Shadowed Eden (22 page)

“Rae and his people?” Benny asked. “You mean there are more of him?”

“You think one guy can live in the jungle alone? How would he get here?” Luca asked. He plucked an odd-shaped purple fruit from a tree and studied it.

“How did we get here, genius?” Benny said. “Who knows?”

Avery chuckled and grinned at Luca. “Benny has a point.”

When they'd each picked their fruit, they gravitated together to compare their odd choices. Who would be the first to try it?

“We should just do it,” Avery said. “Everyone at the same time.”

“Why? So we can all die?” Benny said. “No way. You go first. I'm waiting for everyone else.”

She managed a light laugh, but it was obvious he wasn't trying to be funny.

Fine. She would do it. Raising the fruit to her lips, she took a tiny, tentative bite. The sweet fruit washed through her mouth and she gasped. “This is delicious!” She took another bite, not caring what anyone else did.

The others didn't wait long, and soon they'd all devoured a few pieces of fruit from various trees.

“This place is really amazing,” June said. “I'm almost going to miss it. It's like an adventure.”

Avery turned to June then froze. She stepped closer, frowning. “June, what color are your eyes?”

June's eyebrows rose. “They're green. Why?”

“This is going to sound crazy—sorry, it's where my mind goes automatically—but they are blue. They were green when I first met you. Bright green. But they're blue now. I promise you.”

“She's right,” Luca said. “I noticed, too. They're blue now.”

Luca had noticed June's eyes? Avery was glad she faced away from Luca and he couldn't notice how much that hurt. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the thought away.

June frowned and took a step back. “I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know. Don't people's eyes look different in different light?”

“Not like this,” Luca said. He glanced around, a deep frown on his lips. “This place isn't right. It's no adventure. We need to get home as fast as possible.”

The realization that this place was messing with them put a somber blanket over the festive mood in the fruit orchard. “What do you say we head back?” Avery asked.

Everyone agreed, and they split up to take care of personal stuff.

But Avery grabbed Luca's arm. “I need to talk to you.”

“More secrets?” His voice was soft, but definitely hurt.

“I'm telling you now, aren't I?”

He sighed. “Fine. What is it?”

“Earlier, when I went to use the bathroom, I was gone for a long time.”

He frowned and swallowed hard. “Yeah, you said that. I believe you.”

“You don't understand. I was gone for so long that for a while I was afraid I'd be lost.”

He took a deep breath and rubbed his hand over his face. “Man, I really dislike this place.”

She put her hand on his arm and shook her head. “It gets worse. When I was walking, I found a temple. An honest to goodness temple. And inside there was a book. It said a devil was here, and a battle was coming. Rae was there, and he kept saying I had to stop
him
, but he didn't say who. Then he vanished.”

“What?” Luca's eyebrows shot up. “Are you sure about this?”

Avery huffed and turned away from him. “Never mind.” This was exactly why she didn't want to mention it. He thought she was nuts. Wacko. Crazy. Loons.

This time he grabbed her arm, gently. “I'm sorry. It does sound nuts, but so does everything else in this place. Please, tell me.”

She tried wiping the frown off her face, but it wouldn't budge. “I don't know what he was talking about, but he was in a hurry, almost like someone was following him. A twig snapped in the jungle just before he disappeared.”

“Can you show me where this temple is?”

Avery glanced down and began picking at a tear in her tank top. “It disappeared, too.”

He was quiet and she finally peeked up at him. A frown stretched his mouth down, but he did seem like he was buying it.

June and Benny returned, and together they moved to follow the path back to camp. They walked a few minutes in silence, but then Avery asked the burning question in her mind. “Do you think Daddy has found another way into that part of the jungle?”

“Could be,” Luca said. He seemed relieved to think about something concrete. “Maybe that's why he's making maps and all. He's getting ready to head back in.”

“Should we try to find it?”

Luca shook his head. “After all that? No way. Maybe you should talk to him, Aves.”

She gnawed on her lip as she walked. “Daddy won't listen to me. He never has.”

The realization wasn't a nice one. He didn't care what was best for anyone except himself, not even when it came to his own daughter. He wanted her going away, finding her own life, and he'd pay good money for it. If she stuck close to home, he'd feel responsible for her. She might expect things of him.

The truth hurt.

By the time they got back to camp, no one was speaking. The heat in the jungle had drained every ounce of their energy.

Avery took a bottle and poured the cool water over her skin, washing away the sweat and grime, then she moved to check on Erin.

The youth leader sat up in her shelter, drinking water from the creek and laughing quietly with the other girls. This was the Erin Avery knew and loved.

She couldn't help smiling as she reached them. “Feeling better?”

“Much. I almost feel normal.”

“Do you think you're fighting a bacterial infection? Maybe the antibiotics are working.”

Erin shrugged. “Must be. I'm glad no one is giving up on me.”

Relief burst through Avery. All hope for Erin wasn't lost. She leaned forward and wrapped Erin in a hug. “I'm glad you're OK. I've missed you.”

Erin smiled, and Avery moved to find Daddy. She just needed to see him. To make sure he was OK. To make sure he wasn't gone.

“Hey, they fixed the van.” Luca waved her over and she smiled at a beaming Bradley.

“As soon as Chad gets back, we'll be able to get out of here,” he said. “We got it all patched up.”

More good news. Forget about overcoming some demon in the jungle, Avery was going home. “I'm glad. Really glad, you have no idea.”

Even Sam seemed to glow as he climbed back under the van for something. He was a really nice guy, she could tell, even though she hadn't actually talked to him.

She scanned the area for Daddy, but he wasn't within sight. She turned back to the van. “Hey, have you guys seen my dad?”

Bradley frowned and looked around. “No, sorry. I guess I've been too busy to notice.”

“That's OK. I'll ask the others.”

“Mr. Miles?” Sam peeked out from under the van. “Yes, he went into the jungle about an hour ago. He said he wanted to wash up.”

“You let him go in alone?” Avery asked.

Sam's eyebrows raised. “You wanted me to stop him?”

Her shoulders sagged and she sighed. “No, of course not. Thanks for letting me know. Sorry for snapping at you.”

He offered a small smile, paused, then climbed out from his spot in the sand. “You are troubled?”

Avery glanced around then back to Sam. They hadn't actually spoken, unless she counted the day they arrived in the airplane and he'd offered to take her bags. She swallowed hard and nodded. “He has a habit of disappearing on me.”

Sam nodded solemnly. “I am sorry for this. Is there anything you need that I could help you with?”

She hesitated again. People being nice to her wasn't exactly an everyday occurrence. But then a thought popped into her mind—a reminder about something she'd wanted from her luggage. “Actually, I need something from my bag. Do you think you could help me unload it?”

“I can most certainly help with that.” He vaulted onto the bumper and untied the luggage.

A moment later she pulled out her Bible. “Thank you, Sam.”

He smiled and replaced her luggage. “It has been my pleasure, Avery. And if I may say something else?”

She waited, but realized he was waiting for her to give him permission. She nodded quickly.

“You are doing a fine job here. You and Luca make an excellent team.”

Her eyes widened. If she'd expected him to say anything, it wasn't that. She cleared her throat. “Thank you.”

She darted away, suddenly uncomfortable, and sat alone on an abandoned log. Now that she had her Bible, she might be able to find a few of the answers she was looking for. And hopefully, Daddy would actually come back.

27

Rae

Jacob would not be happy with Rae, especially when he found out about this latest breech in obedience.

Helping Avery. Again.

It should not matter to him if Avery's friend got sucked into the sand. As a watcher, it was his job to guard the garden and keep humans out. But the concern remained, and helping her group went toward his ultimate goal of making certain the inner jungle stayed protected.

“Dodo bird at ten o'clock.”

Rafa's voice spun Rae around. Rae glared at him. “What do you want?”

Rafa nodded to the left. “Like I said, dodo bird at ten o'clock.”

Avery's father trekked alone through the trees, right toward the inner jungle.

Rae sprang to action, moving soundlessly through the trees to put a roadblock in his way.

“You don't have to stop him you know.”

Rae glared at Rafa. “You are holding me up. Go away.” He maneuvered himself several yards in front of Avery's father and quickly moved the brush to block his path. If the other girls—Gabby and Katelyn—had not gotten lost here in the first place, there would be no path for him to follow.

Again, Rae's fault.

“You could have his freedom. Don't stop him. Let them stay a while.”

Rae's body hesitated just a moment too long. The man breezed past, never knowing Rae and Rafa stood behind the overgrown trees.

Rae ground his teeth and growled at Rafa. “You distract me for your own purposes. Keeping them here will do us no good.”

“You don't believe that or you wouldn't have hesitated.” The air shifted, and Rafa was gone.

Mr. Miles's gasp echoed through the damp air and Rae spun toward him.

Mr. Miles turned, his eyes wide, and ran.

Rae moved to where the man had been, curious over what spooked him. A bright yellow snake slithered across the path. Black and red rings wrapped around its body. The snake morphed into a person. Rafa.

Rae frowned.

Rafa changing into a snake was no surprise—Rae had seen the chaos Rafa caused by the snake attack at the humans' camp. He'd done it for nothing more than thrills; he wanted to torture the helpless humans. He'd also been hanging around their group leader, Erin, Rae had discovered.

But it was something else that bothered him. “Why did you help me turn Miles around?”

“You were considering my offer, I could see it. I can wait for you to come around to my way of thinking, so I stopped him. No matter what you think, I am your friend.”

No matter what Rafa said, Rae would never believe his lies.

“No, Rafa, you are not my friend.” He turned away and left Rafa standing on the abandoned path.

28

Luca

Quicksand. Really? After everything else they'd been through, now they had to worry about this as well.

But it wasn't really the new threat that had Luca worried. It was more the question of why. They hadn't seen any quicksand in any other part of the jungle. So why there?

Luca sat alone on a log, facing the desert and running dry sand through his fingers. Something—the quicksand—was keeping them out of that part of the jungle, and it was doing it on purpose. No wonder Mr. Miles was bent on getting inside the secret lair. Something lay behind the sand. Something big.

The sun moved closer to the trees. It made a long shadow. Normally he'd be thankful for the shade, but he was still shaken up after falling into the quicksand. His hands shook, sending the tiny granules of sand through the air. He sighed and tossed it away.

Yeah, sun definitely sounded better than shade, hands down. Standing up, he glanced around.

Avery stood at the edge of the trees, obviously upset. She glanced inside the jungle every few minutes.

Mr. Miles had disappeared again.

They'd known it was what he planned, so Luca wasn't sure why it upset Avery so much. Maybe just because she cared, even if her dad didn't deserve it. Erin sat with the others, looking much better.

June sat on a log and stared into the measly fire. She frowned like she'd just been given the worst news ever—maybe she'd been turned down for college or told she was going to have to spend the rest of her life working at a fast food restaurant. Or maybe it was her eyes. Had to be.

Would he be upset if he found out his eyes were changing colors? Probably not, but he was a guy. Girls were jittery. June probably thought it meant something. Maybe it did, but Luca didn't know what. He watched her another moment then turned back to Avery.

Avery had seemed weird around June all day, and now that he thought about it, June had been acting different—braver—since her snake bite. Maybe whatever had gotten into her was turning her into something Avery was picking up on. Something not good.

Luca didn't like the thought of that. He moved toward the desert, toward the sunshine. The hot air chased his chills away, chills he didn't want to admit to anyone. For a minute after he'd fallen into the sand, all he'd been able to think about was Mom. What would she do if he never came home? How would she survive? The whole family needed the money he would bring home.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, shaking off the bad feelings. He hadn't died. Somehow, the others had managed to pull him out. No idea how that had happened, but he didn't really care. He was alive, and he was going to find a way home.