The call came at nine-thirty the next morning. The surgeon wanted to see Aunt Lily in person, so Bane and I went with her to the small red brick hospital building and she spent a long time in the surgeon’s office where she was told the news. Harry’s wounds had been healing at a miraculous rate, but when the surgeon had looked at the MRI she’d found something else. A tumour in his shoulder. Further scans had revealed the full extent of the crisis. Harry’s body was riddled with late stage bone cancer.
‘He must have known,’ Aunt Lily sobbed as she told us the news. ‘He would have been in significant pain for a while. Do you think that was why he went … you-know-where?’ she asked.
I shook my head. ‘Maybe, but then he found out—’
The words stuck in my throat. I couldn’t tell her about the Trees. I couldn’t explain that he believed eating the Fruit might damage the sacred source of Life itself. After listening to the misery of the River music leaking out from the Garden for so long, I could understand Harry’s choice. The blessed Garden was far more important than any of us. It was the ultimate hope of the entire human race. ‘He doesn’t want to be healed there,’ I explained weakly instead.
My world felt like it was caving in as I realised then that not only would I have done the same, but that I would support him in his choice. I wanted what he wanted.
Sarah had spent all night by his bedside. Aunt Lily told me that the nurses had struggled to rouse her in the morning. She was dizzy and exhausted and when she heard the news she became so distraught that the doctors ended up giving her a sedative and made Aunt Lily drive her home.
Bane and I waited at the hospital for Noah to arrive so I could tell him in person. His tears were like a contrasting reflection of the tears of joy and wonder he had shed when we’d first sat overlooking the glory of Eden. Tessa called him on cue, as if she could feel his distress the way she felt his pain. I could hear her stammer when Noah told her about Harry. I knew she wanted to ask the same thing Aunt Lily had—whether we should get him back to Eden—but she couldn’t get the words out over the phone and Noah didn’t want to argue with her, so he told her he’d see her later.
The hospital facility was small but efficient. The faded walls and dated furniture were typical of a rural town with a small state budget allocation. Harry was still unconscious, and the nurses in the Intensive Care Unit were reluctant to let me in because I wasn’t a direct family member. At least I was certain about that now. Bane waited in the hospital café while Noah bullied the nurses into letting us in to see him anyway.
The sight of Harry’s slack features and weathered but healed hands outlined against the stark white sheets bothered me a lot. His chest was no longer even bandaged, which made him look like he was ready to just open his eyes and tell me off for hovering over him when there was work to catch up on. Even the few drops of Fruit juice had worked miracles, but it was still not enough.
They had him hooked up to a bulky heart monitor with white lines that waltzed across the screen and made noises that were even more annoying than a phone. If he’d been awake he would have complained about that. He didn’t belong here. It brought home to me the fact that despite all our powers and authority we were still human, genetically at least. Spiritually? Not as vulnerable, possibly not even able to be tempted to kill another human, but where did that leave us? I felt human. I certainly felt anger, and grief. I didn’t kid myself into thinking he would recover, and I wasn’t even sure he wanted to. He had been to Eden. He knew how the people there viewed the passing of a loved one. He would finally be reunited with his Guardian, whoever she was. It would be a joyous time for him, and for his sake I needed to see things the same way.
Noah clutched Harry’s hand in both of his, and I thought about all the times Harry had told us off for misbehaving as well as the times he’d made us laugh. He’d grown us up, and we both owed him so much. I would miss his laconic steadiness, and the way he took everything in his stride. He acted like a true Sentinel—confident, determined and capable. How would Noah and I ever fill those shoes?
‘Thank you, Harry, for everything,’ I whispered, kissing him softly on the cheek. There was not much else to say. His story was finishing. I would have to tell him mine the next time we met.
When we came out to the café Noah’s phone rang again. We would have to find a better way for Tessa to contact him or one of them was going to develop epilepsy or something. After only a few seconds, he hung up and looked at me apologetically.
‘That was Mum. Nicole’s run off again, and I’ll give you one guess as to where she’s heading. I knew she would get nosy when she heard we’d been out there again.’ He swore under his breath. ‘Why does she always have to be so selfish? She knows Harry’s in a bad way and that Mum’s not taking it well. Why does she have to pick now to misbehave?’
Probably because she assumed we’d all be too distracted by Harry to care what she did. She would have been right, except that she was doing the one thing we couldn’t ignore.
‘Do you really think she’ll find it on her own?’ I asked. ‘I don’t feel like anything’s wrong out there. How long ago do you think she left?’
‘She was still at home when I left to come here, so maybe she isn’t close enough to trigger our warning senses yet. Mum seemed pretty certain about where she was headed though. She’s closer, and she would feel her if any of us can.’
‘Lainie, I think we’d better go,’ Bane said seriously. ‘We’re already nearly an hour from the farm. The sooner we get back the better.’ He had come to stand closer to me, and his fingers were twitching. I knew those signs. We were headed for trouble again. Even as I thought it, my spine began to prickle. It felt like someone was following me down a dark alley, and the hospital felt very stifling all of a sudden.
Noah drove us home, where Aunt Lily explained that she’d brought Sarah back to our place so she could sleep somewhere quiet while the sedatives wore off, but that she had woken and left to look for Nicole. Even the strong medication wouldn’t have been enough to calm her with both her daughter and Eden at risk. Maybe she would manage to head her off in time, but Nicole could be pretty quick when she wanted to be.
I drove much farther up the river than usual, dodging the bushes that were too solid to plough through, until the paddock basher started making a new unhappy grinding noise, and then the three of us piled out and began to scramble our way upstream. I was so tense that I jumped a mile when the sat-phone Bane had thought to bring along started ringing. I looked hopefully at him. Maybe it was Noah’s mum calling to say she had found Nicole. Wrong again.
‘Hi, Tess,’ Bane said. ‘No, he’s fine. Just some scratches. Nicole’s gone snooping around the river so we’re going to look for her … Of course, but I suggest taking the normal path. The short cut is pretty wild. Don’t rush so much that you get hurt.’ He glanced my way as if he was trying to make a point but I ignored him and kept pushing through a stubborn cape wattle. ‘No, they won’t wait for you, but you’ll … Of course I will.’ He frowned at Noah at the last part, by which I assumed that Tessa had just instructed him to keep her charge safe until she arrived.
Scrambling along the riverbank was tough. Much of it was so steep and overgrown that we had to wade through the river to get past. I had never needed to get there in such a hurry before and it felt as if it took forever. It was hard to stay patient and test how slippery or wobbly the rocks were before trusting them with our weight. With each passing minute I felt as though the danger was increasing and I pushed my body to its limit trying to move as fast as I could. Bane was so anxious he couldn’t even let go of my hand, which made it more awkward to clamber across the chaotic terrain, and I tried not to think about what sort of danger I must be getting myself into. Surely it couldn’t really be that bad, though. It was only Nicole, after all.
After what felt like hours, we finally heard the sound of the waterfall up ahead. By then I wa
s stumbling more than walking, certainly no longer jogging. Bane was practically carrying me over all the fallen logs. This would have been a good time for one of those unexpected super powers to manifest. They only occurred ‘as required’, but I couldn’t very well do my job if I went into cardiac arrest just trying to get there, could I? I wondered what Bane would do if Noah and I took to the air and flew the rest of the way, but sadly that wasn’t to be and when we finally made it to the bottom of the falls we all collapsed, panting, by the edge of the lagoon.
There was no sign of Nicole, but I could see wet footprints on the rocks on the other side of the river. Noah took off his boots and I started to do the same but Bane grabbed my wrist.
‘Lainie, please, not yet. You won’t make it as you are and I won’t be able to get us both across until I’ve had a couple of minutes to rest first.’
I watched Noah tackle the current with flailing arms that betrayed how exhausted he was and I knew Bane was right. Sitting there would hardly be restful, but my lungs were already desperately trying to suck in enough air as it was. It was the first time I had ever felt I couldn’t keep up physically as well as the guys could, and I wanted to scream.
We watched Noah being swept much further downstream than usual and I decided it was a good thing that Tessa wasn’t with us. She wouldn’t have tried to stop him, but she would have let herself drown before leaving him to cross without her.
As I sat, gasping, on the rocks, it occurred to me that Noah’s dad might be here somewhere too. Or perhaps Sarah wasn’t in any danger. We were still a bit hazy regarding the rules of these compulsions. Maybe he was on his way, stumbling along our usual trail. So many people’s lives were affected by this place, and no one seemed to have any say in it. Bane had me cradled against his chest as if I would fade out of existence if he let me go. It was torture for him to be so tightly tied to me, no matter what he said. He should have been off doing army training, meeting girls with fake eyelashes who would swoon over a sexy man in uniform, not being compelled to run madly through the bush trying to protect a girl in a flannel shirt with broken wattle twigs in her hair. What had seemed so simple the previous night was beginning to feel complicated again. Was I really doing the right thing?
Pushing back my sweaty hair, I plucked out a couple of hitchhiking leaves and took a few more deep breaths. I had made my decision, and I would stick to it. Right and wrong were not concepts I felt like dealing with right then. I had work to do. No more time for reflection.
My legs had almost stopped shaking and I was only dizzy for a few seconds when I stood up and stuffed my socks into my boots. I let Bane throw them across the river because in my state they would have been lucky to have made it halfway.
The icy water felt wonderful as I slid my way into the current. I could hear the music calling me. It was much less sad now, and yet it still sounded like a funeral march. I rolled onto my back and kicked my way across, trying not to care how far downstream I went, so long as I made it to the other side using as little energy as possible. Bane swam ahead of me so I didn’t even have to watch where I was going. I just kept kicking, strong fast kicks. I let Bane worry about steering, and focused only on keeping my head above the water. Finally I felt him lifting my shoulders and I found I could touch the rocks at the bottom again. He practically dragged me out of the river—it was becoming a habit here.
As soon as we managed to force our wet feet back into our boots, I bounded up the tiny streamlet, all tiredness forgotten as I was overwhelmed by a fresh sense of urgency. Bane had to run to keep up.
Noah stumbled his way along the tunnel without any method of illumination. Bane was the one who always thought about practical things like bringing torches. But he didn’t need to see, because he could sense someone up ahead, someone who shouldn’t be anywhere near here, who had to be taken away from this place as soon as possible, so he followed the sense of wrongness like a kelpie on a rabbit trail until he rounded a corner to see the glow of the cavern ahead. The sword was spinning faster again. Its heat slowed his shivering but the tension in his body didn’t ease. His mum was waiting for him.
‘Noah,’ she gasped, rushing over to embrace him. Her pale hair tangled around her face, making her look more flustered than he had ever seen her. ‘Nicole’s crossed over. We have to get her back. I’ve never been past here, honey, but you have. I thought it would be best if I waited so you could help me find her.’ She took his hand in both of hers and led him closer to the spinning weapon. The massive sword slowed slightly as it recognised the presence of the Cherubim.
‘She got past? How? I thought the sword would have stopped her somehow …’
‘She was already halfway across when I got here. The sword would have killed her if I hadn’t commanded it to let her through,’ she entreated, looking nervous about his reaction. It could be commanded? He would have to find out how she had done that.
The thought of Nicole in Eden sent violent shivers down his spine. What were they expected to do with her? Even if they did manage to find her, what then? Could they just bring her home and pretend it never happened? What if she ate some of the Living Fruit? There was too much he still didn’t understand about how this all worked. What would happen to Tessa if he crossed over again? After yesterday he had vowed to himself that he wouldn’t leave her alone here again. He couldn’t even call her to say goodbye. But he had to find his sister.
Together they headed towards the Event Horizon, the quiescent sword revolving within its halo of flames.
Chapter 44
As I stepped under the rocky overhang Bane yanked me to a halt.
‘What’s wrong?’ My body was quivering with the need to keep moving.
‘I can’t let you go in there.’ He pulled me behind him as if to shield me from whatever was inside the cave. ‘It’s too dangerous. I have no idea why but this is stronger than anything I’ve ever felt before. I just can’t let you go in.’ Turning towards me, he tried to push me back.
‘Bane,’ I said, standing my ground, ‘I understand exactly what you mean because I feel it too. It’s so strong. I need to go. You said you would help me to do my job. I need you to let me do this.’
He clenched his jaw. ‘I have no choice, Lainie!’ The sopping wet hair that fell across his face did nothing to quench the fire in his eyes.
‘Yes you do. There is always a choice.’
Fear and frustration warred in his expression as he remembered our pact to always allow each other our freedom, and he reluctantly released his hold. As soon as he let go I fled into the darkness of the cave.
As I stumbled out of the twisting tunnel I felt the heat of the sword even before I saw its light. Rounding the last corner, I was blinded by the contrast of the bright flame against the blackness beyond. Noah and Sarah were about to cross over.
‘Noah, wait! Something’s not right!’ I shouted. ‘Sarah, please, just wait a minute. Hold on!’ Sarah tried to keep moving but Noah held her back with a tortured look in his bright eyes. ‘Noah!’ I panted, tripping over the uneven floor of the cavern. ‘You can’t let her cross. She’s not one of us!’
With a painful mental slap I had finally worked out what had been bothering me since I’d seen Harry at the hospital. His hands had not shown a trace of the wounds he’d sustained from the knife fight, but my mother had never touched them with the Fruit juice. Also, Noah’s dad was nowhere to be seen, nor had he ever said even one word to any of us about a place that was such a significant part of all our lives. Mr Ashbree had nothing to do with Eden.
In the Bible there were two Cherubim appointed to secure the entrance. And now I knew what that meant. Two in each generation. My mother, Harry, Noah and myself.
And each of us had our own Guardian. We had been lied to, and even I had missed it, passing off the hints of deceit I had felt from Sarah as something else because I hadn’t wanted to mistrust her.
‘Sh
e’s right, Noah,’ Bane gasped as he ducked beneath the last stalactite. ‘Your mother is a Guardian like me and Tess. She’s not a Cherub.’
He tried to catch my hand but I evaded his grasp.
‘It explains why she was so dizzy this morning at the hospital,’ he continued. ‘She tried to heal Harry but couldn’t. She’s suffering because there’s nothing she can do to heal him from the cancer.’
I thought back to when I had overheard Sarah talking to Harry in his cottage. ‘You tried to heal him before he even left for Eden, didn’t you? Why didn’t it work?’
She seemed to deflate, and once again I saw that self-condemnation that should never exist. That taint that had exiled countless generations from their true home. ‘Harry said my gift had weakened because I resisted the bond for too many years. I wanted to be free from it more than anything, but not at the cost of his life!’
Free from it? So I’d been right all along.
‘Don’t you see?’ she cried. ‘I did this to him!’ She gripped Noah’s wrist and began to drag him towards the sword like he was a reluctant toddler. ‘But it’s not too late. There’s more than one way to heal someone.’
Eden. Sarah had been trying to get into Eden to gain access to the Living Fruit. She intended to use it to heal Harry. I leapt quickly to block her path to the sword.
‘Nicole never even came anywhere near here, did she?’ I accused. How had she been planning to get past the sword? Of course. If Noah took her across willingly, the sword wouldn’t protest. Maybe. But Noah looked as horrified as I felt, and I doubted he could have let her get much further even if we hadn’t worked out the truth.
It was time to speak out a new solution.
There were a thousand words I could use to repel Sarah from the Event Horizon. I wanted to do it gently, so I took a deep breath and tried to think, but then she made a sudden lunge towards me at exactly the same time as Bane tried to grab her. From nowhere came the slash of a knife as Sarah sliced ferociously at his arm. It was the same blade that Alex Beckinsale had used against Tessa and Harry. She must have found it while she was waiting for us. He snatched his hand away and lunged for her again. It was too late. She had already grabbed me and had the knife against my throat. I didn’t even get a chance to flinch. Guardians were seriously quick. Her arm pinned both of mine painfully behind my back, but all I really felt was the cold metal against my skin. How had she learnt to do that? She had moved so nimbly. Like a trained fighter—or a supernatural bodyguard.
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