Will gets the Fu Hao in close and throws us ropes so we can come alongside and hand Evan up to Johnno and HB before we haul aboard.
‘Whales,’ Will says, shaking his head. ‘Whales.’
My eyes go back to shore. No boats are coming for us. But they’ve seen the searchlight. They know we’ve been picked up by someone.
‘Go north, with the light on for a bit,’ I say.
Will turns the wheel, opens up the engine and thrusts the junk parallel to the coast. Then he kills the light, turns us east and we speed away from land in total darkness.
Down below, the porthole blacked out, we’re met by teary faces. Lottie, Gail, Liam, Amber, Rachel, Hal and Milly—they’re all fine in their life jackets. And the Fu Hao looks completely undamaged.
‘They didn’t see you?’ Nathan says.
‘The noise and fire and smoke you guys made,’ Amber says. ‘We could see them on shore, all racing around after you. It was pretty dicey but we were out on the ocean in five minutes.’
‘When we got a kilometre off shore,’ Gail pipes, ‘that’s when we voted to wait. Didn’t want you to have to go too far on the jet ski.’
I smile. I’m not sure whether they believed we were coming or just wanted to give us a chance.
‘We saw what Stannis did from out here,’ HB says. ‘That was so brave.’
I nod. ‘Without him we wouldn’t have made it.’
Johnno comes down the stairs. ‘What on earth was that music?’
‘Music chosen by a guy named Mac.’ I feel like he needs acknowledgment. If he hadn’t been crazy we wouldn’t be alive. ‘Pretty noisy, huh?’
I want to grin but I grimace because something’s not right. My thoughts spiral away from me.
‘Danby, you’re hurt,’ Lottie says.
I feel the burning ache in my side. See where blood’s turned my camo black. I don’t know when I got hit or by what as I go down dizzy onto the bench opposite where we’ve laid out Evan.
‘Check Evan,’ I say. ‘Is he all right?’
‘I will,’ Nathan says. ‘But you first. Guys, get the kids upstairs for some fresh air?’
He lifts my shirt. I want to make a joke he’s taking things a bit fast given we’ve only just become friends again. But laughing would hurt way too much. Faces hover over his shoulder. They wince when they see my wound. That can’t be good. Then I pass out.
‘It’s gonna be all right,’ Nathan says when I come around. ‘You’ve got a piece of house in you.’
‘Like the Wicked Witch?’
‘Not quite that big,’ Nathan smiles.
I stare at the ceiling and try not to watch as Nathan splashes his hands with antiseptic and injects me with a needle that makes me numb and then goes to work with forceps. When the sea gets rougher, Johnno holds me down across the shoulders and Rachel does the same for my legs while Gail and HB keep Nathan as steady as they can. It seems like an eternity before he pulls a shard of weatherboard out of me the size of an ice-cream stick.
‘That it?’ I say.
‘I’m gonna have to clamp this,’ Nathan says as blood squirts up his shoulder. ‘Someone shine the torch in there.’
The world fades from me again.
The boat rocks and I swirl and the lights in the cabin flicker as Nathan stitches. Then he’s wiping my side and telling me I won’t be able to play the piano again.
‘Evan,’ I say.
Nathan nods.
I watch as he checks my little brother, the bad news writing itself across his features.
‘What did you use and how much?’ he said.
‘Animal tranquiliser,’ I say. ‘Telazol I think. Four mils.’
Nathan picks his watch off a side table, runs a bloody hand through his hair.
‘Shallow respiration. Weak pulse. It’s been ninety minutes since you dosed him,’ he says. ‘He should be coming around by now.’
Panicked faces loom. I’m not going to cry. ‘What can you do?’
‘Epinephrine,’ says Nathan. ‘An EpiPen? Have you got any in the first-aid kit? For allergic reactions?’
I shake my head. The backpack I assembled was for the battlefield, not for bee stings.
Nathan looks around at Amber and HB and the others. ‘This was a restaurant, right? They’re out on the river. Someone has a bad reaction to a prawn. They’ve got to have an EpiPen. Find it!’
I want to get up but Rachel puts a firm hand on my shoulder and holds me down as Johnno and HB throw open cupboards of lifejackets and fire extinguishers, search in drawers of napkins and menus.
‘Lottie found it!’ shouts Amber, bounding down the stairs from the deck. ‘In a wooden box by the wheel.’
She unzips the first-aid kit, holds it out to Nathan and he pulls out an EpiPen.
‘Will this work?’ I say, sitting up now, not caring about my wound.
When Nathan goes to speak, all we hear is Will yelling we have to come up on deck.
‘Do it,’ I say and Nathan injects Evan before I scramble up after everyone else.