a sight one might travel miles to see, like a glacier in the real world, or a strange rock formation.
‘Look at that,’ said Chloe, coming up alongside him.
‘I know. And in the sunset too. The best time.’
The sun leapt as dancing fire from bottleneck to bottle shoulder, sending glints and flashes back to the two watchers. Here it streaked over a hundred clear-glass stalwarts, there it jumped from green to red to blue. And all the while that tinkling sound which outdid waves on a stormy beach, or the rustling of reeds on a windy creek for volume. Quivering bottles, bottles, bottles, sweeping out and away, with nothing else in sight. They could have been alive out there, that gathered multitude of glass: a million empty vessels making the loudest noise you had ever heard in your life.
Jordy looked back at Alex, who was busy getting the camping stove going.
‘Clo …?’
‘You’re going to ask how he knew what was here before any of us even saw them.’
‘Yep, I was.’
She shrugged. ‘He’s different now. He seems instinctively to know things about Attica. If you ask him how he knows, he can’t tell you. I’m worried about Alex, Jordy. I’m worried he won’t want to go home when the time comes. He’s altered a lot.’
Jordy became the elder brother. ‘He’ll still do as he’s told.’
‘You can’t force him to obey you, Jordy. He’ll just run off. We can’t tie him up or anything.’
‘No – but he’ll surely listen to reason?’
‘Will he? I’m not so sure.’
Jordy walked back down the slope of the boards, to where Alex was quietly humming to himself. He looked like a rag-bag, Jordy thought, in that rotten old hat and now he was wearing yet another old coat on top of the first two. And all those scarves and things! Those sloppy oversized shoes! He was beginning to smell too, despite the fact that Jordy grumbled at him. Why didn’t he wash himself and his clothes? Did he want his shirt and socks to stink to high heaven?
And there was another thing, too.
‘What’s that bat doing?’ asked Jordy, pointing to a creature hanging from a rafter not far from their camp. ‘It’s been following us.’
Alex looked innocent. ‘Why ask me?’
‘Because I think it’s following you, not me or Chloe.’
‘Why do you think that?’
‘When you go down to drink at the water tanks, it follows you. It doesn’t do that with us.’
Alex shrugged and put on Makishi. ‘Well?’ To Jordy he seemed to be hiding behind that weird African mask.
‘Well what?’ said Jordy in more of an accusing tone than he actually intended. ‘Well I’m right?’
‘You could be. I don’t know.’
Jordy said, ‘I think I’ll kill that bat.’
Alex immediately flared up, leaping in front of Jordy and pushing his Makishi face close to his step-brother’s.
‘You leave it alone,’ he shouted with venom. ‘Who do you think you are?’
Jordy was shocked. Alex had never spoken to him in that way before. He had never been so threatening in his tone. Jordy backed away, saying, ‘All right, all right, it was a joke …’
Chloe came down from the slope. Normally she would have sided with her younger brother, but there was something dangerous about Alex now. Instead she told him, ‘There’s no need for that, Alex. Jordy is just trying to find out what’s happening to you.’
‘Nothing’s happening to me. I’m just me, that’s all.’
‘You’ve changed,’ accused Chloe. ‘You’re not like the Alex who came up here with us. You’re different.’
‘I’m just the me I always wanted to be,’ explained Alex. ‘That’s all. You just leave me be. You just leave me to what I am and who I am. Find another brother. You’ve got Jordy now. Isn’t one brother enough for you?’
It was Chloe’s turn to be shocked.
She stood there, stunned and hurt. Find another brother. What was Alex saying?
‘Alex, are you jealous of Jordy? Is that it?’
Alex sighed and shook his head vigorously.
‘No, of course not. I just don’t want you fussing over me any more. I’m not worried that Jordy’s part of our family. It’s just that I don’t want to be part of the family. I want to be on my own. I don’t want a sister. I don’t want parents. I don’t want anybody. I’ve got me and Makishi and that’s all I need. We don’t need anyone else, do we, Makishi?’
‘No one but ourselves, Alex,’ replied the mask.
It was the first time Jordy had heard Makishi speak and he paled and took a step backwards.