loved me.” Her voice cracks, and I take a step back, letting her go.
“Sit down. Come, sit down.” I point to a flat rock and she sinks onto it, dropping her head into her hands. I knew he was a fraud from the day I saw him, but I can’t disclose that. I don’t have anything to say that could possibly help, so I sit opposite her on the ground, and listen while she pours it all out – her pain, her rage, her disappointment.
“All men are the same.” She stops crying at last, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. She’s left another streak of dirt across her cheek. Hal would have called it adorable.
“All men are the same. They always let you down. They screw you over and then they leave.”
I don’t have anything to say to that. My father was a reprobate and a bully, and Hal wasn’t much better – he just had a charming persona. There are very few men on Table Island for whom I have any respect – had, I correct myself. I’m free of them now. Free of the citizens, the army, the misery and despair that humans cause one another, and free at last to explore this new world. I stretch my legs, eager to get up and begin.
She sniffs, watching me. “Where are you going?”
“Er …” I stop, feeling guilty. I should be listening to her problems, even though she’s on her third explanation now of how Micah and Samantha-Lee plotted the whole thing. I should be kind, and show her that not all men are the same. However, I’ve spent my whole life listening to my mother talking about her hard life. I’ve sat there patiently while the citizens complained about the petty things that annoyed them, about who said what about whom, and who has been trying to steal whose husband, and I’ve had enough. This is my time. A new world, a reward for getting through the last one, and Ebba hasn’t even thanked me for saving her or giving her the amulet. I’m not going to sit here listening to her problems anymore.
“I have to get going.” I get up and dust the back of my robe.
She gets up too. “Where are we going? Is there another way back? Another portal? Do you know where to find it? You do, don’t you?” She grips my arm, but this time it feels like a chain pulling me down, and I loosen her fingers and step back. “I’m sorry, Ebba, but in Celestia we have to walk alone.”
She stares, her mouth open. “You’re leaving me? You’re leaving me?”
Should I stay? What if something happens to her? But then she starts to cry again, and the emotions pouring out of her threaten to drown me, and I have to get away. “I’m sorry,” I mutter. “Good luck.”
I dare not look back. There’s a rustling in the grass, and Isi appears, lolloping beside me. Ebba calls her, but Isi doesn’t turn, and nor do I.
EBBA
What am I supposed to do now? I’d follow him, but I can’t even see him. I was watching them walk away, thinking he’d change his mind and suddenly he was gone. And Isi too.
There’s a pile of rocks nearby, and I clamber up them. Maybe I can see them from the top. But there’s no sign of anything living. Celestia is flat as a dinner plate, with just the occasional small hill. Far across the other side is a range of mountains. I turn and it’s the same view. No matter which way I turn, north, south, east or west, I see the same. I’m standing in the centre of a circle.
This world is dead. There are no rivers, no trees, no houses. It’s how we imagined the surface of Earth to be when we were buried in the colony. No animals or insects, nothing living, except Lucas and Isi, and even they have disappeared.
The realisation that I am alone hits me like a punch to the stomach … My mind whirls with the dangers ahead – starvation, dying of thirst, being injured and in pain with no one to help.
I just need to get home. I’ll battle it out with Micah. Even if the Goddess can’t return with me, I can go back alone. I can toughen up, stand up to him and Samantha-Lee. My sabenzis and Alexia will help me. I just need to find the portal.
Then suddenly, a movement catches my eye.
A man is walking towards me. He’s coming from the east, striding across the sand straight-backed, head upright. “Ebba,” he calls. “Ebba, where are you?”
Who is he? I’m crouching behind a rock so he can’t see me watching him. I want to run to him, a fellow human in this dead place. But after Micah I’ve learnt to be cautious. He comes closer and he reminds me of … that strong jaw … that particular muscular stride seems familiar. But who?
Dust rises up around him like the anxiety swirling in my stomach. Will he harm me? There’s nowhere to run, nowhere else to hide, so I sit dead still, watching.
As he draws nearer I recognise Leonid’s thick eyebrows. In the expression around his mouth I see Alexia’s determination. I hardly dare believe it, hardly dare hope.
It can’t be. It can’t be.
“Ebba, Ebba, where are you my darling?”
My heart bursts with joy and I jump up from my hiding place. “I’m here. I’m here.”
The smile that breaks across his face is my smile. This man is my father. He’s come to save me. He’s come. He’s here.
He’s holding me, my dad. He’s here now. Everything will be alright. I bury myself in his chest, his strong arms enfold me, and I’m safe. Safe at last.
“My little girl, my little girl, I’ve found you after so long.”
When I look into his face his eyes are wet with tears, and I sob. For seventeen years I’ve missed him. I’ve longed for a father to keep me safe, to tuck me into bed at night, to play games with me. I needed him when the High Priest tried to kill me, when Micah betrayed me. I’ve missed him every single day. And now we’re together, and everything will be alright.
“I’ve been sent to fetch you,” he says when at last he lets me go. He puts his hands on my shoulders and looks into my eyes. “I’m so proud to be able to fetch you, and to take you back to Earth. Because of your exceptional act of courage, the gods have allowed me to help you with your sacred task.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing; it’s such wonderful news. “You’re coming with me?”
“That’s right.”
Thank the Goddess! He’s going to be there with me, being the father I dreamed of. He’ll make everything right again, protect me from Major Zungu, from Samantha-Lee.
“The portal is just over there.” He points back to the direction he came from. “It’s a bit of a walk, but you can tell me all about yourself. My beautiful daughter, all grown up. You look like my mother, do you know that? She was a wonderful woman – strong like you. Always thinking of other people. Her name was Lily. She would have loved you. Loved you!”
He takes my hands in his and I’m enjoying the feel of his strong fingers when my birthmark starts to tingle, a little vibration that grows in intensity, and I have to let go of his hands to rub it.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“My hand. It feels like thousands of pins pricking it.”
“Our
