Barramundi Triangle - A Teaser for Songlines -

justwriteforkidsApril 8, 2018Just Write For Kids, Resources, Uncategorized

#SentinelsOfEden #BlogTour #BooksOnTour #Day1

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Barramundi Triangle… A Teaser for Songlines – Sentinels of Eden #1 by Carolyn Denman

Chapter 3

The river didn’t seem to care how much trouble we were in. It just kept singing its way past us as we sat on our favourite rocks in the little sandy curve below my house. I broke off a piece of stick and threw it as far across the water as I could and then watched as it was swallowed, becoming part of the river itself, sweeping out of the home paddock and bending southwards before following the road towards town. Everything was part of the river really. Everything it touched became part of its journey, its identity. A complex, evolving, living thing.
‘Remember the last boat I built?’ Noah asked, staring into the water as well. ‘The raft I tied together with about a million pieces of hay band? It would have worked.’
Seriously? He was still hung up on that? It was over two years ago. ‘Yeah, I remember. It was against the rules. Hay band isn’t naturally found in the bush. Harry’s original challenge was supposed to be about bush craft. You’re the one that wanted to turn it into a competition to see who could make a boat that would survive all the way from your place to here.’
‘I just want to know why it’s so hard,’ Noah said. ‘I’m telling you, there’s something weird going on out there in the state park. Creepy ghosts or evil spirits or something. Maybe that’s why Harry won’t tell you about what happened out there with your mum. He knows all the ancient legends.’
‘The Barramundi Triangle,’ we said together, laughing. I had accidentally used the wrong word years ago after one of my own rafts had failed to turn up – I’d been trying to say it was like the Bermuda Triangle, but got it wrong.
‘If there are ghosts out there, then my parents would be with them,’ I said. ‘They wouldn’t be creepy or evil.’
He acknowledged that by not arguing back. We watched a leafy branch float past, spinning where it passed our rocks.
‘I’m sorry I got you into trouble,’ Noah said after a few moments. ‘They didn’t believe me.’ He actually sounded surprised.
I chucked the rest of my stick at him. ‘You said someone dared you to do it. Who did you expect them to blame?’
He chucked it straight back, hitting me in the thigh. ‘Ben Millard was in the library, and I tried to imply it had been him, but then he told them he saw you nick something from behind the counter.’
‘What? I didn’t steal anything! I didn’t even tear out the clipping, even though I wanted to. He’s such a pain.’
I tore the stick into little pieces and threw them as hard as I could into the water. Why were all the kids at school so mean to me? They all seemed to like Noah no matter what he did.
‘I should have thought it through better. Sorry.’
‘It’s okay. Was totally worth it. And I can’t believe you did that for me.’
Noah sat up straighter. ‘I thought you said the clipping was useless.’
I smiled sideways at him. ‘Not entirely. The only mention of my mum was that she was “assisting police with their enquiries” and I was hoping for more, but there are other clues. I was right that the three men had links to a crime gang. I think one of them was the boss of the other two. He ordered them to murder the woman. Or maybe she knew where the diamonds were and wouldn’t tell them, so they killed her.’
‘The newspaper actually talked about diamonds? I thought Tori was making that bit up.’
‘It mentioned an earlier attack on a guy named William Lewis. They reckon they were fighting over a jewellery theft. Also there was the owner of the jewellery store involved, remember?’
‘That doesn’t mean there are diamonds,’ Noah argued. ‘Could have just been a pretty necklace or something. Some family heirloom, worth peanuts.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Noah, William Lewis died from his injuries, and a woman was murdered. That doesn’t happen over peanuts.’
‘I dunno. I’m pretty hungry right now. I’d murder you over some peanuts…’