Page 110 of The Vanishing Place
As she straightened, a sound pierced the haze, like a stone dropping through the surface of a lake. Effie looked around, searching. Then she heard it again. A crack. A twig snapped underfoot.
“Tia?” Effie spun. “Is that you?”
Nothing.
Effie knelt down and touched the small mound of rocks where Mum lay. Then she heard it again, that sharp invisible sound, and she scanned the edges of the clearing.
Something moved, a dark mass in the trees, and Effie’s eyes clung to it.
“Tia?” Her stomach tightened as the thing shifted. “Are you there?”
The shape slunk among the ferns, too big to be Tia. Ice trickled down Effie’s neck.
“Who’s there?”
The shape stopped, then it stepped from the trees, a whiteness emerging from the shadows.
Asher.
Asher, who was the strangest boy she’d ever seen. Asher, who was punched by his dad—too hard—but kept smiling anyway. Asher, with one eye like the ocean and one like the dirt. Asher, who’d left them.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
There was no kid left in him. No boy. He was older, more angular and solid, his face all man. The beard was gone.
He moved forward, his steps slow, as though she were a fragile deer that might spook.
“Effie, please don’t run.”
“Why would I run?” She stood tall. “You don’t scare me.”
“Of course.” He shook his head. “Sorry.”
“Why are you here?”
He hesitated. “I followed your dad.”
Effie frowned at him.
“I’ve tried to come back a couple of times.” Asher looked at her like he was pleading. Like he thought she gave a shit about him or what he did. “But I couldn’t find my way back.” He stopped and moved closer. “I kept returning to Koraha, waiting to see your dad so I could follow him here.”
“I asked youwhyyou came back, not how.” She scoffed. “You could have ridden here on the back of a pig for all I care.”
“I came back,” said Asher, “because of your dad.”
“What about him?” Effie kicked at the earth. “You don’t know shit about my dad.”
“You don’t…” Asher frowned, then he slowed his words. Like she was an idiot who didn’t understand English. “You don’t know?”
“Know what?” she spat.
“What your dad did to that man.”
“What man?”
“In Koraha. The last time you were in town.”
“Dad didn’t do anything,” said Effie. “You’re talking shit.”
