Curse Of Wexkia (27 page)

Nell peered at Kandar. He seemed to be studying her. His pointy nails scratched his chin. Green skin and blue nails clashed as much as her purple wings and lime top. She was sure her father had told him everything she had said. Not that she minded because everybody had to have someone to trust, and like Sam, she was certain Kandar could be trusted.

Orenda appeared in the vacant seat opposite her. Nell nearly breathed in a mouthful of the sweet corn soup. She spluttered and pointed.

Sam chuckled. ‘G’day, Orenda,’ he said.

Orenda twitched her ratty nose and everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to speak.

Kandar finally said, ‘Orenda is not your enemy, Nell,’ he said.

‘But—’

‘Nadar misinformed her,’ her father said. ‘He had only shown her part of the book. The grarls voted to take you to Grarlon to learn more about you before agreeing to any defensive action.’

This information didn’t help Nell feel any more at ease.

Her father continued. ‘Nadar had also promised Orenda the whole book and swore you would come to no harm.’

‘He tried to kill me,’ she said, unable to believe her ears. ‘And she helped him.’

‘Orenda didn’t know of his true plan,’ Kandar said.

Nell was about to speak again but her father interrupted. ‘Orenda was under the misapprehension you had in some way hurt Cay-meka. When you and she connected to keep the trading ship from crashing into the mountain, she received a vision of Cay-meka screaming in pain and you with her blood on your hands.’ Her father lowered his voice. ‘She also sensed great hate in you.’

Nell looked around the table. The first face she saw was Sam’s. He still looked amused as if he was waiting for her to figure something out, but not expecting her to any time soon. The other faces showed a mixture of sympathy and encouragement. Cay-meka gave Sam reprimanding looks, but stopped to nod agreement to Nell.

Nell said, ‘You don’t think—’

‘No,’ she said quickly. ‘Of course I don’t. I think she was picking up on the feelings you had for Nadar after he stabbed me.’

‘Nell,’ her father said, appearing to need her full attention. ‘Grarls are never wrong. That is, before now.’

Orenda shifted in her chair.

Nell bit her cheek. The rat-fairy didn’t like being wrong. But it was partly Nell’s fault Cay-meka was hurt, so the grarl’s senses didn’t really fail her.

Her father glanced apologetically in Orenda’s direction. ‘Orenda realised her mistake when Nadar took you to the Pole and she lost contact with him. She knew then he was never going to take you to Grarlon.’

‘But she put an enchantment on Tanat,’ Nell said to her father.

‘It was a protection enchantment so Nadar couldn’t take me anywhere else,’ Tanat said. ‘But, of course, Kandar couldn’t either. Orenda knew you would go back to Nadar’s house for the book and find me.’

She understood what he was saying and believed him, but shot a look at the enchantress that said she would never completely trust the grarl.

‘Orenda guided you and Nadar to the restoration,’ her father said.

‘Oh?’ Her bottom lip dropped. ‘I thought I did.’

‘No,’ Orenda spoke at last. ‘You can’t … at least …’ She shifted again. ‘You can’t at this time.’

That fact disappointed Nell. She had visions of travelling all over the universe without the control of corls or their skarks.

The group stayed at the café chatting and eating late into the night.

Although Nell was tired, she woke up when her father mentioned to Kandar that Orenda was going to Cape Hollow with them to school her. ‘What?’ she said. ‘No way.’ She didn’t need the grarl to teach her anything. She had Annet and Sam to help with her university studies. When she chose her subjects she would make sure some of them were the same as Sam chose. Without thinking, she added hotly, ‘I don’t like grarls.’

Sam narrowed his eyes at her. ‘You’re sounding like your cousin again,’ he said.

Cay-meka flicked butterscotch ice-cream off her spoon at him.

Heat filled Nell’s cheeks. She couldn’t believe she had said such a thing. Her father’s face told her he couldn’t either. ‘I’m sorry,’ she blurted. ‘I didn’t mean that I don’t like all grarls. I just meant I don’t think Orenda and I would get along.’

Orenda’s tiny round eyes glared at her.

‘You had better find a way,’ her father said. ‘You need her to teach you how to cope with your abilities.’

‘What if she’s a spy?’ Nell asked.

The air was thick and tense. Sam and Cay-meka concentrated on their bowls of ice-cream, Dar-seldra and Tanat listened silently, Kandar looked from Nell’s father to her to Orenda. Her father gave her a shake of his head.

Orenda dropped her spoon. ‘I am a spy,’ she said between giggles.

Nell’s father laughed. ‘That’s true,’ he said.

‘That is true,’ Kandar chuckled.

Anger began to well in Nell’s chest. ‘What do you mean?’ she demanded. But when Orenda’s giggles turned into long, loud, ratty cackles, Nell’s lips quivered and a titter escaped her mouth.

Everyone laughed at that ridiculous infectious laugh. Even people at neighbouring tables joined in.

Orenda calmed down and the cackles faded. ‘I report to the Grarlon royal family, Nell.’ She smoothed down her white furry face. ‘We don’t want any more misunderstandings, do we?’

She thought about that for a moment. Grarls were a pretty scary species. They had lots of powers and could
probably invade any planet they wanted. But they wanted to join the United Council, so she guessed Orenda was correct. Misunderstandings could cause heaps of grief. ‘No. You’re right,’ Nell said. ‘I’ll try to play nice.’

By the time they had finished at the café, Nell had softened towards the enchantress. Orenda was relaxed and quick to laugh her ridiculous laugh. Sam made silly jokes just to set her off.

***

At breakfast the next morning, Dar-seldra gave Nell a gold metal thing about the length of her little finger and two fingers wide. ‘It’s called a twai,’ she said.

Nell gazed at it. It was definitely okfor. Small pin holes covered the front of it. Nell turned it over in her hands. On the back, a raised tab looked like it could be a button. ‘What’s it do?’ Nell said.

‘It is a communicator and it allows you to contact any one of us you want. See? Press this button and say the name of the person you want to speak to like this.’ She took the device, and said, ‘Cay-meka.’

Cay-meka pulled a similar one out of her dress and tapped her button twice. Her action must have disconnected the call because Dar-seldra returned her device back to Nell, and said, ‘Just press the button again to end the call.’

‘Ah. Twai,’ said Sam. ‘It sounds like a shortened version of two-way.’

Dar-seldra smiled. ‘That is exactly what it is. It is a two-way communicator.’

Nell’s twai was a lot smaller than the one her cousin carried. She would have to be careful not to lose it. ‘Thank you,’ she said, popping it into a hidden pocket just below the front neckline of her new top.

***

Orenda, unsure of the exact location, also travelled to Cape Hollow in the skark.

The skark arrived in the mangroves at sunrise.

Alighting from the small spaceship, Nell inhaled deeply. She coughed. The air in the mangroves was thick with the stench of mud. She hurried out onto the beach. Her shallow breaths deepened taking in the sweet, clean oxygen. Corl’s air held no hint of the sea and she took a moment to enjoy the salty breeze. The sunrise filled the sky over the ocean, the most beautiful she had ever seen. Pinks and oranges charged the background while fluffy lilac clouds dusted the foreground. Even the water appeared silvery-mauve. Home. Cape Hollow would always be her true home.

‘It is lovely,’ Orenda said. ‘What’s that?’ She pointed to the ocean.

Nell peered at a black something bobbing up and down in the water as if trying to get their attention. ‘It’s a crocodile,’ she said, and ran down to the tide’s edge.

  As soon as she stopped, the crocodile launched its body forward.

Nell jumped back. Not out of fear but instinct. However, the crocodile still managed to graze its snout against Nell’s lower leg.

A deep throaty bellow definitely more like a laugh than a wild animal’s call sounded in her mind. She laughed with him. It seemed like eons had passed since their first meeting. Long before she found her extended family.

‘Hello, you,’ she said aloud.

‘Welcome back, Nell,’
he said in her mind.
‘You have grown in your strengths. Congratulations on finding
the Book of Wexkia.’

He swam away a little then smacked his head onto the water.

‘No,’ she shrieked. ‘Don’t go yet.’

He growled and hissed at the same time.

She wanted to ask him what he was, and was he the bird on Corl.

A short growl.

Nell frowned. He was really going. ‘Please, promise you’ll come back.’

He surged north towards the mouth of the river.

‘Goodbye,’ she whispered, watching him disappear under the water.

Sam interrupted her reverie. ‘Come with me to my place,’ he said. ‘I can’t wait to tell Dad and Mum.’

She hesitated, unsure whether telling Carl and Annet was a good idea. She loved Sam’s parents. What if they were afraid of her? She would miss Carl’s stories and couldn’t think of life without them, and Annet was as much a mother to her as anyone could ever be.

She needed Annet to help her through the normal female changes she would endure in the coming years. With the emergence of her abilities, something else happened. She had long ago decided not to dwell on her unfinished puberty. While most of her had aged physically, one thing refused to happen. She used to worry that she would never have children but when she finally told Annet, she had explained that some girls were later than others to develop fully. Nell shook her head. Who knew what hormones were now racing through her body? To her, normal everyday changes were just as daunting as all the others she was undergoing.

‘Oh, come on,’ Sam urged, and yanked on her arm.

Her father nodded once to let her know it was okay. ‘Tell Carl and Annet I will speak with them tomorrow.’

She sighed. Sam couldn’t keep a secret from his family for long anyway.

She followed her friend through his back door. Carl sat at the kitchen table, waiting for Annet to serve breakfast.

She stopped stirring as soon as she saw her son and threw the wooden spoon in the pot. With her arms wide, she moved the three steps it took to get to him in a blink of an eye. Wrapping her arms around him, she squeezed so hard, Sam’s face turned into a purple plum.

‘Where have you been, young man? We were worried sick,’ she said, without letting him out of her grasp.

He grunted and twisted out of her hold.

‘Apologise to your mother,’ Carl said. His voice was cross, but relief filled his face.

‘Sorry, Mum, but you gotta know,’ Sam said, his eyes glittering with excitement. ‘Nell and her family. They’re all aliens. The whole bunch of them.’

‘We know,’ Carl said, and smiled deliberately at Nell.

End

Although the book has been reworked over the years, I would never have persisted if it hadn’t been for the encouragement from Tom Flood, my first ever editor all those years ago. For Patrice Shaw, my editor, thanks for your patience and professionalism. Laura Wright LaRoche for the cover. Thanks a bunch, Naomi Wheeler for being my model and Chloe Wheeler for being my model’s makeup artist. Thanks and hugs to all my family, especially my husband who had to ignore my talking to myself while bringing me toast and coffee. To all my critique partners and beta readers, thanks for caring about the story as much as I do.