Elevation 2: The Rising Tide. Helen Brain

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      THE RISING TIDE

      BOOK 2

      HELEN BRAIN

      Human & Rousseau

      For Ted

      Tempus fugit.

      CHAPTER 1

      When I was in the colony, I dreamed of seeing the sky. I pictured it endless and serene, a great blue nothing stretching forever. I never imagined it could be grey as granite. But today it hangs as heavy as my heart.

      I’m waiting for the guards to arrest me for killing the High Priest. Waiting for Micah to come home. It’s been two weeks and one day since that morning in the cave when we watched the sun rise over the mountains.

      “Whatever happens,” he’d said, “remember I’ll always love you.” Then he risked his life to distract the guards so we could escape. I haven’t heard from him since.

      I keep imagining him lying on the rocks with a bullet in his head. I try and push away the image but it creeps back, getting into all the nooks and crannies of my mind like the cold wind blowing off the mountain.

      My dog, Isi, sighs and rests her head on my foot. I fondle her ears, watching the leaves swirl across the driveway. Why hasn’t he come home?

      I take a stick and dig it into the new crack in the stoep floor. The earthquake knocked down the gable over the front door too, and the holy well has broken open.

      Aunty Figgy keeps tutting over it. “The Book of the Goddess foresaw that dark forces would be released,” she keeps saying. “The moment they shed your blood, I knew we were in for trouble. And this isn’t the end of it. Believe me, this isn’t the end.”

      Are the dark forces keeping Micah away?

      Sitting next to me on the stoep, Fez turns a page of his book. I thought it would be perfect when our sabenzi group was safely out of the colony, but everything has changed. Fez never stops reading. Shorty and Letti have eyes only for each other – right now they’re at the end of the meadow, knee-deep in leaves, searching for chestnuts. Jasmine and Leonid are trampling a pile of cob so they can mend the gable, laughing and throwing mud at each other, and I jab the stick into the crack remembering a time when Jasmine would have picked me first before anyone.

      Even Clementine, my ancestor who guided me through so much when I came to Greenhaven, has disappeared.

      She’s gone, along with the amulet. The High Priest had it, but he dropped it in the holy well. Before I could grab it, the bees swarmed onto his head, the Milkwood fell and I was knocked out cold. When I regained consciousness the earthquake was over, he was dead, and Major Zungu had taken his body away.

      There’s no sign of my amulet. We’ve searched and searched around the holy well, but it’s gone. I’ve lost the most important thing I’ve ever owned. Now all four are missing.

      Aunty Figgy bustles out of the house with her broom and dustpan. “No good sitting here feeling sorry for yourself, Ebba,” she says firmly. “You’ve got work to do.”

      I ignore her. I’m watching an ant crawling down the crack. I wish I could also find somewhere dark to hide.

      “You need to get up and start looking for those amulets.”

      Aunty Figgy leans over and adjusts the sling around my injured shoulder. “Ebba, don’t give up hope. The boy will come back … although I think you’re better off without him.” She points to the storm clouds building up in the north. “Look, the rains are coming. It’s less than two months until the winter solstice. Remember the prophecy? You have to find all four amulets before the solstice so that the portal to Celestia can be opened. We’re all depending on you, Ebba.”

      Back in the colony, Ma Goodson used to read us a fairy tale about a miller’s daughter. Her father owed the king a lot of money, so he told the king, “My daughter can spin straw into gold.” The king took the girl into the palace, shut her up in a room filled with straw, gave her a spinning wheel and said he’d be back in the morning. If there wasn’t any gold, she would die.

      That’s how I feel, except if I don’t spin the straw into gold, the whole planet will die. I’ve got two months to find the amulets or a second Calamity will wipe out Earth, and we’ll all disintegrate into dust.

      It’s not the worst option, in my opinion. Especially if Micah doesn’t come home.

      Leonid is up the ladder with a bucket, slathering cob onto the wall, when he suddenly shouts, “Someone’s coming. It’s an army carriage.”

      “Quick, Letti,” Shorty yells. “This way! Fez, come.” He has set up a hiding place in the forest, deep in a thicket, where the soldiers will never find them.

      Aunty Figgy picks up Fez’s book and gives it to me. “Pretend to be reading,” she says. “Stay calm.”

      I clench the empty chain in my fist. I need Clementine. I need Micah. But I will have to face the authorities on my own.

      CHAPTER 2

      A few minutes later, Captain Atherton jumps down from the carriage and Isi growls. Grabbing her collar, I take a deep breath, lift my chin and face my enemy.

      “Yes, Captain,” I say, looking him firmly in the eye. “What can I do for you?”

      “Miss den Eeden,” he says, saluting. “You are to come with me.”

      I swallow, adrenaline pumping. “Are you arresting me?”

      “Simply following General de Groot’s orders.”

      I could refuse. But Fez and Letti are in the forest, and Jasmine is hiding inside the house so the Captain won’t recognise the “boy” who escaped from prison. I can’t risk Captain Atherton searching the farm again – I’ve got to get him out of here.

      Aunty Figgy comes out with a cape. “Be strong,” she whispers as she wraps it around my shoulders. “I’ll call on the Goddess to help you.”

      I need all the help I can get.

      Captain Atherton opens the carriage door and I climb inside, trying to block out the memory of how he and Major Zungu forced me into another carriage just two weeks ago, and how Major Zungu stole my amulet from me. And how my blood was spilt when I cut my head on the window glass, releasing dark forces that so far have made a carriage crash, caused an earthquake, killed the High Priest and possibly kept Micah away. What will they do next?

      I’m terrified. I grip the edge of the seat as we set off, every nerve wound tight, and I try to read Captain Atherton’s expression. Why does the general want to see me? Why hasn’t he come back to search for Letti and Fez? Where is Hal?

      And are the rumours true? Has there been a military coup?

      As we turn into the road, I look at the mountain looming above us and try to think positive thoughts. Inside are over two thousand people crammed into a bunker. Maybe he’s planning to elevate them all. Maybe he wants to give me the good news in person. But in my heart I know that’s not true.

      The horses take a corner too fast and I grab the leather handle as I’m flung against the window, my injured shoulder jolting with pain. My heart pounds. If more of my blood is shed, will more dark forces be released? What other damage can they do?

      *

      WHEN WE DRIVE past the shrine, I notice that the golden sheaves – the emblem of the Prosperites – have been ripped off the doors. The place is crawling with soldiers. We reach the offices and a group of soldiers is gathered around