Shipwreck Island

by Struan Murray

  Ellie hurried over and shifted a large metal pot, taking care not to disturb the liquid inside.

  ‘What’s that doing there?’ said Seth.

  ‘I borrowed it from the kitchen.’

  Seth frowned, then looked round their room. ‘Ellie, what have you done?’

  The floor was packed wall to wall with pots, tin cans, clay bowls, mugs, glass jars, and the empty turtle shell that Janssen liked to drink his beer from. Every container was filled to the brim with a murky grey-green liquid, and the room had a musty smell even though the window was open. Only Seth’s bed remained undisturbed, with a foot of clear space left around it as a sign of respect.

  ‘It’s guano,’ Ellie said proudly.

  ‘What’s guano?’

  ‘They have these guano mines on the north side that are just full of the stuff.’

  ‘But what is it?’

  ‘Oh, well … it’s bird droppings.’

  ‘Bird droppings!’ Seth exclaimed, then put a hand to his mouth. ‘Bird droppings?’ he hissed. ‘Did you tell Molworth that that’s what you needed his pots for when you asked to borrow them?’

  Ellie laughed. ‘Oh, don’t worry about that.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘I never asked.’

  ‘Ellie!’

  ‘Well, he wouldn’t have lent them to me if I had.’

  Seth gingerly navigated his way across the room. ‘I’m going to take a bath.’

  ‘Um … I wouldn’t recommend using the bathtub right now. It’s … occupied.’

  Seth’s shoulders stiffened. ‘Didn’t we agree: no experiments in the bedroom?’

  Ellie shot Seth her most winning smile. ‘It’s all part of my new plan.’

  Seth grumbled, hopped over the last few pots, and collapsed on his bed. Ellie took a long wooden spoon and stirred the liquid in one bowl.

  ‘Aren’t you going to ask me what it’s for?’ she said, holding up the spoon and inspecting it.

  Seth buried his face in his pillow.

  ‘If I leave the guano in water overnight,’ Ellie explained, ‘it will form these special crystals, you see.’

  She waited a few seconds. Seth sighed deeply. ‘What are the crystals for?’

  Ellie savoured the moment. ‘Gunpowder.’

  ‘GUNPOWDER?’ Seth cried, wedging himself into the corner of the room, eyeing the pots in horror.

  ‘I haven’t made it yet,’ said Ellie. ‘The crystals need to be mixed with charcoal and sulphur before they’ll explode.’

  ‘Ellie.’ Seth shut his eyes tightly. ‘We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile. Remember the person from that black ship? Don’t you think they might notice if you blow up half the island by mistake?’

  ‘Oh, I think we’re being paranoid – we haven’t seen any sign of them for days. It was probably just a sailor. Nobody could have followed us all the way from the City. Besides, I’m not going to blow anything up – I’ll only make a little bomb, to check the powder works. And I promise to set it off somewhere there’s no one about.’

  ‘Ellie.’

  ‘The rest is for fireworks. They don’t have them here – maybe they’ve forgotten how to make them?’

  Seth rubbed his hands over his face in exasperation. ‘Good, yes, start setting off fireworks all over the place. Nobody’s going to notice that.’

  ‘Well, maybe I want her to notice,’ Ellie snapped.

  ‘Her?’ Seth said. ‘Who’s “her”?’

  Ellie looked intently at the bowl of guano she was stirring. She could feel Seth watching her.

  ‘Please don’t tell me you mean the Queen,’ he said.

  Ellie’s cheeks flushed.

  ‘How do you think the Queen can help you?’

  ‘Maybe she knows how to defeat the Enemy,’ said Ellie. ‘Why else would it be afraid of her?’

  ‘Ellie, that’s just an old story the people here believe. Some of Janssen’s crew also think it’s good luck to wash your face in squid ink on a Monday.’

  ‘But if there’s even the slightest chance the story might be true, I need to investigate. Besides, she’s a Vessel too, like me. And she’s clearly doing okay – she’s the Queen. So maybe she can help me to be okay too.’

  Seth took a careful step towards her. ‘But you are okay, Ellie.’

  ‘I’m not,’ Ellie said, stirring one pot so violently that guano-water slopped over the edge. ‘I saw it. Underwater, the day we arrived here. What if it comes back?’

  ‘Ellie, it’s not coming back,’ said Seth gently. ‘You don’t need a Queen to help you – you already defeated the Enemy by yourself. And you’re not going to make any wishes, and that’s the only way it can get any power.’

  ‘But what if this Queen knows something we don’t?’ Ellie felt a surge of annoyance. ‘I don’t understand why you’re not more excited. She’s a Vessel, Seth. She’s got a god living inside her mind. One of your brothers or sisters.’

  Seth winced. ‘I told you – I don’t want anything to do with other gods. I just want to fish. I don’t want to have to feel the sea all the time. And I don’t want these dreams, either.’

  ‘What dreams? You mean like that vision you had the other day?’

  Seth nodded. ‘They keep happening.’

  ‘What do you see?’

  ‘I’m … this other person, and I’m inside the Ark. Only the Ark is out at sea, not stuck on an island. And at first I was in this killer whale, or I was the killer whale, but then I’m just a boy. And there’s this girl called Leila, and this old woman called the Crone.’

  ‘But, Seth, these must be memories. It’s one of your past … lives or whatever they’re called. That killer whale was your Vessel, and the boy was one of your past manifestations.’

  ‘I know they’re memories,’ said Seth, looking at his feet. ‘I still don’t want them.’

  Ellie put down her spoon and stood up eagerly, nearly slipping in a puddle of guano. ‘But maybe if you write down more of the next –’

  ‘I don’t want to remember, Ellie,’ said Seth, an edge of irritation in his voice. ‘And I don’t want to hear those voices, either. I don’t care who I was.’

  ‘But what about your brothers and sisters?’ Ellie said. She couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t want to remember them – Ellie had fought so hard to remember her own brother, and it had saved her life.

  ‘My brothers and sisters are down there, Ellie.’ Seth pointed through the window towards the docks.

  Ellie squinted. ‘You mean … the sailors?’

  ‘Yes. They don’t hunt me and they don’t try to force me to be something else. They just let me be.’

  Ellie took a step back. ‘I don’t try to force you to be something else. But … don’t you want to know who you really are?’

  ‘I know who I am.’

  Ellie turned away, finding she couldn’t look at him. She almost wished they were back at sea, just the two of them.

  ‘I … I don’t know who I am here,’ she said quietly. ‘Not without anything to do.’

  ‘Then come and work on the boat with me,’ said Seth. ‘Think how much fun it will be – we’ll get to spend all our time together.’

  Ellie remembered the first night in the bar, the way the sailors had laughed at her. Her body twisted with embarrassment. ‘I need to be useful.’

  ‘You can be useful on a fishing boat,’ said Seth.

  ‘No, you can be useful on a fishing boat,’ Ellie snapped. ‘I’d just get in the way. Besides, the crew all love you.’ A sudden, hot feeling bubbled into her stomach. Tears itched her eyes. ‘I wish Anna was here.’

  As soon as the words were out, she wished she could pull them back in. They filled the room, foul as the smell of guano. Seth stared at the floor, brow crumpled. Guilt prickled at the back of Ellie’s neck, but she clenched her fists.

  ‘Don’t you want to spend time with me?’ Seth said, in a small voice. ‘You could … help repair things?’

  ‘Look.’ Ellie sa
t back down. ‘I’m an inventor. I can’t be fixing boats all day.’

  Seth’s eyes went wide. ‘You think you’re better than they are,’ he said. ‘You don’t want the Queen to help you, you just want someone to tell you how special you are.’

  The pain in Ellie’s stomach curdled into a swift storm of rage. ‘Don’t lecture me! You can’t imagine what I’ve been through.’

  Seth opened his mouth to object.

  ‘No!’ Ellie spun to face him. ‘The years of hiding – hiding the darkest secret there is! It wasn’t easy, Seth, but I did it! I saved your life. I defeated a god –’

  She took an angry step towards him, and her foot plunged straight into a large pot, liquid soaking through her sock and between her toes.

  Slowly, Ellie extracted her foot, dripping globs of guano on the floor. Her cheeks burned.

  ‘I’ll fetch some clean water,’ said Seth, nimbly stepping over the pots towards the door. ‘And some soap.’ He bowed deeply. ‘Your Majesty.’

  The Man in the Marketplace

  Ellie pretended to be asleep the next morning when Seth got up for work, keeping her back turned and her eyes fiercely shut until he’d closed the bedroom door.

  Molworth watched her suspiciously as she ate breakfast in the bar.

  ‘Seth looked unhappy when he left,’ he said, leaning on his mop.

  Ellie crunched down hard on a radish.

  ‘I heard arguing last night.’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

  ‘That’s what Seth said too. I wish I had a best friend.’

  ‘We’re brother and sister,’ Ellie corrected.

  ‘No you’re not. Don’t lie to me – I spend my whole life in here watching people, I know best friends when I see them.’

  ‘You’re creepily grown up for a twelve-year-old,’ said Ellie.

  Molworth leaned in so his face was an inch from Ellie’s. ‘Friendship is prized above all else. So the Great One says – She who is wisest of all.’

  Ellie leaned away from him. ‘But he’s friends with all the sailors now, and they’re always together. I’ve tried talking to them but … I’m not very good at talking to people.’

  ‘I know,’ said Molworth. ‘I’ve seen you.’

  Ellie scowled. ‘Maybe you’d have a best friend if you were nicer.’

  ‘I’m just being honest. Honesty is prized second only to friendship, so the Great –’

  ‘All right, all right,’ said Ellie. ‘What should I do?’

  ‘Why not get him a present, to say sorry?’

  ‘That’s a good idea.’

  ‘I know. Now get out – I need to practise my violin and I can’t do it when there’s people listening.’

  So Ellie wandered to the Raphaela Markets south of the Shambles, where a hundred colourfully dressed people danced to a band of drummers, like a field of rippling wild flowers. Every eighth beat they cried out, ‘Praise Her!’ in unison. Ellie hummed along to the music as she explored the stalls, admiring piles of honey cakes with purple icing, animal statuettes, and leaf-shaped brooches. Ellie picked up a small humpback whale, carved from crystal – the same sort of whale she’d pulled Seth from months before. It was perfect.

  ‘Aren’t you too hot in that coat?’ said the stallholder. Ellie bit her tongue and searched her pockets for money, grabbing the whale and rushing down towards the Shambles. Seth wouldn’t be back from work for hours, but Ellie was brimming with excitement as she approached the Vile Oak, picturing Seth’s face when she gave it to him.

  As she walked along a high path, she looked down and saw, in a little garden of lilies and hibiscus, a circle of girls and boys her age, all of them laughing and joking.

  And there, sitting among them, was Seth.

  He was wearing a green cardigan she’d never seen him in before, laughing so hard that he started to cough. Ellie frowned. He’d left work early but hadn’t thought to come and find her? She waved timidly and his eyes flickered towards her – she was sure of it – but then he just carried on listening to the next joke.

  Ellie stood rooted to the spot. She’d never seen Seth laugh that way before, and she’d certainly never made him laugh like that. In fact, now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure she had ever made him laugh. Lately, he just disapproved of everything she said and did. He didn’t want her doing experiments, he didn’t want her to meet the Queen. He didn’t want to spend time with her.

  Spinning on her heel, Ellie marched back to the markets, her cane smacking a man’s leg so that he yelped and dropped his sandwich. Ellie was too angry to apologize. She wished she’d never come to this awful place. She wished they’d found a quiet little island, with no sailors to take Seth from her, and no Vessel-Queens to ignore her, either.

  Ellie rounded the corner of a bread stall, and stopped dead.

  ‘No,’ she whispered.

  She searched the shifting crowd, trying to convince herself she hadn’t just glimpsed a man in a long black coat, on the other side of the market square. A woman on stilts strode by in a purple gown, trailed by giggling children. Ellie squinted – the gown did look a bit like an Inquisitor’s coat. She sighed in relief.

  Then the stilt-walker passed by, and Ellie cried out.

  The man was hugely tall, with broad shoulders, skin the colour of a corpse, and eyes like angry inkblots. Eyes filled with pain and fury.

  Eyes that stared right at her.

  Hargrath.

  Letters of Love and Friendship

  ‘LANCASTER!’

  The roar broke across the tranquil marketplace. Ellie dropped to the ground, hiding beneath the shoulders of the crowd.

  ‘No,’ she moaned. Of all the Inquisitors who could have followed her here, why did it have to be Hargrath?

  ‘LANCASTER!’

  The cry was oddly shrill for a creature of such size. Ellie spotted him parting the crowd like a ship cleaving through water. She darted from the marketplace, to a point where the street divided into three. She flung a smoke bomb at her feet, so Hargrath wouldn’t know which path she’d taken, then ran left and kept going until her bad leg seized up and she collapsed into a tight alleyway.

  She listened for footsteps, but heard nothing.

  She took a moment to catch her breath, then pulled herself upright. She closed her eyes, but saw only Hargrath’s demonic glare, and Seth’s laughing face. Her body felt crunchy and sore, like it was full of gravel. She looked down, and saw bloody, child-sized footprints on the paving stones.

  Ellie checked over her shoulder, then followed after them, eager to put more distance between her and Hargrath. They led her past a pig snuffling at a pile of cabbages, then two women arguing loudly, oblivious to the bloody splotches right by their feet. Between tall sandstone buildings she came to a strange, empty passage, with a curving roof made from tightly wound tree branches. Thousands of scraps of paper had been nailed to the walls, most of them aged to yellowness.

  For my beloved, one said.

  Our love is forever, said another.

  Thank you, H, you helped me through the hardest of times.

  A gentle wind blew through the passage, rustling the letters so they glimmered like the scales of a giant paper fish. Ellie wondered why they’d been put there in the first place, rather than sent to the people they were meant for. Perhaps those people weren’t around any more.

  Ellie gently removed the nail holding one letter to the wall.

  Dear Ellie,

  I’m glad we’re not friends any more.

  Seth

  A skewer of hot pain pierced Ellie’s heart. She blinked, and read again.

  Dear Edith,

  I’m glad you were there with me.

  Sarah

  Ellie frowned, glancing up and down the passage. She went to return the paper to the wall, but noticed that on the bare patch behind it was a red splodge. She put her finger to it. It was sticky and thick like blood, but cold. When she blinked, it was gone.

  Ellie fel
t a single droplet of ice water land on the back of her neck, trickling down her spine.

  ‘Go away,’ she whispered. ‘Leave me alone.’

  A wind fluttered through the tunnel again. The papers rustled.

  Alone, they said.

  Ellie shivered inside her coat. ‘I’ve got enough problems without you.’

  A small bulge appeared in the wall next to her, like an air bubble beneath the papers. Ellie pushed it back in, but more cold blood leaked out through the gaps between the letters, soaking her fingers. She rubbed her hands against her coat, but the blood left no marks.

  A new bulge grew from the wall.

  Alone, the papers whispered again.

  ‘Go away!’ Ellie roared, pushing back the blister.

  Ellie, the papers whispered. Alone. Ellie, alone. Ellie, alone. They breathed in the word Ellie and breathed out alone. A bundle of letters came away in her hands, but the paper didn’t feel like paper. It was rougher, like fabric or bandages.

  Ellie, alone. Ellie, alone.

  More letters bubbled all over the wall. Ellie yelled and shoved them back, but her hands were wrenched inside the paper, vanishing up to her wrists. The mound of letters was inches from her face, and Ellie thought she saw the outline of eyelids beneath the paper, and a nose. She screamed and the wall released her, and she toppled on to her back.

  A tiny, brittle figure pulled away from the wall, picking bits of paper from itself. It looked like a child, covered head to toe in bandages. Just its neck, its shoulders, its chin and mouth were bare, its skin the colour of snow. Hair stuck out of the back of its bandaged head in thick, blood-matted locks.

  ‘No,’ Ellie whispered. ‘You can’t be back.’

  She scrabbled to her feet and slammed the figure against the wall. Only instead of hitting the wall, the child went through it, sucked in by the paper.

  Ellie turned round, her gasping filling the empty passage.

  The child emerged from the wall opposite, smiling, and tilted its head towards her. Ellie could feel it looking at her, though its eyes were hidden behind a single flat stretch of bloodied fabric.

  ‘I defeated you,’ she said.