The Sentinels of Eden, Books 1-4

Chapter 37

Chapter 32

After the meeting we met up with Noah and Tessa by the river, at the same swimming hole where we had spent our fateful graduation afternoon. It was humbling to think I could have been dog meat that day—or at least been seriously injured. Even having a Guardian wasn’t a guarantee that nothing could happen to me. My mother’s sudden fall down the riverbank that had caused my father’s death had highlighted that. As I stared into the reflections on the water’s surface I could almost hear her scream as she’d scrambled with me along the river’s edge trying to follow him as he was swept away.

Shaking my head, I started humming the first thing that came to mind to clear away the morbid music but it turned out to be a tragic Nick Cave ballad, which didn’t help at all. In the past I had never really worried about my own safety but maybe I was finally becoming responsible. Apparently I was needed now, and that made a difference to how I viewed things. I missed the days when I could just fool around. I missed getting into trouble with Noah each time one of us dared the other to do something crazy.

There was a tidy patch of green below the bridge, with a shady picnic shelter that had been graciously paid for by the local council. They did, after all, try to act in the best interest of the community. Apparently. We ate the lunch Aunt Lily had organised and then cleaned up while she went for a walk along the river. I figured she needed time to rant against Kolsom and the council, and freak out about what I’d done in the meeting without having to guard her language. Noah took our rubbish up to the bin on the street—which funnily enough had a bit of a tilt to it—and came back with a soccer ball he found stashed somewhere in his ute. He and Bane soon found a flattish bit of grass to let off some steam, which they both needed to do badly after hearing what Kolsom were doing.

As I shook my head at the waste of water required to keep the grass here alive while so many farmers were struggling to feed and water their stock, I watched my boys kick around the ball, looking relaxed for the first time in weeks. At least there didn’t appear to be any more tension between them. Noah had always been pretty easy going, and it was clear that Bane wasn’t going to make any moves towards Tessa so I figured the testosterone levels would stay reasonable.

Tessa pulled an ice block from the esky and ran it across the back of her neck while ogling Noah unashamedly, finally able to enjoy watching him play without having to hide her reactions. ‘They could both be models. Easily,’ she commented as she watched Noah ball up his T-shirt and toss it away.

I nodded appreciatively just as Bane came in for a rough-looking tackle, which made her hiss, but she stayed seated. It was a testament to how hard she’d worked over the years to control her impulses. No wonder she’d always seemed so highly strung.

‘Lainie, what do you think my role really is in all this?’ she asked, twisting her hair into a casual knot to get it off her neck. Even in the shade we were struggling with the heat. ‘It’s not like I would actually be able to protect Noah from anything. All I seem to do is get sick and stressed and make him feel bad about getting on with all the things he loves to do. I don’t want to be that sort of girlfriend.’

‘You mean the sort who argues when he suggests jumping from the bridge into the river, or climbing onto the roof of the hay shed to watch the sunset?’ Not that any of Bane’s arguments had ever stopped me.

She nodded. ‘What am I, his mother? He had enough of that with Claudia. I refuse to be the typical nagging ball and chain. No one likes those.’

‘Can you tell that to Bane? And use those exact words. Nagging ball and chain.’

That made her smile for a second. ‘So what do you suggest I do instead?’

I fanned myself with a leftover paper plate as I considered. ‘Let him do whatever he wants, but do it with him. He’s going to have to take risks sometimes, just be there to help if things do go wrong, that’s all.’

She nodded, and looked down. ‘But seriously, Lainie. It really is hard to resist our reflexes when we know you might get hurt. Go easy on Bane, yeah?’

I was trying to. These compulsions were tying us all up in knots and taking away all sorts of freedom. It didn’t seem to be fair on any of us, but that’s what duty was. Part of the reason I felt such a desperate need to see Eden was so I could appreciate just what it was we were making these sacrifices for.

‘Have you healed him of anything yet?’ I asked tentatively. It had been a very intimate and personal experience each time Bane had healed me so I didn’t know if she would be happy to discuss it, but when she looked at me and nodded, her eyes were ecstatic.

‘Just a couple of minor things, but it felt amazing,’ she said, then bit her lower lip. ‘Well, to be honest, I kind of passed out the first time, but I’m getting better at it. Bane gave me some hints.’ She looked as pleased as a cat carrying a mouse. It made me wonder what Bane had told her.

‘Still,’ she said, ‘I wish he’d chosen a safer sport to get addicted to. It should be easier now that I understand why I was so sick every school holidays when he worked at the hang gliding centre but I’m still going to struggle. He loves to fly, and I wouldn’t dream of taking that from him. I just don’t know how often I can handle it.’

And I had thought Bane had gone through trauma when I was riding cross-country events. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Tessa each time Noah had flown. He’d been so proud of the number of flight hours he had logged for his age. Hours that must have been torture for Tessa. I glared in Noah’s direction as if it was his fault.

‘Has he been talking about going flying again?’ I asked innocently, but she wasn’t fooled.

‘You know he has, Lainie. You both think on the same wavelength, so don’t try to tell me you haven’t had the same idea.’

I looked away sheepishly, but as guilty as I felt about what it would put the Guardians through, I simply had to find a way into Eden. Maybe if she felt a bit more in control of her abilities she would find it easier to give Noah some space. She didn’t really believe she could protect him, so maybe she felt more nervous than she needed to be. A sly smile came over my face as I thought of a way I could prove that she was useful.

‘Let’s go and play, Tess. I can see you’re struggling to just sit here while my Guardian beats the panties off your Cherub.’ I smirked as I finished off the apple core I was eating.

She laughed and ran after me as I took off towards the boys. Noah automatically tried to team up with Tessa against Bane and me, but I quickly bullied them into swapping partners. Noah and I had played together for years and it was time I showed Bane what I was capable of. Besides, this way I could take advantage of the fact that Bane would rather let me have the ball than risk me getting injured. We played for a few minutes, laughing at the complexity of a game where Bane was trying to protect me, Tessa and Noah were trying to protect each other, and I didn’t really care who I hurt. Perhaps our carefree days weren’t entirely over. Each time Tessa managed to steal the ball to stop Bane from needing to tackle Noah, I glowed with satisfaction. She would never have thought she could keep up with a game between those two brutes. My sense of playfulness jumped a level when Tessa and Bane took control of the ball and managed to get past us, racing for their goal. Noah ran to catch them. I was struggling with the heat, and I knew I had no chance of making it in time. Impulsively I took off anyway, running full pelt not towards them, but straight for Noah instead. I visualised myself bowling him over from behind and was gratified to see Tessa almost flip herself over to turn around as she felt the danger he was in. Just a split second before I slammed into him I realised my mistake, as out of the corner of my eye I saw the look on Bane’s face as he pelted after her.

‘What on Earth were you thinking?’ Aunt Lily yelled at me when I admitted what I’d done. Tessa had her wrist submerged in the dregs of ice in the bottom of the esky and Noah was pacing. Bane looked both angry and sick at the same time, and was refusing to look at anything other than his feet. He had done well to only injure her wrist when he’d picked her up and thrown her off me. I felt terrible. It wasn’t the first time one of my pranks had backfired but usually I had Noah on my side as I faced the consequences. This time I was well and truly alone in my disgrace. So much for being carefree.

‘I’m so sorry, Tess. I really am. I acted on impulse and I stuffed up. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, I promise.’ I hovered around her, wishing there was something I could do. She glared at me again, but then slowly started to smile. When she began to chuckle I started to breathe again. At least she could see the funny side. I hoped that meant I hadn’t done our relationship any permanent harm. After all those years at school together I was finally starting to like her. Now I just had to make it up to Noah and Bane.

Luckily Tessa’s injury didn’t seem to be too serious. We came with her to get it X-rayed just in case, which took ages. At least it was cool in the hospital. Tessa insisted that she was a quick healer and that we were all making too much of a fuss, and I wondered if fast healing was a side-effect of her role. That could be useful to know but I wasn’t about to suggest any experiments. I was in enough trouble already.

Finally the doctor gave her the all clear. He explained that there was some soft tissue damage and gave her strict instructions to keep icing it as much as possible. I apologised to her again as Noah bundled her carefully into his ute to take her home. She was not looking forward to explaining it to her parents.

It wasn’t until we were out finishing up the evening feeds that I had a chance to apologise to Bane. I couldn’t believe I’d done it to him again. Yet again I’d forced him to become someone he wasn’t. There wasn’t a violent bone in his body unless I was nearby. What I was doing to him was far worse than just trapping him in Nalong.

‘I really am sorry about what I did today,’ I said as I bundled up the net wrapping from the hay and tossed it onto the back of the ute.

‘Don’t apologise. You’re not the one who threw aside an innocent girl like she was a paper doll. I should have controlled myself better.’ He latched up the back of the tray with far more force than it required.

‘It was my fault that I put you in that situation, though. You couldn’t help what you did.’

He spun to face me. ‘Couldn’t I? How is this compulsion any excuse to hurt Tessa? She’s been through enough already. She didn’t deserve what I did. I should have been able to hold back.’ He had the same look on his face that I had been so familiar with back at school.

I glared right back. ‘I wish you had! Then she would have given me what I deserved. But then you still would have suffered. I’m the one who messed up. I didn’t think through the consequences. I just wanted Tessa to see that she really was capable of protecting Noah. I guess even I underestimated how effective she could be.’

His expression softened a fraction. ‘She was pretty fast. I nearly didn’t get to you in time,’ he admitted. ‘Does she really doubt her ability to protect him?’

‘Probably even more so now,’ I sulked, ‘given that she was the one who ended up injured.’ I’d made a complete mess of things. Poor Tessa.

Bane leant against the ute, still frowning, but thoughtfully. ‘I wonder if she would be interested in doing a bit of training with me. Just some basic combat techniques. And some self-defence.’

I raised my eyebrows at him. ‘Who would you ever need to fight? No one’s likely to attack us, you know.’ Even Mr Beckinsale wouldn’t go that far, surely.

Bane just shrugged and jumped into the ute, slamming the door. He wasn’t going to forgive himself that easily, but at least I’d managed to get him to talk to me again.

My valley.

Looking down into the dense foliage the following day, I reflected that the valley owned me far more than I owned it. Deep down I was beginning to understand the relationship my people had with this country. Dry gusts of wind made a symphony of dancing leaves in every direction, as if the eagles were conducting an orchestra of trees right across the valley. My hair apparently wanted to dance to the music too, and refused to stay in its ponytail for longer than a minute at a time.

With his shirt sleeves rolled up and sweaty hair messed from his helmet, Noah was methodically walking along the edge of the ridge, with Tessa hovering behind. Every now and again he would stop as if trying to sense where the boundary was. He noticed my puzzled expression.

‘I’m trying to feel where the Event Horizon crosses over the cliff,’ he explained. I raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Think about it. If it sometimes crosses inside a cave, and Harry was sometimes able to feel it on his side of the cliff face, then the most likely explanation is that the boundary runs in a clean straight line. This ridge is uneven, so sometimes the edge of the cliff will be on one side of it, sometimes the other. If we can find a spot where the cliff juts out a bit, we should be able to cross over.’

Sometimes Noah accidentally revealed just how smart he was. How careless of him. I followed him up the hill. It would be a huge advantage if we could see where we were trying to get to. Even I hadn’t been keen on the idea of jumping into the complete unknown, even if Harry did say it was an open landscape. Bane found my hand and gripped it, and I squeezed back reassuringly. It hadn’t helped last time, but if it made him feel calmer I was happy to oblige.

It was another half an hour before we found what we had been searching for. I was watching a giant wedge-tailed eagle fly out from the cliff when it suddenly vanished in mid-air, as if to show us how it should be done. I had no idea what the rules were for animals crossing the boundary, but if any were to be allowed in, it would be those amazing birds. And possibly doves. Suddenly I heard Tessa cry out as Noah disappeared from view.

‘Calm down, Tess. Don’t get too close to the edge trying to find him, it won’t help,’ I called, hurrying to where he had vanished. I had felt him disappear as well and I realised now how disturbing it was.

Bane pulled me up short. ‘Lainie. Please be careful. I can’t help you once you cross. Please don’t get too carried away.’

I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, which startled him enough that he let me go.

‘I’ll only be a few minutes, I promise. I just want to have a look.’

He took his watch off and strapped it to my wrist. I got the message. Then he nodded and planted his feet, standing with his arms crossed and looking seriously vigilant as if on sentry duty. I smiled at him, winked, and then stepped across the boundary into Paradise.