Sink: The Lost World (22 page)

“
The day our ancestors arrived
, they were hunted by many strange and dangerous creatures. They sought safety in the trees, high up, but even those places weren’t safe. Then one day they discovered another race of man. He’d been here a long time already. He was hairy, strong, perfectly adapted for tree living. At the beginning they were friendly, sharing their food and offering protection when other creatures attacked them. In thanks, our ancestors taught these apemen how to make weapons, prepare food for the future, and how to set traps. We built caves for us all to live inside, together, and live out our days in comfort and safety.

“But then the apemen grew jealous of our abilities. They knew everything we did, but they had one disadvantage: their hands are not the same as ours. Their thumbs would not allow them to do some things, like tie knots or work complex tools. The apemen grew angry, feeling inferior. An apeman cares very much about honor and respect, and this was too much for them to bear. There were still far more apemen than our ancestors, and so they chased them away, back out into the wilderness of the jungle. But by then our ancestors had learned how to survive.

“And they prospered, using their superior knowledge of traps and weapons. But the apemen, still jealous, never able to come to terms with the fact there were things we could do that they could not, attacked us, again and again, never letting up, and for hundreds of years this is how we have lived. We would grow stronger, and the apemen would come, destroy everything we had built, murdering our families and children until we became small enough in number not to be a threat, and they would leave.

“Things would have continued like that forever if it wasn’t for a pair of strangers who came from the jungle one day. The man wore the same clothes as you, spoke the same language. Communication was difficult at first. Eventually we understood, they were from another world, and they got stuck down here somehow. We’d always seen items come to us, sent from our ancestors, we believed. We thought these strangers had been sent to protect us against the apemen. But the man told me what our true history was. How our ancestors had been broken by the white man, made poor and weak. I told no one this story.

“We were out hunting one day when the white man, armed only with a black stick, killed a dinosaur – from a long distance, with just one shot! We called him Smoking Stick, and he became our greatest warrior. The apemen came to investigate the noise, and when they attacked, he shot at them, stopping them in their tracks, and they turned and ran away, afraid. They returned a few days later, this time with an army, but with Smoking Stick on our side, the apemen were terrified, and we beat them back. That was when we killed their leader and Shard became the new leader. He got his name from a shard of metal from one of Smoking Stick’s knives lodged in his head. It was the greatest victory we ever had.

“When we were not fighting, Gentle Teacher, the white woman, taught us how to speak English, taught us math and science. I took to English very quickly, and became obsessed with it, using it every moment I could. We thought they were demons sent to protect and educate us.”

“Angels,” Cassie said. “Angels, not demons.”

Cawing Crow smiled.

“Angels do not kill the way they did,” he said. “They were demons. But Smoking Stick said they could not stay with us for long, and they left. After a few weeks, the apemen returned, and finding the white man gone, they attacked us again, this time with an anger we had never seen before. Some feared they would do what they always threatened to do before: wipe us out for good. But they didn’t. They were held back by Shard, who did not want to lose his sport.”

Zoe poked at the drawing on the wall of the white man and woman with her finger.

“Do you know anything else about Smoking Stick?” Zoe said. “Like where he came from?”

“Of course,” Cawing Crow said. “We still have his home here.”

“Smoking Stick
came with this cabin when he arrived,” Cawing Crow said. “It took some effort to bring it here.”

The cabin was modern-looking, at odds with the Natives and their caves. It was shaded by thick overhanging boughs like the embracing arms of a jealous lover, the vines wrapped tight. Little flowers grew in the damp crevices in the window frames. Moss spread over the walls like wallpaper. A rusted jet ski sat outside it.

Zoe put her hand to the cabin’s outer wall. It was metal, manufactured in a factory up on the surface somewhere. Cawing Crow opened the door and stepped inside. Books were piled up on a table. They had adventurous titles.

“I come here sometimes by myself,” Cawing Crow said. “To think and study.”

The cabin was built for frigid temperatures. Stepping inside brought an instant sheen to their foreheads. The heat was close and muggy. Aaron ran an eye over the interior, but it had been stripped of all useful living items, leaving just the shell.

“This is where he stayed, isn’t it?” Aaron said. “This is where he stayed in the Arctic.”

Zoe didn’t know what to say. She just swallowed. Then she nodded.

“I think so, yes,” she said.

She was numb. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Here, of all places.

“He’s alive,” Aaron said, eyes shimmering with tears. “I didn’t really think… He’s alive!”

Bryan and Cassie watched from the doorframe.

“He could still be here,” Aaron said.

“Cawing Crow said he left,” Zoe said.

Her voice felt like it was coming from someone else.

“But we could find him!” Aaron said.

“Aaron…” Zoe said.

“We could find him!” Aaron said.

Bryan stayed back, aware this wasn’t a place he should be at the moment.

“We
have
to find him!” Aaron said.

He turned to Cawing Crow.

“Tell me,” Aaron said. “Tell me everything about him.”

“I already have,” Cawing Crow said. “He wasn’t here long.”

Aaron ran through the door, blustering past Bryan and Cassie.

“Aaron!” Zoe said.

“Let him go,” Bryan said. “I’m sure the Natives will keep an eye on him.”

Zoe turned away, wiped her hands over her eyes and face, straightening her hair and skirt. She turned back to Cawing Crow.

“You said George, uh, Smoking Stick came here with a woman,” she said. “Are you sure they came together?”

“Yes,” Cawing Crow said. “They were a couple.”

Zoe frowned, not sure what to make of that.

“We live in fear, in the jungle, waiting for Smoking Stick to come rescue us again,” Cawing Crow said. “Instead, he sent you.”

“No one sent us,” Bryan said. “We’re not warriors. We’re normal people.”

“But you will help us,” Cawing Crow said. “You must.”

“We came here to find a way out,” Bryan said. “There was no divine plan. We just want to leave.”

Cawing Crow looked from Bryan to Zoe and back again. His eyes fell.

“I’m sorry,” Zoe said. “I… We can’t deal with this right now. I just need… We need to…”

Zoe bent over. Her breakfast spilled over the floor in a wet slop.

Zoe sat
on a branch that protruded from a tree trunk, her legs dangling like a child who’d been chastised, eyes on the ground. She’d never looked so beaten before.

Bryan had left her alone the past couple of hours to go through everything in her mind. He was afraid of what her decision would be involving him and Cassie. Having your ex-husband come back from the grave wasn’t likely to be conducive to new relationships.

“How are you holding up?” Bryan said.

Zoe started, unaware he was there. She didn’t say anything.

“It must come as quite a shock,” Bryan said.

“You’re telling me,” Zoe said. “It still hasn’t quite sunk in yet.”

“It’ll take some getting used to,” Bryan said.

“You spend years certain of something, knowing it in your heart, and you don’t have to worry or think about it anymore because no matter what happens, you know it will never change,” Zoe said. “And then something like this happens.”

She shook her head.

“I don’t know what to think any more,” she said.

“I suppose it’s a bigger shock to Aaron,” Bryan said.

“Not really,” Zoe said. “He was always convinced his father was still alive. Now he has proof he is. Or was.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“I suppose the main question is, does this change anything?” Bryan said.

“Sorry?” Zoe said.

“Does knowing your husband was alive here seven years ago change anything about your life?” Bryan said.

Zoe thought for a moment.

“No,” she said. “I suppose not.”

“I realize this isn’t the best time,” Bryan said, “but what does this mean for us?”

Zoe looked at him.

“I… I don’t know,” she said.

“Are we still together?” Bryan said.

“Of course we are,” Zoe said. “It’s just… a bit of a shock, that’s all. It might not even have been him here. It might have been someone else. And who was the woman he was with? What am I supposed to make of that? Oh, I don’t know. I’m so confused right now.”

Bryan wrapped his arm around her. She leaned her head on his chest. They sat in silence, listening to the prehistoric world around them. So long as Bryan could enjoy moments like this with Zoe, he was happy.

Aaron sat
on a rock in almost the same position as Zoe. His head was bowed down, chin on his curled fist, staring into space. Cassie came to him, making noises to alert him of her approach. She needn’t have bothered. He didn’t look up at her anyway.

“Can I sit here?” Cassie said.

Aaron didn’t say anything. Cassie sat down. They listened to the wind as it strummed the leaves.

“Strange, having all these people watching your every move, isn’t it?” Cassie said.

“I’d have thought you’d be used to it,” Aaron said. “Being so popular at school.”

“You don’t think it’s possible to be in a crowd of people and not feel alone?” Cassie said.

“I suppose,” Aaron said.

Silence again.

“I thought he was alive,” Aaron said. “I was convinced of it. I told Mom I believed he was. I told everyone who would listen. They probably thought I was crazy.”

“I did,” Cassie said.

“I thought I believed it,” Aaron said. “But now I know he was alive and well here seven years ago, I’m not sure I ever really did believe it. Does that make sense? To tell everyone you believe something when you really don’t?”

“You wanted it to be true,” Cassie said. “You wanted to believe he was still around. I think everyone could understand that. Do you think he’s still out there somewhere?”

“Yes,” Aaron said. “But if I saw him, I’m not sure I would recognize him. All I can really remember is what Mom told me. I only know his face because I’ve seen his photo so many times. I don’t remember what he looks like, not from my own memories.”

“The same with my mom,” Cassie said. “I’ve seen her picture in the ‘About the Author’ section of her books so many times I’m surprised I haven’t worn them out. I could draw her face perfectly. But if she came to me now, I’m not sure I would recognize her.”

Aaron looked up.

“I have to find him,” he said. “I have to find my father.”

“We will,” Cassie said. “But not here. Not now. But we will. Together.”

Aaron looked at Cassie, and a smile spread across his face. It was the smile of someone grateful not to be alone.

Cassie hopped down from the rock.

“Come on,” she said. “Our parents will be waiting for us.”

They walked along the well-beaten path toward the floating Native village.

“I wonder how he got out of here,” Aaron said.

“I asked Cawing Crow that question earlier,” Cassie said.

“What did he say?” Aaron said.

“He said he went through the Passage,” Cassie said.

“The Passage?” Aaron said. “What’s that?”

The Passage
was a wide crack in the sheer cliff face. There was a low rushing sound, like wind. Aaron thought he felt a slight draft, sucking the heat from him. He looked down and saw a dozen small leaves skitter across the ground, toward the crack. They were sucked into it and then sailed upwards on an invisible draft.

Zoe, Bryan and Cawing Crow approached.

“Hey,” Zoe said.

“Hey,” Aaron said.

They stood beside one another, not more than a few inches apart. Unsure how to act, how the other might react.

“Are you all right?” Zoe said.

“I’m fine,” Aaron said.

“Good,” Zoe said.

“This is the Passage,” Cawing Crow said, filling in the silence. “It’s where we put our dead.”

“Why put them through here?” Bryan said.

“Because it’s the only way out of here,” Cawing Crow said. “We believe it takes our dead onto the next world.”

“Has anyone ever returned from it?” Bryan said.

“No,” Cawing Crow said. “When they leave, they never come back.”

A pair of Natives approached the first prostrate body wrapped in broad leaves, delicately lifted it, and carried it over to the crack. They gently placed it standing up in front of the gap and took a moment to apply some war paint to the corpse’s face.

“Now what are they doing?” Zoe said.

“Preparing the bodies for when they return,” Cawing Crow said. “We hope they will be reborn strong warriors to help us defeat the apemen.”

The Natives pushed the body into the gap. The air howled as the passage was blocked. The leaf casing flapped and sucked close to the Native’s lifeless body. The wind grew stronger and pulled the body up and away. The Natives moved onto preparing the next body.

“We’d better get our things,” Bryan said.

“Your things?” Cawing Crow said.

“We’re leaving,” Bryan said.

Cawing Crow blinked like he’d been slapped.

“Leaving?” he said. “Now?”

“Yes,” Bryan said. “We’ve got lives to be getting on with.”

“But you’re supposed to help us defeat the apemen,” Cawing Crow said.

“How can we help?” Bryan said. “We know nothing about fighting or defense. You’ll be better off without us.”

“But my people will be expecting you to lead us,” Cawing Crow said.

“Against an army of marauding apemen?” Bryan said. “We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Awoooooooo!

The blast came from one of the taller trees. A man waved his arms and then cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted something.

“What is he saying?” Zoe said.

Cawing Crow turned pale.

“Apemen,” he said. “The apemen are here.”