Saving Sophia Part 3

aOh, all right, I promise Iall help, but this is insane, you do know that?a I say, pulling the boat into a hollow in the sand and dumping a wodge of seaweed over it. I crouch down to join her, taking off my helmet and using it to dollop sand on to the kayak.

aBrilliant,a she says, copying me. aThis is my only chance to see Mum, tell her whatas going ona And I knew you were the right person to bring.a aNot Ned, then?a I say, thinking of them sitting on the top of the wall, hand in hand, or skipping along cliff tops, careless of the drop below.

aNed?a she laughs. aWhy Ned?a aNo reason,a I say, allowing a tiny light of hope to flicker in my heart. A light that says that just as she means something to me, I mean something to her. aJust wondered.a aThereas no one else who I can trust and whoas capable of it.a She looks with her almost black eyes into mine. The tiny light of hope becomes a steady flame. aCan you imagine Sarah-Jane doing this?a she asks.

I think of Sarah-Jane in my place, complaining, sitting helpless on the sand, clamouring for attention. Then in my mindas eye I see me, a strong silent me striding alongside Sophia, guiding her, giving wisdom to her in her mission. A heroic me. aNo.a aExactly.a We probably spend about ten minutes hiding the boat. When weave finished, we pile rocks and more seaweed on the disturbed sand, and watch as a sudden squall blows in from the sea and the rain destroys our footprints.

aBrilliant,a Sophia says, flicking her dripping plait to the side. aLetas get going.a aHave you got a plan?a I ask, following her over the rocks.

aWe need to get to Mum before Pinhead finds us. This way, I think,a she says.

Itas not exactly a plan, I think but donat say, as we scramble over boulders and through three small bays that nestle beneath the cliffs.

Soon, the mist that was out at sea rolls in towards us, and I can barely see my arm in front of my face.

aHow far are we going?a I ask, out of breath. aIs this a long escape or a short escape?a Sophia doesnat reply, but I can hear her feet on the stones in front of me, and I follow them through to another sandy bay.

aSophia?a I ask. Iam just beginning to feel anxious. Iam not sure whether I want to see a coastguard helicopter scouring the sea for us, or whether I donat. It slightly depends on what Sophia is thinking of doing. I want to be a hero but what is there to eat, for example, or drink?

We stumble on for another hour or so, until the coastal path comes down to meet the sh.o.r.e. An orange boat appears just out to sea, joined soon after by a helicopter. We hide under a pile of nets until they go away, before walking some more.

In Rendezvous at West Point, Dr Tabitha Cross walks twenty-seven miles along rocks before wrestling her evil stepmother to the ground. Difference is, Dr Tabitha Cross was fit and wore shoes. My feet hurt and Iam out of breath.

She also had some idea of where she was going.

A couple walk past with their dog, and we collapse on to the rocks in our wetsuits as if we were just out for a swim. Iam completely starving, breakfast was a really long time ago and if someone offered me one of Dadas homemade squirrel sausages, I might even consider eating it.

We must be about six miles away from Bream by now.

Iam tempted to wander over to the couple and ask to use their mobile phone, but I glance at Sophia and lose heart. Sheas looking really determined. Sheas also looking like she might cry.

aSophia,a I ask gently, awhat exactly are we doing?a Sheas silent as a group of ramblers wander on to the beach and start chucking pebbles into the sea.

aWeare going to find Mum.a aAnd where is she?a She sits in silence, spinning stones across the beach.

aI think a" I donat know exactly.a Iave never been very good at whistling between my teeth, but it comes out sufficiently loud to make one of the ramblers turn sharply and fling a stone at his friend by accident. aSo where do we start? Why donat you tell me something about her? What does she do?a aSheas a singeraa aWould I have heard of her?a aDoubt it a" she mostly performs in other countries a" thatas why sheas never here. In fact I only know sheas here at the moment because I heard Wesson and Pinhead talking about her on the way down here. But that doesnat matter. The point is that Pinhead knows where she is, so if we can get to his office, we can find out where sheas performing. If we get there soon, we can get to her first.a aCouldnat you just email her or something?a Sophia shakes her head. aI donat have her email address. Pinheadas never given it to me, and he tries to send me to school in remote places where the internet doesnat work. Thatas why he sent me to Bream Lodge. Out of sight, and out of contact a" he always wants me well out of the way.a I thought everywhere had the internet these days, except for us, of course, but I pick weed from between my toes and try to imagine how Iad feel if I was kept away from my mum, how Iad feel if someone wanted to take all her money and I knew about it and she didnat.

aIf he wanted to defraud her, wouldnat he do it miles away, in the Cayman Islands or somewhere?a Sophia draws a heart in the sand. aHeas got cronies here. This is his turf.a aOh,a I say. This is a world I thought I knew about from my books. But perhaps I donat.

aOf course, she could be dead,a says Sophia. aThat could be why I havenat seen her for years.a aSurely youad know if she was,a I say. aYouad have been told at school, you know, like in The Twelve Fish Scales, where Sarah Turnbull gets called into the Headas office and told her parents have been killed in a terrible airship-meets-herd-of-cows calamity.a She sniffs. aHe might have kept it a secret from the school, too.a aOh!a I say. I canat think of anything else. I throw some pebbles at a can, and miss.

aWe could go back, get the police to investigate?a I say. aTell them your mumas missing, that you havenat seen her in a" what was it? Five years?a aNO!a says Sophia, her face twisted with anger and tears. aThey wouldnat believe us, and head hide the evidence a" I have to do it myself; if you want to leave Iall just go on, aloneaa aWhereas his office?a I ask, looking around at the almost empty beach as if Pinheadas office might be just round the corner, but really Iam dreading the answer.

aBristol.a aThatas quite a long way away,a I say, imagining the journey stretching across a map of the South West. aMaybe a hundred and fifty miles?a We sit in a long contemplative silence while I think about whether I can be hero enough to carry Sophia through all this, and help her find the truth.

I remember Irene, and the plane crash. She was alone, in a cold fog, hundreds of miles from home. aDo you know anything about Irene Challis?a I ask.

aIrene Challis?a aSheas the old woman that died and left her house to Pinhead.a Sophia shakes her head. aNever heard of her a" I donat know anything about his relatives a" I donat think he has any. I donat think anyone could be related to anything as vile as Pinhead.a aNo, he does sound a" unpleasant. What does he do? Except for dabbling in property development and keeping people apart?a aImport and Export a" thatas what he says to people. But I think heas a gun runner.a My mouth suddenly dries up. A gun runner? And Iad thought he was something to do with pork.

Do I have enough of an inner hero? Can I, like Scarface McCready in The Secret of the Lost Uncle, do good in the face of extreme danger, unrecognised, warmed by the inner knowledge of extreme selflessness in the cause of justice and friendship? I feel a surge of righteous power and my little flame of courage bursts into a raging fire; Sophia needs me, she needs me to help her do SOMETHING EXCITING. Just me; only me.

Iam thinking of the changed me, the something happened to me, that Iall have afterwards. Itall be awesome.

aIam hungry,a says Sophia. aAnd thirsty.a Apart from our wetsuits, there really isnat anything to eat, but if Iam going to be Sophiaas heroic best friend I need to find something. I look around. The beach is pebbly; at the top, some sad plants with yellow flowers struggle on the edge of a sandy cliff. I wander over. Theyare that sea broccoli stuff a" Dad once cooked it down at Portland with mackerel; it was disgusting, but itas food.

Raw food.

I pick the flowers and try one. It tastes like cabbage. Peppery, disgusting, but not inedible. I bring back some flowers for Sophia.

She sticks one in her mouth and chews. I expect her to choke, or spit it out, but she says: aThank you, Lottie. Thank you.a We struggle on until it gets dark and decide to camp under an upturned rowing boat. Things crawl all around us, poppy things that crunch if you walk on the sand. Theyare probably edible if you could catch them, and if you had a cooking pot.

And a fire.

And some salt and pepper.

And water.

We huddle together in our wetsuits, listening for footsteps and feeling hungry. Weave eaten sea-cabbage flowers, sorrel leaves and the end of a piece of bread that some picnickers left on the beach. Apart from a tap for washing sand from wetsuits, we havenat found any water, and Iam not sure we should have drunk from it but bad water seems preferable to no water.

My stomach rumbles for the millionth time. Iam thinking about chocolate bars. I canat help it; they keep coming into my head. Iave had a particularly strong sense of Swiss chocolate bunnies, the ones wrapped in gold paper. Ned canat bear them, he says itas like eating happiness, so I always save him from that by eating his too. aWhat would you really like to eat just now?a I blurt out.

aSpaghetti con vongole,a Sophia says. aWith loads of parmesan.a aOh,a I say, not wanting to show my ignorance by asking what it is. aIad settle for chocolate.a We sit in silence, listening to the crunching things on the beach. I imagine theyare probably eating each other. I pull my legs in closer. I darenat lie down, I donat want the sea things to move into my hair.

Thereas a bit in Sand for Sandy, where Sandy has to battle with an enormous crab. She kills it with an umbrella. Itas quite dramatic and heroic.

But just at the moment, Iam not feeling very heroic, and I donat have an umbrella.

aI wonder if my parents know yet?a I ask.

aTheyall have rung them straight away. They always ring Pinhead the moment I take off.a aOurs are off camping in Cornwall a" they probably didnat take a mobile phone.a aReally?a asks Sophia. aI didnat think anyone went anywhere without a phone.a I shrug. aMy parents are different.a aThey are,a says Sophia. aI liked them.a aOh!a I say, feeling a confusing sense of pride and embarra.s.sment. aThatasa"a aIave lived all over the world, I can speak three languages, Iave had nannies, and minders, and stayed in hotels on my own, but Iave never met anyone like your parents a" or you, for that matter.a aReally?a aYou go swimming in that crummy old bathing suit, and you donat mind; you wear turquoise eyeshadow; you bring an enormous ancient rucksack on a school trip; youave got sensible socks, sensible shoes, sensible trousers. You actually read books! Itas great that youare so unbothered.a The blush starts somewhere near the bottom of my spine though I make a mental note never to wear makeup again. Sophia might be completely wrong about how unbothered I am but I still want to hug her, though I donat think I know her quite well enough yet.

Somewhere not very far away, a dog barks.

aHow did Pinhead and your mum meet?a I ask, whispering this time, like I might set the dog off.

aWhen she started singing, he was her manager.a I imagine Sophiaas mum as a slender blonde, crooning into a microphone.

aSo they fell in love?a Sophia goes silent for a long time, so long that I think she might have fallen asleep, and I finally slip down so that my hair lies on the sand.

aI donat think she fell in love with him.a aDid he fall in love with her?a Thereas a long pause while the things outside eat each other.

aI think he realised he could control her a" and she liked having someone to organise everything for her. I think I was the problem from the start, but it was all different then, because Mum and I lived on our own in a little flat in Maida Vale, over the tube station, where the trains shook the bookcases and the rats ran around at night.a aNice,a I say, changing my vision to one where Sophiaas mum, still slender and blonde, is standing at the top of the stairs batting away the rats with a frying pan.

aWe had c.o.c.kroaches, too, but I used to keep them as friends under the bed in a box; my c.o.c.kroaches never ran away with all the others, they stayed.a aReally?a aI loved it there,a she says. aJust me and Mum, and I went to a local school and had lots of friends, and wore a red-and-white checked dress. And then he turned up, and the two of us started to live separate lives a" me at boarding school and her performing around the world. Sheas sung at the Paris Opera House, you know, and in Sydney.a Sophia sighs loudly.

aI thought he wanted her money?a aMum never had any money then but sheas earned squillions since. Heas in charge of it, and he must have spent loads on my education.a Something crunches really close by, and I sit absolutely still for a moment. Itas probably a giant lobster eating a giant crab. Unless itas a giant c.o.c.kroach.

aSo what does he say when you tell him you want to see your mum?a aThat sheas ill or in Australia or something. Or taking a health cure.a aArenat there any friends you could ask about her a" her friends, I mean?a aShe doesnat have any anymore a" all her old friends have fallen away. Iave tried but they donat know anything. Not the ones I can find, anyway.a aWhat about the internet a" canat you find anything out about her?a aOh a" Iave tried looking for her on the web. I canat find her, but he says sheas changed her name.a aOh,a I say. I thought you could find anything out on the internet, even people with changed names, but then, I donat really know anything about it a" Iave only ever used it at school, to look stuff up for history projects. Sophiaas bound to be right.

aHe made her change her name. Heas like that.a Somethingas bugging me. aActually a" I thought you said he kept you away from the internet, so that you couldnat contact her?a aOh, he does, but Iave found out about her through other people, people who have been able to use computers. You know, teachers and peopleaa We sit in the relative silence of sea things crackling outside.

aWhat was her name? Before he made her change it?a aIsadora.a aIsadora what?a aOh. Fonseca.a aFonseca?a I say. aBut yours is Formosa.a aYes a" theyare different. Iam named after my father a" he was a Spanish sea captain. Died in a tsunami. Unless heas still alive on a desert island somewherea" Whatas that noise? Outside?a Something else crunches outside the boat a" either that or the same lobsteras found another crab a" or do crabs eat lobsters? Or do c.o.c.kroaches eat both?

We sit stock still. I listen intently until it feels like my ears are going to burst.

It sounds like two lobsters now. Really big ones.

aHeloooooooo! Girls!a And someone pulls the boat off from over our heads.

Itas Ned. And I canat work out if Iam glad or furious. While Iam still thinking about it, he snuggles down under the side of the boat and starts talking.

aNeed to hide from the helicopters a" have they been this far along the coast?a He shines his torch in my eyes.

aNed! Torch!a I squeal.

aOh a" sorry. But did you see the crash? I sank the Wesson woman with one blow a" sheas totally rubbish at steering a" but the noise was spectacular, and I did think I might possibly have drowned her, but the course leader dived in to get her out, although she was already out, so they were both wet by then a" and,a Ned coughs, areally cross. Anyway, the motorboat rescued her, Miss Sackb.u.t.t told me off which was like being told off by a bathmat, and it took them all that time to work out that you two had gone, and only I had seen which direction you went in.a aBut how did you know we wanted to escape?a asks Sophia. aSorry, I wanted to escape.a aI didnat. It was a complete accident. I was watching a cormorant landing on a buoy, and I hit Wesson. Sheas not very lovely. She is here because of you, Sophia, isnat she?a aOf course she is!a I snap, now feeling that my heroic stance is being eroded by the chivalrous actions of my unchivalrous brother. aSo why are you here?a aI didnat think youad want to be on your own for ever. I mean, itas not possible to be out here with only a wetsuit for very long. You canat exactly buy anything, or ask for anything, or even hide, and at some point, your skinall fall off.a aWhat?a asks Sophia.

aHeas probably right,a I say, reluctantly. aA wetsuit is like wearing a wet rubber glove. After a while, things get fetid.a aEeeew,a says Sophia.

aI knew it,a cheers Ned. aI knew shead be an aEeeewa girl. Just like you.a aSheas not,a I say. aShe lived in a flat full of rats.a aOh, I heard that bit. Do you believe it?a Ned asks me as though Sophiaas not there, and starts pulling something out of his bag.

aI do,a I say, reaching out my hand to grasp Sophiaas wrist in a gesture of solidarity.

aHmmm,a says Ned, chucking something at me.

aWhatas this?a I ask.

aClothes,a says Ned. aOut of the lost property box. And what about the bit about her mum being a singer?a aBut she is,a says Sophia.

I wriggle to reach the zip of the wetsuit. aWhat you donat know is that Sophia thinks that Pinhead a" Pinehead a" wants to keep her away from her mum, so that he can steal her mumas fortune.a I say it firmly, unpeeling the warm rubber suit and reaching for what appears to be a T-shirt.

aReally?a says Ned. aSounds like something out of one of your books, Lottie.a I thump him, and drag on some tracksuit bottoms.

aBut we donat know she hasnat made it all up, all the sea captain bit, the gun running, and the names,a says Ned.

aWhat about Miss Wesson, then?a I say.

aShe might be exactly what Miss Sackb.u.t.t said, just someone hired by the school for extra security.a aBut itas all trueaa mutters Sophia in the dark, her voice quiet but with a hint of a sob. Sheas rustling. Pulling clothes on over her head.

aOh, Iam not saying it isnat but we like proof in our family, donat we, Lottie?a aYou do,a I say. aIaa I donat know what to say. Iam just glad itas dark and no one can see the colour of my face.

We sit in silence. I know Nedas got a point but I donat want him to be right. I want Sophia to be my friend, not his, and although heas right about the wetsuits, and the proof, and the running away on our own, I could happily feed his unromantic and boringly practical brain to the giant lobster.

aAnyway,a says Ned breezily, ait doesnat matter either way a" itas fun being here, on the run, under an upturned boat and now youare both properly dressed, we should sleep so that we can set off really early.a aBut we havenat eaten anything,a I say.

aAh a" food a" thought you might want some. Hereaa Thereas rustling as Ned pulls something else from his backpack. aSophia, take the torch.a Our boat tent fills with light and the warm smell of sausages as Ned spreads a bundle of tinfoil on his knees. There are two long hot dog sausages. Normally, Iad say they were disgusting. I really do think they look like poo, but just at the moment, my instinct is to grab both and cram them into my mouth, but then I remember Sophia and say: aYou first.a I watch, my tongue hanging out, as she takes the first sausage and nibbles it.

aLottie?a says Ned.

aOh a" Iam not really hungrya"a aIn that caseaa Ned lifts the tinfoil up towards his mouth.

aNo!a I scream, grabbing the sausage just before his nose touches it.

aHa!a he says. aI knew it!a aNed!a I say, tearing at the soft salty flesh of the sausage. aYou really areaa aavery kind to come and find us with a warm dinner?a he says, folding the tinfoil and putting it carefully back into his rucksack. aWater anyone?a This time, I grab the bottle first but as it turns out, Nedas brought two.

aSo anyway a" I followed your tracks.a aOur tracks? But we went along the coast, on purpose, so that we couldnat leave any tracks.a aYes, but you buried a boat a" I found it; no one else knows a" then you clambered over the rocks with sandy feet; a little further on I found two wetsuit b.u.m prints in the sand and a load of sea-cabbage stalks. Then there was the tap, which had obviously been used and was after all the only water, and then, this boat had to be the only place that you could possibly hide. After all, where else could you go in a swimsuit?a Even though I canat see it, I can imagine his horrid grin a" heas so SMUG!

aWell done, Ned. Youare either very good at tracking, or weare lousy at hiding our tracks,a says Sophia, licking her lips. aWhat about everyone else?a aThey think youave gone the other way a" I donat know why, but it might be because I told them you were looking for Mum and Dad in Cornwall, and for some reason I donat understand Sarah-Jane said shead seen you go that way too.a I imagine Sarah-Jane pointing in the wrong direction with certainty. It would be just like her to do that because it would make her important. For a moment I feel sorry for Sarah-Jane, but then I remember just how unpleasant she is and stop.

Overhead we hear the thump of a helicopter. We switch off the torch and sit motionless under the boat, waiting for it to pa.s.s. In fact, the helicopter stays in the area for so long that I think it must have seen us but in the end it turns and goes back along the coast.

aFlip!a says Ned, after itas gone. aThat was close.a Sleep comes slowly, but the morning seems to come too fast. I wake, strange sounds come from outside the boat, not giant prawn-eating lobster noises, more like chicken noises. I lift the side of the boat. Nedas standing there, proudly holding a hen. A living hen, under his arm.

aBreakfast!a he says.

aWhere did you get her?a I ask.

Ned nods over his shoulder away from the sea. aFarm a" up there.a aYouare not really going to kill her? Are you?a Sophia asks, creeping out behind me, her eyes round.

aWhy not? Mum does it all the time.a aYes, but have you ever done it?a I ask.

Ned sort of nods his head, then turns it into a shake. aWell, no, not actually, not as such a" Iave seen it happen, though.a aGo on then.a I scramble out into the half-light.

Ned takes the chickenas head in one hand and holds the rest of the bird in the other. She tilts her head and looks up at his hand as if itas going to give her something interesting to eat. Sophia covers her eyes and turns back towards the boat.

Iam not sure if I want him to succeed or not. Iam not sure that even if he managed to do it, I could eat it.

Ned stares at his hand. He stares at the hen. I suspect heas holding his breath because his shoulders are hunched with extreme concentration.

He sighs. aNo, not today, henny penny,a he says, putting her gently on the pebbles. She responds by pecking at his shoes, lowering her b.u.m and laying a small brown egg.

Ned picks it up immediately. aResult!a We all gaze at the egg as if weave never seen one before. aIall put it somewhere safe,a he says, pulling a tin mug and a small take-away box out of his bag.

aWhat is that in there?a asks Sophia, staring at the box. aLooks like slugs.a aPinky and Perky,a says Ned, clicking off the top.

Two fat Roman snails lift their heads, waiting for food.

aWhy are they here?a I ask, tweaking the baggy legs of my tracksuit.

aBecause if Iad left them behind, Iad have had to tell Ollie to look after them and that would have given the game away.a He wraps the egg in a sock and stows it in the mug, before rummaging for a lettuce leaf from a sandwich bag and feeding it to the snails.

aWHAT?a I say, staring at the perfectly good green lettuce leaf going into the slimy box. aYouare feeding them when weare starving?a aTheyare my pets, I have to look after them first.a aTheyad have survived,a I say, swapping my socks over.

aThey might have died, and I would have felt guilty,a says Ned. aAnyway, theyave got nothing to do with you a" theyare my responsibility. Here, have some trainers. I donat know if theyall fit.a He throws four shoes on to the pebbles. I look up at Sophia, elegant in a long green skirt-c.u.m-shorts thing and a matching top, and then back at myself. An orange sweatshirt and faded navy tracksuit bottoms.

Ned studies us both. aSorry,a he says. aThey were the best I could find. And, Lottie, it was orange or pink and I knew you wouldnat want pink. Soaa He shrugs. aAnyway, no oneas going to see you.a aDid I tell you that Pinhead was a murderer?a asks Sophia as we drop down into yet another valley.

aDo you mean like a" killed someone? On purpose?a aYes a" in a fight a" in a pub, or was it a restaurant?a We both stare at her.