The sea raged around them.
Rachel was huddled on the floor of the cockpit, soaked. Ben took her arm and guided her into the cabin and shouted, ‘Look after the dog.’ She slumped onto the seat, incredibly grateful to get in out of the blast.
Aleksey levered himself across to the wheel, holding onto the edge of the deck. Harry nodded amiably at him.
Up ahead, Aleksey could see the island.
Just as importantly, perhaps, he could spot nothing behind them.
Yet.
Beyond the tiny green jewel of Light Island, however, was a vast lowering storm cloud that appeared to stroke the ocean with draping sheets of grey.
They were trapped between two evils.
Harry kept them bow into the waves, foamy swells exploding each side, soaking them all. When they came into the lea by the dock, the boathouse doors were closed, and Aleksey assumed Squeezy had got his boat safely in. He nodded to the dock, and when the boat flung against it, Ben jumped out and caught the lines thrown to him.
Secured, the little yacht fought furiously against its restrains.
Ben helped them all onto the old wooden jetty, and Snodgrass, just as Radulf and PB had done once before, headed so fast for the beach that they all gave wry smiles to each other, despite the seriousness of the situation.
Ben led the way, Harry behind them, and even with his toils in the storm, the old man still seemed remarkably spry, as if it had not been old age holding him back but some inner turmoil he was now battling more successfully.
There was no sign of anyone.
Aleksey didn’t know if this was a good sign or not.
What if Molly had opened the chimera on the train? What if they were now all starting to suffer its effects? Was it already spreading around the people who’d made that journey with them? The port, the ferry, the harbour on St Mary’s?
Then an icy chill ran down his spine. What if she’d opened it when she’d gotten home from the trip to Exeter? He tried to recall what they’d all done when they’d returned. It had been raining, he remembered that. Had Sarah played with Molly indoors, and had Molly, bored and frustrated and unable to go outside, begun to investigate the thing she had found in the suitcase? Had Rachel been right that they’d added a delay of days to this plague’s virulent effects? What if they were all already infected and nothing they did now could affect the outcome of this horror? He stopped them all, his hand on Ben’s arm. ‘I am not…well, Ben. What if it has already escaped into the world, and I am already starting to show—?’
‘No!’ Ben’s jaw clenched. ‘You got shot in the fucking face, Nikolas, that’s all. Suck it up and let’s go!’
Aleksey decided it was one of those times to just do as your boyfriend ordered. They broke into a run when they saw the house.
Ben burst in through the door, flung open the inner ones.
Aleksey exploded in after him.
Snodgrass, wet paws, tried to stop himself but ended up skidding right down the shallow, curved steps into the room, and his momentum took him skimming and spinning over the old wood floor.
Everyone turned to look at them.
They appeared to be in the middle of a Monopoly game, the three children lying on their bellies in front of a roaring fire. Enid, feet up, was reading and sipping a cup of tea in a deep, comfortable armchair, and the two dogs were in their usual upside down comas in their heaped nest of blankets.
At the noise, Squeezy and Babushka appeared from the kitchen, wiping hands on tea towels.
Everyone started talking at once.
Ben scooped Molly up and took her into a corner of the room, cradling her head, stroking through her hair. She naturally objected strenuously to this removal from the interesting action, and began to cry to be put down. The dogs, not nearly as dead as they’d appeared to be, took umbrage at another canine in their house, especially one pirouetting his entrance, until they appeared to recognise Snodgrass and find his odd briny smell intriguing enough not to kill him. Snodgrass, towered over by the two huge dogs, collapsed on his back and offered them his belly and any other parts they might wish to partake of. It was a sure-fire tactic. A twitch of his stumpy tail sealed the friendship deal.
Enid was trying to get Miles to explain to her what was happening, but Miles was clearly too intrigued by the two strangers to reply, and had immediately fixated on the human one, Rachel, who did appear as if something very, very bad had happened to her. Only Emilia seemed to hold her nerve. Aleksey went towards her. ‘Where is the telescope?’
She immediately fetched it from the bookshelf.
‘How fast can you run?’
‘Faster than you by the look of it.’ Her hand brushed her own cheek in pained wonder.
