Kate looked him deep in the eye, and he stared back at her, tears glistening on his cheeks.
‘Remember my face,’ she said. ‘The next time you see it, I will give you the vengeance you desire.’
Hargrath frowned uncertainly, as if he couldn’t figure out whether he was looking at a caterpillar or a butterfly. ‘Who … who are you?’
‘I am the Queen,’ Kate said, and with a click she extinguished the lighter, plunging them into darkness.
‘No, no, don’t go!’ cried Hargrath. ‘YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME HERE!’
Cold fingers curled round Ellie’s and pulled her away down tightening tunnels. Hargrath’s raving grew distant.
‘Kate?’ Ellie said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
Kate clicked on the lighter, her golden eyes fixed on Ellie.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you’re from the Enemy’s City?’
Ellie hesitated, confused that this was her first question. ‘I … I know how much everyone here hates it.’
‘I see,’ Kate said. ‘I don’t like being lied to, especially by you.’ She smiled uncertainly. ‘But I understand.’
‘Wait, you’re not worried about what he said, about me being the Enemy’s Vessel?’
Kate’s smile broadened. ‘Oh yes, because you’re so obviously a creature of pure evil. That poor man is clearly insane.’
Ellie let out a sigh, and almost broke into tears.
‘Ellie? Whatever’s the matter?’
‘I just … I thought, after hearing what he said, that you’d never want to even look at me again.’
Kate took Ellie’s hand. ‘That is very silly. Now come on, the volcano’s this way. We have to find evidence of Loren’s secret council.’
She raised the lighter as they squeezed along a narrow corridor, which soon branched off in all directions.
‘Wait.’ Kate paused. ‘What’s that?’
Ellie listened, and after a moment she could hear it too: faint music echoing in the darkness ahead. They let the music guide their path, and the brickwork soon became coarse, jagged rock. The corridor vanished around them, widening abruptly into a damp-smelling chamber. Kate rushed onwards, looking up in surprise.
‘Watch out,’ said Ellie, pulling her back. Kate dropped the lighter and it fell down, down, into a vast dark pit.
‘Th-thank you,’ said Kate, swallowing as she stepped back from the brink. She edged towards a steep staircase that reared overhead towards the centre of the chamber, towards the music.
Ellie looked up. High above, a circle was cut from the darkness, and through that circle was a dark blue sky pierced with bright stars.
‘We’re inside the volcano,’ Ellie whispered.
As they climbed, Ellie noticed many other staircases, all of them leading from different tunnels, rising to the same wide platform, where Loren sat on a low stool.
He was dressed in a silver gown and playing a silver harp, as if both he and the instrument were crafted from pure starlight. Hooded figures sat on a long stone bench wrapping round the edge of the platform, listening to Loren play.
Kate and Ellie ducked down, lying flat against the stairs so they could just see Loren’s head.
‘Is this a concert, Loren?’ a deep voice rang out. ‘Are we expected to sit silently while you play for us?’
‘Wait, I know that voice,’ Kate whispered. ‘That’s Emile Cassor. He’s a member of my Royal Court. The wretched traitor!’
Loren continued to play, his eyes closed, head nodding in time to the music.
‘Why is he playing for them?’ Ellie whispered.
Kate narrowed her eyes. ‘To show them he can make them wait as long as he likes.’
Finally, Loren let out a long sigh, and his hands came to rest against the harp. ‘My friends,’ he said. ‘My dear friends. Please believe me – I am so sorry for what I have had you do. I have asked much of you – to steal, to lie, to riot and destroy. We have made our home a poorer place. But it is only temporary. For now, even those most fanatically loyal to Her Beloved Majesty are wondering whether She has the strength to lead our island. Now, they look for real leadership.’
Kate shivered. ‘They’re all traitors.’
‘Let’s call the Seven Sentinels,’ said Ellie. ‘Let’s get as many people as we can and have them see this for themselves.’
She touched Kate’s hand, but Kate continued to glare hatefully at Loren. ‘Soon, our island will be governed well, and with strength,’ he said. ‘A Vessel our Queen may be, but a leader? It is time, my friends, for a new age.’
‘NO!’
Kate’s shout echoed up through the volcano, and Loren turned, his eyes widening slightly. He smiled. ‘Well, well. Speak of the Vessel and She shall appear.’
‘Kate!’ Ellie cried, hobbling up the steps as Kate tore across the platform towards Loren.
‘You poisoned the fields and the grain,’ Kate spat. ‘You started the riots. You robbed my people’s homes!’ She snarled at the hooded figures. ‘You will all pay for this.’
The men shifted awkwardly, and some even stood to leave, pulling their hoods down further. Loren waved a hand.
‘Friends, please. Sit, sit; talk among yourselves. Come, Divine One, speak with me.’
He sat down on the stool and took up the harp again. Kate clenched her fists and walked over, Ellie hurrying after.
‘What?’ Kate spat.
Loren dropped his voice beneath the chords of his harp. ‘My Queen, I am sorry to tell you this, but you’ve made a grievous mistake in coming here.’
‘Do these people know about your little book of secrets?’
Loren raised an eyebrow. ‘Ah, that explains the break-in the other night. Some do. Most do not. I don’t think I’d live long if I told everyone that I knew their darkest secrets.’
‘How about I tell them, then?’
‘You would embarrass me in front of my friends?’ Loren shook his head sadly. ‘And after I’ve done so much to help you.’
‘You’ve done nothing to help me.’
Loren closed his eyes again as he played. ‘My Queen, it is clear to me that the burden of leadership is breaking you. It is etched in your face. Why not be free of it? Give me control.’
Kate laughed, low and humourless. ‘I would have to die to do that.’
Loren waved a hand. ‘Not at all. Name me your Royal Successor. Mark me as the next Vessel. Then, we can send you to a faraway island with your little friend here. I’ll tell the people that you died peacefully, tragically young. I will use Ellie’s machines to restore Shipwreck Island to its former glory. And you need never worry about anything, ever again.’
Kate bristled. With a sweep of her hand, she sent the harp flying to the ground. Loren blinked down at it, fingers frozen in mid-air.
‘Not a fan of the harp, my Queen?’
‘I am going to tell everyone on this island what you’ve been doing.’
Loren shrugged. ‘They won’t believe you – they love me too much. You need a good story, my Queen, and the truth does not make for a good story. Not always, anyway.’
He gestured towards Ellie. ‘For example, I think they would believe me if I told them that the Queen’s closest advisor is, in fact, from the Enemy’s City.’
A slow smile spread across his face as he watched Kate stiffen. ‘You didn’t know, did you?’
‘So what?’ said Kate. ‘It’s not like she is the Enemy.’
‘Of course not,’ said Loren, looking Ellie up and down. ‘Why would the Enemy choose such a feeble, broken creature for its Vessel? Still, what will the people say when they learn that a spy from the Enemy’s City has been whispering in the Queen’s ear? Why … they’ll probably demand her head.’
Kate swallowed so hard that Ellie could see the ripple in her throat.
Loren righted his harp, running a finger over a chip in the wood. ‘At the Festival of Life, in four days, before all the most powerful people on Shipwreck Island, you are going to name me
as the next Vessel, and give me absolute power.’
‘I will never do that.’
Loren rose. He pressed his hands together beneath his chin, considering Kate.
‘You know, I’ve been wondering about something. It’s a wild theory, but please indulge me. Why is it, exactly, that the harvests have been getting worse every year since your mother died, and you have done nothing to stop it? Could it be that you do not use your powers because you cannot? Could it be that you’re not actually a Vessel?’
He looked Kate in the eye, smiling broadly. Kate glared back at him, her breathing unsteady. Her hands began to tremble.
Loren closed his eyes, nodding as if the music still played. ‘Thank you, Kate. It was just a theory, as I said. Now it is … much more than that. Ellie’s secret seems quite small compared to yours now, doesn’t it?’ He put a hand on Kate’s cheek.
‘Don’t touch me,’ Kate spat. She lashed out at Loren’s face, but he grabbed her wrist, wrapping his other hand in her hair and lifting her from the ground. Kate screamed.
‘No!’ Ellie cried, rushing at Loren and swinging her cane at him. Loren tore it from her grasp, twirling it in the air then jabbing her hard in the stomach. Ellie keeled over, gasping for a breath that wouldn’t come.
‘LEAVE HER ALONE!’ Kate roared, her face red as she clawed against Loren’s grip. ‘I will rip you apart. I will burn your name to the ground.’ Loren’s knuckles whitened as he pulled her hair tighter, and Kate screamed. ‘I will destroy … everything that matters to you,’ she hissed.
‘That’s not very queenly,’ said Loren. ‘Now, you will do as I ask. And you know what, since I’m so generous, I’ll even have some actors pretend to be healed by you at the Festival of Life, to keep your horrid secret hidden. So play along, or I will tell everyone the truth – that you are powerless and your friend is a traitor.’
He put Kate down, and she fell to her knees, clutching her head.
‘Kate!’ said Ellie, crawling over to her. ‘Are you okay?’
Kate nodded, unable to speak. She took Ellie’s hand and squeezed it.
‘MY FRIENDS!’ Loren raised his hands in the air. ‘Matters have progressed even faster than I’d hoped. We have an accord – in Her divine wisdom, our Queen has decreed that I shall be named Royal Successor. I will be the next Vessel to the God of Life.’
Kate sprang to her feet and ran at him, howling in anguish and trying to force him towards the edge of the platform. Loren laughed, then shoved Kate away. ‘You don’t understand, do you? I know the truth about you. I have all the power.’
He stepped over to Ellie, pulling a knife from his pockets and yanking Ellie up by her broken arm.
‘NO!’ Kate cried, a shout that chilled Ellie’s blood. ‘I’ll do it! Please don’t hurt her!’
Loren considered her a moment, then put Ellie down.
‘Run along now, Great Inventor,’ he said.
‘I’m not leaving her,’ said Ellie, standing over Kate.
Loren smiled. ‘She’ll be going with you. She has an important ceremony to organize. May I recommend that tunnel? It will take you to the shore. You can find your way home from there.’
Ellie and Kate put an arm round each other, then hobbled down the staircase towards the tunnel, Kate’s ragged breathing loud in Ellie’s ears. They were halfway down when Loren spoke gently.
‘Kate, smile for me, would you?’
Kate gritted her teeth, then breathed deeply, letting her face go blank. She turned round.
Loren studied her carefully. Kate’s lip twitched, and a tiny frown formed on her brow. She stepped forward, cleared her throat, and spat at him.
Loren shook his head. ‘My friends, the Queen must be taught a lesson in power. Do not harm Her, under any circumstances. Kill Ellie Stonewall.’
‘Ellie, RUN!’ Kate roared, pulling Ellie down the steps. Hooded figures sprang after them.
‘Give me a smoke bomb,’ said Kate, as they hurtled towards the tunnel. Ellie rummaged in her pockets and shoved a small, marble-sized device into Kate’s hand.
‘Ellie, this is a marble!’ Kate cried, but threw it anyway. It sailed beneath the hood of the person nearest, impacting like a hammer on stone, the man clutching his face as the others slammed into him.
‘You go ahead,’ said Kate. ‘I’ll hold them up. Get back to the palace as quickly as you can.’
‘I’m not –’
‘You heard Loren – they’re not allowed to hurt me.’
‘But –’
‘Ellie, go!’
Kate shoved her hard, and Ellie raced along the tunnel, the pain in her leg searing with every step. Kate roared in fury behind her. Ahead, Ellie smelled salt and seaweed, and saw a pale light glimmering at the end of the tunnel. She burst out into fresh air and found a rocky shore around her; a black, lifeless sea stretched out ahead, lined by a faint pink light. She picked her way down the rocky side of the volcano towards the beach. She could hear the thud of boots behind.
‘There’s no way you can survive this,’ said the bandaged child, sitting back on a mossy rock, waggling its toes. The soles of its feet were wet with blood.
Ellie hopped down from one rock to the next, searching for the easiest path. The child picked at a loose thread on its arm. ‘Ask me, go on. I’ll get rid of them for you. I can take care of Loren too, while we’re at it.’
Ellie leapt from a high boulder down to the beach, crying out as her leg buckled underneath her.
‘Come on, Ellie,’ said the child. ‘You’ve been ignoring me for too long.’
Shouts echoed from the tunnel. Ellie limped on along the beach, searching around for something, anything to help her. But she saw only rocks, and sand, and the bandaged child standing in the shallows.
‘Go on,’ it said, grinning its pointed grin and reaching out a pale, bandaged hand. ‘Let’s be friends again.’
A desperate impulse seized her, and she threw herself to her knees, dunking her head into the sea. The water rushed up her nose and down the collar of her shirt as she screamed Seth’s name as loud as she could, bubbles spilling from her mouth.
Ellie pulled her head out, gasping for breath.
The child laughed. ‘What was the point of that? You really think he’s going to hear?’
Two hooded figures slid over the wet rocks towards her. Ellie limped into a run, pulling a smoke bomb from her pocket and slamming it hard against her chest. The smoke trailed behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder to see a young man with wild grey eyes, hood fallen back, coughing as smoke got in his lungs.
‘This isn’t funny any more, Ellie!’ the child cried, stamping its foot. ‘These people are going to kill you!’
Ellie turned a sharp bend, and saw on her left a low, grassy cliff face, painted pink by the sunrise. She looked for a way up to the street above, but her boot hit a rock and she tumbled across the sand, jagged rock ripping her clothes and skin.
More hooded figures raced towards her, knives drawn, whooping and laughing. The child knelt at Ellie’s side.
‘Save yourself,’ its wet voice gurgled in her ear. ‘Ask me.’
Ellie looked at the blades glinting in the sunlight. Her lips quivered, about to form the words.
‘No,’ she said instead. ‘If I die, at least the world is rid of you … for a little while.’
She lay back in the sand, blinking at the rising sun. She thought of Finn, the two of them in their little rowing boat, eagerly scanning the water for fish.
And his smile.
She held that smile in her mind, as the footsteps drew near.
Leila’s Diary
4,821 days aboard the Revival
Varu has good days and bad days. Today was a bad day so I dropped a bag of fruit and vegetables in front of him.
‘Come on,’ I said. ‘We’re going to give these out.’
‘To who?’
‘Dunno. Whoever needs them.’
We wandered the deep, gloomy corridors of the Ark
that creaked like the bones of a weary old giant. We passed the cabin-houses of the fishing clans and the farming clans, but we found the most desperate and hunger-filled eyes down in the bottom decks, where the smell is worst and the people huddle like woodlice in the dark. The bag we brought was only so big and there were still too many hopeful faces watching us by the time it was empty.
‘They’re so hungry. It’s not fair,’ said Varu.
‘The Ark-Captain and his men eat too much. Don’t leave enough for everyone else. Come on.’
We wandered back up to the Sky Deck. Varu can walk and walk and not get tired, just like me. The wind ruffled his black hair as he looked at the sea.
‘The Crone says you have the power to part the waves,’ I said. ‘To make land for the first time since the Drowning, for her to grow plants on. Do you think you can do it?’
Varu stared at the sea like it was a foul-smelling stew. ‘I’d have to put my mind down inside it. Where all the dead voices are.’
‘Well, I can sit with you when you do it, if that would help?’
Varu straightened, his eyes filling with amazement. ‘Actually, I don’t think I need to part the sea.’
‘What?’
He pointed to the horizon. ‘Out there. I can feel something. The sea wraps round it, like it wants to drown it. Only it can’t.’
‘What do you mean?’
Varu smiled. ‘I mean … there’s land out there already.’
God of the Sea
The footsteps stopped.
Ellie sat up to find the hooded figures standing beside her. They weren’t looking at her, but at the sea.
‘What’s wrong with it?’ one said.
It was bubbling, like someone had lit a stove underneath the waves, gouts of water spurting high in the air. A mound of seawater began to grow, swelling upward like a hill, and the hooded figures jumped back.
‘What’s happening?’ one shrieked.
Ellie glanced up, and her heart leapt.
Seth was standing atop the cliff, his hands held out at his sides. The blue mists swirled angrily across his skin, and there were dark pits where his eyes should have been.
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