Shadowed Eden (19 page)

She stared for a second but shook herself. “Apology accepted.”

He chuckled. “You're such a dork. Anyway, I actually have something I wanted to tell you.” He glanced around then pulled her farther from the group. “I didn't come up with that idea myself, and I wasn't actually alone in the jungle. Not the whole time, anyway.”

Avery frowned. She hated herself for it, but she glanced for the briefest second at June. Shame on her for thinking it, even for a second. Luca wouldn't take June into the jungle alone. He wasn't like that. “What do you mean?”

“I saw someone while I was out there. He called himself Rafa, and he's one of that Rae guy's friends. Said he lives here, just like Rae told you.”

“What?” She moved closer to him. “He told you about the gas?”

“Yeah. It kind of creeped me out that he knew what our mechanical issues were.”

“How did he know?”

“I don't know and I don't care. We're going to fix the van and get out of here.”

Avery nodded. No wonder he'd let the anger thing go. “I'm all for that.” She wrapped her arms around her waist and looked at the camp.

Erin slept quietly in the shelter, and June sat with Tasha near the fire.

Avery shivered. “This place gets weirder and weirder every minute.”

“What do you mean?”

Avery paused. Should she bring up June? No. It would make her look like the jealous ex-girlfriend. Which she was not. She shook her head instead. “Just too many weird things. I want to go home, and I am never coming back here again.”

“No more dreams of breaking free?” he asked.

He had remembered that was why she wanted to come in the first place?

Before she could answer, the van door banged closed and they both turned to see Daddy strolling away from it. Obviously, whatever he'd been doing holed up in there had ended.

“I want to talk to him. I'll talk to you later. And don't go back in there without telling anyone, please?”

He nodded. “Promise.”

Avery hurried toward Daddy, almost needing to be near him. She'd seen him so rarely over the last couple years since Mom left. Most of the time by his choice. Now that they were together, he continued to ignore her. She would never be good enough. Unless she helped him solve this mystery. She paused mid-step. Was that what she was trying to do? No. She wanted out of here, whether he solved his mystery or not.

As she drew closer, a flap of paper blew out of the stack he shoved into his pocket.

She darted for it. It took a few lunges, but she finally caught it. Her big toe pinned it down while she bent for it.

It was Daddy's handwriting. So this was what he'd been doing in the van.

Avery squinted at the small handwriting. She could hardly make it out, but the drawing was clear. It was a map. She gasped. It was a map of the jungle!

Daddy had drawn a detailed map of the places he'd seen, including the trek around the desert to this side of the jungle. There were alcoves outlined, including alcoves on the opposite side. He'd snaked a line through the middle of it all, and by the location, it must be the creek. Another part he'd labeled “fruit orchard.”

A shaded out area drew her attention. It must be the area he hadn't yet explored, which meant it was where he was heading the next chance he got.

She scanned the rest of the map, but there was nothing about the mysterious temple, and definitely no indication he'd found any type of housing. Avery looked up and glanced around. Had anyone seen her?

Everyone went about their business.

Even Daddy talked and laughed with a few others from the group.

No one had seen her. They didn't know what she held, or its importance.

But Daddy believed this place held something special.

Shoving the map into her pocket, she strode back to the rest of the camp. Should she tell anyone? Her gaze moved of its own accord to Luca. He'd trusted her with the knowledge of the new guy, Rafa. She should trust him with this map.

He bent over the hood of the van with Sam and Bradley.

At the same moment, Erin groaned from her shelter, and Avery looked her way.

Luca could wait.

Avery moved to Erin and knelt over her. “Do you need something?”

Erin swallowed hard. “I'm really thirsty. I don't feel so great.”

Avery placed her hand on Erin's forehead. “You're burning up. Do you think there are any thermometers in those medical supplies?”

Erin shrugged. “Ask Benny. He's the one who found the anti-venom. And can you bring me some water? I finally used up all my bottles.” Erin was the only one who hadn't been drinking water from the creek.

Avery had forgotten about her huge case of water she'd brought from home. “Sure, I'll be right back.” Avery hurried to the basket of bottled water and grabbed one. She dropped it off with Erin before going after Benny.

He sat alone, as he had since the other group arrived.

She'd been so busy she'd forgotten to ask him what the deal was. He'd gone from being suddenly confident and full of ideas, to reclusive and sulky.

“What are you up to?” she asked.

He glanced at her and shrugged. “Being bored. How about you?”

“I'm actually looking for a thermometer. Erin's not feeling well. Did you happen to see one in the medical supplies?”

His eyes lit up and he practically flew off the log where he sat. “I think so. Come on and I'll find it.”

She followed him to the back of the van.

Benny peeled back the flaps of the cardboard box and dug through the contents.

Avery watched him patiently. For some reason she knew that if a thermometer was available, Benny would find it.

Benny was typically alone at every youth activity. He sat alone at church. He hung out by himself at school. There were times when she wondered why he even bothered showing up at church at all, since he didn't have any friends.

But after his statement a few days ago about anything being better than home, she guessed she had her answer. Guilt nagged at the edges of her mind. She hadn't done a very good job of being friendlier to him since then. In fact, she'd practically ignored him. “Hey, thanks for helping out around here. You've really been a big asset.”

He shrugged and kept digging, but she was pretty sure he stood a little straighter. “Got it!” A long, white stick came out of the box. “Digital and everything.”

She took the cheap medical instrument from him. “Thanks Benny. Don't close this up. If Erin's really sick, we may need more of these medicines.”

“You got it.” He followed her across the sand and knelt behind her outside of Erin's shelter.

They waited in silence until the minute passed and the thermometer beeped. Erin pulled it from her mouth and sighed. “One hundred point one. No wonder I feel so terrible.”

Avery took the thermometer back and frowned. “What can we get for you? That van is full of medicine.”

Erin sighed and lay back against her makeshift pillow. “I don't know. There's no way to tell what this is. Bacterial? Viral? Fungal?”

“What's your best bet?” Avery pushed. “We have to try something.”

“There are no other symptoms. Clean water and rest is all I need, for now.”

Avery huffed. “Come on, Erin. Don't you want some aspirin or something?”

Erin paused. Finally, she offered a small grin. “OK, I guess aspirin wouldn't hurt.”

“You got it.” Benny bolted for the van and disappeared behind the opened door.

“He's quite the willing helper, isn't he?” Erin said. “He's surprised me on this trip.”

“Yeah, I was thinking that too.”

Erin sighed and closed her eyes. They sat quietly for a moment before she spoke. “I saw you looking at a piece of paper earlier. Your dad dropped it. Care to share?”

Avery's eyes widened. “What?”

“I saw you. No reason to deny it.”

Nerves tightened her stomach. What could she say? Erin was always full of understanding and encouragement, but she'd probably say Avery was being rebellious against her father or something like that.

Erin reached out and squeezed Avery's knee. “You're doing OK, Avery. Don't worry about that.”

Avery's gaze flew to Erin's face. How could Erin know exactly what she'd been thinking? She swallowed hard. Maybe Daddy's behavior over the years hadn't gone totally unnoticed by everyone else.

Benny jogged over to them and thrust the bottle toward Avery. “Here, and there's more where that came from.”

Avoiding eye contact, Avery passed the pills to Erin. Once the youth leader had swallowed them, Avery stood and brushed the sand from her shorts. “Get some rest, Erin. I'll check on you later, OK?” But she couldn't bear to just leave her that way. It felt—disrespectful. She cast a final, pleading glance Erin's way.

Erin smiled wearily and waved her away. “I'll see you in a bit.”

Avery sighed in relief and hurried away, but Benny stayed on her heels.

“I saw a bunch of antibiotics in there, too. You think she needs them?”

She wanted to brush him off, get rid of him, find Luca. But she couldn't do that. It would be wrong. “I don't know. It may come to that. Thanks for your help, Benny. I really mean it.”

He smiled and nodded. “I'm always willing to help. Anytime you need something. I'm your guy. I was thinking we could even build bigger shelters. We need to figure out a way to keep cooler. The heat could be adding to Erin's sickness, too.” He rambled on and on.

Avery bit her tongue. No wonder they didn't hang out back home. She let him finish his spiel and she smiled. “You have a lot of great ideas. We'll have to talk about them more when everyone's around to discuss them.”

“Great. Just let me know.”

“I will.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled back and forth. OK. So he wasn't leaving.

She hated to do it. Really hated it. “Excuse me, Benny. I'll talk to you later.”

His face fell a fraction but he covered it nicely.

It killed her just a tiny bit. She watched him slink back to the logs and take his lonesome place among the others.

Tasha and the rest of the girls worked on cooking their supper—because boiling noodles was a joint effort, obviously. Later tonight, some of them would be heading to the creek to scrub clothes. Now that
was
a joint effort.

Avery had never appreciated modern appliances more. What she wouldn't give for a microwave to make hot chocolate, especially once the sun went down and the night air turned chilly. She paused at the thought. Would she go home just for a microwave and a washing machine? Would she give up the friendship she'd found here? The acceptance?

The people here had talked to her more in the last week than in the last two years. Since Mom had left. Since Avery had sort of flipped out. Or maybe completely flipped out.

Luca's voice pulled her back to the here and now, and she smiled. Everyone had pulled away from her back then, except Luca. He'd always been there, every step of the way, even when Daddy hadn't bothered coming home when his wife left him and his daughter ended up in the hospital.

Luca stood back from the van now. Bradley and Sam had crawled under it and were bickering about some line that ran along the frame.

Luca caught her looking and smiled. He loped over to her. “Hey. What's up now?”

“Erin's got a fever, but we gave her some aspirin.” Avery fingered the paper in her pocket. “But actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else. Got a second?” It was a stupid thing to say, especially since they had nothing but time around here, but he nodded immediately.

“Sure. What is it?”

“I found this. Daddy dropped it.”

He took the paper and looked it over. A crease formed over his eyes as he read it. “Why does he need a map?”

“I don't know, but I'm guessing he's going to try exploring this shaded area next. Do you think he's been sneaking away in the dark? How does he know this much about our side of the jungle?”

Luca's frown deepened. “What does he expect to find?” His eyes met hers over the paper and she looked away.

What did he expect to find? She had no idea. She didn't, did she? Of course, she did know something. She knew June was acting strange since the snake bite. She knew she'd seen Rae again, and he'd said she could help. But how to say all that? Her ideas and suspicions were just that—suspicions. Still, an idea was forming in her head. She might need to get something out of her luggage soon. Finally, she sighed. “I don't know, but Daddy wouldn't be going to all this trouble if he didn't suspect something big.”

She wasn't sure why she wasn't telling Luca the whole truth. He'd proved himself here. Proved Daddy had been wrong about him. Proved he'd only gone through a really bad time, and Avery had let him down. Still, this felt like something she needed to figure out for herself. It felt like a way to prove herself.

Luca's gaze drifted back to the map. He studied it a few more minutes before handing it back to her. “So, what's your plan?”

Her mouth dropped open and she fumbled to shove the paper into her pocket. “My plan?”

“I assume that's why you're showing this to me. Are you wanting to follow the map? See what's out there?”

Yes.

No.

How did he know her so well when she hadn't even considered it herself?

“Do you think we should?”

“I think we need to keep your dad as safe as we need to keep everyone else. With everything that's been going on in there,” he nodded toward the jungle, “we can't take any chances. Let's be honest, Aves. He's almost as unstable as Erin at this point.”

Her heart wilted, but Luca was right.

“How should we do it?”

He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I don't know. If we take others, they'll want to know why.”