The Other Side of Nowhere (13 page)

‘Now look what you’ve done,’ he shouted, walking off angrily.

I growled. I was sick of him, sick of everything. Instead of grabbing him again, I ran up and pushed him hard in the chest. ‘Go on then, get stuffed. Do what you want. But I’m going back.’

I turned away and started back down the path, seething at the world. Mostly though, it was Nick who was fuelling my anger. It was his fault we’d come on this wild goose chase. I was going back to camp and no matter what anyone said or did, I wasn’t going to leave there again until someone came to get us.

And that’s exactly what I would have done if something near the cliff edge hadn’t caught my eye. It was something so commonplace that at first it didn’t register. But then I realised its normalness was what made it so unusual.

‘Hey!
Hey
! Come check this out.’

George ran over, and Matt followed, our argument momentarily forgotten. They stood behind me as I knelt down and picked up a half-finished cigarette squashed flat in the mud.

‘What?’ said Matt peering over my shoulder.

‘What do you mean, “what”? Look, you moron. It’s a cigarette butt.’

Matt looked at what I was holding and then snorted, giving me his best
you’re the moron
look. ‘So?’ he said.

‘So, there
was
someone up here yesterday.’

Matt laughed and rolled his eyes. ‘Good one, Sherlock.’

‘Matt! It’s a fresh cigarette butt.’

‘Matt, it’s a
fresh
cigarette butt,’ he parroted in a whiny voice. ‘How d’you know that it’s fresh?’

George leant in to take a closer look. ‘You’re making it out to be, I don’t know, suspicious,’ she said. ‘So what if someone was here yesterday? Isn’t that a good thing? I mean, maybe they can help us.’

‘Then why didn’t they?’ I snapped. It was bad enough having to put up with Matt’s stupidity. I couldn’t believe George wasn’t getting it either. ‘You don’t think it’s weird someone would watch us with
The Dolphin
, and not do anything?’

She stood up and shrugged. ‘I don’t know … Maybe
The Dolphin
had sunk by the time they arrived. Maybe they didn’t realise we needed help. Maybe – ’

‘Maybe Johnno’s just panicking over nothing,’ finished Matt. ‘Gee, what a surprise!’

‘I’m not panicking,’ I shot back. ‘I just think –’

‘Yeah, that’s your problem,’ Matt interrupted. ‘You think too much.’

‘Better than not thinking at all,’ I growled.

‘Oh, just shut up, you two,’ yelled George, stepping between us. She looked fed up. ‘None of this is helping to find Nick. C’mon. We’ve come this far … let’s just keep going for a bit. Johnno, I promise, if we don’t find him on the next beach we’ll turn back. Okay?’

I stared into the distance, furious that neither of them was taking a word I said seriously.

‘Shall we take another vote?’ said Matt, baiting me.

‘No, I don’t want another vote,’ I said with a groan.

‘Shame … I’d vote you biggest tool on the island.’

I swung at him, but he was too quick. He danced away from me, laughing and giving me the finger. Then he turned and ran off along the path.

‘Just ignore him,’ implored George, as she turned to follow Matt.

I dropped the cigarette butt and trod on it, grinding it into the dirt. Then I stepped cautiously to the edge and peered over. The rocks where
The Dolphin
had run aground were directly below. Someone had been watching us yesterday when I saw that flash of light. They’d stood right here and did nothing to help. I knew it was true – but why? That was the question I couldn’t get out of my head.

A wind gust blew up, causing a shiver to run down my spine. I definitely didn’t want to be up here anymore. For a split second I seriously considered going back to camp on my own. But I knew I’d never do it. I wouldn’t really leave George and Matt alone. So reluctantly I stepped back from the cliff and followed the others until the next beach came into view.

It was a narrow band of sand surrounded on three sides by more towering cliffs. Splitting the beach in two was a stream running out from the base of the cliff all the way down to the water’s edge. It was a steep, slow walk down. When we reached the bottom, Matt somehow had enough energy to jog across the beach to check out the stream. By the time George and I reached him, he was splashing about like a baby in a bath.

‘It’s not salty,’ he yelled excitedly as George and I approached.

I squatted down, and scooped a handful of stream water into my mouth. Matt was right. It was fresh all right, even better than tap water.

George lay down on her back, fully clothed, and laughed as she splashed water into the air.

Rolling over on her stomach, she flicked water at Matt, getting him right in the face. When he saw her cheeky grin, it was on. He stood up and started kicking wildly. I jumped in, too. Water flew everywhere as we splashed, bombed and tackled each other until, exhausted and with our guts aching from laughter, we fell onto our backs and let the cool water flow around us.

At first, the glare from the sun made it difficult to make out more than the outlines of the three figures standing over us. But as my eyes adjusted, I recognised one of them. Standing at the back, head slightly bowed, was Nick. There was a momentary sense of relief as he came into focus, but it passed quickly as I took in the other two.

One was big. Unnaturally big. Not just tall, but thick through his body, with pumped-up arms folded across his pumped-up chest. A cigarette hung from his lips, its pale smoke partly obscuring his crooked nose and podgy, pockmarked face.

The other man was thin, wiry and not much taller than Nick. He stepped forward, extending his hand. I took it, and his spidery fingers reached up to my wrist and wrapped around tight. It was a cold, uncomfortable touch.

‘I am Zaffar,’ he said with a thick accent and a fake smile.

I tried to catch Nick’s eye, but he just looked down at his feet. My mind was racing with questions.
Who are these guys?
How did Nick end up with them? Why did he have to wander off without telling anyone? Why couldn’t he have just stayed on the beach with the rest of us and waited for his dad to come?

All I wanted to do was ask Nick what the hell was going on. But Zaffar was standing in the way. When he’d finished introducing himself to the others, he stepped back with hands on hips. The big bald guy said nothing, just stood back watching through a cloud of smoke.

‘Well, here you are, Nicky,’ Zaffar said, turning to Nick. ‘Here are your friends. They came for you, just like we told you they would.’ Zaffar was looking pretty pleased with himself.

Nicky?
I thought.
No-one called him Nicky. Ever.

But Nick didn’t react. He just gave an imperceptible nod, barely looking up. ‘Yep, they sure did.’

‘So then,’ Zaffar continued, his dark eyes darting from one to another of us, ‘sounds like you’ve had many excitements lately.’

My mind start spinning, trying to guess what Nick might have told these creeps. That we were the advance party of 200 army cadets about to appear over the hill any minute? That our folks were back at camp, wondering where on earth we were? Or maybe he’d just told them the truth.

‘You could say that,’ I said blandly.

‘But everyone is okay, yes?’ Zaffar said, clapping his hands.

‘Uh, yeah. Thanks,’ I answered.

‘Our boat sank, though,’ Matt chimed in.

I shot him a look that screamed
Just shut up!
But he either didn’t notice or was ignoring me, as usual.

‘Sank, yes?’ said Zaffar, raising a quizzical eyebrow at Nick. ‘You didn’t tell us that, Nicky.’

‘And Nick busted his shoulder too,’ continued Matt, nodding at George. ‘But George fixed it.’

Zaffar turned his attention to George, his gaze lingering as he eyed her up and down. ‘You don’t say,’ he said again.

I saw George smile politely, but noticed she wouldn’t hold his stare. Her singlet was saturated from our water fight and clung tightly to her body, the candy stripes of her bikini clearly showing through. The big guy, who still hadn’t uttered a word, was staring at her as well.

These dudes were some seriously menacing creeps.

Unfortunately Matt was clueless. As he prattled on, I noticed Nick out of the corner of my eye. He bent down and, with a magician’s sleight of hand, wrapped his fingers around something he’d uncovered in the sand and dropped it into his pocket. He saw me looking at him and gave me a barely perceptible nod. That’s when I knew for sure I wasn’t just being paranoid. Something was seriously wrong with this picture. My skin prickled on the back of my neck.

‘Well, I see. Yes, that is a story, no?’ said Zaffar as Matt finished. He turned to Nick. ‘Sorry to hear about your boat. But you are not hurt. So it is okay, yes?’

Nick nodded, acknowledging the point. ‘Speaking of boats,’ he asked, casually looking around, ‘where’s yours?’

Zaffar looked sad, but like he was putting it on. ‘Ah, but of course. Now you could use a boat, yes? But you see, we were, um, dropped off. A friend dropped us off and he won’t be back for, let me think … two more days.’

‘Gotcha,’ said Nick with a shrug. ‘Don’t suppose you’ve got a phone, then?’

Zaffar paused as if he considered the question. ‘Of course. You want to call your family, to let them know you are safe. Yes?’

‘Yeah,’ Matt said. ‘That’d be awesome.’

Zaffar clapped a hand on Nick’s shoulder. ‘And perhaps something to drink, too, yes? Please, you will be our guests,’ he said, shepherding Nick up the beach.

The bald guy waited until we’d all walked past, then fell in close behind George. I felt a flush of anger at the thought of him staring at her, and for a moment considered dropping back between them. But I also wanted to listen to Zaffar and Nick. George flashed me a reassuring smile, so I quickened my step to catch up to them.

‘So you’ve been here for what, two nights? But no-one has come to get you?’ asked Zaffar, watching Nick closely as he walked beside him.

Nick shook his head and gave a wry smile. ‘Good question. I’ll be grilling my old man when he finally turns up, that’s for sure.’

‘He won’t be far away now,’ I interrupted.

Zaffar glanced back, his eyes narrowing, ‘Of course,’ he said dismissively, without breaking stride. He didn’t believe my lie for a second.

As we crested a sandbank at the back of the beach I saw a grassy clearing in the shadow of the cliff. Set in the middle were two small green tents and a couple of camping chairs around a fire. Hanging from a makeshift frame of sticks over the fire was black pot.

‘Make yourselves at home,’ said Zaffar, motioning for us to sit.

Matt didn’t hesitate, plonking himself down in one of the chairs. But George sat on the grass, tucking her legs beneath her. Nick and I stood next to the fire.

‘A cup of tea?’ asked Zaffar, bending down to pick up a couple of empty mugs sitting near the fire.

‘Thanks,’ said Nick, nodding.

George shook her head and smiled politely, ‘No thanks.’

‘Nothing for me either,’ I said.

‘Don’t suppose you’ve got a Coke?’ asked Matt, ever the optimist.

Zaffar opened a small blue Esky by the side of the tent. ‘You are in luck, young man.’ He pulled out a can of Coke and tossed it to Matt.

‘Awesome!’

Zaffar lifted the pot from out of the fire and filled the mugs with steaming tea. He took a sip and then set his mug down on the ground. ‘Ah, where’s the phone?’ he said, before disappearing into one of the tents.

I edged closer to Nick as Baldy squeezed into the chair beside us. He didn’t utter a word, just sat and stared into the fire. When Zaffar reappeared, his face was creased in a puzzled frown. His fingers were fiddling with what I guessed was a satellite phone.

‘Well that’s a nuisance,’ he said. ‘It was working perfectly this morning. Must be the batteries,’ he said, holding it up as if that somehow proved it didn’t work. ‘But no mind. Please relax, drink … I am sure your father will be here very soon.’

It soon became apparent, however, that even if I’d wanted to relax around these weirdos, it would have been impossible. Zaffar just fired question after question at us.