Deep Water

by Whitcroft, Isla;

  ‘Poke at their eyes,’ he advised, ‘or anywhere on their heads.’ Michel looked scared but determined. ‘Whatever happens to me or Noah or Josie, your job is to keep the boat upright. Stay out of the water at all costs.’

  Cate nodded. She could clearly see the black, lifeless eyes of the sharks that were circling, sensing the fear of their prey.

  ‘You’re safe now,’ she called to Josie and Noah, sounding much braver than she felt. ‘We’re going to throw you a line and pull you towards us. We’ll try and beat the sharks away as we go.’

  Just as she spoke, Cate heard a sickening thud just underneath her feet, throwing her to the bottom of the boat. For a few terrifying seconds the dinghy reared up, the engine revving madly, propellers whizzing through the air, before the boat dropped down again on the water with a heavy bang.

  ‘Jeez,’ breathed Cate, climbing back to her seat. ‘That felt close.’ She looked up at Michel who had somehow stayed on his feet. He had a rope and was trying to toss it to Noah who didn’t want to let go of his paddle to catch it.

  ‘Come oonnnnn!’ Michel was almost screaming now in frustration. From the shore Cate could hear the cries of Mitsu and the twins as they too attempted to shake Noah and Josie out of their shock-induced stupor.

  On the third attempt, Josie finally put out her hand to catch the rope and tied it, with shaking hands, to the rear of the kayak.

  Just as she did so, another large fin appeared, making straight for the side of the kayak. The head of the shark reared up and out of the water right beside Josie. She screamed and instinctively jerked on the rope. The kayak reared up, tipping them towards the water, where they could see the demented sharks, mouths gaping wide open, a prelude to a nightmare.

  Cate felt sick, hardly daring to breathe as Michel began to gently pull on the rope. The kayak righted and slowly, painfully slowly, moved towards them. Suddenly revitalised, Noah grabbed his paddle and began to steer the kayak in and out of the ever-moving fins. Cate stared down into the water trying to work out where the next attack would come from.

  ‘Look out,’ she cried in terror to Michel, as another shark began its run into the side of the dinghy.

  ‘Hit it, Cate! Now!’ commanded Michel, still pulling on the rope. Cate held the stick out like a spear, watching with horrified fascination as the shark sped towards her. At the last moment it lifted its great head out of the water and Cate struck with her makeshift weapon, hitting it hard between the eyes.

  Thrust forward by its momentum, the shark didn’t stop, but the thud against the boat was less damaging than before. This time the dinghy only rocked.

  ‘Gotcha!’ yelled Michel, making it sound like a battle cry. ‘And again, behind you.’

  Cate turned and saw another shark, darker, bigger, headed directly towards the rear of the dinghy. This time she was calmer, waiting until the shark was almost by the boat before hitting out and then, when it reeled back in surprise, fending it off with the fence post.

  By now the kayak was just a few metres away. ‘Make a noise,’ shouted Cate to Noah and Josie. ‘Shout, splash your paddles, bang on the boat.’

  Slowly at first, and then with gathering speed, the bedraggled couple did as Cate instructed them. By the time Michel had pulled the kayak up close to the dinghy and was lashing the two vessels together so the kayak wouldn’t tip, Josie and Noah were both yelling and shouting at the top of their voices.

  Beside them, Cate hit the water with the post, watching with relief as the sharks retreated further and further away from the noise.

  ‘Head for the beach,’ grunted Michel.

  Cate inched the rudder cautiously around until at last the dinghy and the kayak were facing the beach. Everyone on the shore was shouting and hollering in triumph.

  Now they were into shallow waters. Up ahead of them, the waves crashed gently onto the beach and finally, thankfully, Cate felt the nose of the boat grinding onto the sand. She turned off the engine and waited while Tuyen and Dan helped a shaken-looking Noah and Josie to safety. Jacob stood staring out to sea, his face pale.

  ‘What the hell happened out there?’ said Tuyen, as Cate finally clambered out of the boat and onto the shore to be greeted by hugs and tears. ‘Have the sharks gone crazy?’

  Jacob shook his head dismissively. ‘It’s a one-off, guys,’ he said firmly. ‘Tiger sharks don’t attack like that, not in packs and never so near to shore. They must have mistaken you for a shoal of fish or maybe turtles. Don’t panic, it won’t happen again. I’ll stake my PhD on it.’

  Cate looked at Michel, who was very quiet.

  He took a deep breath and pushed her wet hair away from her face. ‘You OK, cherie? You were amazing out there. Incredible.’

  ‘You were pretty awesome yourself,’ said Cate, feeling slightly embarrassed. ‘We make a good team.’

  She suddenly felt exhausted, the last of the jetlag and the aftermath of the intense fear overwhelming her. ‘I just have to have a sleep,’ she said.

  Michel looked at her, then put his arm around her waist, supporting her body weight easily with his strong arms. A few minutes later, Cate was lying on the camp bed in her tepee. A light mosquito net floated gently above her and she could feel a warm breeze coming in through the half open doorway.

  ‘Sleep tight, Cate,’ said Michel, kissing her on the forehead. ‘Don’t worry! I’ll wake you in time for dinner.’

  Cate just had enough time to smile sleepily back at him before her eyelids dropped and darkness closed over her.

  She had no idea how long she slept but, although it was still light when she woke, she could tell from the coolness of the breeze on her bare arms that it must be quite late. She lay still for a minute, listening to the gentle sound of sea, the hum of the cicadas and the squalling and clattering of the forest birds going about their business just a few metres away.

  Cate breathed deeply, taking in the clean scent of pine and eucalyptus. She felt surprisingly fresh but in no hurry to get up. Even the drama and fear of the shark attack had receded with the benefit of a good sleep. She was sure Jacob knew what he was talking about – it must have been just a random event. There was no reason to let it spoil her holiday.

  There was a light shuffling outside and then the sound of the tepee hatch being lifted back. Michel, thought Cate happily. She turned lazily on her pillow towards the entrance and was stunned to see someone entering on hands and knees. The face that was turned towards Cate was a picture of misery. Wet streaks ran down her large dusty cheeks and her huge light blue eyes brimmed over with tears.

  ‘Josie?’ Cate asked tentatively. After her deep sleep the events of a few hours ago seemed like a dream or, more likely a nightmare, and she wasn’t sure she could even remember what the girl in the kayak had looked like.

  Josie nodded, put a finger to her lips and looked cautiously over her shoulder and back out through the door. Seeing that they were still alone she suddenly scurried over to Cate’s bed and crouched next to her, fixing her eyes on Cate’s.

  Cate began to feel distinctly uneasy. ‘Josie,’ she said again, pushing herself slowly up on her bed. She felt vulnerable and defenceless lying down in front of stranger, particularly one that was clearly very emotional. ‘Are you OK? What’s up?’

  The movement seemed to wake the girl out of her trance. She sat cross-legged in front of Cate and unlocked her gaze from her eyes. ‘I wanted to thank you,’ she said in a voice so quiet that Cate had to strain to hear it. ‘For saving my life. I was so, so frightened. I really thought I was going to die out there.’

  The tears began again, silently. It was an unnerving sight, particularly for Cate, who had always struggled with huge displays of emotion. Throughout her life Cate’s mum had turned tears on and off at will, using her highly honed histrionics as a weapon to get her own way both with her husband and her children. As a result, Cate had a tendency to see all tears as slightly fake, something to be ignored until they passed. It was a trait she hated in herself and now
she fought hard to overcome it.

  ‘Hey,’ said Cate, swinging her legs around onto the floor and holding out her hand to Josie. ‘Please don’t cry. I’m not surprised you were terrified. I was too. I thought you were amazing to hang on for so long. But look Josie, what happened to you today was a freak thing. A one-off. You heard Jacob. Sharks don’t hunt in packs, or attack like soldiers. They must have mistaken you for a shoal of fish, or a seal, that’s all. These things happen sometimes in this part of the world.’

  The girl rocked slightly. It was time to get practical, Cate thought. ‘Josie, you need some food and some sleep. Have you had either?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Come on,’ said Cate, standing up and gently pulling her to her feet. ‘Let me take you to the kitchen. We’ll get you something to eat and then you need to get your head down. I feel brilliant for my kip and I can guarantee you that after a good night’s sleep it won’t seem half as bad as it does now. You’ll see it for what it was – a piece of really bad luck that won’t happen again.’

  They were eyeball to eyeball when Josie spoke again. ‘You can’t say that,’ she whispered. ‘You don’t know things like I do.’

  Cate stared at her first in astonishment, then with a mixture of curiosity and foreboding. ‘What don’t I know, Josie?’ she asked.

  ‘Things aren’t right here,’ said Josie. Cate felt her hands shaking. ‘I mean really not right. First Rafe disappeared, then the turtles were attacked by the sharks, not to mention the lights at night out in the bay.’

  Cate looked at her incredulously.

  ‘No one believes me but I’ve seen them,’ said Josie. ‘I don’t sleep well and sometimes I get up and go for a walk. I’ve seen them, one night and then not for a few nights, then back again. Not boats, not fishermen, just lights. Blue, purple, coming up through the water for a few seconds, then gone. It’s been going on since I got here.’ She looked at Cate defiantly, as if willing her to laugh. Whatever she saw in Cate’s face must have reassured her for she went on breathlessly, ‘I want to go, to leave here, but I can’t. I promised.’ She sighed deeply.

  The girl was clearly unstable, thought Cate. But that didn’t mean she should discount what Josie said, or indeed what she had seen. ‘Josie,’ she said slowly and quietly, so as not to frighten her. ‘When was the last time you saw the lights?’

  Josie thought for a few seconds. ‘Three nights ago,’ she said. ‘It was dark, no stars. I saw them clearly.’

  Cate tried another tack. ‘Have you seen strangers around here in the last few weeks? Older men, dark, perhaps speaking Spanish?’ She paused. ‘South American?’

  The effect was electrifying. Josie pulled her hands sharply away from Cate and span on her heel, heading towards the tepee doorway before Cate could stop her.

  ‘Josie,’ Cate called. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Please come back.’

  Josie stopped and turned around. ‘If I were you,’ she said, her voice clear and firm for the first time, ‘I’d leave here and never, ever come back.’

  And then she was gone, leaving a totally bewildered and astonished Cate staring after her.

  CHAPTER 9

  Darkness had fallen suddenly and completely, and with it came the noises of the forest at night. The cicadas sounded more urgent than they had earlier in the day, and the regular croaking rasp of the sugar cane toads cut through the chorus as they called to their mates. Up in the trees, attracted by the light of the fire, huge black fruit bats circled and dived back and forth from their perches, and every so often the outraged squawk of a parrot could be heard warning others of a possible night predator.

  All of them – apart from Josie who had finally been put to bed by Amber and Jade – were sitting around the campfire munching their way through a quickly rustled-up dinner of crabs, prawns and lobster. For a while the conversation had been all about the shark attack, with Jacob repeating his calm reassurances to the still shaken eco-warriors, but after a while it seemed as if there was an unspoken agreement to change the subject and gradually they broke into small groups, chatting quietly together about this and that in the firelight.

  Cate and Michel sat close together on a large flat rock.

  ‘Look at those stars,’ said Cate, looking up. ‘I had no idea they could be so bright.’

  ‘The first time I saw these night skies I couldn’t believe it either,’ he said, his warm arm around her shoulder. ‘There is so much artificial light in Europe that we never get to see them in all their glory. It’s almost unreal.’

  ‘Hey, Michel,’ Jacob called from the other side of the campfire where he was perched between Amber and Jade. ‘Quit being all French and romantic and get some music going.’

  Michel laughed, gave Cate a last hug and disappeared. A few minutes later he was back carrying his saxophone.

  ‘You brought it?’ Cate said, surprised.

  ‘I told you, cherie, I never go anywhere without my saxophone. A bit like you and your running shoes.’

  Cate smiled at him happily as he sat back down next to her, brought the mouthpiece to his lips and began to blow. The soft gentle sounds filled the night air, bluesy jazz followed by a few Beatles numbers, Bob Dylan and then, to Cate’s delight, one of her favourite classics, ‘Wonderful Tonight’ by Eric Clapton. By now everyone was singing, their voices merging with the crackle of the campfire and the sounds of the night forest into one magical chorus. Cate looked around her at the faces. They seemed so relaxed, so laid-back, yet just a few hours earlier two of their number had been facing a shark attack. Was it because they were so used to living in the wilderness, being pitted against nature, that the odd run-in with the wildlife was seen as inevitable? Or was it just their way of coping with the unthinkable?

  There was something nagging away at her. Something that Josie had said about the lights. Cate sighed inwardly Tomorrow she was going to have to start work. But tonight . . . She took another look up at the huge stars. Tonight she was going to enjoy herself.

  ‘You played “Wonderful Tonight”,’ said Cate to Michel as they walked down to the beach, hand in hand, leaving the others to enjoy the hypnotic heat of the campfire. ‘You remembered.’

  ‘It’s my favourite now,’ said Michel, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. ‘It’s our favourite. Our song.’

  They walked silently through the dunes onto the beach. Between the bright stars the moon was a narrow crescent, but still powerful enough to turn the sea and the beach an eerie silvery grey.

  Far out to sea, Cate could see endless clusters of yellow and white lights, some large, some small, a few just solitary pinpoints in the endless darkness. The Friday Islands, she thought.

  ‘Careful here,’ warned Michel. ‘You have to keep a close look-out for the turtles. They don’t hear you or, if they do, they don’t care. They are on a mission to get to the place where they need to lay their eggs, and self-preservation doesn’t seem to come into it.’

  As he spoke, Cate caught a movement down to her left. She focused her gaze intently, then she saw it – a curved dome rising out of the sands, moving laboriously and almost painfully along the beach towards them.

  The four flippers pulled clumsily across the sand, but despite the huge effort, the turtle showed no sign of stopping. Her long neck stuck out at an odd angle from the shell, her wrinkled head and beady eyes giving her an air of an ancient but wise old crone.

  She looked at them and then away, disinterested. As Michel said, she didn’t seem to be afraid and certainly not distracted from her task by their presence. She started to dig, her powerful rear flippers spraying sand out behind her as she worked.

  ‘It’s awesome,’ Cate whispered to Michel. ‘I can’t believe I’m seeing this!’

  A few minutes later the nest was ready. With what seemed to Cate to be a sigh of relief the turtle lowered her back end into the newly created hole and crouched, almost unnaturally still.

  ‘There,’ breathed Michel. ‘Can you see the egg
s?’

  As the turtle shifted slightly, Cate saw the glistening pile of milky white eggs nestled in the newly dug sand.

  ‘There’s loads,’ she said. ‘She must be laying dozens.’

  ‘Maybe up to a hundred, one hundred and fifty,’ said Michel. ‘And she will come back three or four times this season. I have seen this so many times already but it still blows my mind.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ said Cate, watching as the turtle, finally relieved of her eggs, began using her front flippers to cover the eggs with a loose layer of sand. ‘Will she sit on them?’

  Michel laughed quietly. ‘She doesn’t have much of a mother’s instincts, that’s for sure,’ he said. ‘She covers them up, and that’s her done. Now it is up to chance. Turtles’ eggs are tasty things. Wild dogs, sea birds and even snakes will hunt them out.’

  ‘That’s where we come in?’ Cate asked, watching as the turtle began to shuffle towards the sea without so much as a backward glance.

  ‘That’s right. I will mark the new nest now, and tomorrow we will build a small fence around it to help keep predators out. If we see too many predators hanging around we might dig them up and move them into the nursery at the far end of beach. I’ll show you it tomorrow.’

  ‘Wow,’ said Cate. ‘It’s amazing that you all go to so much trouble. Is it that important to keep the turtle population going around here?’

  ‘It’s important everywhere,’ Michel explained. ‘Thousands of turtles are killed each year for their meat, or because they get caught up in nets or boat propellers. Some are still being hunted for their shell, even though that’s been illegal for decades. Now every single species of sea turtle in the world is endangered. To lose them would be a disaster – not just because they are so beautiful. They are one of the few creatures who actually graze on the bottom of the seabed, which means that other creatures can live and breed there. And,’ Michel continued, his voice less serious now, ‘they are one of the few creatures that can safely eat box jellyfish. So with turtles around, there are a lot less jellyfish to give you and me a nasty sting.’