Chapter Four

By the time I got to school my hand was excruciatingly painful. But each time I flinched at the pain I couldn’t help grinning. I had punched pretty boy Benedict and he wailed like a little girl. Ha! Okay, I know that wasn’t very mature of me and it probably didn’t reflect my true pacifist nature... Still, I couldn’t help smiling. I sauntered into the school grounds and Ricky walked over to me.

‘Eish!’ He frowned at my hand that I was cradling. ‘What happened to you?’

‘I punched Benedict,’ I grinned.

His face dropped and his mouth fell open, quickly spreading into a wide grin that seemed to cover his whole face. ‘Ag no man, Emily – why do you do something like that when I’m not around to see it? I would have given my ma’s front teeth if she had any to see that…’

I sensed an idea brewing in his scheming shaven head. ‘No! You cannot organise a fight and play bookie! This stays between us, d’you here me?’

He frowned at me disappointed. ‘C’mon man Emily – we can make a killing… Hey, I hope you’re not going to do a Darth Vader on us and turn to the dark side, hey? I mean, just now you end up chopping your kid’s arm off then he has to kill you…’

‘I think I need to go to the nurse.’ I was feeling a bit dizzy.

‘Benedict is going to sue you if there’s damage to that pretty little face of his. And if he goes to the doctor, this is gonna be all over town. You’ll be the local hero. Except for the chicks that dig him – you might want to invest in some bodyguards. There’ll be a lynching or necklacing for sure if they find you alone…’

‘Are you offering your services?’

‘Uh, let me think… Fighting off a bunch of hot babes with very little clothing on… Yaah! You can count me in for that. But you know – chicks can moss get wild. My auntie Sara once klapped a oke lights out for 3 days. I swear, s’true.’

‘Was he dead?’ I pulled my nose up.

‘No, but he wasn’t altogether with it after the klap if you know what I mean…’

‘Isn’t your Auntie Sara a tiny bit bigger than the chicks Benedict has hanging around him?’

‘Yah, but my Auntie Lynn she’s skinny and almost as tall as you – she broke my uncle’s arm in three places cos he asked Auntie Sara to dance at their wedding.’

‘Woaw… Your family clearly has anger issues.’

‘Yah,’ Ricky beamed proudly. ‘But only in the woman! So, what are you going to do now you’re a hero?’

‘A hero? For what? Losing control? How stupid is that? I would much rather have some more profound accolade bestowed on me, thank you very much.’

Ricky groaned. ‘Stop with that rubbish – you know my talents are limited to verbal diahorrea and mildly entertaining facial expressions.’ He walked with me down the passage to the nurse.

‘You are way too self deprecating – I’ve seen that copy of Dostoyevsky that you hide in your bag…’

‘Dosty what?’

‘Uh-huh.’

Mrs Mullaney frowned at us – her lips a thin and unimpressed line.

‘What are you two doing in the passages before the bell has rung?’ She asked.

‘Little accident, Miss.’ Ricky yanked my arm up and almost shoved my hand under her nose. I thought I would pass out from the pain he inadvertently inflicted.

She barely managed to stop herself from swearing and barked, ‘Go to the nurse, immediately!’

Ricky nodded and as we walked a little further on he muttered, ‘What do you think we were doing, you miserable old hag. Gah! That woman thinks we’re grade 3’s or something.’

‘Ugh… I don’t feel that great.’

The nurse took one look at my hand and called my dad. I don’t know why I thought my parents wouldn’t find out, but if that was my intention, it was too late for that. Ricky stood snickering in the corner until my dad arrived and took me to Dr Visser.

‘What happened?’ my dad demanded, looking at my swollen hand.

‘Uh, I punched someone.’

My dad raised his eyebrows.

‘Are we going to be sued?’

‘You’ve heard already I take it?’

‘I don’t know what was said, but you do understand that your intended victim now has the upper hand. He knows he can get to you and he knows exactly what to say. He will play you like a puppet if you don’t learn to control yourself.’

I nodded.

‘That being said, I’m sure there are one or two people who would have paid more than a month’s salary to see that. Emily?’

‘Yes, dad?’

‘Don’t do it again.’

‘If it’s in self defence?’

‘Don’t try and justify violence. It never solves anything.’

Maybe not, but it sure as heck felt good watching him wail…

Dr Visser’s waiting rooms were always busy. He had a super efficient German secretary that scared the living daylights out of everyone. Her hair probably required an entire bottle of hairspray every day to set it so perfectly that it looked like a plastic mould on her head. I guess if we wanted to thank anyone for the hole in the ozone, we knew where to come.

Anka looked at my dad and me and nodded to the door.

‘He’s waiting for you.’

Dad sank into a chair with a magazine. I walked into the empty consultation room and collapsed unceremoniously in the chair. There was a door leading from one consultation room to the next, giving the impression of a conveyor belt production of patients. Dr Visser would visit one patient in the room next door, and when he was done, he would buzz Anka to send the next patient. Meantime, he would walk through the adjoining doors and consult with the patient in the room next door, and so it would continue.

A moment later he breezed into the room and looked up at me once he was sitting behind the desk.

‘So, what can I do for you?’

‘I hurt my hand,’ I raised it for him to see.

‘Hmm. I want you to go for an x-ray first.’

He scribbled a note and handed it to me. ‘Go to the clinic and they’ll do the x-ray.’

I nodded and took the note, remembering that Dr Visser was never one for idle chatter.

As I stood up to leave, he cleared his throat. ‘One more thing,’ he looked me in the eye. ‘Thumb over the fingers, not in the fist.’ He winked at me.

I blushed as I nodded and walked out the room.

Later that afternoon I sat with my hand bandaged up – no breaks, just a hairline fracture. Jack was walking around smirking; making comments like ‘so you think you’re tough, hey?’ and then he would burst into fits of hysterical laughter. If I moved, he would feign hysterical fear and dive away from me… it got old really quickly.

The last straw was when I walked past him in the kitchen - he squirted a stream of milk out his mouth and yelled ‘Don’t hurt me! Please!’

I rolled my eyes and muttered that I needed chocolate.

I walked to shop listening to my iPod. I was listening to Hoobastank and turned the sound up to blot out everything. I walked into the cool air conditioned grocery chain store. Ignoring the occasional stares from people who had clearly heard about the whole “incident” I strode to the sweet aisle and stood in front of the rack of chocolates. I stared at the chocolates – completely distracted by the lyrics. Suddenly an earphone was yanked out my ear. My hand swung up instinctively and I looked up to see Jonah grinning at me. Wow… The young Thor… or was it the dying Gaul? My lip twisted up in a half hearted grin.

‘That stuff’ll kill you.’

‘I need a kick.’

His smile broadened. ‘I have something better, come on,’ he tried to take my injured hand and I flinched.

He frowned, his smile disappearing instantly. ‘What happened?’

‘I punched someone for insulting my dad.’

‘Woaw!’ he grinned. ‘What did he look like afterwards?’

‘I think I broke his nose,’ I started blushing from ears. I’ve heard somewhere you can control blushing. If anyone knows the trick I’m all ears. Pardon the pun. ‘Anyway, I haven’t seen him since, so I’m not sure.’

He kept grinning at me.

‘I wish my dad enjoyed it as much as you are.’

He wrinkled his nose up, ‘He’s a parent, he has to say and do the right thing. My guess is he’s grinning inside.’

‘Uh-huh, deep, deep down inside.’

‘So, you’re wearing a tracksuit – do you have a t-shirt underneath?’

I nodded suspiciously.

‘Come on. You’ll love this.’

‘Hmm. I’m not so sure.’

We walked out the shop and he led me to a very small industrial section of the town – a place with tyre shops, exhaust fitment and garages. We got to a rundown building next to the tyre fitment centre and went inside up a narrow staircase. A broken down dirty door opened onto a large space with mirrors and exercise equipment.

‘Oh, I really don’t do exercise…’

‘Come on – you’re going to love this.’

He led me to a group of exercise bicycles.

‘You’re kidding, right? A fish on a bicycle?’

‘It gets better, come on.’

He handed me a small towel and a bottle of water and winked. My heart was pounding and I was sure that the loud coursing in my ears was being heard by the few people strolling around and lifting weights.

A woman I didn’t recognise climbed onto her bicycle and yelled at everyone to saddle up. She was small and looked as though she was super fit. I got scared…

The saddle was hard, but I was impressed by the quality of the bike – these people were serious about exercise.

‘That’s Angie,’ smiled Jonah on my left hand side, ‘And today we’re going to have some fun with her.’

‘Hey!’ A guy climbed on the bike on my right hand side.

‘Oh, hey Symond, Alexander,’ he nodded a little more formally to the guy next to Symond. ‘This is Emily.’

‘What happened to your hand?’ asked Symond.

‘I punched someone – broke his nose.’

‘Sweet,’ he grinned.

I noticed his turquoise eyes and smooth textured skin and I looked back at Jonah. He was pedalling to the instructor’s directions.

I pedalled leisurely at first, but with Jonah and Symond ripping at the bikes like their lives depended on it, I began to cycle a bit harder.

‘Chips!’ whispered Jonah and suddenly he and Symond eased off, and just as suddenly they started a vicious, hard cycle again.

‘Chips!’ whispered Jonah.

That’s when I understood what they were doing. Every time the instructor looked down, they eased off. When she looked up they cycled like mad.

They kept this up for an hour – my legs were lame and my body seemed to be shocked by a process it seldom endured: perspiration from exercise. When the hour was up, Angie climbed off the bicycle and bent forwards, leaning her arms on her legs. People tried to talk to her and she shook her head, covering her mouth. Suddenly she darted from the room. Symond and Jonah barked at each other and slapped a high five.

‘You’re insane, you know that?’

‘Sweet revenge,’ crooned Symond.

Alexander stood aside, not participating in the camaraderie. He reminded me of Gabriel – he had that same snobbish, ‘you’re not good enough for me and you smell like blue cheese’ expression.

I ignored it.

‘You can get off the bike now,’ grinned Jonah.

‘I’m too embarrassed. My legs are like jelly.’

‘C’mon, we’re still running the treadmill.’ Symond grabbed me off the saddle and dumped me on my feet.

‘Oh no, there is no way I’m doing that now…’

I was dragged to the treadmills anyway and I stood gingerly on the black rubber.

‘Okay, just press that button in the top right hand corner,’ called Symond. He was clearly enjoying this as much as Jonah.

I pushed the said button and without warning, I was flung to the floor landing flat on my back, my feet on either side of the moving plastic.

‘Are you okay?’ Jonah looked worried – Symond was trying really hard not to laugh. Jonah eased me up.

‘I’m fine, really – I did that on purpose, you know – to break the ice.’

Symond burst into fits of laughter, holding his belly as he tried not to fall over.

‘Okay. Symond, would you control yourself?’ Jonah glared at Symond.

‘I’m sorry,’ he managed and turned his back to try and stop laughing.

‘Put your feet on either side like that,’ Jonah stood close to me and I could feel the coolness of his body through his t-shirt. ‘You adjust the speed here – start slowly.’ His arm brushed mine and my skin puckered up in gooseflesh.

‘Thanks,’ I smiled weakly at him.

The walking was a good way to wind down after the intense spinning session.

I watched Symond and Jonah – they were laughing and talking as they ran at full speed for about 45 minutes. Alexander was silent. He watched everyone like a predator. I shivered. Symond was taller and bigger than Jonah. He was a big boy but reminded me of those people who were large but very soft hearted.

His hair was curly and blonde, but instead of being streaked with silver, it was streaked with yellow. He kept it slightly longer than Jonah’s, but his face was cleanly shaven. Alexander was probably as tall as Symond, but not as large. He was well built and toned – I was absolutely certain there wasn’t an ounce of fat on his body. He had jet black hair that looked almost blue when the light shone on it. His brow was cut in a permanent scowl and although he was good looking, he was seriously creepy. Maybe I was bias because he wasn’t friendly to Symond and Jonah. Probably.

We walked out the gym into the cool night air. I had sent a text to my dad to let him know I was with friends, so I sent another message to say I was on my way home.

‘Hey, I’m sorry I laughed, Emily.’ Symond patted me roughly on the shoulder. ‘You’re okay.’

‘Please, if I’d seen it I would have been rolling on the floor.’

‘It was pretty funny.’

Jonah whacked him on the back.

‘What?’

‘How’s your hand?’

‘I’m fine, really,’ thank goodness I could get some painkillers at home.

There was silence for a couple of seconds, and then Symond whacked Jonah’s back, ‘Hey, we’ll see you later,’

Alexander nodded.

‘Ha! Can’t take the pace huh?’ and accidentally I wacked my fist into my damaged hand.

‘Aah!’

‘Going now,’ Symond covered his smirk and shaking shoulders as he walked off with Alexander.

Jonah shook his head, but grinned and guided me back to our way home with his hand on the small of my back.

‘Symond brought something for you.’

He handed me something that looked like a piece of dry seaweed.

‘Forget the pain killers. Put this under your tongue tonight. Make sure you’re in bed – it works really fast.’

‘Am I going to grow a tail and gills?’

‘No, but you’ll be able to talk to whales.’

‘Really?’ I asked excitedly.

‘Don’t they have sarcasm where you come from?’

I wrinkled up my nose. ‘I’m oblivious to it. Ask Kate.’

‘Kate?’

‘My best friend – never mind.’

As we turned the corner to our house I saw a figure walking to the door. My blood ran cold. As he stood under the verandah light, I turned to Jonah and whispered to him.

‘You have to go, quickly before he sees you. It’s Eli, he’s back early and he knows about you. Or maybe it’s Gilgamesh he knows about…’

Jonah looked past me and then in the fading twilight he smiled.

‘Thank you,’ he leaned down and kissed me on the lips. It felt like everything stood still and I think perhaps I held my breath too.

He turned and walked away and I turned back to walk to my house with a stupid grin on my face. I skipped to the door and opened it with my key.

Chapter Three

The next day was windy and miserable. Everyone arrived at school in a bad mood except for Ricky, but then it would take the end of the world to put Ricky in a bad mood. Even then I think he might possibly find something good about it… He was just that kind of person. Ricky had insane hair that seemed to explode like those tiny sponges that you put in water and they burst into enormous shapes. When he walked, his hair bounced up and down like an animated comic strip. Most of the time he kept it really short. Ricky was tall and skinny – perhaps not as tall as we thought, but his gawky skinniness made him look taller.


I spent a late afternoon with Olga. If she was suspicious about my hiding out in her shop, she didn’t say anything. Even when I started spring-cleaning her shelves, she just looked at me over the rim of her spectacles and then carried on with the accounts and orders she had in front of her.

I took a longer route home – and by that I mean instead of 5 minutes, it took 8. That was when I became aware of them. They were speaking in Afrikaans and I knew immediately they were up to no good – when I rounded the corner and peeped down the alley, my breath caught in my throat and I froze. They were going to kill him – that much was obvious. He was one of them. Oh, great. Just great… I briefly considered the insanity of helping another individual who might possibly drown me until I caught a better view of the stranger. In art history we all had the standard Helen Gardiner’s Art History book, but Kate did one better – she got an obscure modern History of Art book that I loved for one image alone: the Dying Gaul. I was completely intrigued by the work. It was your standard perfection of human form by the Roman masters of sculpture, but there was something intriguing about the work – maybe it was because at first sight you didn’t see the model’s face his head hung low. Perhaps that element of mystery made it more enigmatic, but there was something about the stranger as he looked at me with those supernatural eyes that seemed to hold the same enigmatic air. He looked like a young Thor – blonde hair with streaks of white and tiny shimmering hairs on his angular face. His perfect features were interrupted by a nose that looked as though it had seen more than one break and a mouth that was marginally lopsided. My heart pounded deliberately against my chest. The fact that he looked like a wreck didn’t seem to mean anything. The fact that I knew he was trouble – as hard as I tried to remind myself of this, I just kept staring blankly at him. It was some charm thing, I convinced myself – I’d have to ask him very nicely to switch the damn thing off as a favour for saving him. Oh boy, some idiots never learn their lesson…

I looked around and saw a few cars parked in the area that I assumed had car alarms. Eventually I found one with an open window, so I squeezed my arm in, unlocked the door and opened it so that the alarm sounded shrilly, piercing my eardrums relentlessly. I ran back to the alley waiting behind the bins and when I saw the boys run out to see what was going on, I slipped behind them. I lifted the stranger up and looked up to see we were a few meters away from the fynbos trail to the beach. Although it wasn’t a long walk to the beach this guy wasn’t helping at all – I was lifting and dragging a load that was far more than my capacity to drag, never mind lift.

‘So,’ I panted, ‘you’d better not try and drown me in return for me saving your life, buddy.’

A choked cough came from his chest.

‘And please, could you turn off the charm so I can think straight? By the way, you look and sound terrible. What on earth happened?’

‘Can’t… talk…’

‘Right, sorry.’

After what seemed like forever, we arrived at the water’s edge.

‘Ok, I know your tricks, so I’m staying right here – you go knock yourself out.’

‘Thank you,’ he collapsed in the water and crawled deeper in.

That’s when I heard them. This time, the fish boy wasn’t their target.

‘Oh great,’ I turned and saw them walking towards me. Bennie lead the group of kids with Johnnie and another guy I didn’t know.

‘So, the whitey thinks I’m not good enough for Kate the Skate?’

Johnnie looked nervous. His eyes darted back and forth from me to the group.

‘Why you helping dat fing?’ he nodded his head towards the stranger. ‘My boys ya wanna know why you sticking your nose where it don’t go… So, you know what I fink? I’m gonna teach you a lesson, whitey…’

You know those times when you shouldn’t laugh and you just can’t help yourself and those are the times you laugh the hardest and can’t stop? Well, I bit my lip hard so my mouth wouldn’t slip into a grin. Bennie would be a lot more intimidating if he had dentures…

He made a myriad of colourful, grotesque threats. The more they edged closer to me, the more I backed up into the water. Rather get drowned by good-looking fish boy than be subjected to the treat Bennie was threatening. Suddenly one of the kids screamed a really high-pitched squeal, looking behind me. I spun around and saw an enormous thundering wave ploughing towards us at a phenomenal rate. There was no barrel or lip – it was just one gigantic wall of water – I wondered if this was what the Israelites saw when Moses led them through the Red Sea. And then I saw him stand up. He stood up in slow motion, the water streaming from him like globules of sticky syrup. As he stood straight, he looked like a gleaming Norse god of the water. His eyes were glowing bright turquoise as he glared angrily at the boys and his cropped silver blonde hair was glistened in the sunlight. His lips were moving as though he was chanting something, but no sound came from his mouth. His hands were open but not relaxed – as if he was gripping something really heavy that was invisible. His muscles were tense and articulated with the kind of definition that would have any artist grabbing for a waterproof sketchbook and pencil, salivating at the magnificence of the specimen before them. If I was infatuated before, I was hopelessly besotted now. He looked intimidating and divinely beautiful at the same time.

I looked past him to the wave, pointing stupidly at it. Suddenly I lost all sense and ran deep into the water.

‘Get out of the water now!’

He looked calmly at me. ‘I’m Jonah.’

‘Uh, Emily – but… uh, now isn’t the best time for introductions,’ I looked past him at the encroaching wall of water.

His mouth twitched into what could have been the beginnings of a smile. Holy cow, he really had to stop doing that.

‘You’ll be safe. Hold on tight.’

He looked past me. Bennie, Johnnie and the third guy were running like mad, the kids beating them as they ran down the beach.

I saw the wave coming and clung to him, shutting my eyes tightly and feeling a little stupid. It reminded me of the first time my father took me into the sea. He forced me to stand and face the waves and refused to pick me up. I was terrified. I was three years old at the time.

I clung to him, feeling nothing but a rush of air and a spray of water – so I opened my eyes and looked. The wave crashed violently over us, but we stood untouched. It dragged the group all the way to the fynbos. They stood up, dazed and confused, spluttering and choking, but making a very direct route far away from the sea once they got to their feet.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked

I looked at him, still in his arms and still in a state of shock.

‘Are you going to drown me now?’ I didn’t bother pulling away from him – I was worried I couldn’t stand and it was really very comfortable in his arms in spite of the fact that he was freezing cold.

He grinned. ‘Now, why would I do something like that?’

‘Gilgamesh tried.’

He froze for a second and then relaxed. ‘Gilgamesh is a psychopath.’

‘Ha!’ I slapped my hand over my mouth quickly.

‘Sorry. I didn’t realise you were so… so human.’

‘We are nothing like humans,’ his eyes flashed.

Hmm – reminder to self, humans are completely loathsome to the… uh, what did I call them? Half human half fish race? Merpeople?

‘I’m sorry – I didn’t mean to offend you,’

His scowl eased and the smile returned. ‘I guess you can’t be held responsible for the entire human civilization’s sins and transgressions.’

‘Really? How generous of you.’ I realised I was still clinging pathetically to him and he seemed to be amused by it all. ‘Uh, sorry,’ I pulled away, blushing. ‘I didn’t mean to get all “hysterical female” on you.’

‘Hey, any time. Are you okay, though?’ He frowned at me with something that looked like concern in his eyes.

‘I’m fine; I just want to know why you are here? I mean, I have a number of other questions too, but we’ll start with that one…’

He hesitated briefly – I suppose assessing my trustworthiness.

‘We are searching for someone.’

‘Who?’

‘A tribe we used to trade with hundreds of years ago.’

‘Why is Gilgamesh trying to kill people?’

‘Not people. Just women.’

‘Great! That makes me feel a whole lot safer…’

Suddenly his expression changed.

‘You have to leave,’ I frowned at him, confused at his abruptness.

‘I’ll see you again and explain what I can. Be careful – and stay away from Gilgamesh.’ He said quickly.

He looked around, agitated. And then he barked at me, ‘Go now and please, be careful!’

I turned and moved quickly to the trails leading to the houses. There was a danger coming he couldn’t protect me from, that much was obvious. Or perhaps he wasn’t meant to save me… I smiled to myself. The dying Gaul.

I struggled to focus all the way home and I don’t think I heard much from my mom as she moaned about me being so late and not phoning her to tell her. I wondered around the house in a bit of a haze – he was all I could think about. Now, let me just point out at this stage that I don’t have a romantic bone in my body. As soon as people start getting all soppy – I get bored and lose complete interest. And don’t even try and go the route of ‘I can’t live without you’ because that just warrants a slap for complete and utter hysterical stupidity. Yes, I like happy endings, but I don’t like to hear endless wallowing in lovesick banter. And if it’s unrequited, I’m all the more irritated. There are plenty of fish in the sea (Isn’t that an ironic turn of phrase?). I suppose the fact that I was wondering around in a blissful euphoria surprised and irritated me no end. I kept thinking of his face. Of the moment when I turned around and saw him rise like a sleeping giant from the water. And when he stood in all his magnificent and awful Roman sculpted, Norse deity splendour – with the rage seething in his eyes. His pale skinned body glistening in the sunlight and those glowing turquoise eyes. I couldn’t imagine anything more amazing. It was as though my dying Gaul had exploded out of the ancient marble that he’d been trapped in for hundreds of years and now he was here. I was enamoured and in a complete foggy haze. No matter how I tried to convince myself to pull it together and focus, it seemed I had no control over my obstinate, lovesick brain. I wanted desperately to see Jonah and talk to him again. More than anything else, I wanted to know about him. Who was he looking for and why? He had protected me and I could see the unmistakable anger in his eyes when Bennie appeared on the scene. I shook my head as though that would make any difference to my ignorance and confusion. What was I going to do?

I was going to see Jonah again. After that, I’d make up my mind.

Oh, who was I kidding? I’d believe anything fish-boy told me. I would seriously have to get it together before seeing him again. Which reminded me – he hadn’t told me where or when we’d meet again…

The next morning I was surprised to see Gabriel and Benedict standing with Ross at his front gate. Oh, this week just kept on getting better. I turned around and looked back at the house… What? No asteroid falling on the house? I rolled my eyes and turned back to the road to walk to school alone.

‘What’s wrong Emily?’ Benedict and the gang were following me. ‘Where’s Kate? Did you two have a fight? You know, it’s a grave injustice that not every woman can have a real man…’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Well, when you find a real man, be sure and let me know,’ I muttered half to myself.

‘Benedict,’ Gabriel barked, then caught my arm to turn me around and face him. He glared at me. ‘Bennie’s passing around some disturbing rumours. Says you’re hanging out with some weirdo and he tried to drown them. I’m warning you – you’re naïve and clueless, like most girls your age. Obviously you’re a bad judge of character which means more astute individuals need to remind you when you’re out of line.’

‘Excuse me?’

Ross was watching me quietly – I had never seen him behave this coldly, as if he weren’t really there, just watching everything unfold. It was like he was dumb and mute… only his eyes darted back and forth, so I know he heard exactly what was being said.

‘Ross told us what happened to you on Sunday.’

I glared at Ross – Judas…

‘If you want help, you need to start acting your age and sober up,’ Gabriel barked at me.

‘C’mon Gabriel, why’re we even wasting our time? She’ll never be anything more than a loser with that hippie father and all his “save the world” whining.’ Benedict sneered. I swung around and punched Benedict – connecting him on the nose and cheekbone with such anger and force he actually toppled back slightly before regaining his footing. I wish I could say the movement was fluid and smooth like Lara Croft or some Ninja chick, but I’m afraid to say I think I looked more like a gawky flamingo trying to punch a wall with ankle weights on…

I had heard the crack and the blood gushed from his nose now.

‘You broke my nose!’ he covered his nose with his hand and glared at me.

My hand was throbbing violently and I suspected I wasn’t any better off than Benedict, but it felt good to watch him wail like a baby.

‘If you had any brains between the three of you, you’d realise that a toothless drunk with an addiction hardly constitutes a reliable witness – and don’t try and tell me the others backed his statement up since we all know what he’ll do to them if they don’t… I’m not one of the idiot slags that follow you around, Gabriel, so don’t for one minute confuse my state of mind and maturity with your trailer trash that has no concept of self worth. Oh, and just by the way, what about Bennie trying to solicit dates from kids at school through Johnnie? You know, for someone with supposed intelligence, your powers of deductive reasoning are the equivalent of a dead sloth.’ I turned to Ross. ‘And as for you…’ I didn’t know what to say, I just shook my head. ‘You are on your own, Ross. If you choose these idiots for friends, then you are on your own. Benedict, stop being such a Nancy.’

With that, I turned and walked to school my hands trembling and cold – my right hand steadily swelling up.

Just great!

Chapter Two

My friend Kate was one of those people who had a real gift for sarcasm not appreciated by most people around her. Perhaps the fact that I was oblivious to sarcasm helped our friendship – I was baking peanut butter biscuits and she asked me if I was sure that was enough peanut butter. I added more…


Kate had missed those classes on how girls should behave around boys and somehow, whenever she said anything, I laughed and boys got more nervous until eventually they sort of sauntered off - quickly. I used this to my advantage, since I was particularly good at attracting unwanted male attention. Kate asked awkward questions, addressed personal issues loudly in public and dressed like a freak to anyone who was a dedicated follower of fashion. I thought she was magnificent. She was funny – really funny and I loved her quirky distinctive style. She was bohemian and managed to pull things off that nobody else could – including me. Where I was stayed and conservative, Kate was adventurous and a free spirit.

Perhaps that would be enough to keep all species away from me. All species… what exactly did I think was out there?

I walked to the door the next morning, my school uniform hanging claustrophobically on me and my mind distracted with way too much enthusiasm for the last few days of school. Across the road Ross was stumbling out his door and I yelled to him.

‘Hey!’

‘Oh, hey Emily.’ He fumbled some papers and books, between shoving his glasses firmly back onto his nose. I grabbed the books and papers.

‘Here, let me help you,’ I shuffled them into a semblance of order. Ross and I had been thrown together by our parents for the past 7 years. Ross’s dad and my mom worked at the same accounting firm and whenever the company had functions, we ended up trying to entertain ourselves. He would have been the butt of bullies if it weren’t for a little secret only I knew. I had walked into Ross’s house announced one day and found him ironing his shirt. I almost swallowed my tongue when I saw how ripped he was under the clothes that he hid behind. He had sworn me to secrecy and after proving a good secret keeper, I think our friendship was pretty much cemented. Ross’s skin was mottled with scars of acne and his eyes absurdly magnified by his glasses. His sandy brown hair was always messy. He was extremely intelligent and most of the time I had very little idea of what he was on about but if he made people feel inadequate, it wasn’t with malicious intent. He was the nicest guy and never got angry – at least, not that I ever saw. He had two older friends who hung out with him, Benedict Tersey and Gabriel Ashton. Benedict was studying Biochemistry and Gabriel studied pharmaceuticals, being groomed to take over his father’s pharmacy. Benedict and Gabriel were snobs of note. They suffered my company with thinly disguised boredom and irritation. I was regularly tempted to prolong their agony, but instead I avoided Ross when they were around. I never could understand why he was friends with them, but if I asked him, Ross would always just shrug and tell me they weren’t as bad as I made out. I would always mutter that they were actually worse and he would always pretend not to hear me.

‘So, when are you going to start?’ Ross shoved his glasses back up his nose.

‘Huh?’

‘You know, the whole “what’s the point” Ross?’

‘Uh, you lost me,’

‘Is everything okay? You seem agitated.’

‘I do? Uh… I just had a weird experience over the weekend.’

‘Do you want to talk?’

I grinned at the floor. Ross was nothing if not tactful.

‘Not really. I think someone tried to drown me.’ I blurted it out stupidly. I didn’t think this was a good idea, but I also got the feeling I couldn’t completely trust Eli. Not because he was vindictive, but because he had different priorities and I wasn’t one of them.

Ross caught my arm and turned me to face him.

‘What?’ he demanded.

I blushed under his scrutiny. ‘Come on, it’s not that bad,’

‘What happened, Emily?’

‘Nothing, Eli came along and the guy took off. I’ve never seen him before – he’s not from here. I’m just a bit tense.’

‘You should go to the police.’

‘And tell them what? It was a pretty weird experience, I don’t think they’re going to take it very seriously. Besides, he’s gone. I think.’

Ross’s hand dropped from my arm, but his body was rigid with tension.

‘Ross?’

He turned to me and frowned. ‘I think you should give a description of the guy to the police. If he’s hanging around, they need to know what to look out for. You don’t have to give them the details they won’t believe. Just tell them you were threatened. Speak to Claasen. He’ll take it seriously.’

‘Okay. Can you just forget about this now? You’re making me nervous.’

‘So, that’s why you’re not moaning about having to go to school for another 5 days after exams?’

‘Oh, don’t even get me started. What is that? We sit around doing nothing, why don’t we just get the time off?’

‘The placating buffer to reassure our parents they’re getting their money’s worth.’

‘My parents do ask me on a regular basis what they’re teaching us at school – maybe you’re onto something. Still, I can’t believe we have to sit around doing nothing.’

‘I’m doing some experiments in the lab if you want to join me,’ he offered with a grin.

‘Sorry, you must have me confused with some other individual…’

‘Hi!’ Called a voice from a few metres ahead. It was Paula and Ricky. I took a deep breath. ‘Great, just what I need.’

‘Be nice,’ Ross waved and we slowed down so they could catch up.

‘I can’t believe we have to go to school today,’ whined Paula and I shot a glance to Ross but he was frowning and staring into space. That meant he was already onto a higher plane of thought. My nerves couldn’t take Paula’s irritating whining today. I tried to switch off, feeling sorry for poor Ricky who couldn’t manage to squeeze a word in, and eventually gave up trying. I wondered if Paula noticed that nobody was talking to her or responding. Paula had developed the art of talking non stop in a very high pitch without needing the pause most people would take to catch a breath.

We arrived at school about 5 minutes before the bell announced the end of our freedom. I didn’t bother waiting for Kate – she was always late. Sometimes I wondered if they actually had any method of time keeping at all in her house. Any method that didn’t include a sun dial, that is. After waiting in line for a few minutes, we sauntered into the halls of the school. I breathed in the distinctive air that hovers inside a school building. Only a few more days, I reminded myself.

When I walked into our classroom, there were 12 kids in total. We usually had a class of 20, so it was pretty empty.

I slipped into my desk and whipped out my phone. I scrolled through the facebook page and after checking everyone’s updates, shoved my phone back in my pocket. Ricky was in my home base class, but thankfully Paula wasn’t. I leaned back and pulled out another Terry Pratchett paperback. I loved the way annoying people always waited until you had just started getting into a book before they started annoying you. This time it was John’s turn.

‘So, what’re you reading?’

‘Go away, Johnnie. Can’t you recognise a do not disturb sign when you see it?’

‘Hey, no man. Don’t be like that, man.’

I groaned and put the book down. ‘Right, you have my undivided attention. What’s up?’

‘Bennie wants to know if Kate –‘

‘Johnnie,’ I groaned. ‘I told you Kate is not a lesbian, she’s just fussy.’

‘No man, that’s not what I wanted to ask. Gimme a chance man.’

I had a sneaky suspicion I knew where this was going.

I looked at him with raised eyebrows and a little smirk sneaking into the corner of my mouth.

‘Bennie wants to know if Kate will go with him to the Anchor on Friday night.’

‘Johnnie, Bennie is almost 30. What does he want with a 17 year old? And do you really think Kate will be caught dead in the Anchor? They may as well take down the sign and put up a new one that says “Fight Night - Chicks Welcome”. Oh, one more thing – does Bennie have any teeth left?’

‘Yislaaik, Emily! Take it easy.’

‘She’s fussy, Johnnie. Not desperate or blind.’

‘Okay, man – I said I would try.’

I rolled my eyes.

Thankfully Kate walked in and collapsed in the desk in front of me.

‘Thank goodness,’ I breathed. ‘You just got an offer from Bennie.’

‘Oh, so now that I’m not a lesbian I’m fair game, huh?’

‘Apparently so. Wow, I’m impressed – you made it to class 2 seconds before Mrs Mullaney. What’s the occasion?’

‘Ha ha ha ha ha! Your wit or lack thereof, once again astounds me.’

Mrs Mullaney had the class stand up and greet her. Once the obligatory greeting was done, Kate swung around.

‘Um… So – there’s a hitch to our fabulous plans for an awesome holiday.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘More good news.’

‘Huh?’

‘Never mind. What’s the hitch.’

Kate wrinkled up her nose apologetically. ‘We’re going to Cape Town.’

‘Ugh,’ I slammed my head on the desk, then jumped up suddenly. ‘Please tell me it’s not this week?’

‘Why?’

‘Uh, I was just hoping we could do a few things this week.’

‘Okay, what’s going on?’

‘When are you leaving first, then I’ll tell you what’s going on.’

She pulled a face. ‘Tomorrow?’ She said weakly.

‘Great, this is just perfect.’ I nodded.

‘What?’

‘It’s nothing, really – we can do everything when you get back. It can wait.’

‘Are you sure everything’s okay?’

‘Of course – well, apart from Johnnie over there having a good old moan because I told him Bennie wasn’t good enough for you. Can you believe him even asking? What is that? Have you been leading a double life that I should know about?’

‘Trust me, if I was going to go to all that trouble and effort, I would be a lot more picky about the surroundings and people.’

‘That’s what I thought. Phew!’

Ricky came and plonked himself down opposite us.

‘Hey, Ricky!’

‘I was trying to tell you about Bennie but Paula wouldn’t let me.’

‘Oh, is that what you were trying to tell me? Sorry I didn’t get that.’

‘Yah, with Paula around you wouldn’t get anything that anyone else even tried to say. That woman is like a mouth with energiser batteries that are recharged in the sun. And she’s in Alaska in summer!’

He added for good measure and Kate and I burst out laughing.

The day passed quickly considering we did so little, but when it came to home time, I had already decided my route. On the way home, I stopped in at Book Nook. Olga Gilchrist was a sight to behold. She was deeply tanned with additional wrinkles that made her age difficult to pinpoint. Olga’s long white hair was always tied in a bun with a leather and copper adornment from art festivals in the eighties. She wore flowing dresses of exotic materials, and tinkled everywhere she went, as her copper jewellery slid back and forth. Her large gaudy rings caught everyone’s eye, but my favourite thing about Olga was the scent of fragrances and incense that spoke of faraway lands I hadn’t even heard of. I confess that most of my life I spent imagining Olga as a witch. She was fierce, seemed to hate children and spoke to everyone with the same impatient and annoyed air. The fact that she could magically produce books that had been ordered in record speed added to my childhood fantasy until I started working with her and realised she had family in the postal service. Still, there was the evil eye she gave people – that kept the notion of witchcraft firmly wedged in the back of my mind.

The bell rang as I opened the door.

‘Hello?’ Called Olga from the back.

‘Hi Mrs Gilchrist, it’s Emily Riley.’

‘Yes, what do you want?’

‘I was wondering if you needed any help this week? In the afternoons? I’m at a loose end-‘

‘Yes, well, we can’t have that,’ she appeared out of nowhere with a faint aroma of cinnamon and some other spice I couldn’t place. ‘Come and help me unpack this stock that’s just arrived. Half the town have ordered their sordid trashy romance novels again and the other half have invested in almost every coffee table ever produced on rugby. Honestly, if I’ve told these people once, I’ve told them a thousand times, I will not tarnish my good name with all the tripe they make me order. It’s shameful that my name will be associated with all this rubbish.’

I put my bags down in the back and was rebuked for putting them 2cm too far to the left. I sighed and moved them.

By the time I had finished helping Mrs Gilchrist, it was almost 5.30pm. I got home to the smell of mom’s macaroni special and rolled my eyes. Why wasn’t Nigella Lawson my mom?

I walked in the door as everyone grunted their greetings and dropped my bags in my room.

‘Food’s in the oven,’ dad said quietly as he poured a liberal helping of chutney over his. I wondered if he did that to disguise the food.

‘Thanks, I think I’ll just have a sandwich. I’m not very hungry today.’

‘Are you okay?’

I wrinkled my nose. ‘Kate’s going to be away most of the holiday. I went and worked at Olga’s.’

He nodded.

‘I didn’t know you were interested in Eli’s research.’

‘Huh? Oh, actually it’s for a holiday project for art – he has these specimens with really awesome patterns and we have to find some unusual inspiration for design next year. Mrs Samson is “expecting great things from the matriculants” next year.’

Dad smiled. ‘Just be careful.’

‘I will, dad.’

‘And you can call me anytime.’

I smiled at him, and pecked him on the cheek. ‘Thanks, dad.’ I whispered.

He nodded and walked out.

I sat at the kitchen table with my sandwich and my phone, looking up Leonardo da Vinci on the internet again. I had a bit of an obsession with Leonardo da Vinci. The notice board above my bed was strewn with clippings and Photostats about his work and life. I had ordered postcards with his paintings on with Olga’s help and the rest of my notice board was covered with doodles, patterns, snippets of colourful material and drawings. I had never thought of it as a work of art, but the insane Mrs Peterson had insisted that these collages of inspiration were in fact reflections of our creativity.

With my sandwich done, I wondered into my bedroom and kicked off my shoes. I collapsed on my bed and lay staring at the ceiling in the darkness. Eventually I dosed off. I dreamt of the sea and mermaids – but not the ones from Harry Potter. These were beautiful, deadly men who were drawing people to their death. I woke up with my heart pounding and beads of perspiration trickling down my neck. I had that ominous feeling again… This was not going to be a good week.

Chapter One

I could see where the day was going. Dad was already out on the water and Jack had woken up late. He was hurling abuse miserably at everyone especially me. I couldn’t help myself. I slammed things and spoke louder. Jack was more annoying than most brothers – at least in my opinion he was. He was ratty, self involved and on the rare occasion that I saw him, he seemed irritated by everything any of us did. Don’t get me wrong – he had his moments when he would astound me with filial support and shockingly kind acts. But on the whole, we just seemed to annoy the crap out of each other.

‘What the hell did you do that for?’ he yelled as I bumped a dish over.

‘Like that was on purpose, Jack!’

‘Bite me,’

‘Not unless you have a tetnis shot up your sleeve.’

He barked at me to shut up and I bit back that I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary and that if he didn’t like hangovers, he shouldn’t drink.

‘That’s enough, Emily Jane!’ Mom shot an angry look at me.

She would side with him. Weren’t mothers supposed to have a thing for their sons? And fathers for daughters? Well, if that was the case, our family was the quintessential family stereotype.

I grabbed my backpack irritably and stormed out the house. Some holiday I was going to have when we finally broke up. I shoved the sound of my iPod in my ears. Jeffes’ Perpetuum Mobile soothed my irritation and blocked out my family and the people around me. I focused more on the nature of my environment and my breathing eased. North Beach was a small holiday town. Dead out of season, but noisy and crowded in season. The town had two main roads and it literally took 20 minutes to walk from the top of either main road to the bottom. The houses seemed to be built right up to the very edge of the encroaching sand of the beach. The beach was heavenly. A wide expansive of yawning white sand stretched up and down the coast. Walking to the left of the beach, you eventually reached protrusions of black rock circling their arms around secret rock pools that resembled man made swimming pools. The sea was wild and ferocious. Swirling currents dragged and battered anything foreign until only fragments washed to shore as unrecognisable bits of shell. Swimming was completely out of the question unless one ventured into the pools. It seemed ironic that those jagged rocks served more as protection than destruction as long as you were inside the pools and not on the outside. To the right of the beach was an area surfers flocked to. The rocks were slightly less daunting and the sets of waves curled with a glorious temptation and a monotony that made all bleached blondes salivate at the mere sight. There was just one exception in this utopian surfer location. Dead Man’s Gulley. Legend said that every leap year swimmers or surfers who dared to venture near Dead Man’s Gulley were never seen again. The warning was so ingrained in the local psyche, that not even fishermen ventured near the spot during leap year.

As I walked I breathed the fragrant fynbos in deeply. I loved the smell. I loved how in the heat of the day, the fragrance grew stronger and always seemed to be a open invitation to the beach. The fynbos stood like a giant green wall at the brink of the sand. Gaps in the 2m high bushes revealed paths to the beach and it was along one of these that I saw the body.

I stopped dead immediately. Oh, this was typical. Dad had warned me about walking around alone. What did I do now? Go and find help or check if the body was still alive? I couldn’t help myself – as nervous as I was that the body might be a repulsive corpse, I walked forward anyway. At this point, I must just say that I do not stop at road accidents to watch – in other words, I really don’t have a morbid fascination with death and disaster. I walked up to the boy. He looked older than me. His skin was dry and flaky and I instinctively folded my hands behind my back. His lips were dry and cracked with blisters on his cheeks from the sun. In spite of obvious dehydration and sunburn, he had the whitest skin I had ever seen. I leaned closer to check if he was breathing – it was shallow and he was close to death. His eyes shot open and I yelped and jumped back, pulling the phones out my ears at the same time. His eyes were shocking. They were a deep rich viridian colour – far too dark for his pale complexion. I reached into my pack for the water bottle and tipped it gently into his mouth – but his reaction surprised me. He gagged and spat the water out as if I’d fed him brak or sea water. He gripped my arms with surprising strength, interrupting me smelling the water to check that it was okay.

‘Get me to the sea,’ his voice was a hoarse and raspy whisper.

‘Are you sure?’ I frowned suspiciously. ‘You look seriously dehydrated, I-‘

‘The sea!’ He snapped – almost growling at me.

I sighed. Ah, the male species.

He wasn’t heavy as I helped him up. I guessed that he was using me far less than I gave myself credit for. We passed the sand dunes and I felt him slacken against me. I turned to the left but he shook his head and pointed straight ahead.

‘Now,’ was all he could manage to gasp.

I dropped my pack and helped him toward the churning water, his weight resting more heavily on me. As soon as his legs were knee deep, he threw himself into the rough sea. I followed, frantically trying to raise his head above the waves that kept churning down to the shore. If felt like an hour as my limbs became weak from fighting the sea and dragging his dead weight up and out the water. In reality it couldn’t have been more than a couple of minutes.

Suddenly, he stood up. By now he was waist deep in the water. He was taller than me by a head – it would make him just over 6 feet. His skin was smooth and white – I would only notice later that it was a completely different texture to my own. His eyes seemed to have lightened considerably – they were more turquoise. I wondered about his strange contact lenses. I was completely mesmerised and as he moved backwards I continued following him, oblivious to the apparent danger that I knew so well and that had claimed the lives of many – some I had known – in moments of stupidity much like this one.

‘What’s your name,’ I spoke and seemed to break the spell. He looked surprised, but smiled.

‘Gilgamesh,’ I took a tiny step back towards the shore.

‘Thank you for saving me,’ I began to feel that cold uneasy feeling you get when you sense danger and your body is screaming warnings at your mind.

‘I suppose that means you owe me one,’ I grinned back. Panic seized my chest as I realised the current was dragging me into the depths.

‘Emily!’ I turned to see Eli waving at me from the shore.

‘Sorry,’ I smiled apologetically. ‘You’ll have to make it up to me some other time.’ His glare was intimidating, but I smiled sweetly anyway and turned to the shore. I fought my way back to shore, Eli walking into the water to help me out.

‘Are you okay?’

I was shaking violently and suddenly my legs gave in. Eli caught me and helped me to where my pack was left behind. I turned and looked at the water – Gilgamesh was gone.

‘Emily?’ Eli shook me.

‘I’m fine,’ I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thanks. I think you just saved my life.’

‘What was going on?’

Did I tell him? It would sound insane – a complete stranger had me in a trance and was enticing me to my doom? Not likely. ‘Not much, just some crazy guy in the water.’

Eli looked at the water and back at me.

‘What did he say to you?’

‘Nothing, really. Just his name and he thanked me for saving his life.’

‘Why do you look like someone just tried to drown you?’

I looked at him quickly. ‘I think someone just did.’

‘How?’

I looked at him sceptically. ‘I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you.’

‘Try me,’ he made himself comfortable on the sand next to me.

‘I think he made me tired and then put me in a trance.’

Eli didn’t laugh. That made me worried. Shouldn’t he be saying ‘Ha, ha! What have you been smoking?’

Actually the fact that Eli was speaking to me at all was rather disconcerting – he barely made eye contact with me never mind actually speaking directly to me. How did he know my name? Wait, that was probably through dad. Eli knew my dad quite well.

If anybody had a story to tell, it was Eli. But since he never breathed a word to anyone except dad, nobody knew his story. Eli and his family were foreigners, but nobody knew where exactly they were from. Some said Canada, some said America and some said Ireland. If dad knew, he wasn’t saying anything. Mom told me a little of what she had heard from dad. Eli’s mom had become ill while he was at university. He studied marine biology and was forced to stop for an unknown time. His father had died when he was much younger, but had left the family with a comfortable fortune. His father’s profession was also something of an enigma. He was a professor, scientist or weapons development specialist in the military – depending on who you spoke to and what the current movie trend was. Eli’s younger sister Ophelia had been a victim of a religious cult. This had been one of the reasons for their sudden arrival in our small town. Ophelia was the archetypal beauty – as were all the Freeman clan. She had soft pale skin, a clear unblemished complexion, sparkling blue eyes and straight, corn coloured hair. Unlike Eli, Ophelia loved attention and thrived on company and adoration. Eli’s elusive older brother was unseen and unheard of. Mrs Abigail Freeman was struggling with her final battle with cancer, yet she still looked magnificent and stylish. Her beautiful almond shape eyes and gorgeous brown curls captivated everyone who spoke to her. Her style and dress looked more European than American, and she once again threw everyone’s hypotheses about their nationality into disarray.

I felt sorry for Eli. I wondered if he wasn’t resentful and frustrated at having to postpone his life to be with his mother. Where was his brother, for goodness sake? Why should all that responsibility fall on his shoulders?

Eli was just average height – maybe even a little short for a man. He had short, thick dark hair. From beneath a permanent scowl, his intense blue eyes seemed to glower permanently, but on the odd occasion that he smiled, his face lit up and dimples appeared in his cheeks.

‘What are you doing tonight?’ Eli broke into my thoughts.

‘Huh?’ I asked stupidly – this was a rather unusual time to be asking for a date.

‘I think you should see something. I’ll pick you up at 8.00.’ I suppose it would be a natural assumption that I wasn’t busy – 14 Starfish Drive wasn’t exactly the “get-on-down” and “happening” high spot of town. And yes, the people who started our town had very little imagination when it came to naming the streets. Could you believe that in our town actually had two Dolphin Drives? I know, it boggles my mind too.

Unlike most families, telling my parents I was going out with a new friend – especially a boy – was not a big deal. I liked to think it was because I was trustworthy and reliable, but I think the reality was that my parents were worried that I wasn’t behaving like a “normal” teenager. I think they got frustrated that I was home all the time. When I finally went out, they made absolutely no fuss whatsoever. My only character flaw was that I was as observant as a blind mute, in fact, no – that’s insulting blind mutes, let’s just say I have no powers of observation and leave it at that. Especially considering the crime that had spilled like crude oil into our small town. Walking alone with one other person was pretty much the equivalent of sticking one bullet in a gun and spinning the barrel – I couldn’t help myself. I was more interested in finding out who the mysterious Gilgamesh was and why he’d want to lure me to my death like some enchanted merman. So, mom and dad didn’t bat an eyelid when I told them what I was doing. Dad offered his torch, mom reminded me to charge my cell phone battery and I shovelled down supper, not even taking note of what the meal was.

Eli and I walked carefully in the dim light of our torches. On our way to where ever it was we were going, we ran into some familiar faces on the beach. A group of students and kids from school were waiting for the turtles to lay their eggs. Eli chatted to them briefly, dispelling my theory that he had no friends and was as interesting as the paint drying on Mrs Thomas’s house. He promised to return once he had his specimens for his research.

After what felt like an hour of walking, he finally stopped and dropped his bag in the sand. He pulled out something heavy and large – it looked camouflaged when I flashed my torch on it.

‘Night vision binoculars,’ he explained briefly. Eli never wasted words – it was like he had a daily allowance and didn’t want to use up all his airtime before 10pm.

He arranged our stuff between 2 small dunes and we sat quietly for a while as we waited. My adrenalin was throbbing against my throat and I put my hand to my neck on more than one occasion to ensure that it wasn’t pulsing up and down for everyone to see. Not that they would in the dark, but you know how it is when you start getting self conscious about something.

I tried to make small talk, but Eli had slipped back into silent mode and I got the impression he was getting irritated with my company.

‘So,’ I cleared my throat and tried to sound casual after an hour and a half of absolutely nothing, ‘What exactly are we looking for?’

‘Something’s wrong,’ he muttered to himself.

You bet your tight little butt something’s wrong, I thought. You are a freak and my dad doesn’t know it. Or maybe he does and he still let me go out with you. Doubtful. Time to go.

‘Well, I’d better get going,’ I stood up stiffly and picked my things up.

‘Yeah,’ he stood up, but I could see by the concerned frown that I was incidental to his whole experience. I was just a spare wheel that might be a witness.

In spite of thinking that Eli was a complete lunatic, I had to acknowledge that something was wrong. The person called Gilgamesh seemed to be an imitation – even it was a very accurate one – of a man. I had to know more. I suppose that was another character flaw: curiosity. I couldn’t let this go.

I was uncomfortable with Eli’s silent broodiness. Sure, he was great eye candy, but after almost 2 hours of scant, barely audible, monosyllabic answers to my questions, I was beginning to understand why he was notoriously unattached. I began to wonder if he was just too intelligent for the rest of us. Maybe our arbitrary conversations bored him as much as his silence lulled me into a semi conscious state.

My mind spiralled back down to suspicion. I began to consider the possibility that he had thrown whatever his suspiciously enigmatic theories were before his marine biology professors and classmates and had been asked to leave.

That’s not the kind of thing that was going to be shared with anyone.

There were a couple of students making their way back to their cars when we passed. Eli stopped to chat again and then we walked back to my house.

‘You probably think I’m insane,’ he stopped a meter away from our front door.

‘Yes, but you’re a harmless crazy person. And since you saved my life, I’m willing to overlook some minor character flaws you might have.’

He smiled and I returned the favour. He looked so much better when he smiled.

‘Look, I know there’s definitely something unusual out there – I suppose I’m just wondering what it is and why you’re so secretive about it.’

He shrugged. ‘You’ll find it hard to believe even after you see it.’

He shoved one hand in his pocket.

‘If you see any weird looking pale guys with freakish green eyes that look like a new contact lens, make sure you avoid them.’

‘Aren’t we going to try and see them tomorrow?’ I asked nervously.

Eli shook his head. ‘We’re taking my mom to hospital in Port Elizabeth tomorrow for her tests and medication. We’ll be back Saturday.’

It was Tuesday. Three and a half days alone. I could ensure company and avoid strangers with strange eyes for that time. What I couldn’t do was shake the nervous hollow in my belly. That was usually a fairly bad sign.