After leaving Alice Springs the morning following their mystical musical duet, Davide drove northward toward Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory. The drive to the harbor city built on a bluff overlooking the Sea of Timor would be a shorter trip than returning to Adelaide, and it was where they would catch a flight back to Adelaide and then the U.S. They spent one night on the side of the road, sleeping in the parking lot of a roadhouse.
When they reached the outskirts of Darwin, Davide handed his cell phone to Zoe and asked her to call up a map to the airport. She did and directed him toward the suburb of Marrara. The first part of their adventure was almost over and he was feeling sad about it. He glanced at Zoe and the ball cap sitting askew on her head. She had tried to stuff the mass of curls beneath the cap, but corkscrew tendrils had escaped to frame her elfin face. He said, "Looks like our Australian adventure is coming to a close, and it's been quite the adventure."
She smiled. "I'll never forget it."
"I won't either." He reached to finger a wayward curl, but dropped his hand when she turned her head toward the window. He inwardly sighed. "In Alice Springs, I called the car rental company and found out they have a drop site near the airport. I also reserved rooms at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. There's a shuttle that will take us there."
Zoe mumbled something and then turned back to him. "Please tell me more about what you experienced in the cave."
Davide puffed a breath. "Honestly, I'm not sure what happened. I remember closing my eyes and listening to the silence, only it wasn't silent. I could hear…I don't know exactly how to describe it…but I could hear nature." He asked, "You didn't hear anything?"
"No, nothing. When did you get the melody for the song?"
"That's just the thing, Zoe. I never heard the song in the sense of, wow, there's a song; it was just always there. It wasn't separate from the nature sounds; it was the nature sounds. That's the only way I know how to explain it. First, I heard the wind, then the rain; later I heard birds and insects. I felt like I was communing with nature."
"You said there were other songs."
Davide laughed. "There were so many melodies, they seemed limitless. It's as if following the songlines and meditating in the cave released an avalanche. And the thing is, the songs are there, just waiting."
"Maybe they're waiting for you to release them."
"Do you realize how crazy that sounds? Of course, with me being a shapeling who can't shift, who am I to think anything is crazy."
Zoe grinned and Davide chucked her gently under the chin. "But it was you who gave the song life, Zoe. I only picked out the melody."
"That's not true, Davide. You made the song breathe; I merely followed your lead."
"I disagree, the song would never have happened without you. I'm going to name it, Zoe's Song." When she started to protest, he pointed. "Looks like this is our off ramp. Let's forget about the music for now and enjoy our short stay in Darwin. Did you know this area is one of the most lightening prone places in the world?"
"No." She laughed. "You are an encyclopedia of information."
Late that night, while standing on his balcony, the two of them watched a magnificent lightening storm dance across the horizon. Closing his eyes, Davide listened to the song in the lightening. Unexpectedly, the song was interrupted by a vision of two bodies entwined in a dance of love.
* * *
Their commercial flight landed at Portland International Airport and Davide heard Zoe groan with relief. They'd been flying for hours. As soon as they entered the terminal he stopped and stretched his tall body. "I feel like running laps to get the kinks out."
Zoe followed suit and stretched her petite form. Davide joked, "Zoe, you're so tiny I could run laps carrying you."
Her mouth lifted into a smile. "I gave up my dream of modeling at the age of twelve."
They started walking through the terminal. "So, what else did you aspire to? Did you dream of becoming a princess like other little girls?"
Zoe abruptly stopped. "What did you say?"
"Whoa, Zoe, I didn't ask anything profound. I just asked if you ever dreamed of becoming a princess."
She looked embarrassed. "Oh, nope, never wanted to be a princess."
She started walking again and Davide wondered at her strange reaction. At the curb, he glanced up and down until he spotted Johnson. "There's our ride."
Within minutes they were past the airport access road and entering the freeway onramp. Johnson pushed a button on the dash and radioed their estimated arrival time. Davide sat in front with Johnson and turned to look at Zoe in the backseat. She was gazing out the window and, of course, her baseball cap was crooked and her hair poking out. He thought about the episode in the airport. That was the second time he'd distracted her by mentioning the word "princess." Surely, it had nothing to do with the mistaken prophesy of him being a prince. The longer Davide was with Zoe, the more she intrigued him as a woman.
As always, Johnson did not pry into matters, so Davide told him about their trip. "Johnson, Uluru is literally a mountain of sandstone erupting out of the flat desert, and I can't even begin to describe its magnificence at sunrise and sunset, when it changes from shades of orange to red to purple."
Zoe added her perspective and then Johnson said, "Sounds like you kids had a great time." He pulled onto an off ramp and asked. "Zoe, how are your parents?"
"Busy as ever at the ranch."
Even though Davide enjoyed the small talk during the drive, he was anxious to see his parents and receive directions to the Cave of Thirteen. He figured he and Zoe could rest for a couple of days and then begin the next leg of their adventure. He listened to the musical tone of her voice while she chatted with Johnson and almost laughed aloud. He was hearing music in everything.
At the guard station the two guards on duty welcomed him back and greeted Zoe. When Johnson pulled onto the long drive, Davide turned to look at her. She had rolled her window down and was leaning into the breeze. She smiled at him. "I love your home, Davide. The first time I saw it, I thought it had magically materialized from a fairytale."
Davide smiled and turned back around watching their approach to the only home he'd ever known, and decided it did look rather magical.
Parking near the front door, Johnson started to exit the Escalade, but Davide said, "I've got it." He hopped from the car and quickly opened Zoe's door. She handed him her backpack and stepped onto the portico. Johnson waved goodbye and drove away. Slinging their backpacks over their shoulders, they rushed up the steps and Davide punched a code into the security panel to unlock the door. Inside, they set their backpacks on the floor of the foyer and Zoe followed him down the long central hallway.
Before they reached the library door, his mother came running down the magnificent circular staircase. "Goodness, you're home sooner than I expected. I just spoke to your father and he's on his way from Childress Enterprises." She reached them and gave her son a tight hug before turning to Zoe and doing the same. "I'm so happy to see you, Zoe. We've missed you. You've got to bring Roth and me up-to-speed on what's happening in your life. I talk to your mother on the phone quite often and she keeps me informed, but now you can update me personally." Rainey clapped her hands, appearing as excited as a little girl. "Davide and Zoe, I can't wait to hear about your walkabout."
During the remainder of the afternoon and over dinner, with his grandparents Hank and Stella joining them, and his sister Lilly hanging on every word, Davide and Zoe described Uluru and their drive from Adelaide to Darwin. He did not go into details about what had happened inside the cave in Kata Tjuta and Zoe followed his lead, not revealing intimate details of their trip.
After dinner, he bid Zoe goodnight by kissing the top of her head. "I'll see you in the morning, dear friend." And, for some reason, she looked at him with a sad expression. "Yes, we are dear friends."
Instead of going directly to bed, Davide joined his parents in their suite of rooms. Plopping onto a recliner, he pulled the lever and raised the footrest. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. It felt good to be home. After a few minutes he opened his eyes to watch his mother enter the room carrying a tray. She placed it on the coffee table and began pouring tea. From his reclined position, Davide accepted a cup and sipped. Whenever they had family discussions, tea was usually served. Roth joined his wife and son after changing into old Levis and a faded T-shirt, and Davide waited to hear what was on his parents' minds.
"Okay, son, tell us what else happened on the walkabout. We know you well enough to realize there's more to your story than descriptions of terrain," said his mother.
Davide sighed and took another sip of tea before bringing his recliner back to a seated position and setting his cup on the end table.
"I don't even know how to explain what happened, but I'll do my best. It seems that Yileen, our Aboriginal guide on the walkabout, has been seeing my face in his dreams for as long as he can remember."
"What!" said his mother.
"This is going to be interesting," his father interjected.
For the next hour Davide explained, as best he could, the strange events that had taken place in Australia. When he got to the part about him and Zoe composing a song and the effect it had had on the old caretaker, his mother gasped and covered her mouth. By the time he had finished revealing his experiences, both his parents were shaking their heads in wonder. He stopped talking and gazed at his father expectantly, lifting his eyebrows.
His father laughed. "So, son, I guess you want me to fulfill my end of the bargain and give you directions to the Isle of Shapelings and the Cave of Thirteen."
Davide smiled. "Yes, sir. I was thinking along those lines."
Reaching into his T-shirt pocket, Roth pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Davide. "Memorize this map and coordinates, because after tonight, it will be burned. We can never take the chance of someone seeing it."
Davide looked at the details and committed them to memory. Afterward, he grinned. "Looks like Zoe and I will be sailing out on the Dolphin."