Pod said nothing.
“Why are you being so weird?”
There was another long silence, then Pod said. “I don’t want to go to no camp.”
“Camping good!” Graham said. “Tent. Guitar. Trees.” Graham had been on their family camping trips. Spinner used to bring a guitar with him and they’d sing old songs around the campfire, Graham squawking along.
“It’s not that kind of camp,” Will explained, for Graham’s benefit. “Why do you think we’re going to send you to a camp?”
“People with no papers get sent to a camp,” Pod said stubbornly.
“No one’s trying to get rid of you,” Will said.
“Will not get rid of Pod!” Graham shouted.
“Isn’t that what I just said?” Will said, frustrated. “I want you to stick around. Annalie probably does too, she just thinks we should give you an escape clause.”
“A what?”
“A way out.”
“Graham wants escape clause!”
Will ignored Graham. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening, then said, “Look, don’t tell Art and Rene, but as soon as we get the boat back, I’m out of here. Annalie and Essie can stay or go, it’s up to them, but I’m going on.” He paused. “I really hope you’ll come with me.”
“We find Spinner?” Graham asked hopefully.
“Yes,” Will said. “But Graham, not a word about this to anyone, okay? It’s a big secret.”
“Big secret,” Graham repeated, bobbing up and down.
“You with me?” Will asked Pod.
A smile spread across Pod’s face. He nodded.
* * *
Annalie and Essie sat on one of the wide verandas, swinging gently backwards and forwards on an old porch swing. “You could go back, you know,” Annalie said. “There’s a passenger ship that goes once a week. We could book you a passage under a false name and we could let your dad’s lawyers know you were coming so they could make sure you get picked up safely at the other end.”
Essie looked at her in surprise. “You’ve given this a lot of thought, haven’t you?”
Annalie looked embarrassed. “I just feel bad about what I put you through. Anything could have happened to us. We’ve finally got a chance to send you home, and I think we should take it.”
Essie was silent for a long moment, then said, in a slightly wobbly voice, “Don’t you want me here any more?”
“Of course I want you!” Annalie said. “Haven’t you been listening? You’re my best friend, of course I want you around. But I don’t want to put you in any more danger. You’ve got a family back home, you should go to them.”
Essie ducked her head, full of troubles. “I don’t even know what I’d be going back to,” she mumbled. “Dad’s out for now on bail, but what if he gets convicted? And there’s no way I’m going to live with mom and her new boyfriend. Even if she wanted me, which I doubt.”
“They’re still your parents,” Annalie said. “They’ll work something out. They have to.”
“Why don’t you come with me?” Essie suggested.
“I can’t,” Annalie said.
“But if we ask the lawyers to help, maybe they can protect you—”
“I can’t go back. I’ve got nowhere to go. Even if Triumph wanted me back, I wouldn’t be safe there. As long as Beckett’s hunting Dad, I’m always going to be a pawn in the game.”
“So now what? What are you going to do next?”
“I don’t know,” Annalie sighed. “Wait. Hope that Spinner turns up. Because I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t.”
* * *
Two days passed. Will was anxious to go into town and check on the Sunfish. “They said it might be ready today, right?”
“They did,” Art said, “but I can’t take you today. I’ve got to go and check my instruments. It’ll probably take me most of the day.”
“But—”
“This is my work, Will. I can’t neglect it because you want to go to town.”
“And besides,” Rene said, more conciliatory, “what difference will a day make really?”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Art said. “Like I said, you and your boat are perfectly safe here.”
The four of them spent a restless day, waiting. Essie, in particular, had a lot to think about. She went back through all the messages she’d received from both her parents, reading between the lines, worrying about what she should do. On the one hand she knew her parents missed her—she missed them, too—and the only sensible thing to do was to jump on the very next boat and head straight for home. She thought about all the things she’d missed, like hair conditioner and hot showers, chocolate and new clothes.
But then she thought about everything she’d seen and done with Annalie and the others. Even though it had often been frightening and dangerous, it had also been exhilarating. She’d done things she’d never imagined she was capable of until she joined the crew of the Sunfish: had adventures, taken risks, experienced true, dizzying, terrifying freedom. The next boat doesn’t go until Wednesday, she reminded herself, torn. I’ve still got time before I have to decide.
After dinner that night, Annalie and Pod helped with the dishes, and when the work was done, they walked into the living room where Art was sitting with the younger children. Alice was playing with something; it took Annalie a moment to realize what it was.
“Where did you get that?” she said, her voice louder than she intended.
Alice looked up guiltily and burst into tears.
She was playing with Lolly. Annalie had brought the doll all the way from school, stuffed in the bottom of her backpack.
“Alice, give it back!” roared one of the brothers.
“No!” Alice shouted.
The boy tried to grab it from her, Alice resisted, there was a brief but intense tussle as they tried to drag it from each other, Art remonstrating unsuccessfully—and then Lolly separated.
Lolly’s legs were in the boy’s hand.
Lolly’s head was in Alice’s fist.
Lolly’s torso, ripped open, dangled.
And something fell out.
For a moment they all stared at the object that had fallen to the floor. Annalie was the first to scoop it up.
It was a memory chip.
“What’s that?” Art asked, trying to sound casual.
“It’s mine,” Annalie said.
“Are you sure?” Art said. “It looks old. They haven’t looked like that for years. Since before you were born.”
The noise had brought the others into the room: Rene, Will, Essie.
Will was the first to say it. “That’s it, isn’t it? It’s what they’ve been looking for.”
Art got up from the couch. “Annalie, give it to me.”
“No!” Annalie said.
Instinctively, the other three drew closer to her, forming a protective pack around her.
“They’re not interested in you. They only want the research,” Art said.
“How do you know?” Annalie said.
“Because I already know everything. They warned me you were coming here. They’ve known for weeks this was where you’d come.”
Will and Annalie looked at each other, eyes wide.
“It’s going to be all right,” Art said. “They only want the research. If they can get that, they’re not interested in you.”
“But they think we can lead them to Spinner!” Annalie said.
“They hoped you would, but you can’t. You don’t have any more idea of where he is than I do,” Art said.
“We have to get out of here,” Will said.
“There’s no point,” Art said. “They’re coming for you. They’re already on their way.”
“You sold us out?” Annalie crie
d, appalled.
Art looked wretched. “They already knew!” he said. “Don’t you understand? I work for them!”
“You work for the Weather Bureau!” Annalie objected.
“And who do you think controls the Weather Bureau?” Art said. “If I didn’t tell them you’d arrived I would have lost my job, the house—”
“I thought we could trust you,” Annalie said.
“Forget him,” Will said. “Get your stuff. We’re leaving.”
Annalie scooped up the pieces of Lolly, and she and Essie ran to their room to collect their things.
“You can’t go,” Art said. “It’s too late.”
“We’ve outrun them before, we can do it again,” Will said. “Come on Pod.”
Will and Pod hurried out the front door and went careering through the moonlit garden, down the path and out to the jetty where Art’s little motorboat waited. Soon, Annalie and Essie followed, breathless, carrying bags and bundles. It was all they had in the world, and it wasn’t much.
Art and Rene ran after them, in a last desperate attempt to talk them into staying. As the children climbed into the dinghy and began to maneuver away, Art and Rene called to them from the end of the jetty.
“We can protect you!” Rene called. “Please come back!”
“How could we ever trust you again?” Annalie cried.
“They’re going to come after you,” Art called. “They’ll never stop looking for you. The Admiralty will find you wherever you go.”
But their voices were blown away by the wind, drowned by the roar of the engine.
“Let them try!” Will shouted.
The four of them looked out at the silky dark water lit by a wide ribbon of moonlight, half-expecting to see an Admiralty ship come sliding toward them. But the sea was quiet and empty.
They roared up the coast and around the headland toward the town. They sailed directly into the marine repair slip. It was closed for the night, of course, but the moonlight was bright enough to see by.
“There!” Will said, and pointed.
The Sunfish was there, riding serenely at anchor. They pulled up alongside it and climbed on board, then Will and Annalie rushed below to check the starboard cabin. The internal joinery hadn’t been tidied up yet, but they could see that the hole had been repaired.
They hurried back up on deck.
“We going?” asked Pod.
“Yep,” said Will.
They jumped to their posts—Annalie casting off, Pod hoisting the sail, Will at the wheel—and soon they were sailing out of the marine repairers and into the dark waters of the night.
“Which way?” asked Will.
“Let’s keep going east,” Annalie said.
“Aye aye,” said Will, and turned the wheel.
The Sunfish’s sails filled, and the little boat went gliding out into the Moon Islands once more.
Continue the Adventure
Get set for more thrilling adventure in The Castle in the Sea. Available now.
Annalie, Will, Essie, Pod, and Graham’s new plan to visit the four scientists from Spinner’s coded list is thrown into chaos when a terrible storm wrenches two of their company overboard. How will they ever find Spinner if they can’t even find each other?
The Flooded Earth Page 24