Shoulder to shoulder to shoulder they sat, leaning against each other’s backs, knees drawn up for warmth, as the inky black night slowly faded to grey. Devin found the shifting palette deceiving. Shadows appeared to move, advancing and then retreating as her tired eyes tried to focus.
Rocky’s arm had been linked with Devin’s for most of the night, and the warm solidity of his body next to hers made her half wish the morning would never come. She tried not to mind that Eva’s head was lolling on his other shoulder, but she couldn’t help it. It was stupid, she knew that. Eva loved Mandy and she couldn’t stand Rocky, but that wasn’t enough to stop the annoying little whisper in Devin’s head, as insistent as her heartbeat.
She was startled from a doze by the distinct rustle of leaves under a sly foot. A shadow, more substantial than the rest, detached itself from one clump of bushes and darted to another. She squeezed Rocky’s arm.
‘What?’ he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep.
‘Over there,’ Devin pointed, her voice low. ‘There’s something.’
He squinted into the grey as Devin shakily stood, her legs cramped and aching. Rocky untangled himself from Eva, who was awake in an instant.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Shhh,’ Rocky said, and then, ‘There!’ he shouted, as the shadow broke from cover and ran.
He took off after it, his newly healed leg forgotten, ducking under branches and scrambling through bushes. As he got closer, he could see it wasn’t Liam, it was … with a flying leap, he brought it down in a tackle that would’ve made the rugby selectors proud.
Sharp teeth sank into his wrist, and he jerked his arm away with a curse.
Eva and Devin, panting, were at his side a moment later, their eyes wide.
‘Awhina?’
Awhina scrabbled back, spitting and snarling, her black hair tangled around her face, her skin streaky with ingrained dirt, her blue tunic and leggings stained and torn.
‘What’s happened to her?’ Eva asked.
Devin knelt and held a hand out to Awhina, clucking gently as if to a scared, wounded puppy.
It was a question that wasn’t worth answering. They all knew what had happened to Awhina.
‘Hurry up!’ Rocky shouted.
Awhina had lost weight, but she hadn’t lost her strength or her will to fight. It was all he could do to keep her restrained so that she didn’t hurt him or herself. As it was, he had fingernail scratches up and down his arms, and he was practically lying on top of her, keeping her still with an improvised wrestling hold.
‘Is that all of it?’ Devin called down to Eva.
A flurry of clothes came flying up from the sinkhole. Devin took a pair of sweatpants and twisted the legs together to make a rope. She suspended it down the hole and braced herself for Eva’s weight. Eva pushed up as Devin pulled. She managed to get an elbow over the lip of the hole and Devin seized her under her armpits. Finally Eva was out. They lay for a moment, panting.
‘Can you hurry up?’ hissed Rocky, twisting his face away just in time to avoid a head butt.
‘I dunno,’ Eva grinned. ‘It’s kind of funny.’
Devin yanked Eva up, more forcefully than she intended, wiping the amusement off Eva’s face.
‘All right,’ Eva grumbled. ‘Don’t pull my arm off.’
‘Sorry,’ Devin said, but she wasn’t, not really. The morning sunlight was making her head ache, and she could have happily torn Eva’s arm off and slapped her across the face with it. Eva shouldn’t be so rude to Rocky all the time. He didn’t deserve it.
She knelt next to Awhina who lashed out, her nails catching Devin’s bare legs. The sting immediately chased away her headache. Eva grabbed Awhina’s arm, and Devin was able to smile and say thank you, her previous irritation abruptly gone.
It took all three of them to get a screaming Awhina down the hole. Eva lost a chunk of hair and Devin was lucky not to have her eyes scratched out. But finally, Awhina was safely tucked away under the earth, her screams muffled. Devin unwrapped the last chocolate bar and dropped it down. Then there was silence.
‘What do we do with her?’ Eva asked. ‘We can’t hike out with her like that!’
‘First Jahmin and now her,’ Rocky said. ‘It’s like they’re conspiring to keep us here.’
‘She’ll get out eventually,’ Eva said. ‘I dragged the stepping stone to the back of the cave, but she’ll figure it out. When we go, we’ll just leave her there with a bit of food.’
‘And what if she doesn’t figure it out?’ said Devin. ‘She’ll end up like Big Bird down there. Just dry old bones. And we’ll have killed her.’
‘Jahmin’ll be back tomorrow,’ said Eva. ‘He might have some bright ideas.’
‘I miss him,’ Devin said.
Rocky frowned. The fleeting expression passed Devin by, but Eva saw it. Eva didn’t miss much.
‘Me too,’ she said innocently, and sighed. ‘He’s just so funny. And kind. And smart.’
Rocky gave a snort of derision.
‘And rich. Rolling in it,’ Eva continued, poker-faced.
‘Yeah. Pity he’s dead,’ Rocky said, slamming down the winning hand.
Eva turned her back on him. He may have won this battle, but there was always another one. She went over to their supplies, inspecting bits and pieces.
‘Yuck. It all stinks,’ she said.
She draped pieces of clothing over the bushes in the hope that the breeze would drive out the smell of wood smoke and singed nylon. She couldn’t be arsed washing all this stuff in the stream, not if they were going to leave soon.
Devin rubbed her temple absentmindedly. The dull ache had returned. Even with the dirt and tangles, Awhina was pretty. And she was smart too. Just like Rocky. They had a lot in common. Rocky was probably really upset about Awhina. He was probably just waiting for her to come right so they could be together. It wasn’t fair. Awhina had everything – looks, brains, character – and now Rocky.
Turning on Rocky, she blurted, ‘Do you like her or something?’
He looked startled. ‘Um … I don’t really know her that well. We were on the debating team together, but … yeah, nah.’
‘Me neither,’ Eva said. ‘Too up herself. Oh, and she tried to burn me alive.’
The pain in Devin’s temple was receding again. She was aghast at herself. First jealous of Eva and now Awhina?
Eva tugged at her T-shirt and sniffed at it. ‘Yuck. I’m going for a wash. You want to come?’
Devin got up and went over to the fishing spears. It was the ship again, she was sure of it. Making her jealous, making her doubt herself. But why? Whatever the reason, it was messing with her head, and she couldn’t let it. She passed a spear to Eva, thankful she had something else to focus on.
Eva groaned. ‘God, I can’t wait to get to a supermarket.’ She grabbed a lavalava to use as a towel and followed Devin into the trees.
Rocky went over to the sinkhole. There was a circle of light directly below the opening, but the rest of the cave was in darkness. He leaned cautiously over the hole, a lifetime of watching horror films reminding him of what could launch from dark places. He could hear Awhina breathing, a soft sigh echoing up through the stone.
He lay on his stomach, wriggled closer, his head practically inside the hole itself … and nearly fell in as Awhina’s voice, weary yet perfectly sane, drifted up to meet him.
‘Rocky? Is that you?’
