When Worlds Collide Read online

  WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE

  THE BALLOONIST CHRONICLES: BOOK ONE

  L.J. Higgins

  Contents

  1. Lucy

  2. Lucy

  3. Lucy

  4. Olivia

  5. Olivia

  6. Lucy

  7. Olivia

  8. Lucy

  9. Olivia

  10. Lucy

  11. Lucy

  12. Olivia

  13. Olivia

  14. Lucy

  15. Olivia

  16. Olivia

  17. Olivia

  18. Olivia

  19. Olivia

  20. Olivia

  21. Lucy

  22. Olivia

  23. Olivia

  24. Lucy

  25. Olivia

  26. Lucy

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Books by L J Higgins

  Utopia

  Have you enjoyed this book?

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 by LJ Higgins

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America.

  Cover by Maria Spada.

  Editing by Melissa A. Craven

  Lucy

  Bilstone, Australia

  Loose hair stuck to my wet face, and stinging rain and wind whipped around me. I ran my hand along the wire fence until I found the place where the cattle had broken through. It would have to be a quick fix if I was going to be home before the worst of the storm hit. Wiping the rain from my eyes, a great shadow of storm clouds fell over me and lightning crashed down, striking a tree just across the field. The ground shook and I jumped back losing my footing.

  Feet sliding I fell to the muddy ground.

  “Ugh crap.” I shook my hands spraying mud around me.

  I gaped up into the sky, my heart skipping a beat. What I’d assumed were dark storm clouds weren’t that at all. An enormous round shape rose above me, blocking out the rain.

  I wiped my eyes with my forearm, struggling to stand.

  “What on earth is that?” I muttered.

  It disappeared into the darkness like a ghost and a round of thunder echoed through the paddock startling the cattle. I whistled to my cattle dog, Skye, as I struggled to stand with the help of a fence post, and instructed her to usher them back into their enclosure. Somehow, she heard my command over the roar of the wind. Another round of thunder rattled my chilled bones as the last cow found its way back behind the fence. Grabbing some wire and cutters from the back of my four-wheeler quad bike, I set to work mending the fencing the cattle had broken through. My clothes were slick against my body, and my hands were slippery, but I managed to fix the first row of wire when lightning filled the sky revealing a flying balloon.

  My eyes widened at the sight as another flash filled the darkened sky.

  “Did you see that, Skye?” I called out. “Or am I losing my mind?”

  She returned to my side for a congratulatory pat.

  Another round of lightning revealed the massive round surface once again and thunder cracked as I watched the object race towards the back of our property.

  Lighting struck the flying object, flame sparking then going out before it deflated and dropped out of the sky. Twisting the second row of wire back together so the cattle couldn’t escape, I gave a whistle for Skye to follow me and jumped on the quad. Mud sprayed up behind me as the wheels fishtailed before I managed to straighten them and accelerate in the direction of where I’d seen the balloon fall.

  I willed the bike to go faster, leaning forward over the handlebars, as I raced across the property kicking up mud and rain stinging my face. The storm thundered on, lightning striking a nearby tree, the loud crack and sparks making me jump. The flashes of light and brief bursts of fire quickly doused by the rain were not enough to stop me from making sure whatever that was, whoever was in it, was okay.

  As we neared the last hill all four wheels launched into the air and when we thudded back to earth, my body jarred with the impact. I screeched the quad to a halt. Ahead of us, a giant wicker basket lay on its side in the mud. Leaping from the bike, I ran, slipping and sliding down the hill until lightning revealed the shape of a person lying on the muddy ground. As I slid to her side, I wiped her long auburn hair from her petite face.

  On inspection, I found no sign of blood, and nothing was visibly broken. Bringing my ear to her mouth, I felt the slight brush of her breath and touched my fingers to her throat to feel the thud of a faint heartbeat.

  “Watch her, Skye.”

  Skye sat and watched as I ran back to the quad, easing it down the hill and parking it next to the woman. Hands under her armpits, I hugged her to my chest and dragged her up onto the bike to sit in front of me.

  When I was sure she was secure in my left arm, I called Skye to follow and drove the quad and the girl back to the farmhouse.

  Parked at the bottom of the veranda’s stairs, I wrapped her in my arms, pulled her off the quad and dragged her up the small staircase and out of the rain. Legs and arms straining, I continued carrying her, legs smearing mud across the timber, through the front entrance.

  “Dad! Dad! I need help!” I called out.

  Dad lumbered around the corner, his eyes widening as he spotted me lugging the woman.

  “Jeez, who’s that?” He rushed to me, easily lifting her into his arms, and cradled her like a child as he made his way into the living room.

  “I don’t know,” I said, following him. “She was in a giant balloon thing and it crashed down the back of the property. Skye and I checked it out and she was lying in the mud.”

  “Giant balloon? Like a hot air balloon?” he asked.

  “I think so. What would she be doing in a hot air balloon in this storm?”

  “People do strange things, Champ. Go grab towels and some comfy clothes. We don’t want her freezing to death.”

  Careful not to slip on the polished wooden floors, I did as he asked as he lay her on the soft blue rug beside the couch.

  Two navy towels tucked under my right arm I made my way into our spare bedroom. Boxes lined one of the walls, and I stepped past them to the wardrobe that held my mother’s old clothes. Pulling open a drawer, I stilled at the sight of them, but grabbed a baggy shirt and some cotton shorts before closing it up and running back to Dad.

  “Here, I hope these are okay?” I said, passing my pile to him.

  “I don’t think she’d appreciate me dressing or drying her. Maybe you should,” he said. “I’ll go get the fire going and boil the kettle. Maybe find the mop.”

  Not giving me a chance to argue, Dad left the room and I looked over the girl’s drenched body. She was thin but muscular. Maybe she’d spent her life working on a farm too? Her wild red hair stuck out at all angles and that was where I started with the towel as I set about drying her as best as I could. After I pulled her boots and socks off, Dad wasn’t happy when I needed his help to peel off her cold, muddy, wet clothes, leaving her underwear on. And then I tugged on the baggy dry shirt and shorts. Using the towel, I tried to remove as much mud and grass as I could from her face, arms, and legs. She didn’t so much as moan throughout the process.

  “That’s the best I can do. I can’t believe she didn’t make a noise through all of that,” I said.

  Dad lifted her onto the couch and wrapped her in a blanket. Her body quivered, and Da
d touched his hand to her forehead.

  “Go warm up some heat packs. She’s freezing,” he said.

  I did as he asked, returning with three warm packs for him to stuff under her blankets.

  As I watched her body relax, my own shivered, the cold of my damp clothing seeping into my muscles and bones.

  “What happened out there?” he asked.

  “I’m finding it hard to process myself,” I replied. “Skye and I were fixing the fence and I saw a massive balloon. I thought I must have been losing my mind because of the cold and rain but then I saw it again before lightning hit it.”

  “A balloon?” His eyes widened.

  “Yes. A hot air balloon I think. It was so high when it fell. She really needs to see a doctor,” I said.

  He sighed. “I’ll give Dr Parks a call now to see if he can tell us what to do. With all of this rain and us being so far out of town he won’t be able to get here until the rain stops and the floods recede.”

  We both watch the girl for a moment.

  “Are you sure she was in a hot air balloon? You’d have to be insane to fly in one of those in a storm,” he said.

  “That’s what it looked like. I just hope she’s okay.”

  “I’ll watch her if you want to go have a shower and get changed,” he said.

  “Maybe I should just wait a little longer?” I asked, hugging myself.

  “I’ll call Dr Parks while you get warm otherwise you’ll end up just like her.”

  The heat of the water warmed its way through my skin deep into my muscles and bones. Mud smeared my arms, legs, and face, swirling around the drain at my feet. I scrubbed until the water ran clear.

  In front of the foggy mirror with a towel wrapped around my torso I brushed out my mousy brown hair and twisted it up into a messy bun, securing it with a hair tie. I darted to my bedroom to finish drying off. My skin prickled with goose bumps when I dropped the towel and tugged on some cotton long pants and a long sleeve shirt.

  In the living room where Dad sat on a couch beside the sleeping woman. The muddied rug was gone, and he’d cleaned up most of the water and muck.

  “You look warmer,” he said as I walked past the girl lying on the couch.

  “Much warmer.”

  The woman had stopped shivering and looked more peaceful now she was warm too.

  “Did you get the cows back in the paddock?” he asked.

  “Sure did. But I only managed to secure the first two rows of wire before I saw her crash. Skye and I will fix the rest in the morning.”

  Skye lay curled up on her green blanket, basking in the warmth of the fireplace near the front door. Her ears lifted at the sound of her name, but she didn’t move. She’d been by my side since my twelfth birthday. Pure joy. That’s how I would describe the emotion that coursed through me when Dad placed her in my arms. She was so tiny, her grey-blue coat with spattering’s of rusty brown and the black patches around her eyes a trademark of her breed. It was love at first sight. Dad had helped me train her to work on the farm, but she was also my best friend.

  “That should hold ‘em for the night at least,” said Dad. “Great job, Champ.”

  “How’d you go with the chicken coop?” I asked.

  “I secured a tarp over the roof, but I can’t say it won’t leak. We’ll have a lot of repairs to do after this storm.”

  As though reminding us of its presence, thunder rattled through our small house. The woman moaned, drawing our attention.

  “Should we try to feed her or give her water?” I asked.

  “Let’s leave her to sleep tonight. I’m sure she’ll need the rest to recover,” he said. “How about you get some sleep too. If this rain clears, we’ll have plenty to do in the morning.”

  At the mention of sleep, a yawn stretched my mouth wide and my eyes watered. “That sounds like a great idea. Night, Dad.”

  I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Night, Champ.”

  Crawling into my warm bed, I wondered where the woman had come from. Why was she riding in a giant balloon in the middle of a storm? Was she insane? I hoped we hadn’t just brought a crazy person into our home. I listened as Dad clunked about in the kitchen. This was the last thing he needed. The farm was already enough work without having a complete stranger thrown into the equation. But what could we do? We couldn’t leave her out there to freeze to death.

  I rolled over with a yawn, my mind stuck in the limbo between sleep and awake. My eyes fluttered open to see it was still dark outside and I sat up with a groan. The house was quiet which meant the storm had passed over and I opened the curtains to spot a full moon spreading light over the hills and dales of our property. Rain still drizzled outside, but I hoped that would be the end of it. After padding my way to the toilet and relieving myself, I peered around the corner of the living room to find the dark outline of the woman still lying on the couch wrapped in blankets. She was so still. What if she’d stopped breathing while we slept?

  Tip toeing to where she lay, I lowered my cheek over her lips to feel her warm breath. She was still breathing. Dad had taught me as much first aid as he knew, so if either he or I had an accident on the farm we could look after whoever was injured until medical help arrived. Living forty kilometres out of town made it hard for anyone to get to us if there was an emergency.

  “You all right, Champ?” Dad’s whispered voice made me jump.

  I turned to spot him standing in the doorway behind me. “I was worried she might have stopped breathing or something.”

  “I couldn’t sleep either. I’ve been up every half hour to check on her. Poor thing. Wonder where she came from?” he said.

  “Hopefully she wakes soon and can tell us.”

  He gave me a grin and hugged me to his side as we both stare at the stranger. “If you hadn’t seen her crash, we might never have found her.”

  “Lucky the cows burst through the fence. Never thought I’d say that,” I replied.

  “I can’t believe you carried her all the way back on your own.”

  “I’m pretty sure my arms will hurt tomorrow. She wasn’t light.”

  He kissed the top of my head and squeezed me tighter. “I’m proud of you, kiddo. Your mum would be proud to.”

  Lucy

  BILSTONE, AUSTRALIA

  Dad convinced me to crawl back into bed for a few more hours, and I woke with heavy eyes just before dawn. With the rain only a drizzle, I pulled on my jeans and a long-sleeved shirt before making my way out to the kitchen where Dad was making coffee.

  “Morning, Champ,” he said. “Want a coffee?”

  “Dad, I’m sixteen.”

  “It’s not alcohol, its coffee,” he replied. “How about a hot chocolate then?”

  “That would be perfect.”

  He soon placed my hot chocolate on the counter in front of me and I sipped at it, enjoying how it warmed my insides. The storm may have passed, but it left a chill in the air. The fire had dimmed to a dull glow, but it was still warm. Skye wasn’t lying on her blanket. Dad must have let her out to relieve herself when he woke. Peering over to the woman, she still lay in the exact position from the night before.

  “No change?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Nothing. A few moans and that’s about it. She’ll be okay here while we get our jobs done this morning.”

  “You sure you don’t want me to stay here and watch her?” I asked.

  “Good try. You’re not getting out of work that easy. At least you won’t have school today, the roads are closed because of flooding.”

  I sighed a breath of relief. One blessing that came with heavy rainfall was no school. The place where I was the weird girl from the farm who wore too big boots and baggy shirts, not the mid drifts and low rider jeans the other girls wore.

  “I’ll go finish the fence and then check for eggs,” I said.

  “I’ll be fixing that damned chicken coop,” groaned Dad.

  “We could sell up
and buy a house closer to town with no backyard,” I said. “It’d be much less work.”

  “And breathe in that smog? No thanks. I need fresh air. I was born to have wide spaces and freedom,” he said. “I thought you liked the farm life?”

  I shrugged. “I do. I just wish you didn’t have to work so hard.”

  He leaned onto the bench. “I might complain, but I love it. Your mum used to say the same thing, but she knew this is where I belonged.”

  “Do you miss her?” I asked.

  “Every day.”

  “I know I was only five when she died, but I miss her too. Sometimes I wonder how different I’d be if I had a mum.”

  “I know it’s not easy living out on this farm with a dad who doesn’t know the first thing about fashion or anything girly. When your mum first got sick, she’d joke about me raising you as a boy. Guess it’s kind of what I’ve done.”

  “Trust me. I see what those girly girls at school wear and I don’t understand it. Give me the comfort of jeans and a t-shirt any day,” I said. “You’re doing great, Dad. I love our life out here.”

  “Well, we can’t sit around blowing wind up each other’s asses all day. We still live on a farm and there’s work to be done.”

  Placing my now empty mug on the sink, I brushed my hair back into a ponytail with my fingers and secured it with a hair tie from around my wrist. As I stepped through the front door onto the veranda, the whip of chilly wind tore straight through my clothing and I shivered at the sudden change. Skye greeted me, tail wagging, at the top of the stairs.