A Ring Through Time

by Pulman, Felicity

  TWELVE

  Over the next couple of days, Allie waited impatiently for news from Georgy. Everywhere else she’d looked, she’d drawn a blank. It was as if the Bennett sisters had never existed. She was tempted to ask Noah if she could look at any information his family had about Paddy and Cormac, but the memory of how he’d cut her off stopped her. Besides, he’d already said he’d never heard of Alice Bennett so it seemed that was a dead end too.

  Alice’s story, and Cormac’s death, had settled on Allie’s shoulders like a deadweight. She longed to tell her parents about her find, but she was afraid they might insist that the diary should go into the public domain. She couldn’t bear the idea of exposing Alice’s private thoughts and feelings, her raw despair when she realised that, in trying to save Cormac, she’d condemned him to death. And yet while Allie kept the diary hidden, she kept Alice hidden too.

  She was walking aimlessly along the road leading to Emily Bay, wondering whether to cut up towards the cemetery to see if she could locate ‘murderers’ mound’, when Meg fell into step beside her.

  ‘Where are ya going?’ she asked.

  Allie shrugged, immediately abandoning her plan. ‘Just walking.’

  ‘Let’s go down to the pier. I overheard Noah and Pont talking about going windsurfing after school this arvo.’

  Allie stopped. ‘And I’d want to go because …?’

  Meg clicked her tongue in impatience. ‘Because you’ll see Noah. Come on, Allie, get a grip. If you want to get together with Noah, you have to make an effort. I can’t do it all for you.’

  ‘He’s not interested.’ But Allie kept on walking beside Meg.

  Meg beamed at her. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. I heard Fran and Nat talking about you in the toilet block during lunchbreak. They didn’t know I was there.’

  ‘Talking about me? Why?’

  ‘You and Noah. Fran told Nat she was making an idiot of herself chasing after Noah when he’d made it obvious that he just wanted her as a friend. And then Nat blamed you for getting in her way and stuffing things up between them. And Fran said no, and reminded her that the bust-up had happened before you even arrived on the island. And Nat said the break-up was a mistake and if it wasn’t for you, she and Noah would have got together again. And Fran told her she was dreaming and she should get over it.’

  ‘It’s not fair that Nat’s making me out to be the wrecker of her great romance,’ Allie said.

  ‘No-one thinks you are. Well, no-one except Nat. But,’ Meg stopped and swung Allie around to face her, ‘if you do like Noah, you need to do something about it.’

  ‘Like what? You know how he feels about the Bennett family!’

  ‘Yeah, well, that’s just stupid. You need to —’

  ‘Hey, girls.’

  Startled, Allie swung around. She wondered how long Noah had been following them, and just how much he’d overheard. She was sure she was blushing so she kept her head bent. Finding Alice’s diary had complicated everything because now she knew the truth — and Noah didn’t. It had set up a barrier between them, one she didn’t know how to cross.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Meg said. ‘I thought you were going windsurfing.’

  ‘Change of plan. We decided to go fishing off the reef at Slaughter Bay instead. But the tide’s still too high to walk across so Pont’s dad’s given us permission to take out his boat. Pont thought you might like to come with us?’

  ‘That’d be good.’

  Meg answered for both of them, although Allie wasn’t sure if she was included in the invitation. She was just about to refuse when Noah looked directly at her.

  ‘There’ll be lifejackets on board,’ he said, ‘so there’s no need to be afraid.’

  Allie knew he was remembering her aborted snorkelling attempt. She felt hot with embarrassment.

  ‘I’m not afraid,’ she retorted, trying to still the flutters of fear in her stomach. You’ll be in a boat, not in the water. You’ll be safe.

  ‘Good. So you’ll both come then.’

  It wasn’t a question and Noah didn’t wait for an answer. He hurried on towards the pier, where Pont waited beside his car. A boat nestled on the trailer behind it. Allie shivered as Pont and Noah connected the boat to the davit at the end of the pier, which lifted it out of the trailer and swung it gently into the water.

  She looked at Meg as they walked along the pier. ‘So Pont issued this invitation? Anything you’re not telling me?’

  Meg laughed. ‘Yeah, I think he’s kinda cute,’ she admitted. ‘But I bet he only invited us after Noah told him he had to.’

  Noah was waiting at the steps at the side of the pier. ‘Come on down,’ he called, holding out his hand.

  I can back out even now. But Allie knew she couldn’t. Wouldn’t. Even though she felt shaky with fear, she forced herself to scramble down after Meg, and took Noah’s hand to climb into the boat.

  As soon as she was settled, he called to Pont, ‘Where d’ya keep the lifejackets, mate?’

  ‘I didn’t bring them. No need. We’re only going just outside the reef.’

  Noah looked worried. ‘Can you swim, Allie?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Allie took a breath. ‘Yeah, I used to go surfing all the time back in Sydney.’

  ‘That’s okay then.’

  It wasn’t in the least okay, but Allie wasn’t brave enough to say so because Pont had started the motor and they were already heading out to sea.

  Once Pont cut the motor and the guys got out their fishing rods, Allie started to relax. She closed her eyes, her mind drifting back to the diary and the fishing trip Jack Cartwright had told Alice about.

  ‘What are you hoping to catch?’ she asked dreamily.

  Noah shrugged. ‘Trumpeter, kingfish, trevally. There’s lots of good eating fish around here.’

  Allie remembered something else. ‘Do hunting parties still go over to Phillip Island?’

  ‘What for?’ Pont asked.

  ‘Goats. Rabbits. Wild pigs?’ She couldn’t remember if Alice had mentioned anything else in her diary.

  Noah frowned. ‘Officers used to go hunting there during the time of the penal colony, but the feral animals have all gone now. They’re trying to revegetate the island to repair the damage that was caused all those years ago. It’s become a breeding sanctuary for seabirds.’

  Allie was sorry that she’d turned Noah’s thoughts to the convicts, but it seemed Meg couldn’t resist stirring the pot.

  ‘You guys have got so much in common — your families should really get together to swap notes about the past,’ she suggested.

  Noah stole a glance at Allie. ‘Not sure my parents would be in that,’ he admitted.

  ‘But you guys could pave the way.’ When no-one replied Meg clicked her tongue in exasperation. ‘I dunno. What’s with you guys? It’s stupid being so hung up about your rels.’

  ‘You’re the one suggesting we should swap notes,’ Noah pointed out.

  ‘And why should I apologise for anything my ancestor did? It’s nothing to do with me,’ Allie said.

  A short silence followed her pronouncement.

  ‘Yeah, it’s best to bury the past and move on,’ said Noah.

  Encouraged, Allie risked a smile in his direction. To her enormous relief, he grinned back at her.

  Thinking Noah might tell her more about the past without realising it, Allie ventured a question. ‘Meg says you’re really into music, that you play the violin?’

  ‘Yeah. At home, in private.’

  ‘Is it old?’ Noah looked blank and Allie added quickly, ‘I mean, has your violin been passed down through your family?’

  ‘No. My parents bought it for me once they realised I was serious about music.’

  ‘I have a violin,’ Allie said. ‘An old one, a family heirloom.’ She hesitated, yet it seemed right to continue. ‘I don’t know how to play it, but I was thinking I’d like to learn. Could you … would you teach me?’

  Noah stared at he
r. Allie felt a rising tide of red wash over her face.

  ‘I mean … I can pay you for lessons, if you want?’ she said quickly.

  ‘I don’t want payment. It’s just … why now? If you’ve had the violin all these years, why didn’t you learn to play it before?’

  Good question. Allie had no idea how to answer without mentioning Alice. Fortunately, Meg came to her rescue.

  ‘I told Allie you were ace at the violin. Why wouldn’t she want to learn from the best?’

  To Allie’s relief, Noah laughed. ‘Okay, I’ll come over after school sometime and we’ll make a start, see how you like it. And I won’t be offended if you decide it’s not your thing,’ he added.

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Or you could switch to playing the guitar, Allie,’ Meg added, looking pleased that her matchmaking seemed to be paying off. ‘Then you guys could serenade us at barbies and parties and that.’

  ‘Pont!’ Noah’s shout startled them all. ‘Watch out for the reef, mate!’

  ‘Shit, I’d forgotten that the tide’s going down.’

  Pont dropped his fishing rod and quickly turned to start the motor. It sputtered and died. He pulled the cord again, and again, but the engine wouldn’t catch. Allie could see the dark reef under the water as they drifted closer. There was a harsh grating sound as the boat scraped across rocks and coral, then it stopped, stuck fast.

  Pont’s face was white with tension. ‘I can’t risk the motor. Can you guys bail out and push the boat off? Preferably without tearing its guts out!’

  ‘I’ll go.’ Noah hopped over the side of the boat and put his shoulder against it to try to push it off from the reef. The boat lurched sideways with a sickening jolt.

  Allie remembered the gravestones she’d seen in the cemetery commemorating those who had died on the reef. She shuddered, already imagining the icy water closing over her and dragging her down, the waves smashing her body against the rocks, the circling of predatory sharks scenting blood.

  ‘Allie! Meg! Get out and help me push!’ Noah shouted.

  ‘Don’t take them off,’ Pont warned as Meg bent to shuck off her sneakers. ‘You’ll cut yourself on the coral.’

  ‘Okay.’ Meg swung her legs over the side of the boat and dropped into the water.

  Feeling sick with fear, Allie followed her.

  ‘Okay, one, two, three … let’s go!’ Noah sang out.

  Allie felt the strain on her muscles as she heaved against the boat. It grated, shifted slightly, and settled once more.

  ‘Wait for the next wave,’ Noah instructed.

  Allie watched the white line roll towards her. She braced herself against the rush of water as they heaved again, and was conscious of a sudden lightness as the boat floated free.

  As soon as the water was deep enough, Pont set about trying to start the engine. The boat was further out to sea now and Meg and Noah set off in pursuit. Allie watched them go, keeping her balance on the reef with difficulty against the breaking waves. Her heart hammered with fright. She couldn’t make her arms and legs work to swim after them. She stayed anchored to the reef.

  After what seemed like forever, Noah looked around for her. ‘Come on, Allie,’ he called. ‘It’s too shallow for Pont to come in and get you.’

  He waited for her, treading water. Allie was shaking; long tremors of cold, paralysing fright zinged through her body. Slowly, reluctantly, she edged off the reef and began to swim towards him. She felt deep water underneath her and sensed that she was being pulled out to sea. She screamed, swallowing water as she thrashed around wildly in her efforts to keep afloat.

  ‘Allie! Hey! Stop it! I’ve got you, you’re okay.’

  In her relief, Allie clutched on to Noah, restricting his movements and threatening to drown them both. He put the heel of his hand under her chin and pushed her away, breaking her hold. Before she could react, he grabbed her by the wrists and placed her hands on his shoulders, swimming over her so that she lay flat on her back underneath him.

  ‘It’s okay,’ he said more gently as he began to swim both of them towards the boat. ‘I’ve got you. There’s nothing to be afraid of, I promise.’

  ‘Grab my hand.’ It was Pont.

  Helped by Meg, he hauled Allie over the side. She flopped onto the bottom of the boat feeling like a stranded whale. Too embarrassed to meet anyone’s eyes, she gathered herself up and sat down on the wooden seat. She crossed her arms around her body and crouched over, trying to control her shivering. Noah pulled himself into the boat and sat down close beside her.

  ‘I’m sorry about that,’ he said. ‘But you told us you could swim.’

  ‘I can.’ Allie gulped a breath of air. She was close to tears. ‘I … I thought I was being swept away by the current. I thought you were going to leave me out there to drown.’

  ‘I’d never do that!’ Noah regarded her thoughtfully. ‘Why are you so freaked out? Has something like this happened to you before?’

  Allie nodded, keeping her head bent. She knew they were waiting for an explanation but she couldn’t bear to talk about it. She’d always done her absolute best to forget that day. And yet the memory had followed her here, and if her dreams and her ongoing panic attacks in the water were anything to go by, she would never get over it, never be able to forget about it, or forgive Jason. The incident had scarred her, and taken away her friends. Now it was stopping her from enjoying all the things she used to enjoy, like swimming and surfing. And snorkelling on the reef — she’d been looking forward to that, but it hadn’t worked out either.

  ‘It might help to talk about it,’ Noah suggested.

  Sunk in the black misery of her memories, Allie shook her head.

  ‘Tell us,’ Meg encouraged. She looked at the guys. ‘But whatever she says goes no further than this boat,’ she added fiercely.

  Pont and Noah nodded.

  ‘Promise?’ Meg insisted.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Noah, and Pont nodded again.

  ‘You’re with friends, Allie. You can trust us,’ Meg urged when Allie still didn’t speak. ‘And what’s just happened also goes no further, okay, guys?’ she added.

  ‘Sure.’

  Noah and Pont were both nodding. Could she trust them? Noah was right, Allie thought. Talking about it might help. And she had nothing to lose save her pride. She took a deep breath, and then another, trying to summon up her courage.

  ‘I was out surfing one day with … with Jason, my boyfriend.’ She felt Noah give a small involuntary jerk beside her. ‘My ex-boyfriend,’ she added for his benefit. ‘We didn’t have our boards, we’d just gone in for a bodysurf. The waves were breaking quite far out so we swam out to catch them. And we got caught in a rip.’

  She swallowed hard, remembering her panic as she’d realised that she was being swept away.

  ‘That’s to say, I got caught in the rip. Jason was a bit behind me, and when he saw I was in trouble he turned around and headed back to the beach. He said he’d gone to alert the lifeguards, to get help.’

  But Allie had seen the fear in Jason’s eyes as he assessed the situation before turning to swim away. Alone and abandoned, she’d tried to shout for help but had swallowed water instead. It had taken all her strength to stay afloat as waves crashed over her and dragged her further and further out to sea.

  ‘Maybe that was the best thing for him to do,’ Meg ventured. ‘I mean, I saw how you clutched hold of Noah. If he hadn’t broken your hold, you might both have drowned.’

  It was true. ‘Thanks, Noah, I owe you one,’ Allie muttered.

  Noah shrugged. ‘I bet there were other surfers around, on boards, who could have kept you afloat until help came?’ he said. ‘He could have shouted to them instead.’

  ‘Yeah, there were,’ Allie said. ‘And that’s what happened. A guy saw I was in trouble and paddled after me. He pulled me across his board, and I tell you, I nearly coughed my guts up I’d swallowed so much water. But I wasn’t quite so terrified once I could breathe, a
nd once there was someone with me. We were swept quite a way out so it was a while before the rescue boat came to pick us up. Jason took all the credit afterwards, boasting about how he’d broken all the records to get back to the beach to summon help. He even got a commendation at school. But I knew why he’d left me — because he was shit scared, that’s why.’

  Allie knew how bitter she sounded, but she couldn’t help it. Jason’s cowardice had rankled and festered for so long, and so had her anger.

  ‘Sounds like you’re well rid of him,’ Noah said cheerfully.

  ‘Yeah. But he’s going out with my best friend back in Sydney now. My ex-best friend.’

  ‘So what? They’re there and you’re here,’ Meg said, unconsciously echoing Steph’s words. ‘Forget about them, Allie. They’re not worth bothering about.’

  Allie nodded. Good advice, if only she could take it. But she did feel a bit better for telling them about it.

  ‘You know what they say about horses?’ Noah asked, with a lift of an eyebrow.

  ‘If you fall off, you’ve got to get on again straightaway?’ Allie gave an involuntary shiver. ‘I can’t bear to think about it,’ she confessed.

  ‘It’ll get better, you’ll see,’ Meg comforted her.

  There was no pity in Meg’s eyes, just understanding and friendship. For that Allie was grateful.

  ‘You guys haven’t caught anything yet,’ she said as Pont directed the boat back towards the pier. ‘I don’t mind if you want to keep on fishing, honestly.’

  Honestly, all she wanted to do was go home and hide under the bed, but she felt she owed them.

  Perhaps Noah understood how she felt. ‘Maybe some other time,’ he said. ‘All I want to do now is change out of these wet clothes.’ He gave an exaggerated shiver. ‘I dunno about you guys but I’m freezing.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Meg.

  Allie didn’t know if they were just being kind, but she was glad anyway. She was shivering too, but couldn’t be sure if it was the cold or a reaction to what had just happened.

  ‘Okay, some other time,’ she echoed. She kept her fingers crossed behind her back, silently vowing that next time would never come.