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I nodded once, even as my teeth gnashed together so hard they threatened to crack.
“What’s your name?” Neri asked, sweeping me up in her questions, once again saving me from the undercurrent of my sadness. “Where are you from? Where were you going?”
“Neri. Hush, love.” Anna shook her gently. “Give the poor guy time to breathe.” Pausing, Anna narrowed her eyes and asked a question of her own. “Do you remember what happened?”
Storm-swells and thunder.
The sting of salt.
The horror of my mother’s goodbyes.
I gritted my teeth all over again and swallowed—swallowed and swallowed so my tears couldn’t drown me. I needed to look somewhere else, anywhere else, other than at the intense little girl who never took her gaze off me.
I glanced at the circular window where sun speared.
I flinched.
The perfect blue of unending sky had been replaced with the spiers of boat masts and seagulls. The faint noise of laughter and footsteps pounding on a pier drifted in.
How long did I lose myself to grief?
I stilled and noticed the quiet and stillness for the first time.
No more sea rock.
No more drone of waves and engines fighting against one another.
The woman sucked in a breath as something banged above and a man’s voice intertwined with another in conversation.
“We’re docked at port,” she said. “We’ve already called ahead, and the hospital staff are aware you’re coming. We’ll take you and get you fixed up, alright? Once you’re tended to, then we can talk.”
I froze.
All the lessons from my father rushed back.
We were illegal.
We were supposed to slink ashore, unseen and undetected. To slip into society with silence and secrecy, doing our utmost to avoid any forms of authority or law enforcement.
We...
My heart broke.
Not anymore.
I was the illegal one.
I was the one who had to ensure I was never sent back.
Just me.
Panic overrode my sadness. “I-I’m fine.” I fought to clamber to my feet again.
I have to leave.
Now.
I went to push up, but my ankle refused, sending a thousand bolts of pain up my leg.
I cried out.
“Don’t.” The girl struggled to come to me, held fast by her mother. “Don’t move. Not until a doctor has patched you up. We have good doctors. I promise they’ll make you better. Mum. Tell him to stop moving. He’s hurt.”
The girl’s eyes welled with tears as if distraught at my pain. A boy she’d never met before but somehow felt so responsible for his well-being.
I could survive a storm and run from murderers, but for some reason, I couldn’t fight her.
I fell back down, breathing hard.
I caught her stare.
My chest tightened.
And I nodded.
I nodded to them taking me to the hospital. To the risk of being deported. To death that continued to stalk me.
A man suddenly leapt down the short steps by the kitchenette, his bare feet nimble and well used to nautical life. He froze as he noticed us, his brown hair and blue eyes were darker than his daughter’s but just as shrewd. “Ah, you’re awake. I was hoping you would come round.”
Striding forward in red swimming trunks and a white t-shirt, he clapped his hands and beamed. “I’ve pulled many things from the ocean, but never a boy before.” Squatting down to face me, he dropped his attention to my wrist and ankle. “Didn’t Neri tell you not to move? Never mind. We’re on land now. Just a short drive, and you’ll be right as rain in a jiffy.”
I didn’t have time to move or refuse as his strong arms wrapped around me, hoisting me to my feet with a powerful wrench. “There you go. Good as new.”
My chin tipped downward as sickness crashed through me.
Pain and vertigo.
Lightheadedness and nausea.
I moaned and swayed in his hold.
“Easy does it, mate. Just give me a heads up if you’re gonna hurl and try to hop on your good leg.” Leading me toward the short flight of steps to the upper deck, he huffed under his breath. “This isn’t gonna be fun, but I carried you down here, and I can carry you back up. You’re a lean bean, and I’m used to wrangling whales, don’t you know.”
I groaned again as my vision washed in and out, and then...somehow, I was in his arms. Scooped up as if I weighed nothing. He grunted as he hauled me to the top deck.
I screamed as my ankle bashed against the safety barrier.
“Oops, sorry. Watch out for your appendages.” The guy tripped forward, keeping me tight in his arms. “Hold on to my neck. There you go. That’s a good lad.”
“Dad. Careful. You’re gonna break him even more.” Neri’s voice slipped through my ringing ears, giving me an anchor as the world swept in and out.
The black spots were back.
Woozy waves crashed over my mind.
“Jack, be careful. The deck is slippery.” Anna’s voice sounded farther away. “Neri, grab my bag. I’ll help your father with our piece of flotsam here. Actually, how about you run ahead and get the Jeep started so you’re not underfoot?”
