Angel Creek (8 page)

Pik crouched by the motionless angel. ‘Is it dead?' he asked in dismay.

‘It's fine,' Gino said, looking at Jelly for confirmation.

‘Yeah, it's fine, Pik.' But worry was flooding through her. Jelly folded the angel into the cramped space of the pram. She pulled the blanket up and placed the sunhat over its pale face. The angel didn't make a sound.

They pushed the pram along the street. Above them the sky was as white as bones. A tram clattered past but otherwise the street was empty. All the same, Jelly kept a lookout for Jack and Budgie and the other boy. She didn't know what they'd do if they ran into them.

Finally, they made it to the creek. The angel opened its eyes and lifted its head a little to sniff at the air.

Gino pulled a rope from his pocket.

‘What's that?' Jelly asked.

‘You don't want it to get away, do you?' he mumbled, his cheeks flushing.

Pik and Jelly watched, open-mouthed, as he tied the rope around the angel's ankle.

‘Not too tight,' Pik said softly. ‘You'll hurt it.'

Gino glared at him. When he was done, he looked at Jelly, challenging her to question him. Jelly turned away, pushing down her anger. It wasn't worth the fight. She had got Gino to agree to bring the angel to the creek; that was all that mattered for now.

Jelly slipped off her sneakers and lifted the angel out of the pram. Its body lay limp but a thin hand slid out from the folds of the blanket and grasped her wrist. She carried the angel to the water. Gino walked alongside her, the end of the rope in his hand.

When Jelly reached the milky edge she knelt in the mud and gently rolled the angel into the creek, supporting it under its arms. At first the angel drifted to the bottom, its feet and the tip of its wing sinking into the mud. But then she felt a jolt through its body, and the hand around her wrist sprang open. A sound like the wheeze of an old accordion burst from its chest and the angel's eyes floated shut.

Jelly took one hand out from under its sharp shoulder blades and scooped water onto its hair. Gritty water ran into the hollows of the angel's face. Its silver tongue darted out to catch a trickle rolling down its cheek. As she watched, the angel opened its eyes, bright now, and stared up into hers. Jelly thought she glimpsed a smile flickering across its face. She smiled back. The angel's eyes didn't leave hers for a moment.

Jelly stayed still, listening to the creek: the insects buzzing, water rushing, willows whispering. The angel's good wing slowly unfurled and floated to the surface. Even the broken wing seemed to uncrumple and the gummy bandage was washed clean. Gino squatted on one side of her, holding on tight to the rope, while Pik lay on her other side, looking up into the clouds and humming to himself.

After a while Jelly felt Gino tugging at the rope. ‘We'd better head back.'

‘We haven't been very long,' Jelly said.

‘Sophia might need the pram.'

Jelly frowned and stroked the feathers on the angel's good wing. She felt her irritation towards Gino flare up. ‘We always need to get back for something. I wish we could stay longer for once. Stupid Sophia. I wish she wasn't around.'

‘Don't wish that!'

‘Why not?' Jelly said. ‘She's annoying. Don't pretend you don't think so, too.'

‘She's my
sister
. Don't say things like that!'

Gino's reaction surprised Jelly. Usually he was the first one to get stuck into his siblings. Why was he defending his sister now?

‘All right,' she said, kicking a stone into the water. ‘We'll take it back to that horrible hot old shed then.'

Jelly leaned forward to hitch the angel up under its arms. That was when she noticed. A group of brown speckled ducks was swimming towards them from the tunnel, slowly at first, but then paddling faster and faster. The angel twitched. A low whine came from the back of its throat and its head jerked from side to side. As the ducks scrambled for the bank, the angel began to moan. Jelly looked down to see what was wrong. She looked back at the tunnel and that was when she saw it: a flash as bright as lightning. It came and went so quickly that at first Jelly thought it was sunlight glinting off the water. But then, spilling out from the tunnel, came the strangest thing she'd ever seen. A long flat wave was rolling towards them, gaining speed as it approached. And, as if this wasn't strange enough, the wave was moving
against
the current. The creek was flowing away from them but the wave was coming towards them. As it got closer the angel howled and jerked against the rope.

‘Get it out!' Gino yelled, holding on tight.

Jelly grabbed the angel's slippery arms and pulled it out of the water. Pik clambered to his feet and ducked behind a tree. The wave reared up as it passed them, frothing and milky brown, almost reaching out for them. Jelly scrambled up the bank, dragging the angel with her. It squealed loudly and arched its neck towards the water, arms flailing. Gino went to help Jelly and they carried the squirming angel to the pram. It hissed and lashed out with its bony fingers, but they wrestled it into the pram and finally it lay still, only its eyes rolling about. Jelly wrapped it tightly in the blanket and Gino buckled it in.

They looked back. The water was calm again.

‘What
was
that?' Gino's eyes were wild.

‘Looked like a tsunami,' Jelly said, her heart in her mouth.

‘In a
creek
?'

‘Well,
I
don't know.'

‘Oh, man, that was weird.'

They looked at the angel. It was curled up tight, but its eyes darted from side to side. As Jelly leaned in to pull the blanket up, the angel clutched her wrist with its scrawny hand.

She jumped. ‘Oh, it scared me!'

The angel's lips opened and closed, but no sound came out.

‘What is it?' she said. ‘Gino, look. I think it's trying to talk.' But when the angel saw Gino, it snapped its mouth shut and turned its head to the side.

‘I didn't see anything.'

‘It was before.'

They watched the angel for a while but it lay still.

‘Maybe I was wrong,' Jelly said.

They pushed the pram to the school, all of them lost in their separate thoughts. The angel didn't stir.

At the fence Gino and Pik left to take the pram back before anyone missed it and Jelly carried the angel to the shed. It was still hot inside but at least the angel felt cool. She laid it down on the old grey blanket and whispered in its ear. ‘What
was
that in the creek, little one? Was it coming for you?'

But the angel rolled away from her and curled into a ball. Jelly stroked its hair and blew on the back of its neck. Soon its eyes drifted closed and its breathing slowed. She waited until she was sure it was asleep then tiptoed out of the shed. Already the sun had shifted lower in the sky. Even though the heat made her head pound, Jelly ran all the way home.

11

the storm

That night the bad things started to happen.

Jelly was nearly asleep when a storm rolled into the neighbourhood. Usually thunder didn't scare her but this was so loud it shook their house like it was made of paper. Jelly lay awake and rigid in her bed. Gino and Pik were asleep on the floor.

There was another mighty clap of thunder and at the same time a flash of lightning flooded the room. Normally, Jelly counted the seconds between the two to see how far away the storm was, but this time the sound and the light appeared at exactly the same moment. The closeness of the storm made her skin crawl.

Jelly kicked off the sheet and stepped over Pik's sleeping body to get to the window. She pulled back the blind. Another flash of lightning struck and it was as if the electricity shot right through her, entering through her eye sockets and exiting through her toes. She stumbled backwards, blinded, and fell over Pik onto her bed. When she opened her eyes her vision was gone and pain split through her head like an axe.

‘Mum!' she screamed. ‘Dad! I can't see!'

By the time everyone in the house had been woken, Jelly's vision had returned and she had an almighty headache.

‘Migraine,' her parents concluded.

‘I had them as a teenager, too,' her mum said, dampening Jelly's forehead with a cool washcloth. ‘It's hormonal, I'm afraid.'

‘But I'm only twelve!'

‘You're half-Italian,' Zia said, smiling. ‘Italian girls mature early. You'll most likely get your women's business soon. That's exciting, isn't it, love?'

Gino made a face like he was dry-retching and Jelly squirmed.

‘Get Jel a glass of water, Gino,' Mum sighed.

‘What business?' said Pik, jumping up and down on her bed. ‘Will I have business, too?'

And even though a herd of elephants were pounding through her head Jelly couldn't help but laugh. ‘No, Pik,' she said. ‘You can't have everything.'

Outside, thunder and lightning were still crashing around and a howling wind rattled the windows. Great silver ropes of rain lashed at the glass.

‘Well, it never rains but it pours,' joked Jelly's dad.

‘Everyone back to sleep now,' her mum said. ‘Everything will be better tomorrow, I'm sure.'

But she was wrong. Very wrong.

12

finders keepers

That night Jelly's dreams were filled with angels. She recognised the big one from her dream the night before. It was flashing in and out of the storm clouds as bright as lightning. Each time it swept over Jelly's house its mouth opened wide and ground-shaking thunder rolled out. Jelly and the baby angel huddled in the little tin shed, sheltering from the storm. Rain pelted the tin roof and streams of water ran down the leaky walls. Jelly felt water begin to puddle at her feet. She looked up at the ceiling but couldn't see where the rain was getting in. Then she turned. The baby angel was crouched silently beside her, mouth wide, rain pouring from its eyes in a river of tears.