As they turned a bend in the river, Avendale came into view and they saw how close the threat of fire had become while they had been swimming and dreaming about the future. A hot, dry wind drove billowing clouds of smoke across the hilltops, and a distant ridge flamed black and orange against a swirl of smoke.
Tom jumped out of his skiff and tethered both boats.
‘Now that I know you’re safe,’ he said. ‘I’m going up the hill to help Dad. We threw hessian sacks into the dam to soak before I came to look for you. I reckon we’ll use Smoke and Banjo to help us take them up the hill to fight the spot fires.’
‘I’m coming too,’ said Jimmy.
‘But Tom, Jimmy,’ said Lucy. ‘No one should go and fight a fire in shorts and those thin shirts. You’ll get burnt. You need to put on protective clothing.’
Both boys frowned, startled that Lucy was giving them instructions. ‘What?’
On the far side of the creek, April and Tom’s father was beating out spot fires with a branch but when he noticed the children, he came racing down the river track and flung his arms around April.
‘Thank our lucky stars you’re safe! Who’s this child?’ he asked turning to look at Lucy. ‘Your parents must be worried sick about you.’
‘She’s from up the river. Her family are staying around here,’ said April.
‘Well, she’ll have to stay with us for now. The roads are closed because of the fires. Boys, we have to head up the hill to tackle those spot fires.’
‘Then we’re coming too,’ said April, grabbing Lucy’s hand.
‘No, you girls go back to the house.’
Lucy was afraid. How could her great-grandfather be talking about fighting the fires with two boys and some wet sacks? It was impossible. Bob Timmins had said they were the worst fires in history. What if Tom and Jimmy and her great-grandfather were all going to die? She had to fight down the urge to flee back through the painting to find out what had happened to them all. The only person that she knew had definitely survived was April.
Big had said the family escaped the fire by taking the boat down the river. Lucy hoped she had meant the whole family.
‘The fire that’s coming is going to be too big to fight,’ said Lucy. ‘You should take the boats and escape. Row down the river to safety.’
April stared at Lucy, bewildered by this new, authoritative girl. Lucy took her hands and squeezed them, hoping to reassure her. She wanted to say to all of them, ‘Don’t worry, the house will survive.’ Because she knew that it was sitting safely on the other side of time.
Black clouds billowed high over the hillside and the ridge glowed orange. They all looked up at the darkening sky. The sun glowed an ominous coppery ball behind the clouds of smoke.
Tom’s father looked from the sky to the children gathered on the jetty.
‘Maybe the girl’s right. Up to the house, all of you. We’ll help Mother gather up what’s precious and be back here in ten minutes.’
The afternoon had grown unbearably hot. Lucy felt as though she had a fever as they ran up the hill to Avendale. As soon as they passed through the front door, everyone began shouting and arguing. Lucy barely had time to register the presence of the woman who was her great-grandmother, or the short, fair-haired girl who bowled past her, her arms full of toys, who would grow up to be Lucy’s granny. Then Mr Showers roared at them to hurry up and herded the family out the door and back down the hill.
Embers were floating through the air like snowflakes. They reached the jetty and Mr Showers turned to Tom. ‘We have too many people to go together. We won’t all fit in one. We’ll be too low in the water. I’ll take the girls and you and Jimmy take the skiff. Jimmy’s boat will be too slow.’
‘Jimmy and I will be too heavy for the skiff, Dad,’ said Tom. ‘We’ll have to take his boat. Or I could go alone in the skiff.’
In one terrible moment, Lucy realised her presence had changed everything. The bigger rowboat would only take six people. Everyone would have fitted in one boat if she hadn’t been there.
‘Won’t you need a boy to help you, Mr Showers?’ said Lucy. ‘I don’t weigh much so I could go in the skiff with Tom.’
‘You’re a very bossy young lady,’ said Mr Showers, smiling. ‘But perhaps you’re right. You’re smaller than Jimmy, that’ll make it easier for Tom to keep up with us. Jimmy can take the rudder while I row.’
‘I could do that too,’ said April, but she was silenced by a fierce look from her father.
April, her mother and her little sister climbed into one end of the boat. Jimmy took the rudder while Mr Showers took charge of the oars. Tom leaned over the jetty and gave the boat a push. The family headed out into the deep heart of the river where the current would help carry them downstream to the town of Broken River.
Then Tom gestured for Lucy to climb into the skiff. But how could she think of leaving? All she had to do was run back up to the house and disappear through the wall to safety. Tom would travel faster without her.
‘Tom,’ she said. ‘I can’t come with you. I have to go up to the house.’
‘What are you talking about?’ said Tom. ‘We have to follow my family.’
‘No, you go. I have to stay. I know the house will be safe.’
But as Lucy spoke, a piece of flaming bark came flying through the valley and landed on the steps of the front porch. Tom saw it too and before Lucy could stop him, he ran up the hill and began beating out the spot fire with a green branch that he’d snatched from a tree.
‘This can’t be happening!’ said Lucy. ‘I don’t understand. The house shouldn’t burn down.’
Lucy put her hands to her hot cheeks and thought about what Bob Timmins had told her about the 1939 fires, and what she’d read in the CFA brochures. There were things that she knew that might help save the house. Maybe this was the reason she was here at this other Avendale.
Breathless from the heat, she ran up the track after Tom. He was standing, smoke-stained and panting, beside the front steps. He’d saved the house for the moment.
‘The first thing we have to do is let the horses out of the stables. They’ll be safer outside,’ said Lucy. She couldn’t tell him that she knew the stables were going to burn to the ground.
‘That makes sense,’ said Tom.
As they raced to the stables to free the horses, a great burst of flame flared on the far side of the hills. Lucy was so afraid she wanted to run into the outside–inside room and find her way back to her own time. But some deeper instinct told her that if she didn’t help now there might be no future to escape into.
The horses were flighty, made skittish by the smoke. As they led the horses away from the stable, another piece of flaming bark, swept through the air, landed on the roof of the stables and the wooden structure burst into flames.
‘We should get those sacks you soaked in the dam. If we put them around the windows and doors of the house, it will stop smoke getting in and keep away embers. And we need to make sure the gutters are clear and then block the downpipes and fill them with water.’ ‘How do you know all this?’ asked Tom.
Lucy ran towards the dam. ‘No time to explain,’ she called over her shoulder. ‘We need to get cracking.’
The heat rolled down in waves, scorching their backs as they loaded wet sacking onto the skittish horses. When the sacks were piled up on the verandah, Tom smacked the horses rumps and sent them bolting down to the river.
Another small fire had broken out on the front verandah, and Tom grabbed one of the wet hessian bags and beat it out. Then, together, Lucy and Tom laid the wet sacks along the windowsills, doorways and baseboards of the house.
‘I’ll get all the woollen blankets out of the cupboards,’ said Lucy. ‘I’ll fill the bathtub and soak everything.’
Outside, Tom cleared the gutters and stuffed rags into the downpipes so he could fill them with water. Inside, Lucy turned on the tap and filled pots and buckets. Tom hosed down the roof and walls of the house, drenching the building with the last of the water that was left in the tanks and then joined Lucy inside the house.
Lucy had done everything that she could think to do to help. She could only hope it was enough. She was desperate to get back to her own time to make sure that Avendale really had survived.
‘We better get down to the river quick,’ said Tom ‘The smoke is getting so thick out there it’s hard to breathe. We’ll take a wet blanket to cover ourselves. It won’t take us long in the skiff to catch the others.’
‘I can’t go with you,’ said Lucy. ‘I don’t want to slow you down and I have to stay here.’
‘Oh no you don’t!’ said Tom, taking Lucy by her wrist and trying to lead her to the front door.
Lucy twisted her arm free and raced down the hall to the outside–inside room. The wall she needed to pass through was lined with furniture and she had to clamber up onto a desk to find a clear section. She touched the plaster and felt the familiar flicker of magic.
Tom charged into the room and stared at her, bewildered. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m sorry, Tom. I have to go,’ she said.
She flung herself against the wall and hurtled back across time.