Divine Mortals (15 page)

“Who’s doing the north south muster this year?” James asked, his voice interrupting my thoughts, I listened in, eager to focus on anything other than my stomach.

“What’s the North South Muster?” Will spoke up, I had to smile, at least there was one other person in this town that didn’t speak rancher.

“It’s a big muster that happens each year. Thompsons Ranch has properties at either end of the valley, about ninety miles apart, each year they pay any of the Ranch hands that can be spared to help them muster from one property to the other, I did it last year, its great money for a weeks work.”

“Right…” Will sounded about as interested in this as I was in learning the alphabet in Hebrew.

“I’m not sure exactly who’s doing it,” Sally answered his earlier question, “But both my brothers are going, and Robert from Avas Grandparents Ranch, as well as two of the Thompsons hands, are you doing it this year?” my ears pricked at the mention of Robert.

“I think I might,” James answered, “although sounds like a lot of the older guys are going this year, except Robert, not much of a talker that guy though, he seems a little weird.”

“Hmmm,” Sally echoed, obviously less than keen to let James in on her true feelings about Robert.

“He’s the blonde guy right?” Wills voice piped up, I wondered where Will had seen him, I had assumed they had never met with Robert being away and Will new in town.

“Yeah.” Sally answered still sounding a little distracted. I opened my eyes a crack, just enough to instantly regret it as the nausea came back in full force, but also long enough to see James staring at her with a weird expression on his face after hearing her dreamy answer.

“I’ve heard he’s a foster kid,” Will persisted

“Something like that,” James answered, “Way too up himself most the time to speak to the likes of us.”

“What do you know about him Ava?” Wills voice was curious, I forced myself to open my eyes, feeling like I was one small ripple away from vomiting.

“Not much, what do you want to know?”

“How longs he been on your Grandparents Ranch?”

“Ahhh,” I thought back to my conversation with Pop, “About three years I think.”

“Hmm,” Will was thoughtful, I wondered where this interest in Robert had sprung from, but that thought was wiped quickly from my mind as I felt my stomach clench again and my mouth fill with saliva, I barely managed to get my head over the side before I threw up.

“Maybe we should put in to shore for lunch.” Sally said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin as she watched me.

I felt better the instant my feet were on solid ground, I had the strangest urge to bend over and kiss the dirt beneath me, but refrained, instead making the most of my new found good health by demolishing a substantial amount of the sandwiches we had bought along.

Sally and James stripped off into their swimsuits and dove into the river, leaving Will and I lying back in the sun soaking up the warmth of the day.

“So what does your family do that brings you to Huntington?” I asked, trying to make conversation.

There was a long pause before he answered,

“My father’s a doctor, does a lot of locum work he’s got a six month stint here.”

“Oh, so you’re not even going to be here the full school year?”

“Well I dunno, these things extend sometimes, I guess we’ll see.” he cleared his throat and looked at me, his eyes glistening. I found myself unable to look away from the clear green depths, his eyes reminded me of Roberts, not as warm, more like their cool twin, large and orb like and as deep as a lake.

“Would you be disappointed if I left early?” there he was again with the uncomfortable questions, I felt myself blush, not with embarrassment but with discomfort, I didn’t know how to answer such direct questions.

“That’s, err, not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

“I meant it must be hard chopping and changing schools all the time.” I slapped at a mosquito, squashing it against my leg as it landed.

“You get used to it.” his answer was cool and distant, I turned to look at him and found his gaze focused on something beyond me, as if he was seeing something else, he shook himself a little before his eyes focused on me once more.

“Did you have a girlfriend at your last school?” I wasn’t exactly sure why I asked, it came out all wrong, like I was digging, perhaps like I was interested. Dammit that’s exactly how he had taken it, his face took on a thoughtful expression, his mouth lifting slightly in one corner, the ghost of a smile.

“I did have a girlfriend,” his voice was distant, but also bitter, “It couldn’t work.”

I didn’t say anything further, ‘It couldn’t work’ seemed a strange thing to say, didn’t you normally say ‘it didn’t work’, I didn’t want to question it though. I was feeling uncomfortable again, I had been trying to lead him away from me with thoughts of other girls but I felt as if all I had done was the complete opposite, and when I looked back at him again I found him staring at me.

Pulling my eyes away from his I became slowly aware of the other sounds around us, Sally screaming as James tried to dunk her under water, numerous birds singing in the willows and the low rhythmic sound of the river as it gently and gut wrenchingly flowed by. Sitting up I watched Sally and James at their game, both of them seemed totally oblivious to anything except each other. Perhaps Sally wouldn’t be so upset at the thought of Robert and I, if there ever was a Robert and I.

“So you and Robert are pretty close?” I wasn’t sure if it was the voice breaking through my thoughts or the question that made me jump, I tried to compose my thoughts and my face again quickly.

“No,” I lied, “What makes you say that?” I wouldn’t look at him, instead keeping my eyes fixed firmly on Sally and James, I didn’t want my face to give me away, I had never been a skilled liar.

“Well you seemed to know a bit about his foster care and how long he’d been at your grandparents ranch, seems if he told you that its more than he’s told or even spoken to the others around town.”

“My pop told me that.” my voice sounded cold, I took a breath, trying to sound indifferent as I carried on, “as for anything else, I haven’t really spoken to him.”

My lies seemed to flow a little more freely now, I wondered briefly what this would mean for my immortal soul, my thoughts flicking back to Sunday school.

Thou shalt not lie.

“Hmmmm,” the noise Will made was not only disbelieving but also disconcerting, I felt an icy shiver run the length of my spine.

‘Pull yourself together’
my mind screamed, ‘
no one knows about Robert or you and Robert, you aren’t that interesting!’

I mumbled an excuse and walked towards the waters edge, leaving Will to stare after me with a smug look on his face, confusing me even more.

Sally was lying on the bank now, sunning herself, leaving James to float alone in the shallows on board the USS Regurgitation.

I lowered myself down next to her on the sandy bank, stretching out gently, all that vomiting had done nothing for my ribs.

“Have a good chat?” she murmured without opening her eyes, a knowing smile on her face.

“Interesting,” I mumbled, at least in that I was telling the truth.

“Still holding out?”

“Yes.”

She frowned a little at my answer clearly thinking me mad. Maybe I was, maybe I had a far too suspicious mind. Will hadn’t done anything nasty or unkind, maybe I was the one with the overactive imagination, maybe he was just flirting and I was reading too much into it.

“Are you guys ready to start heading back up the river?” James was smiling ear to ear, obviously ready to start the long paddle back, I felt instantly sick at the prospect.

Wills laughter rung out from close by, making me jump.

“Far out Ava, you just turned green on the spot.” He turned his attention back to James,

“Are we far off the road?”

“No, it’s about three miles directly west from here.”

“Well to save Avas stomach and us from the smell, do you think perhaps you and Sally could paddle back, we’ll walk to the road and meet you as you drive out.”

James seemed to love the idea, if it meant he was going to be alone with Sally I imagined it didn’t matter what the suggestion, he would relish it.

“Sure, we can manage that, can’t we?” he turned to Sally, she nodded, a smirk on her face as she gave me a far too obvious wink.

“We sure can.” she beamed at James without taking her eyes from mine.

I was torn, I didn’t know what would be more uncomfortable, a three mile trek back to the road with Will or vomiting for two hours while paddling back up the river.

“Great we’ll do it that way then.” Will settled the deal before I could speak up, I conceded with a shy smile. This wouldn’t be so bad, I was over reacting.

We helped load everything back into the raft and waved the two paddlers off before heading into the trees that flanked the stony shore, and heading west towards the road.

T
he vegetation wasn’t thick, with plenty of open grassy spaces as we walked, I was alert for snakes after my earlier ordeal and kept my eyes on the ground ahead. Conversation flowed easily enough and I began to relax as I realized I had been reading far too much into Wills comments earlier.

“You miss the city life?” Will asked at one point, holding back a prickly blackberry vine for me as I stepped over a log.

“I do,” I answered, feeling a sense of companionship with him over homes left behind.

“Yeah, it’s nice here and all,” he began, taking up beside me again, “But it’s a bit quiet.” he finished with a grin.

“I know,” I was puffing slightly from the heat and the walk, which was slightly up hill at the moment.

“Sometimes it’s so quiet and dark at night, it’s scary, I’m so used to the glow of lights and the sound of cars and there’s just nothing here, it’s eerie.”

“Hmmm,” he was thoughtful, “You’re nearly eighteen aren’t you? Just move back.”

I was instantly cautious again, I didn’t think I had ever told him my age, or when my birthday was, although on second thoughts I suppose it was a pretty safe guess to make.

“I mean there’s nothing to hold you here is there?” he let his question float, his green eyes shooting me a sideways look.

“Well there’s Nan and Pop,” I didn’t sound convincing.

“Oh yeah,” he was striding away a little fast and I jogged a few steps to keep up, “But they’ve always been here, I mean, you must have friends and other ties in the city, just go back, they can’t really stop you.”

“Perhaps after senior year,” I muttered, my thoughts instantly on Robert, no tie indeed.

Will gave up on the questions again for a little while, giving me time to ponder them, he always seemed to be digging, searching for clues as to who I was.

The sun was high in the sky, it must have been late afternoon by now and I guessed we had been walking for a couple of hours, surely we were all but ready to stumble onto the road. I was glad at the thought, sweat was trickling down my chest and back, I was looking forward to getting home and having a nice cold shower. Perhaps Robert would have returned from the muster by the time I got home, the thought cheered me.

Will chuckled suddenly breaking my thoughts.

“What?”

He looked a little shocked, as if he hadn’t realized he had laughed out loud.

“Oh ah, nothing,” he muttered carrying on his tireless fast pace.

“We must nearly be there.” I groaned, reaching for the water bottle in my knapsack.

“Huh, oh yeah, we must nearly be there.” he echoed, head down in thought.

An hour later we still hadn’t found the road, I was beginning to get the nagging feeling we were lost.

The birds had begun to sing shrilly in the trees, the magpies and crows calling as they do before twilight sets in, preparing for the impending night.

I stopped dead still in the middle of a clearing looking at the sun as it was about to sink below the distant hillside in a stunning array of reds and yellows.

It took Will a moment to sense that I no longer followed before he stopped and turned back. He looked far better than I felt, I couldn’t see a drop of sweat on him although I could feeling it running off me.

“We’re lost aren’t we.” I demanded, not sure why I was so angry at him about it.

Will turned slowly, looking around as he wiped the back of his hand across his brow, clearing away some imagined moisture. He looked back towards me slowly, a sheepish smile on his face.

“Ahhh yeah, seems so.”

“Dammit!” I swore further under my breath, Will smiled, hearing my curses.

“It’s going to be dark soon isn’t it?”

Will turned back towards the rapidly departing sun,

“I’d guess in less than an hour.” he sighed apologetically.

I put my hands on my hips, clenched my eyes tight shut for a moment and sent a curse in the direction of James, three miles straight west my arse.

“We might as well make some sort of camp and stay here tonight,” Will added, interrupting my thoughts, “it’s nice and open, maybe we can light a fire or something and just wait it out, James knows roughly where we are, they will head home and have people out looking for us before long.”

I opened my eyes slowly, massaging my temples in small circular motions.

“Fine.” I mumbled making my way towards the handful of trees in the middle of this small meadow.

Dropping my knapsack at the base of one I sat heavily, leaning back against the smooth bark behind me. My ribs were aching from the exercise, they hadn’t really hurt much lately but all the heaving from my earlier vomiting and the long walk had them throbbing again.

I wished for some Tylenol.

Will dropped his knapsack a few feet from me and started digging around inside it, he drew his hand back with a flourish, brandishing a lighter and some of the left over sandwiches from lunch.

“Don’t say I’ve never taken you to dinner,” he joked throwing the sandwiches at me.

“At least we can have a fire,” I commented putting the food down for the moment, “I’ll go look for some wood.”

I stood once more, meaning to make my way to the trees at the edge of the clearing, instead my foot caught a raised root and I fell headlong, Will caught me neatly, steadying me in his arms. I was uncomfortably aware of his closeness and immediately started to pull away, but he held tight for a moment.