had faded and the crackling and popping of burning wood had subsided to a smoky hush. My eyes opened heavily my mind trying to sort through what had woken me.
I was just drifting back to sleep when I heard it again. The soft pad of footsteps as someone walked past my head.
My heart began to pound.
I opened my eyes to tiny slits searching for Luke and Josh’s sleeping forms, hoping against hope to find one of their sleeping bags wrinkled and empty. They were both sound asleep, their faces a warm orange from the dying fire.
A sigh to the left of Josh and on the edge of the cave had my heart pounding, freezing my muscles in place as I twisted my head to see who or what had made the sound.
He was sitting with his legs dangling over the edge of the small cliff below the cave, outlined by the moonlight.
I felt a scream building in my throat as panic gripped me.
I must have moved, or he felt my eyes on him, because he swung around into a crouch very suddenly, his long hair swinging out behind him, his muscles bunched and poised for flight.
I sat up very slowly trying to make out who it was. Moonlight glinted off his skin and he turned his head fractionally, the silvery light revealing clearly that it was the same person who’d rescued me earlier.
Fear and curiosity tugged at me. This time curiosity won.
“Please don’t go,” I whispered.
He was motionless for what seemed like an age and then stretched out his hand to me.
I took a deep breath, pushing the fear that almost incapacitated me away, as I untangled myself from my sleeping bag and crept toward him. Sitting down a few paces from him I wrapped my arms around my legs and stared in fascination. His profile in the moonlight reaffirmed my initial impressions from the afternoon. Strong features countered by youthful softness.
“Hello, Alexandra,” he said quietly, his voice rich and warm.
“How do you know my name?”
His full lips curled into a smile.
“Am… am I dreaming?”
This made the most sense to me. Somehow, I must have sleepwalked to the edge of the cave and this was a dream created by my sub-conscious mind as it wrestled with my miraculous survival of the fall into the pool.
He slowly shifted closer, watching me the whole time as if I were a bird that would take flight if he moved too quickly, and took my hand in both of his.
They were rough and warm.
I looked down, fascinated and afraid, at where my hand disappeared into his.
He grinned at me, his white teeth flashing in the moonlight, his smile lighting up his eyes, his features somehow clearer than they’d been a few moments before.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’ve been following you for a while,” he replied, ignoring my question and watching my face carefully.
“Um… why?” I asked, a slither of fear at his admission popping goose bumps on my skin.
He laughed quietly. “Do you always ask so many questions of a stranger?” he asked. Then he dropped one of his hands from mine and shook my hand formally with the other. “Hi.” He smiled at me.
“Hi,” I replied.
Half of his face was in shadow, but the half I could see revealed a large lash-fringed almond-shaped eye in an open friendly face. He was dressed in a pair of flared trousers, the moonlight glinting off his bare chest.
He was still holding my hand and smiling in obvious amusement at my appraisal. I slowly pulled my hand from his and wrapped it safely around my knees again.
“Err…” My mind scrabbled to remember the questions I wanted answered. “Why have you been following us?” I asked again.
“You,” he clarified. “I’ve been following you.”
“Um… why?”
“I’m a guardian, Alexandra.” He smiled at me as if I should know what he was talking about.
“I’m sorry,” I managed, “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
He sighed and shook his head.
“Honestly, Alexandra, I thought your father would have ensured you were better informed before sending you here.”
I went cold.
“Um, well, he didn’t, so could you fill me in?” I whispered, my voice wavering with shock. Perhaps this was why Dad had been so afraid of me leaving the farm. I scrambled for the reason anyone would be interested in following me, coming to the hurried conclusion that it must have something to do with Dad’s work in Namibia.
He glanced over at the boys again and then seemed to sweep the night sky looking for something. Eventually he sighed and shrugged his broad shoulders.
“Well, I don’t see the harm in filling you in. It is after all your destiny.”
I gawked at him, my mouth falling open.
“I’m already in a heap of trouble for saving you earlier,” he continued. “Although I can’t see that she would’ve been very pleased if I’d let you drown; although…” he continued the conversation with himself “… she will probably argue that had I left you a minute or so longer your genes would have done the rest.” He smiled. “You would have been really, really confused if that had happened.”
I shook my head trying to clear it. I was obviously dreaming because in the entire time we’d been talking, “Hi” was all I’d really understood.
“My genes?” I managed.
“Perhaps I should start from the beginning?” he suggested.
I nodded. “That would help.”
“Alex?” Luke’s sleep-drenched voice drifted in the night air. I whipped around to see him propping himself up on his elbow, hair sticking up everywhere, rubbing his face.
“Who’re you talking to?”
“This is, er…” I turned back to where he’d been, my arm outstretched in introduction. A slight breeze and the hint of a chuckle were the only evidence that he’d ever been there.
Chapter 9
Stories
I woke the next morning groggy and stiff from my fall. Luke was already up making coffee which I accepted gratefully, before walking to the lip of the cave and sitting with my legs dangling over the edge, awed at the beauty of the view, running the previous day’s event over and over in my mind. I sighed, rubbing my arms against the suddenly cool air as Luke came to stand next to me.
“So you’re sure you’re OK to stay here while we go to the pool?” he asked.
“Yup.” I was so sure, particularly after last night’s visitor. I was even more curious about my saviour after the visit, but if I was being honest with myself, I was frightened that he seemed to know who I was too.I did not want to have to explain what was going on if he appeared while the three of us were exploring the pool. It would be better for Luke and Josh to meet him there – if he showed up at all – on their own.
The boys packed some food and water, and headed off half an hour later. I quickly tidied the “cave”, rolling up sleeping bags and putting bits and pieces of equipment at the back of the overhang.
I was crouched on a rocky ledge washing the morning’s dishes in the river below the cave when the soft plop of a pebble to my right brought me up short.
“Good morning, Alexandra.” His rich musical voice startled me,