The Sentinels of Eden, Books 1-4

Chapter 94

Chapter 37

Huddled on the inoffensive beige carpet in the corner of the motel’s compact family suite, I tried to distract myself from my despair by running through as many names of people I went to school with as I could remember. Tessa Bright, Kate Simpson, Emma McKenzie, Kiara … something. Tania Cox, Emily Chau, who else? They felt like someone else’s memories, from another life. Maybe the boys would be easier. Noah, Bane … come on, Lainie, think. Jarrod Pike, we always called him Jarrah Spike. Bailey Carson, Jake Evans … Bane killed Jake’s dog. The remembered sound of its canine yelp and the hideous crunch as it hit the bumper bar filled my mind, just as the faded green door of the motel suite burst open in a shower of cheap plywood framework.

In an instant, Sergeant Loxwood jumped in front of me with his gun aimed directly at my guardian angel. A scream tore loose and I covered my head with my hands when I realised it had come from me.

‘Lainie, I’m so sorry, I never should have trusted him! I’m here now, it’ll be all right.’ I could hear Bane speaking to me but I was too frightened to look up so I just curled myself into an even tighter ball.

‘Mr Millard, what are you doing here? Where’s that other friend of yours?’

‘He’s not here. He stayed in Melbourne.’

He left Dallmin on his own? He was abandoning everyone today.

A few more tense seconds passed.

‘I’ll ask you one more time,’ the sergeant growled. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Where’s Tessa?’ Bane snarled back through gritted teeth. I knew that tone, he was holding on by a thread. More seconds passed so I forced myself to peer through my wet eyelashes up at the sergeant. The horrid weapon was still in his hands. Its black metal was the sole focus of the room. The gun was the one in total control of the situation, not me, not Bane, not even the policeman. Its very existence controlled what everybody did and I was suddenly furious with it. Without that evil thing I would be able to sort out this mess, rescue Tessa and … what? Send Dallmin home? Keep the police away from the farm? Was Eden under any threat at all? If there was an incident here, what would the implications be to Eden? There would be an investigation. News and camera crews. ‘Police shooting in Bendigo linked to abduction of pregnant woman’. That was a headline that would shake the foundations of my small country town. My town. My job to keep it nicely ignored by the rest of the world. I felt fiercely protective of my valley and I didn’t want a whole lot of strangers poking their noses into our business. It was my valley.

Swirling thoughts resolved into protective emotion and I centred my attention on that until it morphed into a quiet hope. The hope became a softly whispered supplication. Closing my eyes, I encouraged it to develop into Word …

The police officer flinched as the gun dissolved into a pile of dust, which he reflexively tried to grasp at as it eddied down to the carpet. Then he searched the floor as if he thought he had somehow dropped it without realising. The swear words that flew from his mouth were a testament to just how many drunk footy fans he must have babysat over the years.

‘What the hell did you do? Where’s my firearm?’ he finally managed to ask me.

‘Not hell. The other one,’ I mumbled thickly around the speech embargo. There had to be something I could tell him. ‘I unhinged its molecular structure. I have a much better comprehension of the nature of covalent bonds now.’ Well, I tried. How was it I could perform a miracle right in front of him and then still struggle to talk about it?

‘Give it back!’

‘No. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. It doesn’t work that way.’ At least as far as I knew, anyway. My abilities felt so hit and miss, would I ever figure them out? When it worked, it all felt so easy and natural, but at other times I was at a complete loss as to how to even begin.

He looked around again, just to make sure the gun wasn’t hiding from him, and then prodded the small pile of dust with the toe of his shoe.

Bane, who had moved to stand between me and the sergeant, looked ready to tackle a charging bull. ‘Now I’ll ask you one more time. Where. Is. Tessa?’

‘What makes you think I know where she is? You’re the one who seems to have an uncanny knack of finding people,’ he said, still scanning the floor in disbelief. ‘I said I would protect Lainie, so we were heading back to Nalong—away from danger—or so I thought.’

‘Then why didn’t you answer your phone today?’

‘I did. I spoke to Sergeant Franklin when he called. I told him I didn’t want anyone speaking with Lainie just yet. Not until I had a chance to get some proper answers from her. I expect he told you I was unavailable.’

The tension in the room eased a fraction as Bane looked at me for confirmation.

Hiccupping my nerves away, I forced myself to speak, knowing he wasn’t likely to react well. ‘He doesn’t know where Tess is. Or else he wouldn’t have agreed to take me back.’

When Bane realised that meant Tessa must be back in Nalong, he looked for a second as if he was about to kick the wall. But he didn’t.

‘Dallmin! Come in, it’s okay,’ he called wearily instead.

My heart smiled as my ancient friend’s unruly hair appeared around the smashed door frame.

Sergeant Loxwood glared at Bane. ‘Still in Melbourne, huh? Now will you please tell me what’s really going on? A young woman’s life it still in grave danger and in her state every moment counts. I need to know the truth about all this once and for all.’ As he spoke, his hands checked his holster as if hoping his gun had reappeared there.

Bane glared at him with his lips pressed together, while I drew myself up on my knees, feeling more confident than I had for a long time. ‘He can’t tell you either,’ I said. ‘But Dallmin might be able to.’