The Sentinels of Eden, Books 1-4

Chapter 41

Chapter 36

Noah ducked behind me, nicked my hair tie and shook out my braid. Then he deliberately wiped his sticky fingers through my hair, and when I tried to evade him he took another piece of melon and squooshed it right onto my head, laughing. Then I got him back by squeezing juice from something like a giant orange down the back of his shirt. We both already had juice all over our faces and running down our forearms.

Harry had assured us that every other fruit we found would be safe to eat without affecting our memories, and each one was more delicious than the last. Noah was in the process of taking up my challenge to try every new type we came across, and had been keeping up fine until now. I was tempted to wrestle him to the ground and sit on him for messing up my hair, but that would mean letting go of the orange, and I wanted to eat some more. Besides, nothing he did could upset me at the moment. This place was too amazing to waste time feeling bad about anything, so I ate down to the unexpected pip at the centre, and threw that at him instead. He dodged it and then pounced on me, tickling me mercilessly. He hadn’t done that since he was ten years old. I kicked and squealed and rolled him off me, tearing my top in the process, and then we were chasing each other, laughing and dodging trees and pretending to hide even though that never worked. It didn’t matter because it was so much fun to just play. I even remembered how to cartwheel.

A little while later he motioned me to stop, and I heard the sound of laughter ahead. And splashing. There were people playing somewhere, having fun. We looked at each other, and then raced to find the source of the mayhem. Neither of us considered for a moment that there might be consequences to our actions. There was fun to be had. So we went.

Noah got to the River first, dive-bombing into the middle of a group of people who all appeared to be in their twenties. There were seven of them, four guys and three girls, some laughing, some singing, and all stark naked.

Without stopping to think about it I stripped off my clothes and jumped into the water too. It was cool and fresh, and so clean that I could see the bottom clearly where tiny fish darted around in schools, reflecting sunlight off their shiny blue scales, and I ducked my head under to watch them better. The song of the River overwhelmed my senses, but instead of the grief-stricken heartbreak I had become accustomed to, the melody was the most astoundingly joyful noise I had ever heard. It sounded as if each water droplet was adding a harmonious note to a great symphony. The sound was one of pure delight, like a baby’s first laugh. Enraptured, I stayed under the water listening, and I understood the meaning of bliss. Even the dancing fish were part of the song. One of the girls ducked under too, to watch me watch them, her long brown hair floating softly around her face. I looked curiously at her, wondering if I had done something wrong but then she smiled, and bubbles poured from her lips as she started to giggle. We both stood up, spluttering as we tried to breathe and laugh at the same time and she reached over and hugged me as if we had known each other for years. Noah looked startled as he watched us and I dimly tried to think about how it must look, both of us naked and hugging. It didn’t feel weird at all though; certainly none of the others looked particularly surprised. Just what had we gotten ourselves into?

Then a girl with long black hair tugged at Noah’s T-shirt and waved her hands about as if inviting him to dance, but he backed away out of the water and ran off into the bushes. I started to wade after him, but then stopped. Did he want me to follow? I probably should go after him, but why? Why go if he didn’t want me to follow? I wanted him to be happy. He’d run off pretty quickly, so he probably didn’t expect me to go with him. Good. I would stay then. That would make him happy. The girl splashed me to get my attention. I splashed back.

Tessa dumped her backpack on the floor of the cave and then flopped down onto it, panting inelegantly. She had finally started to put on a bit of weight lately, much to her mother’s relief, but she still got tired very quickly, and two hikes to the cave in one day was more exercise than she had ever done in her life. After talking to Noah through the gap in the rock, she and Bane had headed back to the farm for her supplies and he had driven her part of the way back again before he’d left for Horsham. Then she’d hiked with her heavy pack on her own. She’d even managed to wrestle the canoe up the bank, although she couldn’t get it up as far as the cape wattle where it usually hid. At least the trail was getting easier to follow; they had worked out the best ways to avoid the worst of the blackberries, and had been coming so often that the path was easy to find.

By the time she finished setting up camp it was early evening. She was exhausted, so as soon as she finished her soup she curled up in her sleeping bag. Even after she moved the worst of the rocks aside, her thin hiking mat was not nearly enough to keep her from feeling the lumps underneath. Still, she couldn’t deny that it was a perfect spot to shelter in if you didn’t mind the fact that it was freezing—it still surprised her every time she stepped from the searing dry summer heat into the cold cave system. And tomorrow she could have a lovely lazy day reading her book. It would be light enough in the mouth of the cave, and not too hot. If only this really had been a weekend away with Noah like everyone assumed. Never mind. She would wait patiently for him. She was used to that.

We lay on the sweet grass, letting the sun dry us off. The sunshine here had texture. And it was kind. The others had all left, leaving just me and the girl who had hugged me. I had dressed again, grateful that my thoughtless strip down had at least saved the photos Bane had given me. The girl was still naked but it didn’t feel in the least bit strange. Thinking back, I realised that the man we had met when we first landed in Eden had also been naked. I simply hadn’t noticed at the time and I had no idea how that was possible. It just seemed so natural here. There was certainly nothing inappropriate going on. I’d just spent two hours swimming with a bunch of nude young adults and didn’t get so much as a leer. Only the completely innocent hug from this girl. It felt like we could be sisters, except I had no idea what that would be like. I peered sideways at her. She had long wild hair and dusky skin a similar colour to mine. Her eyes were much darker than my tawny speckled ones. She was pretty in a comfortable, familiar way, and looked to be just a few years older than me, but her eyes seemed more mature. They had a depth to them that spoke of something profound and hidden, maybe grief? And yet she moved with such energy and innocence that it was hard to think of her as anything other than totally carefree. She noticed me watching her.

‘Hello,’ she mumbled shyly, fiddling with the ends of her hair.

That was odd. Not just that we had spent the last couple of hours together and she was only just now saying hello, but also that she sounded shy. No one here was shy. It sounded weird. And how did she know English? She sat up straight and looked at me seriously, taking a deep breath as if trying to find extra confidence.

‘You really are Lainie,’ she announced, as if I might have forgotten. ‘I’m Annie. Harry told me you would come, but I didn’t believe him. You’re a lot older than I expected.’

And she was a heck of a lot younger. I had finally met my mother.