Chapter 2
The Wake-Up Call
At 4 am on the first morning of the winter holidays, the phone rang. Nat listened to her father stumble down the stairs.
‘Abraham?’ he said. ‘Bit early isn’t it mate?’
Nat didn’t wait another second. She leapt up, and pulled on her jeans and two jerseys while her Dad argued with Abraham on the phone. It was pretty clear he wasn’t winning. She was ferreting about in the dark for her camera when Mike arrived at the bedroom door. He took in her appearance.
‘You knew this was coming?’
Nat shook her head. ‘I had no idea. But if he’s calling in the middle of the night, you know it’s got to be good.’
‘He wants me to take you guys out to Ruapuke Beach,’ said Mike, shaking his head. ‘I told him you’d freeze to death, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.’
‘Cool,’ said Nat.
Mike rolled his eyes. ‘I’ll wake up Jack.’
‘Good luck,’ said Nat. ‘What about Kathleen?’
‘It’s tempting to let her sleep,’ he said, ‘but safer to bring her along.’
Nat nodded. Her younger sister hated being left out of anything.
Nat swept her unruly curls into a ponytail, collected coats and hats for everyone and grabbed bananas for breakfast. Mike swept Kathleen from her bed without waking her and placed her in the back seat of the car wrapped in her duvet. Nat’s older brother Jack trudged down the stairs. His curly hair was growing longer. He looked like some kind of rock star her father used to listen to.
‘This sucks,’ he said.
It was bitterly cold outside. Nat watched her brother climb into the car. His foot had healed after being trapped in a rock fall last holidays, but his limp was still noticeable.
Nat's pet fantail, Pi, flitted towards them. The little black bird landed on her shoulder and she transferred him to her pocket.
The car took a moment to start. Nat banged her gloved hands together to keep them warm while the heater whirred into life. When they rounded the first corner on the gravel road, they saw lights waiting across the ravine.
‘Looks like the Limas got an early morning wake up call too,’ muttered Mike.
‘Sweet,’ said Jack.
Elijah and Barnaby Lima lived on a farm further up the road. Elijah and Jack had been best mates since primary school. Elijah was tall and broad shouldered and his dark hair was short and styled. He was only fifteen years old, but he took things seriously. Mike said his head was on straight.
Barnaby, on the other hand, overflowed with jokes and mischief. He was a year younger than his brother. They had the same olive skin and dark brown hair but Barnaby was lanky, and his scruffy hair almost touched his shoulders. Having the Lima brothers around last holidays had been crucial to their success in finding two ancient treasure chests filled with rubies and emeralds. Elijah and Barnaby were an integral part of the gang.
Mike pulled alongside Tony Lima’s truck and lowered the window. Elijah was half asleep in the front seat, snuggled in his down jacket. In contrast, Barnaby was straining against his seatbelt, eyes gleaming.
‘Morning!’ he said, before anyone else could speak.
‘Good morning Barnaby,’ sighed Mike.
‘Got room for two more?’ asked Tony. ‘I’m supposed to be scanning the ewes at eight, but Abraham was insistent.’
‘That he was,’ said Mike. ‘Nat, give Eli the front seat. Barnaby – simmer down.’
Barnaby looked indignant. ‘I haven’t done anything!’
‘Be good, Barnaby,’ commanded Tony. ‘Or else.’
Barnaby glowered at his father. Nat suppressed a giggle. She clambered into the back and Barnaby squashed in beside her. Elijah closed the front door, and they were off again.
The road climbed through the valley and soon almost everyone was lulled back to sleep. There hadn’t been a peep out of Kathleen. Elijah started to snore in the front seat, and Jack’s head lolled about. Mike gripped the steering wheel and clicked on the radio. Only Nat and Barnaby were wide awake.
‘Do you know where we’re going?’ whispered Barnaby.
‘Ruapuke Beach,’ said Nat.
Barnaby nodded. ‘That’s where Abraham’s bach is.’
Mike glanced at them in the rear view mirror, and turned up the radio. The low talkback voices filled the truck.
Barnaby leant close to Nat. ‘I know why we’re going there.’
‘How?’
‘Dad’s been talking about the tides – you know all these storms we’ve been having?’ Nat nodded. The rain and wind had been incredible this winter. Massive trees had fallen down and the sea had battered beachside communities.
‘He said that the tide will be the highest it’s been in a hundred years,’ said Barnaby.
‘They call it a king tide,’ said Mike. ‘This one’s breaking all the records. It'll be on the news.’
As the clock ticked over to five o’clock, Nat and Barnaby leaned forward to listen. The bulletin told stories of coastal mayhem. The storm surge had swamped estuaries and battered sea walls. Roads were flooded. In Kapiti debris had been swept onto people’s back yards. Further north on the Hokianga people had been evacuated from their homes in the middle of the night.
‘Imagine being woken up and told you had to leave immediately,’ said Barnaby. ‘That’d be crazy.’
‘It’d be awful,’ said Mike.
‘I wonder what the tide has dragged up that Abraham wants us to see?’ asked Nat.
‘Maybe a giant squid,’ suggested Barnaby.
‘Or a message in a bottle,’ said Mike.
Nat didn’t think it was a squid, giant or otherwise. And a message in a bottle wasn’t important enough to haul two families out of bed at four in the morning. It had to be something bigger than that.
‘Maybe an octopus!’ said Barnaby, a little too loudly.
Jack woke with wide eyes. He punched Barnaby on the arm and settled straight back to sleep.
‘Enough speculation,’ said Mike. ‘You two try and doze.’
Nat closed her eyes, but knew there was no chance of sleep. She’d been craving another adventure. The school term had crawled by. She’d grabbed every spare moment to pore over the maps and instructions in her cache of clues, but she needed Abraham to help her to decipher them. A smile spread across her face. Now, on the first day of the holidays, even before dawn, it had begun.
‘Funny sort of sleep, Nat,’ said Mike.
‘It’s a smile sleep Dad,’ said Nat. ‘When you’re this excited you have to let a bit out somehow.’
As Mike turned his eyes back to the road, Barnaby squeezed her hand in the darkness. Nat’s grin widened. This was going to be incredible.
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