Rowan lay in his hammock and looked up at the carved ceiling He couldn’t sleep. His body ached from being tired, but he couldn’t rest. So many images and worries kept his mind turning; he was mentally as well as physically exhausted. He was sick of having to go along with what the others decided. At home, he was the sports captain, yet his leadership qualities held no sway out here in the wilderness. He had made a decision, he was going to make his own way back to London and he didn’t care what happened to the others; they could all rot for all he cared.
The moon was almost full again and he thought that perhaps the moonlight was keeping him awake too. It illuminated the crystalline ceiling, causing it to twinkle or change colour. David, he guessed, had been the architect. David irritated him immensely. So much for David being more knowledgeable than other people! Hadn’t he heard of blinds ... or proper beds for that matter? Rowan struggled with the sleeping bag and pillow to try and make himself more comfortable. Finally, satisfied with his efforts, he lay back down gently to try and sleep. It was then that he noticed Cornwall standing by his hammock.
‘What ... what on earth are you doing in here?’ he yelled. ‘You almost scared me to death!’ he gasped.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I needed to see you, in case you left in the morning without saying goodbye,’ whispered Cornwall gently. ‘Please don’t go. It’s better if we stick together; it’s safer that way. I know you don’t like David. If you go on your own, you might get killed and I wouldn’t like that because you are mine!’
Rowan eyed her suspiciously. He had heard her say those words before, but he wasn’t quite sure where or when.
‘What do you mean I’m yours? You make it sound like you own me,’ he shouted, ignoring everything else she had said. He was off into the wilderness alone in the morning and he had no intention of saying goodbye to anyone.
‘I can hipno you, you know! I can make you do anything I like. I won’t allow you to go!’ Cornwall almost yelled, stepping closer.
‘For goodness’ sake, go to bed and don’t be stupid. You’re off your head like the rest of them here!’ said Rowan impatiently.
‘I think you’re frightened and, like David said, you can’t bear to face the truth: that London is a bad place for you, worse than the wilderness. You are closing your ears and eyes and burying your head in the sand, like an ostrich. David will be able to change things in London. You saw what he did for me ... He ... he saved my life! Stay with me and I will look after you.’
‘And you believed him!’ said Rowan sarcastically. ‘Look, Cornwall, you’re a nice girl and all that, but I really need to sleep. You should rest too,’ said Rowan, trying to stay calm. He was beginning to think she really was crazy.
‘So you like me then?’ Cornwall sounded surprised. ‘Your brother liked me too. I met your brother when he did his task last year. He looks just like you; only he is not as cross as you. I was going to hipno Byron too, but he escaped and left me behind,’ she said sadly.
Rowan was stunned. Byron had never mentioned anything about his task and had certainly said nothing about Cornwall.
‘You could have heard Kayleb mention his name. You don’t think I’m going to believe you, do you?’ Rowan was starting to get really annoyed.
‘Look, I can’t prove it but I would like it so much if we could be friends too. You are always so angry. You can talk to me about anything; I won’t tell anyone. Byron used to tell me about his worries. He told me about you too. He said that you like to write poetry and I have heard some of your verses. It just shows that you have a soft side as well as a hard and cruel one. He also said that you have many trophies won in the sports arena. Byron was a friendly boy. I liked him a lot and I wanted him to be mine too but he escaped from the stud pen,’ said Cornwall, fiddling with the edge of his hammock.
Rowan looked at her with amazement. Kayleb could not have known about his poetry; it wasn’t something that he told others about, Byron had discovered his sordid secret by chance.
‘Look, perhaps you have seen Byron, but you worry me. You keep saying that I’m yours and that you can hipno me, whatever that means!’ he said cautiously.
Cornwall smiled and said, ‘Don’t you remember at the lake? I will let you remember if you like but you must not be cross. I only did what I did so I could see you. You have a muscular body and I was curious,’ she whispered, leaning over him.
Rowan was about to say no, when he caught sight of her eyes. They twinkled in the moonlight, not as chaotically as the ceiling did but rhythmically. They were so beautiful and alluring that he found he couldn’t look away. He could see nothing but her eyes and then her voice drifted towards him as if she was talking from a long way off. Her voice was like music rippling through the night.
Rowan remembered everything. He was just stepping out of the lake, breathless from his swim. There she was, her beautiful eyes sparkling in the sunshine. He had taken her hand and walked with her to the back of the beach and allowed her to undress him. He had not felt naked, just peaceful and without a care in the world. He watched Cornwall, as she hung up his clothes on the tree. Cornwall had led him to the sand dunes; the sun was hot and caressed his body. Her eyes never left his as they sat in the warm sand together. Cornwall had talked to him about Byron and she told him that Byron had said Rowan was just like him only fairer, liked writing poetry and was worried for him in case he got arrested for it. He had been right. Cornwall had known Rowan the moment she saw him in the woods and that he would not leave her.
Cornwall had asked him to repeat some poems he had written and he found that he could remember every line and had then gone on to invent more about her, inspired by her beauty.
Rowan did not want this daydream to end. He could see Cornwall’s eyes in a different light now, and they seemed nearer to him than before. The room began to materialise and it took a few moments for him to remember where he was and to realise that Cornwall was now lying next to him in the hammock. She was leaning over him, stroking his hair. He did not feel angry just grateful that a void in his memory had been filled. He should be annoyed that Cornwall had tricked him into being naked in front of her, an illegal act in London. Now here she was, lying next to him, smelling so sweet, her gentle fingers slipping through his hair. He felt peaceful and so very tired. He could feel his eyelids closing and he could fight it no longer – sleep stole him away from his beautiful enchantress.
Kayleb lay awake in his hammock thinking about everything David had mentioned that evening. He was, to be quite honest, shocked by David’s revelations. After David had left them at the meal, Kayleb, Cornwall and Indigo had gone back to their rooms and decided they would sleep and then discuss everything in the morning. Indigo had shown Cornwall how to get into her hammock and Kayleb had been relieved, as he did not want to be left alone with her again.
It was so good to be able to sleep inside for a change and the hammock was comfortable and soothing to lie in. Sleeping in the wilderness was quite alarming. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had slept well. He was sure that Indigo always fell asleep while on night-watch duty, which defeated the point of being on watch and left Kayleb awake with his nerves on edge. Kayleb tried to remember the last time he had drifted into a deep sleep and decided that it was when they were on the riverbank. Within seconds of falling asleep, however, he had been jolted awake when a large frog had jumped on his face. He had screamed and given everyone else a fright. The frog couldn’t be found and Kayleb was accused of messing about and disturbing everyone’s sleep.
He thought of David and wondered how he would convince London to let his people evacuate to Earth and whether he could show them a better way to live. Being able to heal the AIDS II Virus would help him but he feared that they would be regarded as crackpots and get thrown out into the wilderness again. This had happened to David’s people before, so he hoped that he had a better plan this time. Not just the vain hope that Earth’s civilisation had mentally matured enough to accept him. Kayleb thought of his mentor, with his complete faith in the police system and his blinkered inability to see outside the box. Helen was open-minded but just complied with the rules in order to stay inside London. He wondered what David’s plans were. There was no governing body to take over, just its operators. The police service was given orders from a daily printout from the Think Tank program, run on a central processor that was hidden in a secret location to avoid it being sabotaged.
Kayleb then thought of Cornwall. He wondered if she would stay with David or whether he would be able to convince his mentor to get her a pass to stay in London. Conrad had helped Helen, so perhaps he could help Cornwall too. An extraordinary idea entered Kayleb’s head: perhaps she wanted to become his companion. He pushed this thought quickly away. London would not suit Cornwall as it was. Cornwall had a free spirit and would not like to be controlled. He was only just sixteen, far too young to settle down and had to think about working first. He wondered what sort of job he’d be given. He had scored well in his IQ and temperament tests and showed potential to do well in a science-based job. He imagined he would be given something interesting to do, though he hoped it would not be medical. He couldn’t stomach blood and gore. He wondered what Rowan would end up doing. It was unlikely he would get a really good job; probably something manual. He didn’t really shine academically.
Part of Kayleb hoped that Rowan would go off on his own. He was tiresome, rude and ungrateful for the hospitality that David had shown him. He deserved to perish in the wilderness, yet in his heart Kayleb did not want that to happen. He wanted Rowan to see sense. But what was sense? All that was wholesome, his life in London, the way they all worked and lived there, now seemed tarnished and peculiar. Why were teenage boys turned out into the wilderness? Did London hope that only the strongest returned or did they only allow back in those that supported the London lifestyle? He feared that the latter was correct and he was sure that Rowan would be welcomed back. Kayleb wasn’t so sure about himself; he was having serious doubts about London life. He would have to talk to Rowan about this and make him realise that he would be a fool to return to London as it was. The only thing they could do was to help David with whatever he had planned. This couldn’t wait. Rowan was bound to go off before everyone was up. Kayleb scrambled out of his hammock.
The lounge was dark. Only the floor glowed, allowing Kayleb to see his way to Rowan’s room. He stopped outside the door and listened. His room was quiet. Perhaps waking Rowan at this hour would be a mistake. He had woken Rowan once to relieve him of his night watch and narrowly missed a punch. It was better to set the alarm on his watch for first light and catch Rowan then. Kayleb turned around to go back to his bed, when he realised that someone was leaving Rowan’s room. Kayleb swivelled back around. Cornwall looked surprised to see him there.
Are you all right? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,’ she whispered.
Kayleb was shocked.
‘What are ... you ... What are you doing in there?’ he stammered.
‘Just helping Rowan to go to sleep,’ she said.
‘What do you mean by that?’ Kayleb asked, his eyes narrowing.
‘You were up to mischief again, weren’t you?’
‘No ... no I wasn’t,’ she said. ‘I just didn’t think it was safe for Rowan to go off on his own. It’s too dangerous for him out there.’
‘That’s just what I came to say,’ said Kayleb, now feeling slightly guilty for suspecting Cornwall of being up to something.
‘He’s asleep now. I think he’ll stay,’ she said.
Kayleb was puzzled. There was no way Rowan would have fallen asleep with Cornwall in the room; Kayleb felt that something was not quite right. Cornwall had definitely been up to no good.
‘Cornwall? What did you do to ... ?’
Cornwall interrupted him. ‘I know what you’re thinking. You think I hypnoed him again, don’t you? Well, you would be wrong really.’
‘You have, though, haven’t you?’ asked Kayleb angrily
‘No ... no ... well, just a little bit perhaps,’ she said, sighing.
‘It’s for his own good. All I’ve asked him to do is stay by my side. That way, he won’t run off. I did it for his own good; it won’t hurt him.’
‘You shouldn’t mess with people’s minds; it’s not fair,’ said Kayleb crossly.
‘Look, I’m just trying to help. I thought he was your friend!’ she said defiantly.
‘I guess you’re right. He is a bit headstrong sometimes,’ said Kayleb wearily. ‘OK, as long as it doesn’t hurt him. But you must promise to reverse what you’ve done when we get near London. I hope it doesn’t count as cheating. I’ll see you in the morning. I’m whacked,’ said Kayleb. He was still annoyed with Cornwall; she was far too intimate with Rowan for his liking.
‘Goodnight, Kayleb. He’ll be fine, don’t worry! David will help us. It feels right to go with David. Don’t you feel this too?’ she said, turning as she reached her room.
‘I think he is a good person, but I have my doubts too,’ he replied.
‘You’re such a doubting Homer, sometimes. You have to go with your heart like David said,’ Cornwall said, smiling.
‘I can’t help it,’ Kayleb sighed. ‘I feel like life hangs by a thread these days. You have to have eyes in the back of your head because you’re never quite sure what’s around the next corner. David is too good somehow; we had better keep our wits about us.’
‘There, see what I mean? Have a little faith in humankind,’ she said as she went into her room.