Revenge (17 page)

The lights of the
Sapphire Star
were like a
beacon
, signalling us toward it, but we knew it was also sending us a deadly warning.

‘It's huge,' said Cal. ‘I've never seen anything like it.'

‘Me neither,' Repro added, his hands pressed up against the chopper glass. ‘It's lit up like a sideways skyscraper. I read that the
Sapphire Star
can carry almost ten thousand people. It's eighty metres tall, and four hundred metres long. It has over twenty guest decks! You would not believe the stuff they have on this ship,' Repro
said excitedly. ‘Eight swimming pools,
nightclubs
, bowling alleys, dozens of bars and spas … and tonight there's some big Opening Gala in the Archipelago Arena. It's surrounded by a
six-metre
tall coral reef aquarium wall—filled with all kinds of blue-coloured fish!'

‘Six-metre tall aquarium? I thought my fish tank was big,' I said, laughing nervously.

‘It's rumoured there's even a blue-ringed
octopus
in there,' he added.

‘The Archipelago Arena,' Cal repeated. ‘I swear Mum and Gab said something about a guest party at an aquarium … that must be it. I reckon that's where we'll find Elijah.'

We were nearing the ship from the stern and it was ridiculously massive. The width of the churning water left in its wake was huge,
trailing
for kilometres.

‘What do we do now?' Ryan asked. ‘We can't land this thing on the ship.'

Repro and Winter started digging around old equipment on the floor, trying to find some sort of winch that could possibly lower us onto the glowing ship.

‘Here,' said Repro, tapping a black panel near his leg. ‘A hoist. This is the operation control.'

‘Boges, can you get us close enough for me to drop down on this rope?' Cal asked.

‘You're not going down there on your own,' I said. ‘I'm coming, too.'

‘Boges, you can't come,' said Winter. ‘We need you to look after this,' she said, nodding up towards the thunderous rotor blades. ‘Like Ryan says, it's not like we can park it.'

‘I'll look after it, I've been watching Boges,' said Repro, cracking his knuckles. ‘Yes,' he added, nodding, ‘I'm pretty certain I can keep it under control.'

I quickly studied Repro's face. He looked fearless and proud. And crazy enough to try to fly a helicopter.

At almost the highest point of the ship I saw a gleaming swimming pool on top of a tower, surrounded by a sun deck.

‘We'll have to jump from the rope.' I pointed down to the pool. ‘And that's where we're going to land.'

Cal shook Repro's hand as he took the controls and we gave him a quick rundown of the blinking lights in the cockpit.

We crouched on the edge of the helicopter, each of us silently willing ourselves to do this. For Gabbi and Mrs O. We couldn't fail them now.

Cal tentatively eased out of the chopper,
swinging out on the winch rope first. He swung for a moment longer … then let go and landed in the middle of the pool with an enormous splash.

One down, three to go. The wind from the rotors whipped around us as Ryan, Winter and I nervously took turns sliding down the winch rope a couple of metres and leaping off into the pool, following Cal.

My heart was pounding as I sank into the clear warm water, tucking my legs up beneath me, begging myself not to crack my head or my spine on the bottom. Finally I slowed, and my feet found the silky-smooth, tiled pool floor. I pushed off with as much force as possible and shot up to the surface.

I broke through it and gasped, sucking in air. Cal, Winter and Ryan burst up around me, sending sprays of water up in three arcs. A couple of swimmers by the pool's edge watched us in shock—the people who'd seemed to fall from the sky.

‘Hey!' Voices boomed nearby. Three guys in white uniforms jogged across the pool deck, eyes to the sky. ‘What's that helicopter doing up there? That's the second one that's come over us in less than an hour!'

The chopper dipped and the rotors roared and
sliced dangerously close to the ship. The water around us rippled like a wave machine.

‘Repro!' Winter hissed. ‘He's losing control. He's going to crash!'

The chopper dived once more, disappearing down the side of the massive ship and out of sight.

Repro!

I swam beside Cal to the side of the pool and clambered out. We searched the skies for Repro. Our hearts thundered in time with the rotor blades.

And then the chopper rose again in the
distance
, swinging wildly.

‘I hope he makes it back to shore,' Cal
whispered
. He grabbed my shoulder. ‘But we have to go, Boges. We have to get down to the Arena!'

Around us were groups of people, laughing, sipping cocktails. Everything looked shiny and new. Soft blue lighting shone along the decks. I looked down and saw the words
Sapphire Star
glowing from the bottom of the pool.

‘Follow me,' Winter called from the water. ‘We have to get all the way to the other end of the ship and I think I've just found a fast way there!'

She swam to the far side of the pool facing the centre of the ship and pointed to a dip that seemed to lead over the edge, like a waterfall.

And just like that, she swam over it and
vanished
from sight.

With the guards closing in on us, Cal wasted no time jumping in and disappearing after her. Ryan looked at me and shrugged.

Bravely we dived in again, and followed.

I held my breath as I found myself falling, then being splashed and funnelled along in some sort of transparent neon tube. My body was careening along on a wave, looping around left and right.

We were soaring down a water slide!

‘Wooooooooah!' Ryan yelled, coming down behind me.

Ahead, Winter and Cal's silhouettes slipped left and right along the curves of the tube.

I stretched back and shut my eyes, trying to relax into the ride, but quickly regretted it. Suddenly I felt sick in the wild spin. Out of nowhere, Rafe's face as he died, crushed under the Ormond Angel in Ireland, taunted me from behind my closed eyelids …

The four of us were flung out, airborne, and landed into another, larger pool on a lower deck. This time people nearby raised their glasses and cheered. I pushed my hair back and looked around. People in a mix of suits and gowns and swimmers danced around the pool and the
adjacent
bubbling spas. Music was pumping at full
volume. I tried to shake Rafe out of my mind. Why was I thinking about him at a time like this?

I followed Cal, Winter and Ryan and heaved myself out of the second pool and ran over to the railing. Beyond was a vast open space, the size of a footy field, leading down into the many levels of guest cabins. We still had a long way to go. Thick wire cables led down from the pool deck to unseen depths of the ship. At the top of the four lines hung these harness-like ropes and cords, hooked into place, ready and waiting to go.

I looked at a sign in front of me.

I'd found our next way down. ‘Everyone ready to fly again?' I asked. ‘Follow me!'

I gripped the railing and hoisted myself over it, straddling it carefully.

‘Grab one of these,' I said. I unhooked the
harness
on the far left and clipped it around me. My clothes dripped all over the wooden planks at my feet.

‘And then what?' said Ryan.

‘And then hold on tight!' I said, launching off the railing and down the zip line.

The wind rushed at my face as I gathered speed. Blurs of onlookers pointing and watching my wild flying fox ride zoomed past me.

I looked back to check on my friends,
carefully
taking my weight into my right hand, and saw them coming after me. Winter's hair was whipping darkly behind her, blocking my view of Cal. Ryan had his legs flung out wide and was swinging side to side.

The end of the zip line was coming up fast. I slowed down completely and then my feet were on solid ground again.

Winter, Cal and Ryan landed softly behind me.

‘Woah, that was fast!' said Ryan. But then he frowned, abruptly remembering why we were there.

To stop a bomb. To save Gabbi and Mrs Ormond.
To save ten thousand people. And we had only sixty-nine minutes to work out how.

‘So where do we go next?' Ryan asked.

‘I reckon Elijah's set up the bomb in the
middle
of the Gala,' said Cal. ‘The party will be in full swing right now, and that's where most of the passengers will be. Including Mum and Gab.'

Winter nodded. She pulled her hair back, twisting it with her hands, and wrung it out. ‘I agree,' she said. ‘Let's try our best to fit in along the way, shall we?'

We walked along a corridor and stopped at a landing. Gold-flecked marble spread wide around us, leading perfectly symmetrically on both sides to what I guessed were the luxury suites. Cabin crew in stark white uniforms worked their way down the aisles, past
gold-numbered
doors, with silver trolleys topped with those fancy plate domes. Directly ahead was a grand staircase that split in two, curving around and down to the levels below in a
love-heart
shape.

‘Where's the Gala?' Cal asked a passing crew member. ‘The Arena?'

The guy looked startled and peered at Cal curiously. He smoothed his neat goatee and slowly registered who was standing—still dripping—in front of him. He then stared at the rest of us,
looking us up and down with a quick flick of his eyes, and smiled enthusiastically.

‘We're running really late, meeting some friends,' Cal explained.

‘Of course. I will take you,' he said, with what I guessed was a hint of a French accent. ‘I did not know you were aboard, Mr Ormond. Please wait just one moment.'

With a few quick steps he slipped out of sight, then returned with an armful of plush white towels.

‘For you,' he said, holding out a towel to Winter. ‘And sirs,' he added, handing the rest to Cal, Ryan and me.

We grabbed the towels and dried off quickly.

The cabin steward spun around and
hurriedly
made his way down the right side of the staircase. He kept looking back at us, as though checking we were still there. ‘To the bow,' he directed.

We followed him alongside a seamless golden banister that stretched past endless rooms and overlooked multiple restaurant decks.
Everything
about this ship was huge and expensive. I started calculating the figures in my mind, but gave up after about ten seconds. The extravagant marble columns, the crystal chandeliers, the blue glass lanterns that gave the air an azure
glow … the perfect white table-top linens, the mirror-clear cutlery—everything was spotless.

The shock of the City Hall explosion suddenly returned to me. My chest tightened. Everywhere I looked suddenly transformed into a war zone. Dust, debris, shattered glass, people wailing … a sinking ship.