Icebreaker (17 page)

The door flew open and Squid tumbled into the cabin, her face white. “Dufftown's in trouble,” she panted. “Da wants us to get Fin away and hide him till Albie and Crab come to their senses. Might be a few days, he reckons. He's trying to barricade the galley, but he's not sure it'll hold. He says most of the attack came from the for'ard ladderway, so we should go aft.”

She caught her breath. “Though they might be there too, for all I know, and if they see Fin, he's lost.”

Petrel threw open the chest that sat against the wall and dragged out an outdoor jacket and trousers. “Put these back on,” she said to Fin. “You'll pass for Grease as long as no one looks too close.”

Fin took the clothes and began to pull them on. Petrel said, “You're the other one they'll go for, Squid. If they can grab you they'll have a powerful hold over your da.”

Squid nodded. “True enough. I'll hang back, so I don't endanger you two.”

“No.” Petrel shook her head. “I reckon we should stick together.”

“We should go to Grease Alley,” said Fin quickly.

Petrel agreed with him. “Good hiding places down there, and Albie's too busy chasing Krill to think about his own territory.”

She dug into the chest again and handed Fin the iron device he had found.

“If we end up anywhere near the fighting,” she said, “Squid and I'll start to run, and you chase us, waving that spanner as if you want to whack us with it.” Her forehead creased. “Can you run, do you reckon, without falling over?”

“I will try,” said Fin, relieved to be moving at last, and in the right direction. He hefted the spanner in his fist, wondering whether he might be able to use it to force the hatch where the demon was hidden …

“You ready?” asked Petrel.

Squid nodded. So did Fin. Petrel opened the cabin door and peeped out. “All clear,” she whispered. “Put your hood up, Fin.” And she climbed over the sill.

*   *   *

The fighting was closer than Petrel had realized. She could hear the furious shouts and the clash of pipe wrenches and knives as Albie and his crew advanced through Dufftown.

“This way,” she hissed at Fin, and dragged him in the opposite direction, with Squid hurrying behind them.

Krill's cabin was not far from the old growing vats. Petrel avoided looking at them as they passed—she had promised to keep the tunnels secret, and would not go back on that promise, no matter what.

By the time they had passed the vats, the sounds of fighting had grown fainter. But Petrel didn't trust her ears, not where Albie was concerned. She checked every corner before they rounded it, and kept her eyes peeled for Engineer-shaped wrongness. It'd be just like Albie to send two or three fighters up the aft ladderway, to lie in wait for unexpected prizes. Orca would've done the same if she was still alive, but Petrel wasn't so worried about Crab.

Which was maybe why she didn't see Dolph until it was too late.

 

CHAPTER 17

A PATCH OF WHITE

There was no warning. One moment Petrel was leading the way past a cabin; the next, Fin yelped behind her, and she spun around to see Dolph holding the tip of her knife to the boy's neck.

“Lucky me, I've caught a Grease boy,” hissed Dolph. “Wonder why he's keeping company with rat and Duff, instead of fighting like he should be?”

Petrel's heart shrank within her. “Dolph,” she whispered.

“Ooh,
clever
rat. It can talk—”

Squid broke in. “Leave her alone, Dolph. Leave the Engineer alone too. He's not important. It's— It's me you want.”

“Is it?” said Dolph, her knife not moving from Fin's neck. “I spose Crab'd be pleased to see you. Albie, too. But maybe I've got other plans. Maybe I'm curious about this Grease boy.”

Petrel's mind was awhirl, her fear of the older girl all mixed up with the brand-new knowledge that they were cousins. That Dolph's mam and Petrel's da had been sister and brother.

And that one had killed the other.

But that didn't matter, she told herself, not right now. What mattered was Fin.

“He's Squid's secret feller,” she said quickly. “They're love-smitten, they are, which is just plain stupid in my opinion, 'cos Krill and Albie'll have a fit if they find out, and—” She broke off as the tip of the knife flicked Fin's hood back, exposing his face.

“Then again,” said Dolph, as if Petrel's words had been nothing but rat squeaks, “maybe he's
not
Grease. Maybe he's something a
lot
more interesting. Like a murderer.”

Fin's eyes flickered from side to side. The knife pressed harder against his throat.

“He didn't do it, Dolph,” said Squid. “Fin didn't kill your mam.”

“Course he didn't,” said Dolph. “Not on his own, anyway. He had help, didn't he, from a certain rat girl.”

“What?” said Petrel, astonished at the accusation. “What are you talking about? I didn't go near your mam. You think I'm stupid? If she'd caught me anywhere near her cabin she'd have whacked me on the head and thrown me to the Maw.”

“Squeak squeak squeak,” spat Dolph. “You've got more words than I ever thought, Nothing Girl.”

“I'm not nothing,” said Petrel, stung. “I'm Braid
and
Grease, which is more than anyone else on this ship—”

“Shame!” hissed Dolph. “A walking shame, that's what you are. Maybe when Mam saw you, she stopped her hand out of disgust. Or maybe you tricked her, caught her eye in one direction while the murderer crept up in the other. It doesn't matter how you killed her—”

It was then that Fin spoke up for the first time. His eyes were white around the edges, but his voice was steady. “We did not kill your mother. It was not Petrel and it was not me. You should let me go. I have done nothing to harm you.”

She won't believe him,
thought Petrel.
She won't believe me either. She's all astew with anger and hatred, and she's got us fixed in her mind as the cause of it.

Petrel was right. Dolph glared at the boy. “I reckon Albie's sorry now that he picked you up, murderer. Look what you've done to the
Oyster
! Killed the best First Officer there ever was. I reckon he'll cheer when he sees me throw you two overboard.”

Something twisted in Petrel's belly.
Blizzards,
she thought,
it's not just the tar bucket, not this time!

She wasn't worried for herself, not yet. As long as it was just Dolph guarding them, Petrel could get away whenever she wanted to, and so could Squid. But escape would be a lot harder if Dolph handed them over to Crab and Albie …

“You think Albie's gunna let
you
chuck us overboard?” she said. “Not a chance. He'll want to do it himself.”

“No, he won't,” said Dolph, through gritted teeth. “It was my mam you murdered, so I get to kill you.”

Petrel rolled her eyes at Squid and Fin, hoping they'd understand. “Not if you hand us over you won't. You won't count for anything once Albie gets his hands on us.”

Squid nodded. “And Crab'll want to make a show of it now he's First Officer. He and Albie'll be fighting over who gets to do the deed.”

“They won't!” said Dolph. “They'll see I've got first rights.”

“I would not count on it,” said Fin, his wits nimble in spite of the blade at his throat. “Chief Engineer Albie seems to be a man of very strong will.”

Dolph glared at the three of them. “You think you're so clever,” she hissed, “but I know what you're doing. All the same, maybe you're right about Crab and Albie. Maybe they
would
take over, and that's not what I want, and not what Mam would've wanted either. So we're going up to the afterdeck, just the four of us. And if either of you two”—she jerked her chin at Petrel and Squid—“try to run away, or do anything I don't like, the murderer here will have a very nasty accident.”

“He's
not
a murderer—”

“Shut up, Nothing Girl! I don't want to hear another word out of your nasty little mouth!”

Petrel fell silent, and the small procession set off, with Squid leading the way. The Dufftown border was unguarded for once, and the lights that usually illuminated the Commons ladderway were shattered, as if the fighting had come this way and then retreated. The small group climbed upwards, with Dolph holding her knife against Fin's throat to remind them to behave.

Fear for the boy coiled and uncoiled in Petrel's belly. But there was something else there too, something that made her skin flush and her hands clench into fists.

She had been called Nothing Girl all her life, and had accepted it as the truth. The whole of the crew thought of her as Nothing Girl. If Dolph
did
somehow manage to throw her overboard today, no one would care. Likely no one would even notice!

And that wasn't right. Because she
wasn't
nothing. She was Braid and Grease; she was Seal's daughter, and Quill's.

She wondered what her parents would say, if they could see her now. She wanted them to be proud of her, the way Krill was proud of Squid.

She raised her chin.
I'm not going to let Fin die without a fight, Mam. I bet you and Da fought for your lives. Orca killed you all the same, but I'm not gunna let her daughter kill Fin. Not if I can help it!

And she set herself to thinking about the afterdeck.

They had nearly reached their destination when the pipes started rattling. At first Petrel thought it was messages, but if it was, they were all jumbled up and mixed together, one on top of the other as if everyone was yelling at once.

“What are they saying?” Fin called from behind Petrel.

Squid, still leading the way, shouted over the noise, “Nothing sensible.”

“Shut up,” cried Dolph.

“Reckon they're just banging away for the sake of it,” shouted Petrel.

“I said, shut up!”

The hatch, when they came to it, had ice around its edges. “You're gunna be cold out there, Dolph, without your jacket,” Petrel said, raising her voice over the clanging of the pipes. “Maybe you should swap with Fin. He won't need his, not inside the Maw. I'm sure he'll stand nice and quiet while you change.”

Dolph sneered at her. “You worry about yourself, Nothing Girl, not about me. Open the hatch.”

Petrel shrugged and threw her weight against the clamp. The hatch opened with a grinding sound and the cold swooped in and seized hold of them.

“Quick,” said Dolph. Like Petrel and Squid, she was already shivering. “G-get out there.”

Squid stepped outside, and Petrel followed. At the urging of the knife, Fin too stepped over the sill, with Dolph beside him.

The deck was coated with a thin layer of ice, and Petrel trod carefully.
Wonder if the Maw knows we're coming. Wonder if it thinks it's gunna get a feed.

The day was so clear that she could see for miles. There was pack ice everywhere, huge flat slabs of it that the
Oyster
swept aside with ease. An albatross hung on the air, its wingspan twice as wide as Petrel's height, and the wind fiddles sang in time with its swooping and rising. In the distance a cloud of seabirds was gathering. The beauty of it all snatched at Petrel's heart and made her more determined than ever that neither she nor Fin would die today.

“Where's the f-fishing shift?” said Dolph.

“They're all fighting,” said Squid. “
Everyone's
f-fighting.”

Petrel wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stop the shivering. “All b-because of Fin—at least that's where it started, but I reckon they've p-prob'ly forgotten about him by now, and they're just h-hacking away for the sake of it.”

She peeked at Dolph, and said, “And you know what? They
shouldn't
forget about him. 'Cos he knows s-something important. Something about d-demons, and about strange ships. Something that's gunna affect the whole c-crew. And if you throw us over the side, you won't know what it is.”

Squid blew on her fists and said, “Until maybe it's t-too late to fix it.”

Dolph jabbed her knife at the boy's neck. “M-move. It's c-cold out here and I want to get back inside.”

“Fin,” said Petrel. “T-tell her. Tell her about the ship that brought you.”

Fin nodded cautiously, wary of the knife. “It is out there now, following us. The men on board—they wish to kill everyone—”

“Why?” interrupted Dolph. “This ship, which I d-don't believe in. Why would they want to k-kill us all?”

“'Cos of the d-demon,” said Petrel quickly. “That's why Fin killed your mam, Dolph. 'Cos she was a demon!”

“What?”
cried Dolph.

“What?” said Squid.

“No!” said Fin, looking around wildly. “I did not!”

And in that moment of uncertainty, Petrel snatched the boy away from Dolph's knife and dived for the deck.

The icy surface helped—they skidded away from Dolph as quick as seals. Squid was already on the move, and the three of them were twenty paces away before Dolph knew what was happening.

Petrel couldn't help herself. She climbed to her feet and shouted, as she had longed to shout so many times before, “Ha! You're stupid, Dolph! Fancy falling for a little trick like that! A baby could get away from you!” And she waggled her tongue in triumph.

Dolph's eyes were black with rage. She advanced on them, knife in hand, and they quickly backed away.

“'Twasn't true what Petrel said,” shouted Squid. “Fin didn't kill your mam. Neither did she.”

“I would've,” cried Petrel, still triumphant, still furious. “I should've, 'cos she killed
my
mam. And my da.”