Standing so straight, her voice so firm. Maybe my courage hadn’t been up to the mark this past week, but Daisy’s had never faltered.
“No worries,” Luke said. “I was glad to do it. Only sorry he never came around.” His face was even more wooden than usual, which was the clue that he was serious.
Daisy said, “My ex-husband, Gilead. He’s married to my sister now. She’s seventeen. He’s abusive. And he’s been trying to find us.”
I had an arm around her. Trying to think of what to say, and failing.
Kane said, “Reckon you’re glad to be there, then, Luke. And that Gray is, too.”
Mum said, “Nibbles in the fridge, Gray.” Calmly, like always. “You could take your friends down to the garden in a bit, if you like, and find me some rocket and lettuce. Radishes, too, and asparagus. I invited Iris to dinner. Not sure if she’ll make it, but I think she’s coming around to the idea.”
I would have answered, but a wild tattoo of knocks at the door delivered Hayden, Victoria, and Hannah, Drew’s wife. More introductions, more discussion, and we were gravitating out to the deck, overflowing the confined space of the yurt, when the door burst open again and Oriana ran in. She had Grace, Hannah and Drew’s middle kid, by the hand, and their youngest, Madeleine, on her hip. Their son, a kid named Jack, skidded after her, nearly cannoning into her when she stopped.
It was one hell of an entrance. Oriana really had embraced life Outside.
Daisy said, “Shoes off, Oriana. Geez, you’re noisy.”
She paid no attention. She said breathlessly, “Frankie isn’t here? She didn’t come back?” And everything suddenly got very quiet.
54
The Calm Zone
Daisy
All the blood had left my head. I forced myself into the Calm Zone, the Emergency Zone, and could see Gray doing the same thing.
Drew took the little girl from Oriana, said something quiet to his older daughter, and took both of them into the bathroom. Oriana barely seemed to notice she wasn’t holding the baby anymore, because she was saying, “I thought maybe she’d just … run away, for some reason. She’s been odd all day. But she wouldn’t leave me with the kids, so that can’t be it.”
I went over to her and took her hands. They were sandy, and they were freezing. I sat her down on the couch and said, “What did you see? What happened when you went to the beach?”
“We were just … doing things, you know,” she said. “Paddling, but not much, because the water’s too cold. Looking for pretty stones. And then she wasn’t there, and I realized she hadn’t been there for a while. I don’t think she could have gone into the water, though. It was flat. It was flat!”
“Right,” Gray said, sitting on Oriana’s other side. “Where were you? Over by the waterfall, or on the other side, near the tunnel?”
“By the waterfall,” she said. “I thought she was just around the corner, but we looked and looked, and we didn’t see her. And I couldn’t think of what to do.”
“Didn’t you have your phone?” I asked.
“No. I forgot. I usually forget. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She’d started to cry, and I held her hand tighter and said, “It’s not your fault. But you need to be very strong now. You need to help us think. You didn’t see any waves, and you didn’t see her wade in the water.”
“No,” Oriana said, choking back the tears. “She doesn’t like to be cold. She hated the Punishment Hut, because it’s so cold. Gilead used to … She wouldn’t go into the sea.”
The boy, who was eight or so, a sturdy fella with his father’s watchful gray eyes, said, “I don’t think she went into the sea. She was talking to that guy.”
Gray got still. So did I. I said, “What guy?”
He said, “There was a man. He was behind us when we walked down to the beach, on the track.”
Oriana said, “Why didn’t you say?”
He said, “Because people do walk behind you. I didn’t think it was anything bad.”
Hannah came over, then, and said, “Jack. Can you tell us exactly what you saw?”
“You’re not in trouble,” I said, when he looked worried. “You didn’t do anything wrong. But we need you to tell us.”
He said, “He was over by where the tunnel comes out. Just standing there. He was dressed weird, not like for the beach.”
“How do you mean?” I asked. “What was weird about it?’
He considered. “He had shoes