Chapter 19
We spent the next few days trying to finish our farm work as soon as possible so we could head out into the bush to remove pink tape and look for another way into Eden. We made a couple of trips back up the river to fill the water drums—and sneak some more peeks at the incredible sword—so at least I had a bit of energy back in my step. No matter how Bane really felt about the whole Eden story, he couldn’t deny that drinking the water made me feel better, and he was at least willing to follow me on my tape-removing missions without grumbling too much.
In fear of attracting any more attention to the area, I refused to take out the noisy dirt bikes, so instead Bane got a crash course on how to ride a horse. Literally. It only took a couple of falls from my thoroughbred, Alonso, before he gave in and let me put him on my old galloway instead. He wasn’t impressed. It hurt his ego to be on the smaller, safe-looking mount while I was on my shiny fat gelding. Too bad. I wasn’t going to risk his neck for the sake of his pride.
By the third day he started to ride more like the dancer I knew he was, instead of looking as stiff and awkward as someone trying to ski for the first time. He even mastered a relaxed canter and almost looked like he was enjoying himself, so I boldly tried racing him up a nice steep hill. The surge of all that equine muscle straining to reach the top made me feel vicariously fit. For just a moment, I closed my eyes and focused on the sound of hooves chipping granite and pounding the dirt. My fingers scrunched a bunch of reins and mane, and my calves strained to take all my weight in my heels. It felt like I was the one running on four legs, leaping and pushing, working sleek muscles to move faster as the hill reached its peak. All I wanted was to keep going and leap into the air as if I could simply unfurl a set of wings and fly away.
Alonso and I won, of course, but Bane managed to keep up just fine, looking carefree and joyful for the first time in, well, ever. He laughed in relief as Charlie slowed of his own accord at the top of the hill and I caught my breath in astonishment. His playfulness was more subtle than Noah’s, but definitely there, in his smile, just waiting to be released. If the girls at school had even once seen that expression and all that it promised, Noah might have had a bit more breathing room from his ever-present fan club.
Pulling up his puffing mount to a relaxed walk in front of mine, he deliberately held back a leafy branch he was riding past so that it flicked me in the face, flinching with me, but then grinned at my pretend outraged reaction. Inside my chest, my heart did a little victory lap with its T-shirt over its head. It was a massive step forwards.
We rested for lunch at the top of a small ridge before it blended into an even bigger climb. The weather was mild so we’d decided to use the whole day and search farther than we had before. I felt pretty relaxed so I hoped that meant that no one else had been nearby for a while.
After tethering the horses, we sat and ate near a temporary billabong in the shade of a peppermint gum, its hot leaves giving off a strong heady scent. It reminded me of lunchtimes spent with Noah at school. I’d only seen him twice since the graduation dance and hoped that meant things were going well with Tessa. That would be good. Despite her tendency to make the odd snide comment behind my back, she actually seemed quite nice to everyone else. And I did like the way she always volunteered to take care of any exchange students or new classmates. She could get fiercely protective if she thought they were getting picked on. Like a lioness guarding her cubs.
Bane noticed my wistfulness. ‘What are you thinking about?’ he inquired as he picked the cucumbers out of his sandwich and flicked them into the water.
‘Just how much I miss school. Well, maybe not school, but certainly my friends. Graduation feels like a lifetime ago.’
‘You miss Noah,’ he stated flatly, watching his cucumbers float away like tiny lily pads.
‘Yeah, I’ve hardly seen him since he hooked up with Tess.’
‘Are you jealous?’ He peered at me sideways, his face blank, but slight tension knotted his jaw despite his casual tone.
‘Of Tess? No, of course not. I told you we were just friends.’ My water bottle suddenly became very interesting.
‘Sure,’ he said sarcastically. ‘The two most attractive people in the school spend every waking moment together—are practically joined at the hip, in fact—but are just friends. Right.’
Righteous indignation caused me to splutter and dribble water down my chin. Aunt Lily had been right after all. Did everyone at the school really believe Noah and I were together or was it just Bane? Swallowing quickly, I framed a beautifully snarky comeback but he interrupted before I had a chance to utter it.
‘Wait, you were just friends?’
‘He’ll be off to uni soon. I can’t go anywhere. We’re unlikely to see each other much from now on.’ I remembered that he was in the same boat, trapped in Nalong because of me. It felt like it was my fault.
He reached his hand out to mine as if he wanted to console me but then stopped and rubbed at his shoulder, looking a bit uncomfortable. He was still sore from riding.
‘Third day is always the worst,’ I sympathised. ‘You’ll start to feel better tomorrow.’
‘I’ll start to feel better when I can stop riding. How much longer do you think we’ll need to do this?’
‘As long as it takes. I never said you had to come.’
‘Right. Like I have a choice.’
My sandwich suddenly smelled horribly sour. I chucked the rest of it into the water after his cucumbers and got up to put my rubbish in the saddlebag. Why did he always have to ruin everything?
‘Oh, come on. Don’t do that,’ he complained.
‘Do what?’
‘That sulky face. Ever since you found out you’re a Cherub you’ve been looking for a pity-fest.’
‘What?’
‘You said Harry told you what was going on weeks ago but you refused to believe him. Did you give him that sulky face too?’
‘No!’ I lied, remembering that I’d stormed off. Twice. And I was getting tempted to try the tactic one more time. ‘Maybe,’ I amended.
‘How long had he been waiting to tell you, do you think?’
All my life. I said nothing. I glared really well though. We were both standing with our arms crossed, facing each other like we had done at least once a week for the last six years.
‘He probably hoped you’d be excited to find out, but I bet you didn’t even give him a chance to tell you what you could do. Knowing you, you probably stormed off.’
Damn. I untied Charlie’s lead rope and handed it to him so it didn’t look like I was trying to leave without him. Even though I wanted to. ‘We can’t do anything,’ I argued. ‘Visions. That’s all.’
‘Bullshit.’
‘Fine. Visions and PMS when people trespass on my property!’ I untied Alonso’s lead rope from the tree and knotted it under his neck.
‘I bet there’s more.’
‘Harry said we only get what we need to do our job. No more and no less.’
‘Well what if you need more than visions? What if you need to move some more rocks?’
‘You’re really starting to piss me off,’ I muttered, swinging back into the saddle. What he was suggesting was extremely disturbing, and I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
It wasn’t until we were halfway through a thick stand of snow gums and I was irritably replaying our arguments in my head that I realised he’d implied I was attractive.
An hour or so later we made it to the very top of the razorback, far to the northwest of the farm, and I guessed that somewhere beneath us was the same cave system that held the incredible sword.
The view was beautiful, in a rather ordinary way. There was nothing particularly spectacular about it. The hills were clothed in green and grey, and clumps of Mallee wattles still clung to the last of their golden fluff balls, dotting the dry
ing hills with splashes of yellow in every direction. The sky cradled the hills like a sapphire crown, and off to the south pastureland stretched out in dusty greens that faded to yellow all the way to the horizon. There were better views to be had down in the southeast where the real mountains were, but this was my view. My home.
We climbed up onto some large boulders that allowed us an uninterrupted view across the next valley. It was a breathtaking drop down. A sheer cliff ran pretty much the whole way along the ridge. The other side of the valley looked just as inaccessible, if not worse. It was impossible to even tell how deep the ravine went because all we could see were the tops of eucalyptus trees before the terrain dropped away even more steeply behind a rocky overhang. Two magnificent pairs of wedge-tailed eagles soared in lazy circles, riding the air currents.
We stared out for a long time, even using an old pair of binoculars I had brought along, but there was no evidence of any human presence. Just how much of this area did I own? At least the valley region. It was a humbling thought. I wondered if anyone had ever been down there, and if so, how the hokey they would have made it back out again. At least the thick vegetation and steep gullies meant that the miners wouldn’t have a hope of trespassing there.
‘Looks like a perfect place for base jumping,’ Bane pointed out, hopping down from the slab of granite and leaning over the edge to look straight down the cliff face.
Joining him, I followed his gaze, drinking in the feel of open air all around me. ‘Or hang gliding,’ I agreed. ‘Except for all the trees at the bottom. I expect if it wasn’t for that, Noah would have flown here by now.’ I hadn’t picked Bane for an adrenaline junkie. Idly I wondered if he would ever let me do either of those things.
‘Noah knows how to hang glide?’ he asked, sounding slightly resentful.
‘Yeah, he’s always been a bit obsessed with flying. He did a course last year and has been working with an adventure tours mob in the high country on holidays. Pity we can’t tell him about all this. Do you think Eden is down there somewhere?’
He stared down into the gorge as if he could pierce the dense foliage with x-ray vision. ‘Maybe it’s in another dimension, and can only be entered by passing the sword, like a portal of some sort.’ He actually sounded serious and I looked at him with genuine admiration. Could he possibly have read and watched as much science fiction as my aunt and I? I could beat that though.
‘Or maybe it’s like a dimensional bubble, and all we have to do is to step off the cliff and we’ll step safely onto the ground in Eden,’ I suggested.
A frantic look lit his smoky eyes and he took an extra step towards me, making me laugh.
‘Relax. I’m not planning to jump just yet.’
‘Just yet? Just what are you thinking?’ he asked suspiciously, fingers twitching as if he wanted to drag me away from the precipice.
‘Well, I need to get in somehow. Maybe hang gliding could work. If it is a dimensional thing then the worst that would happen is that I’d look pretty stupid appearing out of nowhere, running like a maniac with a hang glider strapped to me.’
His eyes widened even further. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you, Lainie? No way! I couldn’t let you do that!’
‘Ben. Listen to me,’ I said, stepping back from the edge to help ease his tension. ‘We can either find a way for me to get into Eden and try to bring Harry back, or spend the rest of our lives stuck on my farm with no one to ask about how to escape. Is that what you want?’
He looked stricken. Obviously he hadn’t realised he might be stuck with me long term. He turned away, gazing out over the quiet valley with his hands tucked into the back pockets of his jeans. It was a while before he spoke.
‘I couldn’t let you go alone, if it is even possible. We would have to jump tandem.’ His voice was rough, almost conflicted, and he wouldn’t meet my eyes.
‘You can’t,’ I reminded him. ‘Humans aren’t allowed in there.’
‘Well that’s just too bad!’ he snapped. ‘I’m not left with a lot of choices here. Either we do nothing and continue as we are, or I let you jump alone and die leaving me in goodness knows what kind of agony, or I go with you and hope that we both make it. Which would you suggest?’
It was harsh, but he had a point.
Wearily I slumped down to sit on one of the rocks. I hadn’t a clue what to say. We were both trapped and I just couldn’t see any way out.
Chapter 20
On advice from the police, we decided to put some ‘Private Property’ signs up along the boundary to the state park. It was a huge undertaking, but if Kolsom came nosing around again it would be difficult to prosecute them for trespassing without them. So we enlisted the help of Noah and his family. Thankfully, his two older brothers Liam and Caleb were home from uni for the Christmas holidays. The twins had always been like big brothers to me. They had taught me to fish, to shoot and to drive. I had missed them terribly.
‘Hey, Lainie. You get prettier each time we see you. Has that little brother of ours netted you yet?’ Caleb teased automatically. Noah pretended to ignore him as he threw a box of tools into the back of his ute with a loud clatter. Caleb winced as a couple of ratchet heads bounced out and rolled across the tray. Above us a Currawong warbled out its early morning greeting and our rooster answered. We had decided to try to beat the heat by starting as early as possible.
I yawned again. ‘Nah, his ute’s the wrong colour. I only go for the black ones.’
Caleb clutched at his heart dramatically, looking mightily offended, and I could see Noah’s lips twitch in amusement. The twins had made no secret of their distaste for shiny black cars. They were for townies. Real utes had rust.
‘What colour car does the new farmhand have, then?’ Liam asked slyly, putting his arm around my shoulder as if inviting me to confide in him. Luckily Bane was out of earshot. I thought about his faded blue sedan that still carried the scars from the altercation with Jake’s dog and the bin.
‘I’m not sure, it’s too beaten up.’
‘And where is he anyway? He is coming to help, isn’t he?’ Caleb asked, looking around the yard eagerly. He had taken the cue from his brother and wanted to see the newcomer for himself, with the expectation that Bane would provide him with endless opportunities to tease me with.
‘Splitting wood. And yes of course he’s coming to help,’ I defended, trying subtly to remind them that just because he wasn’t farm bred didn’t mean he was useless.
The twins glanced at each other disdainfully. ‘Splitting wood in the middle of summer?’ Caleb asked.
Liam’s eyes lit up with an evil gleam. ‘Maybe he’s trying to impress someone.’
I made a rude noise. ‘Resounding no. He kind of went off in a huff, actually. We collected the tools from the shed but as soon as I got off the ladder he just sort of stormed off and—’
‘He held the bottom of the ladder for you?’
I nodded warily.
‘And then had a sudden urge to go and split firewood in forty degree heat in the middle of summer?’
‘Well, yeah, but—’
‘Perhaps he needed to let off some excess energy,’ Liam suggested, giving his brother a wink.
I rolled my eyes. Trust the twins to see it that way. Bane was always grouchy when I climbed things but I could hardly explain the reason for that.
‘It’s not forty yet,’ I grumbled, ‘but it soon will be and I’d rather not waste the coolest part of the day standing around here yapping. Are we ready to go or what? It’s going to take us ages to get this done.’ I felt myself blush and hoped like crazy they would leave Bane alone.
‘Yep, we’ll be doing this today, tomorrow, and a few after that I expect, especially if the new guy gets distracted so easily!’ Caleb spluttered, not even bothering to pretend to suppress his laugh.
In fact, the job took the rest of the week. There was a
n old fire access track that marked the boundary line but it hadn’t been graded for years so the rain had gouged out deep crevasses along it, and much of the encroaching ti-tree was so big that we needed the chainsaw to get the cars past. It was heavy work. We worked in two teams, one car leading and clearing the track, while the people in the other car nailed signs to trees. It was hard to keep up with hour after hour of hammering without my fingers taking a pounding every now and then. Bane was suffering for each missed stroke more than I was, so I tried to do the driving as often as I could instead. I only needed to be winched out once. Caleb, whose ute it was, just laughed and shook his head.
By the end of the second day my bodyguard and I had worked out a nice little system where he would cough loudly if I was about to injure myself, so I would freeze when I heard him and concentrate extra hard on what I was doing. It mostly worked. Except once I froze so long I got bitten by a bull-ant. Typical case of a causality loop. Hopping around like a frog on a rock, I yelped as I tore off my boot and sock and Bane, Liam and Noah all came bounding across to me. Bane got there first and laid one hand on my ankle while he squished the monster with his heel, before I even had a chance to show everyone how freaking huge it was. Of course, then I had to pretend that it still stung while Liam tried to find the bite. Noah peered curiously at Bane. Bane smiled right back at him kind of smugly, but at least he didn’t faint.
Finally we made it to the north end of the track where it turned on to the main road leading to the next town. The Ashbrees’s farm ran east of there so we put some signs along that road as well, just to make sure.
That evening Aunt Lily invited the Ashbrees over for dinner to thank them for all their help. I felt bad for Liam and Caleb having to spend an entire week of their summer break on such heavy work.
‘Don’t worry about it, Lois Lainie, farm work is farm work and that track needed clearing. They’re predicting a bad bushfire season this year. If anything, apologise to Dad because now we won’t have time to clear the back paddock for him.’
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