Haze (29 page)

Jude disappears up the stairs to the deck. Rafa and I are right behind him, bringing our gear with us.

‘Give me a minute,’ Jude says. ‘Let me absorb this.’ He steps off the boat.

‘Where are you going?’ I sound panicked. I am.

His face softens. ‘Just there.’ He points to the end of the pier, out in the river. There are no boats moored, just open water. ‘I’m not leaving your sight.’

Maggie and Jason come up on deck and the four of us wait in silence, huddled against the wind. Fifty metres away, Jude paces back and forth, stops and stares out over the wide river. Glances back at me every few seconds. The wind whips his hair around his face.

Rafa stands close to me to block the breeze. ‘He’ll be fine,’ he says. I’m not sure who he’s trying to convince. A gust stirs the river and the yacht rocks under our feet.

My heart is trying to climb out of my throat. I’m a whirlwind of joy and fear, anticipation and anxiety. What’s Jude thinking? How does he feel about me now he’s had time to himself? What happens now?

They are the longest fifteen minutes of my life.

Finally, my brother comes back to us.

‘Jude, listen,’ Rafa says. ‘I know it’s all fucked up right now, but we’ll figure it out.’

Jude pauses on the pier, takes in Rafa’s proximity to me and then steps on board. ‘Figure what out? That some other version of me was a big enough prick that I took off without my sister and didn’t speak to her for a decade? And then I nearly get her killed doing god-knows-what, and now demons are after us? Dude, I don’t want to figure it out.’

‘Then you’ll both die. For real this time.’

Rafa is angry with Jude. I wasn’t expecting that.

‘Some serious shit happened today—’

‘I’m not who you want me to be,’ Jude says.

Rafa throws his head back. ‘Is that the only chorus this family knows? For fuck’s sake—’

‘Give him a break.’ I get between them. ‘I got all this in doses—he’s just had the whole lot dumped on him in one go. He needs more time.’

‘We don’t
have
time.’

‘You got that right,’ a new voice says over the wind.

Malachi.

He’s watching us from the pier. How the hell did he find—

Daniel. That bastard. In a rush I get it. The job that kept Malachi away from Pan Beach wasn’t some new lead on the Fallen. It was finding Jude. I didn’t tell Daniel much about my time in Melbourne, but it was enough to give him the same idea we had.

‘You’re looking well, Jude,’ Malachi says. ‘Hello, Maggie, have you missed me?’

Jude eyeballs him. ‘And who the fuck are you?’

‘Malachi’s part of the crew from the Sanctuary,’ I say.

Jude’s eyes harden. ‘Is he one of the bastards who hurt you?’

Malachi’s hands come up. ‘Hey now, we’ve moved past that and Gabe’s scored a few rounds herself.’ His black hair blows across his face. ‘You don’t know who I am either, do you? What the hell did you two
do
?’

Rafa catches my eye. There’s no mistaking what he wants. We have to get Jude out of here before Malachi’s reinforcements arrive. He would have called the Sanctuary before he revealed himself. The last thing Jude needs is to get caught up in a Rephaite brawl. The problem is, we haven’t actually touched on shifting yet. All the talk of travel has been pretty vague.

‘You’ve been busy,’ Rafa says to Malachi. ‘How many nurses did you sweet-talk before you found the right hospital?’

‘Six.’ Malachi watches me get closer to Jude, knowing full well I would have shifted by now if I could.

‘Do you trust me?’ I say to Jude, quiet enough so the wind catches the words before they carry to Malachi.

‘Of course.’

‘Whatever happens in the next few seconds, go with it.’ I don’t look at Jason: he’s standing right next to Maggie and he’ll know what to do.

Rafa crosses the deck as if he’s trying to intimidate Malachi. ‘How long have you been sniffing around here?’

Malachi steps back from the boat. ‘A couple of days. I should have known Jude would be out on the—’

Rafa disappears. I grab Jude and don’t see Rafa materialise before the boat drops away beneath us.

Jude doesn’t even have time to swear.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Jude is Rephaite, so if he’d had the slightest hesitation about Rafa he’d still be on the yacht rather than standing in the tiny house in Patmos leaning against the fireplace, recovering.

‘We can’t be here,’ I whisper to Rafa. ‘If the Gate-keepers find us—’

‘Just let him see his room.’

‘Bel’s been here, remember? He said he tracked us after the Sanctuary when I was covered in—’

‘I
know
.’

Jude straightens and looks up at us, pale. ‘What. The. Fuck.’

I step between him and the window, block the view of the harbour. The sun is breaking the eastern horizon; I have no idea what day it is here.

‘The offspring of the Fallen can travel pretty much instantly. Anywhere in the world.’

He looks at me. Blinks. ‘You did that?’

‘No, but we used to be able to—both of us. Look, we don’t have much time here but Rafa’s right: you should take a look around. You used to stay here. Some of your things are still in your room.’ I try to nudge him along but he stops and stares out the window.

‘Where are we?’

‘Greece.’ I say it like it’s no big deal. ‘Patmos. Come on.’ Jude stands at the window for a few more seconds and then follows me down the hallway and into the bedroom. He makes his way around the room, just as I did a week ago. He starts at the bookcase, picks out random books and then caresses the first editions of the
Lord of the Rings
. Just like I did. Next, he moves over to the drawers and pulls them out, one at a time.

‘We should take the weapons,’ Rafa says from the door.

I stop watching Jude long enough to find a bag under the bed. When I look up he’s at the wardrobe, both doors open, staring intently at his weapons cache. Rafa steps around him and grabs a handful of knives. He lobs them to me, hilt first, one at a time. I catch them without thinking. Then he uses a leather belt to bundle half a dozen swords together.

Jude needs to process all this but we don’t have time. Bel could check the cottage every hour for all we know, in the hope of finding Rafa and me here. I don’t want Jude to face a demon today. Or ever. ‘Right,’ I say, ‘let’s go.’

‘Where?’ Rafa holds the sword bundle in one hand.

‘Your place in Pan Beach.’

He takes a slow breath. ‘We’ve got safe houses all over the world, Gaby. You can ring Maggie—’

‘I don’t want to hide out in one of Mya’s Third World hovels.’

‘What does it matter? We’ve got Jude. Let’s go somewhere safe.’

I zip the duffel bag. ‘Pan Beach is my home. I know that doesn’t mean anything to you, but it does to me.’

‘I’m well aware of how attached you are to that place, but every man and his dog knows that’s where you’ll be. And once word gets out Jude’s there, what do you think will happen? It won’t be too hard for Bel or—’

‘Hey.’

We stop, look at Jude.

‘If Gaby wants to go to Pandanus Beach, that’s good enough for me. We can decide on a longer term plan from there.’

Rafa’s nostrils flare. ‘You two—’ He doesn’t finish, shakes his head. ‘Fine.’

I narrow my eyes. ‘You’re not going to take us somewhere else are you? Or leave me here?’

‘Seriously? You still have to ask me that?’

‘Sorry.’ And I am. ‘I’m a little uptight right now.’

‘No shit.’

Jude closes the wardrobe loudly. ‘Whatever this is’—he points to Rafa and me—‘I assume you can continue it where we’re going?’

I swear I see heat in Rafa’s neck.

‘Good. Can you take me back to Hobart first?’

I change my grip on the weapons bag. It’s heavier than I expected. ‘Why?’

‘To grab my stuff.’ He looks to Rafa. ‘I’d be right in assuming I won’t be going back there again?’

Rafa gives me a triumphant look. ‘See? Jude gets it.’

I text Maggie while Rafa checks maps on his phone. She and Jason are at the hotel in Melbourne. I suggest they stay there, make the most of the room. Stay safe.

Jude waits, pensive.

‘Man up,’ Rafa says. ‘You used to do this drunk.’

Jude presses his lips together. ‘Screw it. Let’s go.’

It’s not a gentle arrival.

The floor slams under us so hard I pitch forward. Rafa breaks my fall, his arms locked around me. I lose contact with Jude. He hits somewhere behind me with a dull thud.

‘Bloody hell,’ he mutters.

My legs are tangled with Rafa’s. He’s cradling my head.

‘You all right?’ he asks. He runs a hand down my side. My head swims with sandalwood and cinnamon. And musty carpet.

‘Uh huh.’ I climb off him, not trusting myself to make eye contact. We’re in a tiny room with only a desk and an old vinyl kitchen chair. If I stretched out my hands I could almost touch the white stucco walls either side of me. Beyond the thick glass pane is a sweep of hills and the choppy river.

Jude is against the desk, recovering. It’s cluttered with books and newspapers, a large nautical map. ‘You always land that rough?’

‘Not if I get decent directions.’ Rafa sits up. ‘The correct height of this hill would have been handy.’

‘I thought you said you were good at this.’

‘I thought you had a higher pain threshold.’ He grins as Jude helps him off the floor.

Jude shakes his head. A small smile. ‘You shouldn’t have talked yourself up so much.’

God, they’re already so easy with each other.

‘Is this your place?’ I ask.

‘It’s a mate’s. I stay here whenever I’m not on the water.’

On the desk, the newspapers are open to the crossword page. Every puzzle filled in. My eyes skim the spines of the novels: Cormac McCarthy, George R. R. Martin, Ursula Le Guin. T-shirts, jumpers and jeans, all neatly folded.

Jude grabs a few things and I follow him down a short hallway and into a room at the end, with a bar crammed with spirits, an old-fashioned gas heater and a tartan couch.

‘My bed,’ he says, gesturing to the threadbare couch. ‘Don’t look like that—it folds out. I’ve slept on worse.’

I run my fingertips over the pilled fabric. ‘Remember Peru?’

‘In the cave with the llamas?’

‘You slept with that ridiculous hat on. The one with the tassels and ear flaps.’

He grabs a backpack from behind the bar and puts clean clothes into it. ‘It’s called a
chullo.
And it was the warmest thing I had after you pinched the blanket.’

‘I won that fair and square. Remember?’

The last word hangs in the air. His smile falters. All the warmth leaches out of the moment. We never slept in a cave with llamas—or maybe we did, but not in the way we remember.

‘You already packed?’ Rafa asks from the doorway.

Jude tests the straps on his pack. ‘Yeah, I always have a bag ready to go.’

‘So why did you stay here so long?’

A shrug. ‘I couldn’t bring myself to leave Australia.’ He ties a pair of combat boots to the pack. ‘Ready.’

A few seconds later, he’s recovering again, this time over Rafa’s sink. I text Maggie to tell her where we are.

By the time I’m done, Jude and Rafa are at the table, beers in hand. I say no when Rafa offers me one. The afternoon sun is behind the shopping centre, casting half the kitchen in shadow. I find a patch of filtered sunlight near the bench and let the warmth seep into my bones.

‘My place is nicer,’ I say to Jude.

He’s already feeling the change in temperature and strips down to a black t-shirt. He’s more ripped than I remember.

‘So, seriously, are we safe here?’ I ask Rafa, peeling off my hoodie.

He gives me a pointed look. ‘I doubt it. That’s why I didn’t want to come back to Pan Beach.’

‘I mean are we safe here, in this shack. From Gate-keepers. We never finished that conversation.’

He shrugs. ‘Depends.’

‘On what?’

‘How far the hell-turds tracked us on Tuesday.’

My eyes flick to Jude, make sure he’s still here. Still real.

‘How’s that work?’

Rafa sips his beer. ‘Hellions are bonded to the Gatekeepers. The hell-turds get the scent, the demons read what they’re thinking and pick up a location.’

‘How far away can hellions track Rephaim?’

‘If they’ve had our blood? Generally anywhere on the planet—at least for a couple of days, or as long as they keep the taste.’ He puts his bottle down. ‘Same goes for hellion blood if it’s fresh; if we’re covered in enough of it, they’ll find us. Or at least get a general idea of where we are. You had enough on you after the cage for them to track us to Patmos, but Bel was pretty vague about what he found when they got here. He’s a smug prick; he would have rubbed it in if he’d found your place or this one. I think they followed us to Pan Beach but then lost the scent.’

My skin crawls. But Bel would have been here waiting for us if he knew about this place…

‘We’re not going to be anywhere near safe until we get the demons out of that farmhouse,’ I say.

‘Agreed. But it’s going to take more than our crew to do it. And no way am I asking Pretty Boy and the Five for help. They can come to us.’

‘Isn’t this a bit more important than a pissing contest?’

His eyebrows go up. ‘You want to see a pissing contest? Wait until Daniel and Mya turn up here to fight over Jude.’

Shit. Mya.

‘Does she have to know?’

‘Think about it. Malachi’s told Daniel about Jude by now and if Mya finds out you kept her in the dark, she’ll think you’ve sided with the Sanctuary.’

‘She can think what she likes. For fuck’s sake, I just got my brother back.’

Jude tears a neat strip off his beer label, pastes it on the table. ‘Rafa,’ he says quietly. ‘Any chance Gaby and I could have some time to ourselves?’

‘I’m not leaving you unprotected.’

‘How about some privacy then?’

Rafa looks from Jude to me, his expression unreadable. Then he stands up, points down the hallway. ‘I’ll be in my room. Yell if anyone turns up.’

Jude waits until Rafa’s door closes.

‘Do you trust him?’

I glance down the empty hallway. ‘Yeah, I do. Mostly.’ Now’s not the time to tell Jude all the things I don’t know about what happened between Rafa and me in the past.