166
" I don’t remember much after that. It was the smoke, I think. I know there wasn’t anyone in the huts.”
“Why not?” said Finn fiercely. “They promised they’d look after you.”
“There was a wedding--an important one. They all went. And Minty, she went somewhere, too,” said Maia. “She’s left me.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no? She wasn’t there--she didn’t come back from her day off.”
“Maybe. But she won’t have left you. That isn’t what will have happened. What about the others?”
“They escaped. I saw the river ambulance take them away, but I hid. I couldn’t bear to be with them anymore. They were all quarreling and screaming. So I hid in the trees, I didn’t notice my leg at first, but then…” She shook her head. “But it doesn’t matter, Finn, none of it matters, because you came back. "
― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea
171
" Then in an instant the worst happened. The boy gave a wild shout, a shout of pure rage. He put down the paddle, threw himself on top of her, pressing her down against the floorboards of the boat, and kept her there pinioned. She felt his breath on her cheek.
Then he released her and pointed. They had passed underneath a wicked-looking branch with spikes the size of knives. If he hadn’t forced her down, Maia would have been knocked unconscious or even blinded. As he clambered back and picked up the paddle, he was still muttering furiously in his own language and glaring at her. Without deciphering a single word, she knew he was scolding her for her carelessness, trying to explain that one had to be alert the whole time in the jungle.
“Idiota!” he said finally, and though Senhor and Senhora Olvidares in the phrase book had not used the word, Maia understood it well enough.
She was very careful after that, keeping a proper lookout, but nothing could quite quell her delight in the beauty she saw about her. It was as though she was taking the journey she had imagined on top of the library ladder the day she heard about her new
life. "
― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea
173
" She trusted Finn completely. If he said a pool was safe to swim in, she dived in without a second thought, and the dreaded piranha fish did not tear at her flesh, nor did a caiman come at her with snapping jaws. If he told her a mushroom was safe to eat, she ate it.
“My father had this thing he used to say to me,” she told Finn. “It was in Latin. Carpe diem. ‘Seize the day.’ Get the best out of it, take hold of it and live in it as hard as you can.” She pushed back her hair. “After he died, and my mother, I couldn’t do it too well. There never seemed to be a day I wanted to seize all that much. But here…”
“Yes, some places are right for you. Your mother was a singer, wasn’t she?”
“Yes. But she never made a fuss about it. I never remember her saving her voice for the performance or gargling with eggs and all that stuff. She’d just sing--in the house, in the garden, anywhere.”
“Everyone says you ought to get your voice trained,” he said, and frowned because if she had a future as a singer, perhaps she shouldn’t be taking off into the unknown.
She shook her head. “I’m all right like this.”
“But won’t you miss music?”
“There’s always music. You just have to open your mouth. "
― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea
176
" She was very careful after that, keeping a proper lookout, but nothing could quite quell her delight in the beauty she saw about her. It was as though she was taking the journey she had imagined on top of the library ladder the day she heard about her new
life.
Then the stream became wider, the current stronger, and she caught a glimpse of low, color-washed houses and heard a dog bark.
“Manaus,” he said. He drew up to the bank and helped her out. She took out her purse, but he wouldn’t take her money, nor would he listen to her thanks. “Teatra Amazonas,” he said, pointing straight ahead.
He would go no farther toward civilization.
The boy watched her as she ran off. She looked back once and waved, but he had already turned the boat.
He poled swiftly back through the maze of waterways. When he reached the place where he had found Maia, he smiled and half shook his head. Then he set the canoe hard at the curtain of green and vanished into his secret world. "
― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea