“More than you'll ever know.” He reached his hand out towards me and I took it in mine. “Night Rora.”
“Night Fletch.” I couldn't decide what to make of the small grin tugging at the corners of my lips.
Chapter Twelve
The following morning I was woken by a loud thump next to my head. Opening my eyes with a start I came face to face with my utility belt. Sitting up, I found my knife sitting neatly in its pocket and hugged it to my chest.
“Lark got all of your belts and weapons back with the help of your friend,” said Fletcher.
Around us our teammates were on the move, rolling up their beds, packing their bags, and passing around water and fruit.
“Here, eat this. Lark said he's going to work us hard today to get as far away from the camp as we can.” Fletcher held out an apple and sat beside me as he bit into his own with a loud crunch.
I clipped my belt back around my waist before taking it from him. “Thanks. We'll have to see how Tyler goes with Alice. Maybe we can help him out with carrying her?”
“I've already offered but he's assured me he'll be fine. We'll keep an eye on him. I think he thinks they're a burden.”
“Not true. They're my guests. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have the pendant, and I would've gone mad in camp.”
“So, you wouldn't have changed much?” he said, earning himself a punch in the shoulder. “At least you and I had the chance to heal. Will be much easier not having to pretend my ribs don't hurt.”
“Yup, I'll be much more help having both arms to carry things with,” I replied.
“On that note,” Domino arrived in front of me with a huge backpack. “Clip your bed roll onto this and I'll help you pull it up onto your back.”
After clipping my bedroll across the top of my pack, Domino helped me lift it up and I slid my arms in the straps. The weight of it pulled down straining my neck and making me hunch forward. “This thing is freaking heavy.”
“Come on Aurora, I didn't take you for a princess.” Braven easily carried his bags weight.
Fletcher sighed as Domino helped him put his on and he bent forward in the same position as me. “Yup, this is ridiculous.”
“Okay everyone, make sure you don't leave anything behind.” Lark lifted his hand and swirled his index finger. “Let's roll out.”
We all filed towards the mouth of the cave into the early morning light.
“Looks like Mother Nature tried to block us in,” said Lark as he came to the fallen tree from the previous evening. “We should be right to climb over it.”
We each took turns carefully climbing over the fallen tree, Braven giving each of us a foot up so we could swing our legs over the large smooth trunk and slide over the other side. The glare of the sun forced me to squint and once we were all out of the cave we followed Lark and Braven out into the bushland. The bush was littered with fallen trees, and branches, the sun bright through the gaps in the canopy above us as though the storm had been a figment of our imaginations.
Ahead Lark looked at a sheet of iron lodged into the trunk of a tree. “Lucky this wasn't any of us.”
I hoped the people from the Freedom Camp had gotten through the cyclone unscathed. Well, most of them.
“Yup, that would've sucked,” replied Braven trying to tug the iron out of the wood.
“Aurora and I were close to being crushed by that tree we just climbed over. I've been through cyclones before, but not out in the open,” said Tyler.
“You have lots of cyclones?” asked Lark.
“I wouldn't say lots. But definitely more than they say we had before you all evacuated to the floating cities. We've had a few bushfires too, and floods, although Brent was at least smart enough to build the camp somewhere it wouldn't go under water.” Tyler's eyes followed Alice who was showing something to Maya.
“Should we be worried about fires?” asked Lark.
“Don't think so. Not if we're heading west. They're rare these days, and usually come from the East or South,” advised Tyler.
Lark slapped his hand on Tyler's shoulder. “You'll be handy to have around young man.”
Tyler lifted his chin a little higher.
“Okay gang, we better keep moving.” Lark placed his hand on the small of Domino's back and they exchanged a glance before walking off over the fallen branches and between the trees.
Braven went to where Maya spoke with Alice and they shared a conversation I couldn't quite hear before following after Lark and Domino.
“You okay?” asked Fletcher as he arrived beside me.
“Sure am,” I said giving him a nudge with my shoulder.
Ahead, Vega and Braven kept pace behind Lark and Domino and I watched them exchange a few smiles and laughs.
“Looks like you're good at this whole match making thing,” he said. “Who would you match me up with?”
Looking around the group there wasn't much to pick from. Domino was with Lark, Vega and Braven were getting their relationship together, Maya was his sister and Alice was six-years-old.
“I think you've lucked out,” I replied.
“Looks like I'm stuck with you then.” He winked.
“Lucky you,” I replied, shaking my head.
Trekking through the bush was much easier than the rainforest. The trees were less dense and we could form small walking tracks between the trees and shrubbery. By late afternoon a light drizzle of rain had set in coating everyone in a dampness that grew sticky in the sunlight still shining through the clouds.
“Let's pull up for a break. We should be far enough away to sit and eat.” Lark flung his backpack off his back and to the ground and I happily followed suit.
My arms had grown numb from the weight and my neck ached along with my shoulders.
“Thank the Elite,” said Fletcher plonking his bag beside mine. “I'm contemplating eating as much food as I can to make the bag lighter.”
“Don't ask me for food when you're starving in a few days' time.” I unzipped my bag to retrieve a mandarin.
Sitting on the dirt I leant back against a tree and started peeling my fruit.
Lark rummaged through his bag pulling out an apple. “Make sure you hide your rubbish. We don't want them to be able to track us. We'll be out the other side of this bushland soon and then there'll be nothing to hide or shelter us.”
“Can't wait,” groaned Vega finding a spot beside Maya.
We sat in silence as we ate and regained our breath, watching Alice duck in and out of the trees around us playing some imaginary game. She sing-songed to herself, and to see her happy despite being taken from the world she'd known warmed my heart.
“She's cute isn't she?” said Maya.
“Sometimes,” replied Tyler.
“No way. Look at her, those big brown eyes and beautiful golden locks. Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.” Maya lay her hand over her heart.
“Hey Alice,” Tyler called out and Alice stopped to look at him. “Are you cute?”
She screwed her nose up to make a fake grumpy face. “I'm a big girl. Big girls are pretty, not cute. Cute is for babies.” To emphasize her distaste she placed both hands on her hips before going back to her game.
Tyler raised his eyebrows at Maya.
“What? That in itself was cute,” she said.
“Okay team, pack it up. Time to get moving again.” Lark stood and zipped up his bag.
“Alice, time to pack up.” Tyler rose to his feet.
Standing, I brushed the dirt off my backside and Fletcher dug a hole at the base of the tree.
“Put your peels in here,” he said and I dropped them in for him to cover over.
“Thanks Fletch, can you help me with my backpack?” I asked.
“Alice? Alice!” Tyler called louder.
“Where is she?” I asked him.
“I don't know. She was here five seconds ago. Alice!” he called her name, worry echoing in his voice.
Dropping my backpack to the grou
nd I started scanning between the trees. “She can't have gone far. Let's break up and have a quick search.”
Tyler rubbed at his brow, and stared into the surrounding bush.
“Where was she when you saw her last?” I asked him.
“She was playing behind me.” Tyler pointed past the gum tree he'd been leaning on to a small clearing.
Striding to the clearing I stood for a moment scanning the area. She had to be there somewhere. She couldn't disappear. “Alice!”
A rustle in the bushes in front of me made me jump and Alice came bounding out of them, skipping towards us holding a long black feather out towards me. “Look Aurora, a beautiful feather.” She beamed with pride forcing the twist forming in my stomach to fade away.
“It's okay guys, she's here.”
“Why are you all yelling?” she asked.
Tyler was quick to appear at my side and swept her up in his arms. “You can't wander off Alice. We had no idea where you were and we were going to leave.”
“Without me?” she asked, her bottom lip quivering.
“Never,” I replied pushing a loose hair behind her ear.
“What were you doing?” asked Tyler.
“I found a feather.” She held the feather out to her brother and he took it from her looking it over.
“It's beautiful,” he said before handing it back to her. “But don't take off again. Got it?”
“Got it,” she replied.
Tyler put her down and she ran over to show the rest of the group what she'd found.
“Looks like a black cockatoo feather,” exclaimed Lark.
“This is why I was worried. Everyone's being so patient with her but we're going to keep slowing you guys down. Maybe you should leave us behind, I'm sure with our rations we'll be okay. All I wanted was to be away from Brent, Lula and the camp.” Tyler rubbed at the back of his neck.
“No way. You're part of the team now. We don't leave anyone behind. Besides, it's nice having a kid around. Alice reminds us why we're doing this. To save future generations from the lies we've been told,” I replied.
“What are these lies you keep mentioning?” he asked.
“I'm not one hundred percent sure. It's why we're on Earth, to try to find out the truth. There is one person who might know more answers than we do though, but we haven't had a chance to ask the questions yet.” I turned to find my father looking back at us, oblivious to our conversation.
“Ben? You think he knows more than he told Brent?”
“I know he does.” My fingers stroked at the pendant resting below my collar bone.
“What does this all have to do with the pendant?” he asked.
“This…” I held it out towards him. “Is supposed to hold all of the answers we're looking for. Only problem is we don't know how to open it. Another thing only my dad knows.”
“So that's why you don't trust him?” he asked.
“I want to trust him. But he's kept so many secrets from everyone.”
Chapter Thirteen
It took two more full days and nights of walking before we broke through the tree line of the bush. The trees grew sparser and the dirt became less grainy and dustier beneath our feet. The sun was unrelenting, stinging my skin and soaking my shirt with sweat. Without the protection of the trees there was no respite from its heat, even the breeze was stifling. Ahead of us, Lark spotted a lone shady tree and we picked up pace to get out of the heat.
“I could hug this tree,” exclaimed Fletcher throwing his bag to the ground and nuzzling the tree's trunk.
“I wouldn't do that if I were you. Mulga trees are known to give people a rash.” Lark smirked sitting on the dusty ground.
Fletcher jumped back wiping at his face.
“He's playing with you. Have a drink of water before you start hallucinating,” laughed Domino.
Fletcher glared playfully at Lark before sitting down and leaning against the tree. The rest of us laughed unenthusiastically as we found our own spots to sit in the shade.
“I thought you said we were going to avoid the desert? This heat is ridiculous. I've never sweated so much in my life.” Braven wiped at his shiny face with the bottom of his singlet. His arms shone red and my own arms radiated heat.
“Unfortunately, this is the way to Eden. If you look hard enough you can see it out that way.” Lark pointed towards the sky in the direction we'd been heading. A ball of silver shone above the horizon.
“Do we know how we are going to get up there yet?” asked Vega wiping at her mouth after a long swig from her drink bottle.
“We'll have to cross that bridge when we get there I'm afraid,” replied Lark.
“Brent's scouts had advised him of a few small colonies of earthlings closer to Eden. He'd heard reports they might possess helicopters, but I'm not sure how reliable the information was,” said Dad.
“That's great news Ben,” said Lark. “It's great to have someone with us who knows so much about both Earth and the floating cities.”
How does Lark know what Dad knows? We're too busy being nice to ask. I wiped away sweat that'd beaded along my brow. My head ached despite drinking plenty of water, and listening to Lark tell Dad how amazing he was when he was hiding so much only made it throb harder.
“Hopefully some of what I've learnt at the camp will come in handy,” replied Dad.
Yeah, if you told us the truth. I couldn't get comfortable against the tree and shifted sideways.
“I'm sure it will,” Lark slapped him on the back.
Enough was enough.
“It would be really handy,” I interrupted. “If he told us what he knows.”
“Aurora,” said Fletcher.
“No Fletch, I've had enough.” I threw my hands in the air. “I'm hot, I'm tired and I'm sick of all the secrets and lies. In the past few weeks all I had was unanswered questions and now the person who knows all the answers is standing right in front of us. Why are we trying to be polite instead of asking what we want to know? What are the Elite hiding from us?”
Everybody stare at Dad and me in silence, waiting to find out what our mission was really about.
“I've told you the truth about who you are and where you came from. I'm sorry you didn't find out sooner but I'm sure you can understand why your mother and I waited…” said Dad.
“I do. I get you didn't want to confuse a young child, but I'm not twelve anymore. And this isn't about me and who I am or was. The reason we're all stuck under this damned tree in the middle of the desert is because the Elite are hiding something from us. We want to know why we're here. Why is this pendant so important?” I held the pendant out from my chest.
Dad stepped closer and pressed my hand and pendant gently back onto my chest. “I don't know everything. But I can tell you what I do know.”
I drew in a breath to calm myself and sat back on the ground. Everyone settled letting out their held breaths, and turned their eyes to my dad.
“As most of you know before the end of Earth I was working as a scientist in the army. I didn't impress my supervisors by pushing boundaries and questioning everything, but I think those were the reasons the Elite invited me to join their team.
“Before they became the Elite, the Abells, Boltens, Lovells, and Saxbys owned most of Australia's mines. They were under a lot of pressure to stop the destruction of the environment through mining and decided to work together to create a solution. Young twenty-year-old me, had no idea what he was getting himself into, and I ask myself repeatedly if I could go back would I change it.” He sighed before continuing.
“At first they ran us through a series of tests to see what we were capable of, then they put it to us. They wanted to create a new metal. A metal stronger than Titanium but man made. The idea excited me and I assembled a team of three other scientists to work with me. Kylie, Frank, and Geoffrey. Together we developed a technique which created man-made lava which could be heated, then forced into the Earth below the ocean. It was a difficult
process that took us time to perfect but eventually we were able to create our own version of a granite type rock that could be mined for metals. It meant we didn't need to scour the country looking for deposits already there, we could create our own deposits and mine as much as we liked.
“As a team we called this new metal Magmanium. It would be stronger but lighter than Titanium and would change the way metals were used around the world. After a year of experimenting and hard work we presented our findings and were excited to be doing something not only to use our training as scientists, but also to help save Earth… or so we thought. My team and I were officially employed by Ausmine Corp, the company created by the four families and production of Magmanium began. People were excited at the prospect of new jobs and a sustainable mining method. But we soon realised what we were doing had more devastating effects on the planet than we could've imagined.
“The constant heating of the earth warmed the sea and we soon realised we weren't helping, we were adding to global warming. We went to Ausmine Corp with our findings and they convinced themselves our fears were invalid. Then the natural disasters began, and I was able to convince Mr Saxby it was our doing. He went to the others and tried to convince them once again but they were enjoying the income and accolades and didn't want to believe it was true. Mr Saxby then took our concerns to the government in the hopes they could do something to stop what was happening.
“They were enjoying the kickbacks from the new mining boom and money coming into the country so ignored his worries. Mr Saxby asked me to find a solution. If we couldn't stop the mining company from destroying the earth maybe there was a way we could save people from the destruction we'd caused. Once again I pulled my team together and we dreamed up the floating cities. Four cities held up by giant magnets beneath the earth's surface above Earth in the stratosphere, out of the path of the oncoming destruction. It wasn't the perfect solution but we were desperate to redeem ourselves. Saxby took our proposal to the other Elites and building of the four cities commenced. Four years later we were evacuated in the thick of the natural disasters.”
Eden (Secrets of Aurora Book 2) Page 10