Chapter Thirteen
“There you are!” Rani runs down the steps from the terrace to me, her burnt orange skirts flaring around her. She thrusts
my discarded shoes at me, like a disgruntled fairy godmother. “Put those on. I’m starving.”
“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” I tell her as I use her shoulder to balance and put the shoes back on.
“Oh, I knew you were fine,” Rani says. “I saw Forrest going into the maze to look for you, and I thought, ‘Ava is going to
be fine.’”
“You knew I was in the maze?” I ask.
“Well, I didn’t 100 percent know,” Rani says, leading me purposefully towards the dining room, “but you know if there’s acres
of open parkland to run around in or a maze to get lost in, Ava Green is statistically most likely to end up lost in the maze.
That’s just maths.”
“That is not maths,” I tell her. “No wonder you failed maths.”
“Listen, it’s not me who always chooses the most complicated option available, and anyway, I was on the way to rescue you.
I thought it might be nice for you to hang out with Forrest for a bit. Maybe mend some bridges.”
“Maybe burn some bridges,” I mutter.
“I mean he explained why he was so upset about the shirt.”
“Still, he said what he said,” I say with a shrug. “There’s no excuse for making another feel small or inferior. Not ever.”
Rani nods. Rani gets it. She wasn’t there during those times of my life, my God I wish she had been. But she saw me on the
first day of uni, staring at a room full of kids my age as if I was starring in a horror movie about getting eaten alive by
college students, and she got it right then.
“Scary, aren’t they?” she said, handing me a beer.
“You’re scared of them too?” I asked her, in amazement.
“Oh yeah,” she said. “So let’s stick together, okay? For safety.”
After that night we shared years of conversations, stories, and memories. All the reasons why we felt pushed out onto the
other side of the glass all our lives. Rani has built a bold and beautiful life, despite it. I am doing my own thing, my own
way. And there are some parts of me that are ingrained too deep to ever change. My mind is made up. And my mind is not easily
altered.
“Ava!” Hal enters the dining room from the opposite end. “I went to look for you in your lab! I was sure that was where you
would have gone!”
“That would have been a better plan,” I say, blushing as the rest of the dinner party file in. “But I wasn’t really thinking
logically.”
Then taking me completely by surprise, he wraps his arms around me and hugs me.
Normally that kind of uninvited display of affection from a virtual stranger would freak me out, but for some reason, it doesn’t with Hal.
Instead, it feels like all the noise and stress of the room have faded away to silence, just for a moment.
And it is a moment. He releases me almost as soon as the hug has begun.
We stand there looking at each other, neither one of us sure what to do next.
“Sorry,” Hal says. “I shouldn’t have done that. I was just really pleased to see you.”
“Um, that’s okay,” I say, determined to avoid Rani’s eyes, which are currently bulging like a cartoon character’s. “Thanks.
Nice hug.”
It’s Forrest’s eyes that meet mine across the table as he takes a seat opposite me, and they are unreadable. He did come and
find me in the maze, and he didn’t leave me there. He’s obviously been through some difficult stuff. But also, I don’t get
even the slightest impression that he cares what I think of him, so I don’t think I’m under any obligation to try and actively
like him, especially after he called me stupid.
“Right.” Lord B clinks a silver teaspoon against a wineglass to get our attention. “We’re finally all present and correct,
are we? No one else done a runner, what?”
“Get on with it, darling.”
“Right then, here’s a toast to our first full day of this year’s Beaumont International challenge. May the people in this
room bring the change the world needs. And after dinner we have a little surprise for you, as my good lady wife will be revealing . . .
after dessert!”
There’s a cheer as Lady B signals for the first course to be brought in.
Forrest keeps his eyes down as we eat, brows furrowed as if he’s working out some thought of a particularly thorny problem.
“Well,” Lady B says, gesturing for another glass of wine.
“It’s been quite a day, hasn’t it? Forrest and the feral children in the park.
Honestly, Forrest, I thought you were marvellous with them.
Not one of them was the slightest bit interested at the start of the day, and then by the end you ‘almost’ had them.
Well, some of them, anyway. And then we lost Ava, and then Forrest got lost looking for Ava.
Still, it’s rather lovely that you two spent time together, don’t you think?
We do like to encourage a spirit of comradeship between our applicants, and I had noticed that you two seem a little at odds, even after your maze adventure. ”
“That’s because Forrest is my nemesis,” I say out loud, apparently, as Rani’s mouth has dropped open, and everyone is looking
at me again.
Forrest looks up at me, his eyes wide in surprise.
“‘Nemesis’ is such an interesting word, isn’t it?” Lady B goes. “It’s from the ancient Greek, you know, and literally translated
means ‘to give what is due.’ And of course Nemesis herself is the goddess of retribution. But answer me this, Ava. How does
one know what is due to another if one does not truly know them?”
“’Spose,” I say.
“Well, then perhaps after dinner entertainment will be another chance for you two to see a different side to one another.
I’ll arrange for you to travel together.”
“Travel?” I protest. “Where we are going at this time of night? It’s after ten p.m.?”
“Oh, you modern youngens,” Sasha laughs, “you’re all so sensible. It’s bedtime this, teatime that. Well, not these Gen Xers,
am I right, love?” She grabs her husband’s thigh. “I’m all for a late night, Lady B. Are we off to the clubs?”
“Nothing quite so noisy,” Lady B says. “But just as exciting, in my view. North Yorkshire is famous for her dark skies, hardly any light pollution at all out here. So, we are taking you all on a star safari tonight. Local astronomers have set up a dozen telescopes, and we are going to have a good look at what’s out there.
You’ve got twenty minutes to change into something warm and practical before the golf buggies leave.
Bring an extra sweater—it gets cold at night, even in August. Forrest and Ava, you are riding together. ”