According to the map, this eucalyptus tree is the boundary.
According to the map there are two trees this size and we passed the other one about ten minutes ago.
I stand still for a moment. Birds sing, trees rustle in the wind, but theres something else. The feeling of being crowded in, despite one hundred acres of bush around us, stretching as far as the eye can see.
I hold up one finger, then two, then three, and we bolt. But not even one step later Im flying through the air. I make contact with the ground in no time, face first in an exfoliation of dirt, leaving my face feeling scratched and bruised.
I try to kneel but I realise that some kind of trap has grabbed hold of my foot and then I see the boot in front of me. Big, black, laced-up, army regular, polished clean, with the ability to wipe out a whole universe of ants in one step. I look a tiny bit farther up and I see the khaki pants tucked in but I stop there. This is not the position I want to be in for this meeting. So I keep my eyes forward as I slowly raise myself, and then were eye to eye, give or take the ten centimetres he has on me.
Jonah Griggs is a tank. His face is blunter, meaner than I remember. Hair cropped. Eyes cold. Arms folded. He has perfected the art of looking straight at someone while avoiding eye contact.
Two of his Cadets have Ben by the arm and I can tell by the look on Bens face and the angle of their strongholds that hes in pain.
Let him go, I say.
Jonah Griggs looks over my head, as though hes contemplating my request. As if. He ponders for a moment, placing his thumb and finger on his chin, and then shakes his head.
Maybe another time, he says, his voice so unlike the one about to break three years ago.
We might just take him around for a tour of the boundaries and when he comes back, he can pass them on to you, his second-in-command says.
Id prefer you took me for that tour.
Jonah Griggs feigns contemplation again and leans forward as if he didnt hear but still theres no eye contact.
So I grab his face and look straight in his eyes and its like a punch in the gut holding that stare. You want to make this personal, Jonah? Then let him go.
I dont know what possesses me to say his name but it slips off my tongue easily and I watch him flinch.
No deal, Ben calls out. I dont go without you.
That is very touching, Jonah Griggs says, shaking free of my hand. There is so much love in this space.
Ben blows him a kiss and all hell breaks loose. The impact of boots on fingers makes it clear what happened the night before. I jump on Jonah Griggss back but I cant even pull his hair because Cadet regulation haircut doesnt allow for it. He shrugs me off easily and I land on the ground for the second time in less than five minutes.
What happened to the scary folk that we were warned about? he mocks, looking down at me. You and the Townies are making this too easy for us.
You want scary? We can do scary. I pick myself up. Lets go, I say to Ben, who is almost speechless from the pain.
Scare me, then, I hear Jonah Griggs say.
I turn around to face him. The treaty? The one that says we control any access with water? The one that you guys have been able to violate for the last four years because there has been no water?
Well, while you were away it rained. That means theres a river. That means you have no access unless we give it to you. That means you are restricted to a tenth of the land youve been used to using in the past.
So what are you saying?
This is war.
Griggs shrugs arrogantly. Well, I guess were better dressed for it.
Chapter 8
She stood at Webbs door: Tate, with the wild hair and the grin that went on forever. Sometimes Webb believed that he would never experience a better feeling than when he was looking at her, would never see anything or anybody bursting with more life and spirit. Sometimes he felt he needed to inhale it and place it in a storage area in his soul. Just in case.
When he said that to Tate shed be perplexed. But Webb, Im like this because of you. Youre everything to me.
On Narnies sad days, he wished he could be all that to her, too.
Is that what you want? his sister had asked once while they sat dangling their feet in the river.
In a different way because youre my sister but yeah. If it keeps you happyor wanting to live, yeah, Id want to be everything to you.
You do all the work, Webb, she said tiredly. Dont you get sick of that?
He shook his head. Not if you and Tate are okay.
But what happens to all of us when youre not okay? What then? Well become pathetic. Even more than I am now. So why would I want someone to be my everything when one day they might not be around? What will be left of me then?
Ill never ever leave you, Narnie. Youre my sister. Youre all Ive got.
And Tate, standing at his door now, smiling her hypnotic smile. The Cadets are here, she said. This is going to be our last year doing this. Lets go get Narnie and make some trouble.
The three of them stood their ground on the Jellicoe Road, directly in front of a bus-load of Cadets. In the distance the sound of a shotgun rang out and a cloud of dust hovered just above the trees in front of them.