The Skeleton Coast Read online

  ‘We’d have Annalie back,’ Pod countered.

  Essie didn’t like the thought that had come to her, but knew she had to say it. ‘Maybe we should just let them take me,’ she said, in a wobbly voice.

  ‘Don’t be stupid,’ Will said. ‘We’re not handing you over, and we’re going to get Annalie back. We just have to come up with a plan.’

  Coming up with a plan did not turn out to be easy. One thing they did agree on was that they should stay in Doria, where they were relatively safe, rather than heading back to Brundisi. Will would have preferred to be somewhere near Dio in case they needed to move quickly, but even he could see that the risks of this outweighed the benefits. All around them, enormous yachts worth millions of creds rode gently at anchor; there were many people in Doria for whom a hundred thousand creds was just play money. Will suggested, not quite jokingly, that they do a midnight raid on a few of the yachts and see what they could scoop up in the form of saleable loot.

  Essie contributed little to their increasingly wild plans, and eventually she wandered off to think. Money was the only answer to this problem, that much seemed clear, and she was the only one who had any chance of getting her hands on it. But how?

  The creditstream her father had given her had been closed down. Her father’s own bank accounts had been frozen, and even if he did have some secret money stashed away somewhere, she thought it was very likely his communications were being monitored, so if she tried to send him a message, the Admiralty would soon find out.

  She knew she had a trust fund of her own, but she had no idea how much money was in it and no way of accessing it. The point of trust funds was that the money was kept for you, in trust, and was hard to get at. Her father might be able to get to it, just possibly, but again, she would have to get a message to him first.

  Her mother’s accounts hadn’t been frozen. She had a new fiancé, a shipping magnate with even more money than Everest Wan. But Essie couldn’t bring herself to ask her mother. She was still too angry at her for abandoning her father, and the thought of grovelling to her for money was sickening. She didn’t even think there’d be any point. She could imagine making her case—begging, pleading—and then at the end of it having her mother say ‘She’s no friend of yours if she gets you into this sort of trouble. And how does it benefit anyone to give money to criminals? Anyway it isn’t my money to spend, it belongs to my fiancé. I’m sorry, but the answer is no.’

  If only there was some way to get a message to her father through unconventional channels. Pay someone to deliver a message by hand. Tie a note to Graham’s leg and get him to fly to Dux. Not that he could actually fly yet. She might as well put a message in a bottle.

  Then she had a sudden, brilliant idea.

  She whipped out her shell and began flicking through all the screens and screens of funks. Yes! On the sixth screen, among the old weird funks she never used and the outgrown games she never played, was the little blue monster-faced funk she was looking for.

  My Monster. She clicked on it, hoping it wasn’t so old that it had stopped working, but no: it opened.

  My Monster was an old toy she’d had when she was very little. It was a talking monster which rolled its eyes and walked and did tricks. It came with its own funk, and had been designed to interface with other toys and other people. For kids who were too young to be able to type, it had a series of pre-written messages you could send to your parents’ shell, things like I think you’re grrrrrrrreat! and I love you furry much! and the My Monster catchphrase I love you so much I want to EAT YOU UP! It would also let you type your own messages.

  When Essie was little, she had sent endless monster-love messages to her father, who had always replied to them. The messages didn’t go to his normal message service. They only showed up in the funk itself. She just hoped that Everest, like her, hadn’t got around to cleaning all the old funks off his shell, because if he hadn’t, she might be able to sneak a message to him that way.

  Typing fast, she started explaining her situation, trying to make the most convincing case she could for getting him to send her some money. The Monster Messages were quite short, so she had to do a series of them to get all the details in. But soon enough they were written and sent, each with a little monster growl notification sound.

  They didn’t bounce back. Essie hoped that was a good sign. Several minutes passed and nothing happened. Her initial excitement began to fade. Perhaps this had been a stupid idea after all. Everest Wan was a grown-up. Why on earth would he have kept a stupid funk like My Monster on his shell? Disappointment stealing over her, Essie put her shell back in her pocket.

  Some hours later, Essie was startled by a growl. Then another. And another.

  She picked up her shell and let out a cry of joy.

  A string of messages had appeared on My Monster.

  Essie my darling! I’ve been so worried! Of

  New message: course I’ll help you and Annalie if I can. But

  New message: are you sure paying the ransom is the only

  New message: way to get her back? Have you talked to the

  New message: authorities? I can make enquiries here about the

  New message: best way to proceed. There may be other avenues

  New message: we can pursue. I want to make sure you’re safe and

  New message: not putting yourself into even bigger danger.

  New message: Love Daddy.

  Essie read his reply with frustration and anxiety. She wrote back at once: I suppose you’ve seen the story about me

  New message: being kidnapped? Which is NOT TRUE. If we

  New message: go to the authorities for help they’ll arrest my

  New message: friends and I don’t want that. Annalie would

  New message: do anything for me and I have to help her and

  New message: this is the only way I can think of. Please if you

  New message: can find a way to send me the money please please

  New message: do it I will pay you back I promise only please

  New message: help us. Love Essie xxx

  There was a long pause.

  Then an answer came.

  I’ll see what I can do. Dad x

  The dark hole

  ‘Good news,’ the boy said to Annalie. ‘Your brother made the deal. Tomorrow we will make the trade. And then you will be free.’

  Annalie’s eyes slid to Red Bandana. He was smiling like the cat that had got the cream. She didn’t like that smile. ‘Did you tell him what I said? Remember Gloradol?’

  ‘We told him. He understood. He said there will be no problems.’

  Red Bandana spoke up. The boy translated. ‘Be happy. Your time with us is almost up.’ Red Bandana laughed, a scary laugh that made Annalie feel more certain than ever that the pirates were up to no good.

  Why didn’t they listen? she thought frantically, as she was escorted back to the room once more. I warned them not to come. Why are they coming? Oh, I bet they’ve got some idiotic scheme to rescue me.

  She was taken back to the room. Cherry looked up as the door locked behind her. ‘So what’s the story?’

  ‘They spoke to my family,’ Annalie said, too agitated to keep it to herself. ‘They said they’re coming to collect me tomorrow.’

  Cherry looked both happy for her and slightly crestfallen. ‘That’s wonderful news. It means you’re getting out of here.’

  ‘I’m not sure that it does,’ Annalie said. ‘I think they’re just trying to lure the others here so they can catch them too and then hold all of us for ransom.’

  Cherry looked a little puzzled as he thought through what she’d said. ‘I thought you said your family didn’t have much money. Why would they want to capture more of you?’

  Annalie could see him trying to put the pieces together. Too late, she remembered that he had probably been briefed on her family. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said hurriedly. ‘Who knows what they’re really up to?’

>   ‘You said you were travelling with family and friends,’ Cherry said slowly. ‘Who are your friends?’

  Annalie decided to simply ignore his question. ‘The problem is they’re coming, even though I tried to warn them to stay away,’ she said. ‘We have to find a way out of here. Tonight.’

  Cherry’s eyebrows shot up. ‘There isn’t a way out.’

  ‘What about that bouncy board in the floor?’

  Cherry looked at her askance.

  ‘It’s already weakened. Maybe if we both worked on it we might find a way to get through.’

  ‘But we don’t know what’s underneath,’ Cherry said.

  ‘There’s water underneath.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I listened. You can hear it.’

  Cherry’s expression changed. He was actually considering the idea.

  ‘Let’s at least try,’ Annalie said.

  Together, they went to the corner of the room where the floor sagged. The boards were all in place, but when you stood on them, they flexed.

  ‘Be easier if we had some tools,’ Cherry mused. ‘A blade or a lever—’

  ‘But we don’t,’ Annalie said. ‘Maybe if I stand on one—or you stand on it, you’re heavier—we might be able to pry one loose. Then it’ll be easier to get the next one up.’

  They focused their efforts on the board that moved the most. First they tried prying it up, but that didn’t work. ‘Let’s try this the old-fashioned way,’ Cherry said. He bounced and bounced on the board until it snapped right through. ‘Now we’re getting somewhere,’ he said with a grin.

  Once they had one gap in the boards, it was easier to make more. Annalie and Cherry worried away at the gaps, forcing up the old floorboards, using the broken piece as a lever. The damp conditions meant the boards were not in the greatest shape to begin with; it took them some time, but at last they managed to make themselves a hole big enough to wriggle through.

  Both of them peered down. It was perfectly dark down there, and an evil smell of rot and old seawater exhaled through the gap.

  ‘Wish we had a torch,’ Cherry said, looking down into the darkness with trepidation. ‘I wonder how deep it is?’

  ‘Can you swim?’ Annalie asked.

  Cherry nodded. ‘You?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘All right, then,’ Cherry said. ‘No more mucking around. I’d better go first, eh?’

  ‘I can—’

  But he was already lowering himself down. His feet touched water before his head had even disappeared below the level of the floor. ‘Water level’s high,’ he reported, rather nervously. ‘I’m going to let go now. If this is the last you hear from me, don’t follow.’

  He let go. Annalie heard a splash, surprisingly loud. She froze, wondering if the occupants of the house might have heard it too. But there were no sounds from outside; no one came to see what they were up to. ‘Cherry?’ she called softly. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes,’ he replied breathlessly. ‘Water’s quite deep, though. I can’t touch the bottom.’

  ‘Can you see a way out?’

  ‘Can’t see a thing.’

  Annalie hesitated on the edge, then reminded herself that it was just a room, an ordinary room, even if it was full of water. It must have a door somewhere. If she wanted to escape, this was the only way out. ‘I’m coming down,’ she said.

  She eased herself down into the hole. The air felt cold and cave-like; the smell seemed to press in upon her. She dropped into water that was cold and slimy, touched the bottom and pushed back up to the surface, gasping. Cherry found her, and she grabbed his forearm, treading water.

  ‘We need to find a way out,’ she panted.

  They paddled together until they touched a wall. ‘Feel along it,’ Cherry said. ‘We’ll try and find an opening.’

  They tried, but the wall was blank and featureless. As they paddled into a corner, Annalie felt something slither across her legs. She screamed, unable to stop herself.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ said Cherry hoarsely.

  ‘Something swam over my legs,’ she said.

  Cherry froze. ‘What sort of something?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Something sharky?’

  ‘More—tentacley,’ Annalie said.

  ‘Like an octopus?’

  ‘Maybe it was just seaweed.’

  ‘Yes,’ Cherry said. ‘I hope so.’

  They redoubled their efforts, working their way along the second wall, afraid to touch anything, afraid to drift apart, worried now that there might be something in there with them, something hostile, lurking in the dark water.

  ‘There has to be a door,’ Annalie said, ‘but I can’t feel anything.’

  ‘What if they blocked it off to try to keep the water out?’ Cherry suggested.

  ‘Why would they do something that stupid?’ Annalie said anxiously. ‘There must be a door. We just have to find it.’

  They kept working their way around the second wall.

  ‘I feel something!’ Cherry said.

  Annalie’s hands found it too: a doorframe. They traced the shape in the darkness.

  ‘Where’s the handle?’

  ‘I can feel it with my knee,’ Annalie said.

  ‘We’re going to have to try and get it open,’ Cherry said.

  Annalie could sense his hesitation. ‘Is something the matter?’ she asked.

  ‘It’s just that I’m not terribly good at putting my head underwater,’ Cherry said awkwardly.

  ‘I thought you said you could swim!’

  ‘Well, I passed swimming proficiency in basic training. But before that I hadn’t had much experience in the water.’

  Annalie didn’t know whether to be impressed by how game he was, or annoyed at the thought he was much less skilled than she’d imagined.

  ‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I’ll go.’

  Cherry started to say something, but Annalie was already ducking under the water. She grabbed the handle firmly; it turned, but the door wouldn’t move. She came to the surface again to take a deeper breath, then went back down. She turned the handle, pushed, pulled, wiggled and jiggled. Still the door would not budge.

  She came back up. ‘I can’t get it open,’ she said. ‘The handle turns, but the door won’t open.’

  There was a brief pause. ‘Okay,’ Cherry said. ‘Let me try.’

  There was another long pause and she heard him breathing in the darkness. Then he gulped an enormous breath, and went under. She could feel him fighting with the door as he struggled to get it open—he had no more success than she did. He came up, gasping loudly for breath. ‘It’s no use,’ he said. ‘Either the wood’s too swollen from all the water, or there’s something pressed against it. Debris, too much water. Who knows. I think we might be stuck here.’

  She could hear the note of fear in his voice. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘We’ll just look for another way out. There could be a window. Which way are we facing? Do you remember which way was the outer wall?’

  ‘Er—I think it was this way,’ Cherry said.

  They paddled on to the third wall and continued to feel their way along.

  ‘Can you feel that?’ Annalie said suddenly.

  ‘What?’ Cherry said, his voice taut with fear.

  ‘It felt like a current.’

  She had felt the surge of water around her legs. The water in the room was moving, just slightly. ‘I think there could be a gap in the wall somewhere,’ she said. ‘Let’s find it.’

  They felt around the wall above the water line, but found nothing that indicated a window. Annalie felt the water sucking back gently around her legs. She took another breath and dived down, feeling her way down the wall—and there it was. A hole in the wall, at the old floor level.

  ‘I’ve found it,’ she said, ‘our way out. There’s a hole in the wall. If this is the outer wall, it should lead outside.’

  ‘But we don’t know what’s o
n the other side,’ Cherry protested. ‘What if we swim through it and there’s no way out? We could get trapped there.’

  Annalie could hear his fear, and now that he’d said it, she found herself imagining nightmare scenarios: going down into the hole and getting stuck, or swimming through it into somewhere worse, darker, enclosed, being unable to get out…

  ‘I think this is our best way out,’ she said firmly. ‘I’ll go first and see where it leads, and if it doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll just come back.’

  ‘But, Annalie—’ he said, his voice ragged with fear.

  ‘It’ll be okay,’ she said.

  She took a deep, deep breath, and dived.

  Down into the hole with its ragged sides. The tide swept in, pushing her back into the room so she had to kick hard to keep going. She felt the hole’s rough edges scrape her arm as she pushed through into a blackness no less profound than the darkness she’d left behind, and for a moment she feared she had merely swum from one dark hole into another. What if they’d got themselves turned around in the dark and she was swimming into a maze that went on and on, rooms opening onto flooded rooms with no way out? And still she kept swimming, swimming, her heart pounding harder, her lungs starting to strain, and now the tide surged the other way, sweeping her away from the hole, and she had no choice but to kick her way to the surface. She swam up, desperate to breathe, afraid that at any moment she might hit some barrier that would prevent her from reaching the fresh air—and then suddenly she was on the surface, sucking in a huge grateful breath, and when she wiped the salty water from her eyes she saw the night sky littered with stars. She was free!

  Cherry

  Soon enough, Annalie and Cherry were both outside, bobbing on the surface.

  ‘I don’t think I could have done this without you,’ Cherry said.

  ‘’Course you could,’ Annalie said. ‘You’re an Admiralty man.’ She looked around her. ‘Any idea where we are?’