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  ‘Underwater here somewhere. Lenoir couldn’t say exactly.’

  Rollo stopped walking suddenly. ‘Is that why you came back? Because of . . . him?’

  Naif stopped as well. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Hasn’t he got some kind of hold on you since he healed you? Did he force you to come back?’ He kicked at the water, splashing it against her legs.

  ‘Stop it,’ she said automatically.

  He stood still and waited. ‘Well?’

  ‘Rollo, all the young ones that Ruzalia took, they’re still dying because of their badges. I came back because of them, and everyone who will end up in Danskoi, because of Clash and . . . you.’

  ‘Me?’ he asked quietly.

  ‘My friends. You, Suki, Kero. Even Eve.’

  ‘And not for him?’

  ‘What difference does it make?’

  ‘A lot,’ he said. ‘Are you with them or are you with us?’

  Naif felt a rush of anger at him. How could he make something so complicated so simplistic? ‘You don’t trust me?’

  ‘I dunno, Naif. It’s just that . . .’

  He started walking again, more quickly this time. Naif hastened after him.

  ‘It’s just that . . . what?’ She couldn’t leave it at that. ‘What about you? When I left you’d joined the League. You wanted to stop the Ripers and find out about the Elders. I get back and you’re hiding from what’s happening by taking beads and pods.’

  ‘I’m not hiding,’ he said, raising a clenched fist.

  Naif stepped away from him, suddenly afraid.

  He saw her reaction and dropped his hand. ‘But when that . . . happened to Krista-belle. It was right in front of us. Right there . . . the Night Creature snapped her neck.’

  His voice sounded thick with emotion.

  ‘Do you think I didn’t feel it like you did?’ she asked. They stood staring at each other while the waves lapped close to their feet. ‘It was terrible,’ she whispered. ‘That’s why we have to stop them.’

  ‘But you’re friends with one of them. You talk to him. Listen to him. He touched you.’

  Naif’s stomach clenched at the disgust in his voice. ‘He kept me alive, Rollo. I should have died from what Brand did to me.’

  ‘Yeah, well maybe it would’ve been . . .’ He trailed off rather than finishing the horrible thing he’d started to say.

  Naif blazed. ‘What? Better that I had died? Like Lottie? Like Krista-belle?’ Rollo didn’t know Charlotte, the girl who had died in the bed alongside Naif. He hadn’t been there to hear her calling for her mama.

  He scuffed his foot in the sand. ‘No! I . . . I didn’t mean that! I’m sorry, Naif. It’s just . . .’

  A noise made Rollo pause.

  Ufur appeared between them, his fur wet and stinking of something unpleasant.

  ‘Fross!’ said Rollo. ‘Don’t do that!’

  Naif wondered how much of their conversation the uther had heard before he made his presence known. ‘Have you found the queen?’

  The uther thumped the sand with its tail and slapped its paws together. An unhappy rasping noise escaped its throat.

  ‘Rollo! Naif!’ called a voice.

  Naif looked ahead. It was Kero; a dark outline leaning against another, bigger shadow. They had almost walked around the entire atoll in the time their conversation had taken.

  Disappointment tasted sour on her lips. Nothing. There’s nothing here. I was so sure . . .

  ‘You were only gone a few moments,’ said Kero as they joined him.

  ‘The island’s tiny,’ said Naif. ‘Hardly more than a sandbar with bush on it.’

  Ufur made a clicking noise. He jumped into the boat, settling into the helm position, and waited.

  ‘Are you sure?’ said Kero.

  ‘Nothing.’

  Kero kicked the side of the boat. ‘Fross!’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Naif. ‘I thought . . .’

  ‘Forget it,’ said Rollo. ‘Let’s just get back.’

  The wind had picked up, blowing in gusts. Sand drifts stung Naif’s face as they pushed the boat down to the shallow water and helped each other in. She blinked grit from her eyes, resisting rubbing them.

  ‘What’s happening to the weather?’ asked Kero.

  Naif didn’t know. Ixion’s weather stayed fairly stable. She’d never felt this kind of wind here before. Maybe it was what caused the rough water in this area.

  ‘This is weird. We should hurry.’ Rollo felt in the bottom of the boat and located another segment of the broken oar, which he used to push them off the beach.

  Ufur took over from there, steering them straight back towards Ixion. They kneeled in the bottom of the boat, holding their grabs and enduring the rollercoaster of waves.

  What had Brand found in the books then, if not where Merpati lay, Naif asked herself. What else had she been looking for?

  ‘Hold on!’ shouted Rollo. ‘We’re getting close to the reef.’

  The boat began to pitch as it caught in the swirling water around the reef. It tipped so far over that water poured in on top of Naif.

  She held her breath. The spray was so thick that she could barely see Ufur at the helm. Across from her, Kero curled in a ball, his hand over his mouth. But Rollo hung on tenaciously to his grab, peering ahead.

  ‘I can see the gap!’ Rollo’s words were whipped across to her by the wind. ‘I think we’re going to miss it.’

  Miss it! Naif’s heart hammered. She couldn’t swim and the reef would smash the boat.

  Moments later, the boat slammed into something solid, and cartwheeled. They were tossed out, landing on the strip of rock that battled to stay above the surf.

  Air rushed from Naif’s lungs with the impact of the fall but strangely it didn’t hurt. She gasped and floundered, feeling for something to stop her slipping into the sea. To one side of her Rollo had hold of Kero, pulling him back from the waves to a higher part of the reef.

  Naif began to slide. She dug her fingers into the rock, desperate to find a crevice or hand hold, but the texture was smooth and spongy. Waves crashed on her back and water filled her mouth. She coughed and thrashed and kicked but the pull of the water was too strong.

  Her fingers slipped.

  A stab of memory. Slipping down the drawbridge of the Ixion barge. A strong, cold hand gripping her fingers before she fell, pulling her to safety.

  There was no Riper here, though. This time she was lost.

  No! She gave several determined kicks, propelling her body upward. Her hands touched the reef again. Why was it so smooth?

  She felt something scrape the back of her neck. Claws hooked into her clothes and suddenly she came free of the sucking water.

  Ufur held her suspended as he bounded to the highest part of the reef where Rollo and Kero huddled.

  The boys pulled her into their circle, linking their arms with hers.

  ‘Naif!’ croaked Kero.

  ‘Fross, Naif! You almost drowned!’ Rollo hugged her tight.

  But she pushed away from them, brushing her wet hair out of her eyes. ‘It’s not a reef!’ she cried.

  ‘What?’ asked Kero.

  ‘We’re not on a reef. It’s too soft and spongy to be rock. It’s like flesh.’

  ‘Flesh? That’s impossible!’ said Kero.

  ‘What if the Ripers’ ship was a creature? A living creature?’

  ‘What? You mean we’re sitting on the frossing Ripers’ ship?’ said Rollo.

  Naif looked around wildly for Ufur. He hunkered close to them. ‘Ufur, can you sense your queen? Maybe she’s below us?’

  Ufur stood upright into the belting wind, balancing on his strong hindquarters. He swivelled his head as if listening and scenting.

  ‘You’re crazy,’ said Kero. ‘This is rock. Or shell. Whatever. Not a frossing animal.’

  ‘Feel it!’ said Naif, pounding her fist on the surface. ‘Look. It’s like sponge.’

  The boys both put their hands
to it, feeling and prodding.

  Ufur made a heart-wrenching sound, a moan that combined triumph and tribulation. His tail pounded and then he dropped on his forearms, his face to the surface.

  ‘Uma! Uma!’ he chanted.

  Naif got to her knees. ‘Is she here? Your queen?’

  Ufur began to belly-crawl to a lower part of the reef, which was partly submerged in water.

  ‘Come on!’ Naif screamed at the others.

  ‘We’ll be washed off,’ cried Kero.

  ‘Naif, this is crazy!’ Rollo shouted back at her.

  ‘Crazy is sitting here waiting to be washed away. Please! Come on.’

  Tears poured down her face. She could taste the salt from them. Or maybe that was the sea.

  Waves washed across Ufur but he dug his claws into the surface, moving slowly forward. Naif imitated his movements, using her fingers and toes for grip.

  Ahead of her, Ufur made a sharp noise as a large wave swamped him. As it drained away, he was gone.

  ‘No!’ shrieked Naif. ‘No!’

  She crawled forward to the spot he’d vanished from and began feeling in either direction. To one side was a thick seam, as if the reef or ship had folded on itself. She gripped it hard to stop from sliding into the water as another raft of waves hit.

  ‘Ufur! Ufur!’

  Naif felt something shift underneath her; a sudden thrust, as though the reef was buckling. She gripped the seam even harder.

  Impossibly, she began to rise. The whole reef began to lift. Water streamed off the sides and the ridge they’d been sheltering on stretched and flattened out to become a broad, glistening wet surface high above the reach of the waves.

  ‘Naif!’ Rollo waved and pointed. He and Kero sat perched behind her on the apex. ‘Look.’

  She followed the line of his finger. Below them, on a ledge of sorts, lay Ufur, licking his fur.

  ‘It’s the Ripers’ ship,’ Naif called back to them.

  But neither Rollo nor Kero seemed to be paying attention. Their gaze had been caught by something in front of her.

  Just as the whole surface beneath them had shifted a moment ago, so the seam that she clung to moved. She found herself sliding across the surface, pulled by the shifting seam. Beneath her body, the colour changed. What had been dark and sea-scarred turned softer and lighter. As she stared down, film upon film of skin peeled back and tucked under the seam she held on to. The dark colour lightened each time, slowly metamorphosing into a vivid green that emitted light from behind. Random dark and golden flecks marred its translucence.

  ‘Naif, it’s an eye!’ called Rollo. ‘You’re holding onto its eye.’

  As soon as he said the words, Naif knew she’d been right. The ship was alive. Instinctively, she let go of its eyelid and crawled back towards them.

  On the ledge below, Ufur stood up, silhouetted by the strange green light, and made calling noises.

  ‘He can hear something,’ said Kero.

  The ledge Ufur stood on began to stretch upwards towards them. Like a giant tongue it curled around the four and swept them to the sea line. Just before they smashed into the water, it changed direction and they were tossed into a cavern which opened before them.

  Rollo was the first to recover, springing to his feet and hauling Naif up alongside him.

  The open side of the cavern closed abruptly and they were flooded with a fluorescent glow from the glistening walls.

  ‘We’re inside it,’ Naif breathed.

  ‘Fross!’ whispered Rollo, blinking. ‘Look at that. It’s like Danskoi.’

  Naif saw straight away what he meant. Small nodules jutted from the wall on the far side of the chamber. Attached to them were strange, glowing, pulsing webs. The smell of something worse than blood filled the space.

  She took a step and felt something crunch under her foot; a rough plate made from clay, or at least part of one.

  A carpet of rubbish fanned out before them: empty crustacean shells, rotted planks of wood, fish carcasses and misshapen shoes – all decomposed and covered in a thin film of mucus; anything that could be sieved from the sea.

  ‘It’s all the fross floating out in the ocean,’ said Rollo. ‘It must have been scoopin’ it in.’

  ‘Look!’ said Naif, pointing. Their boat lay intact only a short distance away.

  Rollo slapped his thigh in relief. ‘Thank Grave!’

  ‘What in Ixion’s name is that?’ said Kero, pointing in the other direction.

  At one end of the wall a body occupied a web-entangled nodule.

  Not strictly a body, thought Naif. The remains of one, partly preserved, partly rotted. Seeing the weeping flesh and torn fur, she knew what caused the stench.

  Ufur saw it too. He crawled slowly forward, moisture spilling from his eyes and nose. ‘Uma.’

  ‘How could they!’ said Rollo in a voice trembling with rage. ‘They’ve kept part of the queen alive and let the rest of her wither.’

  Kero stared with wide, disbelieving eyes and then buried his face in his hands. He began to rock back and forth on his knees.

  Naif bent down and put her arms around him.

  ‘Krissy!’ He moaned. ‘Krissy.’

  ‘She didn’t suffer like this, Kero,’ Naif said softly. ‘She didn’t even know.’

  He nodded his head, sobbed.

  Naif stayed next to him, trying to give comfort, as Ufur reached his queen. Tremors of emotion racked the uther’s body. He made a string of incomprehensible sounds that triggered the near-corpse into consciousness. The uther queen’s head rolled to one side and one eye slowly opened.

  She saw her son, and her tongue unfurled from her blistered mouth.

  Ufur leaned close and let his mother lick his nose. But the effort seemed to drain the last bit of life from her. The eye closed and the tongue fell slack. The web which wound around her neck ceased to glow.

  Ufur gave a little cry, like a child lost and terrified.

  Naif left Kero and went to Ufur and pulled him gently away from his mother’s side.

  ‘She’s gone, Ufur. Her suffering is over.’

  But the uther wouldn’t be consoled.

  Despair threatened to overwhelm Naif as she held the gentle creature’s paws. Nothing she had ever seen before had made her as sick to her stomach, or feel as hollow from its sheer callousness. Even in Danskoi, she had not been as appalled.

  The Ripers must be stopped. This must never happen again. She glanced at Rollo and saw the same resolve on his face.

  He walked stiffly over to Naif and helped her lift Ufur and carry the uther back to where Kero knelt.

  They crouched together in a huddle of mutual horror and comfort.

  ‘It’s the only way and I am the only one,’ said Kero. They had discussed a plan and he was adamant about his role in it. ‘You and Rollo have to gather the young ones.’

  ‘Kero, are you sure? You’ll be alone here,’ said Naif.

  ‘Only for a short time. Until Ruzalia comes for me.’

  ‘I’ll leave word for her straight away but what if the draculins don’t come for my message?’

  Kero touched her arm. ‘They will if she said they would, Naif. Besides, Kris believed in you. And I do too.’

  His simple statement brought its own weight. She could not let Kero down. Not when his sacrifice would be so great if she failed. ‘But . . . there’s no food.’

  ‘There’s some in the boat.’ He got up and walked across to where the boat lay upside down. He rolled it over and felt inside for where he had tucked the pouch of food the uthers had given them. Triumphantly he pulled it free.

  ‘How do we get out of here?’ said Rollo.

  Kero pointed to the wall that had opened before. ‘I’d guess that the creature sieves for food. The next time it opens its mouth or whatever the fross it is, you have to get out with the boat.’

  ‘But the force of the water coming in will push us back,’ said Naif.

  ‘Not if you wait right at the corner
of the seam where the flow is weaker. Not if you time it right.’

  ‘Please come with us.’

  He shook his head. ‘I’ll wait. When Ruzalia comes, I’ll do as we planned.’

  ‘How will she see you?’

  Kero left the boat and waded across to a wall where he prised off a segment of glowing web. It immediately extinguished. But Kero placed it against his skin and it lit again. ‘It feeds off living things. I’ll use these to signal her. Now stop arguing and get ready. The seam could open at any time.’

  Naif sighed heavily. Kero’s face was set with determination. He had to do his part and they had to do theirs. He had made his choice because of Krista-belle. Because he owed this to her. Because he didn’t want to live without her.

  Ufur made a strangled noise. ‘We help.’

  ‘Will you reverse the badges?’ Naif asked him.

  The uther nodded gravely.

  ‘Let’s get ready then,’ said Rollo.

  He got to his feet and Naif copied him. Between them they shepherded the grief-stricken Ufur over to the boat. Then the two of them dragged the vessel over to the bulging join that they hoped would soon open. Positioning themselves at one end of the crease, they climbed into the boat and waited.

  Kero splashed through the shallow water to join them. ‘Take these,’ he said, handing Rollo an armful of the fluorescent web. ‘And this.’ He untied his Wings bandana from around his neck and gave it to Naif. ‘Kara from the Wings will follow your lead if you have this. Tell her . . . tell her . . . I will never ask again.’

  ‘What will you do while you wait?’ said Rollo.

  ‘Ruzalia will take some time to get here. I’ll explore in here first then go up top when I’ve finished looking. Maybe I can learn more about the ship. How it works.’

  Rollo looked around at the grey, mucus-covered walls. ‘I don’t think it does anymore.’

  ‘It’s still alive, though. It was living off the queen and the food it sieves.’

  Ufur growled.

  ‘Are you sure?’ said Naif. Every bit of her railed against leaving Kero behind but one of them must if their plan was to work.

  They stared at each other. Then Naif leaned over the side of the boat and hugged Kero tightly.

  ‘Until I see you,’ she said.