Through the Tiger's Eye (16 page)
‘I’ve got magic powers.’
‘Oh yeah, right!’
The Tiger-cat was waiting in the pit for them, its purr reverberating off the walls.
Later, lying in bed, Lucy couldn’t stop thinking. She knew what Dad would say if she told him what was happening: he’d say it wasn’t. He’d get Auntie Alice’s atlas out and show Lucy it was impossible. He was a scientist, after all. He didn’t say a star existed unless he could prove it. But he would congratulate her on her vivid imagination.
Grandma would tell her she was the best big sister in Kurrawong for including Ricardo in her imaginary world, and offer her about six chocolate biscuits. Mum would tell her to write it down and enter it in a competition, and say how pleased she was that Lucy was getting on better with Ricardo. And how glad she was that Lucy was only making up all that stuff about sneaking out at night.
T-Tongue whimpered in his sleep. Lucy stroked his soft black fur until he relaxed. Then she was asleep too, dreamlessly for a change.
Lucy stumbled out into the kitchen.
‘You slept in, Lucy love!’
Mum was making pancakes with the first eggs from the new chickens. Lucy ate six with lemon and sugar and Ricardo asked for ten but ate nine. Mum said she could see what Grandma was talking about and left for work an hour early to go to the supermarket. She said the groceries would be delivered at about lunchtime and did the children think they would starve before then? She got in the car muttering darkly about having to ask Dad for more money to feed them.
Lucy waved until the car disappeared in a cloud of exhaust fumes and then ran inside and made hardboiled eggs for the kids. Then she grabbed the keys to the room with the old lady’s stuff. The first thing she saw when the door swung open was the dragon chest. What was in it? Why did Nigel Scar-Skull want it? Staring at the carved dragons, Lucy suddenly felt dizzy. For a few seconds that feeling swept over her again, as though information had just been downloaded into her brain. And suddenly she knew what she had to do. Nigel Scar-Skull must not get his hands on that chest. She didn’t know why, but she was certain. Even if she couldn’t open it, even if she didn’t know what was in it, she had to hide it. And the best hiding place was the tunnel.
She looked at the chest carefully. It had two brass rings, one at each end, for handles.
‘Come on, Ricardo, help.’
It wasn’t as heavy as it looked. They left it at the back door then rushed back to find airbeds (a double and two singles). The fold-up chairs would have to wait. Ricardo filled the esky and backpack, while Lucy kept looking. Bingo. A whole crate full of cooking gear. A wire grille for making toast on the fire, a frypan, a heavy black pot with a lid. There weren’t enough things to sleep on, especially with more kids coming, but they could use bedspreads. Then Ricardo found a sack with a picture of a lady in a hammock, drinking from a funny-shaped glass with a little umbrella and a cherry in it. In it was – surprise – a hammock. Then he found three more. The old lady who owned the house really did come from a happy camping family. They had everything. Last of all Lucy grabbed the big bowl with the picture of the flower in the bottom. It made an enormous stack at the back door. It would take them ages to get everything up that track.
‘Toro will help.’
Retardo had actually had a brainwave! Lucy looked at her watch: 10.30 a.m. It would take them half an hour to get all the kids out of the tunnel. But Ricardo was right. With Mum and Grandma gone, they could come right down to the house and help carry everything up to the campsite. Lucy and Ricardo could get home by 1 p.m. to meet Grandma. If they needed to go back up they could tell Grandma they were setting up a secret base on the mountain or something.
It wasn’t a
lie
.
Lucy swung down the rope and trotted along the tunnel, Ricardo behind her. Again, there was that strange feeling as the dark enveloped her. Her eyes couldn’t see but
she
could. Weird. She didn’t bother turning on the torch.
When they got to the den, the Tiger-cat was sitting on the table next to a last sputtering candle, the size of a thumbnail. In the pool of light it cast, Lucy could see the children had packed up the picnic basket and blankets. No one said anything.
‘Hi,’ ventured Lucy.
But Rahel just looked right into Lucy’s eyes and then suddenly stood up and blew out the candle. There was a collective gasp and bodies milled about Lucy, heading for the door, but she stood stock still, rocked by Rahel’s expression. For an instant, fear had flared on Rahel’s usually calm face. The enormity of what Lucy was doing suddenly struck her. These kids were putting their lives in her hands. They had left one life behind, without knowing what lay in front of them. They were walking into Lucy’s world, with no choice but to trust her.
She opened her mouth to call out but Rahel was gone. Someone bumped into Lucy.
‘My apologies,’ breathed Pablo.
‘Here, take the torch. I don’t need it,’ Lucy said, loping into the darkness of the tunnel. It was a relief. Not quite natural, like breathing, but welcome anyway, like diving into the pool in the clearing yesterday. It was as if she was holding her breath underwater. Her sight was holding its breath as some other sixth sense stretched out and swam in the darkness.
Lucy saw Rahel’s silhouette at the end of the tunnel and the next minute the ragged little party gathered in the bottom of the pit, blinking in a shaft of sunlight.
Rahel’s gaze went from Lucy to the Tiger-cat, washing itself on a broken beam, and back again. Once again Lucy saw that flicker of fear. The others shifted uncomfortably until Ricardo broke the ice, charging at the side of the pit, swinging up the rope like a monkey. He jumped up and down at the top, threw down the rope and called out excitedly, ‘C’mon, Toro!’
Toro didn’t move until the Tiger-cat stood up, stretched, sauntered over and began rubbing against his legs, purring. Then, in a flash, she leapt in one graceful curve to the top of the pit.
‘C’mon, Toro!’
Toro finally grinned and trotted forward to grab the rope. He hauled himself up, Ricardo offering advice the whole way, and then threw the rope at his big sister. Rahel caught it, hesitated, and then passed it to Lucy.
‘You will go first,’ she said, quietly intense, her dark eyes searching Lucy’s.
Lucy took the rope and lunged at the wall, bouncing up the smooth sides. At the top, she tossed the rope to Rahel.
‘You can do it,’ Lucy said.
Rahel wore the same determined expression Lucy had noticed before the raid on the jungle jail. Seconds later, she was clambering out of the pit.
‘Put Angel in the towel,’ called Lucy, throwing the rope down to Carlos. Angel snuggled into the towel, hanging on as if she were on a ride at Luna Park. At the last minute T-Tongue whined to be let in too. He put his big paws on Angel’s little knees and her face broke into a smile. Even Carlos laughed as he lifted the puppy in next to her. Lucy hauled them up, straining to take the weight of both puppy and child, conscious of Carlos’ critical gaze.
Carrying Angel, Lucy walked a few steps down the path. Ricardo and Toro were already almost at the back yard and Lucy was afraid they had made too much noise. What if Grandma came early?
She looked back and saw the others still gathered on the stairs. They weren’t going anywhere. Pablo wore an anxious frown but managed a weak grin for Lucy. Carlos shot her a deadly glance and scanned the trees as though expecting an ambush. He got one, but it was only the Tiger-cat, leaping from a branch, startling everyone, and then rubbing soothingly against their legs, each in turn.
Rahel spoke. ‘We are afraid, Lucy. We have danger behind us and danger in front. We want to trust you, but where we come from people are betrayed to the Bulls every day. And we don’t know what danger awaits.’
‘Look, I know you’ll be safe. You’ll feel better once we get to the campsite. It’s the perfect hiding place.’
The silken fur of the Tiger-cat rubbing against her calves caused her to glance down and in an instant she was lost in those golden eyes.
. . . only they have turned blood red and Lucy is gazing into the eyes of a bull. She is looking at a heavy gold ring with a large black stone set in the centre, cleverly carved in the image of a bull. Red stones for eyes, vicious horns marked in gold. Then she sees the ring-wearer’s face. The Bull Commander! He stands in the shadow of a laneway. An old lady sidles up to him. Furtively, she points across the road where a lone teenager stands in a pool of sunlight, kicking a soccer ball against a wall. The ring-wearer opens a wallet. The old woman does not take her eyes off the notes being counted out. She snatches them, looks furtively about, and melts back into the dark lane. The ring-wearer steps briefly into sunlight and Lucy sees the familiar brown Bull uniform. Then he is stalking, shadow to shadow, doorway to doorway, moving closer and closer to the teenager. Suddenly Lucy understands but her warning shout comes too late.
‘Pablo!’ Lucy shuddered back into her body, and by his frantic reaction realised she had shouted out his name. ‘I saw you,’ she said, looking straight into his eyes. ‘The Bull Commander gave an old lady money to find you, then he was stalking you . . .’
Pablo shrugged resignedly.
‘It was the day I was arrested. The old lady, she was my neighbour.’
‘Your neighbour? Why?’
Carlos did not give his friend time to answer. ‘Traitors! They are traitors,’ he hissed. ‘They betray people to the Bulls for money. And as for the militia, they are the biggest traitors. They have given up the right to call themselves Telarian. They have no country.’
‘The militia?’ Lucy was horrified. ‘You mean they are Telarians?’
Carlos nodded angrily.
‘So the Ponytail Zombie is Telarian too?’ It was incomprehensible to Lucy. As unthinkable as going for the other side in the Grand Final.
Pablo tried to explain.
‘My Papa told me that when the Bulls first came, many people were scared and hungry. Bulls went into all the villages and took many young men and gave them wine and cigarettes and food if they joined the militia. They made them say where the others were hiding. If they didn’t, the Bulls would beat them, sometimes shoot them . . .’
‘Cowards!’ spat Carlos. Lucy wasn’t sure if he meant the militia or the Bulls.
‘My aunt says some may change their minds now because the rebels are getting stronger,’ whispered Rahel, as though she didn’t quite believe it. Carlos just laughed.
‘My mama said we could not trust people any more,’ Pablo said sadly. ‘She said some helped the Bulls because they were poor. But some just told the Bulls you were a rebel, because they didn’t like you. My friend’s father was arrested and the person who told lies about him got their house!’
As usual, Pablo didn’t sound angry. Even when he was talking about the most horrible events, he just sounded sad.
‘Well, you’re safe now,’ said Lucy firmly, ‘but if we don’t get a move on Grandma will find out about you and all of Kurrawong will know by dinnertime!’
That shut them up. Rahel considered Lucy, standing there with Angel snuggled into her shoulder trustingly. Then she nodded and her face broke into a smile.
‘I know you will help us,’ she said, ‘and so does Angel.’ She headed down the stairs. Pablo glanced up from petting the Tiger-cat and a brief smile lit up his face. The Tiger-cat rolled onto its back in the sunlight and stretched luxuriously, showing off its striped belly, purring loudly. Pablo scratched its chest, then followed Rahel down the stairs.
As Carlos came past Lucy, he muttered darkly, ‘We have no choice but to trust you’.
‘Suit yourself,’ said Lucy.
Lucy made everyone wait behind the chook pen while Ricardo checked that the coast was clear. Angel stared at the chickens as though they were some great TV show. At Ricardo’s signal, they crept stealthily towards the back door.
It was all too much for T-Tongue. He began to bark furiously, even though he knew them all. He didn’t stop until the Tiger-cat stalked up to him, eyeball to eyeball and made an extraordinary sound. It started as a low growl, which seemed to paralyse T-Tongue, then reached a screaming crescendo that made the hairs on Lucy’s neck stand up. T-Tongue tore his eyes away from the Tiger-cat, and ran yelping under the house. Everyone laughed except Angel, who shrank up against Lucy’s side and clung to her leg. When Lucy opened the back door, the Tiger-cat stalked inside, tail lashing.
Lucy strode up the hallway to her bedroom. But when she turned, no one had moved. They were huddled at the door, staring at the mermaid carpet in consternation.
‘Come on,’ Ricardo said impatiently, ‘I told you, no one’s home.’
No one moved. Then the Tiger-cat reappeared and began twisting and purring around their legs. Lucy saw every tight face relax into a smile and the group stepped into the hall.
Lucy had been going to show them the rug first, but the Tiger-cat had other ideas. It streaked up the hall and jumped daintily up at the handle of the ballroom door, releasing the latch. It swung open and Lucy, curious, followed. She felt the vibration of several pairs of feet coming down the hall and then heard a united gasp as they walked in behind her.