“Yeah, right,” laughed Lucy. “Come on, don’t be shy. Help yourself!”
“Is there any meat?” asked Luke hopefully.
“Some days. But not today. Have a roll to soak up the sauce.” Luke helped himself to a miniscule serving of veggies.
“Oh, don’t be so polite,” chuckled Lucy. “Here, have a man’s helping. You deserve it and you look like you could do with it,” she said with a wink. She loaded his plate up with veggies. Luke had to admit, it did smell wonderful and he was starving.
“Here, James, I’ll serve you too, in case you’re as polite as your brother,” said Lucy, as she heaped James’ plate with steaming vegetables. There was no time for James to object.
“Tuck in everyone,” said Lucy, happily. Emma ate her dinner quietly, but hungrily, glancing warily now and again at Luke and James. James tried a piece of something he didn’t recognise. He shut his eyes to try to force it down.
What was in his mouth? His eyes opened instantly. The taste was unlike anything he had ever tasted before, and it was… delicious! He stuck his fork into something else, and gingerly, hopefully, put it into his mouth. Wow! This was good! Luke was staring at him in disbelief.
“You should try this. S’amazing!” said James, his mouth full. Luke stuck his fork into something and put it in his mouth.
His eyes betrayed him. They lit up in surprise, as he said, “Yeah, it’s okay.”
“Okay? It’s spectacular, darl,” laughed Paul squeezing Lucy’s hand. “Okay boys. We need your help,” he said, looking directly at Luke and James.
Chapter 4. The tree house
Luke and James looked at Paul expectantly.
“Lucy and I have some business to attend to tomorrow. If we can work it out, we think it’ll make your stay here much more fun. Sorry it’s so soon after your arrival, but if we wait, we may lose out. We may be gone all day, but we’ll more than likely be home early afternoon. Would you boys mind holding the fort and looking after Emma?”
“Oh sure,” said Luke sarcastically. “We can do that no trouble. There’s nothing we’d rather do, in fact.”
“Fabulous! See Lucy, we didn’t have to talk them into it,” beamed Paul.
Lucy and Paul didn’t seem to notice that Luke and James were staring at them in disbelief. “Well, that’s settled, then. Great! Oh and another thing, boys...” Both boys looked at Paul warily. “You guys could sleep in the tree house tonight and then Emma could sleep in one of the beds.”
“Wicked!” smiled Luke.
“Great!” said Paul, relieved. “I’ve almost finished making another spare bed. It’ll be ready to be used tomorrow night.”
“Wicked!” said Luke, again.
James looked less sure. “Uh, I didn’t bring my torch. Do you have one that we could borrow?” asked James cautiously.
“Yeah! I have an awesome torch,” answered Paul enthusiastically. “Come on then, let’s get you two settled before it’s dark.”
Before long, the backpacks had been lifted up into the tree and their sleeping bags laid out on air mattresses on the middle platform.
“Don’t leave the torch on all night will you,” reminded Lucy. “Sweet dreams! Here’s a midnight snack if you get an attack of the munchies.”
“Thanks, Aunt Lucy. Cool!” called James, as Lucy walked back to the homestead.
“A midnight feast of apples, sun-dried tomatoes and dried apricots!” moaned Luke when he looked into the brown paper bag Aunt Lucy had handed them. “Where’s the chocolate and the cookies?”
“Here,” grinned James, pulling out a huge block of chocolate, “Paul gave it to me before!”
“Wicked!” said Luke, smiling. “This is pretty cool. Mum would never let us do this. She’d be worried about snakes and bugs and ticks and possums and...”
“Yeah, she would, wouldn’t she,” said James, quietly, looking around him slowly, totally seeing her point of view. A bit later, the light in the “homestead” went out. James noticed how quiet it was except for the pounding of the surf way below the cliff. He lay down in his sleeping bag.
“Wow! Check that out, Luke,” James said suddenly.
“What?” answered Luke nervously. James pointed straight up at the night sky. The sky was ablaze with stars. Shooting stars were screaming across the sky.
“Wild! Totally wild!” whispered James.
“Wicked!” answered his brother.
Chapter 5. Midnight visitor
“Huh? What’s that?” said Luke opening his eyes instantly, and staring straight ahead. “James, are you messing with me? JAMES? I’ll kill you, if you...”
“Wh... What?” answered James sleepily, from the other side of the tree house.
“Turn on the torch, James,” Luke shouted. Light flooded the tree house. The boys stared in silence at the enormous carpet snake that was making its way across Luke’s legs and heading towards James, its tongue flicking in and out of its mouth.
“Just keep still,” whispered James. “Remember they don’t see us as food. We’re too big. They only bite if they’re afraid or feel threatened.”
“What if I’m afraid or feel threatened?” whispered Luke, his left eye twitching. James looked at his twin brother. Luke... afraid? Luke wasn’t afraid of anything.
“It’s coming this way,” whispered James. He wasn’t as worried as he might have expected. He was the brother in charge, for a change. He really felt that the snake meant him no harm. It was just curious and he decided to stay still. The snake slithered over him, licking his bare arm and moved off into the branches of the tree. “Weird! Totally weird!” said James, breathily.
Luke just stared at James. “You were so cool. Totally cool,” whispered Luke. James looked at Luke grinning. Luke had never said anything like that to him before. He was always putting him down. He always felt like a dork next to Luke. But Luke was actually impressed. It was an awesome moment. He felt his insides swell.
“Well, night night dude!” smiled James.
“What? Are you going back to sleep?” asked Luke shocked.
“Of course. Sally has moved on,” answered James. He could not wipe the grin off his face. Nor did he want to.
“Sally? Have you just named that snake?” asked Luke.
“Seems like it suits her, don’t you think?” grinned James, as he snuggled down into his sleeping bag and shut his eyes. Luke stared at him enviously. How could he relax, let alone go back to sleep. He was going to be awake for the rest of the night.
“Good morning, boys! Sleep well?” smiled Lucy as they arrived sleepily at the breakfast table.
“Yeah, great,” grinned James, rubbing his eyes.
“Uh, sure,” added Luke, yawning. He was still trying to wake up. He had actually fallen asleep, but only once the sun had started rising above the ocean.
“Excellent! We’re having fruit salad for breakfast. Would you boys be darlings and dash down to the orchard and pick us a selection of fruits? Thanks,” said Lucy, as she disappeared into the pantry. Luke and James looked at each other tiredly, and turned to head down the hated hill. They had walked more in the last twenty-four hours than they had in the last year.
They had to climb the apple trees to reach the apples. James saw a half-eaten apple, picked it and pegged it at Luke, hitting him square in the back of his head, where it exploded, sending bits of apple everywhere. Luke nearly fell out of the tree he got such a fright and James nearly fell out of the tree laughing.
Then World War Three began. Apples were flying like the shooting stars from the night before, exploding left and right. When they ran out of apples, both boys looked at each other guiltily, then at the apple-splattered ground under the trees.
“We’re in for it now,” grinned Luke. Without saying anything else, they climbed out of the trees and quickly picked nectarines, a pineapple, a paw-paw and some grapes, which they dropped into the linen bags they had brought with them. They walked out of th
e orchard together, in silence.
“Race you back!” yelled James as he started running. Luke took off after him.
“Beat ya!” yelled Luke as he pushed in front of James through the doorway to the kitchen.
“Hey, not fair!” yelled James, punching Luke.
“What took you so long? We were going to send out a search party,” said Aunt Lucy. The boys turned to see Paul, Lucy and Emma’s eyes on them.
“Uh! Sorry. We’ll be faster next time,” muttered James, picturing the mess they’d left at the orchard.
They enjoyed a meal of the most delicious fruit salad that either boy had ever eaten. Its homemade yoghurt topping was so tart it made their eyes spin in their sockets. They couldn’t believe that they were offered pancakes as the last course.
“Phew! Awesome, Aunt Lucy!” said Luke leaning back in his chair and patting his stomach.
“Yeah, thanks, Aunt L,” added James.
“We aim to please,” smiled Lucy.
“Well, have fun, kids,” said Lucy, as she and Paul stood up from the table. “We shouldn’t be more than five or six hours.”
“What?” said Luke, looking confused.
“You said you’d be happy to look after Emma,” said Lucy, looking equally confused.
“Yeah, but we…”
“So, we’ll love and leave you,” she added, smiling. “Have fun, Emma. Thanks boys.” With that, Paul and Lucy walked out the door, got into the truck and drove away.
James looked at Luke and Emma. They looked as terrified as he felt. The friendliness that had been creeping into Luke’s attitude was replaced with fear, which bubbled up out of him as anger.
“So?” said Luke, his hands on his hips, glaring at the little girl. Emma burst into tears and ran out of the house.
“Now what?” asked James.
“Search me,” said Luke, lazily.
“Well, we’d better go after her,” said James, getting up. This was going to be a long few hours.
Luke and James stood in the vegetable garden. Emma was nowhere to be seen.
“How can she just vanish into thin air?” asked James.
“She’s probably hiding,” said Luke, irritated. “Let’s go inside and wait for her to come back.”
“I dunno. She’s only four,” said James.
“So she’s old enough to know not to run away. She’ll come back when she understands we’re not playing her silly game.”
“I don’t think she is playing a game. You scared her,” said James.
“Go find her then. I’m going inside,” declared Luke.
James wandered around, calling. But there was no answer.
Chapter 6. Emma goes missing
Where would he go if he were scared? He’d probably hide. The hen house! She’d fit in there. He shoo-ed the annoyed hens away and stuck his head through the door. No Emma.
Maybe she’d go to the guinea pigs. He’d seen her cuddling one yesterday. Nothing looked disturbed though, and there was no movement near the hutch.
He wandered among the vegetable plants, eating cherry tomatoes as he looked. By the time he’d looked all around the outside of the house, he was starting to feel weird. His palms were sweaty and there was a sickish feeling in his stomach. He threw the last two cherry tomatoes to the grateful chickens.
His eyes fell on the outhouse. Of course!
“Emma! It’s okay. You can come out now,” he said, knocking on the door.
No answer.
He knelt down and looked under the door.
No feet.
He pulled the door open.
No four year old.
“Come on brain, think!” he said, slapping his own head. Would she try to follow Aunt Lucy and head off down the road? That made sense. James ran along the road until he arrived at Stony Creek Corner. He yelled her name again and again, while looking in every direction. All the way down the dusty road there was no sign of her. Surely she wouldn’t wander off the road into the long grass and scrub. He’d never find her in there. She must be hiding nearer the house. He turned and ran back.
“Have you seen Emma?” he called through the door, hopefully.
“No. Haven’t you found her yet?” Luke was starting to sound a little concerned. But then he said, “She’s hiding and she’ll come back when it gets dark.”
“You could help me look,” yelled James, his frustration mounting. “I’ve looked everywhere I can think of.”
“How about the tree house?”
“Ahhh!” James’ eyes lit up. “Good thinking!” He turned and ran to the tree, calling her name. She wasn’t on the first or second platforms though. He even checked their sleeping bags. Totally empty!
He made his way up to the third platform, admiring her for having the courage to climb that high. But no Emma.
It was a great vantage point though. He had an uninterrupted view of everything. Everything except a little girl in pink. He could hear the surf pounding at the base of the cliff. He couldn’t see the base of the cliff though.
The cliff! A chill ran down his spine. Anyone with half a brain would have looked there first. Using the ropes he was on the ground in seconds.
He ran to the cliff edge. Holding on to a pandanus palm, he looked down. There were lots of rocks all the way down. It was not a cliff exactly, but you’d have a tough time stopping if you did trip at the top. Nothing looked suspicious though. Relief flooded his body.
He turned around.
Then he noticed the cave entrance.
Chapter 7. The cave
James ran to the entrance. He was quite breathless when he reached it. He stepped inside and had to wait a few seconds for his eyes to get used to the darkness. It was actually more like a tunnel, he realised. He walked slowly down the tunnel. He had to wait a few minutes before he was breathing slowly enough to call.
“EMMA!” he yelled. There was no answer. “Emma, we’re going to look after you. Are you in here?” There was still no answer. “Emma, don’t be scared of us,” he shouted, feeling frustrated and angry. He turned to walk away, but suddenly heard crying coming from inside the cave.
He turned back and walked further along the tunnel, listening. The tunnel ended in a T-junction. He looked left then right. It was pitch black both ways. James stood still, willing his eyes to adjust further. It stayed pitch black in front of him.
The crying seemed to come from the left. He stepped into The Black.
“Emma! Can you hear me?”
The crying stopped.
He heard a cough behind him.
He spun around.
Slowly he walked back up the tunnel to the T-junction and into the blackness of the tunnel that went right.
“Emma!” he called. “Walk to my voice.”
Nothing.
James walked up the tunnel to the right, with his hands out in front of him. He couldn’t see anything.
“Emma! Please answer me,” he shouted. “I could hear you crying and coughing before.”
Silence.
“Emma! You have to help me. I can’t see anything.”
Silence.
Maybe it wasn’t Emma. Maybe someone else, or worse, something else was in these tunnels.
“Look, stay where you are. We’ll come and get you. I need to get a torch.” He also needed to get out of this complete darkness. James turned and ran up the tunnel to the light.
He stood at the entrance, squinting in the sunlight. The sun hurt his eyes. As soon as he could see, he ran back to the house.
“Luke, I think I’ve found Emma. She’s in the cave, but I can’t see her. Find the torch and come and help me.”
“What? I’m not going in any cave. I always feel like I can’t breathe,” said Luke, his voice sounding panicky.
“Fine, bring the torch. You can stay at the entrance,” James said, and ran back to the cave. Luke arrived in minutes, breathless.
“Okay Emma! I’m back. I’ve got
a torch,” shouted James as he shone the beam of light up the tunnel that had been in total darkness. “I’m coming to get you. Please stay where you are. Say something or shout or cry so that I know which way to go.”
Silence.
James turned and yelled to Luke, who was still standing at the entrance, “Go and get help if you hear something suspicious, or if I don’t come back or something.”
“Yeah! Yeah!” answered Luke, trying to sound bored. The catch in his voice gave him away, however. James turned and walked into the tunnel on the right. The light shone onto another wall. He started to feel uneasy.
He heard crying.
It was hard to tell exactly where it was coming from. He continued following the tunnel, turning left and right, on and on. Sometimes the crying seemed to get further away and then sometimes it sounded quite close. It was very confusing. He kept walking, until the tunnel came to a fork. Oh no! Which way? The crying seemed to be coming from the left tunnel, so he followed the sound.
Suddenly the sound was loud and clear and close. He shone the torch at the sound. The torch shone brightly onto the tunnel wall. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. This was getting creepy. He could hear Emma as though she was standing right there, but she wasn’t. It was harder to breathe. His throat felt like it was closing in.
He ran the light along the wall. He saw a crack or crevasse in the wall and shone the light through it. There was a movement and there was pink.
“Emma!” he said in relief. His throat opened a little. She was on the other side of the wall. He stuck his arm through the crack. She reached through to him, and he held her hand.
There was no way he could force his body through that crevasse. He tried to pull her through to him. But her body wouldn’t fit either. Her crying had stopped. It was so quiet in here. He needed help. He didn’t know how to get to her. Someone must know how these tunnels worked. “Emma, I’ll get someone to help us. Stay where you are. I’ll be back for you.”
She sniffed in answer, and then said in panic, “No, don’t go! Stay here!”
“I have to get help. I’ll come back for you, I promise,” he said.
“NO!” she screamed as he moved. She would be left in complete darkness, again. He couldn’t do that to her. He’d be terrified if he was in her shoes. He was terrified in his shoes. And he was more than twice her age. He took a deep, slow breath.