Blossom’s expression altered. ‘Do you think she made it happen?’
‘She?’ Pod was confused. For a moment he thought she meant Essie.
‘The Lucky Lady,’ Blossom whispered.
Pod was surprised. In their first job together they’d been part of a crew of young people who were sent down into flooded underwater places to search in the dark for salvage. The other kids believed that the world was ruled by sea gods, who controlled the oceans, and the Lucky Lady, who protected the people who ventured into the water. The Lucky Lady had miraculous powers and could save anyone if she chose to; under her protection, no disaster could touch you. But the Lucky Lady was capricious and her whims were mysterious; her favour could vanish as easily as it was given. As a child, he’d believed in the Lucky Lady with the ferocity of someone who needed to believe there was something in the world that could keep him safe. Now he was not so sure; but the idea of her still appealed.
‘I don’t know,’ Pod said cautiously. ‘Maybe she did. All I know is, this was my chance, and it might be the only one I ever get. I had to come and find you. Even though the timing isn’t great.’
Blossom shot him a sidelong glance, still rather accusing, but he hoped she might be gradually softening. ‘Timing’s terrible,’ she said.
‘I promise I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe,’ Pod said. ‘And so will the others. They’re amazing people. You’ll see. They’re the best friends I ever had in the world.’
‘Apart from me,’ she said.
‘You’re more than a friend. You’re my sister,’ Pod said, and felt something wobble inside him.
‘The only one you got,’ Blossom said, ‘and don’t you forget it.’
They were both silent for a moment.
‘So,’ Pod said. ‘What do you think?’
She looked at him challengingly, her eyes as sharp and bright as the sequins on her top. ‘One: if you get me killed by pirates, I’m going to haunt you so bad it’s not funny,’ she said. ‘And two: after we find this girl—and her dad—can we find somewhere to live?’
‘Sure,’ Pod said.
‘Can it be Violeta? I always wanted to go to Violeta.’
‘Okay,’ Pod said. He had never heard of Violeta and had no idea where it was. ‘Does that mean you’ll come?’
Blossom shrugged, her old fearless self again. ‘Where else am I going to go?’
The end of the east
‘So where’s Blossom going to sleep now that Annalie’s back?’ Will asked.
The Sunfish had only two cabins; before Blossom’s arrival, the girls had shared one and the boys had shared the other. The cushions on the benches in the saloon could be removed to make a bed on the floor, but who would take the bed on the floor?
‘Let Blossom sleep on the floor,’ Will said. ‘Last in, last to a bed.’
‘You can’t make her sleep on the floor,’ Essie protested.
‘I’ll sleep on the floor,’ Pod said. ‘I don’t mind.’
‘But then where will Blossom sleep?’ Essie asked.
‘She can share with Essie and I’ll share with Will,’ Annalie suggested.
Neither Will nor Essie was thrilled by this idea.
‘Ask her where she wants to sleep!’ Graham said.
Pod turned to Blossom. ‘Blossom, who do you want to share with?’
Blossom’s answer came instantly. ‘No one.’
‘But do you mind sleeping on the floor?’ Annalie asked.
‘Where?’
They looked around. Annalie pointed out a spot that was more or less out of the way, although floor space was not exactly at a premium. ‘How about here? We could put a curtain up for privacy at night, and we could empty a locker for you so you could have somewhere to put your stuff. We’d have to pack it away during the day though.’
‘Okay,’ Blossom said.
‘Are you sure that’s what you want?’ Pod asked, slightly disappointed that she didn’t want to share a cabin with him.
‘Yes,’ Blossom said decisively.
So that question was settled.
They spent a single day in the little Gantuan port town where they’d come to collect Annalie. They had seen no sign of Beckett’s ship, but they knew it could not be far away; they had to hope no one had spotted Annalie or the Sunfish and reported them to the Admiralty. But they could not sail immediately for Sundia; the journey ahead of them would be long and there would be no help along the way, so they had to make sure they were fully provisioned before they set sail again.
Sundia was located in the Outer Ocean, one of the largest and emptiest oceans in the world. It stretched from the east of the Brundisan continent, and extended a third of the way around the globe until it struck the west coast of Dux. The Outer Ocean was huge and empty, with only a few small island groupings in the north and Sundia grandly isolated in the south. It was famous for having wild and terrifying weather, especially in the south, where huge winds circled the globe with nothing much to slow them down, whipping up giant waves and tempests that lasted for days, or so the story went.
They didn’t expect to encounter much traffic on the way to Sundia. There was little reason to cross the Outer Ocean unless you were going to Sundia, and since their borders were closed, few people made the attempt. The Admiralty patrolled the edges of the Outer Ocean, on both the Duxan and Gantuan sides, but they did not patrol the Ocean itself. It was too big, too empty; there was little in the way of shipping to protect, no pirate bases, no island nations. Just water. Lots and lots and lots of rough, stormy water.
No wonder early sailors had called it the Desert Ocean: sailing into it was like sailing into a desert, where there was no land, no people, no supplies, no help. Many ships had vanished there. It was this uncomfortable fact that had once given the Outer
