Page 28 of Dauntless

“Probably not all of them,” he said, and took a swig from his bottle.

“Probably not.”

“And Short Clarry’s on about what bashing the bloke over the head will do for tourism.”

“His name’s Eddie,” I said.“And I don’t really give a fuck about Short Clarry and his tourists.”

That brought a smile out of him, and those were few and far between for Nipper Will.When we were kids, he’d always been laughing and smiling, but a whole lot had changed since then, for both of us.Then his smile faded, and his expression darkened.“It’s bullshit, though, what happened.It’s not right.”

“I know.”

Somewhere close by, a little kid started to wail, and I saw Young Archie Hooper hurrying outside with one of his twins in his arms.Anna, his wife, smiled at him as she held the other twin.She looked tired, but so would anyone with twin four-year-olds.Hell if I knew how they did it.It was exhausting enough raising a bloody dog.My gaze went to Eddie again, and warmth bloomed in my chest as I took in his bright, animated expression as he spoke to the kids.I was too far away to hear what he was saying, but the kids were rapt.He had that effect on people.There was something magnetic about his energy, his enthusiasm, the way his words tumbled out of him like he was too excited to contain them.But he could be quiet too—like last night, when he’d listened as I’d told him about my dad.I’d never told anyone that before.I’d never had to.This was Dauntless; everyone here knew already.

Eddie looked around and saw me watching.He grinned at me and waved.

I waved back and didn’t dare look at Nipper Will to see his reaction.

It was stupid as hell to fall for a guy who was only going to be here for a week, but there was a thrill in my gut that felt new and exciting.Eddie had upended more than the islanders’ sensibilities when he’d arrived from the mainland—he’d upended my heart as well.But somehow, despite the fact that this wouldn’t last, and despite the fact that a Hawthorne on Dauntless was proving nothing but trouble, I felt more alive than I had in years.

Chapter 8

EDDIE

For a bunch of hostile, standoffish people, the Dauntless Islanders sure knew how to throw a party.It was exactly my sort of thing—well, that wasn’t true.If there had been a D&D campaign going on in a corner, it would have been exactly my sort of thing.But it was very close to perfection.Hot, carb-heavy food, lots of alcohol, and people with musical instruments who didn’t play anything that was written after the turn of the century.The turn of thelastcentury.I had fallen into some kind of alternative universe where people unironically sang from the Roud Folk Song Index, and Ilovedit.If I squinted and made everything go fuzzy so that I couldn’t see that people were wearing jeans and jumpers, I could pretend that I was back in the nineteenth century.Although I didn’t actually need to squint—I just needed a few more rums.

I wasn’t completely at ease here, knowing that the person who’d tried to kill me was probably somewhere in this crowd, but so were a whole lot of people whohadn’ttried to kill me, right?The rum also helped with that logical deduction.Anyway, Joe was always right within yelling distance, and he was the king of the island, and I was under his protection.Casting myself as the damsel in distress and Joe as the chivalrous knight in this scenario also didn’t put me completely at ease—I preferred to explore fantasy scenarios with more pirates and lighthouse keepers and zero damsels—but, again, the rum helped.It was magic like that, and one of the kids I was talking to—a skinny girl of about ten, with flyaway blonde hair—kept making sure my glass was full.

“Do you have a car?”an older kid asked.This one was maybe fourteen or fifteen, and looking at me so avidly that I knew the answer to my question would make or break our burgeoning friendship.

“No,” I said, and his face fell.“But only because I live in the city and I take buses and trains everywhere.”

“Trains,” he said, his eyes widening in what might have been panic.“I’m going to school in Sydney next year.”

I looked around, but the girl had taken my rum to get a refill.I lowered my voice.“Do you want me to tell you how to buy train tickets?”

He looked relieved and nodded, so I talked him through the process of buying an Opal card.

I remembered what it was like to be a teenager.What it felt like to be dropped into a new group of people, as though that wasn’t the most excruciating thing ever, and be expected to just manage.I remembered how little it took to earn other kids’ contempt and mockery, to cement a reputation that seemed like it would follow me forever.But at least I’d never had to deal with the culture shock of going from Dauntless Island to Sydney.These kids didn’t even have mobile phones.Their first few weeks in Sydney were going to be like landing on an alien planet.Except they weren’t some advanced species with humming flying saucers and shiny silver onesies—they were the cavemen banging rocks together and screaming in panic at the sight of fire.I’d probably got my metaphors a bit muddled there, but?—

“Rum,” the girl said, shoving the cup back in my hand.

But rum.

The rum was really, really good.

The nervous boy asked me more questions about living in the city, and the girl kept my back teeth swimming in alcohol, and eventually Joe found his way back to my side and watched me with an almost-smile as I swayed to the music.Or just swayed.I bumped him with my hip a few times, and he didn’t move away.

“I think Eddie’s had enough to drink for now,” he said to the girl when she brought me another rum.“In fact, I think Eddie needs some fresh air.”

Fresh air was a great idea.It turned out to be a fantastic idea, because there was a tiny graveyard right outside the side door of the church.

“You know these will still be here in the daylight,” Joe told me as I knelt on a grave and tried to read the cracked headstone with my fingertips.“You’re getting your pants dirty—Jesus, do you want me to get a torch?”

“I think this one says Josiah,” I said excitedly, tracing the weather worn letters.

“It says Emily,” he said.“Emily Dinsmore.Beloved of God.Died 1843.”

“You haveamazingeyesight.”

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