Chapter 11
I could feel Noah approaching, but he was still quite far away. Although I couldn’t wait to see him again, my head was spinning and I felt too disorientated to hurry. The tiny creek that ran from the cave to the river was full of spiky reeds and tumbled rocks and it took a long time to reach the muddied embankment that cut down to the river I knew so well. One look at the dark swirling water—and the canoe that was on the wrong side of it—almost convinced me to turn back. Luckily, Eden had done nothing to take away my stubborn streak, so I wobbled my way across the mosaic of river rocks and plunged into the icy water. The river was very angry. Not even any fish came to say hello. By the time I scrambled out on the other side I felt so cold I thought my bones might crack, and everything hurt. My left knee was bleeding so I wiped it with some leaves. It didn’t help. Of course not. What was I thinking? For some reason I felt a bit guilty when I saw my blood smeared everywhere, but I couldn’t remember why. Getting hurt was normal here, wasn’t it? Not like Eden where I had to hide any injuries I received.
A kookaburra stared down at me as I scrambled up the embankment. Where was Noah? That way. I just had to get to him and then all would be well. I navigated by the comforting feel of him, like following the scent from a bakery in a giant shopping complex, because the path I was following didn’t look right. The scrub was a lot thicker than I remembered and the river was too full to be able to follow it below the embankment like we used to.
A little while later the scrub got even more tangled, with fallen branches carpeting the ground and sticking into my bare feet, and then my thigh caught on something and I could feel the skin pulling. The evil blackberry vine tried to stop me from getting to my friend and it only let go when I jerked myself free, but then my thigh was bleeding too. It hurt so much. I’d forgotten how nasty pain could be. Why were there blackberries out here anyway? This area of bushland was supposed to be pristine and unsullied. And yet human invaders had infected this land, greedy for their sweet comforts, and birds had dispersed the seeds and nothing we did now could ever really stop the spread of the taint.
Miserable, and yet determined not to stop, I fumbled my way through a stand of native blackthorn bushes and soon found that the only way through was to crawl along beneath their branches in the mud. Was it winter? Everything was wet. And so cold.
I needed to get to Noah. He would know what to do. Maybe he had already found Dallmin and we could go back straight away so I wouldn’t have to think too much about Bane being dead. That was when I started to cry. Two wants. I wanted to hide from the truth. He was lost to me. I had let him go so he could be happy. That should have made me happy, but I also wanted to see him again because I was selfish. Wasn’t I supposed to be untainted? Nayn had told me I would understand when I worked out what I desired most. I hoped so because I really didn’t like feeling this confused. Or this hungry. I looked around for some food—of course there was nothing. Not even blackberries. So I breathed in some deep, smelly breaths, unhooked my hair from yet another branch, and kept crawling.
When the blackthorn bushes finally let me go I dragged myself back up to my sore feet and tried to straighten my clothes, but they were so badly torn they still looked wiggly. The delicate cloth was too fine for this place, and too thin. It did nothing to keep me warm, especially as it was soaked from crossing the river. I kept it on anyway. I remembered enough to know that Noah wouldn’t approve if I took it off. With great discipline I began to walk more resolutely. I just had to get my brain into gear properly. That shouldn’t be too difficult. I had lived in Nalong for much longer than Eden. I would manage perfectly well.
Before long I gave up trying to get anywhere. The rain was pelting the ground into slippery muck and the birds had gone into hiding, so I decided to follow their wisdom. I hunkered down next to a rock to watch some bull ants try to evade the raindrops. Poor things, I knew how they felt. I tried to help them. It didn’t go well.
That was when Noah found me, howling like a baby and sucking on my bitten finger. He put his arms around me and rested my head against his heaving chest. Had he run the entire way out here to meet me? He was so warm and familiar. Somehow, he managed to drag me over to a thicker clump of trees so we could get out of the rain, but the trees weren’t being very helpful. The rain came straight through their branches. They weren’t even trying. Mean trees. Mean river. Mean ants. I wanted to go home.
Noah sat me down on a fallen log and pulled some things out of his pack. He wrapped a plastic coat around me, putting my arms into the sleeves like I was an infant. Then he pulled out a thermos, unscrewed the lid and held it to my lips. I breathed in and felt my tears dry up in seconds. Hot chocolate. It burned my tongue but I didn’t care because it was hot chocolate. I drank it down, feeling the warmth spread through my chest and my shivering begin to settle, while Noah pulled out his phone.
‘I’m sending Bane a text. He’s probably in no condition to talk right now. I’ll just let him know you’re okay.’
Over the rim of the thermos I peered at him. ‘You can get reception here?’
He looked smug. ‘New tech, Lainie, called a sat-sleeve. You have a lot to catch up on.’
True enough, although phone technology wasn’t particularly high on my list.
His dimples shone through the miserable weather. ‘I always knew you’d come back. What took you so long?’
‘I’ve missed you, Lainie. More than you know.’
He hugged me again, with an embrace so strong I thought I might have to lodge a written application just to take another breath. By the time he let me go my shivering had almost stopped.
‘I brought some of Tessa’s clothes for you,’ he said at last, sounding suspiciously emotional. ‘At least they’re dry. Do you think you can manage?’ He pulled out a few items, including underwear. As if I would wear someone else’s undies! I giggled. He had no sense of propriety.
‘I’ll be fine. I don’t need those.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Well, I’m not going to force you into them, that’s for sure. Can you walk?’
‘Are we going home? I need to see Bane. And Aunt Lily. And everyone. I’ve missed them.’
‘Yeah. We’ll go home now. Tessa is waiting and your aunt is on her way back from an appointment in town.’ He glanced back at his phone. ‘Apparently Bane’s on his way too but he’ll take quite a bit longer. Let’s try to get you cleaned up a bit before he gets here, okay?’
I looked down at my arms and legs covered in freezing mud and smeared blood. ‘Yes. Clean me. I don’t want to get him muddy.’
Noah’s affectionate laugh brought back a wealth of childhood memories as he pulled me up off the rotting log.
‘Somehow I doubt that he’d complain too much,’ he snorted as he began to lead me back to the farm.
A young black and tan kelpie greeted us at the gate to the home paddock. Noah said her name was Wendy. Apparently Tessa had picked the name in the hope that if she wandered off to Neverland she might eventually find her way home again. Unlikely, but couldn’t hurt.
‘What happened to the second pup we ordered?’ I asked.
I leant down and whispered in Wendy’s ear. ‘If you find Neverland, don’t ever come back,’ I advised. She ran a circle around me so I played with her until Noah got annoyed at how heavily it was raining, and pestered me to go inside. Tessa was waiting for us at the front door.
‘Wow, Tessa. That’s amazing! Look at you. You ate the whole moon!’
She looked sideways at Noah, who beamed back at her with a proud expression. How long had I been gone for? They’d only just started going out when I left. A baby. Incredible. I hugged her and then gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She looked back at me like she’d just been doused in icy water.
‘Um, Lainie, careful. Try to remember what we talked about.’ Noah said.
Right. Kissing. I wasn’t supposed to kiss people without asking first. That would take getting used to. We moved to the lounge room and I sat down as still as I could on the edge of the armchair to avoid doing anything else wrong.
I had only met one pregnant woman in Eden. She lived in a village quite far from ours and a bunch of us had travelled to visit her. Everyone treated her like a queen because she was growing a baby. That was very special. I had seen only three children in all my time there and they were completely doted on. Nothing was too much trouble when it came to pleasing a child. They were spoilt rotten, and in Eden there was no downside to that.
Tessa smiled, taking my cold hand and placing it on a particular part of her swollen belly. Something tickled my fingers. The baby was moving! This was so exciting. I would watch her as she grew the baby. I would get her anything she desired. I would sing to her. I would play my flute. No. My flute wasn’t here. I would sing then. And give her chocolate. And fruit before she could even ask for it.
A car pulled up outside and I jumped up to follow her down the hall. How could I watch her if she kept moving? It was so hard to see with so many walls everywhere. All in a rush to help, I squeezed past her just as the door opened. Aunt Lily stepped inside, with tears sparkling in her blue eyes and her short blonde hair looking frizzy from the rain.
She swept me into a massive hug, kissing me all over my face. It was so confusing. She hadn’t asked permission. Perhaps I was the only one who was supposed to. I breathed in the familiar scent of her starfruit shampoo and sweet memories came flooding back with it. I had missed her so much. We both began to cry as we clung to each other. Tessa was teary too. Noah came out into the hall and fiddled with the door handle while he waited for us all to stop blubbering.
‘Er, can I get anything for any of you? Some lunch, maybe?’ he asked, probably looking for an excuse to leave.
‘Vegemite crumpets!’ I sobbed happily. He fled to the kitchen.
A little while later Aunt Lily drew me a bath. She helped me to strip off what was left of my flimsy clothing and eased me into the steamy hot water. It felt delicious. My cuts were stinging but it didn’t matter because I finally felt properly warm again. I soaked in the lavender-scented water for a long, long time and refused to let my aunt leave. She examined the clothing I had wrecked, looking fascinated by the bright colours. It had been surprising to me too, at first, when I realised how innovative the culture was in Eden. The people there were human—just as clever and resourceful as on this side of the Boundary, but with much longer life spans to perfect their skills. That had led to a richly diverse society, with unbelievable inventions that made German engineering look as simple as a Lego set. It wasn’t what most people would consider ‘modern technology’, yet in many ways it was even more sophisticated. The main differences were that they didn’t destroy the planet to make what they wanted, and they only made things that were beautiful and practical. No mass production of any sort, and nothing was wasted. Pity I couldn’t show her my sleeping hammock with its nifty blanket spreader. All I needed to do when I felt too cool was press that lever with my foot …
The shampoo bottle made a rude noise, disrupting my thoughts, and then my aunt started to massage my scalp deliciously.
‘Have you been happy, Lainie?’ she asked far too softly, as if she was afraid to upset me. I stopped blowing bubbles under the water and looked at her.
‘Eden is a wonderful place, it’s hard not to be happy there.’ There was so much I wanted to tell her, about the profiterole berries and star spiders and the underground trees, and the River and the Living Fruit. I yearned to share with her all the incredible experiences I’d had, but my throat felt suddenly tight and I couldn’t speak. The guilt felt horrible, like I was tied up in a thousand elastic bands. I couldn’t tell her anything.
I nodded, fighting to find words that would work. ‘Annie is healing, finally. She’s much happier now.’ Well, she would be if I could get Dallmin back in time. Without a second thought I started to jump out of the bath to go and look for him but Aunt Lily pushed me back down.
‘Wait, Lainie, I need to finish your hair,’ she chided.
It was a shock to be manhandled, even gently, and I flinched away from her.
‘Whoa, now. I just need to condition it, it won’t take long. Then I’ll help you get out.’
She spoke to me like I was a yearling filly getting her feet trimmed for the first time. I sat still while she tried to comb the conditioner through. It took ages. She sighed when I became restless again. ‘Never mind. It’ll probably take a few sessions to get all the tangles out. This will have to do for now,’ she said, rinsing it out. My hair had in fact been glossy and tangle free just a few hours earlier—it wasn’t like there weren’t any hairbrushes—but I couldn’t tell her so I didn’t bother trying. I jumped out as soon as she was done and ran down the hall. She ran after me with a towel.
Tessa had prepared us a lovely meal. It tasted strange after Eden food, yet not unpleasant. It looked very simple and it was filling. Pasta. I remembered pasta. It used to be my favourite. It wasn’t very pretty though. I would make something for Tessa tomorrow. I would show her what I had learnt. Wait. No. Tomorrow I needed to look for Dallmin. It was so hard to stay focused here. I used to think it was Eden that made me lose focus, but maybe it was the transition between the two worlds. They were so different that it was hard to adjust.
Taking my bowl to the sink, I started to wash it until Noah took it from me and put it in the dishwasher, so I sat back down again feeling a bit awkward. Since when did we have a dishwasher? My chair creaked when I fidgeted and so I began to smooth my fingers against the wooden table, feeling comforted by its familiarity. The amazing kitchen table. It had been the centre of many difficult conversations in its time.
Tess and Aunt Lily had been waiting patiently for me to speak, but Noah kept crossing his arms and looking at me, and then uncrossing them again and sighing when Tessa glared at him for it. He did it again once the table was cleared. I hadn’t yet told them why I’d returned, because it was a bit complicated. I ran my fingernail along a groove in the wood, mentally checking if I would be allowed to say what I wanted.
‘Someone crossed over recently, from Eden. His name is Dallmin and I need to get him back before he learns too much about this society, otherwise he won’t be allowed to return.’ They all nodded. Turned out it wasn’t that complicated after all. Just a bit embarrassing. ‘I stuffed up. I didn’t realise he wanted to come here or I would have tried to convince him not to. It isn’t like our job here, Noah. We can’t force anyone to do—or not do—whatever they want. We can only try to distract or dissuade them. I guess I misread his intent. Sorry.’
‘I think I felt him arrive,’ Noah said. ‘Last week. Tuesday afternoon. I didn’t feel like there was any threat to Eden so I didn’t follow it up too well. I guess I stuffed up too.’
‘What day is it today?’ I asked. I would have to start keeping track again.
‘Today is Friday. He’s had a ten-day head start. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?’
I bit my lower lip. ‘He wants to learn how to fly. He’s the one who saw us hang gliding and he’s been a bit obsessed ever since.’
I was beginning to feel incredibly guilty. What if we were responsible for someone losing access to the Garden of Eden? It was a horrendous thought. The entire history between God and Man revolved around humanity’s fall from grace. Had we just let it happen again?