X-Isle (37 page)

The door of the art room was locked, or wedged somehow. Baz pressed down on the handle with his elbow, but it wouldn’t open. He stood in the gloomy upstairs corridor, feeling like an idiot, a plate of hot food in each hand.

“Hey!” he shouted. “Anybody in there?”

“Who’s that?” Nadine’s voice from the other side.

“It’s me – Baz. What’s wrong with the door?”

There was no reply, but Baz could hear activity just inside the art room. After a few scrapes and clunks, the door opened. Steffie was dragging one of the art stools back into the room. Nadine stood to one side. She was holding a broken wine bottle in one hand. Had there been an accident?

“What’s going on?” Baz began to cross the dim room, intending to put the plates of food on the windowsill. There was still just enough light to see by, and as he passed Steffie he got a better look at her face: dirt-streaked, her eyes all red and watery – the girl had obviously been crying.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Baz took a couple more steps and put down the plates of food. Nadine was jamming the metal stool beneath the door handle, giving it a shove with her hip. She still had hold of the broken bottle.

“You’re asking me what’s the 
matter?”
Nadine crossed the room. She jabbed the bottle towards the windows. “After what happened down there today – that horrible... awful thing... and you’re wondering what’s the matter?”

Baz glanced through the open window. A moon-haze already shone on the endless expanse of water, glints of blue and green, a shimmering curve that stretched beyond the protruding crane and church tower all the way to the horizon. Over to the left stood the jetty. The altar and the cross were clearly visible, dark shapes against the failing light.

“Oh,” he said. “You saw it, then. The sacrifice.”

“Yeah, we saw it.”

There was silence for a few moments.

“We thought... we thought it was nice at first. Watching you all down there. Singing hymns. We could hear you.” Nadine stood close to Baz, her free hand gripping the windowsill. “But then we heard the shots, and we started to get... and then we saw the wheelbarrow... and that awful man. Preacher John. God, he’s horrible! That poor animal. We just couldn’t believe it.”

“Yeah. You know what? I wish you’d stop waving that blimmin’ bottle around.” Baz edged away from Nadine.

“Sorry. Sorry... Hey, come on, Stef. It’s OK. It’s OK.” Nadine laid the jagged bottle on the windowsill and put an arm around Steffie’s shoulders. “Tomorrow we’re out of here.”

The younger girl wasn’t crying, though. She looked drained, exhausted, but her mouth was set firm and her voice was steady. “I know,” she said. “I’m OK, Nad. Just tonight to get through, and then we’re gone.”

Baz had his doubts about this. He didn’t believe that Preacher John had any intention of ever bringing Aunt Etta back to X-Isle. But he said, “You’d better eat something. Come on. You’ll feel better.”

“Yeah.” Nadine gave a long sigh. “Thanks.” She made no move towards the food. Instead she looked straight at Baz and said, “What’s going on here? I mean, it’s like it’s all just insane or something...”

Baz could see no point in lying. “Well, that’s just it,” he said. “Preacher John 
is
 insane. I mean, madder than you could ever believe. He thinks he’s like Moses, or someone from the Bible, and that if he prays – and makes sacrifices to God – then God’ll reward him. He wants the water to clear so he can carry on diving and get richer. He reckons that if he makes enough sacrifices, then God’s gonna do that for him. Or even make the floods go away. He talks to God, and he thinks that God talks to him.”

“Well, so do I talk to God,” said Nadine. “I pray. Sometimes...”

“Yeah, but you don’t make sacrifices. You don’t throw goats and rabbits onto altars... or throw kids into the sea... you don’t murder people—’ Baz stopped. He was saying too much, too quickly.

“Kids into the 
sea?”

“Well... that’s what we think.” Baz pulled back a little. “It isn’t Preacher John that actually does it, but it happens – and everything that happens around here is on his orders. Kids die. They disappear. They get shipped back to the mainland when the Ecks have had enough of them, and’ – he shrugged – ‘we’re pretty sure they never get there.” He could find no way of making things sound any better than they were.

“Oh my God,” breathed Steffie. “We knew something bad must be happening, but not... not that.”

“You haven’t seen what they’re really like,” said Baz.

“We were starting to guess. As soon as Aunt Etta left, everything changed. They all got nasty with us. And then, when we saw what happened today, we thought, OK, this place is wrong. We gotta get out of here. So we locked ourselves in to try and keep safe. Just till tomorrow.”

Baz didn’t reply to that. After another few moments Steffie said, “But she’s not coming back, is she?”

“Who – Aunt Etta? Course she is.” Nadine sounded as though there was no doubt. “She said she was coming back on Monday, and that’s what she’ll do.”

“Hey, I’m not a baby.” Steffie was defiant. “I’m as old as Baz is, so you don’t need to pretend to me. We’re stuck here, aren’t we? I know we are. And like Baz said before – it’s almost like it’s been planned this way.”

“What? How do you mean?”

“He 
sent
 for us.” Steffie’s voice began to waver. She looked at Baz as she spoke, and in her hazel eyes he thought he saw something change, a moment of realization. “Preacher John sent for us,” she said. “And it wasn’t just to be kind. I think he wanted us here.”

“Why? What good are we to him?”

“I don’t know. But if he’s really as crazy as Baz says he is, then maybe he’s going to... going to...” Steffie sounded really scared now.

“To what?”

“To kill us.”

Baz could feel his mouth hanging open. He knew that Steffie was watching him, reading his reactions, searching for the truth.

“Like the goat...” Steffie’s voice sank to a whisper. “Like maybe we’re next...”

“Whaaat?” Nadine sat down – or rather collapsed – onto the one remaining stool. She looked at Baz, helpless, speechless.

Her T-shirt glowed white in the dim light of the room, and Baz shivered, remembering the wheelbarrow, the little patch of white showing. And then there was that awful thing that Preacher John had said, about how he would be offering God the ultimate gift, the ultimate sacrifice. That had to be a human life. Had to be.

But Baz couldn’t bring himself to tell Steffie that he thought she was right. He avoided looking at her, and searched instead for words of comfort, grabbing at whatever came into his head. “Nobody knows for sure what Preacher John’s thinking,” he said, “or what he’s gonna do next. Listen, though... it’s gonna be OK. You’re gonna be OK. Whatever Preacher John’s got planned, it’s not gonna happen.” Baz stumbled recklessly on. “We’ve got a plan of our own. Yeah. Been working on it for weeks. We’re gonna get rid of the lot of them.”

God, that sounded so stupid. And Baz could see the surprise on the girls’ faces, the doubt.

“Get 
rid
 of them?” Steffie didn’t try to hide her disbelief. “How?”

“Doesn’t matter how. You don’t have to know.”

Because if I told you
, thought Baz, 
it wouldn’t make you feel any better. We’ve built a bomb out of farts and gun powder, and we’re gonna blow the Ecks right out of the water. Oh really, Baz? That’s OK, then. Our troubles are over
.

“Look, you’re gonna have to trust us,” he said. “We’ve been planning this for a long time. So just keep doing what you’re doing and it’ll be OK. Lock yourselves in and wait. You’ll be safe enough.”

“All right, then,” said Nadine. “So... when’s this plan gonna happen? Will it be soon?” She seemed less skeptical than Steffie, more ready to believe. Or perhaps more desperate. Something in the way that she looked up at Baz made him want to act the hero. At any rate, the words came out before he could stop them.

“Tonight,” he said. “We’re gonna do it tonight. I promise.”

CHAPTER
 
TWENTY-TWO

“
Tonight?” said Gene. “Hang on a minute, Baz. We only just finished building the bloody thing yesterday!”

The wind-up torch had been switched to lantern mode. It stood on the floor between Gene’s mattress and what had once been Cookie’s, the pale tube of light a focal point for the boys who sat around it. The ring of solemn faces looked eerie, illuminated from beneath like kids at Halloween.

“It has to be tonight.” Baz had thought his arguments through as best he could before returning to the slob room. Most of the boys had still been awake, surprised at his urgent demand for a meeting. They were willing enough to gather round the clockwork lantern and listen, but Baz knew they were going to take some convincing.

“OK,” he said. “I heard a lot of things today. First off, the Ecks are going out on a big trip tomorrow – over to Skelmersley. And Isaac wants the boat got ready this evening. He told Luke to make sure that everything was done, so they could be away first thing, yeah? Far as I can see, they got no reason to be messing around with gear tomorrow, or opening that locker again. In fact Isaac told Luke to put a coupla spare cans of fuel in there tonight. Petrol and diesel.”

“Petrol?” said Gene. “You sure?”

“That’s what he said. Next thing – get this – Preacher John’s going out with them to work the winch. Yeah, really. And it gets even better. They’re taking Hutchinson too. That means that there’s only gonna be Steiner left here with us. Now when are we ever gonna get another chance like that?”

“Wow,” said Robbie. “Well, we can deal with Steiner all right, if it’s just him left. He’s half dead on a Monday morning in any case.”

“What do they want Hutchinson for?” Gene sounded cautious.

“Preacher John thinks it’s gonna be a big haul. The water’s clear over Skelmersley way, and that’s where they’re going. They want Hutchinson for a tender or something.”

“A tender?” said Ray. “What’s that?”

“Dunno. Someone who attends?”

“I thought a tender had something to do with old railway engines,” said Gene. “But Preacher John... are you sure he’s going too?”

“Yup. The lot of ’em.” Baz leaned forward, bringing his face into the light so everyone could see him. “The boat’s all made up and ready for the morning, they’re off on a long trip, and Preacher John and Hutchinson are going with them. It’s never gonna get any better than that.”

“Maybe.” Gene clasped his hands together, brought them up to his chin. “But I dunno. It doesn’t make it any less dangerous if it goes wrong and they all come back.”

“Well, there’s other reasons why it has to be tonight.” Baz sought for a way of making his next point. “This isn’t just the best chance, it’s the 
only
 one. They’re getting rid of us. Some of us, anyway. I’ve heard Isaac say it a coupla times now, and Preacher John too. He wants shot of us ’cos we’re getting too big. Or he just wants new kids so he can get paid more, or maybe he just doesn’t need us anymore. But we’re done. By Tuesday or Wednesday half of us aren’t gonna be here.”

“God. You mean sent back to the mainland?” Dyson looked across at Baz.

“Who says you’re ever gonna reach the mainland, Dyse? Did Cookie? Or that Greek kid?” There was silence as this remark sank in.

“Yeah, I bin thinking about that,” said Robbie. “And I bin wondering about that other kid too. The one that was supposed to have been sent back the same Saturday I came across. Everybody was still talking about it when I got here, this kid Sammy whose arm got broken. But nobody came off the boat on the mainland that day. I know, ’cos I was there.”

“He coulda been dropped off somewhere else,” said Dyson. “Up the coast.”

“Funny how it 
always
 somewhere else, yeah?” said Jubo. “Funny how every guy land up here, they always from da same place, Linley Top, but nobody ever get off da boat there.”

A new realization began to spread through the group.

“So... everyone here’s from the same bit of mainland?” said Ray. “Linley Top?”

A general nodding of heads.

“And did anyone ever actually see any kid get off the 
Cormorant
 on the day that they got on it?”

Silence.

“Hang on,” said Dyson. “They send you back to the mainland as a punishment. That’s what they threaten you with. But now you’re saying 
nobody
 ever gets there? Why?”

Gene said, “Think about it. Anyone who gets back to the mainland, they’re gonna talk about this place, yeah? X-Isle. They’re gonna say what it’s really like. And if people know what it’s really like, who’s gonna come here? Who’s gonna pay to send their kids here if they know the truth? Nobody. And where’s Preacher John gonna get his workers from then?”

Jubo said, “So once you here, you done, man. No way out alive.”

“Jesus...”

“Yeah, and I’ll tell you another thing,” said Baz. “Those girls are never gonna get back alive either. Preacher John’s got plans for next Sunday. He says he’s gonna make the ultimate sacrifice. First it was the rabbits, then it was Old Bill. So what’s next? The ultimate has to be a person, doesn’t it? You know what I thought today... when Luke showed up with the wheelbarrow...” Baz could still hardly bring himself to say it. “I thought it was Nadine in there.” He looked around the circle and knew he’d hit home. “Yeah. And some of you did too. So if we’re gonna save them from... from... what we saw today, then tonight’s our only—”

“Right. That’s it.” Ray didn’t appear to need any more convincing. “We gotta do it.”

“Yeah, but hang on a minute,” said Dyson. “We’re talking about serious stuff here. If this plan doesn’t work, they’ll just come sailing back and kill us. I mean, we could probably hide out for a little while, but they’d get us in the end.”

“Yeah,” said Robbie. “We got no plan B, that’s the trouble. If the bomb goes off, they might be dead. But if it doesn’t, we definitely are.”

“We’re definitely dead anyway,” said Amit. “Unless we do something about it tonight.”

“OK,” said Ray. “So we need a plan B. What about the dinghy?”

“Huh?”