“How much longer till we get to water? My throat hurts,” Lydia once again says in her whiny voice.
“Well Lydia if you had not slapped Zara across the face we might still be in a very shady place, with cold water and food. Even if the food was mash potato and pea delight,” I say a slight undertone of agreement with her actions. It seems since Lydia’s and Alex’s arrival my once very patient temperament has become very short indeed. Must be my fiery red hair heating up under the intense heat of the desert sun. “If I am correct,” I continue to lighten the mood, “a few more days walking and we should hit Lake Eyre.”
“Um sorry to burst your bubble Rory but you said that last week. You told us our water cans should only have to last until yesterday, and they did. Lake Eyre better be coming around soon,” Alex advises.
“Look you two! Over there,” Lydia announces for the first time dropping her whiny voice completely.
“OMG! OMG!” Alex says. “Water.”
“What’s OMG Alex?” I ask very puzzled.
“Have you been living in the middle of the desert or what? OMG is like ‘oh my god’ in text message writing. You know about texts right?” Alex adds with a giggle.
“Yeah. Of course, I’m not that isolated from the world,” I say also with giggle.
Together we pick up the pace of our walk from a ‘snail’ to a ‘lizard’ and make our way toward the river between the Simpson Desert and Lake Eyre.

“Ok so what exactly is our plan of attack?” I say once we have replenished our bottles from the river, as we crossed on a make-shift bridge Alex designed.
“I think we go straight to Mum and explain what’s happening,” Lydia says. “She’ll know what to do.”
“I’m not so sure though. You remember what Zara said, ‘Your mother ruins lives, not make them better,’ I don’t know if we should stop Zara. But we do need to get to either Rory’s or my fathers.”
“I don’t think we should go to my parents either. Dad knew that Effie wanted to take me here. He knew that something was wrong and he just gave me to her. He looked upset but he wasn’t really that bad now that I think of it.”
“Ok well it looks like we go to Leonardo,” Lydia says glad that she can contribute without being yelled at.
“What are our strengths? Everyone right down what you’re good at on this piece of paper.
Alex hands us a piece of paper each and a pen which she had shoved down her bra. “Err...Why was this pen in your bra?” I ask.
“You never know when your ‘gonna need to write something down do ya? Especially if your going out to a night club and the bartenders good looking” Alex replies and we all laugh at how unbelievably, amazingly prepared she is.
We each write down our strengths on the paper and Alex reads them out:
“Lydia your strengths are fashion, makeup, modelling, distractions and flirting. I think we’ll use you for flirting with someone while we get away and of course if we need a manicure or facial done from the dirt and stale water.” Alex says with a quick wink at me.
“Always happy to help Alex,” Lydia fires back.
“Ok, my strengths are machines, texting fast, barely eating, kissing and remembering lines off movies. We’ll need me just in case we run into a bomb that can only be dismantled by texting really fast and a guy that is in desperate need of a kiss. Looks like Rory’s strengths are animals (especially sheep and cows), farm chores, impersonations, maths and keeping quiet for long amounts of time. Rory will be good for getting stuck in a paddock full of sheep and when the farmer comes looking she can impersonate one,” Alex says as she smirks at me. I smile back, not being sure whether she is having a go at me or not for not having a talent more useful.

Today looks like the day when we will finally come into contact with some human life. Having already passed the north end of Lake Eyre late last night, I try to reassure Lydia and Alex that we will find a house soon. Houses are finally becoming evident on the horizon as the sun rises. If you have never seen a desert horizon, it would have to be one of the most amazing sights you have ever seen. Just as the Sun rises in the east, the moon sets in the west. The cool red sand under foot becomes warmer the higher the sun gets, although it is not what is under foot that makes it so amazing. The sun seems to peer up over the edge of the square earth, allowing another day’s chores to start. The sand dunes curve like stairs to heaven up and down toward the blinding light. The sun gives you a new will to move faster, to get to the destination, home. The sun a giant ball of gas, illuminating the earth’s natural beauty.

By now my sister’s and I have all reached one of the first houses we have seen on our cross-desert walk. “How long left?” Lydia asks. I am somewhat amazed by how long she has managed to keep quiet while we walked blindly through the chilling night.
“Not long now, maybe we can catch a bus, how much money do we have?”
“I’ve got five, ten, thirty, fifty. Ok I’ve got seventy five cents. That can’t be enough to buy a ticket in the desert can it, Rory?” Alex asks disappointedly.
“Nah but I’ve got five bucks,” I also add disappointedly. “so that makes five dollars and seventy five cents. What about you Lydia, you haven’t contributed?”
“I’ve just got this.” Lydia holds up a shining gold piece of plastic. “My platinum credit card. A girl’s best friend.”
“Will it even work in this ultimate paradise?” Alex asks me with a slight glimmer of hope lighting up her purple contacted eyes.
“Hey no way you’re using my credit card at all!”
“Please Lyd, we really need to get to Leonardo.”
“Sorry, guys. It’s ok Lydia, you don’t have to use your credit card after all, and there are no shops around here. Most people just drive or take the bus into the nearest town to shop. Either that or a van brings their groceries to them.”
“Is that how you get yours Rory?” Alex asks gob-smacked.
“Nah Effie usually gets ours, thank-god. That’s one thing good she does.”
“Lucky you Rory, mum usually just buys me shakes and stuff to make –up for my meals. She always says that a model must not have to model their stomachs in their photographs.”
“Hey, I’m really sorry Lyd, it must be horrible,” I say to Lydia feeling sympathy for my once perfect sister for the very first time.
“It’s not that bad,” Lydia struggles out before she suddenly collapses on the ground.
“Oh my god, help! Help!” Alex screams with the loudest scream anyone has ever heard.
Suddenly I hear a motorbike’s engine rev as the rider fights its engine to start through its protests. “What can I do for ya?” I hear from behind me. I spin around quickly as vertigo hits me from leaning down to help Lydia. “Are you ok?” The angel asks me.
“Err...I think I’m gonna...gonna...faint,” I say as I too fall to the ground.
“Hey, mates are you ok?” the angel asks as I slowly come back to reality. I sit up suddenly and rub my eyes to check I’m not still dreaming. “You were down for a while, you should probably take it easy for today,” the strange adult-like boy asks. “What were you doing out there anyway? It’s pretty hot today.”
“They were just walking around aimlessly waiting for us to rescue them,” another boy answers.
“Shut-up Z,” the first boy snaps back.
“We were on our way to find civilisation before these two had their little fits on me and I had to scream for help,” Alex blurts out.
“I didn’t have a fit. I just saw someone that complexly knocked all the breath out of me,” I yell at Alex.
“Oh my god, I guess you do have heat stroke or something,” Alex says as she looks me up and down.
“I just said that out loud didn’t I,” I ask as my face turns the crimson red of the sand out the window. “So where are we anyway?” I say as I struggle to change the subject.
Alex smirks at me and shakes her head, “We are in the real paradise.”

The first angelic boy has introduced himself as Noah and the other less angelic boy as Zeke. He leads us out to his backyard where he has an air-conditioned shed filled containing a spa, empty pool, a large bar, fridge and other furnishings. “What would you like to drink?” He’s asks me directly.
“Err...um...err...cold?” I stutter.
“She’ll have lemonade. So will I and Lydia,” Alex snorts at Noah while staring at me in shock.
Noah walks off toward the fridge as Alex steps in front of me to stop me from looking at his back as he walks away. I lean around her, trying to get a better view. Alex grunts at me and slaps me across the face as the other boy, Zeke carries in Lydia and shoves her into a chair. Noah comes back with a glass of lemonade in each hand. “Here drink this up, it will give you enough energy to have you bouncing off the walls,” he chuckles as he hands me my drink, but shoves Alex’s toward her face.
“Thhhhanks, Nnnoah,” I stutter again while I mentally slap myself for being so stupid.
“No probs mate. Enjoying it Alex?” He mocks.
“It’s fine,” she says as she stalks of off toward the couch.
“What’s up with her?” He asks me a little annoyed about her lack of thank-you to his hospitality.
“Never mind her, tell me about you.”

Noah and I spent three hours talking about our lives together. I had just gotten to the point where we arrived here when he suddenly tensed his body and stood-up. “Did you say your mother was Miss Catriona Mel?”
“Yeah. Why do you know her?” I reply star-struck.
“She is the lady that caused my sister to move out here.”
“Your sister is Zara?”
“Yeah. Oh no please don’t tell me she is the reason you’re out here.”
“Yeah well actually she is.”
“I knew it, my sister still tells everyone that she wants revenge on your mother and father.”
“Wait, what do you mean, my father?”
“You mean you don’t know what he did to us?”
“Lydia, Alex come over here. Wait don’t worry Lydia you stay lying down for a while, ill fill you in later.”
“Finally an invitation to listen to someone more interesting than drool mouth Z over here,” Alex shouts at me as she refers to Zeke who has fallen asleep on her leg and has made a large pool of drool cover the base of her robe.
“Well,” Noah starts, “When I was born my mother and father were never around. Zara told me that mum had died after I was born and that Dad had left due to the pressure. It took me ages to realise this but I noticed after a while that every time I asked Zara what happened to them her story changed. First she told me they both died, then she told me that only Dad was alive. It took years for me to realise but I should had of sooner. You see when I finally got the truth out of Zara her career was already dead, due to your mother, and Zara was already planning revenge. She blames all of her life problems on your mother. I decided I wanted to look for my father and so I did, behind Zara’s back. I found my father’s address and went to him. At the time I was only 19 so I barely knew anything about how deceptive and ignorant adults could be to save the truth from getting out. He told me that he had a new family. When I asked him where they were he told me that they were taking a holiday with someone named Leonardo, one of Zara’s friends. I was shocked to find out that Zara had known about this the whole time. My father also told me that even though I was his son and all, he had three triplets he had to look after and that I must forget about him. Most of all I was never to contact him again, no matter how much it hurt.”
“What your saying is that our father and your father are the same person?” That would mean that if you and Zara really were full siblings that Zara, you and us are like step-siblings?”
“Yeah that would be about right, I guess. But the complication doesn’t stop there. Zara has some kind of…well it’s a sort of a disorder from when she was younger. During the time when you three lived with Leonardo she lived with your mother.”
“Wait…What did you just say about the evil, arrogant worm?” Lydia suddenly added to the conversation.
“When Zara was born, eighteen years before you, your mother took her in after abandoning you three, but only for 8 months. Your mother felt she had destroyed your lives with her decision to give you up and offered to help her sister Layne, our mother, and your Aunty by looking after us.”
“So let’s get this straight. You share a father with us and also a mother by a temporary guardianship but then your real mother is actually our Aunty.”
“Perfect, you have our twisted lives all figured out.”
“But why did Layne give you up?” I finally break my silence on the subject.
“My mother was a little off the rails and this is why your father got rid of her. He was always in love with your mother and this is what Zara hates her for. Zara went off the rails as well at about 19 when she found out the truth, she went in secretly getting plastic surgery to warp her young face to an older one, at your mother’s joint agency, in order to make up an almost fool proof story about the time when they were young.”
“Why doesn’t she just tell the truth, that would save hassle though wouldn’t it,” Lydia added slightly gob-smacked at her mother’s secret life.
“Would you have believed it if I had ran up to you one day and told you that your mother and father had a secret life and in some way or another were my parents too.”
“No…probably not,” we all added in unison.

In the days that followed after we met Noah, we learnt that Zeke was his younger brother but only by adoption and Zara was his twin. I don’t think I could have handled knowing I had anymore secretive family members. I also learnt that Zara was ready to go to extraordinary lengths just to take revenge on her aunt. During the time that my father and mother were together I discovered that my father didn’t know that Zara was his child or that she even existed, as Noah was the only one to stay with their mother Layne. My father did know that he was the father of Noah but was forced to leave when Layne claimed custody and my father thought it would be easier to move on, as terrible as he felt. He met my mother a year later, not realising it was his child’s aunt. When he discovered this he told Catriona and their relationship fell apart in a matter of weeks. With Catriona heavily pregnant with triplets and managing a modelling agency, they decided to stay together for the kids. With Noah now two he lived with them for some time until we arrived. Once we arrived the relationship was very strained and after one month Noah was sent back to Layne, my father left for a year and my mother went back to managing the agency. We were sent to live with Leonardo, his girlfriend and his parents. They sent pictures to our parents to keep them up to date. My father visited every month but my mother only 6 times a year, as she had Zara to look after. It was only after my parents were invited to spend out first birthday with us that they realised that they really couldn’t abandon their children for their work lives. We were pulled into a custody battle in 3 directions and eventually, the judge in collaboration with my parents and Leonardo decided that as we were young it wouldn’t have a major effect on our early lives if we were separated. The only condition was that if one parent became sick or unable to work then one of the other parents needed to help out. Fair enough for them but it made our reunion awkward and the inevitable thought that if Leonardo hadn’t got sick we would never have known about each other. The more I focused on that thought the more alone I felt in the desert regardless of the fact that I had 4 other people with.
After a week of relaxing by Noah’s empty pool and drinking a little bit too much alcohol, which was a bad idea all together to drink in the heat, Lydia finally brought up the fact that she had, had enough.
“Alright, that is it! We are leaving now, we need to find Mum.”
“Why should we?” Alex stumbled up. “She abandoned us for another child, then only wanted one of us, which just happened to be you. We should let her rot in hell for all I care.”
“Considering we are already in hell and she is likely to be lounging in her ten bedroom apartment on the top story of some posh tower overlooking the beach, I think we should confront her,” I attempted to add.
“Your drunk, so no opinion from either of you should count,” Lydia snarled directly at me.
“Just because we had like 4 or 5 drinks each and you don’t drink so we had yours as well, does not mean that we are drunk, I mean look I can walk in a straight line…” Alex added as she attempted to walk before falling straight onto Zeke’s Lap. “Sorry,” she mumbled before passing out on the floor beside him.
“I don’t drink because I can’t. I am a model and have been brought up to have only a sip of expensive wine every function, which being as rich as I am is almost every night, however drinking more than one champagne glass in a night is beyond limits for a working model of my stature.”
“Come on Lydia, it won’t be that bad, just one beer with me, Noah, Zeke and er… maybe not Alex.”
Suddenly Alex sprang from the floor, “I’m sure I can live through one or two more bottles.”
Zeke handed her a vodka, “That’s the spirit.”

More days passed. The more that did left me more and more worried about what was going to happen to us if we stayed here, where Zara knew her brothers were, for much longer. It terrified me to think that she had such a vendetta against my family, but Noah assured me that she was all words, he thought that if she was going to act then she would have actually had us bruised and hurt in the video she made and not made us cover our faces in charcoal.
That night three of Noah’s friends came by. I instantly went into a fully forged stomach flutter when I set my eyes on 19 year old Rogan. Alex punched my arm and forced me to remember the last time that I had crushed on a guy. He had turned out to be my brother. Even though Alex had a boyfriend that didn’t stop her from having a major eye-perve on the youngest Jaspa. She even cracked a smile for once as he came closer and introduced himself.
“I’m Jaspa, Noah’s best friend and you must be the incredibly gorgeous, heart breakingly hot…”
“Alex” I added when Alex began to stare at the place where those incredibly seductive words had come from. That was all that was needed before Alex and Jaspa took off to the small room at the end of the shed to make breakfast, alone. Or maybe that was just so she knew I wasn’t watching.
Meanwhile Lydia was completely repulsed by the short and somewhat tubby, Rhodes that was left standing by the door, his eyes on Lydia’s perfectly shaped body. The look on her face as she examined his physique was one I would never wish anyone to see. Her eyes bulged, her mouth twisted, her forehead, in all its ultimate modelling glory, actually formed a wrinkle. She looked exactly like the photograph I had of my mother when she started modelling, just after her first bout of plastic surgery the Botox on her young skin formed stiff bumps enveloping her pours in some places, yet completely smoothing out in others. All in the name of beauty was what Dad had said. There wasn’t anything or anyone she wouldn’t give up for her career, including her own children.
Lydia was generally the most talkative of the lot of us, Alex and I had started to notice the deeper we got into our family history, Lydia had started to withdraw herself, like she was withholding information. Information that could possibly solve all our troubles. It didn’t take long to get the truth out of her, just one small problem had to arise first. The baby.

Perhaps it was the way whenever Noah or Alex mentioned the idea of our parents fleeing us for yet another secret family or to just start again as if we never existed, that made Lydia finally open up. I thought she was just feeling guilty.
“Rory…I need to talk to you.”
“Sure, sure. Speak oh eldest one,” I chuckled out still slightly drunk from the night before.
“I don’t know how to say this, but we need to leave. We aren’t on schedule and…”
“Wait. What? What are you saying ‘not on schedule’?” Alex suddenly joined the conversation, her drunkenness wearing off as the adrenaline surged through her body, firing every vein into hyper drive.
“Sorry I shouldn’t have mentioned it, don’t worry.”
Alex’s adrenaline suddenly passed to me, only for me it was anger that arose from my drunken state. Blood poured up from my heart and surged behind my eyeballs, my ears, in my fingertips. It was too much. “SPEAK NOW LYDIA!” Lydia’s soft face now covered with tears sprang up, at the same time Alex’s did. Alex looked at me worriedly, her face had never been as shocked as now. “Now Lydia!”
Lydia let out a slow, over dramatic sob. “Mum…Mum has a new family. There I have said it. You can’t condemn me for that, she told me to keep it to myself until the time was right. She said that on the 18th of June that I should tell you all, even Noah and Zeke to a meeting place. At this point an abduction would take place and I would be taken to live with our Dad, Jarrod.” My face feel I was no longer mad at Lydia, I was mad, no more than mad I was going to kill my father. “If Jarrod wanted to keep his farm and protect his real identity then there was only one way to do this. He would have to play along with Mum and Zara’s games.”
“Hang on,” I interrupted her, “Mum and Zara are in on this together?”
“They have been from the start. When you were asleep in Paradise Zara called me over and explained the plan. If we did meet her on the 21th which was three days ago, then we would have found her, our mother, our father and Mum’s new family waiting for us.”
“Why didn’t you tell us this before? Or were we just not good enough for your life?” It was Alex’s turn to harass Lydia.
“You want to know why? You want to know? Mum has a new family now, I can’t go back to her and if I stayed here then I would have to go back. When Rhodes…” She tilted her head towards the chair where Rhodes was sitting a moment ago. “When Rhodes and the others turned up yesterday I knew it was because I had not fulfilled my end of the bargain and now she was coming to get us.”
“Wait, that fat little weasel was a part of this?” Alex again.
“He is our mothers adopted son, Layne’s other son. Layne couldn’t handle Rhodes when he was about 16 so he came to live with us.”
“Oh great…yet another secret brother,” I let Alex grill Lydia some more, handling my anger too well when I stood quiet and just listened.
“I tried to say something the other day but you too were way too drunk. If I was taken away I would have lived with Jarrod for a year or two until this all settled down. They would have killed you two, I couldn’t let them.”
Slightly shocked by how plain and boring murdering someone, especially a loved one, seemed to Lydia, I winced. Alex sprang back up to her feet, “Well we just need to get to Leonardo, he will help us.”
“He can’t Alex.”
“Why snob, why can’t he. He won’t help me but I’m definite he will help me if I ask, he’s my father for god’s sake.”
As Lydia slowly made her way towards the door into the heat, tears rolling down her smooth skin, she gave one short remark, “He…He can’t Alex…because he’s dead.” From just outside the door we heard a very sympathetic and guilty, “I’m sorry.”
For the first time since we arrived here, Alex was completely silent.

After Lydia’s late night confession, Noah’s friends left within only a few minutes of her, making it exactly obvious why they were here. A pity though because at least one of them was hot. Actually one of the first males I had ever been comfortable enough to be around, let alone sneak my first kiss from. Alex made her hatred for my easy seduction by him known quite well. I hadn’t spoken to her for two days when we finally left Noah’s. She was between a state of grief, anger and questioning. She rarely ate and only sat beside the esky, staring through the skylight at the scorching sun beyond. Occasionally she would mumble, “Why?” and then just burst into tears, not accepting comfort from anyone. Our story was now one of despair and insecurity. Neither of these could be reversed by anyone anymore. The more we thought about solving it, the more questions arose. Can you put a price on family, when your family takes away everything you have? Can you ever just get over the death of a family member? Where would we end up, even if we found help? Almost by telepathy, Alex spoke, “ We need to leave, to get revenge, to find justice, to find my father!”
“Alex, your Dad died…”
“No he didn’t…I can’t believe her. I have to see him, please Rory, please.”
Unexpectedly there was a light knock on the door. Noah opened it cautiously, fearing Zara’s return would merit more deaths.
Behind the door was my father, and slumped half over his shoulder, half over the ground was Leonardo.

Alex let out a horrifying scream at the sight of Leonardo’s blood stained shirt as Jarrod, no longer deserving the title of my father, let him down lightly onto the couch. “Just a minor flesh wound, I assure you love,” Jarrod assured her.
“I thought you were dead…”
Leonardo heaved himself back up awkwardly, “I’m sorry baby, I never meant to hurt you, we needed Zara to think so then she wouldn’t come after you guys, even Noah.”
“Wha…” Finally I broke my own silence before Jarrod cut me off.
“I think you should all have a seat.”
Jarrod spoke first, “You all need to know the truth. I’m guessing you know that you’re all related in some way or another by now.” We all nodded in unison. “What none of you have been told is that Leonardo, Zara, Catriona, Layne and I have known each other since we were your age.”
Leonardo suddenly spoke as well, “…and I have known Effie for a while because she used to live next door to me.”
“Yes Effie,” Dads thoughts suddenly trailed off for a minute, before he continued. “As I was saying we knew each other for some time before it got this complicated. Firstly I was with Layne and I, unbeknown to me, fathered Noah and Zara. By the time that I learnt this I was already with, as horrible as this is, your mother, Catriona. After your mother fell pregnant I discovered my other family. I told your mother and you all know how long we lasted after that. So I had five children and couldn’t look after any of them. By the time I took Rory in and was well into becoming a modelled father, Layne fell quite sick and was hospitalised. Catriona took Zara in, but Noah stayed with her until he went to love elsewhere. A year before your birth. Layne died in a car accident when your mother was with her. Your mother was left with Zara in her care. Zara ran away almost as soon as she was left with your mother. She went to stay with Effie, whom I didn’t know existed at the time. Noah already lived with her as he was placed in child protective services when Zara became violent to him.” Noah’s head bowed as he said this. “After the accident your mother needed to figure out something to do with your half brothers and sisters so she sent let them live with Effie for a while. Zara blames your mother’s driving as to why her mother died, even though it wasn’t her at fault. Effie saw how much it hurt Zara, so she went with your mother and Leonardo to Vegas for a girl’s night. Wait why were you there Leon?”
“I’m gay remember.” My face suddenly fell, as I turned to see Alex’s, a wide grin shot across it ever so quickly as if she was happy to no longer have to keep that MOAS (mother of all secrets), something I learnt from her.
“Oh yea, anyway Effie got them drunk and married then came home and left without a trace with Zara and Noah. Well at least until last year. Effie met me at the market one day last June and announced how attracted to me she was, with her being a not too badly looking lady, I agreed to spend some time with her. Zara suddenly appeared late last year and was harassing your mother again. Fairly bad this time, screaming in the foyer of her agency about her mother’s engagement ring from when her fiancé proposed to her three weeks before she died. Your mother claimed she lost it. Zara threatened she would be back and reek all havoc on your mother and us until she found it and your mother stopped lying to her.” Suddenly Lydia jumped up and ran outside, feeling sorry for her, I thought the emotional story must have gotten to her and followed her. Dad and Noah followed me whilst Alex stayed with her Dad in the shed. Lydia was settled in the corner chair of the shelter, tears again flowing constantly down her face. A small, shiny silver object glimmered under the streaks of light erupting into the room. Catching my eye Lydia pushed it toward me with her knuckles, almost as if she feared touching it. “I’m sorry, so so sorry,” she mumbled. I bent down to pick it up but Dad snatched it first.
“I’ve got it Leon, I’ll back in a minute,” he bellowed as he turned to take off. In his path were Rhodes, several heavy-looking security guards holding even heavier looking guns and Zara. She held out her hand as I inched to my Dad’s side. Lydia stopped in front of Dad and Dad gave her the object.
She spoke quitter than I had ever heard her speak, “It says: ‘to my dearest Layne’.” She let out a light sigh and then continued. “I stole it from my mother when she told me about you. She said that she loved you just as much and I was jealous. I’m sorry Zara, please leave my family alone now.” She placed the thin ring in Zara’s outstretched arm as Alex and I reached her sides. Zara snatched the ring back and placed it on her own finger before spitting towards us all and leaving us with some more of her thick tormenting words.
“Let that be a lesson. If you ruin another’s life, don’t ever forget that, that person will come back and ruin yours.” As she laughed her wicked and menacing cackle and turned her back, I just caught sight of her guards pointing their guns in our direction, their fingers giving a slight twitch over the triggers at Zara’s words. “Be gone.”