Changeling's Island - eARC (18 page)

Her father put his hand on her shoulder. She shook it off. “Tim needs to get back,” he said. “Mum texted and said she hadn’t been able to get hold of his grandmother. She’s driven over there to try and find her.”

“Oh. Yes. I’m sorry, Tim,” said Molly, pointedly avoiding even looking at her father.

“No worries, Molly,” said Tim, feeling quite adult.

She hugged Bunce again, and actually got a face-wash. “Oh, he is feeling better,” she said, smiling tremulously, wiping her face on her sleeve. “Let’s go, then.”

When they got to the wagon, she said, “You sit in front, Tim.”

“I’m fine in the back, really.”

“You’ll get all over dog hair.”

“It’s a bit late for that,” said Tim, laughing.

She didn’t quite laugh back, but he got half a smile. “Please, sit in the front, Tim.”

So he did. He hadn’t spent months on the bus with Molly not to know that “please” meant “You will do it!” He was a bit nervy about her dad, now. And he was suddenly realizing his getaway money pouch was empty. The way things always went wrong at the worst time, he’d need it tomorrow.

They drove in silence for a little while. And then Molly’s dad said, “If you don’t mind my asking, Tim—and we will pay you back—how come you had so much money with you?”

Tim had had time to prepare for this one. “I work for Jon McKay, and do quite a lot of other jobs for people. I planted garlic a week or two ago. And I collect paper nautilus shells and sell them. And there’s not a lot to spend it on. I was keeping it in case I, um, needed it. Like, I’ll earn more. Don’t worry about it.”

“I borrowed it, Dad,” said Molly. “Not you. And I’ve thought about it. I’m leaving school. I’ll get a job. I didn’t know things were quite that bad. You should have told me.”

“Molly, it is just cash flow. Really. And a few hiccups. We’re slightly behind on the mortgage, but things will look up in the holidays. And your education is important to us, dear.”

“Hey, I didn’t do this so you would quit school!” said Tim. “You don’t have to pay me back anyway. I did it for Bunce, not you. He can pay me back!” Trying to make her laugh, he said hastily, “I…I’ll make him let me gel his moustache into big curls. And give him a pink mohawk. And you can’t leave me on the bus with all those little kids.”

It worked—to some extent, anyway. He did get a brief snort of her laughter, and a grateful look from her father. He said, “It’s just really that damned insurer. They’re doing their best not to pay out. The company that made the hot-water units went bust, so they can’t get the money out of them. They’ve tried claiming it was either my fault, or the builders, or the council. There is no length they won’t go to, to avoid paying up, even though it’s quite a small amount to them, but they’re very happy to take our premiums. Look, Molly, if things are really slow and don’t sort out, we have other options. I’ll take a contracting job somewhere for a few months. We just got caught short at a bad time. But your education is not something to be messed with. And Tim agrees with me, don’t you, Tim?”

“Uh. Yeah.”

“Huh,” said Molly. “You’re bullying him, Dad.”

“I don’t think he’s the sort of guy anyone bullies easily,” said Molly’s father. “Or who needs my approval or anyone else’s. Anyway, we’ll talk about it with your mother when we get home.”

Bullying…Tim thought about St. Dominic’s. He’d taken a pounding there from just about everyone, both with their fists and their tongues. He’d kind of wanted to be noticed, to be cool. And the cool kids let him know where he stood, like, small and not cool. Here on Flinders he hadn’t, but there were far fewer kids and he’d just been trying to be invisible. He was probably a bit stronger now, too. Well, yeah, he was stronger. He couldn’t have picked up a sheep when he’d gotten here, last year, let alone have carried Bunce.

He was glad to find that Molly’s mother had smoothed things over with Nan, too, and that he didn’t have to explain there. It was odd with the empty neck pouch, partly frightening and partly relieving. He couldn’t go…but they could still take him away. It was an odd realization that he didn’t actually
want
to go. Yeah, some things might be cool, and being a prince…but he had something really exciting in the morning. Jon McKay had lined him up to do a motorboat handler’s course with the local dive instructor, who also did the boat handling. “I know you can do it, Tim, but I’ve got to comply with the law. And Rob is planning to take leave for a month and go to Bali with his partner during the holidays. You’ll like Mike, he’s a top bloke, and I’m paying for it.” Tim didn’t care what his teacher was like. It said Jon McKay thought he was doing a good job.

Molly had told Gran how wonderful he’d been, too, but had not said a word about the money. He was glad about that too.

* * *

Mike Symons had a great deal to think about on that trip home. He didn’t find his wife entirely on his side, either. He found she’d reached her own conclusions and taken her own steps. Molly was subdued and yawning her head off by the time they got home. “Poor honey,” said her mother. “There’s leftover lasagna. Warm it up in the micro, eat, wash and get to bed. We can go in early tomorrow to see Bunce.”

Molly had been flat enough to just nod and smile and do it. That worried her father. It wasn’t like her. He was feeling a failure enough as it was, without more trouble. But there were chores to do, and by the time the wood was in, the veg watered, and plants covered, his daughter was abed. “Let’s have a glass of wine, and you can tell me about it,” said his wife. “Before you tie yourself in any more knots, I’ve taken that temporary teaching assistant job at the school. It’s school readiness, so it shouldn’t be too hard on Molly. And I spoke to your sister Helen. Told her about the inheritance money from Granddad, and the mess with the will, and the trouble we’ve had with the insurers. I know you didn’t want us to talk to her, but this is going to cost a fortune.”

“Well, you need not have bothered,” said Mike. “I wish you’d talked to me first, at least.”

“You mean the dog is dying? Why didn’t you tell me, Mike? She’s going to be torn apart…”

“I mean, I said we didn’t have the money and young Tim Ryan pulls it out of a pouch around his neck, then and there.”

“What?”

“The kid had more than a thousand four hundred dollars with him. He says he earned it working for Jon McKay. I’m going to give him a call. I need to know more about this.”

He picked up the phone and dialed. “Hi, it’s Mike Symons. Look, I have a question to ask about young Tim Ryan.”

“Best boatman I’ve ever had,” said the voice down the phone. “He reads the water like a book. I can recommend him.”

“Oh. So, he does a fair bit of work for you?”

“Yes, quite a bit, why?”

So Mike explained. It was embarrassing, but, well this was important. “And then he produces all this money…and I just wanted to know…”

There was a laugh. A slightly sharper tone. “Barking up the wrong tree, mate. I think the kid is straight as a die. He found the pouch on the old boat I bought when we were cleaning it up. Brought it to me, offered me the money. I told him to keep it. I pay him twenty bucks an hour, and he works a lot harder than my usual deckie for it. I haven’t seen him spending it on designer clothes. I thought he was spending it on computers or the girlfriend. But he’s probably just been keeping it. Good kid, but he’s had a hard time, I reckon.”

“Thanks. Thanks a lot. I was worried because of my daughter. I hate to think it, but there are drugs on the island, and I just wanted to make sure.”

That got a snort. “Don’t tell him I told you, but he admitted to me he tried dope once. He ended up in the E.R. Now if you were talking about your other neighbor, I’d say you had reason to worry. But I think your daughter has gotten involved with a very good kid. Think yourself lucky, mate.”

“I’m beginning to think I must be. But I had to ask. I try and look after my kid, although I sometimes think I’m not much good at it. So, if you don’t mind my asking, what’s this rough time he’s had? I’d like to help if we can.”

“Search me,” said Jon McKay. “I know he came here from Melbourne, miserable. But take him to sea, put tools in his hand, livestock to shift, or a boat to handle, and you’d swear he’d been doing it all his life. Look, he’s Aboriginal, and maybe he took a hammering about that.”

“He is?”

“His grandmother is, so he must be. They’re good people.”

“His grandmother is the salt of the earth. You know she started crying the other day when my daughter took some anzacs over to their place…she said she hadn’t had them since she used to make them to send to her husband in Vietnam, what, forty years back. I gather he was killed there.”

There was a silence down the line. Then Jon McKay said, “I’ll need to have a chat with someone at the RSL. You can’t just ask her, but I bet she’s not getting a pension. I’ll look into it. I’ve got a friend or two. But don’t you worry about Tim. I’d trust my life to him. I do, when I’m underwater.”

“Thank you. That’s what it looked like to me. You’ve taken a weight off my mind.”

“Well, you can be easy. Now, while I’ve got you on the line, someone said you designed websites? I need one, and I thought I’d do it myself, but I just don’t ever get to it. And I’d rather hire a local if I can, because that way it’s easier to get things changed and fixed. Can I come and have chat about it?”

“Sure. Whenever suits you. Or I could come see you.”

“I’ll drop in on Monday arvo.”

His wife had poured him a glass of wine. Mike took a long sip of it. “Well?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Jon McKay thinks the world of the boy, and pays him well, too. He reckons the money’s honestly come by.”

“I could have told you that,” said his wife tartly. “I can’t believe you were going to let Buncy die.”

“I didn’t see any way out just then. And it didn’t happen. But now we have a problem with Molly thinking she’s got to leave school to help out, to pay him back. I’ll say this, Tim was quick to back me up on that. But I still can’t quite see why a kid like that was wandering around with that much money and his grandmother was struggling to find five cents to scratch with.”

“Maybe he didn’t realize. She wouldn’t tell him.”

“I suppose so. But he’ll have to be paid back. And I don’t like my daughter being obligated…”

“Ah. That’s what it is. Listen to me, Michael Symons. Trust your daughter. I’ll talk to her, you stay out of it. But if she’s going to get herself a boyfriend, I’d rather it was one who’d give everything he had for her dog than one who wasted his money on himself. And if Molly says she’ll pay him back, then let her. Being broke and working will do her no harm. Molly’s not going to squirm out of it. You know your daughter. We can help out, quietly.”

“Yes…but.”

“I don’t think feeling she owes him money is going to make Molly jump into bed with him, Mike. If I know our daughter, it’s more likely to work the other way around. She’s not for sale. And anyway, if that’s how she feels, that’s how she feels. Butt out.”

“Well, at least he seems a decent kid, even if I don’t think it’s that simple.”

* * *

Áed had examined the dead snake under the coil of wire. He doubted his young master had meant to throw it to kill, but the wire was heavy and the land had lent him its strength when he threw it. That was their way. A man would defend, and would kill that which might attack.

The marks of Maeve’s magics were on the creature. So he went to the salt water to confront her. He was afraid, but he, too, would defend his master.

She was not far offshore, as usual. And she knew why he had come. “It was an old working,” she said. “We have a truce of kinds now. I bring him the human treasure he needs to go to Cnoc Meadha, to return the key.”

Áed had a grasp—of sorts—on humans’ idea of treasure in this age by now. He had no idea why he’d not been told to fetch it. “That is work for my kind, not you,” he said tersely.

“Ah. But your master has found there is a cost to your help, little one. Magic among those who are both human and Fae has such a price. It rebounds on him when he uses it to his own advantage.”

Áed was briefly stunned by this. No wonder his master feared the consequences of Áed’s actions. The reward of a human soul was such, was it? No wonder it was a precious thing that Faerie feared. Magic being magic, it would not be ill…if his master used it for others. But how to explain that?

It would not be simple.

* * *

Tim was finding it anything but simple. Actually, it seemed to have made things slightly awkward between him and Molly. He’d kind of, without thinking it out or planning it like that, assumed she’d, well, be grateful and not respond to his attempt to put his arm around her by brushing it off and saying “Stop it, Tim.”

“But I thought…”

“Like, well, I owe you money, but that doesn’t mean you can own me.”

“I don’t want to own you. I was just giving you a hug.”

“Which you think you can because I owe you a thousand five hundred bucks.”

“Yeah, well, Hailey gave me a kiss when I lent her twenty bucks…” She never gave it back to him, actually. But he got a few French kissing lessons. He hadn’t had any pocket money the next time she asked him for a loan. And then she’d ignored him…

That, it seemed, was the very worst thing he could have said. He hadn’t realized Molly even knew Hailey. She gave him an earful that included some words he’d never heard her say, let alone about anyone else. She was usually pretty nice. She finished up with: “And I wouldn’t speak to you again, but I have to give you the money for Bunce. I didn’t think you did it for…for that!”

“I didn’t. And you don’t have to give me anything or pay me back! I told you so. I did it…well, for him. And for you because you were so upset. And for me because I didn’t want to see him die! And you don’t ever
have
to speak to me again.”

Tim was just as mad and confused then as he’d been back when his mother said he had to leave home and come here.

But obviously something he had said in all that worked a bit better. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I really don’t like her. But I do have to pay you back, Tim. Because…because I must. That was the best thing anyone ever did for me. But I’m not going to…get involved, um, date you or anything. Not while I owe you so…so much. It’d be too much like you bought me.”