‘In a minute,’ Pod said.
As the girls walked away, Blossom raged at Pod. ‘Does he want to end up dead? Because that’s what’s going to happen, and he’ll drag us into it, too.’
‘You have to understand, not everybody believes in the Lucky Lady,’ Pod said.
‘How can you not believe in her?’ Blossom cried. ‘Look at this place!’
‘All Will sees is an old temple,’ Pod said. ‘He doesn’t believe in gods.’
‘What about you? You know better, right?’
Pod hesitated. Blossom’s face fell. ‘Oh.’
‘Come on,’ Pod said coaxingly. ‘We don’t want to get left behind.’
‘No!’ Blossom shouted. ‘You go with your friends if you want to. I’m going to make an offering.’
And she stormed off in the opposite direction.
Pod hesitated for a moment, knowing he should go after her. Why does she have to be so stubborn? he thought crossly, remembering all the other times she’d refused to be part of the team.
Fine. If she wants to do her own thing, let her, he thought.
And he turned to follow Will and the others.
He walked out of the temple and into the ruins of an ancient city, now little more than tumbled stone, with trees growing up thickly among the old walls, weeds growing where roads had once been. It seemed to him that he was only a minute or two behind the others. But there was no sign of them.
A path seemed to lead into the ruins. This must be the way they went, he thought, and followed it, hoping to catch up with them around the next bend.
But there was no sign of them around the next bend, or the next.
Where were they?
‘Where are they?’
Belatedly, Will, Annalie and Essie had realised that Pod and Blossom were not behind them. The ruins stretched out like a maze, larger than the tourist material and their maps had suggested.
‘Graham find them?’ Graham suggested.
‘Wait, we can’t be far from the edge of town,’ Will said. ‘You can feel the desert.’
He was right; although the ruined city was cool and green, they could feel the desert’s hot breath.
‘Let’s get out of these ruins. Then I can build my surfer while we wait for them to catch up,’ Will said.
They walked on. The trees thinned; the soil became sand. The red desert stretched out ahead, shimmering in the heat.
‘Feel that?’ Annalie said, dismayed. ‘We’re going to miss those extra water bottles.’
‘Graham find Pod now?’ Graham said.
‘You might as well,’ Will said. Graham took off. ‘Don’t get lost!’ Will called after him. A derisory screech drifted back to them.
‘There must be water here somewhere,’ Annalie said thoughtfully. ‘You couldn’t build a city like this and live here without water.’
‘City was abandoned though, wasn’t it?’ Will said. ‘Maybe that’s why.’
‘But look how green it is,’ Annalie said. ‘It can’t just be rainfall keeping these trees alive. I wonder if there’s ground water? Or a spring?’ She paused. ‘I’m going to see if I can find it while we wait for the others.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ said Essie.
Will was already looking for a shady spot to start building his land surfer. ‘Sure, whatever,’ he said.
Graham flew over the ruins, looking for Pod. Earlier there had been birds around. Now there was no sign of them. He sensed they were there still, hiding in the trees, listening, silent. Listening for what? Hiding from what?
Graham had a bad feeling about this place. He glided on.
My jewel. That’s what I should have given her.
Blossom was looking for something to leave as an offering. It would need to be something special to keep them safe, after what Will had said. Her jewel was her favourite—it would have been perfect—but it was back on the boat. She felt through her pockets, just in case. She always carried useful things, and sometimes one or two treasures, just to keep them close, but this time she found nothing worthy.
She arrived at a place where the walls stood higher than most. Trees grew up inside them, but she could see that once this had been something fine and important. She lifted aside trailing vines and crept in under the branches, looking around her. Another temple? She went deeper in, and caught sight of something marvellous. A partial wall, covered in human figures—women dancing—made out of coloured stones and pieces of shell pressed into the wall. She ran up to them and ran her fingers over them; how beautiful they were! They would make the perfect gift for the Lady; but how to offer them without tearing them from the wall? She knew that damaging this lovely thing, even to give it to the Lady, would not win her favour. She took a step back and felt the ground crunching slightly under her feet. She looked down; pieces of the fresco had broken off and fallen to the floor. Most were crumbled, unrecognisable, but she found one good-sized piece with a recognisable human eye pressed into it. She picked it up. It gazed back at her.
Yes. This was the thing.
She turned back to the temple.
‘Will?’ Pod called. ‘Annalie?’
He was still walking, hot, tired, sick of the ruins. There was no sign of the others, and no sign of Blossom.
The trees that grew everywhere had fine needles instead of leaves, and when the wind blew through them, as it did frequently, it made a shushing, moaning, sibilant sound he was starting to find a bit creepy.
A great screech echoed off the rocks and Graham came fluttering down to land on a branch above him. ‘Found you!’ Graham said. ‘Where Little Pod?’
‘She wandered off.’
Graham made a disapproving noise.
‘I know,’ Pod sighed. ‘We’d better find the others. Then maybe you can help me track her down.’
Graham rarked an affirmative and spread his wings to take off again, then something caught his eye. He froze in place, looking into the undergrowth.
‘What is it?’ Pod asked uneasily.
‘Something there,’ Graham said in his harsh voice.
Pod was already spooked enough by the whale
