The Skeleton Coast

into the perfect position to look straight down the avenue of columns and reveal the largest statue of all. It had been carved ingeniously out of more than one piece of stone to create a figure that was easily twenty feet high. At the bottom of the figure, a huge fish with sharp, pointed teeth reared up out of flowing stone waves, savage and lively, as if it had leapt out of the water for sheer joy. A second figure emerged from this fish, perhaps stepping from its mouth, perhaps captured in the moment of changing its form from fish to human. This figure was grandly, lithely muscular in the way that only a god could be, stepping from the waves in a swirl of long hair and fine robes, one arm outstretched to point towards the sea, its square face fierce and beautiful.

‘It’s the Lucky Lady!’ Blossom breathed.

‘I think that’s meant to be the sea god as a hunting fish,’ Essie said.

‘Is that a fish?’ Will said. ‘Or do you think it’s a shark?’

‘It’s the Lucky Lady, I know it is,’ Blossom said stubbornly.

‘Well, anyway, this looks like the place,’ Annalie said. ‘Let’s go ashore.’

They anchored in the bay, and Will began dragging out the pieces of the thing he had been working on for weeks. There was a set of wheels, something that looked like a pair of huge skis, a frame with a light platform, and a sail.

‘Now are you going to tell us what that is?’ Annalie said.

‘Can’t you guess?’ Will said, grinning. ‘It’s a land surfer.’

‘A what?’ said Annalie.

‘I got the idea from one of those old tourist books,’ Will said. ‘They used to go land-surfing on the dunes. The picture wasn’t that great and I couldn’t tell whether they surfed on wheels or on runners. So I made both.’

‘That sounds way better than walking,’ Annalie said. ‘I hope it works.’

‘Of course it’ll work,’ Will said scornfully.

They loaded the dinghy with everything they’d need for the trip to the Ark—packs and tools and hats and water and provisions—and the five of them climbed carefully aboard. The dinghy was heavily loaded once everyone was aboard and it rode dangerously low in the water.

‘Are you sure we shouldn’t do this in two trips?’ Annalie asked.

‘It’s not far, and there’s not much surf,’ Will said. ‘We’ll be fine.’

He started the engine and steered the dinghy towards the shore, Graham flying overhead.

They hadn’t gone far when they heard Graham shriek.

‘What’s up with him?’ Pod asked.

‘Probably those stupid local birds again,’ Will said.

But it wasn’t the birds.

Moments later, something slammed into the dinghy. It rocked but miraculously stayed afloat.

‘What happened?’ Annalie cried.

‘Did we hit something?’ Essie said.

‘Something hit us,’ Will said.

Graham was still shrieking overhead. Blossom saw it first. She screamed, speechless, pointing.

A large fin was coming towards them, accelerating fast. As it came closer, a black-and-white back appeared above the water.

‘Everybody hang on!’ Will shouted. He accelerated, turning at the last moment in a bid to evade their attacker. They skimmed past without making contact, but the fin disappeared below the water and they knew it was turning for another pass.

‘What was that?’ Pod cried.

‘A shadow whale,’ Will said. ‘The biggest and most aggressive of the hunting whales.’

‘But why’s it attacking us?’ Essie said. ‘Do they normally do that?’

‘Not usually,’ Will said. ‘Hang on. Here it comes again!’

The shadow whale was accelerating towards them once more, and this time it was ready for Will’s manoeuvres. It followed his twists and turns with fluid ease, then flipped the dinghy up into the air. For a terrible moment they were all aloft, the people, the packs, the equipment, and then they were splashing down into the water. Pod and Blossom were the only ones wearing life jackets; the others had decided not to bother when they were only a hundred metres or so from the shore.

Will had managed to stay clinging to the dinghy when it flipped; miraculously it had landed the right way up, but the motor had stalled. ‘Swim to me!’ he yelled. ‘Quick!’

Essie was the first to swim up to the dinghy and was over the side like lightning.

‘Help the others,’ Will said quickly. ‘I’m going after the gear.’

‘Are you mad?’ Essie cried. ‘Stay in the boat! That thing’s trying to eat us!’

‘We can’t get across the desert without gear,’ Will said. ‘It’s not very deep. I’m going down for it.’

To Essie’s horror, Will went over the side. She looked for the others and saw Blossom flailing in the water, hyperventilating in terror. Pod was paddling awkwardly towards her, held up by his life jacket. Annalie was the furthest from the boat but swimming back.

‘It’s okay, Blossom,’ gasped Pod. ‘I’ll help you.’

He reached Blossom and the two of them began floundering in the general direction of the dinghy, but they were not really getting anywhere.

Essie looked around for a rope. Where was the rope? It had probably been flung overboard along with everything else.

Will surfaced and tossed a pack into the dinghy. He took a deep breath and disappeared underwater again.

‘Use your arms,’ Essie shouted to Pod and Blossom. ‘Quick!’

Graham, still circling above them, shrieked out a warning. The whale came at them again in a great rush, surfing between Pod and Blossom and the dinghy and then swatting them into deeper water with a lazy swipe of its tail.

Annalie reached the dinghy and pulled herself aboard. ‘Where’s Will? What’s wrong with the engine?’

‘Will’s diving for the gear,’ Essie said. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with the engine.’

Annalie frowned and looked at it, trying to get it working.

‘Come on!’ Essie pleaded, looking at the others. ‘Hurry!’

Will surfaced again with more gear. He slopped it into the dinghy.

‘Forget the gear! Get back in the boat!’ Essie shouted, but he had already dived under again.

With a splutter, the engine started. ‘I’m coming round to pick you up,’ Annalie shouted to Pod and Blossom. She motored slowly over to them while Essie kept a lookout for the whale,