Chapter Twenty-Four The Journey Home

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Journey Home

The portal leads us right into my garden. Mum sees us from the kitchen window and she comes outside, drying her hands on a tea towel. She’s frowning. ‘Are you all right?’ she asks, pulling me into a hug. ‘Why are you back so soon?’

‘We’ve been gone for ages,’ I say, frowning at her. ‘A week, maybe more.’

Wendy shakes her head. ‘Not here, I almost just said goodbye to Iris. I was doing our breakfast dishes.’ She holds up her tea towel.

I laugh, because it’s so strange. ‘We’ll tell you all about it.’ I didn’t realise the time difference would be so much – I couldn’t remember it clearly enough.

We go inside, Hasim makes a pot of Earl Grey, and we all have lunch except Mum because she’s just eaten. She nods all the way through our story, holding my hand, sometimes asking questions but mostly just listening. At the end she says, ‘I’m glad you’re okay.’ She sighs. ‘I wanted to stop you, but I didn’t want you to have to sneak away, Babs.’

I nod. ‘Yeah. But I had to go.’

‘I know. I’m glad you got back safe.’

Hasim and Iris look at each other, and I know they’re thinking they should go.

I notice something behind Iris as the three of us are saying goodbye at the front door. It’s sparkling, and I realise it’s Saltkin.

‘Hey, Saltkin,’ Iris says, looking at the ground.

‘Hi, sprout,’ he says. ‘I’m glad you’re safe. I wanted to thank your friends for helping with the bond when it broke. I was worried, but I knew you’d be able to handle it together.’

Hasim and I look at each other, unsure of what to say.

‘We just . . . had to. You don’t need to thank us,’ I say eventually. Hasim nods with me.

Iris holds out their hand, and Saltkin sits on it this time. Iris says, ‘Sorry I lied to you.’

‘Thank you.’ He pats their palm. ‘Please don’t do it again.’

‘I won’t.’

He smiles. ‘You’ll have to tell me all about your adventure with the witch.’

‘Her name is Zahra and she’s going to be my teacher!’ Iris says with a grin. ‘She was impressed by the book.’ Iris and Saltkin wave goodbye and walk off together, still chatting.

‘What am I gonna tell my dad?’ Hasim asks. ‘About why we’re home so early.’

I look up at the sky. It’s metal-grey and more clouds are rolling in, but it’s not raining yet. ‘Maybe we cancelled the trip because it’s going to rain . . . maybe it’ll rain heaps?’

He smiles. ‘All right. Well, see you Monday.’

At school on Monday, the teachers remind us that the term is ending soon, and that we have exams coming up, and all that kind of stuff. It’s stressful, and I’m worried I won’t be able to stay. I make it to science class and lunchtime. Last class of the day is art, always the hardest, but something tells me I can do it.

The three of us walk into the room together, and I stay.

We take our seats on one of the big square tables, and get out our sketchbooks, and I’m still here. My warmth bubbles up into the whole room.

Miranda doesn’t give us a spiel about how term is ending, she just tells us to keep going with our projects, and that she’ll be coming around to check in.

I’ve decided to use mostly watercolours, then Iris will help enchant the page so it shimmers. The glitter I tried to apply always looked wrong, like it wasn’t quite real. But if I infuse the paper with magic, surely I can make it work. They’re going to do the same thing, and Hasim as well. Our projects won’t look the same, but like three of a set.

Miranda comes around, gives Iris some pointers. I think what they’ve got looks amazing, watercolours and shining light. Hasim tells Miranda that that’s his name now, and she uses it several times without making it seem forced. And when she gets to me, she brings out some references of geometrical patterns from a book and finds the perfect one. It almost matches my first tattoo design, the one from before I got the rose.

‘These are all looking really good, you three,’ she says, and she smiles that genuine smile of hers. Even though we’re only average at art, I think it’s our favourite class now.

As art class ends, I feel a bit lighter. We separate to get our bags from our lockers, then we meet out the front of school to go down to Eaglefern.

Livia hugs me when we walk in. ‘I was so worried,’ she says. ‘Your mum told me what was happening. And you two!’ She takes their hands. ‘You’re very brave.’

Hasim and Iris look like they don’t really know how to respond. He shrugs, they smile.

We get our drinks and sit on the couches. The flowerboxes now take up almost half the window, and the blue bees look even bigger.

‘So I was thinking,’ I say, after our drinks arrive, ‘we should probably go camping for real in the summer holidays once school is done. We can go to this place Mum took me to a couple times. There’s a cave you can explore, and a river nearby, and it’s gotta be magic, I swear.’

‘That sounds nice,’ Hasim says, smiling softly.

‘I’ve always wanted to explore a cave!’ Iris says.

As the two of them talk through the logistics – who has what, if we need to get another tent, how long to go for – I smile at them. I can feel the warmth of them both in my bones, and I know it’ll be the best summer.