The Hourglass (19 page)

“Ready?” asked
Finn.

Sarah nodded,
her heart in her throat. “Let’s go.”

Finn tugged at
the door. Nothing. It had locked automatically behind the guards. Finn tugged
it a few more times, angrily. When nothing happened he kicked the door.

“Finn..” said
Sarah softly. He kicked the door again, harder. “Finn, stop it.”

“I can’t.” He
rumpled his hair in frustration. “This can’t be it. This can’t be it, damn-it!”

“We’ll find
another way.”

“There is no
other way, Sarah. This is it. We’re-” he stopped talking abruptly and stiffened
all over. A man was clambering hastily up the stairs. It was Mr Wall. His face
was red with exertion and he was puffing. To Sarah’s everlasting surprise he
barely spared them a glance. Pulling out his keycard, he swiped at the lock.
The door buzzed open and he shoved it wide, letting in a torrent of rain.

“Well,” he
yelled at them over the wind, “get going!”

Finn was the
first to break out of their shock. He gave Mr Wall a grateful nod and grabbed
Sarah by the arm, tugging her along as he jogged out into the rain. The wind
hit them like a cannon, buffeting their bodies so that they were slowed down
almost instantly. They were drenched in seconds, their clothes offering no
protection at all. Sarah took three steps and then wrenched her arm free.

“But why?” she
yelled back at Mr Wall over the rain.

“Find them,
Sarah. Do whatever it takes. Find them and save us all.”

“What? I don’t
understand!”

Finn grabbed her
more firmly this time, pulling her along. “C’mon Sarah, we don’t have time!”

“The mark!”
yelled Mr Wall, tapping his own shoulder blade in the same spot where Sarah’s
hourglass burn was. “Find them! They can stop it! They can stop the war!” If Mr
Wall said anything else it was lost in the wind and the rain. Sarah gave up and
ran with Finn. They made it to the ladder leading down onto the boat. Sarah
grabbed Finn’s shoulder, stopping him just before he swung over the edge onto
the ladder.

“Wait,” she
said, yelling into his ear above the wind, “what if there are people on the
boat?”

Finn shook his
head and pointed to his ear. Sarah managed to make out his lips saying ‘I can’t
hear you.’ She went to try again but it was too late. He had swung himself over
the edge and was descending the ladder. After a second Sarah followed. The rain
made the metal ladder treacherous. Twice her feet slipped from out beneath her.
She would have dropped down completely if she hadn’t kept an arm crooked
through the gap in the rungs as she descended each step. After what seemed like
an age she finally felt a solid surface beneath her feet. She dropped down and
crouched immediately next to Finn. The boat was of a similar size to the one
that they had arrived on, only instead of having to descend down a set of steps
to get inside, a long cabin was built on the deck. They had landed on the back
of the boat, away from the stern and steering cabin. Like the prison ship,
everybody on this boat had also retreated inside. They crept up to the side of
the cabin and peered in through one of the cabin holes. It was empty save for
two long rectangular benches running along each side. Finn started to grin like
a maniac.

“What?” hissed
Sarah, looking over her shoulder in case anyone decided to venture out in this
rain.

“Sarah, look at
the benches,” said Finn, his grin somehow even bigger.

Sarah looked.
She didn’t see anything.

“They’re
hollow,” said Finn.

Sarah looked
again. The benches were basically rectangular tubes. She supposed that the
space was originally intended for storing boating supplies. She looked back at
Finn, a half smile on her face. They both edged carefully around the cabin
until they came to the door at the back. They slipped inside. The door wasn’t
locked. There wasn’t any reason for it to be locked. At least not until the
prisoners arrived. The absence of wind as they entered the room and closed the
door behind them felt like a blessed relief. Finn lowered himself onto his
belly and peered into the empty space in the middle of the bench. He grinned
back at her.

“It’s clear the
whole way. Let me know how much of me you can see.” He shuffled forward until
his whole body was inside the bench. It was slow going. He didn’t have that
much room to manoeuvre. He stopped moving. “Ok,” he yelled, “what can you see?”

Sarah moved back
a couple of steps so that she was standing with her back to the door. It would
be the first view of the room that the Hourglass Group’s guards would see when
they opened the door. If they was going to spot them, her bet was on it being
in that first glance. Sarah sighed in relief and surprise. She couldn’t see
anything. The bench was long enough and low enough to the ground that Finn
could crawl forward sufficiently so that he wasn’t visible at all. In case some
of the guards were shorter than her and would therefore have a different view she
crouched down until she could see further down the tube and make out his feet.
She had to get quite low and was nearly in a full crouch before she saw them.

“Well?” he
yelled.

“You’re good!”
she replied. “Unless they’re really, really short, they shouldn’t be able to
spot you.”

Finn gave a
small whoop of relief. “Better get in yours then. We don’t know how long
they’ll be.”

Sarah moved to
the bench opposite Finn’s and was about to lower herself onto the ground when
she stopped suddenly. They had left trails of water going from the door to
Finn’s seat, and then another trail to her seat. It would be obvious as soon as
the guard opened the door that somebody else had been in there. All he would
have to do is follow the trail. She didn’t have anything to mop it up with either.
Her clothes were too wet to use as rags. After a moment’s hesitation she moved
back to the door and opened it. The force of the wind blew it open even further
and a deluge of rain entered through the doorway. She jogged the few steps back
to her bench and quickly lowered herself down onto her belly before squirming
inside as far as she thought was safe. She didn’t wait to see if her trick had
worked.  The guards could return any second now and she didn’t want to be
caught with her legs sticking out of the end of the bench. After ten minutes
cold rainwater started to soak through her already sodden pants. She suppressed
a sigh of annoyance. Her plan might have been more successful than she had
intended. Sarah suppressed a shiver and ruminated over what could have happened
to Marland. What had gone wrong? Why hadn’t Marland been able to meet up with
her in the bathroom? A feeling of guilt rested heavily in the pit of her
stomach. If only she had done more. Twenty minutes later and the water had now spread
up to her chest. She was so uncomfortable that she almost missed hearing the
first of the prisoners descending onto the boat. The rain had abated a little
and she could make out the sounds of people thudding onto the deck as they
descended the ladder. A man swore loudly.

“Who the frag
left this door open?” he growled. There was a reply but she couldn’t make it out
over the surrounding noise. Despite knowing that he very probably couldn’t see
her feet, they still felt terribly exposed. She was just waiting for him to
grab her by the ankle and pull her out. The thought terrified her. Instead the
man grumbled loudly about having to clean this all up later. “All right, in you
all get,” ordered the man eventually in a loud voice, “and you, just dump him on
the floor”. She could feel the floor vibrate and the sound of footsteps
intensified as people entered the cabin. Then there was a dull thud as
something heavy was dropped onto the floor. She wondered who it was. The bench
surrounding her made soft thudding noises as people sat down. For the first
time since crawling into the bench she felt claustrophobic. She had a terrible
image of her being crushed beneath all these people and no one would know she
was there to help her. The desire to crawl out of her hiding spot was nearly
overwhelming. She screwed her eyes shut and concentrated on taking slow, deep
breaths. After a minute or two she started to relax a bit more. The sounds of
people’s voices filtered down to her and she focused on them, distracting herself
from her claustrophobia.  

“You can’t take
me with you,” said one voice, demanding attention. “I have a medical
certificate. I’m to be transferred to the mainland for further treatment.” It
was the Queen’s voice. She sounded outraged.

“Yeah, I know,” said
one of the guards in a voice that was equal parts bored and exasperated. “You’ve
already shown us the slip, but the thing is you’re on the list of healthy
inmates that was provided to us by the doctor. Now why would he put you on this
list if he thought you were too sick to go?”

“Because I got
sick after he made the list, clearly,” replied the Queen. Her voice was so
scathing that Sarah nearly believed her. “You are going to get into so much
trouble if you transfer me.”

There was a
pause where Sarah pictured the guard rubbing his temples in frustration and
weariness.

“Alright, you
know what, you win,” said the guard. Sarah couldn’t help but feel a tad bit
disappointed. The Queen’s constant threats to her health and that of her
friends hadn’t exactly enamoured her to Sarah. An image of the Queen’s
triumphant face appeared in her mind’s eye as clear as day. “I’ll call the
doctor down. He can confirm it once and for all.” The image of the Queen’s face
crumpled in seconds.

“I’m sure he
wouldn’t want to be bothered,” replied the Queen, suddenly a lot more considerate
in nature.

“It won’t take
long. In the meantime, sit down.” Sarah grinned. Then she realised where the
prisoners were going and her grin wavered. It might be that even the Queen
didn’t deserve what was coming next. Most people had stopped to listen to the Queen
try and weasel her way out of the transfer and now that is was over mumbled
conversations started up again. Nothing happened for five minutes and then the
guard’s voice rang out above the murmured conversation. “It’s settled, you’re
staying on the boat. The doctor has assured me that you’re in perfect
condition.”

The sound that
emitted from the Queen’s mouth was one of pure rage. Sarah had never heard
anything like it before and she actually found herself jumping a little in
response to the vitriol it contained. She heard paper being torn and she
imagined the pale, pink sheet that herself and Finn had risked so much for
being torn to shreds.

“You,” said the Queen’s
voice, closer now to Sarah, “get up. I’m sitting there.” There was a slight
shuffling noise as that person got up, and then a soft thud as the Queen sat
down, almost on top of Sarah’s head. Sarah wondered what the Queen thought of
her and Finn’s absence. Was she enraged? Did she think that they had tricked
her and not told her of another way off the boat? Sarah snorted softly. Most
likely she probably didn’t even notice that they were even gone. She wondered
what the Queen would do if she knew that Sarah was right beneath her. Probably
kick her out and try and take her place, even with everybody else watching. She
tuned out the Queen’s spiteful muttering and focused on the other voices,
searching for one in particular. She still hadn’t heard Marland’s voice yet.
Sarah still held out hope that Marland had managed to find another way to avoid
the selection. Not knowing infuriated her and the worry ate at her stomach
unceasingly.

There was a loud
crack and everyone on the boat stopped talking. They all knew what that sound
was.

Someone had just
fired a gun.

“What happened?”
whispered someone, and then the noise above Sarah’s head increased as the
prisoners scrambled to get a better view through the cabin holes. One of the
boys yelped loudly, shortly followed by a loud splash.
“Oh my god, did you see that?!”

“He just fell,
right past the window.”

“Was that… was
that Mr Wall?!”

“Oh my god,
you’re right!”

“Holy shit,
guys, look!” said one particularly loud boy, silencing the others. His voice
sounded funny, like he was craning his head at an awkward angle. “It was the
Warden. She shot Mr Wall!”

“What?!”

“It couldn’t
be!”
“She’s standing at the bloody railing, see for yourself.”

There was
another sudden scramble as people tried to improve their view.

“Oh my god he’s
right.”

“Shit. Is that a
gun in her hand?”

“Holy crap, she
killed him.”
Sarah listened to it all in her place inside the bench was a mixture of
surprise, guilt, and resentment. He probably died because he let them go, so
she should feel grateful, but she mostly just felt resentful. Now the one
person who could tell her about the mark was dead. And what use were his
cryptic clues when she didn’t have the faintest idea of what they meant?

 The floor lurched
suddenly. To her horror Sarah slid a few centimetres back down through the hollow
of the bench. Desperately she reached out her hands in the cramped space and
pushed against the bench’s sides, stopping herself from sliding further. She
glanced down the tube. Her feet still shouldn’t be visible, but she pushed
herself back up the length of the bench anyway. The boat was lurching up and
down now, clearly moving away from the prison ship. Sarah’s stomach lurched
with it and she focused all of her energy on not vomiting.