Savage Island

by Bryony Pearce

  “Yes?” Mum said dangerously.

  “Some of the kids who…” I tailed off again. “Kids like Norah,” I said.

  Norah wore bottle-thick glasses and threw screaming tantrums five times a day.

  “The more challenging kids?” Dad asked.

  I nodded.

  “And now they want us to have an appointment with her.” Mum crumpled the letter in her fist. “How dare they!”

  Dad started forwards. “Can I see?”

  Mum snatched the letter back. “Why?”

  “I want to see what it says.”

  “It doesn’t matter what it says. That Clark woman thinks there’s something wrong with my boy. I’ll sue.”

  Will’s eyes flickered to me.

  “Well,” Dad said slowly, dragging his fingers through his flop of bright red hair, “she is a professional… Maybe we should—”

  “Are you insane?” Mum shoved the letter into the kitchen bin, pulled out the bin bag, tied it tightly and marched out of the back door. We all watched as she slammed the bag into the wheelie bin then strode back in. “There, gone.”

  “But the issue hasn’t gone,” Dad said softly, looking at Will.

  Mum trembled. “You’re calling my boy an issue?”

  “Something must have happened to trigger this.” He looked at me. “Ben, did something happen at school this week?”

  I tried not to look at Mum, who was tapping one foot and glaring at me.

  “Ben?” Dad took my chin. “Tell me.”

  I spoke in a whisper, not meeting his eyes. “He cut Anna’s ponytail off.”

  “He what?” Dad stared.

  “Anna wouldn’t give him her crisps.”

  I was going to get in so much trouble. Mum’s eyes were boring into me and Will had his arms folded, expressionless.

  “Did you know about this, Carrie?”

  Mum sniffed. “I went into the school. It was all sorted out.”

  “Why wasn’t I told?”

  “It was sorted out.” Mum’s own face had lost all expression. She looked exactly like Will.

  “What happened, exactly?” Dad asked me. He wouldn’t let me look at Mum.

  “She should have given them to him,” I muttered. “He asked nicely.”

  “But it was Anna’s lunch,” Dad said gently. “She didn’t have to give it up if she didn’t want to.”

  “But she should have,” I shouted. “Everyone knows—” I clamped my lips together.

  “Everyone knows what?” Dad pressed.

  “I want to go to my room,” I begged. My feet jittered against the chair legs.

  “Leave your son alone,” Mum snapped. “Let him finish his homework.”

  “What does everyone know?” Dad asked again. I swallowed.

  Dad stood up. “It’s OK, Ben.” He looked at Mum, then at Will. “What does everyone know?”

  It was Will who answered. “They know they should do what I want.”

  “… or else,” I whispered.

  “We can deal with this at home,” Mum said. “He doesn’t need a counsellor. He needs his family. I’m calling the school. If that woman comes near Will again, I’ll ruin her!”

  I opened my eyes. My gum throbbed like it had a spike in it. I touched the hollow with my tongue and tried an experimental swallow. I no longer tasted blood. That was good. I rolled over with a groan. My head was killing me and for some reason I felt sad. But why? I searched my memory. It was full of holes.

  I was tired, but I wasn’t getting back to sleep without a painkiller. I reached for my torch and my hand knocked over a water bottle. It reminded me of the last thing Lizzie said to me before I passed out. “I’m leaving some drugs right here. Take them if you need them.”

  Blindly I felt around until I found the little packet. Without switching on the torch, I popped two pills out of the foil, opened the bottle of water and took them gratefully. I was glad I hadn’t needed the torch – my eyes ached. Every muscle was sore and I was hungry, but I could feel sleep pulling me back under. My body wanted to heal.

  Before dreams took me, I sensed movement and fought my eyes back open. In the darkness, a figure was moving, rustling among the backpacks. Who else was awake?

  “Grady?” I whispered.

  Then I fell asleep.

  Towards the end of March, Will officially joined me in Year Two and he asked to bring home the class pet: a bright orange guinea pig called Chewbacca. He played the baby card first, appealing to the teacher with wide grey eyes and a wobbling lip.

  “It’s Matthew’s turn,” Mrs Heap said. “You and Ben aren’t on the list for this term.”

  And never would be. Mum hated pets and I was sure she’d asked to be excluded from the timetable.

  Will retreated, tears unshed. Then he spent the whole day on a charm offensive. Matthew was offered the chocolate bar from his lunchbox, Mrs Heap was given a handmade card that he’d constructed during his lunch hour. It had a picture of flowers on it, and a glued-on heart with the words I luff you Misuss Heep. He could spell perfectly well.

  Will put up his hand for every question. At tidyup time he won a sticker and during PE he took the blame when Matthew’s ball went over the fence.

  At the end of the day, Matthew went to Mrs Heap and told her that he didn’t want to take Chewbacca any more.

  On the way home, Chewbacca bit Will’s finger when he poked him through the cage.

  As I slept I dreamed of dead guinea pigs with hair the same colour as mine, and blood. Lots of blood.

  I woke to the smell of bacon, coffee and woodsmoke. It was barely light. When I rolled over I saw Grady and Carmen by a smouldering fire. Carmen was slicing open bread rolls with the blade of her Swiss army knife; Grady was poking a pan with a long fork. I was dragged into full alertness by my nose: bacon sandwiches!

  Experimentally I lifted my head. It no longer ached. I felt nauseous, though, and my gut clenched like a fist. I wriggled out of my bivvy into the predawn chill and crawled to the fire.

  “Ben!” Carmen looked up. “We let you sleep for as long as we could. How are you feeling?”

  “OK,” I croaked. “Hungry.”

  “Here.” Carmen snagged some bacon from the pile on the plate beside her and slapped it on an open roll. “Eat.”

  Grady handed me his coffee. “I’ll make another.”

  “Thanks.” I took the sandwich from Carmen and as I took my first bite, I automatically looked for Will.

  “It’s his turn for a wash in the river.” Carmen answered my unspoken question. I froze, the sandwich sticking to the roof of my mouth. It was my blood that they needed to rinse away. For the first time, I looked at my own hands. Dried brown flakes followed the lines on my palms.

  Quickly Grady handed me a pan of water. “Use this. We can refill it.”

  “Thanks.” I put down the sandwich, dunked my hands and watched the water muddy. Then a sound from Lizzie, half a sob, caught my attention. I paused, my hands dripping. There was something about Lizzie, something I needed to remember. I looked around.

  She was kneeling by the pile of rucksacks, still in the grey tracksuit she wore to sleep in. Her pixie hair was half-glued to her head.

  “I told you mine was at the bottom,” she cried. “I said they’d been moved.”

  “Who would move the rucksacks?” Carmen raised an eyebrow.

  I frowned as a memory surfaced. “Didn’t Grady get something in the night?” The vision was hazy, part-dream, but I was sure I’d seen him. Hadn’t I?

  “Nope. I passed out like a rock. Didn’t move till dawn.” Grady forked more bacon on to the plate. “What’s the problem with the rucksacks, anyway?”

  Lizzie turned, her face stricken. “The tooth – it’s missing.”

  “It can’t be.” I frowned. “Maybe you moved it…”

  Both Carmen and Grady were staring at Lizzie in horror.

  Lizzie shuffled back. Her rucksack had been emptied, the contents were strewn around her knees.
“It’s not here.” Her voice was dull.

  I lurched to my feet. “It has to be!”

  “Grady, are you sure you put it in Lizzie’s rucksack?” Carmen looked at him. “Maybe you put it in your pocket by mistake?”

  Grady shook his head, but he stood up and started to go through his clothes. “It’s not here. I put it where Lizzie told me – I remember doing it.”

  “Check again.” I swallowed. “Check everywhere.”

  “You saw someone last night, didn’t you, Ben?” Grady’s eyes narrowed as he turned out his shirt pocket. “You thought it was me, but it wasn’t.”

  “I thought I did – but…”

  “He was off his head, Grady,” Carmen said gently. “He could have been dreaming … or hallucinating.” She stood and walked over to Lizzie. “Will carried your rucksack for you, chica – it might have fallen out.” She snapped her knife closed and put it in her pocket. “I’ll go back up the hill and see if I can find it.” She stood and ran off.

  “The bags have been moved,” Lizzie insisted. “My side pockets have been opened. We’ve been robbed!”

  “No.” I clenched my fists. “Carmen will find it.”

  “What if she doesn’t?” Grady murmured. “What if you really did see someone?”

  “How could they have known where the tooth was?” Lizzie was crying.

  Grady swore. “They must have been watching us.”

  “From where?” I spun abruptly, scanning the rocks.

  “It was dark.” Lizzie rubbed her face.

  “In the trees, maybe,” Grady said. “If they had night-vision binoculars, we’d have been clear as day.” He swore again.

  “But why would anyone be watching us?” I shivered.

  Will strode back to our camp, rubbing his hair with a towel. He heard my question and his eyes flicked over us, drawing conclusions. “They couldn’t get in the box,” he said finally and tossed his towel down on top of his rucksack. “So they waited to see how the next team did it.” He made himself a bacon sandwich and began to eat.

  Lizzie put her head in her hands. “They watched Carmen blow on the box, then saw us pulling Ben’s tooth and where I put it. They decided to take ours so their team didn’t have to do the same.”

  “It makes sense.” Grady dropped his shirt on the floor. “They’ll be long gone by now, with the coordinates of the third checkpoint and our geocache tooth.”

  I sat on a rock. “What do we do?”

  We looked at one another. Then Grady groaned. “The way I see it, we have four choices.”

  Will nodded. “Someone gives up another tooth.”

  “No!” My hands flew to my mouth. “Think of something else.”

  “OK.” Grady held up his right hand. “Three options then.” He extended a finger. “One, we give up and go back to the beach.”

  Lizzie pressed her lips together. “Or?”

  “Two, we keep going, tell the invigilators at the end that one of the other teams stole our first geocache and hope they let us off.”

  “We haven’t any proof,” Will pointed out.

  “Except Ben’s missing tooth,” Lizzie said.

  “All that shows is that Ben’s had a tooth out. It could have happened before we left.” Grady shook his head. “It won’t be enough.”

  “Then what’s option three?” Lizzie scrutinized Grady.

  “Find those bastards and make them give us the tooth back.”

  There was a long silence. I stared at my uneaten sandwich. I couldn’t bring myself to pick it back up.

  “Grady,” Lizzie said quietly. “Let’s get real. Between my ankle, Ben’s knee, Will’s arm and your elbow, we’re not going to scare anyone into giving us anything, especially if they’re bigger than we are.”

  “And there are eight other teams out there.” I rubbed my eyes. “How do we know which of them did it? We catch up with someone, they deny having the tooth and … then what?”

  “It was that team we saw ahead of us – the one with the girl leading them,” Grady growled.

  “Probably.” Will crossed his ankles. “But we have no way to be sure.”

  “There is another option.” I leaned on my knees. “We carry on as normal, complete the other checkpoints, then, if we get a chance to search someone else’s stash, we get a tooth that way.”

  Lizzie rubbed her hair into even spines. “Steal someone else’s, you mean.”

  “It’s not ideal,” I admitted.

  She sighed. “It makes us no better than the thieves who took from us.”

  “It’s our best choice,” Grady said.

  “We just need to be on the lookout for opportunities.” Will took another sandwich. “If we find other teams, we can wait for them to leave their bags unguarded.”

  “And if we don’t get opportunities?” Grady asked.

  “Then we decide – give up another tooth or tell the invigilators about the theft,” Will replied.

  “OK.” I stood. “Last night was awful, but we found the second checkpoint and I don’t reckon every team did. I’m feeling a lot better this morning. Lizzie, how’s your ankle?”

  “Stiff and sore, but I can manage with my crutch.”

  “Great! Then let’s get our heads back in the game. What’s the plan for today?”

  “Break camp and go.” Lizzie started re-stuffing her rucksack. “We’ve got two more days and five more checkpoints. We should be able to get to three today. One by mid-morning, one after lunch and one this evening. Then six hours’ sleep and the final two tomorrow.”

  “With any luck, we’ll overtake the team playing dirty this morning,” Grady said as he collected our rubbish.

  “You’re sure you’re up for a hard hike?” I stepped towards Lizzie.

  She nodded and grinned suddenly. “The sun’s coming up, it should be a nice day. Let’s make it a good one.”

  I laughed as I started to roll my sleeping bag. “You’re right. Let’s have a great day.”

  After a few minutes Lizzie looked up. “Hey, guys … shouldn’t Carmen have been back by now?”

  Chapter Ten

  “Carmen!” My knee was less swollen than it had been. I ignored the remaining discomfort as I forced myself to jog up the hill. Will was ahead of me, Grady behind.

  Lizzie had stayed in the campsite to pack our gear and wait in case Carmen returned. She hadn’t been too happy about it, but Grady had suggested she take the opportunity to properly bind her ankle so she could move more easily.

  “Carmen!”

  We should have been able to see her by now. The trees and river were behind us, the cairn ahead; if Carmen was still out searching for the tooth, she’d have been right here.

  I pulled to a stop and Grady puffed up next to me. “Where is she?”

  “If you were Carmen and you were searching for the tooth, where would you go?”

  “It was wrapped up in the glasses cloth. Maybe she thought the wind blew it.” Grady looked around with a frown.

  “So, we split up.” I pointed. “You go east around the hill, I’ll go west.”

  Grady nodded.

  The hill looked even starker than it had the night before, when it had been lit only by the moon and our torches. The sloping ground was spotted with tufts of stubby beige grass. Thistles provided the only colour, and the eastern side was mainly gravel and scree with some larger protruding rocks.

  “What if she fell? She could be unconscious anywhere.” Grady wrung his hands.

  “I’ll come to help you look when I’ve checked my side.”

  Will was still powering upwards, already passing the cairn with barely a glance.

  “Will, can you see anything?”

  He turned. “Let me get to the top – I’ll have a better view.”

  “Other teams are going to be coming.” Grady looked around worriedly. “I don’t want to meet anyone else right now. What if they make us tell them how to get in the box?”

  I gave him a small push towards the rock
s. “Go and look for Carmen. We can think about other teams once we’ve found her.”

  On my side of the hill, the view was of the sea, dull and black. The sky above was early-morning white, the world on its way from black and white to colour. Mist clung to the grass and pale cobwebs stuck to my boots. It was still early, but we should have been well on our way to the next checkpoint. We were losing time.

  “Carmen!” I called again, then stood still and strained my ears, listening for a response. Nothing. If Carmen was in earshot, then she had to be, as Grady had suggested, unconscious. “Car, can you hear me?”

  Something tickled my memory, something about last night. Carmen and Lizzie had been talking over my head. Carmen was worried about Lizzie. No, not Lizzie, Lizzie’s dad. He was sick.

  Lizzie hadn’t told me. I’d thought she told me everything, but there were things about her I didn’t know. And it was my fault for keeping things back.

  Dad inhaled sharply. “You said Will was fine at school.” His hands shook. “You said he was only acting up at home. That he just had a problem with me, that we clashed. You showed me that article – Good in School, Bad at Home. I have it on my computer.”

  Mum looked at me and Will. “Go to your rooms.”

  I leaped to my feet and bolted. Will followed more slowly.

  At the top of the stairs I stopped. Will came to stand next to me and we stared down at the closed kitchen door.

  “If I’m not the only one he’s hurting—” Dad’s voice was raised.

  “You should have had more to do with school if it bothers you!” Mum yelled.

  “You never let me.” We heard Dad thump the table. “You said school business was your business. You even booked parents’ evening appointments when you knew I was working.”

  I couldn’t hear Mum’s reply.

  “I mean it, Carrie. I don’t see why it would traumatize him. We can speak to someone together.”

  Mum’s voice, rising and falling, but the shape of the words escaped me. I could feel Will’s eyes on me, looking for clues. If linched as his hand appeared on my leg. His sharp little nails started to dig into my thigh.