I hadn’t counted on it being this hot. I had no sunscreen, no hat, no water to drink. I was about to turn around and head back into town when I recognised the Lakeborough Space and Time Academy building. That meant I was no more than a ten-minute stroll from the road that led to Ryan’s family home. I decided to walk a little further, ignoring the dryness in my throat and the sweat that was trickling down my back.
The road leading down to Ryan’s house was wide and tree-lined and I was able to stay in the shade all the way to the bottom of the hill. The air smelt like pine needles and hot tar. The houses were all different, each surrounded by a wide garden and a dense thicket of trees that allowed privacy between them. Instead of house names or numbers, each one had a sign announcing the name of the family who lived there. I followed the curve of the road past the Foxes and the Unterthiners, the Goldbergs, the Maudes and then finally the Westlands.
I don’t know why I went there.
But there I was. Staring at this big wooden house with the white shutters and a complicated roofline of gable ends and turrets that suggested a house that was more than a simple arrangement of rectangular rooms. A million miles from my home.
Through the trees, I caught a glimpse of a dock, a small red sailing boat moored alongside it. There was so much I didn’t know about Ryan. I didn’t know he lived in a big house, that he went to an expensive school and had friends who went scuba-diving in New York City for the weekend. He had given all of this up to save me, and then given up his freedom as well. He’d given up too much.
The driveway was semicircular so that any car approaching the house could drive in on one side of the semicircle and out the other without turning around. There was a double garage with a basketball hoop attached to the wall between the two doors. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine Ryan and his brothers shooting hoops when they were kids.
There were no cars parked in the driveway and Admiral Westland had said that he and his family were staying at the Institute to be closer to Ryan, so I risked walking towards the house. The trees rustled either side of me and I could hear the faint slap of water against the dock. This was where Ryan had spent his childhood. Here.
I walked past the house towards the lake. Three boats were tied up against the dock – a small rowing boat, a sailing boat and a canoe. There were maybe ten other houses bordering the lake that I could see. In the distance was a sailing boat heading back to shore. I could see half a dozen kids whooping and diving off the dock of a neighbouring house.
‘Hey!’ a voice yelled from behind me.
I turned quickly. Jem was running down the steps from the upper level of a deck on the rear of the house.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, embarrassed now at being here uninvited.
‘Eden?’ he said.
I nodded.
‘Come on up.’
I made my way to the upper level of the deck, wondering how I would explain myself.
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.
I shrugged. ‘I started walking and just ended up here.’
‘Come inside. You look hot. You want some ice water?’
‘Thank you.’
He pressed an icon on the fridge and filled a glass with crushed ice and cold water. I took the glass which was cloudy with cold, and held it against my overheated head.
‘Did you say goodbye?’ asked Jem.
‘I saw him,’ I said. ‘I didn’t say goodbye. I couldn’t do that.’
Jem nodded. ‘I couldn’t either.’
We stared at each other for a few moments and I almost considered asking him to help me rescue Ryan. But then he told me that he had a flight back to Greenland in a couple of hours and needed to finish packing his things.
‘I should get back,’ I said. ‘I have friends waiting for me.’
‘Do you want to see his room before you go?’
I nodded.
Jem led me into a wide hall. ‘His room’s at the end. I’ll drive you back to the hotel just as soon as I’m done packing.’
‘You don’t have to do that,’ I said. ‘I can walk.’
‘It’s on my way.’
Jem went into his own room, leaving me at the threshold of Ryan’s room. I pushed the door open.
There were all the things you expected to see in a bedroom: the bed, the chest of drawers, the built-in closet, the desk. There was a bedside table with a pile of books. The walls were painted blue; Ryan’s sketches were tacked up all over the place. Some of them were of a planet with three suns and two moons. Others were of a small cove I recognised as Penpol Cove. And then there were sketches of me. My hair flowing down my back. My face. My eyes. Just my mouth. My hands holding a shell.
On his desk were notebooks and leafs of loose paper, covered in scribbles. There were mathematical equations I couldn’t even begin to understand, photos and schematics of ships and time-ships. Dates and timelines. Printouts of fuel grades and prices.
I moved to the window. It had a perfect view over the dock and the lake. The kids next door were still jumping into the water, shrieking with laughter. A loon called plaintively from out on the lake. The sun was falling behind the treetops. Ryan was going to the moon, but down here life was carrying on.
Everyone was waiting for me in the lobby of the Lakeview. Peg stood up as soon as he saw me and pulled me close.
‘I never really thought this could happen,’ he said into my hair.
‘It’s like a bad dream,’ I said. ‘I can’t quite believe that this is it.’
‘Where have you been?’ He drew back from me and took in my sunburnt, sweaty appearance. ‘I came here as soon as I heard the verdict. We all did. We were so worried about you.’
‘I needed some time to think.’
‘Shall we go to your room, Eden?’ asked Antoine, looking around.
People were starting to stare at us. Even the hotel staff – usually so discreet – were whispering amongst themselves. I nodded and we all made our way to the lift. No one said anything till we got to my room. Once inside, Antoine and Belle took one couch, Lyra and Peg the other. Lyra leant forward and put a bag on the table.
‘What’s that?’ asked Peg.
‘Food. I know we have bad news, but people still need to eat.’
She lifted her bad leg and slipped it over Peg’s leg until it rested between his thighs. Absently, Peg began running his hand along her calf. I looked away. Today, of all days, I didn’t have the stomach for it.
‘Eden, put the com-screen on,’ said Lyra. ‘I heard something downstairs about Ryan’s father.’
I scanned on the screen. It was still tuned to a news station.
A tickertape message at the bottom of the screen read Breaking News.
‘Extraordinary turn of events,’ the news reporter was saying.
The crew were standing outside the Institute, but not by the entrance to the Time Court; they were on the other side, where the residences were located.
‘Admiral Westland was arrested less than two hours after the court delivered the guilty verdict on his son Orion. He was at his apartment with his wife and one of his sons. It has been alleged that Admiral Westland aided and abetted his son’s time travel by acquiring a time-ship and the necessary fuel for that trip. Travel through time requires immense quantities of top-grade fuel; without the right credentials, it’s almost impossible to get hold of. There had been no reports of break-ins at fuel depots and there is speculation that it was an inside job.
‘Of course if Admiral Westland is found guilty, the presidency of the Institute will almost certainly go to Admiral Wolfe. Wolfe and Westland have been at loggerheads ever since Westland introduced a Bill to Parliament that would close the Lunar Facility. Westland’s arrest . . .’