Ghost of a Chance

by Pam Harvey

  ‘I just got the feeling that they had discovered something,’ Angus said, looking out over the water to the island. ‘Obviously they don’t want anyone knowing where they’ve been; that’s why they were climbing out of the window.’

  ‘Treasure?’ E.D. said through a mouthful of food.

  ‘Well, supposedly there is treasure out there somewhere,’ Ling said.

  ‘Do you really think we should go to the island while that gang of kids is over there?’

  ‘I agree with Hannah,’ Gabby said. ‘They might have guns.’

  ‘Guns?’ E.D. spluttered.

  ‘I think that kiss has got to you, Gabby.’ Angus grinned and stepped into the boat. Hannah followed, grabbing nervously at its edge. Ling put a hand on Hannah’s arm to steady her and then followed her onto the craft. E.D. clunked in, making the boat rock and Hannah scowl, then held out a hand for Gabby. Making sure the others weren’t looking, Gabby stretched out her own hand and E.D. helped her in.

  Angus gave out the life jackets and waited while everyone put them on.

  ‘You two sit up the front,’ he said to Hannah and Ling. ‘Gabby can go in the middle with us in case E.D.’s arms get tired of rowing.’ He grinned as E.D. frowned at him. Slowly, the boat moved away from the small jetty where it had been moored.

  ‘And when we get to the island?’ Gabby asked.

  ‘Easy. Kill the gang, steal the treasure and get back in time for a proper breakfast,’ E.D. shouted.

  The Isle of Many was only about 400 metres from the mainland. It had a small beach area but most of that was hidden by coastal scrub. The rest of the island’s coastline was jagged with rocks and steep cliffs.

  ‘On the other side of those cliffs is Devil’s Wing,’ Hannah said, pointing away to her right.

  ‘Devil’s what?’ E.D. said, stroking firmly to keep up with Gabby and Angus.

  ‘Wing! There’s supposed to be some sort of rip or really strong current where the water rushes in.’

  ‘Cool, let’s head round there,’ E.D. said.

  ‘Don’t be an idiot, E.D. That’s the last place we want to go.’ Angus was puffing. Rowing is a lot harder than horse riding, he thought.

  Even so, they made short work of the crossing. E.D. had spent most of the journey with his oar either out of his hands or out of the water—until Gabby grabbed it away from him in irritation. The boat zoomed over the last 50 metres and they eased back as the water became shallow.

  The ocean washed up gently onto a narrow beach section of the Isle of Many. The boat the gang had used was easily visible, even though it looked as though they’d made a clumsy attempt to conceal it behind a screen of bushes to the left of the beach.

  ‘Let’s find a spot away from their boat and see what’s going on,’ said Angus.

  Hannah and Ling jumped out of the boat as it came to a gentle halt on the sand in the shallows and started dragging it shoreward. The others joined them, and they soon had the boat stowed behind an outcrop of rocks.

  Almost straight away they heard someone shouting.

  ‘Geez, you don’t think they just found the treasure, do you?’ E.D. asked.

  ‘Shhhh,’ Ling said, holding up a hand. ‘Listen!’

  Muffled voices drifted over a small rise only 30 metres inland from where they stood.

  ‘I think that’s where the cemetery is,’ Hannah whispered.

  ‘Hannah, how come you know so much about the island?’ E.D. hissed.

  ‘I saw a map of it on the wall back at the cottage. It didn’t seem that important but I remember things like maps. And anyway, remember the newspaper article that Ling and I read? One of the kids that drowned in that accident is buried here.’

  ‘Oh, they’re not digging up a grave, are they?’ Gabby asked, taking a few steps back. ‘That is so gross.’

  ‘Well, if there’s treasure in there, I would.’ E.D. took a few paces forward. ‘Let’s go see.’

  ‘They shouldn’t be doing anything of the kind even if there’s treasure in the grave,’ Hannah said, following E.D. Angus shrugged and took off as well.

  ‘Ling?’ Gabby flung out her hand, grabbing her cousin by the wrist.

  ‘We’ll watch from a distance,’ Ling said. ‘But Hannah’s right. They shouldn’t be messing around with someone’s grave.’ She frowned suddenly, her face pale.

  Gabby shuddered. Holding hands, the girls walked slowly after the others.

  With Angus and E.D. just behind her, Hannah marched over the rise and stared at the scene in front of her. An old iron fence, almost completely overgrown with long grass and bushes, bordered a bare patch of ground about the size of a house block.

  Jamie and Daniel were digging with shovels while Kristy watched. Already they had piled up a few wooden boards. For a horrible moment Hannah thought these might have been the sides of the coffin. Four or five other graves, marked only by roughly carved crosses, were scattered about the small area.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Hannah yelled.

  The gang members looked up sharply.

  ‘Beat it, if you know what’s good for you,’ growled the taller boy, Jamie, taking a few steps towards Hannah.

  ‘She asked you a question,’ E.D. said, appearing beside Hannah with his arms folded.

  ‘Hey,’ said Kristy. She walked across to them; in her hands she held a small book. ‘It’s that smart arse who wouldn’t finish a game of pool.’ She stopped in front of E.D. One of the boys appeared behind her, waving his shovel menacingly. ‘You need to mind your own business,’ she sneered, poking E.D. in the chest with her finger. She was a head taller than E.D. and broader in the shoulders too. The black T-shirt she was wearing was soaked in sweat.

  E.D. pushed her arm away.

  ‘Well, you’re obviously doing something totally illegal,’ E.D. said, standing his ground.

  This time it was Jamie who gave him a shove. E.D. staggered back, just managing to keep his footing.

  ‘Listen here, jerks,’ said Kristy. ‘Why don’t you go back home and build sand castles?’ She pointed to Intrepid Point.

  Suddenly there was a shout from behind and then a high-pitched scream. Ignoring E.D. and the others, Kristy and Jamie turned and ran back towards the graves.

  ‘C’mon,’ Angus said, running after them.

  Only Hannah noticed the piece of paper fall out of the book Kristy was holding. She bent down quickly, picked it up and shoved it deep inside her pocket before following the others.

  ‘I’ve hurt my leg!’ cried a whimpering voice. Hannah peered over the edge of the hole. The sun had disappeared suddenly behind a cloud but she could still see that one of the boys, Daniel, must have fallen at least three metres. ‘Get me out!’ he screamed.

  A cool breeze suddenly ripped across the island, whipping up sand and causing the trees to groan eerily as their trunks and branches swayed. Huge black storm clouds were gathering

  towards the west. Standing by the iron railing, Gabby shivered involuntarily.

  ‘Daniel, you’re bloody hopeless,’ Kristy said into the hole.

  ‘Kristy, get me out of here. Please!’ There was a terrified edge to the boy’s voice.

  And now another strange noise added to the sound of the wind—a kind of soft, distant whelping that made everyone look up.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Jamie said. A bird screeched overhead. ‘What was that? Hey, this place is getting too creepy.’ The wind gusted, howling through the island’s trees, sending sand stinging into their faces. The soft noise in the background sounded ghostly. ‘Hurry up and get him out,’ Jamie yelled.

  Kristy leaned over the edge and tried to reach Daniel. ‘I can’t reach him. You try, Jamie.’

  Thunder rumbled across the sky, low and threatening. ‘No way. He’s the idiot that fell in. He can get out himself. I’m outta here.’ Jamie dropped his shovel and ran.

  ‘Jamie!’ Kristy called. ‘We can’t leave Daniel down in the grave.’

  ‘Too right we bloody can. He’s the one
who broke through into the coffin,’ the boy yelled. ‘He’s the one to blame. I told you this place was spooked.’

  Down in the grave, Daniel whimpered. ‘There’s bones down here,’ he called, pushing himself against the far corner.

  ‘Jamie’s right, you know, Daniel,’ said Kristy, standing up. ‘You’re always the one to ruin things. Maybe this will teach you a lesson.’ She looked up at the others. ‘We’ll see you around. Maybe.’

  ‘You aren’t leaving him?’ E.D. was outraged.

  Kristy gave him the finger and ran after Jamie.

  ‘Kristy?’ Daniel’s voice was pathetic.

  ‘Hang on, we’ll be right down,’ Hannah said, kneeling at the edge of the hole.

  ‘There was some rope in our boat. I’ll get it.’

  Angus looked at the dark clouds sweeping across the sky as he ran back to the boat. At first he thought the sudden darkness was making it hard to see where they’d stowed the boat. And then he heard laughter.

  ‘Hope one of you can swim, mate,’ Kristy called, laughing loudly. Jamie rowed while Kristy held up the rope of Angus’s boat so he could see that it was being towed away. Angus watched them for a few moments then turned away angrily and ran back to the cemetery.

  At the graveyard, E.D. had carefully clambered down into the pit. The remains of a wooden coffin lay scattered about and he tried to avoid looking at the skeleton lying beneath it.

  ‘What the hell happened?’ he asked.

  Daniel shook his head. ‘We’d dug out a bit of earth and then we hit wood. We thought it was the coffin. So I leaned over and started pulling at the wood. But it wasn’t the wood from a coffin; it was the wood from the roof of this bloody vault. And I went straight through it and came down and landed on the real bloody coffin. And there are bones.’ His voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Small bones. Maybe kid’s bones.’

  ‘E.D.,’ Angus called. ‘They’ve taken both the boats.’

  ‘Geez, great friends you’ve got,’ E.D. said, shaking his head. ‘Climb up onto my shoulders.’

  E.D. squatted down and helped Daniel clamber up onto his shoulders. Using the side of the grave for balance, E.D. slowly straightened. With his legs trembling, E.D. stood tall, his hands clasped around the boy’s ankles.

  ‘Can you reach?’ he called, staring at a wall of dark earth. The smell of damp, sandy soil, just centimetres from his face, tickled his nostrils.

  ‘Here, grab my arm,’ Angus said, reaching in. As E.D. lifted, Angus pulled. Daniel’s head and then his shoulders appeared over the rim of the grave. Hannah bent down and helped Angus haul him out.

  ‘Geez, thanks,’ Daniel said, falling to the ground. ‘My leg feels really bruised.’

  A loud crack of thunder burst overhead.

  ‘Time to find us some shelter,’ Angus said, leaning over into the pit to help E.D. scramble out. ‘Looks like we’re stuck here for a while.’

  ‘There’s another choice,’ said E.D. as he appeared over the edge.

  ‘What?’ Angus fell back.

  E.D. grinned. ‘Feel like a swim, Gab?’

  Chapter 6

  Sunday, 19 December, morning

  Gabby glared at E.D. ‘There is no way you’ll get me swimming—’

  ‘Or else we stay on this island with a storm about to erupt, an open grave, a skeleton and some very spooky sounds.’

  ‘Well, I haven’t got my bathers,’ Gabby said hastily, looking out at the water which had suddenly grown choppy.

  ‘Of course. You’re just a pool swimmer.’ E.D. shook his head. ‘Not strong enough for oceans and currents and a couple of waves. Ever done an open water swim, Gab?’

  ‘Hey, I’ll have you know that I came second in—’

  ‘Well, get out there and do it, Gab! We need a boat here and we need it quick.’ The sky rumbled right on cue. ‘Anyway, real swimmers can do it in their clothes.’

  ‘And E.D. will promise to never kiss you again, won’t you E.D?’ Angus nudged his friend.

  ‘Did I say that?’

  ‘Come on, Gabby,’ Ling said, leading her by the arm back towards the beach. ‘It won’t take you long at all.’

  Gabby gave E.D. a shrivelling look and followed Ling.

  ‘We’re going to get drenched,’ Daniel said, looking up at the clouds.

  ‘You want to go back down there then?’ Angus nodded towards the hole.

  ‘God, no,’ Daniel said, shivering.

  ‘Come on. Let’s fill the grave as well as we can. It isn’t right leaving it open.’ E.D. picked up the shovel and started pushing the earth and wood back into the hole.

  Down at the shoreline, Gabby had taken off her jumper, socks and shoes and was wading out into the water.

  ‘Are you sure you’ll be okay, Gab?’ Hannah called, suddenly nervous. She didn’t like the look of the sea and the rain was getting heavier.

  ‘This is what I train for,’ Gabby yelled back, giving the girls a final wave. ‘It should only take me about seven minutes. Tell E.D. he’ll be eating a hot breakfast in half an hour.’

  Ignoring the cold water numbing her legs, Gabby started wading in until the water was up to her thighs. Then she duck-dived out into deeper water. Squeezing her eyes shut, she began a graceful stroke, but it didn’t take long for the waves to take their toll. Soon Gabby was spending as much time with her head out of the water, checking on her direction, as she was gliding through it.

  A hunk of seaweed brushed her waist and she veered to the right, opening her mouth and taking in a huge gulp of sea water. She felt the first tinge of fear.

  Come on, Gab, she said to herself, pausing. She was almost halfway there. This is water—your element. A 400-metre swim for you is a walk down to the letter box and back for anyone else.

  Gabby thought she heard a yell from the island behind her but she didn’t turn. She began swimming again, her long, easy strokes slowly pushing into the current running against her.

  Then suddenly she froze. Something soft, yet slightly prickly, had brushed her side. It didn’t feel like seaweed. Too frightened to turn and look, she put on a burst of speed.

  Don’t look up, she said to herself. It was just your shirt, flapping against your side. But Gabby knew that it wasn’t. And then the word that she’d managed to keep out of her head for the last four and a half minutes suddenly shot into her mind.

  Shark.

  A wave of panic swept through her and for the first time in her life Gabby felt real fear in the water. Now she had to look; the thought of not knowing was too much. She stopped swimming for a moment and listened, then slowly turned.

  Gabby felt her stomach almost fall from under her as she saw a large, black shape swooping through the water 5 metres to her left. She froze in shock, staring at the smooth shadow gliding effortlessly just below the surface of the waves.

  Glancing quickly at the boats and small pier only a couple of hundred of metres away, Gabby kicked out with every muscle of her body, setting a course for the boats.

  Don’t look up until your head hits a boat, she thought, her long arms wheeling through the air then pulling against the water with all the strength she could muster. But after twenty frantic strokes, she felt a sharp pain in her left leg. Cramp. Her leg tensed as a jolt of pain grabbed at her calf muscle. Gabby was swimming but making no headway at all. It was as if someone had lassoed a rope around both her feet.

  Again Gabby stopped, a wave of nausea rising in her throat as she swung her head from side to side, looking for the black shape. And then the sea surged and a bolt of lightning suddenly lit the sky.

  She felt herself roll to the side as she reached down to grab her leg, desperately trying to massage the stiffness from her calf. Slowly the pain subsided. She stretched her leg taut and counted to five, waiting for the cramp to completely disappear before setting off again.

  For the first time she became aware of the rain sweeping across the ocean. Trying to keep her head out of the water, Gabby kept stretching the leg that had cramped,
willing the pain to stay away.

  Fifty strokes, she thought, that’s all. With her head down, Gabby pounded through the sea, stroke after stroke, slowly bridging the gap between her and the three or four boats that were bobbing in the water.

  Her arms and legs were aching and she was nearing exhaustion when finally she felt the gentle push of a wave suddenly lift her slightly higher in the water.

  Gabby swam for her life, and when her hands finally scraped sand, she thought she might cry with happiness.

  She dragged herself out of the water and onto the sand. There was no one around. She wiped her face and tossed her hair around before limping up the beach to a small shed.

  ‘Hello?’ she called.

  ‘Closed,’ a gruff voice called from behind a boat. The smell of paint was overpowering and Gabby lurched away, vomiting sea water onto the grass. Taking some deep breaths to steady herself, she walked back to the boat shed. A clap of thunder shook the tin building.

  ‘Listen here,’ she shouted into the gloom. ‘You need to take me over to the island. Now!’

  ‘I’ll do no such—’

  ‘There are four of my friends over there, and someone who has hurt his leg.’ She waited for the man’s reply, but instead his grizzly face appeared from behind the boat.

  ‘Blast them kids,’ he grunted, wiping his hands and putting on a raincoat. He appeared to notice Gabby for the first time. ‘And I suppose you’re going to tell me that you swum over to raise the alarm?’

  ‘Are there sharks out there?’ Gabby asked, ignoring his question and following the man down to a long white boat with a huge black motor at the back.

  ‘Sharks? Haven’t seen a shark in the bay in thirty years,’ he said. ‘Plenty of seals, though. Now you go and get yourself warm, girlie. I’ll bring the rest of your friends back.’

  Gabby watched the boat motoring away, then walked briskly back to Spray Cottage. She was glad that no one saw her as she snuck in the back way.

  By the time she was out of the shower the others had returned.

  ‘I know, I know,’ Gabby said, holding her arms up. ‘But don’t hug me. Not until you’re all dry. I’ll meet you in the dining room.’