The Sentinels of Eden, Books 1-4

Chapter 48

Chapter 43

Everything will be fine, I thought to myself as I started to drift off to sleep on the couch. Bane’s arms were wrapped around my waist and I could feel the weight of his ankle resting on mine. He had reluctantly cut short my kisses and led me back to the house, saying he didn’t want to take advantage of my ‘transitioning emotional state’—whatever that was. We each showered away the grime and various remnant bits of bushland that had stuck to us since our afternoon trek back from the cave, and changed into our daggiest old tracksuits, but then I had just sort of gone into hibernation in the lounge room and refused to move again, despite Aunt Lily’s best coaxing techniques. Eventually she’d given up and tossed me a spare woollen blanket and a pillow.

Bane hadn’t even looked apologetic when he’d pulled the blanket over us both, and Aunt Lily hadn’t commented. He couldn’t possibly have been very comfortable, but he refused to let me go now that he knew how much I needed him, and the thought of going to sleep in my own bed as if everything was back to the way it had been a few days ago made me feel kind of dizzy. Nothing was the same anymore. Harry was in hospital. Paradise was close enough to taste, and my life had been thrown into utter chaos. My worry for Harry would return the second Bane was not around, I was certain. But with him there, everything would be fine.

I let my mind relax, and at some point the line between my muddled thoughts and my jumbled fantasies blurred, and I slept. All night my dreams were cut from sorrow as well as sweetness, both fabrics capricious and yet still somehow harmonious, and both were inescapably woven from threads of love.

The call came at 9.30 the next morning. The surgeon wanted to see Aunt Lily in person, so Bane and I went with her to the small red brick hospital building and she spent a long time in the surgeon’s office where she was told the news. Harry’s wounds had been healing at a miraculous rate, but when the surgeon had looked at the MRI she’d found something else. A tumour in his shoulder. Further scans had revealed the full extent of the crisis. Harry’s body was riddled with late stage bone cancer.

‘He must have known,’ Aunt Lily sobbed as she told us the news. ‘He would have been in significant pain for a while. Do you think that was why he went … you-know-where?’ she asked.

I shook my head. ‘Maybe, but then he found out—’

The words stuck in my throat. I couldn’t tell her about the Trees. I couldn’t explain that he believed eating the Fruit might damage the sacred source of Life itself. After listening to the misery of the River music leaking out from the Garden for so long, I could understand Harry’s choice. The blessed Garden was far more important than any of us. It was the ultimate hope of the entire human race. ‘He doesn’t want to be healed there,’ I explained weakly instead.

My world felt like it was caving in as I realised then that not only would I have done the same, but that I would support him in his choice. I wanted what he wanted.

Sarah had spent all night by his bedside. Aunt Lily told me that the nurses had struggled to rouse her in the morning. She was dizzy and exhausted and when she heard the news she became so distraught that the doctors ended up giving her a sedative and made Aunt Lily drive her home.

Bane and I waited at the hospital for Noah to arrive so I could tell him in person. His tears were like a contrasting reflection of the tears of joy and wonder he had shed when we’d first sat overlooking the glory of Eden. Tessa called him on cue, as if she could feel his distress the way she felt his pain. I could hear her stammer when Noah told her about Harry. I knew she wanted to ask the same thing Aunt Lily had—whether we should get him back to Eden—but she couldn’t get the words out over the phone and Noah didn’t want to argue with her, so he told her he’d see her later.

The hospital facility was small but efficient. The faded walls and dated furniture were typical of a rural town with a small state budget allocation. Harry was still unconscious, and the nurses in the Intensive Care Unit were reluctant to let me in because I wasn’t a direct family member. At least I was certain about that now. Bane waited in the hospital café while Noah bullied the nurses into letting us in to see him anyway.

The sight of Harry’s slack features and weathered but healed hands outlined against the stark white sheets bothered me a lot. His chest was no longer even bandaged, which made him look like he was ready to just open his eyes and tell me off for hovering over him when there was work to catch up on. Even the few drops of Fruit juice had worked miracles, but it was still not enough.

They had him hooked up to a bulky heart monitor with white lines that waltzed across the screen and made noises that were even more annoying than a phone. If he’d been awake he would have complained about that. He didn’t belong here. It brought home to me the fact that despite all our powers and authority we were still human, genetically at least. Spiritually? Not as vulnerable, possibly not even able to be tempted to kill another human, but where did that leave us? I felt human. I certainly felt anger, and grief. I didn’t kid myself into thinking he would recover, and I wasn’t even sure he wanted to. He had been to Eden. He knew how the people there viewed the passing of a loved one. He would finally be reunited with his Guardian, whoever she was. It would be a joyous time for him, and for his sake I needed to see things the same way.

Noah clutched Harry’s hand in both of his, and I thought about all the times Harry had told us off for misbehaving as well as the times he’d made us laugh. He’d grown us up, and we both owed him so much. I would miss his laconic steadiness, and the way he took everything in his stride. He acted like a true Sentinel—confident, determined and capable. How would Noah and I ever fill those shoes?

‘Thank you, Harry, for everything,’ I whispered, kissing him softly on the cheek. There was not much else to say. His story was finishing. I would have to tell him mine the next time we met.

When we came out to the café Noah’s phone rang again. We would have to find a better way for Tessa to contact him or one of them was going to develop epilepsy or something. After only a few seconds, he hung up and looked at me apologetically.

‘That was Mum. Nicole’s run off again, and I’ll give you one guess as to where she’s heading. I knew she would get nosy when she heard we’d been out there again.’ He swore under his breath. ‘Why does she always have to be so selfish? She knows Harry’s in a bad way and that Mum’s not taking it well. Why does she have to pick now to misbehave?’

Probably because she assumed we’d all be too distracted by Harry to care what she did. She would have been right, except that she was doing the one thing we couldn’t ignore.

‘Do you really think she’ll find it on her own?’ I asked. ‘I don’t feel like anything’s wrong out there. How long ago do you think she left?’

‘She was still at home when I left to come here, so maybe she isn’t close enough to trigger our warning senses yet. Mum seemed pretty certain about where she was headed though. She’s closer, and she would feel her if any of us can.’

‘Lainie, I think we’d better go,’ Bane said seriously. ‘We’re already nearly an hour from the farm. The sooner we get back the better.’ He had come to stand closer to me, and his fingers were twitching. I knew those signs. We were headed for trouble again. Even as I thought it, my spine began to prickle. It felt like someone was following me down a dark alley, and the hospital felt very stifling all of a sudden.

Noah drove us home, where Aunt Lily explained that she’d brought Sarah back to our place so she could sleep somewhere quiet while the sedatives wore off, but that she had woken and left to look for Nicole. Even the strong medication wouldn’t have been enough to calm her with both her daughter and Eden at risk. Maybe she would manage to head her off in time, but Nicole could be pretty quick when she wanted to be.

I drove much farther up the river than usual, dodging the bushes that were too solid to plough through, until the paddock basher started making a new unhappy grinding noise, and then the three of us piled out and began to scramble our way upstream. I was so tense that I jumped a mile when the sat-phone Bane had thought to bring along started ringing. I looked hopefully at him. Maybe it was Noah’s mum calling to say she had found Nicole. Wrong again.

‘Hi, Tess,’ Bane said. ‘No, he’s fine. Just some scratches. Nicole’s gone snooping around the river so we’re going to look for her … Of course, but I suggest taking the normal path. The short cut is pretty wild. Don’t rush so much that you get hurt.’ He glanced my way as if he was trying to make a point but I ignored him and kept pushing through a stubborn cape wattle. ‘No, they won’t wait for you, but you’ll … Of course I will.’ He frowned at Noah at the last part, by which I assumed that Tessa had just instructed him to keep her charge safe until she arrived.

Scrambling along the riverbank was tough. Much of it was so steep and overgrown that we had to wade through the river to get past. I had never needed to get there in such a hurry before and it felt as if it took forever. It was hard to stay patient and test how slippery or wobbly the rocks were before trusting them with our weight. With each passing minute I felt as though the danger was increasing and I pushed my body to its limit trying to move as fast as I could. Bane was so anxious he couldn’t even let go of my hand, which made it more awkward to clamber across the chaotic terrain, and I tried not to think about what sort of danger I must be getting myself into. Surely it couldn’t really be that bad, though. It was only Nicole, after all.

After what felt like hours, we finally heard the sound of the waterfall up ahead. By then I was stumbling more than walking, certainly no longer jogging. Bane was practically carrying me over all the fallen logs. This would have been a good time for one of those unexpected super powers to manifest. They only occurred ‘as required’, but I couldn’t very well do my job if I went into cardiac arrest just trying to get there, could I? I wondered what Bane would do if Noah and I took to the air and flew the rest of the way, but sadly that wasn’t to be and when we finally made it to the bottom of the falls we all collapsed, panting, by the edge of the lagoon.

There was no sign of Nicole, but I could see wet footprints on the rocks on the other side of the river. Noah took off his boots and I started to do the same but Bane grabbed my wrist.

‘Lainie, please, not yet. You won’t make it as you are and I won’t be able to get us both across until I’ve had a couple of minutes to rest first.’

I watched Noah tackle the current with flailing arms that betrayed how exhausted he was and I knew Bane was right. Sitting there would hardly be restful, but my lungs were already desperately trying to suck in enough air as it was. It was the first time I had ever felt I couldn’t keep up physically as well as the guys could, and I wanted to scream.

We watched Noah being swept much further downstream than usual and I decided it was a good thing that Tessa wasn’t with us. She wouldn’t have tried to stop him, but she would have let herself drown before leaving him to cross without her.

As I sat, gasping, on the rocks, it occurred to me that Noah’s dad might be here somewhere too. Or perhaps Sarah wasn’t in any danger. We were still a bit hazy regarding the rules of these compulsions. Maybe he was on his way, stumbling along our usual trail. So many people’s lives were affected by this place, and no one seemed to have any say in it. Bane had me cradled against his chest as if I would fade out of existence if he let me go. It was torture for him to be so tightly tied to me, no matter what he said. He should have been off doing army training, meeting girls with fake eyelashes who would swoon over a sexy man in uniform, not being compelled to run madly through the bush trying to protect a girl in a flannel shirt with broken wattle twigs in her hair. What had seemed so simple the previous night was beginning to feel complicated again. Was I really doing the right thing?

Pushing back my sweaty hair, I plucked out a couple of hitchhiking leaves and took a few more deep breaths. I had made my decision, and I would stick to it. Right and wrong were not concepts I felt like dealing with right then. I had work to do. No more time for reflection.

My legs had almost stopped shaking and I was only dizzy for a few seconds when I stood up and stuffed my socks into my boots. I let Bane throw them across the river because in my state they would have been lucky to have made it halfway.

The icy water felt wonderful as I slid my way into the current. I could hear the music calling me. It was much less sad now, and yet it still sounded like a funeral march. I rolled onto my back and kicked my way across, trying not to care how far downstream I went, so long as I made it to the other side using as little energy as possible. Bane swam ahead of me so I didn’t even have to watch where I was going. I just kept kicking, strong fast kicks. I let Bane worry about steering, and focused only on keeping my head above the water. Finally I felt him lifting my shoulders and I found I could touch the rocks at the bottom again. He practically dragged me out of the river—it was becoming a habit here.

As soon as we managed to force our wet feet back into our boots, I bounded up the tiny streamlet, all tiredness forgotten as I was overwhelmed by a fresh sense of urgency. Bane had to run to keep up.

Noah stumbled his way along the tunnel without any method of illumination. Bane was the one who always thought about practical things like bringing torches. But he didn’t need to see, because he could sense someone up ahead, someone who shouldn’t be anywhere near here, who had to be taken away from this place as soon as possible, so he followed the sense of wrongness like a kelpie on a rabbit trail until he rounded a corner to see the glow of the cavern ahead. The sword was spinning faster again. Its heat slowed his shivering but the tension in his body didn’t ease. His mum was waiting for him.

‘Noah,’ she gasped, rushing over to embrace him. Her pale hair tangled around her face, making her look more flustered than he had ever seen her. ‘Nicole’s crossed over. We have to get her back. I’ve never been past here, honey, but you have. I thought it would be best if I waited so you could help me find her.’ She took his hand in both of hers and led him closer to the spinning weapon. The massive sword slowed slightly as it recognised the presence of the Cherubim.

‘She got past? How? I thought the sword would have stopped her somehow …’

‘She was already halfway across when I got here. The sword would have killed her if I hadn’t commanded it to let her through,’ she entreated, looking nervous about his reaction. It could be commanded? He would have to find out how she had done that.

The thought of Nicole in Eden sent violent shivers down his spine. What were they expected to do with her? Even if they did manage to find her, what then? Could they just bring her home and pretend it never happened? What if she ate some of the Living Fruit? There was too much he still didn’t understand about how this all worked. What would happen to Tessa if he crossed over again? After yesterday he had vowed to himself that he wouldn’t leave her alone here again. He couldn’t even call her to say goodbye. But he had to find his sister.

Together they headed towards the Event Horizon, the quiescent sword revolving within its halo of flames.