‘Are we doing the right thing?’ Griffin asked.
Isabella nodded. ‘Griffin, you’re the smartest person I know and you, Fly, are the most gifted illustrator, and Bea and Raffy, with all your ideas you’re destined to rule the world one day. It isn’t fair to keep any of you away any longer.’
‘I’ll miss living in the Palace,’ Fly said.
‘Me too. But I knew from the time Xavier and I went inland that we had to go back. The world was getting on with life and we were hiding away from it. But I’m glad we did it and that I spent the time with all of you.’
‘Think of all those foods you can have,’ Xavier said. ‘Ice-cream, chocolate cake, pizza ... anything you want.’
‘That will be good.’ Raffy brightened.
‘What will happen to us?’ Fly asked. ‘Will we still see each other?’
‘Of course,’ Isabella answered.
‘But not like before.’
‘No. Not like before.’
‘And we can never go back.’
‘No, never.’
They sat in the grey light of the library.
The sound of choppers buzzed in the distance.
‘That’s them.’ Raffy looked scared.
‘You’ve always wanted to fly in a helicopter,’ Bea reminded him. ‘Now’s your chance.’
Raffy whispered. ‘Will you always stay close, Bea?’
‘Always,’ Bea whispered back.
‘Better get your bags ready.’ Isabella forced a smile. ‘Remember, there won’t be enough room for everything, just the things you can’t live without.’
‘First one finished packing gets the front seat,’ Griffin challenged.
Raffy smiled and he and his sister were off. Fly went to the bay window to gather her things.
‘I’ll go and make sure they don’t bring everything,’ Griffin said.
‘Griff?’ Isabella handed him a small toy car.
Griffin turned it in his hands to see his name scratched underneath. ‘It feels strange not going back home to Harrowgate.’
‘There’s not much left.’
‘We’ll be okay.’ He smiled and tucked the car in his pocket. ‘We found a new home once, we’ll do it again. I better check on that packing.’
Xavier loitered in the background as Isabella looked around their home for what would be the last time: the wave-like walls and staircases, the angel-winged chairs and wavering windows that stretched to the roof. ‘There aren’t many people who can say they’ve lived in a palace,’ Isabella said. ‘Thanks for going inland to get help.’
‘It took some convincing but eventually they believed me.’ Xavier sat opposite Isabella and looked her in the eye. ‘I’m sorry I lied about my parents.’
‘Why did you do it?’
‘They’ve never really liked me very much. I always felt they were disappointed they didn’t have a different kind of son. Dad did anyway. If they had been caught in the floods, they would have grabbed the silverware and antiques before thinking about me.’
‘That’s not true.’
Xavier shrugged. ‘We can’t all be lucky with our parents. Ever since I was a kid, there always seemed to be something more important for my dad than spending time with me. After awhile, when kids at school asked about him, I’d make up stories about how great he was and all the presents he’d buy and the trips he’d take me on. When you asked me about him, I did the same thing I’d been doing for years ... I pretended I had a dad who cared.’
‘He missed out then.’ Isabella smiled. ‘You are very much worth caring about, Xavier Stone.’
Xavier frowned and blinked away a few tears.
‘What are you going to do?’ Isabella asked.
‘Go back home. Work with Mum after school to help some of those kids in trouble.’ He laughed. ‘I hadn’t realised it before, but I’ve missed school.’
Fly carried her suitcase and snuggled in close to Isabella.
Griffin appeared with Bea and Raffy, dragging bulging backpacks. ‘Hopefully they’ll make it inland without bursting open.’
The sound of the choppers grew louder.
‘Just in time, it seems,’ Griffin said, and the others squeezed together on the lounge.
‘Where’s Jeremiah?’ Fly asked.
‘He said he wanted to clean up,’ Isabella said.
‘It’s only his second bath in years,’ Xavier added. ‘We should let him enjoy it.’
‘If he ever gets out,’ Fly said.
At that moment, Jeremiah appeared at the door. His plaits and bobbling nightcap were gone, his slippers replaced by shiny leather shoes and his wild, fluffy beard was gone. He was now a man in a suit, with almost neatly cut hair and clean fingernails.
‘What happened to you?’ Raffy’s mouth hung wide open.
‘Raffy!’ Bea scolded. ‘He meant to say, “you look great”.’
‘Thanks.’ Jeremiah tugged at his tie and shifted from one foot to the other. ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I found these clothes in one of the wardrobes. They’re a bit big.’
‘I think you look handsome,’ Isabella said.
‘Where’s Snowy?’ Fly asked.
Jeremiah opened his jacket. Snowy was perched in an inside pocket. ‘I thought he could stay here while I try and look respectable.’
‘I don’t think the rescuers expected us to dress up for them.’ Xavier laughed.
‘It’s not only for the rescuers...’ Jeremiah played nervously with his tie. ‘I owned some land in the country. With a small house on it. If it’s still there, I was planning to ask the government if you could all live with me.’
‘Live with you?’ Griffin asked.
‘If you’ll have me,’ he answered nervously.
‘Could we really?’ Raffy jumped to his knees.
‘Do you mean it?’ Bea chorused.
Isabella snuck a look at Griffin before Fly answered for them all. ‘We’d love to.’
Jeremiah’s tense shoulders fell. ‘Oh, that is good news.’
A loud clunk came from the roof and the slowing of whirring blades. There was a commotion of bags and scuffling feet and final goodbyes to the Palace as Griffin and Xavier followed the kids upstairs.
In the quiet that was left, Jeremiah said, ‘Thank you, Isabella.’
‘For what?’
‘For breaking into my house and almost being attacked by a fish.’ He smiled.
She smiled back. ‘You’re welcome.’
‘I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life in that library. I’d forgotten how nice it was to get excited about life and people and–’
‘And books?’ Isabella grinned.
Jeremiah nodded. ‘And books. I was a good scientist. I put all I had into convincing the government to act. And I lost everything.’
‘Including the people in the photograph.’
‘Eliza and Milly.’
‘Was that the real reason you stayed?’
‘I let them down. I became so obsessed they hardly saw me. They’d been so patient and understanding, knowing it was important.’
‘Why didn’t they leave?’
‘Eliza wouldn’t. She refused to leave unless I came too. I begged her to go, but she could be quite stubborn when she wanted to. Part of the reason I loved her. You would have liked them. You remind me a lot of Milly. She was full of ideas and strong, too. She’d beat me in an arm-wrestle any day.’
Isabella’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I don’t feel so strong, and I’ve got this sick feeling in my stomach that I can’t make go away.’
Jeremiah took her hands in his. ‘It will go away. I promise. You will take all that strength and spirit and determination, and you will be brilliant. And I’ll be standing nearby to watch it all happen.’
‘Even though we’ve lived with sneaker waves and giant fish and a few thieving adults, going inland feels even scarier.’
‘Only at the beginning. Once you’re back at school and we’ve made a new home, it won’t feel scary at all.’
>
‘Do you think?’
‘I’m a scientist,’ he said. ‘I only come to conclusions when I have cold, hard evidence.’ Isabella laughed. ‘And you’ll be free to do more of that laughing. Not worrying about surviving and scavenging and people like Sneddon.’
Isabella hugged Jeremiah, squeezing him so tightly that the breath was taken from his lungs.
When she moved away, he held out his arm. ‘Ready for your new life, Miss Isabella Charm?’
She wrapped her arm through his. ‘Yes,’ she said a little uncertainly, then with more confidence. ‘I think I am.’
Can Isabella and her friends find somewhere to call home?
Isabella and her friends have escaped the floodwaters of Grimsdon for the modern world of New City. But will their lives be as wonderful as they’re led to believe?
Uncertainty and fear have brought dark times. Refugees fleeing the world’s rising waters have been imprisoned in a miserable camp.
From freakish, wild weather to the Garrison’s tough restrictions, the kids face new threats at every turn. Unlike the refugees, they’re heralded as heroes, but what does the mysterious Major General really want from them? Isabella is determined to learn the city’s secrets – but there are watching eyes everywhere . . .
OUT NOW!
Visit deborahabela.com to find out more about the author and her books, and visit randomhouse.com.au/teachers to find teachers’ resources for Grimsdon and other fantastic Random House Australia books.
About the Author
Having always been short and a bit of a coward, Deborah dreamed of being braver and stronger, which is probably why she writes books about spies, ghosts, soccer legends and characters good with swords who take on sea monsters and evil harbour lords. She is the author of the Max Remy Superspy series, Jasper Zammit (Soccer Legend) series, the Ghost Club series, The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen, Grimsdon and New City. She’s won awards for her books but mostly hopes, one day, to be as brave as the characters inside.
Find out more about what she’s up to at www.deborahabela.com.
Deborah Abela would like to thank the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust for their generous support that helped in the writing of this novel.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Grimsdon
ePub ISBN 9781742740829
A Random House book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au
First published by Random House Australia in 2010
This edition first published 2014
Copyright © Deborah Abela 2010
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia.
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at www.randomhouse.com.au/offices
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Abela, Deborah.
Title: Grimsdon/Deborah Abela.
ISBN: 9780857983220 (pbk.)
Target Audience: For upper primary school age.
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover illustration by Zdenko Bašic
Cover design by Astred Hicks/Design Cherry
Grimsdon Page 16