Royal Ransom (9 page)

I thought maybe I wanted to as well, but I just wasn't sure how to go about it. It looked so clumsy, and I couldn't figure out for sure where the two noses went. Was there some sort of kissing rule, or did you just hope that one person's nose went one way and the other person's the other? Maybe it was like a pop fly in baseball and somebody called it. It would be awful if you bumped and one or both of you got a bleeding nose. That wouldn't be a very magical moment.

“Is this better?” Victoria asked.

I turned around. I couldn't help looking straight at her lips. She looked very pretty.

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

“My paddling? Am I doing better?”

I turned back around, away from her. Had she noticed I was staring at her … at her lips? Maybe the secret was to just keep looking forward at the back of Andrew's head.

She tapped me on the shoulder. “So, Jamie, are you going to give me your expert opinion?”

Reluctantly I turned toward her and I found myself once again looking at her lips. In desperation I looked
down and instantly realized that I shouldn't be staring at that part of her body either.

“You're doing great,” I said, and spun back around.

 “You didn't even see me paddle!”

“I have to watch Andrew for a while,” I sputtered. “He needs my help more.”

They continued to paddle away and I continued to try to focus on not thinking about Victoria sitting behind me. We weren't more than a foot apart. I could hear her breathing. Maybe if I took a really, really deep breath I could even smell her, I thought. She had some kind of bug spray on—I think it was Deep Woods Off. Somehow, though, on her, it smelled good. I wondered if she ever wore perfume … of course she wore perfume, she was a princess! She probably had a whole room full of stuff like that. For sure she at least used some type of scented deodorant—darn, why hadn't I packed some deodorant on this trip? I must have smelled awful. Maybe tomorrow I could get up early and wash up.

“Jamie, which way should we go?” Victoria asked.

“Just follow the shore.”

“Shouldn't we go out more? We're awfully close to—”

“Just who's in charge here anyway?” I asked.

“Fine,” she said. “We'll stay in by the shore.”

If I only had deodorant, it wouldn't be so bad sitting in the canoe. And maybe some more clean clothes. And a comb. And some breath mints would have been fantastic. It would be better to kiss somebody if you had a TicTac in your mouth—what was I thinking! I wasn't going to kiss her. I wasn't going to try to kiss her. I wasn't even going to
think
about kissing her. Okay, I was going to think about it, but
I didn't really have much choice. It was like somebody saying “Don't think of elephants,” and then elephants are the only thing you can think of.

I didn't even know if she wanted me to kiss her. Maybe she was just being friendly. Princesses are trained to be friendly. Being around my grandmother, I'd been forced to look at enough pictures and videos to know that they all seemed to have that same smile pasted on their faces all the time. Maybe she didn't like me, maybe she was simply acting the way a princess was supposed to act toward one of her subjects. I remembered that she'd said she always had to act polite. On the other hand, one of the guys at school told me that one of the girls at school told him that some of the girls—she wouldn't say who—think I'm pretty good-looking because I'm tall for my age and my hair looks good when I let it grow long and I've got a nice smile … well, she
did
say that, not me—

“Jamie, what do we do now?” Victoria exclaimed.

I snapped out of my thoughts. “We just—jeez, the river!” We were right at the river. The walls of the banks rose up high on both sides.

“I can't get us out of the current, and—”

“Paddle harder!” I yelled. “Andrew, paddle on the other side. Victoria, try to steer us across the current so we don't get sucked in!”

The canoe swung into the little mouth of the river and I felt my stomach rise up into my throat as we dropped down the first little bump.

“Jamie, do something!” Andrew screamed.

“Can't you turn it around or bring us to shore?” Victoria asked.

“Look around; there's no place. The shore is too high already.”

“Surely there must be someplace where—”

“We're going through the rapids,” I said.

“Oh my dear God.” Victoria's voice was just barely audible over the increasing roar of the water.

We were on a little stretch of flat water, but the river was getting faster as it was squeezing through the narrows.

“Both of you put on your life jackets! Quickly! There's not much time.”

They pulled them off the floor and started to put them on. I only wished I'd put three life jackets in the canoe.

“My paddle! I dropped my paddle!” Andrew screamed.

I thrust my hand into the water to try to grab it as it floated past us, but it was too far away.

“Here, take mine!” Victoria shouted.

“It won't do him any good!” I yelled.

“No,
you
take the paddle!
You
steer!”

“I can't steer from the middle!”

“But—
aaaahhhh!
” Victoria screamed as we dropped over a big dip.

My stomach flipped again. I couldn't panic. I had to think about what was up ahead. I'd been through these rapids before, once before, years ago. I realized I had no idea what was coming.

We hit another dip and the canoe bucked, the water rose up, and we seemed to be turning to the side.

“Straighten us out!” I screamed. “Keep us going straight!”

“I don't know how!” she hollered.

Suddenly we slammed into a rock and I felt myself being thrown forward. I grabbed onto the side of the canoe to stop myself from getting airborne and it dipped down. Water came pouring in over the side. The canoe whirled around the rock and I looked forward—or backwards. We were heading through the rapids turned backwards!

I spun in my seat so I was facing the right way, down the rapids and toward Victoria. She was soaking wet, with her hair plastered down and a look of total panic on her face.

“Give me the paddle!” I hollered. “Give it to me!”

She practically tossed it at me like it was on fire.

The canoe bucked and rocked over another dip. I'd anchored my feet under the seat, but Victoria bounced up into the air, and for a second I was positive she was going to go over the side.

“Turn around in your seat!” I yelled. “And then hold on with your feet as well as your hands!”

She had just started to turn when the canoe seemed to drop right away, and she was in mid-air above the seat. I lunged forward and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back down. Then there was a shudder and the sound of grinding, and the whole canoe bounced off to the side.

I let go of Victoria and grabbed the paddle again. Desperately I scanned forward and … and … there was only lake.

“We made it,” Victoria said. “We made it!”

“We did?” Andrew asked from behind me.

I turned partway around. Andrew was sitting there, still looking backwards, frozen in place. The whole
bottom half of the canoe was filled with water. I knew we'd taken on water, but—

“We ran the rapids, and we're no worse for wear,” Victoria said.

“Maybe
you
survived,” I muttered.

“What do you mean?”

“Look at the canoe. There's a hole.”

“Where?” Victoria asked.

I pointed. There was a gash on the side—a big gash— just behind where she sat. Water was pouring in.

“Can it be repaired?”

“I don't know. We have to get to shore before we sink completely.”

“Sink? We're going to sink!” Andrew exclaimed.

“Shut up, Andrew!” I yelled. I dug the paddle in and propelled us toward the shore. I dug in again, and again, and again. The canoe was so heavy with water— and filling up by the second—that there was no way I was getting us to shore.

“There's too much weight,” I said. “Andrew, get out of the canoe.”

“You want me to get into the water?” he asked in amazement.

“You have a life jacket on. Just swim to shore.”

“But why me? Why doesn't my sister have to go?”

“You're right. She should go.”

“I should?” Victoria asked.

“You
both
have to go. Get out of the canoe. Now!”

Victoria didn't say another word. She just zipped her life jacket up to the top and slipped over the edge of the canoe and into the water.

“You too, Andrew,” I said.

He grumbled and groaned.

“Look, Andrew, either you get out and I have a chance to get the canoe to shore, or you stay put and it sinks. Either way, you're going to be swimming.”

“Get out, Andrew!” Victoria screamed. “Come on and we'll swim in together. You'll be just fine. It isn't far.”

Reluctantly he slipped over the side. In one hand, he was still clutching his can of bug spray.

With both of them gone, the canoe rose up slightly out of the water. Unfortunately, the gash was still below the waterline, and it would be only a matter of time before it filled up completely and sank.

I dug the paddle in once more. Even with the two of them gone, the weight of the water was still tremendous, and the canoe was barely budging with each stroke. Up ahead Victoria and Andrew were almost all the way to shore, wading through the shallows. They weren't that far away, and if I could just get the canoe that far, even if it sank, I could still drag it to the shore and it wouldn't be lost.

I dug in deep and strained with all my might, but the canoe barely moved. Maybe if I jumped out I could swim and tow it along behind me. I grabbed the rope and rolled over the side. The canoe bobbed up slightly, but the craft was still taking on water. I struggled forward. It felt like I was dragging an anchor … I
was
dragging an anchor. The canoe was sinking fast, and now it was barely peeking out of the water behind me. This wasn't going to work. I stopped swimming and tried to touch
the bottom. I couldn't do it. I had to get farther in. I started to swim and—

“Let me help you!” Victoria was calling from the water just a few metres away.

“You're supposed to be on shore.”

“I got Andrew in safely and I came back out to help you.”

“I don't need any help.”

“Sure you don't,” she snapped.

She swam up. Then she reached down and grabbed hold of the rope, just above where I was holding it. “Now let's get going.”

Together we tugged at the canoe. It seemed to be moving better. Not well, but better than it had.

“How much farther until it gets shallow?” I asked, panting with each word.

“Too far. Maybe we should just leave the canoe.”

“Can't … not my canoe.”

“Ray will understand.”

“Ha!” I snapped, despite my tiredness.

“Wouldn't he rather you survived than one of his canoes?” she asked.

“Hard to say.”

“But it's smashed anyway.”

“Can be fixed … I think … but if it sinks in deep water it's gone.”

“What if we mark where it sinks?” she asked.

“How?”

Without answering Victoria stopped swimming and started to tread water. She sank lower into the water.

“What are you doing?'

“This,” she said as she handed me her life jacket. “Tie this to the rope and it will mark the spot where the canoe goes down.”

“It'll only mark it if the rope is longer than the water is deep.”

“How long is the rope?” Victoria asked.

“About four metres.”

“The water doesn't look that deep.”

“It's hard to judge really clean water. It could be a lot deeper.”

“Either way, tie it on, because by all indications the canoe is going to sink.”

I looked back. There was no question that she was right. The only direction this canoe was going was down. Quickly I looped the rope through the buckle of the jacket. I pulled it taut and then struggled to keep my head above water while I used both hands to tie a double knot and pull it tight.

“Come on, let's get to shore,” Victoria said.

“Can't … have to wait until it sinks … see if the jacket marks it.”

“That sounds utterly pointless,” she said. “Either it will work or it will not, and there is nothing you can do. Now come, before
you
sink!”

I wanted to argue, but I knew she was right. My arms were suddenly feeling heavy and I didn't know how long I could stay out there and still reach the shore. I flipped over on my back and let my arms dangle beside me, kicking my legs to propel me forward. As I moved I looked up at the sky. It was still light, and the sun was circling the horizon, but the moon was already in the sky.

What was I going to say to Ray? What was Ray going to say to me?

“You can put your feet down now,” Victoria said.

I spun around and stood up. My feet sank into the muddy bottom. I struggled forward and tripped. Victoria grabbed my arm and steadied me. I expected her to let go, but she continued to hold on as the water got shallower and shallower. I waded out and collapsed on the shore, beside Andrew. Victoria came and sat down beside me.

“The important thing is that we have all survived,” Victoria said.

“So far,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Andrew asked apprehensively.

“I don't know who I should be more afraid of,” I said, “Ray, when he finds out that I wrecked one of his canoes, or Albert and Nigel, when they hear that I almost drowned you two.”

“Don't worry about the canoe,” Victoria said. “We will make sure that full restitution is made.”