘And besides, Damir loves me; he really does, and he’s not going to let Sylvia near our baby. I’ll summon the mob. Everything will be fine, Miranda. Trust me for once.’

  The guards appeared and drew daggers.

  Robbie seized me by the arm and shoved me in the shuttle. He secured goggles over my eyes and squeezed my hand. I squeezed it back and found Marko’s with my other one.

  Everything was happening so fast; too fast for me to try to understand Lauren’s sacrifice.

  ‘When you land, you’ll hear the gears kick down and you’ll be shot out into the water. I’m sending you to Bob’s Bay. The shuttle’s fast, but it will still take hours and you’ll be lulled into a sleep. Marko should be awake by then, and he’ll know what to do. Good luck, Miranda.’

  I felt a shadow pass over me and felt Robbie’s warm lips brush mine, ever so gently.

  ‘Thank you, Robbie,’ I said, choking up. ‘Look after Lauren and her baby—and Nana and Pop. Remember the army; they’re waiting. Send Jordon for help. Don’t let anybody get hurt.’ Then I remembered something else. ‘Wait. Why did you want Marko to read your diary?’

  ‘Goodbye, Miranda,’ he said, ignoring my question. ‘I’ll send for you both when it’s safe.’

  ‘How will we know?’

  Footsteps filled the room just as the lid of the shuttle snapped shut above me.

  A loud suction sound filled my ears, and then suddenly we lurched forward and my stomach shot up into my chest.

  I screamed and clutched Marko’s hand tight as we sped away from Marin.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  I WOKE WITH a wet chest and the sickly stench of my own vomit, and no idea how long I’d been passed out. A humming sound filled my ears, and I had the sensation I was floating. We were still travelling.

  Marko squeezed my hand.

  ‘Miranda,’ he said. ‘I thought you said Lauren was coming.’

  The goggles were digging into my face and I tried to take them off.

  ‘Do not remove your goggles! We’re still travelling.’

  ‘Right, I forgot.’

  The gears kicked down and I heard Marko unclicking himself and then reaching over to undo me.

  ‘We’re about to be spat out, so brace yourself. Hold my hand tight.’

  My stomach heaved, but luckily there was nothing left inside to empty.

  The lid of the chute whooshed open and we shot out into the ice-cold water. I screamed as water gushed into my mouth and lungs and Marko’s hand was severed from mine.

  Over and over again, the water spun me around. I thought I was going to drown, that it had all been for nothing, until strong arms encircled me and our heads broke the surface.

  Gasping for air and gripping Marko’s arm, I glanced around, my eyes searching for any sign of land. The full moon, partially covered by clouds, glinted in every ripple of the ocean.

  ‘There,’ Marko said, indicating a tiny spot of light in the far distance. ‘Can you swim?’

  Reluctantly I slid out of his embrace, kicked my legs and glided forward. ‘Yep.’

  We swam for what seemed like hours until sand scratched my toes and we stood and stumbled out of the water, flopping onto the shore like dying fish.

  ‘We’re alive,’ he said, spraying sand against my shoulder with his breath.

  ‘That was…’ I started, but I was unable to describe travelling in the chute wide awake.

  ‘Intense?’ Marko finished for me.

  I nodded.

  We rolled onto our backs and stared up at the bruised sky, the moon peeking at us from behind fast-moving black clouds while we caught our breath.

  Marko’s fingers found a lock of my hair and played with it.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ he said, staring up at the sky, and yet his voice was loaded with melancholy.

  ‘You miss Marin already, don’t you?’

  He shrugged. ‘I can’t help it.’

  ‘Did they hurt Robbie?’ he said after a while.

  ‘No. But I’m worried about Lauren.’

  ‘She’ll be safe—at least for a couple of months.’

  I shuffled across the sand until our arms touched. A shiver rippled through me. The wind was cold, but Marko’s skin was deliciously warm.

  ‘Back at Robbie’s cottage there’s an army of a hundred or so waiting for Jordon to give the signal to storm the castle.’

  ‘An army? Made up of who?’

  ‘Mainly civilians, but a few guards as well. They were ready and waiting when I last saw them.’

  Marko frowned. ‘I thought everyone hated me because of the failed moon idea.’

  ‘No. You have a lot more supporters than you think.’ I told him about the old man in the leopard-print dressing gown, and Marko smiled.

  He drew me into his arms, and I rested my head against his chest, revelling in the steady drum of his heart.

  The ocean at our feet stirred and became choppy, and when I looked up at the sky the moon was muted by black clouds.

  ‘You know what?’ I said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘We used the wrong moon.’

  Marko remained silent for a while before he spoke.

  ‘Miranda, there is no other moon in Marin.’

  ‘Yes, there is.’ I pictured the page I’d seen in Robbie’s diary—the drawing of the sharks circling what I’d at first thought to be a sun. ‘The real moon, Kraja’s moon, lies at the bottom of the Colosseum.’

  I explained to Marko what I’d seen, and how Robbie had told me to give him the diary, but he said nothing and instead tightened his hold around me.

  A cold wind picked up, sending showers of sand and a thin spray of sea onto us.

  Waves crashed and rolled at our fee
t.

  Marko blinked as rain fell in fat drops against us. I remembered then the piece he’d played on the piano for me, and how he’d explained that rain had always fascinated him.

  I traced my finger down the side of his wet face and he smiled, before rolling on top of me, to protect me from the elements, resting his weight on his elbows.

  Wrapping my arms around the small of his back, I sighed with contentment. Marko was alive and in my arms, when only twenty-four hours ago I’d doubted we’d ever see each other again.

  With smiling lips, he leaned down and pressed his mouth to mine in a tender kiss; a kiss that I didn’t want to end.

  After several minutes of bliss, of Marko’s tongue and lips thoroughly exploring my mouth while the sky rained down upon us, he drew back slightly and stared down at me with eyes as deep as the sea behind us.

  ‘I love you, Miranda. I love you so much.’

  The wind blew a lock of wet hair across his forehead and I gently brushed it aside. He was so beautiful, hovering over me like this, the angry sky behind him, the rain falling around him like stars.

  ‘And I love you, Marko, so much.’

  He buried his face into my neck and groaned, softly.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re mine.’

  ‘No, I can’t believe you’re mine.’

  He raised his head and grinned, his white teeth gleaming in the night.

  ‘When Marin is saved, and we return, you’ll make the most beautiful queen—my queen.’

  Though his words stole my breath away, I grinned back at him and smacked him lightly on the arm. ‘That’s so corny.’

  Marko’s smile disappeared and his eyes turned dark and soft. ‘Don’t laugh, Miranda. I mean every word.’ He brushed his lips against my forehead, then my neck and then my ear. ‘I want you forever,’ he whispered, the touch of his lips and the tickle of his breath spreading warmth across my skin.

  At that moment the rain stopped and the angry clouds parted in wisps to reveal a crazy, smiling moon face, like an omen or a promise.

  Whether good or bad, I couldn’t be sure.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  A huge thank you to my agent Helen Breitwieser and the lovely team at Harlequin Australia, including my editor, Nicola Redhouse. It has been wonderful working with you all and I look forward to working together again on book three.