coast is clear
The only part of the walk from Lovemore to Opal Alley I see is the tree-lined way. The trees all getting younger until they shrink to nothing. Going back in time, all the way, a hundred years to when the cobbles were new-laid and the steps were sharp-edged and my great-grandfathers were the powerful ones, wielding their power cruelly.
Ruzi’s asleep. I want to show him Zako’s letter, but it can bide.
I wake up to him tripping over Felicity’s pale low-heeled shoes.
I should burn them. I burned the bloodstained dress in the stove last night – though I’ve never burned a rag that could be repurposed. All that fine fabric gone to smoke and ash.
Ruzi pinches his nose and then rubs the thumb and forefinger under his eyes. “It’s the same,” he says.
“This one has the oysters over here though. And it says Land heer.”
We have both of Zako’s maps side by side on the kitchen table. I told Ruzi I’d tell him later how I got hold of the newest one.
“Wheel,” says Ruzi. “Whirlpool, Blenny and Tornelius on an island. Portcaye… Wait. Land heer.”
He looks at me. Looks back at the maps.
“We’ve been assuming this is all ocean. But he’s telling us it’s land. So the island is on the land.” He stops abruptly and stands.
“What? What is it?”
His eyes are wide, alight. “Mora. It’s… It’s the fairground. It’s the … it’s the bloody taffy mermaid. And the rides. The Wheel. The carousel with all the animals. Wasn’t it done up like an island? He loved that one.”
“Gods alive, Ruzi.”
Of course. He gave me enough clues. Zako’s voice in my head… I only wanted to go on the Island after that … the one with different sea animals going round to music … painted like an island, remember… turtles and whales … let me go on it over and over…
Ruzi’s laughing and crying, racing to get his boots on. “How could we miss that?” he shouts.
“Shhh!” I’m crying too. “Let’s go. Pretend to be calm, Ruzi.” That’s usually never a problem for him.
The old fairground is on the edge of the Steeps, furthest from the Mermens and the Centre, but not that far from the street with Venor’s mansion. It was going to be Mister Kellin’s racecourse, before his plans went all awry.
It’s a large plot of land, nestled between the yards of some of the big houses, the eastern wall and a small green they’ve named Settler’s Park. Its gatehouse still stands on the avenue, with bricked-up doors and windows.
The rest of it’s fenced off the standard Skøl way – tall wooden boards flush against each other, topped with vicious, coiling razor wire. Large sections are overgrown with vines and blackberry canes sporting hard red and green fruits. Nothing’s ripe yet. What’s he been eating? We’re coming up to a corner near the wall and the edge of the park when a flash of grimy white slips between two offset boards. Caruq!
I can’t believe a hound fits through that tiny gap he just used, let alone a human, but from the side it looks bigger. Ruzi and I both manage to follow his lead back through. I think Ruzi loses some skin in the process, but we make it in mostly one piece.
The old grounds are eerie and still, like a secret, private garden. They’ve knocked the Wheel over, but they’ve left it there, beyond the carousel, nestled in weeds. A pair of amber-glass butterflies dance above it, courting. There’s a wall with a flaking mural of the Eventide – in full sail, decades ago – before it was wrecked. There’s a pile of old oyster shells near the place where they used to judge the oyster-diving competition every year. A broken-down panel from the mermaid’s taffy stand.
And there’s Zako.
He’s gone skinny again, compared to six weeks ago. But he’s alive. Venor and all his goons couldn’t find him. I brim with pride. His maps! They would never understand them. They don’t know what this place was like.
Caruq looks like he’s grinning. Like he’s retrieved Ruzi and me as a personal gift to Zako. Ruzi and I both dive to hug him at the same time, and we end up in a huddle.
“You found me! Finally!” He’s laughing.
They’ve been sheltering in the old gatehouse, drinking rainwater and sneaking out at night around the Steeps to the public fountains. They’ve found food in people’s gardens and allotments, scavenged in bins, even stolen fruit from locked-up barrows, milk bottles from early deliveries and kine oats from some stables that have been keeping Caruq going.
Kit taught Zako to pick locks.
“He didn’t tell us that!” I say.
“Well. He didn’t want to read or play cards. I said there was nothing to do. He said he’d teach me a good skill to have. And he gave me some picks.”
“When you sent us that bit of oyster shell, I was sure you were by the sea.”
“It’s from the pile there.”
He dances about a bit, childlike in his glee.
The evening he ran, he saw Venor outside over that pause between Ruzi’s songs. He was ready to flee before the raid started.
“My clever boy.” Ruzi grips Zako’s rather unwashed head in his arms, laughing. “My smart boy. You fooled us all.”
The only things Zako’s been pining for, apart from Renny’s cooking, are his glasses and that copy of Blenny and Tornelius – long burnt.
He doesn’t know he’s my brother, I think.
“Zako, would you believe … some bounty hunters tried to bag me to pass off as you,” I start. “They were going to chop my hair off and chop my head off and try and sell it for your twenty-thousand reward.”
His big amber eyes look horrified. This isn’t going right.
“It’s because we look similar, I mean…” I gulp and falter.
“She’s your sister,” Ruzi says, stealing my thunder. “She’s my daughter.” Oh, now he’s fond of plain speaking.
I listen as they talk. Zako is confused, slightly angry, but mostly delighted. I close my eyes and rest an arm on Caruq’s fluffy ruff, feel the sun on my face, feel the comfortable murmur of their low, content voices.
I wonder if Venor’s been found.
Ruzi can’t be too late for work. I tell Zako I’ll fetch his glasses and some supplies from the Lugger and be back for lunch. We leave him and Caruq to their gatehouse and sneak out through the thin gap when the coast is clear.