Run To Earth (Power of Four) (26 page)

“Show me.” Mary said.

Rose looked over at her with surprise. “What?”

“These chocolate coconut ball things
,
” Mary said. “Show me how you make them.”

Rose started shaking her head. “They’re nothing special–”

“Oh come on,” Mary said. “You’ve got me curious.”

A slow, somewhat excited smile spread across Rose’s face. “Okay.” She put down the carrot and knife. “We’re going to need some hot chocolate powder.”

Mary looked lost. “I can grind cocoa beans into powder,” she suggested hopefully. “Then add some sugar, like I do to make hot chocolate?”

Rose nodded. “Should be okay,” she said. “We’ll also need oats, a little butter and some grated coconut.”

“Not a problem,” Mary said. “I’ll just get some coconuts from the orchard.”

“There are coconut trees in the orchard?” Rose asked with surprise. “But I thought coconuts only grow in tropical–” She stopped, seeing the confusion on Mary’s face. She smiled at her and shook her head. “Never mind.”

***

That night, along with all the dinner dishes, sat a plate piled with small chocolate and oats balls, covered in coconut flakes. Rose couldn’t stop beaming at the sight of them. They looked positively cute, sitting amongst the dishes of roast lamb and rice. It didn’t take long for the new dish to be noticed.

“What are these?” Ella asked, peering at the plate with an interested glint in her eyes.

“A special dessert.” Mary beamed. “Made by Rose.”

Sitting across the table, Kyran lifted his head up.

“What is it?” Zhi-Jiya asked, eyeing the balls.

Mary looked to Rose to introduce them.

“Choco-coco balls,” Rose said. She and Mary had giggled endlessly when it came to naming them.

“Mmmm.” Sarah stared at them. “They look...interesting.”

“They’re more than interesting,” Sam said. “She used to make them all the time. They’re delicious.”

“Yep,” Aaron agreed, “I can’t get enough of them.” As proof, he reached out and took two.

Ella picked one off the plate. She brought it close to her face and sniffed it. She took a bite of the soft, gooey chocolate and coconut goodness. Rose held her breath as Ella looked genuinely surprised. Grey eyes met hers and Ella smiled.

“What do you know?” she said. “They are delicious.”

Rose’s breath came out in a rush and she grinned in relief. Mages began picking up the balls, biting into them, murmuring their approval. Rose was surprised when even Skyler took one. But there was one person who hadn’t tasted the dessert, and for a reason she didn’t understand, Rose found herself waiting for him.

Kyran took his time, finishing his meal and draining his glass before he even looked at the dessert. He reached forward and picked up a ball. That’s when he turned to look at her. Holding her gaze, he popped the whole thing into his mouth and chewed slowly. Rose watched him, waiting for his reaction. Kyran didn’t say anything, but he smiled, just a small lifting at the corners of his lips. He reached out and Rose thought he was going to take another ball, but instead, Kyran pulled the plate closer, effectively hogging the dessert. He picked up another ball and bit into it.

Ryan, sitting next to him, tried to reach for one, but Kyran pulled the plate out of reach.

“Hey!” Ryan cried. “Come on, dude – share.”

“No,” Kyran replied simply.

“Mother Mary!” Ryan called. “Kyran’s not sharing.”

“Cry-baby,” Zhi-Jiya teased.

“I am not,” Ryan objected.

They continued arguing while Kyran sat back and steadily worked his way through the dessert, leaving the plate empty and Rose grinning.

***

The sound of soft snores broke the silence of the darkened room. Sam and Rose had fallen asleep hours ago, but Aaron was still awake. He lay on his bed, hands clutched around the letter, which was now falling to pieces. Two nights had passed but Aaron still couldn’t figure out how to unlock the flesh memory.

He groaned in frustration, then quietened immediately when Sam grunted and turned over, the bed creaking under him. Aaron let out a long breath and closed his eyes, crushing the letter in his hands. He brought up a mental picture of the letter, grimacing at how tattered it had become. For a brief moment, he thought about what it must have looked like when his mum sat down to write it: clear, crisp paper with black ink dotting the words from his mum’s pen. The image floated to the forefront of his mind and Aaron held it there. He imagined one of his mum’s hands pressed against the paper as her other clutched a pen. As he imagined it, the image of the letter shimmered and in the bottom left-hand corner a little overlapping flap appeared. Aaron’s surprise almost made him lose the image. He held it tight, focusing all his energy into keeping the picture at the front of his mind. Carefully, Aaron tugged at the flap, as Kyran’s voice echoed from the back of his consciousness. ...
focus. Find the flap and pull it open
...”

Aaron pulled and a translucent cover fell away from the letter. Suddenly the letter was growing, getting bigger and bigger until it was all Aaron could see in his mind’s eye: a white paper with indistinguishable writing. A heartbeat later, the letter was gone, freeing his vision and Aaron found himself standing in a semi-dark room. It was lit only by a single lantern, which was floating above a small table. There upon on the threadbare sofa sat his mother.

Aaron’s breath choked in his chest. He stepped forward, staring at his mum, who was leaning over the table writing furiously.

“Mum?” Aaron called.

His mum didn’t react but continued to write, the pen scratching line after line.

“Mum?” Aaron called again before his rational thinking caught up with him. This was a memory. It had already happened. He wasn’t really there, so his mum couldn’t hear him.

Aaron watched as his mum completed the letter, feeling a strange pressure build in his heart at the sight of her. He hadn’t seen his mum in six weeks. Catching her in a memory like this made Aaron realise just how badly he missed her. Aaron admitted freely that his mum was often very strict with him. She demanded a lot from him – whether it was in the shape of homework or adherence to her rules – but she was still his mother. She loved him and Aaron knew that. He could sense the underlying care and concern in her overprotective measures, which made her absence all the harder to bear.

His mum sniffed loudly but continued to write, head bowed over the letter. Aaron came closer and sunk to his knees, sitting on the carpet so that he could see his mum’s face. His heart jolted at the sight of her tears, slowly trailing down her cheeks. She sniffed again and rubbed the back of her hand against one of her cheeks, drying it.

Aaron had seen his mum shout and scold. He had seen her trying to be funny and failing miserably. He had seen her smile on several occasions but he had never seen her cry. His mum wasn’t the type to cry – not at sad movies, those adverts with injured dogs, not even bad news. She always had a stiff upper lip and Aaron sort of respected her for that. He had joked once to Sam that his mum was really a cyborg, which was why she never showed much emotion, other than to discipline him, of course. But today, seeing her in tears – real human tears that showed her vulnerability – it broke Aaron’s heart. He felt his own eyes burn, seeing how red-rimmed her usually clear blue eyes were. She finally put down the pen, having finished the letter and brought both hands up to cradle her head. Her sobs broke the silence of the room and Aaron’s heart ached anew.

“Mum?” he called again, reaching out without thinking.

His hand passed through her and Aaron snapped it back.

“Kate.”

Aaron turned to peer in the darkness and found his dad at the door. Aaron stared at him; his heart missed a beat. Chris walked in and sat down next to Kate, gathering his wife into his arms. He held her, letting her cry against his chest as he gently rubbed her back and neck.

“You don’t have to do this,” he said softly. “Stay with him, Kate.”

She pulled away and sat up, shaking her head before wiping at her tear-stained cheeks.

“No,” she croaked. “I’m not leaving you to face Neriah alone. I’m coming with you. We both made the decision. We’ll both pay for it.”

Aaron felt like the bottom of his stomach had dropped out. There was no denying it now. They had left to find Neriah and they were expecting a penalty from him. Aaron’s fear for their safety spiked to new levels.

“Mike’s refusing to stay too,” Chris told her. “He wants to speak to Neriah.”

Kate nodded, wiping her cheeks dry. “What did Drake say?”

“The usual,” Chris replied, “but he’ll look out for Aaron until we get back.” He leant over and picked up the letter, silently reading it. He let out a sigh and slowly put it back onto the table. “Aaron’s going to be so mad at us,” he said, remorse thick in his voice.

Kate slowly nodded. “I know,” she replied, “but he’ll be safe here and that’s all that matters.”

Aaron blinked and his surroundings began to melt before his eyes, until all he could see was the dark ceiling of his room. Aaron lay on his back, his breathing fast and short, as if he had been running. Sam and Rose’s snores echoed in his ears, but somewhere in his mind he could still hear his mum’s soft sobs, threatening to break his resolve to stay strong.

***

Aaron didn’t tell Sam and Rose that he had managed to unlock the flesh memory. Truth was that he was disappointed with what little he had learned. There was nothing in the exchange between his parents that pointed to what had happened to drive them out years ago and how long it would take them to get back to Salvador. The only conformation he’d got was that his mum, dad and uncle had indeed gone to meet Neriah. It was his mum’s tone when she mentioned about paying for their decisions that worried Aaron so much that he could barely eat or sleep. There was no fear in her voice, just a defeated acceptance for whatever price they would have to pay.

After two days of quietly seething and trying to figure out a way to get his parents back to safety, Aaron realised what he had to do and who he was going to have to meet. He turned to look at Alan, as he and Ava set the table.

“Alan?”

“Yeah?” he replied, with his usual cheery grin.

“Which cottage belongs to Drake Logan?”

***

Aaron followed the track at the back of the orchard that led down to the single cottage sitting in the midst of tall trees with golden brown leaves. Aaron passed the fence and walked down the stone-slab path, which was lit to an orange hue with the setting sun. He knocked at the door and Drake answered almost immediately, wearing a look of surprise.

“Aaron?” He narrowed his eyes. “What happened? You okay?”

“Yeah,” Aaron replied. “I didn’t see you at the table today. Thought I’d come by.”

“Why?” Drake asked, looking confused.

“Does there have to be a reason?” Aaron asked.

Drake’s frown stayed but he moved aside, gesturing for Aaron to come in. The cottage seemed to have the same layout as the others: a narrow hallway, a living room with no kitchen and a small bathroom, with presumably three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. As Aaron walked over to the comfortable-looking sofa, he noted how much more homely Drake’s cottage seemed. There was nicer furniture, a thick carpet under his feet and actual curtains hiding his windows. What Aaron had in Kyran’s cottage were thin veils that barely kept the sunlight out.

Drake had a small fireplace, its mantel littered with framed pictures. On the wall above the fireplace were two swords crossing each other. Aaron wanted to go over and examine the pictures but he refrained, keeping himself tightly in place on the sofa. His gaze picked out pictures of a dark-haired woman with a beautiful smile and warm brown eyes. One framed picture was of two small boys, twins by the looks of it, holding up ice creams and grinning.

Drake sat down on the armchair next to him. They smiled at each other in awkward politeness but neither of them spoke. Minutes passed in silence before Aaron cleared his throat.

“Your place is nice.”

Drake nodded. “Thank you.”

They lapsed back into silence.

“Would you like something to drink?” Drake asked.

“No, thanks,” Aaron replied. “I’m good.”

Drake nodded and looked around, his finger slightly tapping against the armrests. “Was there something you wanted?” he finally came out and asked.

Aaron nodded and shifted in his seat, turning to face him. “Actually, yes,” he said. “I want to meet Neriah.”

Drake’s eyes widened and he blinked at Aaron in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”

“Neriah,” Aaron repeated. “I want to meet him.” He held Drake’s shocked stare as he continued. “I know that’s who my mum and dad have gone to meet.”

Drake let out a frustrated breath and shook his head. “Aaron–”

“I know you can take me to him,” Aaron interrupted. “There’s a reason my dad came here to speak to you before going to see Neriah. I need you to take me to him as well.”

“I don’t know where Neriah is,” Drake said. “No one knows where he is.”

“So how can my parents go to meet him then?” Aaron asked.