by S. M. Wilson
Jesa’s eyes glistened. “I didn’t know you had to do that,” she said quietly. Her hand brushed his arm. “Thank you.” He shook his head. He couldn’t speak right now. “We’d already discussed the messages we wanted to send to Dad. I was supposed to just bring them to Lincoln – to find a way to slip them to him. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t enough. What if this is the last time anyone gets to see him? Why should you get to see my father and I can’t?” Her hands gripped the rail of the ship and she looked back at the fading sight of Ambulus City. “Caleb will be furious with me. He’ll be mad he didn’t think of it first. But I couldn’t have told him. If he’d known, he would have come too. I couldn’t leave Mum alone. At least if something happens to me, she’ll still have him.”
Jesa’s stomach grumbled loudly again. “Come on,” said Storm. She had a strange look on her face. Lincoln guessed she was thinking about families and he sympathized. Because Storm always thought she had no family. But now things had changed. Now, the closest thing she had to family was sitting, under guard, in another room on this ship. But would she even talk to him?
Lincoln didn’t think so. And he could hardly blame her.
As Storm passed, Lincoln grabbed her arm. “We need to talk.”
She frowned as she watched Leif lead Jesa inside. “What about?”
Lincoln waited a few seconds until the others had vanished. “Piloria.”
She shook her head. “Have we spoken about anything else since we got on board?”
He took a deep breath and leaned on the ship’s rail, looking across the dark ocean. “I need to do something different when I get to Piloria, something that’s not the task we’re being sent for, and…I’m hoping that you’ll help me.”
There was a silence. And then she said the thing he fully expected her to say. “After the last time?”
He nodded. “I know. I know I kept secrets from you. I know I lied…by omission. You have no reason to trust me at all.”
She was still frowning but the corners of her lips turned upwards. She stepped closer. “But you’re asking anyway?”
He smiled as he nodded. “I’m asking because this is about Arta.”
The smile fell from her face but she nodded straight away. Storm was one of the brightest people he’d ever met. He could see her slotting pieces of the puzzle together in her mind. “The ointment.” She leaned on the rail alongside him.
“The ointment.”
“What do we need to do?”
His insides squeezed. No hesitation. We.
“Lorcan asked me to get as many samples as I could. Ointment too, if Blaine has any, and specific instructions on how he makes it.”
Storm nodded again in the darkness. “That sounds simple enough. We get to the shack. We load up on leaves. And we ask Blaine for more.” She nudged him with her elbow. “Let’s just hope he’s in a good mood when he finds out we’re back.”
Lincoln looked out into the darkness. “There is that.”
They stood for a while staring out at the unending ocean.
“I’m not sure about the viruses,” she said quietly. “I know that’s why we’re here, but I’m still not convinced. I still don’t think we should be trying to kill the dinosaurs.”
Lincoln held on to the rail and shook his head. The last thing he needed to do was get into a debate with Storm. “I don’t care about the dinosaurs. I only care about my sister.” He took a deep breath of the salty air. “I do remember. I remember Rune. I remember Kronar.”
“So do I.” Her words were practically a whisper.
“I don’t want to end up like that.” It was the most honest he could be. “And I don’t want anyone in our group to end up like that.”
Her voice broke a little. “Neither do I.”
Lincoln nodded. “Then how about you don’t plant any of the viruses. You let the others take the lead.”
She leaned back, her hands still holding the rail, her hair fluttering in the wind. “I don’t know if I can do that, Linc.”
He smiled. It was the first time she’d called him that since their last trip to Piloria. “Then we take things as they come.”
He looked at her and her violet gaze locked with his.
This time, they wouldn’t get in each other’s way. This time, they both had at least one common goal.
She blinked and licked her lips, then repeated, “We take things as they come.”
Lincoln was relieved. So far only Lorcan had known what his plans on Piloria were, but he’d wanted to be upfront with Storm. He didn’t want secrets between them this time.
And he wanted a backup plan. There was always a chance that one of them might not make it home from Piloria. This way, there were better odds that Lorcan would get what he needed for Arta.
And Arta would always be his priority.
She had to be.
Three days later, Reban Don still hadn’t made any attempt to talk to her. Not that she’d really expected him to. But it would have been nice if he’d tried. Then she could have had the pleasure of telling him to get lost.
She’d heard the Stipulators on board talking. Apparently, just before they’d left there had been a formal announcement that Silas Jung was the temporary Chief Stipulator for Ambulus City as well as Norden. There had been no mention of Reban at all. It had caused lots of questions that no one seemed inclined to answer.
The Stipulators who were guarding him were getting bored. There weren’t exactly many places he could go on the ship. The first day they’d stood over him when he visited the servery to eat. By day three they were happy to stand at the other side of the room, eating their own food and ignoring Reban and the rest of the crew.
Storm couldn’t eat when he was in the same room as her. She couldn’t bear to even look at him. Just being in his presence made her so angry. So frustrated.
It didn’t help that the rest of them seemed to have noticed. Leif had finally stopped being so frosty. As soon as Reban appeared he tried to engage Storm in conversation, always while keeping his eyes on Reban and the other Stipulators.
The rest of the new recruits all seemed to band together. The ones who’d worked in the labs had discarded their overalls and found bland-coloured tunics to wear. There were no big announcements. None of the hustle and bustle they’d experienced on the first journey over, and definitely no stopping to swim. One meeting with the megalodon was enough for the crew of the Invincible.
The temperature around them started to change as they neared Piloria. It was subtle at first. The overcoats they’d worn in Earthasia were casually discarded. For the females, hair was tied back and off their collars, while most of the guys wished they’d had a haircut before they boarded the ship.
The mood changed too. It was odd. Even more so for the people who’d experienced it before.
The mixture of excitement and fear meant that the never-ending rations weren’t eaten with the usual fervour. The other recruits started to approach Storm, asking questions. Looking for hints. There was no competition this time, and Storm and the others knew what lay ahead, so she was happy to share a few cautionary tales.
On the last morning, Storm woke before anyone else. Jesa was quietly snoring, her hair a tangled mess around her face. The girl was about to meet her father. To come face-to-face with the man she’d held in a special place in her heart for the last nine years. What must that feel like?
Storm dressed quickly and quietly, walking along the deck, staring out at the horizon until she reached the servery.
There was only one person inside. Well, if you didn’t count the Stipulators guarding him.
She could almost feel his eyes sear a hole in her back as she collected some fruit and cereal grains from the counter. She walked as far away as possible, finding a bench that would give her a good view when Piloria appeared on the horizon.
His bench scraped as he stood up, tossing his food onto a tray as he strolled across the servery towards her. The S
tipulators didn’t even bother following him.
He sat down opposite her as she continued to ignore him and glanced at the sea behind his head.
“There’s no one here,” he growled.
She kept eating, still not acknowledging his presence. “I think you’ll find there is,” she said pointedly.
Even though she wasn’t watching him she could see him almost smirk. She hated that.
“There’s no one else here, Stormchaser.” He raised an eyebrow. “Or do you prefer Storm? You can talk to me.”
She met his violet gaze with her own, trying not to flinch at the familiarity. This was the first time she’d truly looked at him since he’d been declared her father. “I don’t want to talk to you. I want to pretend you don’t exist. Just like you’ve spent the last fifteen years doing with me.”
He let out a huge sigh and glanced towards the entranceway. “If I’d acknowledged you, you’d be dead.”
Her insides twisted. If she’d heard this a few weeks ago she would have thought it was rubbish. More lies. But she’d heard the comments in the parliament chamber. She’d heard the remarks by Jesa.
“I nearly was – on Piloria, the place you sent me to.”
How dare he act as if she should be grateful that he’d abandoned her?
He turned his head and looked towards one of the portholes. “We’re getting close,” he said. “What can you tell me about Piloria?”
“Oh, so now you’re interested.” She couldn’t stop the sarcasm, it just seemed to exude from every pore on her body.
He kept his voice steady. “I guess I’m ready to listen to the expert.”
Not what she expected to hear. She looked up and met his gaze again as she frowned. She wasn’t quite sure what to say in response.
She leaned back in her chair as she studied him. “It’s not like anything you know,” she said finally.
The way his eyebrow quirked annoyed her. The truth was, everything Reban did annoyed her. Reban. She couldn’t call him her father. That seemed like a term of endearment – at least, everyone else she knew used it that way.
She leaned across the table towards him and narrowed her eyes. “Get used to not being in control, Reban. Get used to not knowing the minute – the second – that something could take your life. Get used to not sleeping properly, not knowing what lies over the next hill. Get used to being a target. Get used to thinking that the next time you go to relieve yourself something might be waiting for you in the bushes. There’s no one here that will follow your orders – least of all me.”
He stood up abruptly, sending the bench crashing to the floor behind him, pressing both hands down on the table in front of him.
She tensed. Expecting him to shout, expecting him to show some of the anger she’d seen in the past. But after a few seconds, and a few loud breaths, he looked down at her. For the briefest of seconds there was a hint of something in his eyes. Something she’d never seen before. Pain?
His voice was almost a whisper. “Sometimes I blink and I think you’re her.” As soon as he said the words he turned on his heel and left.
Storm couldn’t breathe. The oxygen was trapped somewhere in her chest as her heart thudded an uncertain rhythm. She hated him. She hated him.
So why was she blinking back tears?
The first time he realized something wasn’t quite right was as Piloria started to emerge in the distance. He’d grabbed fruit for breakfast, storing some other food in his backpack. No one had told them how long they were staying. It couldn’t be more than a week. That was as long as it had taken them to reach all three nest sites last time around. But he’d hated the foil ration packs. He knew there was food on Piloria they could eat, he just wanted to have a few extra provisions.
Once he’d finished packing his bag, Lincoln walked out onto the deck and leaned on the rail. The early morning mist had lifted and the coastline was emerging before his eyes. It only took a matter of minutes for the others to join him.
Lincoln spoke first. “This doesn’t look quite right.”
Leif leaned forward as if to get a better look. “Maybe we’re approaching it from a different direction this time?”
Lincoln shook his head. “No. No way. The coastline didn’t look like this. Remember, it was sandy beach all the way along, with the jungle right next to it? Look now” – he pointed – “those mountains? They weren’t there. And this?” He gestured ahead to the natural bay of bright blue water. “We didn’t see anything like that. It was just straight, sandy beach before. They unloaded that huge crate for Blaine further along it.”
Jesa twitched at her father’s name. “You mean we might not be near where my father is?” The anguish in her voice was palpable.
Storm had her backpack at her feet – she reached down and rifled in it. After a few seconds she pulled out a sheet of paper, unfolding it carefully. Lincoln looked over her shoulder as she scanned it, her finger tracing over the markings.
“This is it,” she breathed.
“What?” asked Leif.
Storm seemed a little stunned. “Octavius. He gave me this. It’s a map of the area we’re about to land at. Look, there’s the bay.”
Lincoln frowned as he tried to merge the landscape in front of him with the map in Storm’s hands. He’d never been good at this kind of thing.
Storm kept pointing at parts on the map. “Look, it was what I was asked to do – to map the area we’d covered. But Octavius gave me this part. The part that joins on to it. This is where we are.”
The paper ruffled in the wind, nearly separating at the delicate join of the two areas. Leif leaned forward, examining the careful sketches. Jesa just looked confused.
Leif frowned. “Who is Octavius? That’s the second time you’ve said his name. And how on earth could he map part of Piloria? Has he been here?”
Storm bit her lip. She wasn’t normally stuck for words. It was almost like she didn’t know how to answer. “Octavius…works at the parliament. I was his…aide.”
“You worked at parliament?” Leif looked astounded. “How come I’ve been on a ship with you for a week and you haven’t mentioned this? I thought you worked with hay bales.”
Storm shook her head. “I did. But when I got back they moved me. They figured out I’d been deliberately flunking all my tests in school. I got assigned to the parliament building.”
Lincoln could tell Storm was uncomfortable.
Leif gave Storm a suspicious glare. “And what exactly does Octavius do?”
She licked her lips. “He…he kind of keeps the Chief Stipulators in order.”
“What?” Leif shook his head. “And this is who you worked for?” He held up his hands. “How on earth did you end up here? How did any of us end up here? If you worked at the parliament, didn’t you know people who could have got us out of this?”
Lincoln could tell she was struggling. He reached over and put his hand on Leif’s arm. “I don’t think it quite works like that.”
Leif pulled his arm away sharply. “Really? Then you tell me how this works, Lincoln, because I don’t even know where to begin. My head is still in Norden with my starving brothers and sisters.”
There was no response to that pointed barb. It could have been aimed at either him or Storm with equal effect.
Lincoln stared at the bay in front of them. It was a perfectly hollowed-out semicircle in the white, crumbling cliffs. The water was clear and a brilliant shade of blue. There seemed to be coral-coloured stone just under the surface in places, with a whole host of small sea creatures darting around. The beach was small and the sand a little darker than he remembered. And it was quiet. Perfectly quiet.
This place didn’t look like part of the dinosaur continent. This looked like some kind of magical place that children dreamed of.
Storm touched Leif’s arm. “We’re closer.” She pointed to the map again. “This puts us here. Much closer to the nests.” She looked up and pointed to the right. “The pterosaur nes
t should be just along the coastline. It’s barely a half-day’s walk from here.”
Leif shook his head and said the words that Lincoln was currently thinking. “Then why didn’t they drop us here the last time? Why leave us on that other beach with so much further to go?” He didn’t even try to hide the anger in his voice. “Why make us go round that lake when we clearly didn’t have to.”
The lake. The place where Leif had lost one friend on the way over, and the other on the way back. Little wonder he was angry.
Storm seemed to hesitate over her words. “I have no idea. Maybe the other beach is the best pick-up point for Blaine. Or maybe that’s the only place they have transporters.”
Lincoln was scanning the beach. This spot was beautiful. Tranquil.
Silas’s voice sounded behind them. “Get inside. It’s time to prepare.” As Lincoln turned, he saw the smug smile on Silas’s face. “Let’s spread the viruses and kill these dinosaurs.”
It sent a tremor through him. A tremor he hadn’t expected.
Maybe Storm was rubbing off on him?
From the second he started talking, it was clear Silas loved being the centre of attention. If she closed her eyes it was almost like listening to him in the parliament chamber again. She stared round at the rest of the people in the room and started counting. Fifteen, including herself, Leif, Lincoln and Jesa. And Reban, of course. He was standing at the side, muttering under his breath.
Silas swept around in his black cloak, using it like a theatrical prop. As if he wanted to emphasize the fact he still had his, while Reban did not.
There was a scientist in a white coat standing next to him. He had the same expression on his face that Lorcan Field always wore. The one where his body was present but his mind was obviously elsewhere, working on a million calculations.
Silas crossed his hands over his chest. “In a few minutes, the Stipulators will take you ashore. This ship is too large to dock properly in the bay. Too many reefs. So you’ll go in boats.” He glanced towards the scientist next to him. “You’ll work in teams and each team will get a set of the three viruses. Frolan here will tell you exactly how to disperse the viruses. Follow his instructions to the letter. There can be no mistakes.” He wrinkled his nose disparagingly. “Sort yourself into three groups. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. You can all go to the same site together, or to different ones. This is not a competition. This is a task. A task that must be completed. Each virus must be delivered to the watering hole nearest each nesting site. The ship will return in five days. Then you can come home, as long as you’ve succeeded in your mission” – he stared at them all – “and if you’re still alive. The ship will arrive late afternoon. We won’t wait.” He waved his hand. “Frolan, tell them what to do.”