Roachville

Dawn cleared the rain away and signalled the beginning of a normal day, with business as usual for most people.

Meanwhile Ely did a good job of cleaning up my injured hand, taking out all the bits of glass with tweezers, delicately dabbing my wounds with antiseptic and applying a neat bandage so they would stop bleeding. But there was nothing he could do about the blue bruises winding up around my legs.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a huge cockroach before.’ Ely glanced at the dead insect.

‘But it’s well and truly dead now, just like faceless man, king of the cockroaches.’

‘How about Tann?’

‘I don’t know for sure if he’s dead in that universe, but he won’t come back now.’

‘So it’s time to give the naga away?’ Ely looked up at me.

‘Yes.’

As lazily as the sun was making its way towards the West, we strolled into town and I felt lighter than I had in a long time. We met up with Kalaroo and Mulalloo on Bristol Bridge. The water underneath flowed brown and I handed over my small rucksack ceremoniously. I didn’t look into the bag. I had said my goodbyes already.

Kalaroo took me aside for a minute, and then the twins shook hands with us and hugged me, conveying warmth and goodwill without words. Like the two coolest cats on the block, they turned and disappeared round the corner. Ely and I drove back to Roachville one last time.

The very few belongings I wanted to take were all packed in Ely’s car. We had spent the afternoon in the small matchbox house and it hadn’t taken long to empty it. We stepped out into the small dust patch that pretended to be a garden.

‘So are you going to tell me what Kalaroo whispered to you earlier on? It’s not my habit to pry, but I’m sure it’s got something to do with Tann,’ Ely said.

‘Of course, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I was overwhelmed. You know, giving back the naga and all that.’

‘Sure, that’s what I figured,’ he said, taking me in his arms. ‘That and what happened last night?’ He narrowed his eyes.

I shivered, picturing the red cockroaches unfurling out of Kenneth Tann’s face. ‘Kalaroo did have some news for me. For us. The twins kept a close eye on Tann at his hotel and eventually Sommai made it back. He’s got some nasty bruises on his face.’

‘That doesn’t surprise me. I didn’t know if my secateurs were going to survive,’ Ely said, blowing air out of his mouth. ‘But he deserved it and I don’t think he’s the type of guy who understands subtle messages.’

‘That’s what I thought, too.’

‘So what about Tann? Did they see him?’

‘No, he never came out, but an ambulance came to the hotel at 5 am this morning.’

‘After you fought the cockroaches?’

‘Yeah…’ I said, feeling a dry lump in my throat. Ely gave me an inquisitive look.

‘The ambulance took away a zipped-up body bag. It was Tann. And later Kalaroo saw Sommai checking out of the hotel. Alone. He got a taxi to the airport and he boarded a plane going to Bangkok.’

‘Really…’ Ely mumbled and I could almost visualize the cogs turning behind those two amazing eyes.

‘Shit!’ he exclaimed after a while. ‘So does that mean what I think it means? How is that possible?’

‘Well,’ I said, a strange smile forming on my lips, ’my theory is that the naga arranged a meeting between me and Tann – or at least Tann’s subconscious, the faceless man. In the dream world, or “different plane of existence” as the naga called it, I killed him…’

‘But it wasn’t just a dream world, was it?’

‘No, I was actually killing Tann. I’ve… killed someone, Ely.’

The wind blew some leaves around us and Ely stared at me for a long time. I stood still, waiting. The air was full of the very first chill of autumn. After an unquantifiable amount of time, Ely’s face opened up and he wrapped his arm around me.

‘Well done,’ he whispered in my ear. ‘See, I wasn’t wrong when I said you looked like a manga girl.’

I smiled.

‘Annika?’

‘Yeah?’

‘There’s something else going on. Have you seen this?’

I looked down to see what he was pointing. He broke his embrace and bent down, his whole face lit up with excitement.

‘Check it out!’

I screwed up my face and squatted down.

‘Oh no, I had forgotten about you, I’m so very sorry!’ I said.

‘Was it there before?’ Ely turned to me.

‘Yes, I first noticed it the very day you came back… I thought it looked unusual, especially because everything had stopped growing after Tann’s rampage inside the house and the garden. I felt drawn to this little thing and I gave it lots of water before going to Vi and Bek’s party. Then you came back and there was no time to look after it… I’m so glad it’s not dead! Do you know what it is?’

Ely’s serious face went back to the plant and he brushed the fleshy leaves with his fingertips. I felt a shiver on my skin and I waited, hypnotised by his expert touch. The plant had grown much larger and there seemed to be a flower ready to burst out in the middle of it. I bent closer and my head almost touched Ely’s. I squinted to see the vivid colour through the green envelope.

‘We need to take it with us!’ Ely said, grabbing my shoulders. ‘Because it’s just incredible that this plant could grow here – I can’t believe it!’

‘Okay, yes, let’s take it. But what is it?’

Ely closed his eyes and inhaled as if he were about to reveal his biggest secret. ‘It’s a golden lotus flower.’

‘A golden lotus flower…’ I let the words trail away, trying to remember where I had heard this before. Ely went back inside looking for a container and I stayed in the garden, mumbling the words ‘a golden lotus flower’. When Ely started digging around the plant, I remembered.

‘I know! This is the flower that Mei’s father crushed in the jungle after he had killed Gaspard van de Rivière!’

We looked at each other and freeze-framed for a few seconds.

‘I think you need to take good care of this little thing,’ Ely said.

‘I will,’ I replied solemnly. ‘And what about you? Can you help me take care of it?’ I hoped he would be willing to follow me and move away from the city.

‘It depends.’

I raised my eyes.

‘I want my secateurs back.’ He smiled.

I looked around one more time at the blustery sky and I was sure the air around me and Ely had got that much lighter. I took the lotus flower in one hand and Ely’s hand in the other. There was nothing more to say and we made our way out of the matchstick box house, out of Roachville, never to return.