Читать книгу Dark of the Moon - Siobhan Curham - Страница 13

‘I thought I’d never see you again!’ Jenna runs across the clearing toward me and hugs me tight. Her pale blonde hair is as brittle as straw, and what’s left of her make up has smudged into dark rings beneath her eyes.

I’m so numb with shock I can’t speak. Over Jenna’s shoulder I see Todd make his way into the clearing. Cariss is right behind him. Their clothes are soaking and tattered and they all look totally shell-shocked. I watch the gap in the trees, waiting for Ron to appear.

‘Grace, what’s happened?’

I look down at Belle. She’s staring up at me, her eyes filled with panic.

‘It’s okay. It’s the others.’ My mouth is suddenly so dry I can barely get the words out.‘They – they’re here.’ I look back at Jenna – and grip her arms real tight to make sure she’s not an illusion.

‘Are these the friends y’all were telling me about?’ Ruby asks Jenna. ‘The ones you were shipwrecked with?’

Jenna nods, still staring at me. Her eyes are shiny with tears.

I swallow hard. They’re alive. Relief surges through me, making my body tremble. I look back at the trees, but there’s still no sign of Ron.

Everyone apart from Belle is standing now, and for a moment we’re all silent. I guess no one knows quite how to act, or what to say. It’s like everyone’s waiting for someone else to take the lead.

Ruby stands motionless, watching.

‘What happened to you guys?’ the Flea asks, finally breaking the stunned silence. ‘The boat washed up on the beach, totally trashed.’

‘We hit some rocks,’ Jenna mumbles.‘We had to swim back to the island.’

I look at Todd. He’s staring at the ground. I notice that his hands are trembling.

‘How did you find the retreat?’ Ruby says to the Flea, her voice as icy as her pale eyes.

‘Lola brought us,’ the Flea says. ‘She found us down by –’

‘Ruby!’ We all turn at the sound of Lola’s voice. She’s standing in the doorway of the kitchen, holding a pile of plates. When she sees the others her mouth falls open in shock. ‘Oh. Who are –?’

‘These are our friends,’ the Flea says. ‘The ones we –’

‘I found them at the bay,’ Ruby says curtly. ‘Can I have a word with you please, Lola? In the house.’

‘Of course.’ As Lola walks past me she nods. ‘Don’t worry,’ she whispers. ‘I’ll sort it out.’

I smile gratefully.

Lola hands the Flea the plates, then she follows Ruby over to her house and up the ladder inside.

I wait, half-expecting to hear raised voices, but it stays ominously quiet.

We all look at each other again. All apart from Todd, who keeps on staring at the ground.

The Flea goes over to the fire and grabs hold of the skillet. ‘The others are safe, Beau-Belle. Isn’t that great?’

Belle nods and gives a tight smile. I guess that given the hell Jenna and Cariss put her through before she’s hardly going to be throwing a party.

‘Where’s Ron?’ I whisper to Jenna.

Her eyes fill with tears again and she looks away.

I turn to Todd. ‘Todd – what happened to Ron?’

Todd starts shaking his head.

My stomach lurches.

Dan goes over to Todd and places one of his huge hands on his shoulder. ‘What happened, bro?’

‘We lost . . .’ Jenna starts to cry. ‘We lost him.’

Todd lets out a weird whimpering sound and covers his face with his hands.

‘You lost him?’ The Flea puts the skillet down and stares at Jenna, his mouth open in horror. ‘But where?’

Jenna’s now crying too hard to answer. We all turn to Cariss.

‘In the sea,’ she mutters. Then she starts crying too and sinks to the ground, hugging her knees to her chest.

I let out a gasp of shock. Cruz is over in an instant and takes hold of my hand.

Dan puts his arm round Todd’s shoulders. ‘Oh, man!’

‘He might be okay,’ Cariss stammers between sobs.

‘He’s not okay!’ We all turn to face Todd as he finally speaks. Tears are streaming down his face. ‘He was so out of it from that stuff he drank from the bottle in the forest. I tried to keep hold of him, but I lost my grip. I saw him get swept away. I saw him . . .’ Todd chokes on his tears . . . ‘I saw him go under.’

Cruz lets go of my hand and strides over to him. ‘It is not your fault,’ he says softly. ‘The sea, it is too powerful. You did everything you could. You mustn’t blame yourself.’

Todd wipes his eyes and stares at Cruz. I think of the tension between them before and for a horrible moment I think Todd might lose it with Cruz again. But then he starts nodding his head real slowly.

‘Thanks,’ he whispers.

Cruz places his hand on his arm. ‘No problem.’

‘Did Ron die?’ Belle asks suddenly, causing us all to jump.

The Flea goes and crouches down beside her. ‘It looks that way, yes.’ I’ve never heard him so serious.

Jenna wipes her eyes and stares at Belle. ‘What’s up with her,’ she whispers to me. ‘Why is she staring like that?’

I move closer to her so I can whisper. ‘She’s gone blind.’

Jenna steps back in shock. ‘What?’

I shake my head and put my finger to my lips.

‘What’s up?’ Cariss says immediately.

‘Nothing,’ Jenna says quickly. Then she turns back to me. ‘But how?’ she whispers. ‘What happened to her? Where did you find her?’

‘I’ll tell you later,’ I whisper back.

Jenna nods and gives me a weak smile.

We all fall silent again.

‘So, how did you guys end up here?’ Cariss asks, eventually.

‘We sailed,’ the Flea replies.

‘You sailed ?’ Cariss stares at him.

‘But how?’ Jenna looks at me, then immediately looks at the ground, her cheeks flushing.

Seeing her look so embarrassed makes me think of her journal and its shock revelation. I wait for anger to hit me, but all I feel is exhaustion, and overwhelming relief that they’re still alive.

‘Would anyone like a pancake?’ the Flea asks hesitantly.

‘Pancake?’ Cariss says. Her voice is as timid and weak as a little girl’s and nothing like the super-bitch she was before.

‘Yes. We were just about to have some when you guys arrived.’ The Flea replies, nodding toward the skillet.

‘Yes please,’ Cariss says meekly.

‘We found another boat,’ I say to Jenna. ‘It was –’

‘What’s happened to Belle?’ Cariss interrupts.

I glance down at Belle. She’s feeling around in the sand for something.

‘Belle, are you okay?’ I say, going over to her.

‘I dropped my mom’s necklace,’ she mutters.

I see it glinting in the sand by her foot and place it in her hand.

She breathes a sigh of relief. ‘Thank you, Grace.’

‘No problem.’

‘What’s wrong with her?’ Cariss says.

‘Belle’s lost her sight,’ the Flea says quickly as he flips the pancake over. I catch a waft and, despite all the trauma, my stomach lets out a rumble of hunger.

‘What? How?’ Cariss asks, but her eyes are now glued to the pancake.

‘We don’t know,’ the Flea says. ‘But I’m sure it will all be fine once we get back home and get her to a hospital.’

I go to give Belle’s hand a squeeze. It’s clenched into a tight fist.

‘Okay, I say Beau-Belle gets first pancake,’ the Flea says, quickly plating it up and passing it to her.

Belle feels around for the pancake. As she brings it to her mouth I swear every one of us mimes taking a bite.

Another awkward silence falls, broken only by the sizzle as the Flea pours some more batter on to the skillet.

Todd turns to Cruz.

‘I owe you an apology,’ he mumbles. ‘We should never have taken your boat. I’m sorry.’

Everyone watches Cruz. He looks at Todd for a second, then he puts his arm round his shoulders and gives him a hug. ‘No problem. Let’s forget about it.’

The rest of us all sigh with relief.

‘Cool,’ Todd says, and he flashes me a glance.

I nod at him. Unspoken apology accepted.

‘Let’s just make a line under what happened before,’ Cruz says, looking around the group. ‘We need to work together now to get out of here.’

‘Amen to that!’ Dan says.

Jenna gives me a small, hopeful smile. I smile back. After everything that has happened, it really does feel right to let go of all the crap that happened before.

‘I’m confused about Belle,’ Cariss says loudly.

I want to groan.

Belle stops eating.

‘I told you – it will all be fine once we get her to a hospital,’ the Flea says, curtly.

‘But a person doesn’t just go blind for no reason.’ Cariss comes and stands right in front of Belle, staring down at her like she’s an exhibit in a freak show.

Belle starts to scowl.

‘Where’s Lola?’

We all turn to see Michael standing in the doorway of his cabin, arms folded.

‘She’s up in the house. With Ruby,’ the Flea replies, a little frostily.

Michael looks up at the house, and for all his swagger, I see a definite look of fear cross his face.

‘Who’s he?’ Cariss asks.

‘He’s called Michael and he’s Lola’s friend,’ the Flea says pointedly, as he flips the pancake.

Michael looks visibly wounded. Then he looks back at the house anxiously. I wonder why he seems so uneasy at any mention of Ruby. Maybe it would be worth trying to make conversation with him to find out.

‘So, how long have you and Lola been here?’ I call over to him.

Michael waits for a moment, as if weighing up whether or not he should waste any energy speaking to me.

‘About a month,’ he says finally. ‘Although it feels a lot longer,’ he mutters.

I shoot a look at Cruz. He instantly meets my gaze, no doubt thinking the same thing. Is Michael acting so angry because of his break-up with Lola, or is it something else?

But before I have the chance to say anything, Lola climbs back down the ladder out of the house.

‘Great news,’ she says, jumping the final three rungs on to the sand. ‘Ruby says you can stay.’

‘But we don’t want to stay,’ Cariss says immediately.

Lola looks at her and smiles. ‘I don’t mean stay forever. Just for the party. Then you can leave on the boat with the other guests.’

‘What party?’ Jenna says.

Lola makes her way back over to us. ‘Ruby’s having a party at the end of the week. A lot of people are coming here specially for it. It’s going to be amazing.’

We all exchange anxious glances. The thought of partying after what’s happened to Ron seems horrific.

‘Hmm,’ Michael says pointedly, and for a second Lola’s smile disappears. She frowns at him, then looks back at us and her smile returns.

‘I don’t think any of us are really in the mood to party to be honest with you,’ I say, looking round at the others. They all start nodding. ‘One of our friends . . .’ I break off, unable to actually say it.

‘One of our friends just died,’ Cariss says to Lola.

Lola’s face falls.‘Oh my God! I’m so sorry. What happened?’

‘It was when their boat hit the rocks,’ I tell her quietly. ‘So it would be great if we could just get out of here as soon as possible. We’ve been missing for days now – our folks are going to be going out of their minds with worry.’

Lola nods. ‘Of course. But I’m afraid that won’t be possible until the weekend, after the party.’

‘What?’ Cariss exclaims with one of her trademark pouts. ‘Why not?’

Lola looks up at the house. I follow her gaze and I’m sure I see a shadow flit across one of the windows.

‘Ruby doesn’t have a boat,’ Lola explains quietly. ‘That was the whole point of her coming here – to be completely cut off from the outside world. The only time there’s a boat here is when guests come to stay.’

Cariss frowns.‘How does she arrange for guests to come to stay if she’s totally cut off ?’

‘She pre-arranges it with her friend Carlos. He brings them over on set dates.’

‘But what if there’s an emergency?’ Cariss says.‘What if she needed to get off the island?’

Lola shrugs. ‘It’s the way she likes it.’

Michael mutters something under his breath and Lola shoots him a death stare.

Jenna turns to me. ‘You said that you guys sailed here. Couldn’t we use the boat that you found?’

I shake my head.‘That’s what we’d been planning to do, but it isn’t big enough for all of us.’

‘Well, maybe some of us could go first and send for help,’ Cariss says.

‘What, like before?’ Dan glares at her. ‘I don’t think so. Next time we leave, we all leave together.’

‘Will the boat that’s bringing the guests be big enough to take us all back as well?’ I say. Everyone looks at Lola anxiously.

Lola nods. ‘Oh yes. Carlos’s boat is more than big enough, isn’t it, Michael?’

Michael nods grudgingly.

‘Ruby’s friend Carlos brings her guests over from the mainland,’ Lola explains.

‘The mainland?’ the Flea says.

Lola nods.

‘What is this mainland?’ Cruz asks immediately.

Lola laughs. ‘Costa Rica of course.’

‘Costa Rica?’ Cruz looks shell-shocked.

Seeing his expression, Lola frowns. ‘Yes, I –’

‘How far are we from Costa Rica?’ Cruz cuts in.

We all stare at Lola. ‘I don’t know exactly.’ She looks at Michael. ‘How far would you say, Michael?’

Michael shrugs. ‘Don’t know. It took us a few hours to get here.’

I glance at Cruz. He looks like someone who just got told the moon is actually made of cheese. I guess he must be shocked that Ile de Sang is so close to his home.

‘We may as well just wait a few more days then,’ the Flea says, plating up another pancake.

I take a moment to try and process this latest development. Finding the retreat, only to find that we’re still trapped on the island is filling me with unease – especially given what’s happened to Ron and to Belle. Pressure starts building in my head. Instead of escaping from Hortense, I can’t help feeling that her net is tightening.