My eyes drank in all the sights, desperately trying to absorb all the details. I felt as if we could just fly over to the mountains and land on a snowy outcrop, or dive down and skim the surface of the lake to the west. I could see herds of grazing animals down below, completely unaware of our presence. Part of me couldn’t wait to get down there, but at the same time I wanted to keep flying forever.
After a few minutes Noah took back the controls and let the glider circle gradually down, making minor adjustments as he began to aim for the landing site.
‘Lainie, can I ask you something?’
Great. I had thought this might happen. ‘I guess so. Now is the time, I can hardly go storming off if you offend me, can I?’
He smiled an evil little smile. ‘Why are you so reluctant to admit you have feelings for Bane? Surely you can see he’s smitten with you, so it can’t be the good old fear of rejection stopping you. What’s the problem, exactly?’
Good gracious. Straight to the point. The razor sharp pointy point. He looked at me with his blazing green eyes and turned on his most dazzling dimpled smile. He knew perfectly well he could get away with trampling my most personal barriers when he did that, and I gave in and fell for it, as usual. Maybe it was because we were in Eden, and my inhibitions were as lost as a lamb in a gully, or maybe I had just had enough of trying to protect other people’s feelings, but all I knew was that I wanted desperately to tell my best friend everything. The whole truth, for better or worse. So I thought for a few moments.
‘I don’t trust it,’ I admitted. ‘I don’t trust his feelings. I mean, look at him, Noah. As if someone like him would ever fall for someone like me under normal circumstances. I should probably just count my lucky stars and make the most of it, but that would be horribly unfair to him. Imagine if I’d done that with you? Any girl in town would have given their right arm for an opportunity to get as close to you as I did. Imagine if I’d taken advantage of that?’ I had a vague far off feeling that I was saying way too much, but I couldn’t seem to remember why.
‘I don’t understand. Are you saying you would have gone out with me if I’d asked?’ His emerald eyes searched mine.
‘Hell, yeah! I’ve loved you ever since I can remember. But I would never do that to you. So no.’
He looked even more confused than I was. My brain was fuzzy. Was it the altitude or just Eden?
‘What if I asked now?’
I looked at him. ‘Do you mean hypothetically or are you asking me out?’
‘Maybe that depends on your answer,’ he replied, sounding unsure himself.
I thought for a few long seconds. ‘No. I wouldn’t. Everything’s different now. We had our chance, and neither of us took it. There has to be a reason for that.’
He nodded. And I nodded. At least now we knew.
Harry had chosen a nice clear landing site for us near a loop in the River. It was easy to locate, which was a relief given that he couldn’t even draw us a map. Finally I spotted him, waving his arms above his head. Noah eased the glider towards him and released our legs from the harness. I relaxed my legs like he had instructed me, even though I felt as though the ground was about to punish me for leaving it. Noah pushed the bar out slowly and the glider flared into an upright position. We slowed so gently to a stop that I hardly needed to take a single step. A bit of an anticlimax, really. Just the way I wanted it.
Noah started to unstrap my harness for me, but then Harry reached us and caught us both in a massive hug that was rougher than our landing. It was unlike him, and it felt wonderful, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
‘I’ve missed you, Harry!’ I cried, tangling everything to hug him back.
‘Sorry I left you,’ he apologised, looking almost teary. He helped to extricate us from all the straps. ‘You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment. How was your flight?’
‘Exhilarating! I want to go again!’
‘Beware flight addiction,’ Noah said sagely. Like he was one to talk. I punched him on the shoulder. ‘Ow! What was that for?’
‘For not taking me up sooner,’ I grumbled, shaking out my helmet hair and choosing to ignore the fact that I had been too stingy with my money to accept any of his previous invites. He just shook his head at me and continued to dismantle his rig. Now that we had landed it was easy to let go of the melancholy we had experienced earlier. There was far too much here to distract us.
Actually, I was impressed with his ability to focus on the task. I was impatient to have a proper look around, but I also knew it would be best to pack the glider away before too many of the locals saw it. Already I noticed a man coming towards us with a curious expression on his face. He had long dark curly hair and large brown eyes. Everything about him looked innocent, with none of the defensive or cynical body language that most people our age had developed. It made him look very young, despite his short beard.
He greeted Harry with a funny looking wave. ‘Like a … bird,’ he said, flapping his wrists to demonstrate. ‘Can I do it?’
‘Not today.’
The man didn’t argue, or follow, as the three of us lifted the gear and walked away from the clearing. I whispered in Harry’s ear. ‘Aren’t you afraid he might experiment and get hurt?’
He laughed. ‘You have a lot to learn about Eden. You can’t get hurt here. Unless you want to.’
‘And how does that work exactly?’ Noah beat me to the question.
‘See those trees? The giant ones with the yellow fruit?’
They were everywhere, and they were easily the most beautiful species of tree I had ever seen. We walked over to the nearest one to examine it more closely. It had a massive silver trunk and long willowy branches that started high over our heads but were weighed down with clusters of golden fruit, each about the size of a peach. The leaves looked grey-green and feathery, and they smelled spicy and minty and intoxicating.
‘The Tree of Life grows on each side of the River,’ Harry explained.
Wow. I had assumed there was only the one. I’d never expected the Tree of Life to refer to a whole species. What about the other tree? The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Was the damage already done or would there be dire consequences if I accidentally ate the wrong thing?
‘The way I understand it,’ he continued, ‘is that the Fruit contains something fundamental to life itself. Eating it heals everything that’s physically wrong with you. It can even resurrect the dead.’ He reached out a trembling hand as if to stroke one of them, but stopped just a few centimetres from it. ‘I think it might even do more than that. I believe that eating it makes you forget all sadness, all worries, and all grief.’ He exhaled and drew his hand away. ‘It’s like the perfect drug. It gives instant pain relief, instant healing and makes you feel good. Apparently you can remember that you were hurt but you just can’t quite remember what hurting felt like. And there are no real side effects. It even stops you from ageing. It’s 100% good for you.’
I looked at him dubiously. ‘So why won’t you touch it?’
His fingers twitched slightly, but he drew them away. ‘Because I’m choosing to remember some things that aren’t good for me,’ he said drolly.
‘Did my mother eat the Fruit? Is that why she went crazy?’
His reply was too sharp for such a serene setting. ‘She’s not crazy. This place changes you, but she’s not crazy. And she only started eating from the Tree recently.’ He tucked his hands under his elbows. ‘All of Kolsom’s recent mucking around nearby awakened compulsions in her that she didn’t know how to handle, so she chose to forget instead.’ He turned to look at me directly. ‘She’s here, Lainie, and she knows you’re coming. I expect she’ll come and find us at some point …’
I could sense his hesitation. ‘But, you don’t think she’ll remember me?’ I guessed.
‘She remembers you as a baby. She might not beli
eve it’s you. She still insists that you’re dead.’
Lost in thought, I stumbled along behind him as he wove his way through a herd of grazing antelope-like creatures. What was I supposed to say to her? I felt as if I should be nervous about meeting her, but it was difficult to feel nervous about anything here. Besides, our first priority was to get to the cave. We had to let Bane and Tessa know we were all right. And hide the glider. And then work out how to get home. At some point. Only problem was, Noah had just put down his end of the glider and had started to climb a tree.
‘Wow, Lainie, you should try this. Look how high I’m getting!’
Harry just shook his head. ‘Noah!’ he called enticingly. ‘Tessa would like to see you. Please come down so we can go to the cave.’
‘Right. Tessa. She wants to see us. I’ll come down.’
I watched him climb down, making the branches shake and drop spinning seedpods. It did look kind of fun. Harry glared at me sternly. Right. I had to keep my mind on the job. It was important that we got to the cave as quickly as possible—just as soon as I had a drink of water from the River.
It must have taken a good hour for Harry to coax us all the way to the cave. Luckily we didn’t see any other people. I wouldn’t have known what to say.
‘Harry, how is it that the people here speak English?’
‘They don’t. They communicate mostly in sign language but they learn fast. I’ve only spoken to that man twice before. He was interested in my language so I spent some time teaching him. He remembers everything.’
Mentally I berated myself for making the assumption that the young man must have been a bit slow-witted because he hardly spoke, when really the opposite was true. We shouldn’t have taken so long to get the glider out of sight. I hurried the rest of the way to the cave entrance, relaxing only when we entered the chilly tunnel.
This side of the cave system was much the same as the other, except that there was a lot more light, so the sparkling glitter of the stalactites was even more beautiful than on the Nalong side. Even the walls looked like they were made from thousands of miniscule Christmas lights. Everything was enhanced here. It even smelled better. Like chalk mixed with marble and ancient secrets. The walls felt so smooth and cool, and tiny bright-winged insects flitted about like they were dancing …
Harry gripped my hand and dragged me along. Poor Harry. It must have been like trying to herd sheep, keeping Noah and me on track. It was difficult enough to get the long glider through the winding tunnel even when we were paying attention.
Eventually we rounded a corner and I felt the hot blast from the sword. Able now to see it close up in its full glory, I stood and stared at the entrancing way the bronze and golden flames curled delicately around its white glittering edges. It was so beautiful.
Harry put down his end of the glider and eased his way past the giant weapon, shielding his face from the heat. He disappeared mid-step.
Bane would be close. Just on the other side of the boundary. A smile crept over my face and my blood started racing in anticipation of seeing him again. It had only been a couple of hours, but I missed him so much. Part of my brain told me I should stop thinking like that, but I couldn’t work out why. Why shouldn’t I admit to myself that I missed him? I wanted to see him. Immediately. Rushing past the sword, ignoring the sting of the heat on my cheek and brow, I felt my skin tingle as I crossed the Event Horizon. Suddenly I saw a gap in the wall beyond, which hadn’t been there a second ago because it only existed on one side of the boundary. Bane’s face was crammed into the hole in the rocks and I laughed openly at the expression on his face. I needed to kiss him and tell him not to look so worried. I took two quick steps but then stopped as if I had been slapped. What was I doing? No kissing! That wasn’t the plan. I wanted him to forget me for a while, didn’t I? Two hours was nowhere near enough time for him to really think things through.
‘I’m here. We made it, no problems. Everything’s fine. Sorry we took so long,’ I said, trying to disguise my internal confusion.
He threw me a relieved grin. ‘Actually, we only just made it here ourselves. Tessa has great reflexes but she’s never ridden a dirt bike before, and her wrist is still a bit tender, so we had to take it slow coming down from the ridge.’
He hid his frustration well. I could imagine him trying hard not to rush her.
‘And now you know we’re okay, will you leave?’ I asked, trying not to sound wistful.
He shook his head. ‘It’s not necessary. I know what I feel. I really would be much more comfortable staying here in case you need me.’
‘Trust me, I don’t need any help right now. This place is … Anyway, you promised. You have to get away from here. At least for a few days. Please, Bane.’
He took a deep breath. ‘Two days. And after that, when you come home, don’t make me leave again.’
‘Unless you want to.’
‘Unless I want to,’ he conceded.
I gave him my most reassuring smile and melted back across the boundary.
Noah passed me as he crossed over to talk to Tessa. I was a little nervous about what he would say to her, thinking of the conversation we’d had during our flight, but as soon as I re-entered Eden the thought was lost. It was time to explore.
Chapter 36
Noah ducked behind me, nicked my hair tie and shook out my braid. Then he deliberately wiped his sticky fingers through my hair, and when I tried to evade him he took another piece of melon and squooshed it right onto my head, laughing. Then I got him back by squeezing juice from something like a giant orange down the back of his shirt. We both already had juice all over our faces and running down our forearms.
Harry had assured us that every other fruit we found would be safe to eat without affecting our memories, and each one was more delicious than the last. Noah was in the process of taking up my challenge to try every new type we came across, and had been keeping up fine until now. I was tempted to wrestle him to the ground and sit on him for messing up my hair, but that would mean letting go of the orange, and I wanted to eat some more. Besides, nothing he did could upset me at the moment. This place was too amazing to waste time feeling bad about anything, so I ate down to the unexpected pip at the centre, and threw that at him instead. He dodged it and then pounced on me, tickling me mercilessly. He hadn’t done that since he was ten years old. I kicked and squealed and rolled him off me, tearing my top in the process, and then we were chasing each other, laughing and dodging trees and pretending to hide even though that never worked. It didn’t matter because it was so much fun to just play. I even remembered how to cartwheel.
A little while later he motioned me to stop, and I heard the sound of laughter ahead. And splashing. There were people playing somewhere, having fun. We looked at each other, and then raced to find the source of the mayhem. Neither of us considered for a moment that there might be consequences to our actions. There was fun to be had. So we went.
Noah got to the River first, dive-bombing into the middle of a group of people who all appeared to be in their twenties. There were seven of them, four guys and three girls, some laughing, some singing, and all stark naked.
Without stopping to think about it I stripped off my clothes and jumped into the water too. It was cool and fresh, and so clean that I could see the bottom clearly where tiny fish darted around in schools, reflecting sunlight off their shiny blue scales, and I ducked my head under to watch them better. The song of the River overwhelmed my senses, but instead of the grief-stricken heartbreak I had become accustomed to, the melody was the most astoundingly joyful noise I had ever heard. It sounded as if each water droplet was adding a harmonious note to a great symphony. The sound was one of pure delight, like a baby’s first laugh. Enraptured, I stayed under the water listening, and I understood the meaning of bliss. Even the dancing fish were part of the song. One of the girls ducked under too, to watch me
watch them, her long brown hair floating softly around her face. I looked curiously at her, wondering if I had done something wrong but then she smiled, and bubbles poured from her lips as she started to giggle. We both stood up, spluttering as we tried to breathe and laugh at the same time and she reached over and hugged me as if we had known each other for years. Noah looked startled as he watched us and I dimly tried to think about how it must look, both of us naked and hugging. It didn’t feel weird at all though; certainly none of the others looked particularly surprised. Just what had we gotten ourselves into?
Then a girl with long black hair tugged at Noah’s T-shirt and waved her hands about as if inviting him to dance, but he backed away out of the water and ran off into the bushes. I started to wade after him, but then stopped. Did he want me to follow? I probably should go after him, but why? Why go if he didn’t want me to follow? I wanted him to be happy. He’d run off pretty quickly, so he probably didn’t expect me to go with him. Good. I would stay then. That would make him happy. The girl splashed me to get my attention. I splashed back.
Tessa dumped her backpack on the floor of the cave and then flopped down onto it, panting inelegantly. She had finally started to put on a bit of weight lately, much to her mother’s relief, but she still got tired very quickly, and two hikes to the cave in one day was more exercise than she had ever done in her life. After talking to Noah through the gap in the rock, she and Bane had headed back to the farm for her supplies and he had driven her part of the way back again before he’d left for Horsham. Then she’d hiked with her heavy pack on her own. She’d even managed to wrestle the canoe up the bank, although she couldn’t get it up as far as the cape wattle where it usually hid. At least the trail was getting easier to follow; they had worked out the best ways to avoid the worst of the blackberries, and had been coming so often that the path was easy to find.
By the time she finished setting up camp it was early evening. She was exhausted, so as soon as she finished her soup she curled up in her sleeping bag. Even after she moved the worst of the rocks aside, her thin hiking mat was not nearly enough to keep her from feeling the lumps underneath. Still, she couldn’t deny that it was a perfect spot to shelter in if you didn’t mind the fact that it was freezing—it still surprised her every time she stepped from the searing dry summer heat into the cold cave system. And tomorrow she could have a lovely lazy day reading her book. It would be light enough in the mouth of the cave, and not too hot. If only this really had been a weekend away with Noah like everyone assumed. Never mind. She would wait patiently for him. She was used to that.
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