The Lie (The Seekers Book 2) Page 3

“So what do you suggest?” he snapped.

  Eve looked at him, she could see he was struggling and trying hard to keep his emotions in check, but in her heart she knew he blamed her. Even though he too had eaten.

  “How will we get the water here?” she looked across to the great river Tigris flowing freely along- side them.

  Adam studied the ground. In the Garden everything had been so simple; the water bubbled up from a subterranean source and was self watering. Only now did he truly appreciate the amazing design.

  “I will build a channel. Yes - many channels. A simple lifting device and run it off. That will work. You can help me make it.”

  At last a smile crossed his face and Eve returned it. They had been told there was enough food to last them this season, whatever that was, but they had to plant for the next. Whoever had heard of such a thing? In the Garden everything was always there.

  At least they knew how to make the bread, but would the wheat grow the same here? And what about all the other foods she had enjoyed, would they flourish in this strange place?

  Adam started to draw in the dust, “See. If I pivot it here it will fall into the water and return with minimum effort. Then all we have to do is pour it in such a way that it runs off into the planted seeds.”

  Eve smiled, but could it really be that simple? Out here there were lush green meadows, woods and wild orchards but the ground seemed to have a mind of its own. Lots of stuff grew that clearly wasn’t edible, so that would have to be dealt with too.

  Eve asked the question that had been on both their hearts, “Do you think they will help us?”

  Adam stopped drawing and looked up, “Have you seen anyone since, since ...” he faltered.

  Eve shook her head and bit her lip at the memory of their dismissal.

  “Then I guess not.”

  “So what do we do?”

  Adam looked at his wife, his beautiful eyes dancing in the sunlight, “I still remember what He said first about being fruitful and increasing in number. So I guess that’s a good starting point!”

  Eve giggled at the prospect. What would Sima think?

  O liver sat in the waiting room. He was hot and uncomfortable and the place was full of screaming kids and people coughing. How had his mum got this evening appointment? The stuffy receptionist had said something about an emergency booking. What did that mean? He glanced across at his parents, they had both come. This was serious. Mum looked like she was going to burst into tears and dad was pretending to read a magazine.

  He had been starving before they had set out and the promise of a rare trip to McDonalds had cheered him up, but he suddenly seemed to have lost his appetite.

  At last they called his name.

  Jamie took Sarah’s hand and held Oliver by the shoulder, “Come on son. Let’s get this sorted.”

  The young doctor stood up as they entered the small consulting room and offered them all a chair. “Sorry to keep you waiting but I wanted you to be my last appointment so we could take as long as you needed.”

  Oliver didn’t like the sound of that, but at least the young man filled him with some confidence. He bristled with energy and charisma, his clear blue eyes shining behind his fashionable glasses. “I have spoken at some length with Mr. Johnson and we are agreed that urgency is required. Please be assured that I have already spoken to the hospital and they are ready to see you tomorrow.”

  Sarah nodded glumly and Jamie couldn’t think of anything to say, so it was Oliver who jumped in with the first question. “Why is it so urgent?”

  There was a small pause before the young doctor explained how the eye test had picked up swelling on the optic disc. This meant something was causing the swelling and it called for immediate investigation to determine the cause. Oliver blinked. He had heard the words, of course, and he had even understood most of what had just been explained to him, but he couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to do now. He felt he was in one of those horrible dreams where everything slowed down and you couldn’t run fast enough. He stared at the young man.

  The professional took charge, “Look, this is too much of a shock for you all to take in at the moment. We will know better after the ophthalmologist has examined you. Try and rest as much as possible. The next couple of days are going to be very stressful, but let’s just take it one step at a time and we will see what the specialists can do. We have made a lot of progress in this area, Oliver is fit and young and, hopefully, we have caught it early, so try not to worry.”

  Sarah winced at the familiar words, how many times had she doled them out? Now she had to take them.

  Chapter 6

  M illie was furious. Quark had only just come back into her life and now he had gone again. At first she thought he was going to reappear after a few minutes, like he always used to, but there was still no sign of him.

  Millie felt that she had looked at the doors for ever. They were definitely odd. One was smooth and shined like silver, with a golden handle; it looked expensive; whereas the next was the complete opposite, cheap black wood and covered in cobwebs. The third around the room was a plain pine door with a black plastic handle and the one next to it was all white. The last two were really weird; one was multi-coloured with a bright swirling design, very garish on the eyes and the last one looked like ripples in a muddy- brown puddle. To be honest, none of them were appealing.

  Millie tried one more time, “Quark! What am I doing here? What am I looking for?”

  Millie looked at her watch, it was still going backwards. What did that mean? Had they missed her at home yet? Millie addressed the emptiness, “Come on you idiot, time doesn’t mean anything here. What did Quark say? Finding, not seeking ... think Millie!”

  Another walk around the room revealed precisely nothing. Millie made up her mind and decided to try the silver door. It wasn’t exactly inviting, but then she didn’t get a good feel about any of them, and at least this one looked presentable. Struggling to her knees she positioned herself directly in front of the small, silver door and grasped the golden handle .The door didn’t open, but Millie found herself on the other side. How had that happened?

  She was outside a large detached house with neat, manicured gardens. Several expensive vehicles were parked on the long drive and there was no sign of any neighbours. If this was only the front Millie wondered what the back was like. In an instant she was there. Millie was standing next to a large swimming pool and a young man was effortlessly cruising up and down. He ignored Millie and continued to swim, changing from crawl to backstroke. He looked about Millie’s age, his skinny body and bright red hair pushing the water aside like a torpedo. He was fast. Millie was just wondering how she was going to introduce herself when a maid appeared on the terrace. Also ignoring Millie, she called out to the boy.

  “Master Harry, your father is on his way and specifically said you had to be ready for seven o’clock.”

  The boy spotted her at last and waved, “Okay Rosa, just a few more lengths.”

  She put her hands on her hips, but there was a smile and softness in her rebuke, “That’s what you always say!”

  She turned to go and Millie heard her whisper, “Born to swim that boy, born to swim ...”

  Millie watched as Harry completed five more lengths in the time it would have taken her to go up and down once. As he got out of the water and grabbed his towel Millie was amazed to see his chest was shining with a fierce brightness. At first she thought it was a trick of the light, but then she realised it emanated from inside him. It was so intense it hurt her eyes. As she put up her hands to shield herself, Harry came round the side of the pool and walked straight through her.

  O liver couldn’t sleep. His long legs were all tangled in the duvet and he was hot and sweaty. He could hear the voices of his mum and dad echoing upstairs; it was midnight, which was late for them, the house was usually quiet by now. Millie had left a note saying she was staying at Becky’s for the night, so Oliver had gone to bed early,
but he still could not sleep. He put on his bedside lamp.

  “Greetings Your Highness! I am that which is not, so that that which is can be.”

  Oliver felt no panic when the startling apparition at the bottom of his bed came forward and touched him gently on the forehead. He closed his eyes and immediately fell into a deep, peaceful sleep. Quark watched him for a little while, full of concern, but he needed to return to Millie, she would have made contact by now.

  M illie gasped. Harry continued into the house, through the pretty French doors, leaving wet footprints on the patio. No wonder they ignored me, they can’t even see me! Millie tried to see her reflection in the glass, but sure enough, there was nothing to see. “Oh Quark, what is this all about?”

  Millie’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of loud voices and she walked timidly in their direction.

  “What do you mean you’re not ready? I told you this morning we had to leave at seven. Can’t you do anything right?”

  Rosa stood nervously to one side while the angry man in the expensive suit poured himself a large scotch, throwing a couple of large ice cubes into the cut-glass tumbler. He turned to Rosa, “Go tell Benton we’ll need another ten minutes and to bring the Rolls to the front.”

  Rosa bobbed and scurried past Harry who was still towelling himself down, seemingly in no hurry at all. The man continued to shout, “I’m sure you do it on purpose Harry, what is wrong with you? Go get dressed, now!”

  The boy hadn’t said a word but the resentfulness was there for all to see. Millie could feel his unhappiness and as he left the room, she noticed the glow from his chest was fading rapidly. Millie stayed with the father. He sighed deeply and flopped into a leather armchair, throwing the frilly cushion aside. He studied his drink, the anger taking a long time to leave his face. His fingers tapped the glass and he shook his head, looking at his watch every few seconds; he seemed to implore time to go faster, or was it slower?

  Then his eyes settled on a photograph of a beautiful woman. Millie looked at it too. She had a dazzling smile with soft hazel eyes and a mass of auburn curly hair. She was a picture of health and reminded Millie of a model. For a split second Millie thought the man was going to cry, but instead he reached across and turned it towards the wall. Tomorrow he knew it would look at him again. He poured another drink and fumed silently.

  At last Harry appeared in the doorway, he too was dressed in a classy looking suit, but it looked somewhat ill-fitting on his immature frame. He waited for his father to speak, “About time, let’s go.” He drained his glass and plonked it angrily on the table, pushing past his son on the way out.

  Millie didn’t know what else to do, so she followed the angry pair to the car. And what a car it was. The chauffeur opened the doors quickly and they all assembled on the luxurious leather upholstery. The seats were so big they could all position themselves well away from one another and that’s exactly what they did. Purring like a kitten the Rolls Royce pulled majestically away from the house.

  Millie studied the drinks cabinet, she wasn’t thirsty at all but it was certainly very inviting. Harry helped himself to an ice-cold sparkling water and made a point of studying the landscape. It was going to be a long journey. Millie stared at the two sulky men in the car. What was going on with these two? Actually, she was pretty angry herself but as nobody could see her and Quark was still missing, there was very little she could do about her situation. But surely these two could see how unhappy they both were? Millie watched the countryside roll past; it was a very peaceful summer’s evening, what a shame to waste it all.

  After several more miles of petulant silence the father eventually offered up a peace offering. “So, how was school today?”

  Harry didn’t even look at him, “Great.”

  “Then why do you say it like that?”

  “Like what?”

  “Never mind.” The father gave up and reached for the pristine newspaper in the magazine rack, snapping it open in front of his face to hide even more hurt. Harry’s vacant eyes registered nothing as he continued to glare unfocussed into the distance, but Millie noticed that the glow from his chest had finally been extinguished. Millie wanted to help but felt totally powerless; here she was just an observer.

  Twenty-five minutes later she was even more of an observer as she followed angry and son into a beautiful Victorian theatre. With the perfect timing of the super rich they were whisked to their private box on the balcony just as the play started. Millie was somewhat in awe of the place, she had only ever been to school plays and local drama productions, nothing like this. And as the heavy curtain unfolded the irony was not completely lost on her, where was the major drama really being played out?

  The play on the stage turned out to be a very long rendition of Hamlet, pity really, she was doing Romeo and Juliet in English and that could have been useful, but she quite enjoyed it anyway. During the intermission she eyed up the ice creams but once again had no sensation of desire, just curiosity. Father and son continued to ignore one another.

  Millie let her eyes wander around the impressive architecture now the lights were no longer dimmed and she saw Quark waving to her from the other side of the balcony. There he was sitting cross–legged on the rail in front of an empty box, clearly enjoying his dramatic entrance. Millie didn’t know whether to thump him or hug him, but as soon as she saw him she was by his side.

  “Welcome. Are you enjoying the play?”

  “Quark, what is going on? Where have you been?”

  He looked disappointed, “Is that a no?”

  “The play is fine – but you know what I mean. Why are we here?”

  “We are here because you selected the silver door, Your Highness. A very interesting choice if I may say so.”

  Millie looked down at the people milling beneath them, her legs dangling dangerously over the edge, “Can we please sit inside the box?”

  He bowed, “Of course, forgive me; you are still unfamiliar with your powers.”

  In an instant both were sitting comfortably in large, velvet chairs, behind the railing.

  “Thank you. Now please tell me what we are doing here.”

  But as the lights went down for the third act they said goodbye to Shakespeare and hello to Casualty.

  The clinical starkness of the hospital room was made even more shocking by its contrast with the energy of the theatre. The sterile whiteness hurt the eyes and the deafening silence assaulted the mind. A tiny, lifeless frame lay draped in more white and assorted tubes trailed to monitoring machinery where green digital displays flashed. Life accounted for but not altogether present. Millie reached for Quark’s hand as they approached the bed. The woman’s eyes were closed but the long auburn hair was neatly brushed. A small golden teddy bear lay on the pillow.

  “It’s the lady in the picture.”

  Quark nodded. “Yes. Harry’s mother.”

  “What’s the matter with her?”

  “She was injured in a diving accident and has been in a coma ever since.”

  Millie turned to look at him, “How long has she been like this?”

  “Three years.”

  Poor Harry. No wonder they were both so unhappy – how could you go on as normal with something like this? Millie suddenly felt guilty for judging them; they clearly had a lot to be upset about.

  Chapter 7

  D eceiver hated these meetings, the young apprentices were so obsequious but most of them lacked any real guile. Oh yes, they were all very willing, but what had happened to true deception? Most of the time it was “...the target was successfully wasted this weekend”, or even better, “...the target is totally apathetic about everything.” Very occasionally someone would go off the radar and prove worthy of further action, but mostly it was the same boring stuff. Spinning plates, just spinning plates.

  He looked at the young demon in front of him. It did not look promising; the youngster would not even return his gaze, instead he looked nervously at his record
er, waiting for permission to speak.

  Better get it over with.

  “Begin your report.”

  The screen flashed and the young demon read his statement like a shipping forecast. By the time Deceiver tuned back in he had already missed half the report.

  “... then after supper he went to bed.”

  Deceiver interrupted, “Yes, but what does he think?”

  The question was met with total incomprehension; blank staring eyes with a hint of panic answered him.

  Deceiver tried again, “You are telling me what he does. You need to know what he thinks. Are there any signals?”

  A slight shake of the head, he was too afraid to ask for clarification. Deceiver sighed, fear was not a good aid to learning, he tried to smile but this seemed to frighten the youngster even more.

  “Look, what is your primary duty?”

  Ah! He knew this one and rattled off the expected answer, “To maintain the status quo, keep the target off balance and block all signs of the Enemy.”

  “Good – and how will you know you are achieving this?”

  Another blank stare.

  “For example, is he concerned with anybody but himself?”

  “Well, not really ...”

  “Good, then so far he is an easy hold. Next time tell me more about what upsets him. The mind is the battlefield. Always remember that. You may go.”

  The young demon hurried away, relieved to be out of his appraisal so quickly. Perhaps he should have mentioned a few things that were troubling him, but he could always ask next time. After all, there was plenty of time. He was assigned for the earthly life of the subject.

  M illie felt helpless. She wanted to do something useful but didn’t really understand why she was here; she turned to speak to Quark but stopped when she saw his expression. It was like the look her mother gave her just before she went away for any reason, so full of love and yet mixed with apprehension, like she might be looking at her for the last time. Trying to take everything in and soak it all up for the absence.