‘And we’ll have energy for hot water and hot food?’ Raven shook his head in disbelief. ‘With wood harder to get, we’d kissed away hot baths years ago.’
‘To think you nearly didn’t let us in.’ Isabella smiled.
The Haggle was in full flight all around them and seemed to be filled with even more kids than before – trading, reading, and playing handball and soccer.
‘We had a visit from Sneddon’s goons,’ Xavier said to Raven.
‘The little snakes have slithered out of their hole? What’d they want?’
‘Sneddon saw the Aerotrope and decided he wants it.’
‘Maybe he should try asking Santa Claus.’ Raven laughed. ‘If he’s been a good boy.’
‘Xavier told me Sneddon tried to get you to pay him,’ Isabella said.
‘He tried.’ Raven flashed a cheeky grin. ‘But we made it very clear we weren’t interested.’
‘How’d you do it?’ Griffin asked.
‘His men threatened us with bounty hunters who’d turn us over to the police. They were pretty nasty about it ... even tried to burn the place down until one of them ended up on the bottom of the river.’
‘You killed him?’ Griffin’s throat tightened.
‘Nah, he stepped onto a rotting floorboard and just ... never came back.’ Griffin gulped. ‘To make sure Sneddon got the message, we paid a visit to his little boat.
‘We held him over the water by his feet. He almost fainted with the terror of it and began babbling, “She’ll get me. Please. She’s after me. Don’t let me fall in.”’
‘She who?’ Griffin was wide-eyed.
‘Maybe it’s that sea monster we heard about,’ Xavier whispered.
‘Why does an adult who’s scared of water live on a ship in the middle of a harbour?’ Isabella frowned. ‘Who’s he hiding from?’
‘The cops? His old principal? The bogeyman? Who knows?’ Raven said. ‘But he must have done something pretty bad for him to stay out there.’
‘So they shouldn’t pay him, right?’ Xavier asked.
‘I’m not saying that,’ Raven answered. ‘If you decide not to, there’s always the risk he’ll want revenge. You can never underestimate any opponent.’ He smiled at Isabella. ‘I know, I’ve done it.’
‘Why does he target us?’ Griffin asked.
‘I’d say it’s those vegies and fruit you grow. You have something he can’t get anywhere else.’
‘Why didn’t you leave when the rescue boats came?’ Isabella asked.
‘I don’t like adults telling me what to do, and this seemed a good opportunity to get away from them.’
‘Don’t you miss your parents?’ Griffin rubbed his arm.
‘Probably as much as they miss me. I’d be in jail now if the floods hadn’t happened. That’s where my dad said I’d end up – and maybe he was right. I’ve quite a talent for stealing things and a temper that once landed a kid in hospital.’
‘Hospital?’ Griffin’s face lost colour.
‘He left in one piece.’ He paused. ‘If Sneddon and his men give you any more trouble, we’ll help you out.’
‘Thanks, but we can take care of ourselves,’ Isabella said.
‘I know that,’ he shot her a knowing glance, ‘but I’d love the chance to pay him another visit.’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A Frantic Cry
‘Woo hoo!’ Xavier yelled into the skies as the Aerotrope’s wings flapped in the breeze.
Griffin dug his fingers around the edges of the cargo box, his eyes clamped shut. ‘Tell me when we’re home,’ he mumbled.
‘The city looks impressive from up here.’ Xavier leant out, tipping the Aerotrope to one side.
Griffin yelped.
‘Sorry about that, Griff.’ He could barely contain a broad smile.
‘We’re nearly there,’ Isabella said. Griffin snuck a quick look of thanks. He was about to shut his eyes when he saw something in the distance. ‘Go faster!’ he shouted.
The panic in Griffin’s voice sank into Xavier and he pedalled harder. The Aerotrope’s wings pushed through the air with more force, the wind flooding beneath them, propelling them forward.
‘What can you see, Griff?’ Isabella asked.
‘Something’s wrong with the building opposite the Palace.’
Isabella scanned the cluster of buildings, desperate to see what Griffin could see. Through wisps of cloud it began to appear. The building seemed to be leaning into the street.
‘Faster!’ Her fingers dug into Xavier’s chest.
Griffin made out the statues on the roof of the Palace, but as they got closer, he saw something else. Fly and Raffy were bent over the edge, searching below.
‘No,’ Griffin whispered. His chest felt as if all the air had been sucked out of him.
Xavier manoeuvred the Aerotrope so that its nose tipped downwards and they plunged lower. It was only at the last moment, just before they were over the roof, that Xavier tilted the wings and turned down the tail to reduce their speed.
The Aerotrope slammed hard against the roof. Xavier gripped the brakes. He grit his teeth as the tyres skidded and bounced past the sculptures, stopping just short of the roof’s edge.
Griffin had already undone his life jacket and torn off his helmet, flinging them aside. He ran to Raffy and Fly and dropped to his knees. He met Fly’s pleading eyes before looking over the edge to see Bea hanging off the building opposite, clinging to a cable. Her legs scrambled to get some kind of grip, but there was nothing.
‘We were scavenging,’ Raffy panted through sniffling cries. ‘The building shifted to the side. We came back straightaway. Bea was last, but the cable snapped and–’
At that moment, Bea looked up. ‘Griffin!’
She gave a brief, hopeful smile before the building staggered forward again with a great yawning creak.
‘Bea!’ Raffy leant dangerously over the edge. Fly and Griffin pulled him back and held him tight.
‘We’ll get her.’ Isabella led Xavier to the Aerotrope, picking up Griffin’s life jacket from where he’d thrown it and tying it around her waist beneath her own. ‘You fly, I’ll abseil down and grab her.’ She snatched the harness from the cable box and slipped it over her head.
They jumped aboard and within seconds Xavier had started her up. The wings came to life and the machine staggered forward.
‘Isabella’s coming, Bea!’ Griffin yelled. ‘Hold on!’
The building tilted forward again. Bea’s scream tore into Griffin. Windows smashed and splintered into the river. Walls cracked and jagged holes formed where clumps of stone broke away.
‘My hands are slipping!’
‘Please hold on, Bea!’ Raffy begged.
The Aerotrope lifted into the air and quickly crossed the divide between the buildings. Isabella secured a rope to the frame of the machine, while Xavier flew over the spot where Bea dangled. She ran the rope through the harness and began to lower herself down.
‘Izzy.’ Bea’s voice was weak.
‘I’m coming, Princess Bea.’
Xavier held the Aerotrope steady.
‘I’m almost–’ Before Isabella could finish, the building jolted downwards and sank whole metres.
Bea slipped down the cable. ‘I can’t hold on.’
‘Just a little longer.’
‘I’m sorry, Izzy.’ Bea’s arms slackened, her legs stopped clambering and she fell.
‘Bea!’ Isabella screamed as the figure of her friend became smaller and smaller until she splashed into the river below.
Isabella unhooked herself from the rope and she plunged after her, slicing though the air before slamming into the tumultuous current.
Griffin scanned the waves, desperately hoping for some sign of the pair.
‘Where are they?’ Raffy tugged forward again, and this time Griffin and Fly only just managed to hold him back. Tears fogged his eyes and he gulped air through bursts of sobbing.
Griffin rose to his feet. ‘Fly, stay her
e with Raffy. I’m going to help.’
Fly shook her head.
‘It’ll be okay.’ His smile looked more like a grimace.
He kicked off his shoes and flung his glasses behind him. He looked down. His head spun and his breath shortened. He lifted his trembling arms, ready to dive. As he went to jump his knees buckled and he collapsed. His upper body hung over the edge.
Raffy and Fly pulled him back. Fly gathered his glasses and slid them onto his nose. Griffin dragged his body upright, clutching his wrist to his chest, racked by wheezing breaths.
Another loud crack echoed from the collapsing building. The river churned and rolled restlessly.
‘There she is!’ Raffy pointed at Bea’s red curls. She spluttered and gasped, her hands smacking the water, trying to find something to hold onto.
‘She keeps getting dragged under.’
Fly held Raffy’s hand in a futile attempt to calm him down.
Isabella emerged from the waves seconds later. She pushed her hair from her face and searched for Bea as another clump of stone broke away and smashed into the water only metres away.
‘She’s there!’ Raffy shouted.
Isabella followed Raffy’s finger and ploughed towards her, slamming her arms into the water.
‘Please, please, please,’ Raffy whispered.
Fly tapped Griffin on the arm and pointed a little way upriver.
There was something stirring in the water.
‘What is it?’
As if in answer to Griffin’s question, a curved back rippling with spikes curled out of the water before rolling back into the swell, pushing aside bulging waves on either side as it plunged below.
‘It’s heading straight for them!’ Raffy pulled forward. ‘Let me go.’
Fly dug her fingers into his arm and held him back.
‘Isabella!’ Griffin called. ‘Watch out!’
She looked up but by then the creature had disappeared.
Bea tried to dog paddle against the current. She struggled to catch her breath between the waves that bullied into her. Behind, the sea beast again rose out of the water.
This time, Isabella saw it.
She paused long enough to take in the sleek movement of its arching back before she swam even harder, pushing against the waves, ignoring the pain in her arms and legs.
Bea slipped beneath the waves again.
‘Bea!’ Isabella stung with the panic of having lost her. She flicked her head, searching the roiling waves, and caught a glimpse of the tips of Bea’s fingers. She dived, grabbing at the water until she felt Bea and pulled her to the surface. Her body was limp and her eyes were closed.
Isabella scooped her up and slipped her arms through the spare life jacket.
Xavier lowered the Aerotrope as the collapsing building threw out another echoing groan and shifted downwards, showering more debris into the water. Isabella shielded Bea’s body with her own, careful to hold her chin above the waves. She threaded the rope from the Aerotrope through the harness before giving Xavier the nod.
The machine slowly lifted. Water cascaded from their shoulders and hips. Again, the spiked back appeared through the waves, only metres away.
Isabella turned to see the animal gaining on them and looked up to Xavier. His face was puce from pedalling as he struggled to lift the Aerotrope.
The creature leapt from the water. With one last surge of energy, Isabella hauled her knees away from rows of hooked, razor-sharp teeth.
That only just missed her. The jaws snapped shut and the creature plunged back into the waves.
Griffin sighed and another yawning creak filled the air.
‘The building’s going to fall on them,’ Raffy spoke through another sob.
Xavier rammed his feet into the pedals, his legs burning from the strain. The Aerotrope slowly gained height as his two twirling passengers were drawn upwards. The street echoed as the building sank further. A piece of windowsill snapped and struck Isabella on the arm. A circle of blood blotched her sleeve.
‘Izzy!’ Griffin watched helplessly as each agonising second passed.
As the Aerotrope approached the Palace, the damaged building gave one last groan before disintegrating in a deafening rush of cracking timber, metal and smashing glass. Walls of spray and wind battered them, but Xavier wouldn’t stop pedalling.
The Palace vibrated beneath Griffin, Raffy and Fly with the last of the collapse. The Aerotrope descended, lowering Isabella and her precious cargo onto the roof.
Griffin took Bea from Isabella’s arms and gently lay her crumpled body down.
‘Bea?’ Raffy patted his sister’s face. ‘Bea, please wake up.’
Isabella stepped out of her harness and knelt beside Bea, tearing open her life jacket. She tilted the young girl’s head back, pinched her nose and blew two short breaths into her mouth. She placed her ear to Bea’s lips to listen for breathing, but there was nothing.
Fly and Griffin crouched on either side of Raffy. Xavier had landed the machine and stumbled over. ‘Is she okay?’
Isabella willed Bea’s deathly still chest to rise. Her face was bluish and pale. Isabella blew two more breaths and turned to listen.
‘Please, please, please,’ Raffy quietly pleaded.
The wind charged into them, turning Isabella’s soaked clothes into an ice blanket. Her reddened fingers struggled to bend as she tried again. She blew two more breaths into Bea’s mouth, but this time she came to life, coughing and spluttering bursts of water.
Isabella folded Bea’s crumpled frame into her arms. ‘Welcome back,’ she whispered.
Raffy kissed his sister on the cheek. ‘You scared me for a minute there.’
‘My throat hurts.’ Bea coughed.
Isabella wiped Bea’s curls from her eyes. ‘I think you may have drunk quite a bit of that river.’
Xavier swooped Bea into a blanket and carried her inside. Griffin watched them enter the Palace. His shoulders fell as he cradled his injured wrist against his chest. Fly noticed it was scratched and bleeding.
‘She’s okay.’ Griffin smiled weakly. ‘No thanks to me.’
Fly wrote on her notepad. ‘You’re my hero.’
‘Thanks, Fly, but if you ever need to be saved you should change heroes.’
Fly shook her head and stabbed him in the chest with her finger.
‘All right,’ Griffin said, ‘but don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
Griffin waited for her to climb inside before he followed. He closed the door of the roof as a creature broke through the water below. It rolled through the waves and away from the Palace.
And then it was gone.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A Suspicious Outing
It was early morning. Just after the hour when the sun would make another attempt at breaking through the clouds. The river flowed and bubbled through the gloom – through the cracks in the buildings, around broken telegraph poles and rusting street signs.
But, otherwise, all was quiet.
The door leading from the roof into the Palace opened, almost without a sound. Xavier stepped inside before carefully closing it. There was a small sigh of relief – until a stream of light snapped on.
‘Where have you been?’ Griffin shone a torch into Xavier’s eyes.
Xavier flinched and clasped one hand to his chest. ‘Is it just me or do you enjoy scaring people to death when you say hello?’ In the other hand he held a large bag draped over his back. ‘And where’d you get the torch?’
‘It’s a wind-up torch. The energy from the windup mechanism powers the bulb.’
‘Griff, you never cease to–’
‘Where have you been?’ Another light flicked on. Isabella sat in a lounge, her arm bandaged, a coiled rope nestled like a snake on her lap.
‘Out.’
‘For a midnight stroll?’ Griffin asked.
‘That’s funny. If you’re not careful, Griffy, you might develop a sense of humour.’
Xavier
walked away but was stopped abruptly by the rope that lassoed him around the waist.
‘Tell us where you’ve been or we’ll throw you from the rooftop,’ Isabella said.
‘Pull any harder on that rope and I won’t be able to tell you.’ He grimaced.
‘Where were you?’ Isabella demanded.
‘I went to get something.’
‘From the Haggle?’
‘Not exactly.’
‘How “not exactly”?’ Griffin asked.
‘Not at all, actually.’
Isabella pulled the rope tighter. ‘You have thirty seconds to tell me where you went and what you were doing.’
‘If you loosen the rope I’ll show you,’ Xavier wheezed.
Isabella stepped over to him and shook the rope free.
Xavier lowered the bag and rubbed his arms. ‘Almost lost circulation there.’
He opened the sack and lifted out a leg of ham and, very carefully, opened a round tin to reveal a rich chocolate cake. ‘They didn’t have ice-cream, but I was hoping Bea would forgive me. There are a few other things in here, too.’
‘Where did you get them?’ Isabella asked.
Xavier shrugged. ‘Around.’
‘You found a fresh chocolate cake in a city that’s been flooded for three years?’ Griffin’s eyes narrowed.
Xavier hesitated. ‘I went outside Grimsdon. To the parts that aren’t flooded. The cake was sitting on a windowsill, just begging to be mine.’
Griffin and Isabella exchanged glances.
‘How did you get there?’ Isabella breathed.
‘With the Aerotrope.’ He pulled a brass disc from his pocket. ‘I used a map and this compass. I was pretty good at orienteering before the floods.’
‘What’s it like?’ Griffin cradled his bandaged wrist to his chest.
Xavier tried to make light of it: ‘Drier than here.’
‘Is it far?’ Isabella asked.
‘Takes about half an hour. If you’ve got the wind behind you, it’s even faster.’
‘What if you’d been caught? What if they traced you back to us?’ Griffin asked.
‘No-one saw me – and, even if they did, I’m just a clever kid with a vivid imagination, who made a flying machine. I don’t fly directly into towns, I stop on the outskirts where there are plenty of empty buildings and hide the Aerotrope before I go in.’
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