Disharmony

through the doorway to his bedroom. He scudded chin-first across the carpet. The door to the room closed.

‘What are you doing?’ hissed Zac, standing over him.

‘What are you doing, nutjob?’ said Luke, pulling himself into a sitting position. ‘What the hell did you push me like that for?’

He touched his fingertips to his chin and they came away red.

‘Ouch,’ he said.

‘Ouch?’ said Zac, throwing his hands in the air. ‘That’s all you can say? We’ve just broken out of lockup and escaped an assassin; I’ve told you that you are a part of destiny and that you’re being hunted; and I’ve told you that we need to find your twin sister and younger brother as fast as possible. And you’ve just spent the entire day playing computer games and eating!’

‘Well, no wonder I’m tired after all that,’ said Luke, standing. ‘Can’t we relax for a bit?’

He had to admit he couldn’t remember ever feeling this tired, especially when he’d had so much sleep.

‘Um, no,’ said Zac. ‘This is my whole point. We can’t relax. We need to find out more about the Telling. And we need to get out of this house.’

‘You really don’t like Georgia, do you?’ said Luke.

‘I don’t trust her. I don’t trust the cats. And I don’t trust this house.’

‘The cats again.’ Luke rolled his eyes. ‘That’s pretty harsh coming from such an animal lover.’ He moved towards the bathroom. ‘Are you going to follow me in there, too?’ he said.

Zac stood there, fists clenched.

Luke splashed his face with cold water. He poked at the green-yellow puffiness around his left eye, surprised to see it there; he’d become accustomed to a narrow view of the world and had forgotten about the black eye. He sighed. He understood that he should be feeling pretty wrecked, given what they’d just been through, but still, he couldn’t believe how tired he was. He’d planned on catching a nap, as Georgia was doing, but Zac’s sense of urgency was beginning to worry him. Why didn’t he feel that way too? He remembered feeling a pressure to discover who he was, but the drive had left him. He felt as though he was drunk.

He left the bathroom. ‘We’ll leave first thing tomorrow,’ he said to Zac. ‘But I really need to get some rest tonight.’

‘It’s only seven o’clock,’ said Zac.

Luke yawned.

‘I think she could be drugging the food,’ said Zac.

‘You’re paranoid.’ But the suggestion set off a tick in Luke’s mind. ‘Why would she do that?’ he said.

‘Maybe she knows who you are.’

‘How?’

‘How do I know?’

Luke shook his head. ‘It’s impossible,’ he said. ‘Even if she somehow knew who I’m supposed to be, how could she possibly be on the exact train we were on when we broke out of Dwight? I didn’t even know we were going to be on that train.’

‘Well, she’s up to something. Listen, you know how she told us that all her brothers are away at school? Well, I’ve heard something in that room she told us to stay out of.’

‘When?’

‘A couple of times,’ said Zac. ‘I reckon there’s someone in there.’

‘I doubt it. Why haven’t we seen them? They’d have to eat sometime, right?’

‘Well, Georgia’s in her room, asleep, or doing whatever she does in there,’ said Zac. ‘Come and listen for yourself.’

‘Yeah, whatever.’

He followed Zac quietly up the stairs to the third level of the house. The doors to the two rooms they’d raided for clothes were slightly ajar. Georgia’s bedroom doors were shut, as were those of the off-limits room. They tiptoed towards it.

Zac put his ear to the door, motioning to Luke to do the same. Luke tilted his head close, feeling sort of stupid. What if Georgia walked out here right now? She’d told them to keep away from here.

He wrinkled his brow when he thought he heard a sound from inside, like maybe a door being gently closed.

See? Zac’s eyebrows asked him.

Maybe the sound came from outside, he thought. This room must face the street. He reached out and ultra- carefully tried the door handle. Locked. Hmm. Shouldn’t be a problem.

He turned back towards the stairs, motioning Zac to follow.

Back in his room, he went straight to the middle pillow and reached a hand into the pillowslip. He turned to face Zac.

‘You really wanna know what’s in there?’ he said, holding out the torque wrench and rake.

‘Are you crazy?’ hissed Zac. ‘No. I just wanted you to know that this chick isn’t telling us everything, that’s all. Let’s just get out of here.’

‘But aren’t you a teensy bit interested now?’

Suddenly, Luke felt much more alert. The locked door was a puzzle, just like the riddles online. He wanted to know what was behind the door.

He raised his eyebrows, asking without speaking, Coming?

Zac sighed.

They made their way quietly back up the stairs.

Circular Quay, Sydney, Australia

July 2, 7.20 p.m.

Samantha felt unnerved by the tall boy standing silently above her. He’d been holding that notepad out in front of him for several minutes. She didn’t want to touch it. How could there possibly be such a picture? Who had drawn it?

The boy had arrived right after she’d used the phone – had Sera sent him? Maybe he was the next part of her destiny. Maybe she was just crazy with fatigue. In any event, her bum was cold. She reached out her hand and the boy took it, pulling her up from the wet pavement.

‘Who are you?’ she tried again.

He twisted his full lips into a worried grimace and held the pad out to her. She took it.

He’d turned the page to a new picture. She felt a thrill jangle painfully through her stomach – excitement threaded with fear.

She recognised the railings bordering the harbour – she was standing right next to them. But there was no Opera House in this picture. What there was, though, was an image of herself standing next to the boy in the striped T-shirt, this time viewed only from behind. They stood facing a small structure, maybe the size of a phone- box, situated right on the edge of the water.

She looked up at the boy, frowning with confusion. ‘What is this?’ she said.

He pointed.

Her gaze followed his arm and she gasped. Maybe eighty metres from where they stood was the white structure from the picture. It resembled a miniature lighthouse. She hadn’t noticed it before, but given her extraordinary surroundings and the even more bizarre things that had taken place in them, this did not surprise her.

So – what did this mean? Was she supposed to go over there with him? She took another look at the picture.

‘Let’s go,’ she said.

They reached the small building within a couple of minutes. She realised that it was not quite as tiny as it had seemed. She guessed that it was some sort of historical structure with a maritime purpose. It didn’t seem to be of