The Frost Child by Eoin McNamee Read Free Book Online Page A

back. In her wonder she had stepped to the edge of the wheelhouse roof.
    “Sailing was never really my thing,” she muttered, picking herself up from the deck, but Owen did not answer. He was absorbed in the movement of the
Wayfarer
, the way she rose and pitched and responded to the slightest movement of the tiller. He looked over the stern and saw that the land had disappeared and that they were now sailing over a great lake of time itself, the little tiller carving a trail of phosphorescence in the surface as they went.
    For a while Owen delighted in the
Wayfarer
, feeling almost at one with the boat. If he wanted greater speed, he leaned forward and the sail grew even larger. If he leaned back, the boat slowed. The
Wayfarer
skimmed lightly along, but Owen could see that a less able craft would soon be in trouble. They started to scud up the sides of huge waves of dark matter and plunge down the other side. It felt as if they were sailing on an ancient and perilous sea.
    “This is different from the first time, on the way back from Hadima,” Cati said. It was true. Then, time had seemed shallow, like a river in the dry season, and they were always in danger of running aground. Now they could feel vast quantities of time to either side, and beneath their feet enormous depth.
    “I think …” Owen spoke hesitantly. He didn’t really understand time, certainly not the way their friend Dr. Diamond did, and he was always afraid of being laughed at. “Well, do you remember the way the Harsh hadhoarded time so there wasn’t enough to go around? Well, it looks as if they’ve released all that time back where it should be.”
    Cati looked around in wonder. “So this is what it is meant to look like?”
    “Yes. But what are they up to? That’s the question.”
    A mighty wave crashed down, sending spume leaping high into the air. The spume swept over the boat, stinging their faces like shards of ice.
    “Get the suits!” Owen said. There were suits of a kind of chain mail hanging in the cabin, and Cati fetched two. Quickly she pulled hers on.
    “Take the tiller,” Owen said, struggling into his suit. Cati’s hand closed on it, but he could feel the boat hesitate slightly, then veer as Cati moved the tiller nervously.
    “Just hold it straight!” Owen said. “She can feel that you’re nervous.”
    “I can’t help it,” Cati snapped. “I’m a land girl.”
    “Look out!” Owen shouted. Cati had not been watching what she was doing. They were driven across the side of a giant wave. The wave broke on the foredeck so that they were almost buried in the stinging spume. Cati was knocked to her knees and Owen fell back against the side of the boat.
    “Keep her pointing straight into the waves,” Owen said, correcting the tiller, “and don’t look away for a moment.”
    With a doubting glance at Cati he pulled the maps out from under his jacket. He picked the one that looked like the master copy of them all and pinned it to the hatchbeside the Mortmain. Then he stood up and took the tiller.
    “I couldn’t help it,” Cati said, looking crossly at him.
    Owen grinned at her.
    “I know. You’re a landlubber. Next thing you’ll be seasick. Tell you what, you want to do something useful?”
    “What?”
    “Make a cup of tea. Go on. Everything’s in the galley. I stocked up.”
    Cati opened the hatch and slid down into the cabin. She closed the hatch and breathed a sigh of relief as the storm sounds were shut out. It was roomier than she would have thought, with a table at one end surrounded by soft benches that could be turned into beds. Cupboards lined the walls and at the other end there was a little kitchen.
    Must be what he means by galley
, she thought. She looked around. There were small copper pots and pans that fitted neatly into each other, drawers full of beautifully shaped knives and forks and kitchen implements. There were silver platters and pewter mugs, everything made to be stowed away in stormy