‘Danny! Where are you?’ Honor’s shout drifts up towards him. She’s on the beach!
‘Danny!’ she shouts again. There’s a note of urgency in her voice that makes him scrabble to his feet, wincing as he puts weight on his cut foot.
‘Honor!’ He cups his hands to his mouth as he shouts then waits, squinting into the sun, for her reply.
None comes.
‘Honor!’ he shouts again.
A dozen different thoughts flood his mind – a boat has turned up to save them? They’ve discovered a way off the island? Or maybe… Honor’s hurt?
The thought makes his heart pound painfully in his chest. He’s got to get back to his girlfriend but it will take him for ever to walk back down to the beach on his injured foot. He stares down at the sea – still, calm and clear below him – then, before he can change his mind, he steps off the cliff.
Chapter 9
JESSIE
‘What the hell was that?’
I’m not the only one who freezes as a loud splash, like a rock – or a person – falling into the sea, cuts through the cawing of the gulls. Milo, wading through the shallows with one of Anuman’s pointed fishing poles in his hand, snaps round, spear outstretched, pointing it in the direction of the sound. A second later his eyes meet mine. We’re both thinking the same thing – is it the ‘others’ we speculated about? Another group living on the other side of the island?
Honor, clambering on the rocks to our left, freezes. Shortly after Danny disappeared to go and look for her she appeared at the far end of the beach, her arms full and gathered up to her chest.
‘I’ve been beachcombing,’ she said as she drew closer and deposited her treasure next to the fire. ‘I found some empty plastic bottles washed up just past those rocks. I thought we could use them to keep water in. Until we’re, you know, rescued.’
We filled them at the waterfall, then went through everyone’s rucksacks to see how much food we had. It wasn’t much of a haul, just a couple of packets of crisps and biscuits, a few sticks of gum, some sweets, two bottles of vodka (one in Danny’s bag, one in Meg’s) and a bottle of rum Milo had nabbed from his parents’ duty-free allowance. Jeffers was a bit weird when we asked him if we could go through his bag. Instead of letting us have a rummage he took himself off into the jungle and came back with three packets of dried meat, a can of mixed beans and a can of tuna. Milo joked that he probably had a massive bar of chocolate and a Victoria sponge hidden in the bottom of his rucksack too, but, when he tried to grab his rucksack off him, Jeffers snatched it away and moved to the edge of the camp. That didn’t go down well with Milo, who shouted that he wouldn’t be alive to eat whatever he was hiding if I hadn’t saved his life. Then he stomped off to look for Danny, muttering something about Bear Grylls and how sticking together was the first rule of survival.
I’ve got no idea how long Milo was gone – none of us wear a watch and all our mobile phones ran out of juice last night – but when he returned his hair was slicked back and his T-shirt was clinging to his body. No sign of Danny, he said. God knows where he’d gone. We all got worried then, everyone apart from Honor, who was sitting on the sand by the fire with a strange, glazed look on her face. Meg pulled her to her feet, reassuring her that Danny would be fine and he couldn’t have gone far.
‘It’s Danny!’ Honor shouts now, waving frantically from the rocks. ‘He just fell off the cliff.’
I feel sick with fear. The cliffs must be at least twenty metres tall and if Danny landed into the shallows or on the rocks then—
‘He’s OK!’ she screams. ‘He’s swimming. He’s still alive.’
‘Bloody hell, Danny!’
‘Are you OK?’
‘What happened?’
‘Was it an accident?’
‘Did you fall?’
‘Did someone push you?’
The questions come thick and fast as Danny reaches out a hand and Milo pulls him out of the sea and onto the rocks. Unlike Jeffers and I – who could barely breathe when we came out of the sea – Danny seems totally fine. Never mind broken bones, there isn’t a scratch on him and the smallest of smiles pricks at his lips as he looks up at us all crowded around him.
His smile fades. ‘Where’s Honor?’
Meg and I move apart from each other so he can see his girlfriend, standing behind us, sobbing softly.
‘Hey, hey.’ Danny gets to his feet and pulls her into his arms. ‘It’s OK, I’m fine. Honor, I’m fine.’
‘What happened?’ I ask as she nestles into his chest, her hands covering her face. ‘What were you doing up on the cliffs?’
‘Looking for her.’ He strokes the back of her head, smoothing down her blonde hair. ‘I heard her calling my name and thought she was in trouble. Jumping was the fastest way to get back down.’
Honor moans in torment and mumbles something I can’t make out. Danny cranes his neck to listen.
‘What was that, babe? It wasn’t your fault. You know that, don’t you?’
She raises her voice but keeps her hands clamped over her face. ‘You could have died!’
‘But I didn’t, did I?’ He kisses the top of her head. ‘It looks like you’re stuck with me, babe.’
‘That’s why she’s crying,’ Milo says and everyone, apart from Honor, laughs with relief.
It’s a warm night, and the black sky is dotted with twinkling stars, but there’s a strange, strained atmosphere as we pass Milo’s bottle of rum and one of the bottles of vodka between us. Jeffers isn’t joining in. He’s holed himself away in the shelter and is lying on his back with his head on his rucksack and his arms crossed over his chest. When I go over to check on him he opens his eyes then closes them again.
‘You all right?’ I crouch down on the pile of banana leaves that serve as a very thin, very uncomfortable mattress. ‘You know Milo was only joking earlier, about going through your bag. If you want to keep whatever’s in there private, that’s cool.’
‘It’s not that.’ He opens his eyes to look at me. ‘I just… you all think I’m a joke, don’t you?’
‘No! God no. It’s cool that you’re into all this. Honestly. No one thinks you’re a joke. I know the banter can get a bit much sometimes but no one wants to upset you.’
‘But it is a joke, isn’t it? All this?’ He gestures towards the beach. ‘Dad showing off how rich he is by renting an island for my birthday. I didn’t even want this. I asked for a book and some pieces of equipment. And now Anuman’s dead we’re all alone and there’s nothing I can do to put things right…’ He turns his head away but not so quickly that I don’t see the tears glistening in his eyes.
‘That’s why you tried to swim for it, isn’t it? Because you felt responsible for what happened.’
‘And I couldn’t even do that properly. I nearly drowned us both.’
I rest my hand on his arm. ‘I’m sorry. For what I said earlier. I… I was in shock.’
‘No.’ He shakes his head. ‘I deserved it.’