Kidnap Island (4 page)

By the time the children were
heading back from Sandy Head, the tide was on its way out and the
wind had dropped, so they were struggling to sail up the harbour to
the sailing club. Will lolled in the stern of the boat, sipping a
bottle of coke and steering with his foot, while Louisa and Jonny
were at the front of the cockpit, one on each side of the boat to
keep it upright. Ainslie, meanwhile, was fast asleep between them,
snoring gently.

“
Boring,”
sighed Will.

“
It
’
s relaxing,”
replied
Jonny lazily.
“
What
’
s the
rush?
”
Jonny took the attitude that any form of sailing, whether
haring along in a gale or drifting slowly in the sunshine, was
better than being on dry land.

“
S
’pose
so,
”
said Will.
“
Hey, look at sleeping beauty over
there.
”

Will pointed to
Louisa, who
’
d fallen asleep in
the bottom of the cockpit, her mouth half open. Before Jonny could
stop him, Will had leant over the side,
scooped
up a
handful of water and chucked it in her face. Louisa jumped up with
a yelp, as did Ainslie who’d also got splashed.

“
Will! You
sod,”
she screamed as she
threw a handful of water back. Before long, all three children were
splashing each other, giggling wildly, and were soon all soaked to
the skin. No one was holding the tiller while this was going on and
no one noticed that they were drifting closer and closer to Folney
Island.

Suddenly Jonny, from
the corner of his eye, saw something move on the nearby
island.
“
Look,
”
he shouted, and pointed at a tree.

“
Don
’
t give me that,
”
replied Will, thinking that Jonny was
trying to distract the other children so he could give them a
soaking. Instead of looking, Will stood up in the boat to reach
over to Jonny to punch him but, at that moment, the boat turned
with the breeze and gybed. The boom flew across, knocking Will
neatly into the water.

Jonny was well trained
in man-overboard drills and immediately took control.
“
Furl the
jib,
”
he yelled to Louisa as he grabbed the tiller to turn the
boat round. Luckily, the low wind meant that Will was in no real
danger, the boat had not travelled far since he fell in and,
besides, he had his smart new buoyancy aid
on.

However, Will soon
found out he didn
’
t even need a
buoyancy aid
. “
Blimey, this water’s shallow,
”
he exclaimed.
“
Look,
I
’
m touching the bottom!
”
The others could see that
Will
’
s head and shoulders were well clear of the
water.

“
Better get the centreboard up,
”
Jonny said to Louisa,
and the girl obediently pulled the board up before it, too, hit the
bottom.

“
Hi
there,
”
called a voice from the shore.

Chapter Four

Will tried to turn
around and immediately lost his balance, falling face down into the
water. A boy came down to the water
’
s edge, laughing
uncontrollably.

“
Gee, you really are making a mess of this,
aren
’
t you?
”
he giggled with an American accent. The boy was
about the same age as the other children, and had a face full of
freckles under short-cropped black hair. He was wearing shorts, a
tee-shirt and, like Jonny, was barefooted.
“
Here, take my
hand,
”
he said, offering Will his hand. Will took it and the boy
pulled him up out of the water, and then promptly let go, letting
Will fall backwards with a splash.

Now it was Jonny and
Louisa
’
s turn to laugh.
“
Nice
one,
”
smiled Jonny to the stranger as he dropped the mainsail.
Will, though, didn
’
t think it was funny
at all and went for the boy. The newcomer was too quick for him,
however, and neatly side-stepped, letting Will once again fall
forward into the cold salty water. Will got up and lunged again,
now in shallower water. He hurled himself onto the boy and pushed
him to the ground, punching his chest. Ainslie thought this was
very funny and ran round and round the children barking
loudly.

“
Hey, stop that!
”
Jonny and Louisa ran up and pulled
the fuming Will off the boy. The four children stood and looked at
each other.
“
What are you doing here, anyway?
”
asked
Will.

“
I
could ask you the same question,
”
replied the American.
“
No one is
allowed on this island.
”

“
So
what are
you
doing here?
”
asked
Jonny.

“
Yeah, this is private and dangerous,
”
pointed out
Will.
“
You shouldn
’
t be
here.
”

“
That
’
s where
you
’
re wrong,
”
grinned the boy.
“
I own this island and
there
’
s nothing whatsoever dangerous about it, unless
you
’
re stupid enough to fall out of a boat near
it.
”

Will looked as if he
was about to hit the boy again, so Louisa stepped between
them.
“Don
’
t be daft, how can
you own an island?
”
she asked.
“
Besides, this is owned
by the Navy, everyone knows that, and the ground
’s poisonous.
”

“
Actually, that
’
s a good
point,
”
said Will, looking around nervously, as if the ground was
about to swallow him up.
“
Shouldn
’
t we get off here
pronto?
”

“
Gee, you Brits are so gullible,
”
laughed the
American.
“
Who told you that?
”

“
Er,
everyone knows it,
”
replied Jonny, somewhat doubtfully.
“
The Navy
dumped some sort of chemicals here during the war and the
ground
’
s all messed up. Look, there are signs everywhere,
too.
”
He pointed to a rather scruffy hand-painted sign
saying
‘
Danger, Keep Out!
’
and, as he did, he
thought that, actually, it didn
’
t look particularly
official.

“
So
what
’
s the story?
”
asked Will.
“
And
don
’
t give us any bull about owning the island.
What
’
s your name, anyway?
”

“
I
’
m Eric,”
said the boy.
Louisa nudged Will in the ribs as he suppressed a giggle.
“
Come on up
the beach and I
’
ll explain, but
please don
’
t accuse me of telling lies, because I
don
’
t.”

The four children walked up towards
the trees and slumped down on the warm, dry sand, chucking their
buoyancy aids next to them. Will looked distrustfully at the
mysterious American, thinking he had a daft name for a boy, but
Louisa and Jonny had warmed to him, especially after his prank with
Will in the water. They all introduced each other.

Ainslie made a big
fuss of Eric and, once again, Jonny knew that he trusted the boy as
Ainslie always seemed to be good judge of character.
“
Hey, get
off, you mad hound,
”
Eric said as Ainslie licked his face.
“
What do they
call you?
”

“
He
’
s Ainslie and he
’
s mine,”
said Jonny.

“
Ah,
just like the Olympic sailor, right?
”

“
You
’
ve got it,
”
grinned Jonny, delighted that, for
once, someone had made the right connection.
“
Are you into
sailing?
”

“
No,
but I was hooked on the Olympics and had an app on my phone which
kept track of all the gold medal winners. I
’
m a bit geeky
like that.
”

“
Want some chocolate?
”
Louisa said, offering Eric a bar and
chucking one each to Jonny and Will.

“
Thanks,
”
said Eric, taking the bar gratefully and ripping it
open.
“
British chocolate is so much better than the American
stuff. Anyway, I guess you guys are wondering what
I
’
m doing here, right?
”

“
Yeah, it
’
s not every day you
meet a chocolate-loving American on a poisonous
island,
”
said Will. Thankfully, Eric didn
’
t notice the
slight hint of sarcasm in Will
’
s voice or, if he
did, he chose to ignore it.

“
It
all started when my granddad died last year,
”
began Eric.
“
He was
English but moved to the USA with his parents when he was a young
boy during the war. They were Jewish and wanted to get away in case
the Germans invaded. The Germans didn
’
t like the Jews, you
see.
”

“
Yeah, we know,
”
said Will.
“
We do learn stuff at
school here.
”
Louisa gave him another sharp nudge in the ribs and smiled
at Eric.
“
Just ignore my cousin. Now, tell us about your
granddad.
”
Will looked angry but kept quiet.

“
OK,”
continued Eric.
“
Granddad never really
talked about his childhood in England, I don
’
t know why, but
he didn
’
t. He settled into American life and
you
’
d never have known he was foreign as he
didn
’
t have an accent at all.
”

“
Hey, you
’
re the one with the
accent,
”
interrupted Will, only to receive another nudge from his
cousin.

Eric ignored the
comment.
“
Anyway, after granddad died my dad got a call from a
lawyer. We knew that granddad was a rich man, he owned a building
company in New York, but it turned out that his parents had had a
fair amount of cash, too, including some land in
England.

“
Granddad left his money and other stuff to my dad, his only
son, which was what you
’
d expect, apparently.
However, the will also said that he was leaving something to his
grandson
–
me. And that
’
s when things got
weird, as that something was a place called Folney Island in
England and
‘
everything that shines within it
’
.