The Hunting (31 page)

Genie arrived with Julia. They could all tell Julia had been crying. She’d had been so slow to recover and everyone knew about the ninety-nine per cent transmission problem. Rian waved at Genie. She waved back, relieved he wasn’t mad at her or anything. She felt robbed of her morning kiss.

Marshall coughed and clutched his head. He was unwell, badly affected by the smoke from the night before.

‘Where’s Mouch?’ Genie asked. ‘Has he eaten?’

Renée frowned. ‘Haven’t seen him since we came back from the store. But he had some biscuits; nearly ate my hand off he was so hungry.’

Genie was relieved. He’d be close; he didn’t like to wander far. Cary was pouring coffee or tea for everyone and seemed fine, which was a miracle. Considering what they all had been through, it was astonishing they weren’t all traumatized for all time.

‘We’ve worked it out,’ Genie told them as they took places at the table.

‘What?’

‘Larynx. The bit that makes her speak hasn’t come through. She can swallow and everything. It all seems normal, but she can’t speak.’

Julia looked upset and Renée immediately went to comfort her.

‘Can anything be done?’ Cary asked. ‘God, I’m sorry, Julia. I didn’t know what to do. You were like all there one hundred per cent, then suddenly just one server dropped out and …’

Julie shook her head and blew him a kiss to say it was all right.

Genie looked at them all. ‘She wants you all to know that she is happy to be alive and knows how lucky she is. She’s upset but maybe something can be done. They can do all kinds of things now with electronics.’

Renée nodded enthusiastically. ‘Absolutely. Get them to install something really cool so you can blow them away on
The Voice
.’

Marshall coughed again. ‘I don’t think that is quite feasible, Renée, but I’m really sorry, Julia. We will try to connect you with people who can help, OK? There’s all kinds of people, specialists.’

Julia nodded, embarrassed to be the centre of attention.

Miho appeared in the doorway, Moucher in tow. She sported bandages on her forehead and left arm and was still dressed in her underwear; she looked deathly pale and a little frightened.

‘Breakfast? Moucher says I have to eat.’

Genie smiled as the dog found her and looked up at her with his sad, hungry eyes.

‘Moucher is correct. And, Mouch, you have had some biscuits, I know this. So don’t look at me with those cute little eyes. If you want more we’ve only got cereal, but it’s crunchy.’

Moucher wasn’t keen but he did his best to wag his very sore tail, now bandaged to stop him from licking and nipping it.

‘I never heard a dog speak before,’ Miho said mysteriously as she sat down. ‘He is so worried about all of us. It gives him a headache.’

Genie and Rian looked at each other but decided to ignore it. Clearly Miho was still disorientated.

‘What’s the great plan? What did you kids decide?’ Marshall asked them as Cary handed round mugs of coffee.

‘First of all, say thanks to your friend for letting us use his hotel,’ Genie said, being sarcastic. ‘Did you see what they put in the swimming pool? It stinks.’

‘Someone didn’t want to pay to have something toxic taken away, most likely and snuck it in,’ Marshall said. ‘Not our problem and as long as we clean up after us no one has to know we were here.’

Renée smiled. ‘I can’t believe it’s just been left empty.’

Marshall shook his head. ‘Built it just as the recession took hold. There’s a lot of empty places like this now. Just glad I didn’t have the money to get into real estate.’

‘How’s your leg?’ Genie asked him. She knew he hated not being mobile.

‘Sore. Think I must have bruised it when I fell. Or when I was on fire. Being around you kids is dangerous. But at least I haven’t had a fit lately. Small mercies.’

Julia looked at Marshall and suddenly cried again. She was beginning to realize that she was like him now, for ever missing something.

‘We need to make a plan,’ Rian said. ‘We can’t go home. It’s never going to be safe there and I for one trust no one in Spurlake. Except your son, Marshall.’

There were some murmurs of agreement. They’d tried that before.

‘Max quit. He didn’t like what they did to you guys any more than you did,’ Marshall told them. ‘Shame, because he was a good cop.’

‘It’s Spurlake,’ Renée said. ‘It’s a town without shame.’

‘That’s true enough,’ Genie agreed. She looked at Cary. ‘Nice coffee, Cary. Maybe we could open a coffee shop? That would be cool. We could all do shifts. Be a co-op. We could call it “Bean There – Done That”.’

She could tell Renée was up for it, at least. She gave her the thumbs up.

‘Our plan was going to be a surprise, but I have to reveal it now, I guess,’ Cary said. ‘It was Denis’s idea actually.’

‘Denis?’ they all asked.

Genie suddenly remembered how Denis had gotten her out of the control room and then been left all alone. She felt so sorry she never got to say goodbye.

‘I can’t believe he stayed,’ Genie said wistfully.

‘He’s OK, I promise. He wanted to stay.’

‘So what’s the surprise?’ Miho asked.

Cary looked at them all. ‘This excludes Miho, ’cause she’s already got a place at Emily Carr to study art.’

‘They won’t want me now.’

Cary smiled. ‘Not true. We already fixed that. They’re expecting you. You’ll have to catch up but—’

‘How will I pay? The scholarship was supposed to be for a year ago,’ Miho said gloomily.

‘Believe me, they’re waiting for you to turn up. We made sure of it. Denis fixed it, I promise, Miho.’

Miho looked astonished. ‘For real?’

Cary nodded. ‘For real.’

‘So what’s our surprise?’ Renée and Genie asked simultaneously.

Cary looked pensive. He wasn’t sure they’d go for it.

‘We’re all going to school.’

‘School?’ Rian queried.

‘The International Academy at Cobble Hill, actually.’

Rian laughed. It was the most expensive private school on Vancouver Island. Rumour was that only the brightest and best need apply. No way were they going there.

‘School?’ Renée protested. She’d hoped like maybe spending the next few years on a beach in Cabo. She glanced at Genie and could see the disappointment on her face too. Neither one of them had thought of this. They’d both hoped they were finished with school. The coffee shop idea was cool. They could easily do that. Not school.

Marshall leaned forward. He realized that this was probably not what they had in mind. ‘Guys, you have to stay in hiding. Think about it. You just caused a major corporation to meltdown, help burn down a multi-million dollar hotel. You think Strindberg is going to forget it? No matter what problems he’s got, he’s not going to let that go without trying to find you and punish you.’

‘But if we’re in school, it would be easy to find us,’ Rian protested. ‘They’d never let us in anyway. You any idea what it would cost? Besides, term’s already begun.’

Cary smiled and sipped his coffee as he watched their faces and bewilderment.

‘At first Denis wanted us to win the lottery, and he’s figured out a way to do it, he thinks. But then we got to talking and we realized that the one thing we all need to do is finish school.’

‘I’ve been out of school so long, I don’t think—’ Renée began.

‘And you are real smart, Renée. We all passed Grade Ten. The certificates are already on their way to Marshall’s post office box.’

‘Grade Ten!’ Renée laughed and the others smiled too. They had skipped a whole grade. Only Miho was ahead of them; she had already matriculated.

‘We’re all going into Year Eleven and we’ll all do well and we’re going to graduate together. That’s the plan.’

Genie was smiled. It was absurd. She was only … actually she remembered she was sixteen now. Grade Eleven wasn’t impossible at all.

‘But we don’t know stuff. They’ll find out really fast.’

Cary shook his head. ‘We know more than we think and we are all fast learners. Renée can speak French and Spanish. She learned it inside the Fortress.’

Renée shrugged. ‘I was bored, had to do something.’

‘So I’m the dumb one,’ Genie complained. ‘I can’t go. I’ll be laughed at. I don’t want to be laughed at.’

‘And it’s a liberal arts school, Genie. You want to draw, I know you do. I’ve seen those secret sketches of Rian and Moucher. They’re amazing.’

‘I
thought
those were yours,’ Marshall said with a big smile. ‘I found one of Moucher in a bin. It was beautiful. Hell, I framed it for my bedroom. You have real talent, Genie.’

Genie didn’t know what to say; they were just doodles.

‘We’re going. We’re all changing our names,’ Cary continued. ‘That’s the secret. We’ve already ceased to exist back in Spurlake. All the school grades are in our new names. Sorry, but we had to do this without telling you. Strindberg can look for us all he likes but we have officially disappeared. Better yet, Denis arranged for Strindberg to pay.’ He grinned. ‘He won’t even know it came from his Cayman Island bank account. But we’re paid up for two years. Got a house we can share, rent paid and …’

Genie looked at Marshall, feeling tears welling up. She’d wanted to go back the farm. She’d felt so safe there, despite everything. She didn’t want this. But then again, they could hardly keep running and she couldn’t go home. Even if she had a coffee shop you could never be sure that Strindberg or Reverend Schneider wouldn’t one day stroll in.

Marshall smiled back at her; he could sense her disappointment. ‘The farm will be still be there when you graduate, so will Moucher, and you can come back any time in the vacations,’ he told her. ‘Any time. It’s your home now.’

Genie took a deep breath and looked at Rian. Did he want school too? One glance and she knew he did. He had never really wanted to quit. He’d just wanted to save her – and that he had done.

Suddenly all eyes were on Julia. They remembered she couldn’t speak. Would she want to go to school?

‘I already talked to Julia,’ Cary told them. ‘I’m sorry about you losing your voice but it won’t stop you going to dance school in the city. She can live there and everything. Jazz, tap, ballet – we think everything’s covered.’

‘Dance school?’ Genie protested. If there were going to be choices, why couldn’t she go to art school? She immediately felt guilty for thinking that. Julia had lost so much. Her family
and
her voice. She deserved dance school, if that’s what she wanted.

Julia smiled and nodded her head. It would be hard for her, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with her brain.

Genie looked at Moucher, who was sitting by his half-eaten bowl of cereal. He wasn’t happy. She went over to cuddle him.

‘You have to go back to the farm,’ she told him. ‘I’m sorry. And I promise your fur will grow back. Shame, he looks so sad.’ Mouch looked into her face and licked it, resting his chin on her shoulder. He sighed.

‘He knows you love him,’ Miho said quietly. ‘But he misses chasing the rabbits.’

Genie laughed and cuddled him harder until Mouch squeaked.

‘Mouch told me he doesn’t want to go to school, as well,’ Marshall said, making them laugh. ‘I hope you learn something about pigs there, because I can’t look after that thing for ever, you know.’

Genie smiled. ‘You know you’re going to eat it the moment my back is turned.’

‘No way. I’m going to breed her. Good pig like that, she’ll produce a great litter. I’ll call them all after you guys.’

‘You’re mean.’

He grinned, then looked at the clock. ‘OK, let’s clean up, tidy beds. I don’t want anyone to know we’ve even been here.’

He rose and Cary grabbed him under the arm. ‘Going to need a new leg,’ he remarked. He looked at them all staring at him. ‘You should all get used to your names now, start using them. Make sure you’re familiar with them. At least this way they can never find you again.’

‘Who chose the names?’ Genie asked, worried now.

‘Denis,’ Cary warned them all.

‘God, it’s going to be porn-star names. Cary, why didn’t you stop him?’ Renée complained.

He grinned. ‘Too late, Astra.’

‘Astra?’ she exploded.

‘Oh God, what am I?’ Genie asked.

‘Rhiannon,’ he answered. ‘Julia is Rachel and Rian is Henry.’

‘Henry!’ Rian exploded. ‘I am not a Henry.’

They all looked at each other, amazed.

‘Who are you, Cary? Bet you have a nice normal boring name.’

‘Christopher Gerald Madden. Denis found the names in government files. We’ve got ID cards coming, everything. He’s amazing on computers now.’

A radio suddenly came on. An alarm began to ring.

‘They got the power back on fast,’ Marshall commented. ‘Come on, let’s get busy. We have to get out of here.’

Marshall had found a broomstick to help him walk, held it with the brush under his arm. Genie helped him towards the truck.

‘I saw your face when he told you about school,’ he began. ‘I know you don’t want this, Genie. But think of Rian. He’s bright. I’m not saying you’re not bright, but if you didn’t want to go, he’d follow you to the end of the earth. You know he would.’

Genie nodded. She looked at him with affection. Marshall was the closest she’d ever got to having a father. She knew he was right.

‘I guess I never thought about what we’d do after. I was only thinking of running away.’

‘And your instincts are right. Self-preservation is important. But so is getting an education. Finishing what you started. You’ve got a real chance here. You’re just sixteen. It’s too early to stop learning. Max didn’t go to college. Became a cop. I wanted him to go to university. He could have gone far.’

‘He’s a good man, Marshall. Isn’t that enough?’

Marshall reached the truck and twisted around to heave himself in. It was a strain and the bruising didn’t help.

‘Maybe. He’s back at the farm now. His wife wants “space”, whatever that means. He’s going to help me get the farm back into shape. Maybe that’s enough. But give school a chance. I want you and Rian to graduate. You’ll be happy you did. Believe me, it is something you both need to do.’

Genie felt he hadn’t understood. ‘I’m not afraid of school. I want Ri to be happy and successful. I’m just scared someone will find me when I’m not looking and I’ll be back at the Fortress.’