Will had popped up again on the surface and was treading water with some of the pieces of his land surfer. Annalie steered over to him and he tossed the gear into the dinghy.
‘Leave it behind,’ she said. ‘We can’t stay out here with that thing in the water.’
‘We need our gear or we won’t make it across the desert,’ Will insisted. ‘Take the others to shore then come back for me.’
‘Will, this is crazy!’ Annalie shouted.
‘Go!’ Will roared, and dived once more.
Seeing it was pointless to argue with him, Annalie gunned the dinghy and raced for the shore. The whale came after them, straight as an arrow, but this time, they were too fast for it. Annalie slewed to a stop in the shallow water. ‘Take the gear! Run! I’m going back for Will!’ she cried.
They hurled the gear out of the boat and scrambled up onto the safety of the rocks while Annalie turned again and zoomed out to where Will’s head bobbed in the water. But the whale had other ideas. It reared up out of the water, scooping Will up hard with its head. Will went flying and hit the water with a smack, the sail he was holding spinning away. Annalie chased after him, scooping the sail up as she went, as Will disappeared below the surface. Why wasn’t he coming up? Had the whale grabbed him and pulled him under? She tightened her grip on the sail, and heard Graham once again, calling from above her. In the clear waters of the bay, he had the perfect vantage point. Annalie followed his lead until she saw the black-and-white shape below her; she braced herself against the dinghy and jabbed down with the end of the sail’s mast. It was no harpoon, but she landed a solid blow; she knew she must have hurt it. In a flurry of water and bubbles, Will suddenly floated to the surface. She grabbed him and frantically dragged him into the dinghy.
She turned for what she hoped was the last time and headed for the shore. She could hear the others yelling; she guessed the whale was chasing her. She could not think about that. She drove the dinghy up as far as she dared, right up onto the rocks, hoping she wasn’t tearing the bottom out of it. She pulled Will up from the bottom of the dinghy and clambered over the front, dragging her brother with her. Behind them, she glimpsed the enormous whale surfing up onto the rocks, its huge mouth open, rows of teeth glinting. A bow-wave of water broke over her and it snapped at her in a fury, almost biting the engine off the dinghy, before it wriggled back into the water.
‘Will! Are you okay?!’ she cried desperately, as Pod came hurrying to help her.
He was wet and pale, his eyes closed, and she feared that the whale had drowned him. But then he heaved up seawater and coughed and spluttered, and his eyes opened and he looked around.
‘Did we make it?’ he coughed.
‘We made it,’ Annalie said, so relieved she had tears in her eyes.
They helped Will to his feet and tottered up the rocks to where Essie and Blossom were waiting with Graham and the gear.
‘What was all that about?’ Essie asked. ‘Don’t they normally just eat fish?’
‘They eat seals too,’ Will said. ‘Maybe it thought we were seals.’
‘No,’ Blossom said. ‘It was guarding the temple.’
The others all turned to stare at her.
‘Look,’ Blossom said. She turned to point at the colossal central figure of the temple. It was obvious now that the figure was half human, half shadow whale. ‘I told you not to annoy the sea gods.’
The ruined city
‘You do know that whale wasn’t really defending the temple,’ Will argued, as they carried their remaining gear up to the temple floor. ‘It’s ridiculous. Why would it do that?’
‘I think there are some stories of shadow whales cooperating with humans,’ Annalie said thoughtfully. ‘Although I think it was mostly to get fish.’
‘There. You see?’ Will said. ‘This temple hasn’t been used for centuries, so why would the whale still be defending it?’
‘Think what you like,’ Blossom said stubbornly. ‘I know what I know.’
‘Okay, let’s see how much of our gear made it to shore,’ Pod said, eager to change the subject.
Two of the packs were gone, and with them water bottles and food. Will had rescued most of his land surfer, although the skis hadn’t made it.
‘If the wheels won’t go through soft sand, we’re stuffed,’ he said gloomily.
‘You’re not going back for the missing bit,’ Annalie warned.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going back in that water in a hurry,’ Will said.
‘We can walk if we have to,’ Essie said. ‘Although personally, I’d rather not.’
‘It’s a long walk in the sun,’ Pod said. ‘If the land surfer won’t work, we should wait until night time.’
‘I agree,’ Annalie said. ‘It’s at least two days’ walk. If we do it at night, it’ll be cooler and we won’t use up so much water. Once we’re out there, I don’t think there’ll be any way to get more.’
‘The land surfer will work,’ Will insisted crossly. ‘Let’s get out of this place and work out where we’re going.’
He hoisted himself to his feet and began parcelling out the stuff for everyone to carry.
‘Wait, aren’t we going to make an offering to the Lady first?’ Blossom asked.
‘What?’ Will said.
‘We need to ask for her protection,’ Blossom said.
Will lost his temper. ‘Let’s get one thing straight. The only thing protecting us here is us. Not lucky ladies, not sea gods. Us. Okay? We don’t have time to make offerings. We’re leaving.’
A look of pure rage spread over Blossom’s face. ‘How can you say that after what just happened?’ she shouted.
‘Let’s go,’ Will snapped, and walked away.
Annalie and Essie hesitated, looking at Pod and
