Island of Fog (Book 1) (8 page)

Miss Simone’s chair scraped as she stood and began pacing around the perimeter of the classroom, her bare feet making no sound. Heads twisted to follow her. “Not a single man,” she said. “I meant mankind itself, although nobody has admitted to it. Probably terrorists who allowed things to get wildly out of control. Governments across the world organized shelters for the rich and important people to escape the airborne virus, while millions of ordinary citizens had to survive alone. There was no known cure, and most succumbed to the deadly virus within an hour of contracting it. Those that hadn’t yet caught it attempted to flee cities and make for the country and the mountains, so as you can imagine there were mass evacuations as people literally ran for their lives.”

Hal couldn’t imagine any such thing. He’d only ever known a select handful of people, and the idea of millions of people was beyond him, despite numerous pictures he’d seen while growing up.

Miss Simone stopped at the rear of the room. “The mainland is very close, and there stands a large city, what’s left of it. It too was evacuated, but not before many, many people died. There were also those who were infected but didn’t die; instead they were disfigured, terribly scarred. They must have suffered intense pain and discomfort—probably still do, if any are left alive.”

Hal found Abigail staring at him, and he stared back.

The strange woman turned to gaze out of a window. “Your parents were among a handful that escaped the virus completely, and that’s because my own people had already selected them and made arrangements to protect them before the virus spread. We hid them away here, on the island, while the world fell apart. We made the air safe.”

Hal opened his mouth to ask what she meant about making the air safe when Emily broke in. “Your people had already
selected
them? What do you mean? Selected them for what?”

“And who
are
your people?” Robbie asked.

Miss Simone continued to stare out the window. “My people live in a secret place that the virus can’t reach. But we have problems of our own to deal with, although not on the same scale. I won’t go into that now, except to say that a solution to our problem meant our people working with a handful of yours. We had already chosen ten childless couples in your world and were in the process of beginning the project when the virus struck—and our plans were hurried along. Unfortunately the virus put us all in a difficult position, and again I won’t go into that right now.”

“Ten childless couples?” Emily said, repeating the stranger’s words.

“Your parents,” Miss Simone said, glancing at her. “They were childless when I first met them fourteen years ago, and still childless when I moved them here to the island a year later.” She frowned. “But I don’t want to go into all that right now—”

“But
ten
couples?” Emily persisted. “There were only ever nine here. Eight now that Thomas has gone.”

“Yes, a shame about the Pattens,” said the visitor, nodding. “And the other couple, the tenth—they dropped out very early on, before you were even born.”

“Why?” Emily asked.

Miss Simone sighed. “Another time, Emily. What’s important, children, is that you are here on this island for a very good reason, and I believe we are going to be seeing some important developments over the next few days. And for that I need your cooperation.”

Not a word escaped the lips of any of the children. It seemed everyone had stopped breathing.

Miss Simone smiled and clapped her hands together. “Now, I’m going to speak to each and every one of you in turn, privately, and while I’m doing that the rest of you can be getting on with some class work. I’d like you to write a short story about a boy or girl that has magical powers. That should keep you busy.”

Silence.

Miss Simone frowned. “So please get out your pencils and paper.”

In slow motion, everyone reached for their bags and backpacks and started delving for pencils, pens and pads of paper.

“Miss Simone?” Abigail asked. Hal glanced at her, noting that she had a challenging expression on her face that he recognized only too well.

“Yes, what is it, dear?”

“I just want to know something: How come the virus is still Out There? I mean, after twelve or thirteen years or whatever . . . it just seems like a long time for a virus to be around. And if it’s airborne, well, how come we’ve never caught it? You said the mainland is fairly close.”

There was a long silence before Miss Simone replied. “The virus carries easily through the air. Most viruses die within hours if no host is found, but this one is different. It somehow survives, floating on a breeze, sometimes settling like dust, then blowing into the air again—tiny dormant spores that drift around the world, waiting patiently for new human hosts.”

Miss Simone turned to stare out the window once more. “It’s all around us. But the fog that you see outside is like a protective blanket across the island. It filters the air and destroys any virus that blows this way.”

Everyone turned in unison to gaze out the window. The fog drifted in patches across the grass, letting hazy rays of sunlight shine through in places. So the fog was what kept them all alive? Hal shuddered at the thought of what damage he and Robbie might have caused had they managed to block the fog-hole. Now everything made sense—the serpent blocking their route to the mainland, the red-faced monster guarding the fog-hole . . .

Except one small detail didn’t fit: Why had the red-faced monster seemed confused as to where he was, and how he had got there?

“So the virus is still in the air?” Abigail asked with narrowed eyes. “How come you seem to have avoided it when so many have died?”

Miss Simone threw her a glare. “Abigail Porter,” she murmured. “Your mother’s a doctor. I can see where you get your scientific curiosity. It’s a shame your father didn’t listen to her.”

Everyone stiffened once more at the mention of Abigail’s dad. Hal studied her face closely and saw her jaws clench and her nostrils flare. Her hands, placed in front of her across the desk, slowly balled into fists.

Miss Simone came to stand by Abigail’s desk. “I don’t know what Dr. Porter told you of your father, Abigail, but you should know that he didn’t cope very well with life on the island. Right from the outset he pushed for others to go with him back to the mainland, to see if the virus had gone, just as you’re suggesting now. In the end, Mr. Franklin and Mr. Bridges went with him, wearing special protective suits and breathing masks.”

Hal jumped at the sound of his name, and glanced across at Fenton. Fenton stared back for a moment, then looked away.

Hal tried to imagine the three adults wearing strange suits and masks and venturing out across the water, through the fog. How had they traveled? By boat? Raft?

“The virus didn’t get your father, Abigail,” Miss Simone said, staring down at her. “But the survivors did. When people are reduced to scavenging like animals, with dead bodies all over the place, some of them their own loved ones . . . the last thing they want to see is a group of what look like
scientists
wandering around studying their handiwork. So naturally the survivors attacked them. Viciously. Mr. Franklin and Mr. Bridges were lucky to escape alive.”

As she wandered back to the front of the class, Abigail stared open-mouthed after her. Tears formed in her eyes.

“Let’s take a break,” Miss Simone said quietly. “Go outside and talk amongst yourselves for ten minutes. Get some fresh air. This is a lot to take in, and I want to make sure you digest everything I’ve told you before moving on.”

After a pause, chairs started to scrape as the classmates got to their feet and filed from the room.

“This is horrible,” Darcy whispered.

“At least we’re safe here,” Emily replied with a shudder. “As long as this fog lasts, we’ll be fine.”

Hal found Robbie and pulled him aside. “The fog-hole,” he said quietly. “If this fog is supposed to make the air safe, well, we might have got everyone killed if we’d blocked that hole up!”

“Yeah, so maybe that red-faced monster in the woods is a guard after all,” Robbie said. He frowned. “Although it did say some odd things, like it was wondering how it got there. Still, I’ll bet it’s a guard, to stop us blocking up the hole.”

Hal nodded. “That’s what I thought. And the sea serpent is there to guard us too—to stop us leaving the island. It’s all starting to make sense.”

“No, it’s not,” Abigail said from behind them, her voice low. Hal and Robbie turned to her. Her eyes were red, and she looked angry. “
None
of it makes sense.”

“What do you mean?” asked Hal.

Abigail jerked a thumb toward the school. “She hasn’t told us why her people selected our parents and hid them away on this island. And she hasn’t told us why each couple then had one baby each—not two babies, or three, but exactly
one
. Why have any babies at all? Don’t you think that’s odd, each couple having exactly one baby, with the world falling apart around them? And I always wondered why our parents waited so long to have children anyway. I worked it out; they were all in their early thirties when we were born, and we were all born within the same year, within the same few months. We’re all exactly twelve years old, give or take a few weeks. Doesn’t that strike you as a bit of a coincidence?”

She stopped for breath, and shot a glance over her shoulder.

“And who is she, really? Where does she come from? Why does she talk about
her
people and
our
people as if they’re different? Did you notice that she mentioned
her
world and
our
world? And what has any of this got to do with what’s happening to us?”

Abigail glanced from Hal to Robbie and back again, her chin jutting and her lips pouting. “As far as I’m concerned, none of this makes sense. But I intend to find out.”

Despite the brightness of the day, an icy chill seeped through Hal’s clothing as he digested Abigail’s words.

“We need to make plans,” Abigail whispered. “We need to find out what’s really happening here, and the best way is to follow Miss Simone when she leaves class today, to see where she goes. Maybe she’ll go Out There on a boat, and if so, it’ll prove the air is fine and that the whole thing is a lie.”

Hal nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

“Oh, so we’re buddies with Abi now, all of a sudden?” Robbie said. “Abi, we don’t need you hanging around and—”

“Shut up, Robbie,” Abigail snapped. She glared at him. “We have important things to do, and we’d better stick together. It’s what I’ve been saying all along.” Then she softened and gave Hal a shy grin. “Besides, Hal and I have a secret. We need to stick together.”

Robbie spun to face Hal, looking puzzled—but then he laughed. “So I was right! You and Abi are in love!”

Mortified, Hal grabbed Robbie’s arm. “Keep your voice down! That’s not what she means. We’re not—look, we talked on Saturday night, and—”

“Saturday night?” Robbie said, his face one big delighted grin. “O-ho! You two got together in secret?”

“Oh, shut up, Robbie,” Abigail said again, rolling her eyes.

They stood in silence, Robbie looking like he’d just found out some dirty secret, and Abigail looking mildly embarrassed. Hal, feeling a little red-faced himself, looked to see what his other classmates were doing.

Darcy, Lauren and Emily were deep in conversation again—no surprises there. They were huddled together with faces inches apart as if discussing something important. And maybe they were. Maybe they’d all developed the same strange rash as Hal. Maybe they could all grow wings in an instant.

Fenton was grabbing handfuls of long grass and flicking bits at Dewey, who was staring into space. As Hal watched, Fenton glanced over at him and made a slicing motion across his throat.

Abigail stepped closer to Hal and yanked at Robbie’s arm. “C’mere, you two,” she said. “Hal and I have a secret, but where Hal goes, skinny Robbie goes too, so I guess that makes us a team.”

Robbie at once flared up. “We don’t need you to—”

“Stop arguing, both of you,” Hal said. “Let’s make plans.”

“Right,” Abigail said, nodding. “After school we’ll follow Miss Simone and see where she goes. Then we need to find a way off the island. The three of us. We’ll build another raft if we have to, and this time we’ll tie string to the docks as I suggested, so we can find our way back through the fog.
If
we decide to come back, that is. We might find that Out There is bright and sunny and that there’s no virus at all. Imagine that! A world without fog!”

Hal and Robbie exchanged a meaningful glance. “Actually,” Hal said, “we found a hole in the woods where the fog comes from. We started to block it up but were interrupted by a red-faced monster.”

Abigail stared at them with her mouth open. “What?”

Robbie started to tell the story in detail, but Abigail stopped him and suggested Hal tell it instead. “I want the truth,” she said, “not fairy tales.” So Hal told the story, much to Robbie’s disappointment. When he was finished, Abigail looked thoughtful. “That’s very interesting. And Simone said the fog makes the air clean. I’d like to see this hole. Can you take me there?”

“It’s not safe,” Hal said. “The monster—”

Robbie frowned. “Wait. We decided the red-faced monster was just a guard, so it’s probably not dangerous. Same with the sea serpent; it could have swallowed us whole if it wanted to, but instead it just herded us back to the island. Maybe these monsters are Miss Simone’s pets, trained like Emily’s dog.”

“In which case,” Abigail finished, “even if we meet the red-faced monster in the woods, it won’t harm us. It’ll just try to frighten us off. I definitely want to go and see this fog-hole now. Show me where it is, okay? But first we’ll follow Simone and see where she goes. Oh, and I also think we should break into the lighthouse. If we can get to the top, we might be able to see over the fog to the mainland.”

Hal frowned. “Why go to the top of the lighthouse? Why not just fly up through the fog right here?”

Too late he remembered Robbie knew nothing of Abigail’s secret.

But Robbie let out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, we’ll
fly
. That would be easier than breaking into the lighthouse grounds through the padlocked gates with razor wire on top, and then busting down the door to the lighthouse. Yeah, let’s all fly up into the sky.”

Another thought struck Hal then. Here was Robbie joking about breaking through padlocked gates and stout oak doors, when all the while he was just the person who might be able to do such a thing. Hal couldn’t help smiling to himself. Abigail could fly and Robbie could break down doors, and yet neither knew the other’s secret.

A voice called from the school building. “Could you come back inside now, please? Thank you.”

“We’ll talk more later,” Abigail murmured, a deep frown on her face.

Once everyone had returned to class and settled down in their seats, Miss Simone perched on the edge of her desk. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions to ask. But all will be revealed in a few days. First I need to be sure of something, so I want to speak to you all one by one. Emily, come with me. The rest of you get on with your essays—quietly, please.”

Miss Simone swept past Hal’s desk, and Hal caught a faint smell of seawater, a hint of salt or seaweed. After her trotted Emily, her chin high as if she had been specially selected for some important task. The two disappeared out the back of the classroom, and Hal heard the creak of another door off the short hallway. Miss Simone had taken Emily into the little office; there was a soft click as the door closed behind them.

Everyone exchanged glances as if wondering what to do. “We’d better get on with our essays,” Darcy whispered. “Or at least pretend to be getting on. I doubt she’ll even care what we write. She doesn’t seem to be interested, does she?”

“But then again,” Dewey said from the back, “what if she
is
interested in what we write, and we get in trouble for not getting on with it like we’ve been told? We don’t know what she’s like. She might have a horrible temper.”

After a brief discussion it was decided they should all at least appear to be writing, although it was difficult to concentrate on anything after all they’d learned.

Something small and light hit Hal on the arm, and he automatically looked across at Robbie. But Robbie was staring at his essay paper, on which he’d written four lines. Hal glanced back at Abigail, who nodded down at the floor next to him where a small, wadded-up piece of paper lay. He reached for the paper, unfolded it, and read:

You nearly goofed, telling Robbie about me. But I guess we’d better tell him, right? Does he know about your rash? I noticed it’s gone now. Did you will it away?

Hal stared at the message for a while, then turned to her. She sat gazing at him with her head tilted to one side. After a moment Hal scrawled a reply:

Rash just vanished. Robbie has secret too. So yeah, let’s all talk.

He balled the paper up and flicked it back to her.

Footsteps sounded behind him, and he returned his attention to his essay as Emily trotted back to her desk. Miss Simone’s voice came from the back. “Lauren now, please.”

Lauren got up and, looking nervous, headed to the back of the class. Hal watched her and Miss Simone disappear into the hallway.

“Psst!” Robbie said, leaning forward and poking Emily on her shoulder with his pencil. “What happened? What did you talk about?”

Emily turned slowly, looking bewildered. Everyone had stopped writing to listen. “It was weird,” she said. “She asked me if I had experienced anything strange lately. She asked really carefully, like she was testing me.”

“And?” Fenton demanded.

“And nothing,” Emily said with a shrug. “I don’t know what she meant. I asked her what kind of strange things and she said something about unexpected physical changes. I thought that was a bit personal.”

Darcy giggled. “Did you tell her to mind her own business?”

But what Emily said then was lost on Hal as he turned to stare first at Robbie and then at Abigail. They in turn stared back at him.
Physical changes.
So Abigail was right. Miss Simone knew something was going on with them.

Abigail scribbled something and passed the note to Hal without trying to conceal it. Fenton immediately piped up, “Oh! Look at the lovebirds, writing love notes!”

“Shut up, Fatty,” Abigail said. “How’s your toothache? Going to tell Miss Simone about your fangs?”

Fenton clamped his mouth shut and turned away.

Abigail had folded her latest note in half. Hal unfolded it and read:

Don’t say a word to her about my wings, or about your rash! Not until we know what’s going on.

Hal found Robbie looking at him and decided to give him a similar warning. He scribbled a note on a fresh piece of paper:

Don’t tell Miss Simone about how you get all big and strong. Keep it to yourself for now.

While Robbie read the note, Lauren returned and Miss Simone’s voice rang out. “Darcy?”

There was silence as Darcy left the room, and then Abigail whispered, “Hey, is anyone actually experiencing these physical changes Miss Simone mentioned? I mean, seriously. Fenton, your teeth have changed; they’re all pointed now. I’ve seen them.”

“Are they?” Emily asked. “Let’s see!”

“Yeah, show us,” Dewey said.

Fenton glared at Emily, then Dewey, his face turning red. Then he scowled. “You want to see? Do you? Okay, take a good look.” And he bared his teeth in a startling grimace that revealed his upper and lower teeth for all to see.

Everyone stared in silence at Fenton for a long while. His pointed teeth were much sharper and longer than they had any right to be, almost like a dog’s. Finally Fenton closed his mouth and turned away.

“Anyone else?” Abigail asked. “How about you, Dewey? Got any secrets you want to share?”

“No,” Dewey said, shaking his head vigorously.

Abigail turned to Emily. “Hey, bossy-boots. I know
you
have a secret.”

Emily’s eyebrows shot up. “Me? What do you mean? I have nothing to hide.”

“Are you telling me you’ve never noticed?” Abigail persisted, her eyes narrowed. “
I’ve
noticed, and I’m two rows back. I’ve seen how—”

“Abi,” Hal interrupted. He shook his head. Abigail stared at him, looking puzzled, and after a moment pouted and nodded.

Emily looked perplexed, and Hal believed she knew nothing of her secret, if indeed she had one. She certainly didn’t look any different right now, but then, neither did Robbie or Abigail. Their transformations were temporary. Fenton was the only one whose physical change seemed to have stuck with him.

What had Abigail said regarding Lauren? Something about hairy fingers? Hal strained to see, but Lauren was seated directly in front and her hands were out of sight. But presumably her fingers were quite normal, otherwise everyone would have noticed. So if Lauren’s fingers grew hair, it was only for a brief moment. Did she know it was happening?

“How about you, Lauren?” he asked.

Lauren seemed to stiffen, as if she’d been dreading the question. She turned slowly and glanced around the class. It was remarkable how similar she was to her mom, with the same wavy brown hair, snub nose, and tiny dimples. Only Lauren was twelve and much cuter. No wonder Robbie was so fascinated with her.

“Um . . . maybe,” she said, “but I don’t want to talk about it. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

Abigail leaned forward, her eyes shining. “I knew it! Lauren, I won’t say anything until you’re ready, but I think you should keep it from Miss Simone too. You didn’t tell her anything, did you?” Lauren shook her head, obviously mortified by the idea. Abigail nodded, looked pleased. “Good. Let’s keep quiet until we know what’s going on around here. Just pretend nothing’s wrong.”

There was a silence at this, and then Fenton grunted, “Easy for
you
to say, Abigail. Everyone knows my teeth are sharp and pointed, including Mrs. Hunter, and probably Miss Simone. I can’t exactly hide it.”

“Do they hurt?” Lauren asked.

Fenton shrugged. “They did. But they don’t so much now. One day I was fine, the next I could hardly talk because I kept biting the inside of my cheeks. They’re okay now, though. They just look weird.”

“And you keep dribbling,” Hal said. “You think that’s part of it?”

Fenton glanced down at his shirt. It had a few wet spots on it. He scowled and said nothing.

Darcy returned. “She asked for you next, Robbie,” she whispered.

Robbie’s eyes widened. He swallowed, then got up and headed to the back of the class.

Abigail called softly to Darcy. “Did she mention strange physical changes?”

Darcy nodded, turning around in her seat to face the class. “I told her yes, of course. I’m twelve, after all. But she said no,
other
changes . . .
unusual
changes. I said I didn’t know what she was talking about.”

Since Darcy had missed out on the most recent discussion, Emily quickly filled her in. Darcy looked bewildered. “Well, we know Fenton has something going on with his teeth. But Lauren, you have something going on too? What about you, Emily?”

Emily shrugged. “We’ll talk later, just us girls.”

Darcy nodded. Then she looked at Hal with a hint of amusement in her eyes. “And you, Hal? Any weird secrets? Are you getting taller, by any chance? Abigail, maybe you’re becoming less of a nuisance and more polite and thoughtful? And Dewey—well, no, Dewey’s just right as he is. He’s a little dear.” She smiled at him with affection.

“You’re funny, Darcy,” Abigail said, rolling her eyes. “You, Lauren and Emily are always huddled together these days, whispering secrets back and forth. You shouldn’t keep secrets from the rest of us at a time like this. We should all tell each other what we know.”

“Oh?” Emily said with interest. “Are you going to tell us all
your
secrets then, Abigail? You, Hal and Robbie are just as secretive as us girls. In fact, I think you and Hal have something going on together.”