Page 17 of Dauntless

I moved to stand beside him.“Each one represents a letter that you can use in semaphore.But some have specific meanings too.”I took a flag from the top of the pile: blue checks on a white background.“Like this one means: ‘Your movements are not understood.’”

“That sounds very mysterious.”Eddie reached for a flag and shook it out.It was a blue cross on a yellow background.“What about this one?”

“Breakdown.”

“I need this one on a shirt,” Eddie said, his mouth twitching in a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.I wanted to say something that would comfort him, or at least ease his fears, but before I could think of the words, he grabbed another flag.It was two diagonally positioned red squares against a white background.“This one?”

“You are running into danger.”

“Are there any nice ones?”Eddie glanced at me.“Like, what about ‘Hello, I hope you’re having a great day’?”

I raised my eyebrows.“That’s not really the point of them.”

“And this is why people mutiny at sea.”He grimaced.“Everybody’s sotense.”

“You should put that in your thesis,” I suggested.“See how it goes.”

Eddie’s bright laugh felt like an unexpected gift, since it was obvious he was still shaken about last night.It echoed in the confines of the flag room, and warmth flooded through me.

I nodded at the rest of the stairs.“Do you want to see the light?”

I liked visiting the lantern room during the day.The view of the island and the vast Pacific was beautiful.I also liked the lantern itself; sometimes looking at it felt like staring into the eye of a giant glittering insect.

“Oh, wow,” Eddie said when we stepped inside the room, drawn immediately to the lantern.

“It’s a Fresnel lantern.The design dates back to the late seventeenth century.There are over 700 lenses, and the bivalve lens prism directs the light into a single beam.The lantern was originally powered by a vaporised kerosene burner and could be seen eighteen nautical miles out to sea.”

Eddie turned and looked through the windows at the ocean.

“The horizon is about twenty-four nautical miles away,” I said.“Since it was built, the light’s been upgraded a bunch of times.It’s fully automated and electric now.Most places on the mainland don’t have lighthouse keepers anymore, but I’m still hanging in here.”

Eddie pressed his nose to the window.“This is incredible!”

I stepped towards the door that led to the catwalk.“Want to go outside?”

Eddie stared at me, wide-eyed, his face suddenly devoid of colour.“Outside?”

I opened the door, and a blast of wind filled the lantern room.

“I’m not good with heights though,” Eddie said.

“You’re standing on the top floor of a lighthouse right now.”

“Um,insidethe tower part.”

“You camped on a cliff.”

Eddie held up a finger.“In sometrees!”

I tilted my head.“What?”

“It’s psychological.I need something solid to hold onto when I’m near heights, just in case.”

I looked at the door, then back at Eddie, considering.I held out my hand, suddenly nervous myself, though it had nothing to do with heights.“I’m pretty solid.”

Eddie hesitated.A shy smile tugging at the sides of his mouth, he stepped forward and took my hand.His fingers were a little cold, and I resisted the urge to chafe my hands over his and warm him up.

“Come on,” I said instead, and stepped out onto the catwalk.

---