The Rising Tide

by Helen Brain

  Jaline looks from me to Alexia, searching our faces. “Who’s it from?”

  “My mother –”

  “Ebba’s grandfather –” Alexia says at the same time.

  Jaline’s eyes narrow. But she begins looking at the clock from each side. Then she reaches up and lifts off the top case. How did she know to do that? She really is clever.

  She unhooks the weights from the pulleys and puts them carefully on the floor. Then she reaches up and feels at the back. She gives a grunt and then she’s passing me the heavy pendulum. I turn it over and look at it from all sides. There’s nothing hidden there.

  Next she lifts off the clock face. Behind it are a set of cogs and wheels, and for the first time I see her smile.

  “You beauty,” she grunts. She’s on the chair, peering inside, gently turning the wheels with her oil-stained finger. Then she reaches down with surprising delicacy and pulls something out. “Looking for this?” she says in her gruff voice.

  It’s an amulet.

  I gasp and reach for it.

  But she jumps down from the chair and, sticks it in her back pocket. “Make me.”

  I open my mouth and shut it again. But Alexia pulls herself up to her full height and snaps, “You work for her and she’s your boss. So hand it over now or I’ll call the guards.”

  “Alexia!” I gasp. “You can’t talk to people like that.”

  But Jaline tosses it over to me. “Stick it on your stupid necklace then. I see you lost the other charm you were so proud of when we were in the colony. Hope you don’t lose this one.” And she swaggers off, leaving the clock in pieces.

  The amulet feels warm in my hand, glowing, almost pulsating with energy.

  Alexia digs me in the ribs again. “You can’t let her get away with that. She has to come back and finish what she started. Go on, call her back.”

  I bite my lip. “Really?”

  “You have to. Come on, be the boss.”

  She’s right. I go to the door and call firmly, “Jaline, come back and finish putting the clock together again.”

  She’s halfway across the courtyard. She doesn’t turn, but I know she’s heard me because she gives me the finger over her shoulder. A guard happens to be watching and he follows her, sjambok in hand. I hear a thwack.

  A moment later she’s back, with a red welt across her arm.

  She doesn’t say a word, just puts the clock back together and hands me the key. The guard is standing at the door watching, and I keep my head down, pretending to read the ledger.

  When they’ve finally gone I open my hand and examine the amulet. It’s silver, like the one I lost. But this one has a spray of water in sparking blue stone set in the middle of the oval. The silver section has an intricate pattern of clouds and rain drops. I clip it onto the chain, and I hear a sigh of pleasure in the air around me.

  It’s Dr Iris, and she’s smiling at last.

  CHAPTER 16

  The next day, I work in the greenhouse all morning and go to shower before Micah comes in for lunch. Now that Samantha-Lee is hanging around all the time, I’m taking more care to look as good as I can. I go into my bathroom, take off my necklace, pausing for a moment to admire the new blue amulet, and put it on the window sill as I always do when I shower.

  The window is open a small way, but there’s a thick clump of gooseberry bushes outside it, and nobody can see in. When I’ve finished showering and towelling my hair, I reach for my necklace.

  It’s gone.

  Panic floods me. I’ve only had the amulet for a day, and I’ve lost it already?

  Maybe it fell out the window. I pull on my robe and rush outside, not caring that my hair is wet and wild. I dig frantically in the bushes.

  “What are you looking for?” says Micah, coming around the corner.

  “I can’t find my necklace!” I screech, pushing and pulling the branches as I search for the flash of silver. “It’s not here.” I grab him, shake him. “It’s gone. What am I going to do?”

  We search every bit of ground, every twig of the gooseberry bushes. I’m frantic.

  Micah takes my shoulders and holds me at arm’s length. “Babe, calm down. Where did you last see it?”

  “I put it on the window sill while I was showering.” Oh, why didn’t I just leave it on?

  “I’ll check inside. You probably took it off somewhere else.”

  “I didn’t,” I snap. “I’m not an idiot.”

  “Okay, stay calm. Getting upset won’t help you find it.”

  Tears are pricking my eyes. “Aunty Figgy’s going to kill me. That amulet’s been in my family for five hundred years.”

  “It can’t have just disappeared,” Micah says. “Someone must have taken it. It must be one of the colony girls, or a guard. You go check with Aunty Figgy and Alexia. Then we’ll do a final search to make sure you haven’t mislaid it.”

  Aunty Figgy is in the kitchen stirring a huge pot of soup while Alexia slices bread.

  “My necklace … Have either of you seen it?”

  Aunty Figgy drops the ladle with a clatter. “Your necklace? Your amulet necklace?” She looks like she’s about to faint.

  “I left it on the window sill when I was showering, and now it’s gone.”

  “Jaline!” Alexia exclaims. “She’s taken it to get revenge.”

  “We don’t have proof.”

  “We don’t need proof,” she says, waving the bread knife in the air. “She’s pocketed it once already, and you know how she is.”

  “But she didn’t really take it before,” I say, although my doubt is increasing. “I mean, what use would it be to her?”

  “She could see how much it means to you,” Alexia says. “She only gave it back because I threatened to call the guard. What a little shit.”

  “Language,” Aunty Figgy snaps automatically. “But Alexia is right, Ebba. You can’t let her get away with this. This isn’t just any necklace. It has sacred powers.”

  Micah comes into the kitchen, and I look up hopefully but he shakes his head.

  “I’m going to call the guards right now. Jaline has stolen it,” Alexia says storming off, and I follow, burning with embarrassment.

  The girls are sitting in their rows outside, chatting quietly among themselves. Jaline is sitting by herself, her face stuck in its familiar scowl. She looks up as she hears Alexia say her name to the guard.

  “You!” the guard shouts. “Jaline. Get up. Where’s the missing necklace?”

  “What necklace?” she holds her hands out, palms open. “I haven’t seen any necklace.”

  “The one you tried to take yesterday,” Alexia says firmly.

  Micah has joined us now, as well as Aunty Figgy, who’s wringing her hands in her apron. We stand there while the guard marches over, grabs Jaline’s right arm and forces it behind her back.

  “Walk,” he commands.

  But this doesn’t feel right. I can’t work out why she would take it. There’s nothing she could do with an amulet. And she seems genuinely outraged. I stand close to Micah. He’ll know what to do.

  The guard marches Jaline until she’s standing in front of me, glowering.

  “Tell her where it is,” the guard orders.

  Jaline says nothing. I try not to look at the forty-nine other workers sitting silently watching in their rows. Just a few months ago I was one of them, and if there were any problems, Mr Dermond was in charge. Now I’m standing over them like the boss. They must hate me.

  “Right,” says the guard. “Take off your clothes.”

  “You can’t do that!” I exclaim. “It’s not right . . .”

  Micah tightens his hold on my hand, and I shut my mouth. A female guard comes over and rips off Jaline’s ugly floral dress, her tunic, pants and underwear. She stands there naked while the guard examines every inch of her body.

  “I told you, I haven’t got her stupid necklace!” Jaline shouts, trying to cover herself with her hands.

  The guard sl
aps her.

  I’m biting my thumb-nail, torn between wanting to make them stop and the need to find my necklace. I can’t lose it. I just can’t. My stomach churns as the guard slaps her again.

  Alexia steps forward. “Just tell us where it is, Jaline, and then you can get dressed again,” she says, her voice kind. “I’m sure Ebba won’t let them punish you … You can have a warning this time.”

  “That’s right, Jaline,” I plead. “I won’t let the guards punish you. I just want the necklace back. Please. It’s really important to me.”

  The guard has finished checking through the discarded clothes. “Get dressed,” she snarls. “There’s nothing there.”

  Jaline’s face is dark as she pulls on her clothes.

  I’m mortified.

  Did I get it wrong? Did I have her stripped naked and humiliated in front of everyone when she was totally innocent?

  “She must have hidden it somewhere,” Micah says. “There are a million places she might have put it.”

  “Like in the old wine cellar,” Jaline spits. She’s staring at Micah. “Maybe I hid it in the Old. Wine. Cellar.”

  Micah stiffens. “I saw you in the stables just now,” he snaps. “You must have hidden it there.”

  “Rubbish!” Jaline shouts.

  The guard flicks her with his sjambok. “Show some respect. What were you doing in the stables?”

  Jaline’s eyes are huge. She opens her mouth to say something, then shuts it. And suddenly she bolts for the driveway.

  The guards lift their rifles and fire.

  SHE FALLS. There’s a small circle of blood on her back.

  Alexia takes my hand. She’s shaking. “Come inside, Ebba.”

  I pull free. “Bring her inside,” I tell the guard “Aunty Figgy will know how to treat her wound.”

  “Go inside with Alexia.” Micah’s voice is hard. “Let the guards deal with this.”

  Aunty Figgy comes in shortly afterwards, followed by Jasmine and Leonid.

  “She died instantly,” Aunty Figgy says, wiping her eyes with her apron.

  I stand up, clutching the edge of the table. “What about the necklace?” I whisper.

  Jasmine stares at me, aghast. “Is that all you can think about? Your stupid necklace? If you’d listened to us and left Jaline in the colony, she’d still be alive. But no, you had to have your way. And now look what’s happened.”

  I open and shut my mouth but no words will come out.

  Everything she says is true. I’m a murderer.

  I turn and go to my room. Isi is cowering under the bed. I lock the door, pull the curtains around my bed and crawl under the duvet. I’ve messed up everything. I don’t even know who I am anymore.

  Isi jumps up onto the bed and lies next to me. She licks my hand, then rests her chin on my birthmark and I eventually calm down. She loves me, even though I’m a terrible person.

  Later, as I’m getting ready for bed, I go into the bathroom. I lift my nightie off the hook behind the door and stop dead. My necklace is hanging there.

  Oh Goddess, what have I done?

  Sweating, I sit on the edge of the bath. But as my mind clears, I realise I couldn’t have hung the necklace under my nightie. I took off my nightie this morning, and I haven’t moved it since. If I’d hung my necklace on that hook, it would have been on top of the clothing.

  Jaline couldn’t have got into the house, not with all the guards watching.

  It can’t have been Jaline.

  There’s only one person it could be – Samantha-Lee. She’s trying to turn the workers against me. But it’s my word against hers, and nobody trusts me anymore.

  CHAPTER 17

  Should I wear the necklace?

  That’s my problem the next morning when I wake up. I put it on the moment I found it behind the door, and I never ever want to take it off again. But everyone will be livid when they see Jaline died for a crime she didn’t commit.

  I’m standing at my dressing table worrying when I hear horse’s hooves. I peep through the window. It’s Mr Frye. I was expecting him to bring the will he’s drawn up for me today, but not this early. I finish dressing, tuck the necklace under my robe and go out to greet him.

  He’s not smiling.

  “This is a serious business, Ebba,” he says before he’s even greeted me. “Very serious. My servant woke me with the news about the girl this morning, and I came straight over.”

  He takes a file out of his saddle bag and climbs up the steps to the front door, shaking his head. “We need to make a decision about the best way forward. Come now.”

  I follow him into the sitting room, twisting my hands like a guilty child.

  “Now, why don’t you tell me exactly what happened,” he says, dropping the file on the coffee table and pointing to the chair.

  I sit down and tell him everything while he paces up and down, hands behind his back, shaking his head as I reach the part where Jaline was shot.

  “And you have no idea where the necklace is?” he demands when I’ve finished. “It’s extremely valuable.”

  The heat rises up my neck as I pull it out from under my robe. “I f-f-found it.”

  His eyebrows shoot up. “You found it? You found it? For Prospiroh’s sake, Ebba. You mean to tell me that it was merely mislaid?”

  “No, of course not. Somebody took it. I swear. It wasn’t where I left it. Someone took it from the window sill, and then later they came back to my room and hung it behind the door.”

  Now it’s just one eyebrow raised in utter disbelief. ‘“Who would do such a thing? Why would anyone want to do something like that?”

  It’s what I’ve been asking myself all night. What does Samantha-Lee have to gain from deceiving me like this?

  “Seriously. Who?” he demands again.

  Her name is on the edge of my tongue, but I can’t tell Mr Frye that she’s on the farm. I promised Micah I wouldn’t. The resistance matters more to him than anything else – even me.

  So I bite back her name and shake my head. “I don’t know.”

  “Ebba, Ebba, Ebba,” he scolds, getting up and pacing the carpet. “You’ve got to stop being so impetuous. Every week it’s a new crisis, and I have to scrape and bow to the authorities and beg them to have mercy because you’re just a child. But their patience is running out, and with good reason. Perhaps it’s time to pack up the house here and move to the city. You can live with me and Mrs Frye. We can find a manager to run the farm. Yes,” he says, and stops pacing at last. “That’s what we must do. Go and pack your bags, my girl – I’m taking you back to town.”

  I jump up. “No, no, absolutely not!” I yell. “I am not leaving Greenhaven.”

  Isi gets up too and stands between us, the ridge on her back bristling.

  He takes a step back, glancing from Isi to me and back to her. She’s growling at him, baring her teeth.

  “Alright, alright,” he mutters. He pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his forehead. “But the colony girls will have to go. It’s too much for you. The general must send them back.”

  “No.” But as I say it I realise what a good solution it would be. No more guards. Fifty fewer mouths to feed. And no embarrassing explanation necessary for the miraculous reappearance of my necklace.

  Just as quickly, I know what will happen to the girls. The general won’t let them back in – he’ll know that they’ll rebel now that they’ve seen the truth about the outside world. No, I know that he’ll kill them. The guards will take them back inside the colony, straight into the ventilation shaft, and they’ll throw them out one by one. They’ve done it before.

  “No.” My voice is raw. “No, they must stay. I’ve got fields of cauliflowers and potatoes that need harvesting. I can’t manage without the labour.”

  Mr Frye ponders for a moment, the pulse throbbing in his forehead. “I’ll give you until the end of the month,” he says at last. “Meanwhile, I’ll be keeping a close eye on you. No more rash deci
sions, do you understand? We’ll tell everyone that Jaline hid the necklace, but that you found it. No use letting people know you simply misplaced it. It will cause untold repercussions. Untold.”

  I’ve had enough of being scolded. I want him to go away.

  I reach for the file on the table. “Is this my will? Can I make it legal today?”

  “It is. Though why you want to leave everything to that boy is beyond me. Another rash decision – no doubt you’ll change your mind as you mature. We can always write a new one.”

  “I’m not going to change my mind.” My love for Micah is just about the only thing I am certain of right now.

  He opens the file and pushes the page towards me. “Sign at the bottom.”

  I glance over the writing: I, Ebba den Eeden, do bequeath Greenhaven Farm and all my worldly goods to Micah Maystree.

  I take the pen he’s holding out, dip it in the inkwell and carefully write my name.

  “We need two witnesses,” he says. “Not Micah, as he’s named in the will.”

  Letti’s door is open, so I knock and step inside. She’s lying on the bed, pale as a sheet.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” She sits up slowly. “I’ve just been sick.”

  “Poor Letti.” I feel her forehead. “You’re not running a fever. I’m sure it will pass. Are you able to come through and sign my will? I’ll also get Fez.”

  She gets up slowly and Fez helps her walk through to the sitting room. Slowly, carefully she prints out her name. Fez is better at writing, and although he hesitates at first, he can’t resist signing with a flourish: Fezile Sinxo.

  “Well, that’s that then,” Mr Frye says, drying the ink with his blotter and shoving the page back into his file. “I’ll be getting back so I can lodge this at the council offices. And, Ebba, no more shenanigans, do you hear me? Calm down and think before you act or I’ll whisk you off to the city. Permanently.”

  We watch him through the window as he rides off. Then it’s only when he’s halfway down the driveway that Fez turns to me, open-mouthed. “Are you mad? You just left everything to Micah. Everything.”