Boy X (18 page)

‘Forget it.' Ash came back and sat beside her. He untied his laces and removed his boots. ‘It's weird. I feel like I've seen this place before. It's like
déjà vu
. Do you know that word?'

‘Yes,' she said. ‘Maybe you have seen a photo.'

‘Yeah, maybe.'

Isabel watched him across the fire, eyes sparkling. ‘You hungry?'

‘Starving.'

‘We could catch some frogs and insects. Cook them on the fire. Very tasty.'

‘Maybe I'm not that hungry, after all.'

Isabel snorted. ‘Or we have these.' She picked up one of the large yellow fruits and cut it in half lengthways. She did the same thing again, separating it into four long pieces, then scraped away the black seeds before passing one to
Ash. ‘Papaya,' she said, taking a large bite. ‘Much better than frog.'

Ash sniffed the fruit, thinking it smelt like the Best Thing
Ever
, then nibbled the edge. The flavour exploded in his mouth like fireworks. Mum was always telling him to eat more fruit, that it was good for him, but if he had known it could taste like this he would have eaten
much
more of it. His fingers were sticky and the juice ran from the corners of his mouth as he wolfed down the soft, delicious flesh and put the rind to one side.

Isabel grinned and passed him another. ‘Good, hmm? But we can go look for frogs if you don't like it.'

Ash shook his head and bit into his second piece. ‘No way.' He began to settle for the first time since waking up in the white room. The glow of the fire and the crackling of the burning sticks was soothing, and the fresh woodsmoke hid the unpleasant smells of the building as it rose to escape through the hole in the ceiling. He thought about everything they'd been through and how good Isabel was in the jungle. ‘You learn all that stuff from your dad? About the animals and fruits?' he asked.

Isabel nodded and put her second piece of rind beside the other. She sat back and crossed her legs, staring into the base of the fire. ‘In San Jose – where we lived before Papa took this job – we sometimes travelled out to the forest at the weekend, and sometimes for longer. Papa grew up with it and wants me to know the forest too.' A distant smile crossed her lips. ‘Mama loved the forest, but . . .' She stared into the fire, her eyes filling with tears. ‘The smoke,' she lied.
‘It always itches.'

‘Did something happen to your mum?' Ash asked.

‘She was very ill with malaria. It was a long time ago, but I miss her every day. Today I miss her a lot.' She wiped her eyes.

Ash watched her through the flames. ‘My dad died.' His voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. ‘Last week.' He reached out to take a stick from the pile, poking it at the base of the fire, making the glowing embers sparkle. ‘It was all my fault.'

Isabel just sat there not saying anything. She wiped one hand across her eyes and waited for him to go on.

Ash shoved the stick right into the hottest part of the fire and held it there, wishing it were as easy to burn away the awful empty ache in his heart. ‘Dad took the dog out for a walk and . . .' He tried not to think about the terrible sound Mum had made when the police came to the house. ‘Dad was hit by a car.' He let go of the stick and looked up at Isabel. ‘The car just drove away. The police still don't know who did it.'

Ash hadn't been there when it happened, but he had seen it over and over again, a million times in his head.

‘But why do you say it was your fault?' Isabel asked.

‘
I
was supposed to take the dog for a walk. It should have been me. He was
my
dog.'

‘But that doesn't make it your fault. Your mama doesn't blame you.'

‘Maybe not, but I do.
I
blame myself because I made such a fuss about going out that night. It was raining and cold
and I didn't want to go, but Dad was so calm and just picked up his coat. The last thing I remember of him is the dog dragging him along the path and . . .'

His voice trailed off. It was the most he had said about it to anyone since it had happened. It felt good to get it out, like removing a splinter that was stuck deep in his skin. And Isabel didn't try to comfort him or say the right thing, like people usually did. She just sat there and listened.

‘If I had gone out instead, then maybe it wouldn't have happened. Or maybe it would have been me that got hit.' Ash put his hand to the identity tag hanging on the leather cord around his neck. He turned the metal disc in his fingers. ‘This was Dad's,' he said. ‘One of his dog tags from the army. There's always two. He kept one and gave me the other. He wore it all the time and said I should too. He was wearing it when they—' He didn't want to remember, but there it was: the funeral, everyone in black, the coffin, Dad lying inside it with the other tag around his neck.

Isabel leant closer to see the shiny metal disc with the black plastic ‘silencer' fitted around it. She read the name McCarthy, and saw a series of letters and numbers she didn't understand.

‘It gives you courage,' she said.

‘Yeah. Dad was so tough, and I think he wanted me to be like that too, but I never was. I'm scared of heights, the dark, spiders, just about everything. I don't know why; I just am. I always feel like such a wimp, and it doesn't help that most people in my year at school are bigger than me. He told me that when I was scared I should hold it and say the words,
“I am Ash McCarthy. I am strong. I can do this.” That probably sounds lame, doesn't it?'

‘No.' Isabel shook her head. ‘It sounds strong. And look what we have done today; look how tough you have been. I think your papa would be proud of you.'

8 hrs and 36 mins until Shut-Down

T
ime. Time. Time. Everything was about how little of it was left.

The hard concrete floor was cruel to his lean frame. Within minutes of lying down, Ash's hips and shoulders had been aching. And there had been that creepy howl and moan of the monkeys outside. He had tried to ignore it, sometimes listening to the erratic rise and fall of Isabel's breathing, but he had been scared by the way her heart raced and fluttered.

Now he watched the flames flickering and dancing in the dark and realized that, despite his discomfort, he must have fallen asleep. He had that groggy, just-woken-up feeling and the fire had dried the air in the bunker, so his throat felt
parched and sore.

You've got it too
, the voice sniggered.
Kronos is inside you. It's in your blood. But that has to be our little secret. You can't tell anyone.

He sat up with a start. ‘What time is it?'

Isabel stirred from sleep and rubbed her face with both hands. It took her a moment to focus on her watch. ‘Two,' she mumbled. ‘In the morning . . .
¡Madre de Dios!
'

They had been asleep for hours. How could they have wasted so much time? How far ahead of them would Cain and Pierce now be?

‘Look, we need to get out of here,' Ash said. ‘We should check if there's enough light from the moon to keep going. And we need water. Can we drink from the pool?'

‘No.' Isabel sat up and looked across at the rickety table and the rubbish lying beneath it. ‘But we can collect water in one of those tins. Boil it over the fire to make it safe to drink.'

With a renewed sense of urgency, they rummaged in the pile of tins, searching for one without holes rusted in it. Seeing a good one at the bottom of the pile, Isabel tugged it out, dislodging the others so they fell and clattered around them. As they collapsed, a dark shape scurried out from the tangle and scuttled across the shadows on the twisted tarpaulin.

‘Get away!' Isabel grabbed Ash by the arm so hard that he fell backwards.

‘Ow, what're you doing?' He glared at her but she wasn't looking at him; she was staring at something to the right of
the collapsed mound of tins. A dark shape sitting on the tarpaulin, swaying from side to side.

‘Stay still.' Isabel shuffled to the fire and took out a burning stick before bringing it closer to the table. She held it at arm's length, illuminating a fat spider with a dark brown body, about twice the size of Ash's fist. Its legs spanned wider than an adult's hand at full stretch, and it was crouched back on four of those legs, with the front four held up in preparation to launch itself at Isabel. Its large fangs were shining in the firelight.

‘Wandering spider,' Isabel said. ‘Very dangerous. Very aggressive. On
Isla Negra
they are even—'

‘– more aggressive than normal? And bigger?'

Isabel nodded and the spider turned towards her. She gently waved the burning stick to keep its attention. ‘It could kill
both
of us.'

‘Fantastic.' Ash looked about, searching for signs of other similar creatures. ‘Perfect.'

‘They are lonely spiders,' Isabel said.

‘I'm not surprised.'

‘I mean, there won't be others. Just this one.' She didn't take her eyes off the spider. ‘But they can move fast.'

‘As if I'm not creeped out enough already! Now it's
fast
? How do we get rid of it?'

‘Maybe we can trap it. Pass me one of those tins,' Isabel said. ‘A big one.'

‘What? No way. It's too close to the spider.'

‘Just do it!'

Ash crept across the floor while Isabel was distracting
the spider, and used a long stick to drag one of the tins towards him. The spider twitched and lifted its legs higher so that its fangs were aimed right at Isabel.

‘Quick!' Isabel hissed. ‘It's going to—'

The spider struck forward, fast as a bullet, but Ash reacted even faster. Faster than he thought possible.

Like before, when the glass ceiling collapsed in the BioSphere, Ash saw everything happening around him in slow motion. He saw the spider scuttle forwards. He saw its legs bend and straighten. He saw its coal-black fangs, curved and ready to sink into Isabel's skin.

In one quick movement, he snatched up the tin and scooped it through the air in front of Isabel. He caught the creature mid-jump, feeling the solid weight of its body hit the metal, then slammed the tin down onto the concrete floor, trapping it inside.

Then –
pop
– the world returned to normal.

‘
¡Dios!
' Isabel jumped back, waving her hands in front of her to fend off the spider. It took her a fraction of a second to realize that it hadn't reached her, and as soon as she did she turned to look at Ash, then at the tin he was holding firm against the ground.

‘
Madre de Dios,
' she whispered. ‘That was so
fast
.'

Ash swallowed hard and nodded. His hands were shaking and the tin was rattling on the concrete floor. Inside, the spider was scuttling about, searching for an escape.

He remembered that Isabel had told him they tried not to harm anything on the island, but Ash wasn't taking any chances with the spider. He put his foot on the tin and
stood up, applying as much pressure as he could. For a moment the tin remained intact, then it crumpled under his boot, crushing the monster inside. Brown goo oozed out from beneath and Ash stomped on the tin to flatten it completely, then kicked it into the fire.

When he looked up, Isabel was staring at him open-mouthed.

Ash shivered. ‘I hate spiders.' He went to the door and pulled it open, needing to feel fresh air on his face. It squealed on rusty hinges, and the forest fell silent. ‘In fact, I don't think I like
anything
in the jungle very much. It's just full of things to be scared of.'

‘It's beautiful.' Isabel came to stand beside him.

‘How can you say that? It's terrifying.'

‘So are tigers, but they are still beautiful, aren't they?'

‘I suppose.' Ash put his head back and let the breeze waft across his face. ‘Is there enough light for us to keep going?' He looked up at the half-moon through the gap in the trees. It was surrounded by a billion stars. A
billion
billion. ‘We can see in this light, can't we? At least, I can.'

‘Look at the fireflies.' Isabel raised a hand and pointed over to the trees they had come through earlier that evening. Beyond the pool, dozens of tiny yellow lights flashed among the branches, flitting in a haphazard pattern.

‘Sometimes, if the lights look red, people say it's the
cadejo
. He's an evil big black dog with red eyes who attacks travellers.'

‘I don't think I want to know about that right now.'

Isabel laughed. ‘It is only a story. And there is a white one
too. A good one. Maybe we could hope for him to come.'

The fireflies formed a cloud in the trees, flickering together and beginning to drift towards Ash and Isabel.

‘What are they doing?' Ash whispered, but Isabel could only shake her head as the glittering cloud approached, shrouding them in a constellation of sparkling stars.