The Secret Path by Karen Swan (summer beach reads TXT) 📕

swaying and pale. Somehow he had managed to get himself to standing. The map was crushed in his good hand, which was also somehow holding the bag. He looked like he was going to either pass out or throw up. She stared at him in disbelief.

‘Let’s go,’ he said finally, putting one foot forward. Then another.

‘Hello? Help!’ she called, her voice ragged with breathlessness as Jed leaned on her. He had one arm over her shoulder and was doing his best to support himself as they staggered in pitifully small steps over the rough ground, but he was fighting against recurring loss of consciousness and three times he had collapsed, bringing her along with him, her knees buckling from the weight of him as he went down. She would remember his howls of pain, as he landed on his fractured arm, for a long time to come.

It had taken them almost two hours to get here, the rain like an enemy pushing against them – stinging their faces, making their feet slip – but as they placed their muddied feet on the deck of the rangers’ station, Tara felt a euphoric rush of relief. They had done it! Found refuge! Here, they could get help, get back.

‘Hello! Is anybody here?’ she called again as they staggered up the steps, leading Jed haltingly towards the low bleached timber building. It had several peaked roofs, covered in the traditional style with rushes, and woven window hatches pulled up against the rainstorm.

The station looked closed and worryingly uninhabited. She could feel its emptiness, the quality of silence and stillness upon it. She felt a stab of alarm. They couldn’t have come all this way, only for nothing. Limping over, Jed’s head hanging again, she tried the first door they reached. It was locked.

No. No, no. They had to get in. She would break in if necessary. Turning back wasn’t an option. They went slowly around to the other side, Jed’s weight becoming heavier with every step – he had depleted himself fully to get this far – and she was grateful for the firmness underfoot of the decking after endlessly slipping through the mud. She tried each window, seeing if she could get her fingers between the hatch and the walls, whether she could force them open; but they were securely fastened. They reached another door and she went for the door handle.

It turned. Unlocked. As simple as that.

‘Yes!’ she cried, wanting to weep with gratitude. She pushed it open and peered into the space. ‘Hello?’ She felt her voice sink into the walls of the office, swallowed into the silence. They were in, but still alone.

She scanned the room, looking for signs of how it could help them – two desks were covered with paperwork towers, a water cooler in one corner, several boxes stacked against one wall. She clocked a printer, posters of insects, mammals and birds on the walls, a phone—

A phone!

‘Jed, come and sit down,’ she said, guiding him carefully through the door. There was a chair where he could rest, finally, while she called for help; she could get them both some fluids, clean him up, find some dry clothes they could both change into; staying in wet clothes was one of the biggest risks right now. At the very least, there had to be towels. There would be a bathroom here, surely?

The outside door slammed shut behind them on a gust of wind, making her jump. ‘Dammit,’ she muttered, her nerves still frayed from the attack as she half-led, half-dragged Jed towards the chair behind the desk. Water was still running off her hair, down the bare skin of her shoulders, back and chest. She was smeared with mud, sweating and her skin was red and sore from where he was leaning on her. There were scratches on her thighs and countless bites.

‘Okay, we’re going to sit you down here,’ she panted, trying to push the chair back from the desk with her foot for him, just as a sound outside came to her ear. She paused and looked up, still on high alert. The sound had a static quality, like the air was crackling, voices carrying as if on a tide. Radio?

She heard heavy footsteps come close across the deck, but then stop. She held her breath, aware every muscle in her body was tense as she stood hunched behind the desk, still supporting Jed’s weight. The feet began to tread again, pacing now, a male voice drifting in and out of earshot – making no attempts not to be heard – the low timbre winking through the timber boards.

She breathed again, looking up at Jed with joy. ‘The ranger’s here!’ she beamed. ‘He’s back!’

Jed looked back at her with an unfocused gaze. Her smile faltered. He was in a bad way. ‘You hear me, Jed? Help’s here. You’re going to be okay. The hard part’s done.’

The sound of static was right outside now, briskly advancing footsteps making the floor vibrate, and the door swung open in the next moment, letting in the pounding staccato of rain. The ranger stopped in the door at the sight of them – a mismatched pair joined at the hip, muddy, soaked, beaten up. The hand holding the walkie-talkie dropped down from his mouth, his mouth dropped into a shocked ‘o’.

Tara felt the world cleave in two.

‘. . . Alex?’

Chapter Eighteen

‘Tara?’

Shockwaves shook the ground beneath their feet, uprooted the giant trees from their ancient roots, tossed clouds around the air, sent the birds flying for the stars.

Or maybe it only felt like that to her.

The silence that opened up between the two sides of the room felt yawning and endless, a void she might fall into and never climb out from. She didn’t even notice that Jed was leaning on her now, that she was half bent and broken by the weight of him. She couldn’t process what her eyes were showing her: Alex, right here, in the room, in this