Allyra looked to her right and saw a mountain range looming in the distance; dark and purple in the pale grey light. It was sharp and imposing, made up of severe peaks like a series of jagged dragon’s teeth.
Deja-vu washed over her. She knew these peaks. Had seen them often enough in a recurring dream of destruction.
A wave of irrational, or perhaps perfectly logical, fear washed over her, forcing her to take an involuntary step back, a retreat back towards sanity. Then improbably – much like seeing a pure white polar bear emerge from the bush under a fierce African sun – she heard Jamie’s voice calling for her, urgent and frantic.
His voice seemed to come from a great distance – all echoes and static electricity like a long distance call of old. She looked over her shoulder and saw the Baobab tree, even more imposing here in the vast emptiness. And on its trunk, the moving, inky darkness – the doorway that represented her way back.
For a second, she was torn between wanting to search for her father and wanting to withdraw back to the safety that Jamie represented. She wavered over the decision, hesitating for just a moment too long and it was wrenched violently from her.
A hand clamped over her mouth and pulled her away from the tree.
Reacting on instinct, Allyra stamped down on her captor’s foot and slammed her elbow backwards with all the strength she could muster.
She heard a soft grunt of breath being expelled and felt the grip on her slacken briefly; just enough for her to surge for the tree, screaming out Jamie’s name.
She was quick, but her attacker was quicker. His hand closed tightly over her wrist and jerked her backwards – hard enough to send her sailing through the air.
Her head cracked on the hard ground as she landed and the air rushed out her lungs in a single painful gasp. She struggled to see though confused and bleary eyes as her vision darkened around the edges.
Her attacker had moved towards the tree. He reached out towards the fluid black doorway and touched it softly, almost reverently. Under his hand it seemed to collapse into itself – folding over endlessly until it disappeared altogether.
In the blink of an eye, the tree was nothing more than a tree again and home suddenly seemed very far away…
Chapter 2 – Jamie
Jamie was exhausted by the time he finally drove up behind Allyra’s car. Fatigue soaked into his bones and dwelling on it only made him feel more tired. It wasn’t just that he’d driven through the night in a fruitless attempt to catch up with Allyra; instead he was quite simply worn-out by her relentless pursuit of this obsession.
It was like watching a trapped bird crash endlessly into a window. It made for painful and uncomfortable viewing, and he just couldn’t bear to do it anymore. He honestly had every intention of not being here this year. Meant every word he’d said to Allyra.
In an impressive show of willpower, he’d even managed not to chase after her for a whole twelve hours. But halfway through the night, after a couple of hours tossing and turning in a bed that seemed empty without her, Jamie had reasoned that since sleep was proving elusive, he might as well see if he could catch up to her.
Despite his best efforts – including widely ignoring all speed signs as well as a large portion of the rules of the road – it was late in the day before he finally reached his destination.
Allyra’s little blue hatchback was not the only car parked on the edge of the dusty dirt track, in front of it was an old Land Rover, the type that looked as if it had cheerfully survived trips across the African continent. Leaning against it was Jamie’s brother Rob.
Rob had mastered the art of leaning, both elegant and boneless. He was tall and blond, and against the backdrop of his battered car on the wild African veldt, he looked like an advert for the man’s man. The type that could do it all – change a tire, start a fire with nothing but twigs, cook a five course meal on said fire – and all without breaking a sweat. The annoying thing of course, was that Rob didn’t just look the part; he could actually do all those things. Effortlessly.
“What are you doing here?” Jamie called out.
It was a fair question – Rob was generally off doing whatever it was that he did and rarely concerned himself with Jamie’s life. Rob was two years older, and growing up he’d always seemed to operate on a completely different wavelength, one that Jamie had never quite managed to tune into. Jamie’s twin sister Emma had always been more successful, meaning that Jamie was often the odd one out. The alien life form. Practical and organized, he was nothing like the rest of his mad and impulsive family.
“Can’t I just catch up with my little brother?” Rob replied lightly.
Jamie didn’t bother with a reply, instead glaring at his brother, giving him a look that said: I don’t believe you, not for one second.
Rob rolled his eyes. “Fine – I was looking for you. There’s something I need to tell you.”
Jamie raised his eyebrows. “Ok – that sounds ominous. But why here? How did you know I would be here?”
His brother snorted. Rob was a world-class snorter, able to convey utter incredulity and derision with a single sound. “Seriously? You are the most predictable person I know.”
“You mean Allyra is the most predictable person you know – I wasn’t planning on being here today.”
Rob tilted his head slightly to the side and gave Jamie a pitying look. “Right… Keep telling yourself that.”
Jamie shook his head, annoyed; turning back to his car to extract his carefully packed backpack.
