Dark of the Moon. Siobhan Curham

someone else to take the lead.

      Ruby stands motionless, watching.

      ‘What happened to you guys?’ the Flea asks, finally breaking the stunned silence. ‘The boat washed up on the beach, totally trashed.’

      ‘We hit some rocks,’ Jenna mumbles.‘We had to swim back to the island.’

      I look at Todd. He’s staring at the ground. I notice that his hands are trembling.

      ‘How did you find the retreat?’ Ruby says to the Flea, her voice as icy as her pale eyes.

      ‘Lola brought us,’ the Flea says. ‘She found us down by –’

      ‘Ruby!’ We all turn at the sound of Lola’s voice. She’s standing in the doorway of the kitchen, holding a pile of plates. When she sees the others her mouth falls open in shock. ‘Oh. Who are –?’

      ‘These are our friends,’ the Flea says. ‘The ones we –’

      ‘I found them at the bay,’ Ruby says curtly. ‘Can I have a word with you please, Lola? In the house.’

      ‘Of course.’ As Lola walks past me she nods. ‘Don’t worry,’ she whispers. ‘I’ll sort it out.’

      I smile gratefully.

      Lola hands the Flea the plates, then she follows Ruby over to her house and up the ladder inside.

      I wait, half-expecting to hear raised voices, but it stays ominously quiet.

      We all look at each other again. All apart from Todd, who keeps on staring at the ground.

      The Flea goes over to the fire and grabs hold of the skillet. ‘The others are safe, Beau-Belle. Isn’t that great?’

      Belle nods and gives a tight smile. I guess that given the hell Jenna and Cariss put her through before she’s hardly going to be throwing a party.

      ‘Where’s Ron?’ I whisper to Jenna.

      Her eyes fill with tears again and she looks away.

      I turn to Todd. ‘Todd – what happened to Ron?’

      Todd starts shaking his head.

      My stomach lurches.

      Dan goes over to Todd and places one of his huge hands on his shoulder. ‘What happened, bro?’

      ‘We lost . . .’ Jenna starts to cry. ‘We lost him.’

      Todd lets out a weird whimpering sound and covers his face with his hands.

      ‘You lost him?’ The Flea puts the skillet down and stares at Jenna, his mouth open in horror. ‘But where?’

      Jenna’s now crying too hard to answer. We all turn to Cariss.

      ‘In the sea,’ she mutters. Then she starts crying too and sinks to the ground, hugging her knees to her chest.

      I let out a gasp of shock. Cruz is over in an instant and takes hold of my hand.

      Dan puts his arm round Todd’s shoulders. ‘Oh, man!’

      ‘He might be okay,’ Cariss stammers between sobs.

      ‘He’s not okay!’ We all turn to face Todd as he finally speaks. Tears are streaming down his face. ‘He was so out of it from that stuff he drank from the bottle in the forest. I tried to keep hold of him, but I lost my grip. I saw him get swept away. I saw him . . .’ Todd chokes on his tears . . . ‘I saw him go under.’

      Cruz lets go of my hand and strides over to him. ‘It is not your fault,’ he says softly. ‘The sea, it is too powerful. You did everything you could. You mustn’t blame yourself.’

      Todd wipes his eyes and stares at Cruz. I think of the tension between them before and for a horrible moment I think Todd might lose it with Cruz again. But then he starts nodding his head real slowly.

      ‘Thanks,’ he whispers.

      Cruz places his hand on his arm. ‘No problem.’

      ‘Did Ron die?’ Belle asks suddenly, causing us all to jump.

      The Flea goes and crouches down beside her. ‘It looks that way, yes.’ I’ve never heard him so serious.

      Jenna wipes her eyes and stares at Belle. ‘What’s up with her,’ she whispers to me. ‘Why is she staring like that?’

      I move closer to her so I can whisper. ‘She’s gone blind.’

      Jenna steps back in shock. ‘What?’

      I shake my head and put my finger to my lips.

      ‘What’s up?’ Cariss says immediately.

      ‘Nothing,’ Jenna says quickly. Then she turns back to me. ‘But how?’ she whispers. ‘What happened to her? Where did you find her?’

      ‘I’ll tell you later,’ I whisper back.

      Jenna nods and gives me a weak smile.

      We all fall silent again.

      ‘So, how did you guys end up here?’ Cariss asks, eventually.

      ‘We sailed,’ the Flea replies.

      ‘You sailed ?’ Cariss stares at him.

      ‘But how?’ Jenna looks at me, then immediately looks at the ground, her cheeks flushing.

      Seeing her look so embarrassed makes me think of her journal and its shock revelation. I wait for anger to hit me, but all I feel is exhaustion, and overwhelming relief that they’re still alive.

      ‘Would anyone like a pancake?’ the Flea asks hesitantly.

      ‘Pancake?’ Cariss says. Her voice is as timid and weak as a little girl’s and nothing like the super-bitch she was before.

      ‘Yes. We were just about to have some when you guys arrived.’ The Flea replies, nodding toward the skillet.

      ‘Yes please,’ Cariss says meekly.

      ‘We found another boat,’ I say to Jenna. ‘It was –’

      ‘What’s happened to Belle?’ Cariss interrupts.

      I glance down at Belle. She’s feeling around in the sand for something.

      ‘Belle, are you okay?’ I say, going over to her.

      ‘I dropped my mom’s necklace,’ she mutters.

      I see it glinting in the sand by her foot and place it in her hand.

      She breathes a sigh of relief. ‘Thank you, Grace.’

      ‘No problem.’

      ‘What’s wrong with her?’ Cariss says.

      ‘Belle’s lost her sight,’ the Flea says quickly as he flips the pancake over. I catch a waft and, despite all the trauma, my stomach lets out a rumble of hunger.

      ‘What? How?’ Cariss asks, but her eyes are now glued to the pancake.

      ‘We don’t know,’ the Flea says. ‘But I’m sure it will all be fine once we get back home and get her to a hospital.’

      I go to give Belle’s hand a squeeze. It’s clenched into a tight fist.

      ‘Okay, I say Beau-Belle gets first pancake,’ the Flea says, quickly plating it up and passing it to her.

      Belle feels around for the pancake. As she brings it to her mouth I swear every one of us mimes taking a bite.

      Another awkward silence falls, broken only by the sizzle as the Flea pours some more batter on to the skillet.

      Todd turns to Cruz.

      ‘I owe you an apology,’ he mumbles. ‘We should never have taken your boat. I’m sorry.’

      Everyone