‘There!’ Annalie shouted.
In the darkness the canyon was not easy to see—a patch of deeper black among the shadows. Will drove straight at it, never slackening his pace.
‘Will, slow down,’ Annalie said.
‘You won’t have time to stop,’ Essie said.
‘I know what I’m doing,’ Will said, gripping the steering wheel.
‘They’re still coming,’ Pod said, looking out the back window.
‘Good,’ Will said. ‘You might want to hang on.’
He drove straight at the canyon with heart-stopping speed. At the last possible moment, he spun the wheel and skidded to a halt at the very edge.
The pursuit vehicle had no time to react. Even as it started screaming into the turn, its back wheels slid out and the vehicle skidded over the edge.
Essie turned to look back, fearing for the fate of the marines in the vehicle. Pod guessed what she was thinking. ‘These things are pretty sturdy,’ he said, patting the chassis of the vehicle. ‘And they’re wearing body armour.’
Will was already accelerating away from the scene. ‘More importantly, they’re not chasing us,’ he said.
He followed the canyon until the desert floor closed upon itself once more. Then they resumed their course for the coast. After a while, the moon appeared.
‘Still no sign of them?’ Will asked.
‘No,’ Pod said. ‘But we’re leaving tracks in the sand. If they do come after us, it won’t be hard to find us.’
Will’s mouth set into a hard line. He drove on, never slackening his pace.
At last, they reached the coast. Annalie studied the map and the coastline carefully and then directed them north to Kinle Bay. They drove for a while through sparse coastal scrub; then the trees began to grow more thickly. When they began to see large pieces of stone, they knew they’d reached their destination.
‘I hope the dog catchers have been through already,’ Will said, slowing to a crawl as he tried to drive into the ruined city. It quickly became clear they could not drive any further. He let the vehicle roll to a stop. ‘I think from here we’re walking.’
They stepped warily out of the vehicle. They had driven through the night; there was the very first hint of morning light turning the sky grey. Will and Pod slung Spinner’s arms over their shoulders and then, walking close together in a pack, they picked their way through the trees and ruins to the bay. They were alert for the slightest snap or crackle in the pre-dawn stillness, but the only sound that disturbed them was the stirring of sleepy birds. The wild dogs had vanished.
It was a relief to arrive in the cool open space of the temple, to look out over the calm waters of the bay and see the Sunfish riding tranquilly at anchor, just as they’d left it. Their dinghy, too, was still pulled up safely on the rocks above the high-tide line.
‘Sola said she was sending someone who knew how to deal with the whale,’ Annalie said. ‘But they’re not here.’
‘I wish she’d just told us what to do,’ Will said.
‘Whales don’t like loud noises, right?’ Essie said. ‘Could we make some really loud noise to scare it away?’
‘Seems a bit hostile,’ Annalie said.
‘Not as hostile as that whale,’ Will said.
‘Hello, there!’
They all jumped. A Sundian man, vast and smiling, wearing shorts and a floppy hat, was walking towards them across the colonnade, carrying a bucket.
‘You Sola’s friends?’ he asked.
‘That’s right,’ Annalie said.
‘I’m Arlo. Sola’s cousin.’ Arlo looked at Spinner and frowned. ‘You look a bit crook.’
‘I am a bit crook,’ Spinner said. ‘Be better when I get back to my boat.’
‘You sure about that?’ Arlo asked, his brow creasing.
‘Yes,’ Spinner said.
Arlo turned to the children. ‘I hear you met the temple spirit,’ he said, grinning.
‘A spirit with really big teeth,’ Will said.
‘She doesn’t like people coming to her temple without asking. But she’s really very nice once you get to know her. So, you ready to head off then?’
‘Yep,’ Will said.
Arlo nodded. He walked down the rocks and waded out until he was knee deep. Then he made a whistling, crooning sort of sound and waited. A minute passed. Then a fin broke the surface. The huge black-and-white shadow whale cruised up to Arlo and, to their surprise, put its snout up to be patted. Arlo crooned and clucked and clicked at the whale, and the whale made noises back, then Arlo reached into his bucket and gave the whale some fish. The whale snapped them up happily, then turned and slid below the surface of the water and disappeared.
Arlo splashed back up to where they were waiting. ‘She won’t give you any trouble now,’ he said.
‘Was that a lady whale?’ Will said.
‘Temple spirits always are,’ Arlo said, waving a thumb at the great statue behind him.
‘How do you know she won’t chase us again?’ Annalie asked.
‘I asked her not to,’ Arlo said.
‘Do you speak whale?’ asked Essie.
‘She speak human?’ Graham rasped.
Arlo looked at Graham with surprise, then smiled. ‘We have an understanding,’ he said. ‘Anyway, you’re leaving. She doesn’t mind people leaving. It’s people arriving that get her back up.’
They thanked Arlo for his trouble and began to get ready to go back to the Sunfish.
‘I almost forgot,’ he said. ‘You might need these.’
He handed over a first aid kit, and a piece of folded cloth. Annalie took the kit, and unfolded the cloth. It was the Sundian ensign.
‘Better fly that on your boat until you reach international waters,’ he said. ‘It won’t fool anyone up close, but from a distance, you should get away with it.’
‘Has there been any news from the Ark?’ Spinner asked. ‘Have you spoken to Sola? Is she all right?’
‘She’s fine. They’re all fine,’ Arlo said, ‘although they had to do some hard fighting to take the place back.’
‘So they did get it back?’ Annalie said, relieved.
‘Yes,’ Arlo said. ‘Took a few prisoners, too. But most of those Admiralty ratbags got away. So you might want
