Toby choked.
“You don’t think it’s a good idea?” Dee raised her eyebrows. He shook his head and Dee held out her arms. “Say goodbye properly. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
Toby stood still. His arms felt as if anchors were weighing them to the deck. Slowly he raised them.
“Thank you.”
His chin rested on Dee’s shoulder and her hair tickled his nose. He tightened his fists on her back. “It’ll be all right, Toby. We’ll see each other again.”
“Not if we find the island,” Toby croaked. “Isn’t that the whole point of this?”
“I suppose. Though I will see you again, I promise.”
Toby nodded, no longer trusting his voice.
“We’ve got to go.” Dee turned and walked to the gangplank. At the top she tugged at her scarf – the red bandanna that every crew member wore. Slowly she unwound it from her hair. Taking his cue, Marcus uncoiled his from his throat and handed both to Uma.
Then, together, Marcus and Dee left the Phoenix and jumped on to Ayla’s lifeboat, which had been prepared to take them from the ship to Faroe Rocks.
Toby ran to the gunwale in time to see the small boat vanish into the darkness.
“Will they be all right?” Toby asked Uma.
Uma closed her fist around the discarded scarves. “Marcus has a tent, fuel and flint in his kit. Peel slipped supplies into the boat. And there’re caves. With all the combustibles that wash up with the tide they’ll be fine till Theo and Simeon get back.”
Toby stared after them.
The boiler room was empty. Toby slipped through the door and checked the gauges. The water levels were good. The soot needed cleaning out of the blowers, but otherwise she would be ready to push the paddles in the morning.
Gozo. Toby looked out of the porthole where a tiny glow sputtered, a fire had been lit among the rocks.
Everything was changing.
Toby fetched the brushes and began to clean, taking comfort in the familiar routine. Polly’s weight was missing from his shoulder and for a moment he wished she was grumbling about the soot in her feathers. But she no longer had feathers and she was with Hiko now.
For a little while Toby wanted to pretend that everything was as it had been before the Phoenix had heard of the sunken solar panels. He imagined a blue and scarlet Polly up on her perch above the attemperator, Dee on the bridge with the captain, Marcus playing Perudo with Crocker and Harry napping in the storage area when he should have been working.
As his muscles burned, he kept his mind’s eye on the memory he created and refused to think of anything other than the job he’d done a hundred times before. When he finished, he stored the brushes, arms shaking with exhaustion. Then he fed more fuel to the compressor and topped up the combustion chamber.
At the door he hesitated and shook his head. If he went to the sleeping quarters, he’d find Ayla. Toby remembered the last time they had sat together on his bunk, the trembling pressure of her lips. It wouldn’t be like that ever again. She needed him to complete her plan, but their bond was broken. His ears rang with the memory of their conversation on the Banshee.
“It’s over then?”
“How can it be anything else? After what your family has done to mine.”
Ayla had been right, there could be nothing more between them than the plan to get the inverters. He leaned his forehead on the hull and listened to the chug and grind of his resting ship. He wanted to go to Ayla, but she had betrayed him.
He turned back to the boiler room and unrolled a blanket from beneath his ‘useful one day’ pile. He kept it there for the nights he had to nurse the boiler. It had been a while since he had slept in the heart of the Phoenix. Curling up beneath the control panel, Toby allowed the whistle of superheated steam to soothe him to sleep.
The North Sea was rough and junk rose and fell on either side of the Phoenix, banging into her paddle cages despite the ice-breaker hull pushing it to each side.
Toby stood on top of the bridge and braced himself on the main mast as he shaded his eyes to watch Faroe Rocks turn into a distant smudge. The sails above him snapped in the brisk wind, pulling the Phoenix onwards, and he shivered.
“You can’t avoid me forever.” Ayla climbed the ladder towards him then crouched on top of the bridge. The Phoenix tipped into a thrashing wave that carried salt spray and a tumble of cans over the gunwale. As she rubbed the poisonous spray from her face Toby saw that today she had plaited her long hair, but left the short half sticking wildly up. The stinging salt had reddened her cheeks but she had her collar turned up against the wind, covering the burn mark on her shoulder. The glitter in her green eyes added to the savagery of her appearance. As the ship tilted, Ayla rolled into the rigging and came up grinning.
“I waited for you last night.” She greeted him with a tilt of her pointed chin. “I thought we should talk. Where did you sleep?”
“Somewhere else.” Toby tightened his grip on the mast.
Ayla wrapped one hand around the mast, just beneath Toby’s. “Remember the last night we spent in your sleeping quarters?”
“Of course.” Toby shivered. “I spent the next morning in the brig of the Banshee.”
“You’d have done no different.” Ayla refused to look down. There was no shame on her face. “I was in an impossible position. Can’t you understand?”
“I suppose.” This was her way of apologizing. His little finger slipped down the mast, as if to touch her thumb but he pulled it back. “There’s still our parents, our history hasn’t changed.”
“I know.” Now she dropped her gaze.
“I never got a chance to say I’m sorry.” Toby shuffled awkwardly. “For what my parents did to yours … to your sisters.”
“I don’t remember them.” Ayla looked out over the salt as though she could see her family in the distance. “I’d turned Astrid into an imaginary friend – I thought I’d just created a reflection of myself to play with.”
“But she was your twin.” Toby hugged himself. “And what about your big sister, Freya?”
Ayla shrugged. “Nell won’t talk about her – I’ve asked.”
“The captain won’t tell me about Judy, either—” At the look on Ayla’s face Toby bit off the sentence.
“Why would you want to know about her?” Ayla flinched back from him.
“She was my mother.” Toby sighed. “I just wanted to know how she could have done what she did. How could anyone?”
“Right.” Ayla settled back down.
“And your father, will Nell speak about him?”
Ayla shook her head. “I get it. It hurts her too much. Those scars won’t ever heal.”
“And that’s why the Banshee will never work with the Phoenix. You know that better than anyone.” Toby frowned. “So I don’t understand why you came up with a plan that involved me.”
Ayla sat and patted the bridge roof. The Phoenix rolled and knocked Toby into her. Swiftly he moved away, leaving space between them. Their legs dangled above the bridge door. D’von looked up from his cleaning job and waved. Ayla returned the gesture, her face relaxing.
“You like D’von,” Toby said.
Ayla nodded. “He doesn’t overthink. He’s a good guy, isn’t he? Not like us.”
Toby inhaled sharply.
“You know what I mean. You and I, we’re born pirates. D’von – he’ll be a pirate to please you, and a great one. But he’d have been just as happy on land, in a smithy, or a bakery or something. You or I would go insane in a job like that.”
“So you think you’d have set sail in the end? Even if your family hadn’t…”
Ayla shook her head. “Perhaps not. But I’d have always been unsettled and a little miserable and never known why.”
“You think the salt’s in our blood?” Toby covered his bare face as the Phoenix pitched and spray hit them again. Above them gulls wheeled as the Irish coast blurred on the horizon.
Ayla nodded. “Y
ou and me, we’re alike. You said it once before, we make a good team. I thought about other partners for the plan, but I kept coming back to you. I know you can fight, I know what you’ll do in a tight spot and I can trust you.”
He stared at his hands for a long time. “You can trust me,” he said. “But can I trust you?” He leaned further from her. “You expect me to go into this sanctuary and work with you to find the inverters. How do I know that you won’t just take them and leave me behind?”
Ayla pressed her lips together. For the first time she looked uncomfortable. “I won’t,” she muttered.
“You did before,” Toby insisted. “You took the map, snuck out and left.”
“That was different. I almost died saving your captain and crew, doesn’t that count for anything? I promised I’d rescue Captain Ford and I did. Make me promise, if that’s what it takes. Ask me not to betray you when we’re inside the sanctuary.”
Toby stared.
“How about if I swear on Astrid’s grave?” Ayla hopped down, and thudded on to the deck. She looked up at Toby and lifted one hand to her heart. “I swear that while we’re in the sanctuary I’ll have your back. I won’t betray you.” She dropped her hand. “Is that enough?”
“I don’t know.” Toby exhaled. “It should be.”
As the Phoenix passed what was left of the Balearics, Toby left Hiko filling the compressor in the boiler room, pulled his eye-gauze low over his eyes and climbed on deck to bask in the warmth.
“You’d better take that off, Toby.” It was Uma. Her own gauze was tight over her face. The crew had been wearing it since they had passed the meridian and the sun’s brightness had become unbearable to their unaccustomed eyes.
He didn’t move. “Why?”
“True sun worshippers don’t use it. I believe it’s considered blasphemous to hide from the sun’s rays.”
Toby glanced at Ayla. She had long ago removed her jacket and now wore a light shirt for work on deck. The captain had her cleaning out the bilge pumps, but she made no complaint. In fact she had thrown herself into life on the Phoenix and did every job tossed her way with good humour. She had even earned a reluctant grunt of approval when she returned Peel’s fish to him gutted, boned and dressed for the crew’s dinner. Her own eyes were naked to the brightness.
Reluctantly, Toby unwound the light material.
“You need to get used to going without.” Uma smiled. “Start off with short periods of time, then go longer.”
Toby put the gauze in his pocket. “I feel exposed.”
The captain appeared behind him and huffed. “You’ll be all right.” His fingers vanished inside his jacket. “Here, I’ve drawn this for you.” He pulled a piece of slate from his pocket. There was a chalked image on it. “This is what an inverter is likely to look like – it’ll be small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It should have a Solaris logo, but most importantly there’ll be holes with pins inside that will fit these.” He opened his other hand to show Toby cables with connectors. “Got it?”
Toby nodded and the captain handed him the slate and wires. “Show Ayla later, make sure you both have it memorized.”
Ayla looked up at the sound of her name.
“What’s going on over there?” Toby slipped the wires into his tool belt and pointed to the solar panels, where Rahul, Nisha, Amit and Ajay were pulling tarpaulins tight and pinning them down.
“We’re covering the panels,” the captain replied. “We’ll be in sight of the island in a day or so and we don’t know how far their scopes can see. We won’t take the Phoenix all the way in, but we don’t want to risk them seeing what we’ve got here. They might attack us, or suspect you of foul play.”
Toby nodded. “I’ll help.” As Ayla went back to her own job he caught a rope and helped Nisha pull it tight. His eyes already felt sore and watery, but he would work for at least an hour before he put his gauze back on. Uma was right, if the con was to work, he had to look like a true sun worshipper.
SEVEN
Toby eyed the heat haze that hung over the tiny island like fog. Polly hunched on his shoulder, her weight a comfort, even as the sun glinted from her body.
“Have you been to Gozo before?” Ayla leaned over the gunwale, as if to urge the Phoenix to break through the junk faster.
Toby shook his head. “Last time we were here we brought Javier and Morris and I wasn’t allowed off ship.” He picked at some rust on the railing. “The Phoenix anchored in Malta, above the castle – you can see its remains under the salt when the tide shifts the junk – and the captain took them in. The Maltese hate St George because they refused to help with the evacuation when the tsunamis hit. There are hardly any survivors on Malta, so not much to trade, but they’re a safe anchorage for the Phoenix.”
Ayla rose to her toes and pointed. “Look, I can see the sanctuary.”
Toby jumped as Rita thumped into the rail beside him. Her blond hair tickled his cheek. “It’s bigger than I remember,” she whispered.
Ayla nodded. “Sebastiane told me they’re always building. It started off as a Catholic cathedral.”
“Now look at it,” Rita added. “Doesn’t it remind you of…”
Toby’s stomach lurched. Rita was right; there was a feel of Castle Guzman about the thick blocky walls, grey concrete paving and massive slabs that now surrounded the delicate stonework of the original structure. He closed his eyes, blinded, as the sun caught the massive bronze circle that adorned the bell tower.
“Wow,” Ayla muttered. “I guess we’re in the right place.”
With the sanctuary hidden by the glow of the bronze dial, Toby shifted his attention to the houses that clustered around its base like rats around a supply crate.
“They all work for the Order?” Rita murmured.
Ayla nodded. “The original islanders had to become sun worshippers, or move to Malta. They provide the sanctuary with most of its food and supplies.”
“What if they couldn’t leave?” Rita didn’t take her eyes from the houses.
Ayla said nothing. At one side of the building, the island had cracked. A huge chunk had slid downwards to create a cliff leading to a narrow bay that backed right up against the rear wall. As Toby watched, surf crashed into jagged rocks and salt splashed the sanctuary, spraying white foam into the heat haze.
“Is that where they leave their dead?” Rita’s eyes widened. “We’ll be killed.”
Ayla rolled her eyes. “They put the dead out when the tide is low. We’ ll be long gone by the time the salt’s this angry, if it comes to it.”
D’von came running up to them. “We’re here?”
Toby nodded. “Are you sure you want to do this, D’von? It isn’t too late to back out.”
D’von frowned. “If you’re going, Toby, I’m going, too, don’t worry.”
Toby glanced at Ayla.
“He won’t get in,” she whispered.
He jumped as Arnav began to blow the Phoenix’s whistle; although the Phoenix wasn’t going to dock, they still had to get through the dam keeping the debris from Gozo’s waters and that meant announcing their arrival.
Although the Azure Window had long been destroyed, the sun worshippers had used the cliff to make one side of their dam, which stretched across the harbour. It was a rusting wall of lorries and old ships hammered and welded together to form a sieve that allowed fish and smaller rubbish past, but kept the more dangerous pieces away from the main dock. The rest of the island was kept clear by currents or jagged rocks. There was only one way into Gozo and that was through the dam.
As the Phoenix approached, a system of pulleys and winches allowed attendants to lift the top of the outer barrier, like a swing bridge.
Amit and Ajay swarmed up the rigging and furled the sails, wrapping them tightly to banish the wind and hold the Phoenix back.
Slowly, using only her paddle power, the Phoenix passed the raised junk. Toby turned to watch as the shadow of the barrier fell over his face. His h
eart raced as the paddles propelled them forwards. Even Ayla had gone completely still. Toby barely breathed as the Phoenix chugged into the gap between the two walls. The junk that had been jostling at the dam wall flowed in alongside their ship. Rotting sofas, tumble driers and truck beds capered in the waves.
As the wall closed behind them Toby felt even more confined, as though the Phoenix had been imprisoned. They were surrounded by a dark well that seemed to be pressing closer with every pitch of the ship. In front of Toby the cab of a lorry peered into the ship, the windscreen a cobweb of shattered glass.
The Phoenix’s paddles still ran, trying to push her through the dam, but she couldn’t move and her frustrated churning rattled around them.
Ayla’s hand closed on Toby’s.
“What if the Phoenix needs to leave quickly?” D’von murmured.
“The Phoenix isn’t staying.” Ayla squeezed his fingers. “She’ll anchor close enough to the beach so we can go ashore then she’ll leave again, to meet Birdie. She’ll be waiting for us off the coast of Malta.”
“What’s your business in Gozo?” The voice from the top of the dam reverberated from the metal walls and echoed over the Phoenix.
Toby jumped as the captain replied through his bull horn.
“This is the Phoenix. We’re bringing Sun and Moon candidates for the festival. Two pairs.”
There was no reply and the Phoenix remained locked in suspension, tilting from side to side with the waves, her paddles pushing her nowhere.
“There’s something wrong,” Rita whispered.
Then there was a rushing sound as the sluice gates opened. The Phoenix banged against the inner gate as the tide pulled her forwards. Toby gasped as the deck jerked beneath him. He leaned over and watched the last of the junk, a plastic shopping basket and a black bin bag that sucked and slid in the waves, slide through the gates, then the sluices closed.
Toby tightened his fingers around Ayla’s as the wall in front of them began to ascend. The rusting lorry lifted until its jagged windscreen stared down at Toby from above.
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