‘Stop! Oh god! Stop!’ Daisy screams.
‘They’re with us!’ Bianca yells.
The lioness eyes Bianca for a moment before stepping back off Cory. Daisy grabs him by the hand, helping him to his feet and putting herself, protectively, between him and the lions.
‘How did you... when did you...?’ Bianca splutters at Scotty, after a second.
Scotty grins at her. ‘It’s good to see you, too, Yanks.’
She throws herself at him, arms around his neck and face buried in his shoulder, holding him so tight she thinks he’ll probably have damage to his internal organs.
‘I thought you were staying there,’ she says into his shoulder.
‘What, and leave my best friend to fight off evil fanged rats all by herself? Don’t be silly.’ He hugs her back, as tight as he can, and looks towards Daisy. ‘You okay, Dais?’
She nods. ‘Am now. Thanks for the help.’
‘When did you come out?’ Bianca asks. ‘Of the cave, I mean... And where?’
‘We came out the wrong door.’ He chuckles. ‘And we got to this village place in time to see you guys ride away but Cory wouldn’t leave without making sure everyone at the village were okay in the wake of your devastation.’ He gives her a scowl. ‘We lost a couple of nights of sleep trying to catch up, but I guess we weren’t long behind you guys.’
Bianca nods.
‘We were ten minutes behind you guys. Tops.’ He smiles.
‘Where’d you camp?’ she asks.
‘Other side of those woods.’ He gestures behind them and she laughs.
‘We camped this side.’ She grins. ‘Silly! You would have found us earlier if you’d carried on for just five more minutes!’
Scotty smiles, but then it fades and he says, ‘I never would have left you to go on alone, you know. Sorry I was a bit of an idiot.’
‘Well, you’re here now,’ Bianca says, with a smile. ‘And we’re going to need your help if this is any indication.’
‘Okay then. Let’s head off.’
‘We only have two horses,’ Daisy points out.
‘We’ll just have to share,’ Cory says.
‘Okay,’ she says, quietly.
*
Cory’s on the horse behind Daisy, arms around her waist, and Scotty’s behind Bianca. He’s not acting as though he’s holding on for dear life like Cory is, but his hands are loosely on her hips to avoid falling off as they walk. The lions follow at the same pace, licking their wounds and looking as sorry for themselves as the group of humans feel.
‘The tower’s not that far off now,’ Bianca says. ‘If we just stay on the path and make camp up ahead we can make it there tomorrow.’
‘Where’d you get the horses?’ Scotty asks.
‘This boy’s father gave us them after we saved their village from these big winged things,’ Daisy says.
‘Baivi,’ Bianca interjects.
‘Sounds bad,’ Cory says. ‘Were you hurt?’
‘Just my shoulder.’ Daisy shrugs. ‘My dress will probably never be the same but Carlo said he’d try and fix it.’
‘Who’s Carlo?’ Scotty says, with an eyebrow raised.
‘He’s this boy who crushed on Daisy back at the village,’ Bianca chirps, in a sing-song voice.
Cory retracts his arms from around Daisy’s waist. ‘He is?’
‘Yeah, he was pretty cute,’ Bianca says.
‘How would you know?’ Scotty says, poking her in the side.
Cory spends the rest of the ride silent behind Daisy.
*
‘We should make camp here.’ The sun is setting as Bianca slides free of the saddle of her horse. They’ve stopped about sixty metres away from a gorge. There’s a clear path down the side but as the sun is going down, it would make more sense to cross it once the sun has risen once more.
Plus, Nissa’s warning still rings in her ears.
‘Why?’ Cory says. ‘There’s at least another half hour of light left. We can get a little further.’ He walks towards the edge of the cliff. ‘There’s a path down here.’
‘Cory, get back,’ Bianca warns. ‘Nissa said not to cross the gorge at night.’
‘And my parents told me not to skateboard without a helmet, but I’m still fine.’
‘Apart from your considerable brain damage,’ Daisy says, with a smirk.
‘Ha, ha.’ Cory turns back to the group. ‘Come on,’ he says. ‘What do you say?’
Before anyone can reply, a tentacle sweeps out from the gorge, wraps itself around Cory’s ankles and pulls him off the edge.
‘Cory!’ Daisy screams.
‘Oh my god!’ Bianca and Scotty run for the edge, pausing a foot from the edge to stare down in horror. No tentacle creature to be seen, no Cory to be seen and the lions have all retreated into the woods.
‘Cory!’ Daisy runs to the very edge and stares down at the chasm below.
‘Get back from the edge,’ Bianca says. ‘Or we’ll be next.’ She and Scotty start to back off, but Daisy doesn’t follow.
‘Daisy, get back.’ Bianca moves to grab her arm but Daisy shakes her off.
‘No, no. Look!’ She drops down until she’s lying chest down on the ground, shoulders hanging off the edge, arms reaching down.
Scotty and Bianca move around, slowly, to follow her gaze.
Cory is clinging to a shelf a metre down. ‘Thanks for noticing me, Dais!’ he shouts.
‘Grab my hand!’ She reaches down but he can’t get to her and the tentacle is still trying to pull him down.
‘I really don’t want to die like this,’ Cory says, surprisingly calm for his situation.
‘You’re not going to die. Just get my hand!’
‘Scotty, there’s rope in the saddlebag of my horse; go and get it,’ Bianca commands. She drops down to peer over the cliff as well. ‘Cory, we’re getting you up.’
Cory snorts.
‘I meant onto the cliff.’ She stands up again, grabbing the rope off Scotty and looking for something to tie it to. There’s a tree a few metres back, so she runs over to it and ties the rope to the trunk.
‘Hey, Dais?’ Cory says, looking up at her from below. ‘If I don’t make this...’
‘Oh shut up,’ Daisy snaps. ‘As much as I want to hear whatever it is you’re going to say; I don’t want to hear it because you think you’re about to plummet to your death or be raped by a tentacle.’
There’s a pause for a moment before Cory says, ‘I’m hoping for option A, personally.’
Scotty reties the rope to the tree with his Boy Scout wisdom once Bianca is done and they take the rope to the edge of the cliff and lower it down to Cory, a loop tied onto the end to make it easier to hold onto.
‘Come on!’ Bianca shouts. She drags Daisy to her feet and gestures at the rope. ‘We need to pull.’
‘Cory, are you holding on?!’ Daisy yells over the cliff.
‘Like my life depends on it, love!’ he shouts back.
‘One... two... three...’ Scotty says, and then they all pull.
The tentacle holds on to Cory but the combined might of three very, very determined teenagers pulls him up and onto the cliff. The tentacle pulls back, the sound of a disgruntled hiss coming up to greet the friends as they run to drag Cory away from the edge.
‘Oh god, I thought we were going to lose you!’ Bianca exclaims as she, Scotty and Daisy throw their arms around Cory and hug him.
Cory staggers as his legs give way and the three of them support and lower him onto the ground to sit in the grass and tremble.
‘That...’ he stammers, ‘was the second scariest thing that has ever happened to me.’
‘Second scariest?’ Daisy says, as the others sink down to sit on the ground nearby and recover.
‘Second scariest,’ he confirms.
*
‘So, what’s the plan?’ Cory says, as they cook tinned spaghetti over the campfire.
‘Watches.’ Bianca sighs. ‘We’ll all take an
hour watch. Since the lions left us, we can’t all sleep at the same time. It’s not safe.’
‘All right.’ Scotty pulls out his phone. ‘I have BrickBreaker. I’ll take first watch.’
‘I didn’t actually mean the plan for tonight – although I fully endorse Scotty being the one to stay up half the night – but for tomorrow.’ Cory eats some of the spaghetti and passes the pot to Daisy. Their fingers brush and she smiles, shyly. ‘We need to cross the gorge and we need to get to the tower. Which, I have a horrible feeling, won’t be as easy as we think.’
‘We’ll tackle the tower when we get to it... and as for the gorge; we go together and make sure we watch each other’s backs. And we are careful of the tentacle monster,’ Bianca says. ‘As long as we’re careful, we should be okay.’
‘Okay then.’ Cory stands up and yawns. ‘I bag the middle of the tent,’ he says.
‘Hey, you’re not coming in a tent with us,’ Bianca chastises. ‘Get your own tent!’
‘Uh... yeah... we lost our tents. Down a well,’ Scotty says.
Daisy gives him a look. ‘How?’
‘Don’t ask,’ Cory says, hand on his face. ‘Really. It’ll just embarrass us all.’
‘Yeah, it was a bad day,’ says Scotty. ‘We lost our underwear too.’
‘...and now I will stop questioning,’ says Daisy.
‘So, sharing a tent then,’ Bianca says, with a sigh.
‘I bag middle!’ Cory exclaims, diving into the tent.
Bianca touches Scotty’s head as a ‘goodnight’ as she and Daisy walk across to get into the tent. ‘You’ve still got it so bad,’ she mutters to Daisy.
‘I know,’ Daisy replies.
*
The sound of hushed voices wakes Bianca and for a moment she can’t remember where she is. The interior is dark except for a small light between the two figures at the other side of the tent. She suspects the light is coming from Cory’s phone put between them. From what she can see, Cory and Daisy are lying in front of each other, foreheads touching as they whisper. Movement reveals Cory’s hand playing loosely against Daisy’s hip.
She closes her eyes and pretends to be asleep.
‘It was?’ Daisy whispers.
‘Yeah,’ Cory replies. ‘That was the scariest experience. When I looked back at that hole and I realised... I might not see you ever again and I knew I had to follow you.’
‘I had visions of Scotty making you come along.’
‘He tried, but it wasn’t really necessary. I was coming anyway.’
There’s the soft sound of a rustle and she suspects Daisy’s moved her head to smile, softly.
‘I’m sorry I haven’t treated you right.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean... I just mean how I act. Around you and around other girls.’ Another rustle. ‘I think it took this to make me realise just how much you mean to me.’
‘How much do I mean to you?’
‘This much.’
Bianca turns away and pulls the sleeping back over her ears. This isn’t something she’s meant to be hearing.
Eighteen
‘Someone’s chipper this morning,’ Bianca says as Daisy emerges from the tent with a grin spread over her face.
‘I am a bit,’ Daisy replies. ‘I need to pee. Back in a minute!’ She runs off into the woods and Bianca shakes her head fondly as Cory steps out of the tent next.
‘So,’ he says. ‘I gather we woke you up.’
‘Yeah, but I didn’t mind.’ She gives him a smile. ‘Good on you. ‘Bout time.’
Cory ruffles her hair and follows Daisy into the woods.
It takes Scotty another few minutes before he emerges, yawning. ‘How was watch?’ he asks, sitting down next to his friend.
‘Eh. Uneventful.’ She hands Scotty’s phone back to him. ‘I beat your high score.’ She pauses. ‘By a lot.’
Scotty glances down at the screen. ‘Ah, well,’ he says. ‘I’m rubbish at this game anyway.’ He pockets the phone and watches the woods, waiting for Cory and Daisy to come back.
‘Think they’re shaggin’ in there?’ Bianca says, after a moment.
Scotty gives her a perplexed look. ‘Why would they be?’
Daisy emerges from the woods a couple of seconds later and greets the friends by grinning broadly at them and pausing to stand by the long-dead fire. ‘So, are we heading across the gorge today?’
Bianca looks up at her, amused. ‘Sure,’ she says. ‘Sooner we get across there, the sooner we’ll get to the tower.’
*
An hour later, the campsite is packed up, the horses’ saddlebags loaded up and ready to go and the four of them are leading the horses slowly down the path into the gorge.
‘If tentacle boy comes at me,’ Cory says, ‘I’m screaming like a girl and running the other way.’
‘Don’t you always do that?’ She reaches over and slips her hand into Cory’s, who smiles and pulls her in against his side.
‘I missed a lot on watch, didn’t I?’ Scotty says, glumly.
‘Little bit,’ Bianca replies, bumping against his shoulder.
‘I don’t see tentacle guy anywhere,’ Daisy says, voicing all their thoughts a few moments later. ‘Maybe that’s why she said to cross the gorge during the day...’
‘The less I see of tentacle guy; the better,’ Cory says, with a shudder.
‘Maybe it’s a girl,’ Bianca says. ‘Like a cartoon female octopus with long eyelashes.’
Cory shudders. ‘Don’t even go there.’
*
They cross the gorge in due course, without any negative consequences and find themselves riding towards the tower, which seems bigger now they’re closer. Bianca swallows as she looks up at it; it’s tall and slender, looming like a dark scar in the sky.
‘We’re nearly there,’ she says, gesturing.
‘Let’s stop and eat quickly,’ Cory suggests. ‘I don’t think we’ll have chance again.’ He clambers down off the back of Daisy’s horse and the other three follow suit. A few minutes later, they’ve handed sandwiches from home out between them and they’re merrily digging in.
‘Hey look!’ Daisy says, after a minute. She thrusts the sandwich at Cory and breaks away from the group, running across to a staff lying on the ground. It’s long and thick, with ornate markings all over it in red and black. ‘This is gorgeous.’
‘Daisy, be careful,’ Bianca warns, taking a step towards her.
‘It’s just a staff. Chill.’ She reaches out and takes it into her hand. ‘See?’ she says, holding it up. ‘This is gorgeous. I feel like Gabrielle!’
Cory chuckles. ‘You’re sexier,’ he says.
‘Prove it.’ She grins and puts one hand on her hip, letting the staff come to a rest by her side with her other hand. ‘Come over here and–’ She breaks off as the staff snaps up into an upright position, half embedding itself in the ground. ‘What the...?’
A blue shape emerges from the staff and before she can react, it spins around her becoming a shiny blue tunnel of light, which surrounds and contains her.
‘Daisy!’ Cory runs across as Daisy lets go of the staff like she’s been burned. ‘What is it? Can you get out?’
She takes a step forward, as though to step through the light, but she stops as though hitting a wall. ‘I can’t!’ she exclaims. ‘Oh, god, I can’t!’
Cory reaches out to touch the barrier but his fingers go straight through. ‘I don’t get it,’ he says. ‘There’s nothing here.’
‘I can’t do that,’ Daisy says. She puts her hand against the barrier and they can see her muscles flexing as she tries to push against it.
‘Here, take my hand.’ Cory reaches out and links his fingers with hers. She smiles for a second before he pulls on her hand. Her fingers smack into the barrier and she cries out in pain.
‘Oh, god!’ he exclaims. ‘I’m sorry!’
‘It’s fine.’ She cradles her fingers, gingerly. ‘I just really can’t get o
ut.’
‘We’ll find a way to get you out, Dais,’ Bianca promises.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Daisy says. She points behind them and they turn to see a horse and rider on the horizon. ‘That’s the prince. Has to be. You haven’t got long enough to get me out and still get to Alexandra first. You need to go. Leave me here.’
‘No way,’ Scotty says. ‘You’re completely defenceless in there. You can’t get out but everything can get in.’
‘Just go,’ Daisy insists. ‘I told you, didn’t I?’ She looks at Bianca. ‘Remember what I said?’
‘Remember what I said?’ Bianca retorts.
‘I said mine first.’ Daisy smiles at her.
Bianca steps forward and puts her hand out. Daisy links their fingers and smiles. ‘We’ll come back for you,’ Bianca promises.
‘I know.’
‘Come on.’ Bianca turns to Scotty, who nods, and the two of them take off at a run, only pausing when they realise Cory isn’t there. They look back and instantly know he’s not coming.
‘Someone’s got to protect Daisy,’ he says.
Bianca runs forward and hugs him. ‘We’ll be back for both of you,’ she whispers into his ear.
‘I know,’ he replies.
*
The rest of the journey Bianca and Scotty make on foot, tents and half the food abandoned back by Cory and Daisy. They still have their weapons – both makeshift and otherwise – but they’re less weighed down.
‘Do you think we’ll be able to get Daisy out?’ Scotty says, breaking the silence.
‘Yes,’ Bianca says, firmly. ‘Even if we have to beg Nissa to do it.’
‘Fair enough.’
‘I love you, you know,’ Bianca says, quietly.
Scotty smiles at her. ‘I love you too.’
‘Just thought I’d tell you.’
‘I already knew.’ He bumps against her shoulder and she smiles.
‘I’m going to miss you. All of you.’
Scotty doesn’t reply.
*
‘This is too easy.’
They’re at the edge of a precipice; the tower is up ahead, about a hundred feet in the distance. It plummets down into the fog far below it and Bianca honestly doesn’t want to know what’s down there. There’s a bridge made of brick about a foot wide – supported by what, Bianca doesn’t know – leading from the edge to the window of the tower.
A Hole in the World Page 13