Page 40 of The Vanishing Place
Effie sat up. “Lewis thinks she’s Tia’s daughter.”
Effie could almost hear Blair frowning, adding it up. “But the girl’s dad…who would—”
“We don’t know.” Effie moved her tongue around her dry mouth. “It was only ever my family in the hut. But that might have changed.”
“So a niece,” said Blair.
“A niece.” Effie swallowed. “Maybe.”
She looked at the window, silent for a moment.
“How’s Rimu?” she asked eventually.
“Good.” Blair hesitated. “Good.” Hiding something.
“But?”
The kettle clicked off. “Greg came over to visit him yesterday. He brought some of those dentist chew things.”
Effie always forgot about the dog’s teeth.
“And Greg?”
“He’s okay. Sad in that quiet-man way.”
The line went silent for a few seconds.
“It’s just,” began Blair, “I was thinking about you and Greg, and maybe now with…” She trailed off. “He’s a good guy, Effie. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing for you to have some support.”
“I’m fine.”
Effie stared at the latch on the window. Her issues with commitment had never just been about Greg. Of course they hadn’t. Her stomach tensed and swirled despite herself, despite how ridiculous and childish it was. She and Lewis had just been kids. It had been a lifetime ago.
“How’s Anya?” asked Blair. Not pushing. Not prying.
Effie blinked Lewis’s face from behind her eyes. “I should probably go check on her.”
She threw back the covers, slipped on a pair of jeans and pulled on a jumper.
“Has she been sleeping?”
“Erratically,” said Effie. “Odd hours. And she’s made a bed on the floor.” She stepped into the hall. “Anyway, I should go. She’s not wild on people talking. I’ll call you later.”
“Love you.”
Effie walked to Anya’s door, slowly and quietly, not wanting to frighten her. As she inched the door open, she caught a flicker of movement in the corner of the room.
There was a faint tapping sound.Tap, tap, tap. But nothing else. Half of the room came into view, everything still in its place.
Effie pushed the door wide, and the light from the hall spilled across the carpet, a ribbon of white reaching from Effie to the bundle of covers. She turned to the source of the tapping, where the wooden rod at the bottom of the blind rapped against the wall. Effie stepped inside, slow and careful, and knelt by the girl’s sleeping area. The bump of her beneath the duvet was impossibly small, a little living thing curled up into almost nothing.
Effie reached out, her heart racing as she touched her hand to the tiny mound of human. But her hand sunk to the floor.
The girl was gone.
February 2002
Two piwakawaka, theirtails spread out like fans, darted between the trees. The birds had been following them for twenty minutes, flitting from branch to branch.
