‘She’s circling the valley. It’s her hunting ground.’
‘Just get me up there,’ Riley says. ‘I’ll scare her away.’
‘She won’t scare,’ Cal says. ‘And he can’t run.’ He nods at Oliver.
‘We’ll be ok.’
Riley straps herself into the harness with trembling fingers, and Cal begins to winch her up. Her feet leave the ground.
Oliver starts crying. ‘Don’t leave me, Riley!’
‘Won’t be long, Oliver Olive.’ As Riley ascends she sees her amongthe trees. The lion slinks gold between the trunks. Riley glimpses a heavy head and yawning, long, long yellow teeth.
‘Bring me back down!’ she calls. She can hear how bad her voice is shaking. ‘Cal, please.’
Cal doesn’t need telling twice. Riley hurtles backwards, downwards. She screams as she hits the grass and rolls.
‘You ok?’ Cal asks. He unbuckles her gently. Riley finds that she is crying, big gulping sobs.
‘Hey, hey.’ Cal puts his arms around her, surrounding her with his warmth.
‘We’ve been alone for so long,’ Riley whispers into his shoulder. ‘Me and Oliver.’
‘Not anymore,’ Cal says, stroking her head. ‘You’ve got us now. Let’s get Oliver back somewhere warm where he can rest.’ He whistles and Everett comes out of the trees where he must have been waiting. He unfolds a blanket and they put Oliver gently into it. They pick it up like a hammock, one at either end, carrying just like they did when they first brought Riley and Oliver here.
Cal, Riley and Oliver walk through the valley of Nowhere in the rising sun. Light glitters on millions of dewdrops as they wade through the long grass. The sky behind the mountains is turning a painful azure blue. Riley lets her chest unclench, lets the places in her she has kept closed tight all these years unfurl like a flower.
She feels that this time, they are here to stay.
Cal takes them back to their stall. ‘Rest.’
‘Where are you going?’ Riley asks, as he turns away, back towards the west. She had been hoping, maybe, he would want to talk.
‘I’m going to look for Danny again,’ Cal says. He pushes the heel of his hand into his eye socket, hard.
‘What about the lion?’ Riley asks.
‘She won’t touch me,’ Cal says. ‘I belong to Nowhere.’
Oliver squints at a Hardy Boys book, mouthing the long words. Riley curls up next to her brother, holding him close, letting her warmth spread through and fill the bed of the boy she killed.
Riley asks, ‘Do you trust me, Oliver Olive?’
‘Yes,’ he says. ‘Sometimes.’
‘No more talking about the demon we met on the trail.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s bad luck to speak of a demon after you kill it,’ Riley says. ‘Sometimes it brings them back to life.’
‘I don’t want to lie,’ Oliver whispers.
‘You have to,’ Riley says. ‘Or I’ll tell the demon to come back to life and get you. It’ll take hold of you in the dark with its long claws and big teeth.’
‘You’re mean.’ Oliver’s eyes fill with tears.
‘I have to be.’ Riley’s chest turns hot. ‘I take care of us. No one else will.’
