by Helen Brain
It will be easy if I can just focus on the job I have to do. But I can’t.
I’ve walked over an invisible precipice and I’m falling, falling, falling, like Laleuca pushed over the cliff by her sister. I won’t be coming back to Greenhaven. The guards are going to shoot me.
And maybe Greenhaven won’t exist after tonight. None of this will exist anymore. Earth will be a ball of dust blowing around the universe.
When we reach the bottom of Wynberg Hill, the carriage slows and Lucas jumps down.
Great, I think. He’s running away. I bite my knuckles, wondering if I should follow him. But where could I go where the army or the resistance won’t find me?
The carriage labours up the hill and, as we climb, I look up at the mountain towering above us. Ahead lies Devil’s Peak, then Table Mountain, and inside Table Mountain is the colony, and nearly two thousand people who, for sixteen years, were the only community I knew. They’re going about their daily chores, weaving and spinning, hammering wood, fixing the engines, repairing the walls, starting to feel a little breathless.
How long does it take to suffocate?
Suddenly Sophie, Clementine and Emilie are sitting opposite me. Clementine? How can Clementine be here when I don’t have her amulet? She’s so misty she’s almost transparent, but she’s there, squeezed between Emilie and Sophie. Emilie is looking at me with such compassion. Clementine’s little boy slides off her knee, and stands with his hand resting on my leg. My throat constricts as I notice his tiny fingernails, so small, so perfect.
I’ll never have children now.
I wipe away a tear with my sleeve, and realise that Dr Iris is sitting next to me, staring out of the window, her lips pursed. She wags her finger at me. He who puts his hand to the plough and turns back, etcetera etcetera.
I haven’t a clue what she’s talking about.
Do not lose focus, she says. It is almost time.
I drop my chin onto my chest and sigh. I want to go home, but I can’t go back without completing the task or I’ll lose Micah. I’ll be alone, with two thousand deaths on my conscience.
I’m doomed. I may as well accept it. If Aunty Figgy’s right, we’re all going to die today anyway.
I look back and am surprised to see Lucas standing in the road. So he hasn’t left me. He just got out to make it easier for the horses to pull the heavy carriage up the hill. The sight of his frail frame toiling up the steep incline gives me courage.
It will soon be over. One way or the other, it will soon be over.
CHAPTER 26
Mr Frye is waiting at the top of the colonnade.
My chest is hollow as I drag myself up the stairs, with Lucas following like a stray dog. I still don’t understand what he’s doing here, but it’s comforting not to have to go into the meeting alone.
Mr Frye kisses me on both cheeks. “Ebba, you don’t look well.” He brushes my hair off my forehead.
I want to cry at his concern, but I clench my lips and shake my head. “I’m fine, Mr Frye. Just a little tired. And I have a headache.”
“What are you doing here, Lucas?” he snaps as Lucas reaches the top step. “Go and wait in the carriage.”
Lucas looks dejected, his shoulders hunched and his face haunted. Did he notice that the blood of his family is still splattered on the courtyard wall?
“He’s with me,” I say. “I … I couldn’t face the council meeting alone.”
“Alright then,” Mr Frye says. “I’ll inform the council that we have a guest.”
I wait at the door for the soldiers to finish searching Lucas, my heart thudding. Sweat is building up on my forehead and Captain Zungu looks at me suspiciously.
“You look hot and bothered, Miss den Eeden,” he says coldly. “Something worrying you?”
“No. I’m running a slight fever.”
He nods to the soldiers and they begin their customary body search of me, patting my sides, my arms and legs. What if they find the knife? One soldier searches through my hair, pushing the curls in my ponytail aside but he doesn’t think to search the rose hair clip. I try not to look too relieved when at last they finish and gesture for me to go through to the council chamber.
I take my place as usual, standing ready to greet the general. Mr Frye has found an extra chair, and Lucas sits next to me. A door bangs in the distance and I hear footsteps. Sweat runs down the back of my legs.
It’s time.
I flick my hand back and squeeze the clip. It opens and I pull it out of my hair and push it up my sleeve as my hand drops to my side. Instantly, Lucas shifts over until the length of his arm is against mine. I can’t move away. As the general enters the door, Lucas’s hand closes tightly around mine.
The general is walking towards me. One step and he’ll be in the perfect position, just as Micah planned. I try to tighten my grip on the hair clip, but I can’t get my fingers free.
Then I hear voices in the passage – “Miss den Eeden” and “hair” and “assassination”.
I freeze.
It’s Micah.
I barely notice Lucas drawing the hair clip from my hand and pushing something else into it. Then Major Zungu and Captain Atherton seize me. They shove me against the wall. My head smacks against the marble.
Captain Atherton pulls my hair loose and tugs it, shaking it. He forces my hand open and swears when he sees I’m only holding a small piece of jewellery.
There’s nothing else to find.
Because Lucas has saved me.
“The amulet!” he’s shouting. “Ebba, join the amulets.” Major Zungu hits him in the stomach.
Mr Frye is screaming, “What have you done? What have you done?”
The general is being hustled out of the chamber.
“Join the amulets!” With a last glace at me, Lucas sees a gap, lunges forward and plunges the knife into the general’s chest.
I feel for the necklace, for the open clasp, and slide the amulet into the empty space.
INSTANTLY THERE’S A throbbing sensation, a vibration running from the soles of my feet, up my legs and into the pit of my stomach. Lights flash in my head.
The general has collapsed.
Major Zungu and Captain Atherton are firing their pistols. Shot after shot.
And I begin to rise.
Lucas is on the floor, peppered with bullets. The general is dying – I can see his spirit, small and twisted, writhing out of his body.
The shouting fades. I’m in the air, looking down on the city, on Greenhaven. There’s Micah, addressing a crowd of soldiers. Aunty Figgy weeping in the orchard, Samantha-Lee landing on the beach outside Greenhaven, with a flotilla of boats behind her.
And I drift up, up, up, through the clouds, into the great blue nothing.
Towards the Land of the Gods.
Towards Celestia.
COMING SOON!
ELEVATION
BOOK 3
THE FIERY SPIRAL
Also Available
Elevation 1: The Thousand Steps
Synopsis
Time is running out. A military coup has put General de Groot in control of Table Island City. There are only three months until the winter solstice, and all four amulets are missing. If Ebba does not find them in time a second and final calamity will wipe out Earth completely. But she has other pressing problems. Food is running out in the Colony, and the General is planning a final solution. Can she get the 2000 young adults out of the bunker in time? Can she use her new position as a member of the General’s Council to her advantage? And how can she negotiate the growing social and political tension without losing her integrity? Then there’s Micah, the love of her life. Why is he spending so much time with the gorgeous Samantha Lee? Is their relationship purely professional as they co-lead the Resistance? Or are the rumours that he is unfaithful to her true? How can she prove her love to him? As the final days approach Ebba has lost everything. Disaster has destroyed Greenhaven, and she hasn’t been able to find the fourth am
ulet. The General is planning a genocide. Micah has a plan – if she can assassinate the General the 2000 will be saved. With nothing left to lose but his love, she agrees to this one final sacrifice.
About the Author
Helen Brain was born in 1960 in Australia, and grew up in Durban, South Africa. She has published over 50 books for children and young adults, as well as a memoir. She has worked as a crafter, school teacher and freelance journalist. She now teaches creative writing through an international online writing college. She lives in Cape Town, in a house overlooking a vlei, with her husband and their three dogs and in her spare time plays the piano, sings and makes toys out of old socks.
More Books by Helen Brain
Who’s Afraid of Spiders?
Tamara
Fly Cemetery and Other Juicy Stories
Noem my Kat
Carmen Tutuka and the Curse of Isis House
Carmen Tutuka en die vloek van Isis huis
Van spoke gepraat (compiled by Charles Fryer)
Will & Joe and the Great Pirate Rescue
Len & Ben en die groot seerower-redding
Princess Talia and the dragon
Prinses Talia en die draak
My hart klop muffins
Liefde is nie tjoklits nie
Vets & Pets: Jamie and the Magic Whistle (with Nicky Webb)
Veearts-vriende: Tania en die towerfluitjie (with Nicky Webb)
Vets & Pets: Jamie and the Horse Show (with Nicky Webb)
Veearts-vriende: Tania en die perdry-kompetisie (with Nicky Webb)
First edition in 2017 by Human & Rousseau,
an imprint of NB Publishers,
a division of Media24 Boeke (Pty) Ltd,
40 Heerengracht, Cape Town 8001
www.humanrousseau.com
Copyright © 2017 in text by Helen Brain
All rights reserved.
No part of this electronic book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording, or by any other information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.
Cover design by Damonza
E-book design by Purple Pocket Solutions
Available in print:
First edition in 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7981-7228-8
Epub edition:
First edition in 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7981-7229-5 (epub)
Mobi edition:
First edition in 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7981-7230-1 (mobi)