Grimsdon (10 page)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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.'

‘You've been before?' Isabella asked.

‘A few times. I thought the kids deserved a treat. Especially after yesterday.'

Isabella crossed her arms. ‘Why didn't you tell us...'

Xavier put his finger to his lips and snuck the cake behind his back when he saw a bleary-eyed Fly holding a blanket and her notebook.

‘Fly,' Isabella said. ‘Sorry we woke you ... but we...'

‘We've got a special treat for breakfast,' Xavier said.

Fly tried to peek behind his back.

‘It's a surprise.' He smiled. ‘Can you wake the others and set the table?'

She looked to Isabella, who nodded.

‘After the kids have their treat,' Griffin warned, ‘we'll talk further.'

Once the table had been set, Isabella, Griffin and the kids waited at the dining table.

‘What's going on?' Bea's voice was still croaky from the day before.

‘Fly wrote that you have a surprise for us,' Raffy said eagerly.

They heard a bang from the kitchen.

‘Is he okay in there?' Bea asked.

Griffin crossed his arms. ‘If we're lucky, he's–'

‘Almost finished,' Isabella interrupted.

‘Everyone ready?' Xavier cried out.

‘Yes!' Raffy shouted back.

Xavier appeared from the kitchen wearing oversized red pyjamas stuffed with a pillow, a large fluffy wig and beard. He was wheeling a small cart covered with a large white cloth. ‘Ho, ho, ho!'

Bea's eyes widened and Raffy's face spread into a huge smile.

‘Now, I know it's not Christmas,' Xavier said in a deep voice, ‘but I hear you kids have been so good that you deserve some early presents.' He dived under the cloth and pulled out ham laid on a silver serving platter with a large loaf of bread.

Raffy rubbed his stomach. ‘Please tell me this isn't one of my ham dreams again.'

Xavier carved a slice and handed it to Raffy on a plate. He closed his eyes and sniffed.
‘Mmm ...
it is real.'

‘And now, Miss Fly.' Xavier again disappeared under the cloth and pulled out a double-layered chocolate cake filled with cream and strawberries.

Fly's mouth dropped open.

‘And with chocolate cake you need...' Xavier handed over a small jug of cream and a bottle of fudge sauce. Fly unscrewed the lid and took a deep breath, a rare smile playing on her lips.

Xavier's voice softened. ‘And for Bea, who I hear has been especially good, we have this.'

‘Chocolate!' Bea tore open the packet, broke off two pieces and gave one to Raffy. ‘Let's do it together.'

The two watched each other, careful to eat the chocolate at the same time. When it touched their mouths, they sighed and fell against each other laughing.

‘Let's eat!' Xavier announced.

Plates circled the table and were filled with ham and thick slices of bread. Fly held out her notepad to Xavier:
Where did you get it all?

‘I went inland.'

‘Where there are no floods?' Bea whispered.

‘Did the police try and make you stay?' Raffy asked.

‘I was careful no-one saw me.'

‘What does it look like?' Griffin asked.

‘A long way after the floodwaters stop, there's a lot of dry mud and empty houses. The outskirts of the city are marked by wire fences and watchtowers. I guess they're looking out for any more floods.'

‘Or they don't want people going out or coming in,' Griffin said.

‘Do you want to go back, Raffy?' Isabella asked.

‘No. It's too mean. It's better here.'

‘Too mean?' Xavier asked.

‘A few days after the floods, Bea and I were rescued. They took us inland to these huge army barracks to sort everyone out. There were people everywhere. They said, because they couldn't find our parents, they were going to send us to live with other families.'

Bea put on a toffy voice: ‘There are so many of you children that we have to find new homes for, we simply
can't
ask people to raise
two.'
Bea looked Raffy up and down. ‘By the look of you both, I suspect keeping an eye on
one
of you is enough.'

‘When I told them we wouldn't be separated, they didn't listen,' Raffy said.

Bea pointed a fork at Raffy's chest. ‘You'll go where we send you, and you'll be grateful to have a home at all.'

The twins giggled.

‘We escaped a few times–' Bea said.

‘But the police kept finding us and returning us to our separate houses.' Raffy screwed up his face. ‘We hadn't been separated since we were born. We weren't going to start just because those snot-noses said so.'

‘We kept telling them–' Bea began.

‘But I think they thought we'd–'

‘Get over it and–'

‘Stay put.'

‘Silly things,' they said together and giggled.

‘We made a pact,' Bea said. ‘We were going to go somewhere they couldn't find us, and hide until they forgot all about us. So we came back.'

‘We found a dinghy in an abandoned house.'

‘One time I nearly lost Raffy overboard.'

‘We knew it would be dangerous, but we had to leave, so we sailed into Grimsdon and hid in an abandoned department store until Isabella found us.'

‘Can we have cake now?'

After they'd had their fill, Isabella led the younger kids into the kitchen to do the dishes, leaving Xavier and Griffin behind.

‘You enjoyed being Father Christmas.' Griffin stared from across the table.

‘Don't think I left you out.' Xavier took a comic from his back pocket.

‘Condor Man,' Griffin whispered. ‘I haven't seen one of these since I was ... How did you know?'

‘It was in your diary.'

Griffin's eyes flared. ‘You read my diary?'

‘It was just sitting there.' Xavier shrugged.

‘I keep it under my pillow, in my room, which I never said you could go into.'

‘All right, but once I took it out from under your pillow and put it on the bed,
then
it was just sitting there.'

‘I knew you couldn't be trusted, from the second you broke into our house you stank of lies.'

Xavier winced and held his hand across his chest. ‘I'm hurt.'

‘Even now you're lying.'

‘Why would I lie?'

‘I haven't worked that out yet.'

‘Let me know when you do.' Xavier sat back and nestled his hands behind his head.

Griffin threw the comic back across the table. ‘You think all you have to do is hand out stuff and everyone will love you.'

‘Not as much as you wish Isabella would love you.'

‘You don't know anything,' Griffin hissed.

‘I know you have a crush on her.'

Griffin slammed his fist into the table. ‘I don't!'

Xavier frowned. ‘So what you wrote in your diary isn't true?'

‘What is in my private diary is
private.'

‘So it is true?'

‘No,' Griffin blustered.

‘So the staring, the hanging off her every word, those long, pining looks you have whenever she leaves the room – that's not a crush?'

‘I care about everyone here. We're all we've got. If we don't look out for each other then we have nothing.'

Xavier looked up as if he was trying to remember. ‘“How is it possible that each day Isabella is more beautiful and more kind. If only she would–”'

‘Stop it!' Griffin slammed his hands onto the table.

‘What's going on?' Isabella stood in the doorway.

‘We were having a friendly chat.' Xavier was all innocence.

‘About what?'

Griffin straightened himself up, his cheeks smudged red. ‘About–'

‘Boys' stuff.' Xavier grinned. ‘You know, flying machines, football, hammers.'

‘Hammers?' Isabella eyed them warily.

‘They're exciting once you get going. I'd better get the Velocraft ready for our visit to fish man.' He whistled as he slipped past them.

‘What was that about?' Isabella asked Griffin.

‘Something doesn't feel believable about his story.' Griffin clutched his bandaged wrist.

‘None of our stories sounds believable.'

‘So why don't I trust
him?'

‘Because he's a show-off, and he's probably added a few extra bits to make himself sound heroic.'

‘But how does he know that by going into Grimsdon he won't be caught or lead people to us, or that telling us to stop paying Sneddon won't get us into trouble?'

Isabella placed her hand on Griffin's. ‘None of us knows the answers – and he can be annoying, I know, but he also helped save Bea's life, and he didn't hesitate for a second.'

Griffin felt the warmth of Isabella's hand. ‘He's earnt his place here, Griffin. At least for now.'

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

‘Sit, sit.' The tassel on the old man's hat swung around his head as he fussed with cushions and chairs.

Isabella could see he had tidied up ... or at least tried to. There was still the same amount of junk, just in neater piles. He'd even dragged a small table beside the chairs, placed a cloth over it and put a vase with a plastic rose in the centre, along with a tin of toffee-coated nuts.

‘Went exploring. Found a room I'd never seen before. Where they must have had...' He clicked his fingers. ‘What do you call music, dancing, eating?'

‘Parties?' Isabella suggested.

‘Yes!' The old man laughed loudly and held out a chair for Isabella.

‘Thank you, sir,' she said.

He blushed, reached for the tin of nuts and cut it open with a knife.

Xavier reached over and shovelled a few in his mouth before realising his mistake. His face soured and he stopped chewing. The use-by date had passed over two years ago.

‘Oh!' The old man's hands flung into the air. ‘Found something else!'

Xavier spat the nuts into a bit of old newspaper as the man pulled a wallet from his pocket and handed a card to Isabella. ‘Driver's licence.'

Isabella read the card and held out her hand. ‘It's nice to meet you, Jeremiah Pain.'

Jeremiah shook her hand and smiled. ‘I haven't heard it said for so long. Nice it is. And there's this!'

He took out a business card.

‘Physical Oceanographer.' Isabella looked up. ‘What do they do?'

‘They work on tides,' Griffin answered. ‘And study the influence of the ocean on climate.'

‘This is Griffin,' Isabella said. ‘He's the smart one who grows the apples.'

Griffin handed over a bagful with his good hand. ‘Nice to meet you.'

Jeremiah took a big whiff and placed the bag on the table. His eyes settled on Griffin. ‘A Griffin can see further than the rest. Half lion, half eagle. A protector: swift and dangerous.'

Xavier patted Griffin on the back. ‘I think you might have the wrong Griffin.'

He pulled away. ‘My mum liked the name.'

‘Sometimes we come late to who we really are,' Jeremiah said. ‘I'm glad you're back.' His eyes tearedup. ‘I was afraid you wouldn't. Especially after I'd almost whacked you with a fish.'

‘It's lucky you have such bad aim.' Isabella smiled.

‘Is this the astrolabe?' Griffin ran his fingers over the metal-ringed object. ‘It's beautiful.'

Jeremiah wiped his eyes with his many scarves and nodded.

‘Isabella said you used this to help predict the floods.'

‘And that the government didn't take you seriously.' Xavier shook his head.

‘It was perplexing,' Jeremiah sighed.

‘Can I see
The Predictions?'

Jeremiah scampered to the shelves, wheezing as he brought back the oversized book. Griffin carefully turned the pages: on the thin, fragile sheets were drawings of flying machines, alien-like spacecraft and volcanic explosions. ‘It's better than I ever thought it could be.'

Jeremiah grew teary again before he jumped a few times, clapped his hands and scooped up the stuffed bear. ‘We thought you'd come to see the Submariner.'

‘The Submariner?' Isabella asked.

Jeremiah looked a little sheepish. ‘My ark.'

‘You have an ark?' Xavier laughed.

‘Neighbours laughed, too. Built it in my backyard for the floods.' His voice was unsure. ‘Would you like to see it? It's quite special underwater. Peaceful.'

‘We'd love to.' Isabella's words brought Jeremiah's smile flooding back.

‘Oh, fun! You were right, Snowy, they want to. Follow me.'

He hurried to the marble stairs, where the ties from his slippers flopped as he jumped down each one.

The lowest balcony in the atrium stood only a metre above the water in the foyer of the library. Bobbing beside it was a silver egg-shaped craft. A glass window rounded the front and on either side was a porthole, each siting above a metal fin. A ladder hugged one side, leading to an open hatch at the top.

Jeremiah gave a bow. ‘Welcome aboard.'

‘You sure this is safe?' Griffin looked the Submariner over.

Jeremiah lay his hand across his heart. ‘You have my word.' He held up the bear. ‘And Snowy's.'

Xavier slapped Griffin on the back. ‘What more do you need, Griffman?'

Isabella climbed up the ladder and slipped easily inside. Griffin hesitated long enough for Xavier to hurry past and take the seat beside her.

Jeremiah saw Griffin's face fall. ‘After you, sir.'

‘I get a little claustrophobic,' he whispered.

‘You'll be fine in front. With the window. You can help sail.'

Griffin took a deep breath and climbed inside. Jeremiah pulled the hatch shut behind them and gave several firm twists of a wheel to lock it. Inside were two rows of cushioned chairs, life jackets hanging in pouches and cupboards labelled food, drink and medical supplies. Several pairs of binoculars hung from hooks, and a large compass sat on the dashboard.

‘It works like a submarine. There's a thin cavity inside the walls.' He nodded towards a small red tap. ‘To descend, we open this valve and the cavity fills with water: the Submariner becomes heavy and we sink! To surface, pump this lever and the water is expelled. When it's empty, shut the valve and she floats.' He pointed to a metal platform on the floor and grinned a Cheshire grin.

‘At your feet is a treadle. Operates the fins on the side and underneath. And the lights. Push your toe first, then your heel. I can do it alone, but it'll be faster with all of us.'

They each started pedalling as Jeremiah instructed, and the Submariner slowly sailed through an internal doorway into a large, stone entrance surrounded by tall stained-glass windows.

‘Open valve,' Jeremiah cried.

Griffin turned the tap and the ship immediately began to submerge. He instinctively gulped a lungful of air as the water edged up the windows until it swallowed the Submariner whole. ‘Are you sure it's watertight?'

‘Sure as my name is...' He stopped and frowned.

‘Jeremiah,' Isabella reminded him.

‘Yes, that's it. Still getting used to it.'

The headlights cut through the murky water. Jeremiah steered the vessel outside. They drifted over the once towering doors that had fallen from their hinges and between two stone lions, standing upright, poised to defend the entrance to the death.

‘It's like driving in Atlantis.' Xavier peered out the porthole at the grey, eerie scene, with its streetlights caked in barnacles, overturned cars and shopfronts with their smudged signs: Optometrist, Café, Chemist. Inside were fallen shelves, empty counters and clusters of toppled tables and chairs, swaying with the currents.

Jeremiah steered the Submariner off the main street and down a side road that led to the harbour. It ended in a small retaining wall, collapsed in part, and as they sailed over it the harbour floor spread out before them. Spaghetti-like squid shot by and jellyfish drifted on the currents. Luminescent schools of miniature fish, sea dragons and seahorses disappeared in and out of an overturned car, shopping trolleys, a fridge – even a double-decker bus.

‘Messy bunch, us humans.' Jeremiah sighed. ‘Forgot to take care of what we had.'

‘What do you think happened to the people who survived?' Isabella asked.

‘Moved to new places. Can't be good, though. Economies crumbling, people homeless, unemployed, animal species gone. Take a long time to recover.' His laugh was sad. ‘Better off here, eh?'

A metallic thud echoed through the Submariner and it was wrenched sideways.

‘What was that?' Griffin gripped his seat.

Jeremiah nodded at the front window. ‘I'd say it was him.'

‘Ahh!'
Griffin flinched as a giant, snub-faced fish nudged the window. It had a wide downward frown, and its fins stuck out from behind its head like elephant ears. Its skin was blotched brown and yellow and bore the scars of more than a few battles. He nudged the glass again.

‘He likes you.' Xavier smirked.

‘He must be over two metres long,' Griffin barely managed to say.

‘He's a bullhead,' Jeremiah said. ‘Used to grow ten centimetres. More water, more room to move – they've adapted and become very large. They think the Submariner's like them.'

Griffin shivered. ‘So we're attractive to them. Great, I –
ahh!'

Another, even larger, bullhead came into view.

‘Two admirers.' Xavier laughed. ‘Looks like you're irresistible today, Griffy boy.'

Without warning, the fish took off in a panic. Jeremiah searched through the window. ‘They're spooked.'

‘By what?' Griffin scanned a wall of reeds before them. Other fish darted in and out of sight, panicked and afraid. ‘What is it?'

‘Not sure.' Jeremiah lifted a pair of binoculars off the hook. ‘Must be big to scare those bullheads...'

Griffin turned the shade of old porridge.

The Submariner's passengers squinted into the distance, waiting. The river had cleared of all life, leaving a watery emptiness.

‘Maybe they're just hungry,' Griffin's voice trembled. ‘And they saw something to eat. Or –
aahh!'

The reeds parted, and from the thick gloom the open jaws of a shark emerged. It charged at them, its many rows of teeth coming straight for them. It struck the glass, jolting the vessel backwards in a deafening
clang,
flinging everyone from their seats.