CHAPTER 5—A MOMENTOF DISCOMFORT

 

 

Stacey was content to let Dan push her along, right up until they reached the turn-off for the boat ramp, and then she had a terrible, terrible thought.

“Stop!” she said, and Dan slowed the wheelchair to a stop.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Did you hurt yourself when you tipped out on the sand? What do you want me to do?”

“Just shush,” Stacey told him. “Now, turn the chair as though we’re admiring the view. I’ll pretend to be pointing at seagulls or something.”

“Pretend?”

“Yeah. I want to look and make sure those guys have gone, before we head to the hut. No way do I want them to follow us.”

“Well, why would they?” Dan asked, but he did as she told him, with Stacey pointing, and Dan pretending to be interested.

They were in time to watch the men climb into their boat and get the engine started. The leader of the group settled himself at the tiller, and glanced back at the beach before heading the boat out into the bay.

Just when Stacey started to relax, though, she saw another of the men look back. This one seemed to scan the shoreline, and the footpath, and, when he saw her and Dan, he tapped his leader on the shoulder, leaning over to say something.

At his words, the leader glanced towards them, and then quickly back to the front again.

“What was that all about?” Dan asked.

“I just wanted to see if they’d look for us,” Stacey said.

“Yeah, but why would they be interested in us?”

“They left the beach,” Stacey said. “They didn’t keep looking for the mermaid on the other side of the jetty. They got to me, and they stopped.”

“Do you think they saw the tracks from the other chair?” Dan asked.

“I don’t know,” Stacey told him, “but I think they’ll be back, and I don’t think Veleia is going to be safe in the hut.”

“Why not?”

“It’s somewhere I used to hang out,” Stacey said, “before the accident. And now they know our names.”

They watched the speedboat disappear around the point, and then they watched the empty horizon just a little longer. When they couldn’t hear the boat’s engine any more, Stacey released the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding.

“Let’s go,” she said, and Dan began pushing her, once more.

He was quiet until they’d crossed the entry to the boat ramp, and started down the path to the surf hut. Stacey was relieved to see the hut looked deserted, but then the door opened just a little. Her cousin must have seen her, because it wasn’t long before the door opened all the way, and Jelly and Wade waved at her.

Stacey rolled her eyes. It was a good thing she wasn’t one of the bad guys. Those two would have been caught in twenty seconds flat!

“Hey,” she said, when Dan had rolled her through the door. “How is she?”

“I’m fine,” Veleia said. “Are they gone?”

“Yeah, they’re gone,” Stacey said, and then she told them how she and Dan had watched the boat leave the bay.

“You’re sure they didn’t leave anyone behind?”

“Pretty sure. He would have had to change his clothes really fast, and I don’t think there was time for that.”

Veleia gave a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” she said, “but I think I’d better be getting back. Could you wheel me back down to the water without anyone seeing me?”

Dan opened the door to look out, and then pulled it closed again. He was shaking his head as he looked at Veleia.

“No way,” he said. “There are a lot more people out there, now, and the pylons under the jetty are underwater. We won’t be able to get you back there until the tide goes out, and the only places we could get you back into the water are full of swimmers.”

Stacey watched as Veleia’s face fell, and she reached across to touch her arm.

“We’ll bring you back, for the next low tide,” she promised, and Jelly looked at her in horror.

“But that’s at eight o’clock!”

“So?”

“Well, it’ll almost be dark, and Mum doesn’t like it if we’re not back home, by then.”

Stacey looked at Dan.

“Pretty sure our mum will be just the same,” he said, and she frowned.

“Don’t look at me like that, Stace. I’m just not sure we’ll be able to sneak out, is all, especially not when mum hears what happened to you, today.”

That stopped Stacey cold.

“You really think she’ll find out?” she asked, feeling her heart sink.

Dan put a hand on his hip and cocked his head to one side.

“How many people helped us get you back to the footpath?” he asked.

Jelly and Wade stared at her. Even Veleia looked curious.

“Yes,” she said. “How many people did help you to the… footpath?”

So Stacey told them what had happened under the jetty, and watched as Veleia’s face went paler, and Jelly’s eyes grew wide.

“Are you sure they don’t know who you are?” Jelly asked, “because pretty much everyone around here knows you, right?”

“I don’t think they’re from around here,” Stacey told her, and then turned to Veleia. “Right?”

Veleia shrugged.

“I don’t know where they are from,” she said. “I only know they saw me and chased me.”

“Yeah, but where did they see you?” Stacey asked.