Icebreaker by Lian Tanner Read Free Book Online Page A

ragged hole in the back of the cupboard, but it did not lead to the cabin on the other side of the bulkhead, as it should have done. Instead, it opened into a cramped tunnel.
    Petrel drew in a sharp breath. This was a fine secret! She had never even suspected that such a tunnel existed.
    â€œWhere does it go?” she whispered.
    â€œWhere don’t it go might be a better question,” said Mister Smoke.
    â€œWill you show me? Are there other places where I could get in and out?”
    â€œMebbe.”
    â€œI could creep along inside the bulkhead and watch Dolph, and she’d never know I was there,” whispered Petrel. A fierce glee took hold of her. “I could watch Albie !”
    â€œEnough chatter, shipmate. Come on, keep your ’ead down and don’t lag behind.”
    The tunnel was not made for humans. It was narrow and cramped and pitchy dark most of the way, although every now and then there was a crack where light seeped through from a cabin or a passageway. Petrel wanted to stop and peer through those inviting cracks, but the rats hurried her on.
    She felt as if she were crawling through the innards of a whale. The familiar rumblings of the ship were magnified and strange, and the darkness seemed to pulsate around her. At one point she had to stop and breathe deeply before she could continue.
    Still the tunnel spun out ahead of her. Her knuckles scraped against the decking. She bumped her elbows and her nose, and flakes of rust stuck to her face like snow.
    And then suddenly Missus Slink was whispering in her ear, “Nearly there, girl. Hush now. The brig’s just ahead of us.”
    â€œYou come and ask those questions,” said Mister Smoke. “Slink and I’ll grab ’old of the answers as he gives ’em. Come on.”
    â€œNo, wait,” hissed Petrel. Now that the moment was so close, her heart was beating right up in her throat. “What if he won’t talk to me?”
    â€œCourse ’e’ll talk to you. Why wouldn’t ’e?”
    â€œI don’t know. My mouth’s gone all dry. What if I can’t talk to him ?” Petrel bit her lip. It was true; her mouth was dry. She couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to anyone except the rats. But that wasn’t her only reason for saying what she said next. “Maybe you and Missus Slink should stay back here. Not sure if I can do it with you listening. Not sure at all.”
    Missus Slink and Mister Smoke muttered to each other, so quiet that Petrel couldn’t pick out a single word. The ship gurgled and crunched. Petrel knelt in the darkness of the tunnel, thinking about the questions she wanted to ask the boy; questions that were far more interesting than the ones the rats had in mind.
    At last Missus Slink turned back to her and said, “Go on then. But remember everything he says. Don’t lose a word of it.”
    â€œI won’t,” said Petrel. And she crawled towards the brig.

 
    CHAPTER 6
    LIES …
    The boy picked stubbornly at the patch of rust on the wall behind his cot. His fingers were scraped and sore, but he did not even think of giving up. He had already made a small hole. All he had to do was keep working until it was big enough to climb through.
    And hope that Albie didn’t come back too soon.
    He had no idea where the hole would take him, or how he would find his way unnoticed through the corridors of the ship to the place where the demon was hidden. But he would do it somehow.
    He dug his fingers into the rusty iron, wiggling bits of it back and forth. “I am going to beat you,” he said to the wall.
    To his horror, the wall replied. “Boy,” it whispered.
    His first thought was of the demon and its imps, and he took an involuntary step backwards.
    â€œCome here,” whispered the wall. “I want to talk to you.”
    With a stab of relief the boy realized that it was not the voice of a demon