She helped Lise down towards the boat where Jack had tied a rope around a jagged rock. He pulled the oars in front of him and stretched one hand to assist her.
Lise took his hand, climbed in, winced in pain at her ankle and when she was sitting at the back near the motor, Persey handed her the small suitcase, which she held tightly in front of her. ‘This is it,’ Lise said. ‘It’s happening. Thank you, Persey.’
‘Look after her, Jack,’ Persey said.
‘I will protect her with my life,’ Jack said chivalrously and then gave a mischievous grin at the woman sitting behind him who he had never met, before looking at his watch with concern. ‘We’ve only a few minutes until another patrol boat comes past. We have to go now. Sure I can’t convince you to come?’ he asked Persey. ‘Now or never.’
‘No. I have to stay,’ she said, eager to return to Stefan. ‘Thank you for helping her, Jack.’
‘Yes, thank you,’ Lise said to Jack meaningfully.
‘Don’t thank me until we reach England. And it’s nice to meet you by the way, even if it is under the most dangerous conditions.’
Lise smiled and Jack looked at her a fraction longer than necessary before turning back.
Persey crouched down on the rock so she was almost eye level with the two of them. Recollecting what she’d read in the newspapers she said, ‘Jack, when you reach England, they might try to take Lise as an enemy alien. Will you try to help—’
But there was no need for Persey to continue. ‘I know. Of course I will,’ he said.
He took her hand. ‘Goodbye, Persey.’
Persey touched his arm. ‘Goodbye, Jack. Good luck, both.’
She watched as the boat moved with the tide, Jack rowing deftly over the waves and out towards open sea, waiting for the opportune time to kick the motor and cross the Channel to England.
Persey returned to Stefan and manoeuvred herself around the rocks so she was level with him without being on the sand. In the darkness she could barely see and she wanted to be close to him. She looked down at the wet sand. How would she know where there might be a mine if she were to step down? He was looking up at the cliffs and then he looked sharply towards her when he heard her feet scuffle over the rocks.
‘You came back,’ he said in despair. ‘Why? Why didn’t you leave? That was your only chance.’
‘I was never going to leave,’ she said. ‘And did you honestly think after you told me you’d stepped on a mine that I would get in a boat and leave you? Now,’ she said with more confidence than she felt. ‘I need time to think. We need to work out how to get you off safely.’
‘I have been thinking this entire time and I have concluded there is no getting off safely,’ Stefan said, looking her in the eye and taking a deep breath.
Persey would not let panic grip her. She would not. She looked around in the dark, waiting for inspiration to come to her.
If she could find a rock heavy enough, perhaps she could wrestle it on top and he could lift his foot? But she couldn’t see anything loose, just the solid rocks that had formed the island and remained very much a part of its fibre.
‘Persephone,’ he said calmly. ‘I have decided I am going to step off, but first I need to watch you go along the cliff, and be far away from me.’
‘No,’ she said defiantly. ‘No, I’m not going to do that.’
‘You must.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I won’t do that. Don’t ask me again.’
‘It could explode at any moment,’ he said. ‘Please do not be here when it does. Please go now.’
Her throat hurt with the lump that formed and tears filled her eyes, blinding her. She rubbed them away with the sleeve of her coat.
‘Don’t cry,’ he said. ‘Please don’t cry.’
She climbed off the rock and went to him.
‘What are you doing?’ he shouted, holding his hand out in front of him. ‘Persey, stop! Stop now!’
She stood in front of him, carefully, her feet a little away from his. There were tears in his eyes, she could see that now. ‘I love you,’ she whispered. She meant it. She’d meant it for so long, only he hadn’t believed her.
‘Persey …’ He closed his eyes. ‘I love you,’ he said. He opened them and looked at her. ‘I’ve always loved you. You know that.’
