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  The tense boy beside me dropped his knife to the floor with a clang. Nobody else seemed to notice—they were too busy staring at Poh.

  The blonde girl squeezed between the guy and me so that she blocked him completely from my vision. She had a pimple right at the tip of her nose, giving extra emphasis to it. I tried my best to focus on her eyes.

  ‘I’m Henrietta,’ she said, her pale hand outstretched towards me. ‘Please ignore her. Nobody’s cutting anyone up. Everyone’s nice here. You have nothing to worry about. Poh and I have been here for over ten years already.’ She shrugged. ‘We’re both Drowners—my brother, too. Meaning we nearly drowned,’ she paused and pointed to the ceiling, ‘up there, but were saved and brought back here to live. Before you know it you’ll feel right at home. We’re one big happy family.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said, taking her hand and smiling, though I couldn’t believe the way she’d so easily glossed over the fact that she and Poh, and her brother, had been kidnapped. I also couldn’t shake the cold chill snaking down my back at Poh’s imitation of Damir’s favourite kind of butchery.

  Girls go missing all the time…

  ‘A word of advice,’ Poh interrupted. ‘Don’t ask her,’ she jerked her thumb in the direction of Henrietta, ‘about dolphins.’

  Henrietta’s face reddened. ‘I hate you today,’ she muttered under her breath, eyeballing Poh before storming off in a huff.

  My eyes followed Henrietta across the room. She threw her arms around a young male guard who stood tall, legs apart and wearing head-to-toe black.

  The guy could have easily belonged at the door of an exclusive nightclub, but for the two knives attached to the insides of his boots. She whispered something in his ear and he nodded, his head swivelling in my direction. They shared the same features: big noses and pale hair. It was obviously her brother.

  ‘She’s just showing off,’ said Poh, before snapping open an oyster and digging out a pearl with the point of a blade. She held the treasure up high for inspection and nodded her head before dropping it into one of the bigger bowls with a ping. ‘She thinks she’s special because one of her family members is a royal guard.’

  I nodded my head casually, but my brain was in overdrive. Getting to know someone with a guard for a brother would be a good way to extract information on the other guards, the castle, the entrances, the travel chutes. But of course I couldn’t do all of that on my first day in here, so I just enjoyed Poh’s nonsensical ramblings about Henrietta’s obsession with dolphins.

  ‘She claims to speak dolphin,’ said Poh, leaning in close, ‘but it sounds more like a banshee dying—if banshees existed.’ To demonstrate, she made a strange, high-pitched noise from the base of her throat.

  While I feigned interest, my eyes rested on Henrietta, who now sat at the other end of the table, absorbed in her task of extracting pearls. She seemed nice. It would be great to have a friend or two while I was here, to while away the time.

  Also, I had to admit, it felt sort of nice to listen to her and Poh, though they were adults, argue about trivial, juvenile things after the skin-crawling Damir talk. Maybe that was what happened in a dying population. Without new babies to care for, people just failed to grow up.

  ‘Miranda.’

  I jumped in my seat at the sound of Robbie’s voice so close to my ear. I’d forgotten all about him.

  He slapped the back of the guy beside me, the unreceptive one.

  ‘I’m putting you in charge of teaching Miranda how to remove the pearls.’

  The guy hunched forward, as though trying to disappear into the oyster he held; but, after a few seconds and some more prodding from Robbie, he grunted something unintelligible and nodded. I sank lower in my seat, my face on fire. I didn’t want this person teaching me if he hated being near me so much, and I was sure Henrietta or Poh could teach me just as well.

  ‘It’s okay. I can watch and learn as I go.’

  Robbie crouched beside me, resting his elbow on my chair and looking up. At this angle, the strong lines of his jaw softened and his eyes appeared a much warmer brown beneath the overhead light-crystals. I could easily see the small boy, out looking for mussels, who was robbed of his will like I had been. I wished I could shake him and make him remember he had a real life, and a home other than this one. Then perhaps we could escape together, and I’d have a reason to forgive him.

  ‘There are no other doors in or out of this room except the one you entered. I’ll be on the other side of it. If you need me just shout. There are two guards overseeing things in here, so…’

  He stood up and tapped the table, as if nervous about something, and glanced around.

  I saw Henrietta’s brother nod. Robbie nodded back, and then he was gone. No wonder Marko kept him as his personal guard, I thought. He moved like a ninja. If I was smart I’d get him on my side somehow. Milk the guilt thing.

  But right now I had oysters to shuck.

  I peeked tentatively at the guy next to me and waited for my lesson to begin.

  He must have sensed me staring because, without turning to face me, he snatched an oyster from the pile, split it and removed the pearl, all in about one second. I absorbed nothing of what he did, though; his aversion to me had me so curious. All I could see was the nape of his brown neck and the tops of his hands, his colouring starkly out of place here amongst a table full of bone-white faces.

  I decided to give him a chance, cleared my throat and said, ‘I didn’t catch your name?’

  The guy grunted and stood up, sending his chair into the wall, his head still twisted away from me. He was tall—not as tall as Robbie but as big, muscle-wise.

  ‘I didn’t tell you my name,’ he spat, before storming across the room and disappearing around a corner.

  My breath caught while I replayed his words over and over again. Poh and Henrietta spoke English with a slight American accent; Marko, Sylvia and Robbie spoke in neutral tones. But this guy spoke like me.

  Like Aiden.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ‘I FOUND OUT the name of the sorter you were asking about last week. His name’s Ryan. He’s spent the past week and a half in the depository, laying stock. That’s why you haven’t seen him around since you met. But he’ll be back in the sorting room tomorrow.’

  Robbie rested against the door frame, about to lock me in for the night. I’d been working in the sorting room for ten days and had not seen the mysterious guy who had sounded like Aiden since that first day.

  I sat on the edge of my bed, gripping the wooden bed post, trying to come to terms with the great disappointment I felt. The last few days I’d gone to sleep imagining Aiden hadn’t drowned. That he was alive and well, living here in Marin. Doubts had nagged at me—this guy was taller, more built and wasn’t quite as dark as Aiden, plus he would have been buzzed to see me, not angry—but with each day my hope had grown.

  Now, finding out it wasn’t him was like having him die all over again. Ryan, not Aiden.

  ‘Miranda?’ Robbie waved his hand in an arc to get my attention. ‘Why are you so interested in this Ryan character? Did he do or say something questionable?’

  ‘Oh—no reason,’ I said, quickly brushing the topic aside in the hope of stemming the tears that were already stinging my eyes. ‘Hey, do you want to play another game of War? I’m starting to enjoy it, now that I win most of the time.’

  Robbie’s serious face softened into an uncustomary grin. He’d loosened up around me since we’d started playing War each evening after a day of sorting. I’d begged him to teach me, sick of spending each night alone in my room. I was also purposely laying the foundations of a friendship between us in the hope that I’d eventually convince Robbie to take me home. Escape plans aside, I had to, reluctantly, admit that I enjoyed his company.

  ‘It’s late. I’ll have to beat you tomorrow,’ he said, still grinning, before closing the door behind him.

  Minutes later, footsteps approached my door, followed by a conversation
in hushed tones. Perhaps Robbie had changed his mind. I reached for the cards on my bedside table and started to shuffle them. The lock rattled and clicked before the door scraped open.

  Marko, not Robbie, stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

  ‘Good evening, Miranda,’ he said, coming to stand beside my bed, blocking the light from my crystal lamp.

  Without a word I continued shuffling the cards. The King of Hearts fell out. Marko picked it up, stared at it a moment and then handed it back. I snatched it out of his fingers and shoved it in the pack.

  He sighed and sat down, tapping at the mattress with his fingers as though it were a piano. When he noticed me staring, he stopped.

  ‘I thought I’d visit to ask how your time in the pearling room has been passing.’

  When I failed to answer, a flicker of disappointment creased his brow and he stared down at his boots before looking back up.

  ‘Have you made any friends?’ His blue-grey eyes searched mine.

  I shrugged and drew a deep breath. As I inhaled, Marko’s aftershave, mixed in with the grassy, earthy scent that all men seem to have, overwhelmed me, making me light-headed. Though I’d spent many hours alone with Robbie in my room, I’d gotten used to his presence and was almost comfortable with it. Marko, however, seemed to heighten my senses and put me on red alert.

  He watched me fidget with the cuffs of my jeans.

  ‘Would you like to take a walk in the gardens tonight?’ He cleared his throat. ‘With me?’

  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely thrown by this. The last time I’d seen him he couldn’t get me out of his room quick enough. Obviously Sylvia had been in his ear again and had forced him to come here and ‘court’ me.

  Marko swallowed thickly and continued to stare while he waited for my answer. I tried to read his thoughts but sensed a myriad complex, conflicted emotions inside of him.

  He hates this as much as you do.

  This thought was the only thing that gave me hope. The sensible thing for me to do would be to use the walk to my advantage, to plead to Marko’s sense of humanity—if he had any. I just had to find a soft spot in his heart and poke at it until he felt something. But tonight I didn’t have the strength. I just wanted him as far away from me as possible.

  He cleared his throat and offered an arm. ‘Shall we, Miranda?’

  Being asked to go anywhere with a guy was a rarity for me, especially by one so physically beautiful. At home, Lauren had boys lining up to ask her out. Me—I needed an arrow-shaped neon sign to alert guys to my existence. Once, I overheard a group of girls at school in the toilets saying that, although I was pretty enough and had an okay body, next to Lauren, I was nothing. It was the truth. And Marko’s aversion to me was the proof.

  ‘The sorting room really tired me out today,’ I finally answered, looking down into my lap.

  ‘As you wish,’ said Marko, jumping to his feet. I couldn’t be certain if he was disappointed or relieved, but at the door he paused with his broad back to me and added, ‘I don’t suppose we’ll be issuing save-the-date cards anytime soon, then?’

  ‘Definitely not,’ I shot back.

  As he turned and closed the door behind him, I could have sworn I caught him smiling.

  * * *

  Even though I hardly slept that night, the following morning I was ready to traipse back down those stairs to the sorting room. Though Robbie had said the boy’s name was Ryan and not Aiden, I was still burning with curiosity. He was obviously from Australia, and hadn’t been here for very long because of his accent. My plan was to confront him and find out how he came to be here, and also for how long. We could become allies.

  If he’d stop hating me for no reason.

  I said my hellos to Poh and Henrietta and some of the other friendlier sorters, and scanned the room. My insides flipped as my eyes fell on Ryan’s broad back.

  My belly swirled with each step. I sucked in a deep breath of metallic, fishy air and tapped him on the shoulder.

  He spun around.

  My mouth fell open and my insides nearly exploded with the instant jolt of happiness.

  ‘Aiden! It is you!’

  Aiden gasped out loud, his mouth and eyes wide open. But, by the time a small crowd had gathered around us, he was shaking his head and frowning.

  ‘Who’s Aiden?’ He stood up and towered over me. His face had lost all of its puppy fat and he was now lean and muscular, his features hardened. Still handsome, but worn somehow, with purple bags beneath his dark eyes.

  I blinked and smiled. ‘What are you talking about?’ I ran my fingers through my hair and then smothered a laugh with my hands. ‘You’re alive! Your parents are going to be so happy. Oh my God, Lauren is going to—’

  ‘Shut up! Shut the hell up.’ He was so close now that our noses almost touched.

  I should have noticed that he had the shucking knife in his hand, but I didn’t, not until the very moment the blade grazed my neck. When I tried to say his name one more time, the blade bit into my skin before the word could even leave my throat.

  Before I could contemplate my next move, a flash of black crashed into Aiden.

  I coughed and spluttered, clutching at my throat, digesting what had just happened. Aiden was flat on his back. Robbie straddled him, pressing one of his boot daggers into Aiden’s brown neck.

  ‘No! Don’t hurt him,’ I shouted, rushing over to wrench Robbie’s arm away.

  Robbie’s eyes widened. I could read the confusion in them, but he lowered his blade.

  The other guards stepped forward and took Aiden by each of his arms. He struggled like a mad pit bull, growling and spitting, glaring at me with hatred and tears in his black eyes.

  This was not happening. Why was he doing this? Did he blame me for that night, like I blamed myself?

  Robbie sheathed his knife before slipping his hand around my waist and pulling me behind him.

  ‘Leave him alone. Please,’ I pleaded, pounding Robbie’s bicep so that he would free me. He eased his grip a tad, so that I could at least move around him enough and make eye contact with the guards. ‘He was just passing me a shucking knife. Weren’t you Aid— Ryan?’

  Aiden shot me a dark glance but forced a brittle smile, his teeth chalk white against his skin.

  ‘It’s true,’ he muttered. ‘I was lending her my knife.’

  ‘Yeah, and you thought you’d pass it to her throat instead of her hand,’ Robbie spat.

  The guards looked to Robbie. He peered down over his shoulder at me with raised brows.

  ‘Just don’t hurt him,’ I whispered. ‘He’s my friend.’

  Robbie sighed and nodded to the guards. ‘Hold him in the dungeons until I speak with Marko. Nobody harms him.’

  The guards led a hissing and spitting Aiden away.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Robbie muttered, taking me by the hand.

  When I turned around, I saw that nearly everybody in the room had left their stations to form an audience. Poh and Henrietta had front-row seats. ‘Tell us everything tomorrow,’ Poh mouthed. Henrietta nodded eagerly.

  All I could think about was Aiden and the hatred in his eyes.

  ‘You alright?’ Robbie squeezed my hand as he led me up the stairs. The concern in his voice made my throat tighten. I couldn’t get a word out, so I just nodded. He stopped me to check the wound on my neck, but thankfully the graze had not drawn blood.

  When we reached my room, I fell into bed and cocooned myself in the bedcovers.

  ‘That boy who threatened you, you know him?’

  I nodded my head and stifled a loud sob.

  Robbie gripped the nearest bedpost so hard that his knuckles whitened.

  ‘Then why did he hurt you like that?’

  I shook my head. ‘I don’t know,’ I said, my words coming out like a croak. But deep inside, I did know.

  He got drunk and dove into a stormy sea because of me.

  Because of those three stupid words I’d s
aid.

  I’m death to everyone I love.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING—which I had expected to spend caged in my room because of yesterday’s altercation with Aiden—Robbie burst in. At first I thought perhaps Marko had ordered my return to the sorting room, but then my imagination ran away with grander ideas.

  ‘I’ve got good news,’ he said, breathing heavily, as though he’d been running.

  I held my breath and after a few seconds threw my hands to my face. I couldn’t believe it. He was going to free me.

  Robbie frowned.

  ‘No. Not that sort of good news.’ He shook his head and his golden-brown hair slipped forward to veil his eyes. He brushed it away with his hand. ‘But it’s pretty good, under the circumstances.’

  I stared at him, unsure of what to expect.

  ‘After what happened yesterday, and because you are the only fertile female in the city, Marko has eliminated all the male guards and employees from inside the castle and replaced them with an all-female crew.’

  ‘The pearling team has been transferred to an outside location and, now that you won’t be sorting anymore, Marko’s worried you’ll succumb to boredom.’

  I continued to stare at him in anticipation.

  ‘You’re free to roam the inside the castle as much as you like,’ Robbie said, his face beaming. ‘Without any guards trailing you, and without blindfolds.’

  I should have been happy about the news, but all I could think about was Aiden.

  ‘What happened to Aiden?’

  Robbie sighed. ‘Marko overruled Sylvia’s decision to sentence your friend to the sharks.’

  I made a strangled sound. ‘So they won’t hurt him?’

  ‘No, but he’s to remain in the dungeons.’

  ‘Can I see him?’

  Robbie snorted. ‘I know he was your friend, but unless you have a death wish I wouldn’t be visiting him if I were you. He doesn’t exactly reciprocate your concern.’

  I flinched. Robbie’s words were bullets to my heart.

  I let out a great sigh, and slipped my feet into the golden sandals I kept beneath my bed. ‘I might go for a walk since I’m free now.’