The Hourglass by Casey Donaldson Read Free Book Online Page A

had heard about it, of course. Old
Martin who lived in her apartment block had told her about it once. She snorted
at the memory. ‘Big and wet’ hardly seemed to cover it. Most of the other
prisoners had also stopped walking and were likewise staring at it in
amazement. They were all prodded forward and made to walk along the pier. As
they approached the boat Sarah started to freak out a little. What would they
do if the boat sank? What if they ran out of food or water? She realised Finn
was breathing heavily besides her.
    “Are you ok?”
she asked.
    “I can’t swim,”
he muttered between clenched teeth.
    Sarah thought
back to the small pool near her apartment that regularly filled up with water
when it rained. A few of the apartment kids used to play in it when she was
younger and better at making friends. Her doggie-paddling and the few strokes
she could pull off in the small space seemed far from adequate now.
    “Well, hopefully
you won’t need to.”
    She looked back
at the boat. It seemed a lot smaller than she had imagined. One of the other
kids seemed to think the same.
    “Is this it?”
the girl asked one of the guards. “Is that the prison ship?”
    The guard
laughed. “No. That’s what we’re using to transport you to the ship.”
    They arrived at
the boat and gingerly stepped onto the back decking. A few of them stumbled at
the slight rocking motion. The guards prompted them to enter the hatch and go
down the stairs below. It took Sarah a moment to adjust to the gloominess
inside. There were two portholes on the side, providing the room’s only source
of light.  A bench ran along three of the walls. They all sat down, facing each
other. The unconscious boy was laid down in the middle of the floor. The guard
then retreated outside and closed the door, making it even darker.
    “So,” said
Heather, spreading out as much as she could on her bench. “What did you losers
do?”
    No one answered
her. Heather wasn’t dissuaded. She turned to face the weedy fourteen year old,
who had been the first to have his barcode burnt on. Every now and then he
would suck on his teeth in a way that Sarah found repulsive.
    “You, skinny,
what’s your name?” she demanded.
    The boy shrugged
his shoulders awkwardly. “Toddy.”
    “What did you
do?”
    His eyes darted
around the cabin, looking for a way out of answering, but no help came.
    “Well?” demanded
Heather.
    “Um, I poisoned
some meat,” he muttered. “I just wanted to give the guy a belly-ache, you know?
But he got really sick and well… yeah.”
    “You killed
him?”
    “Nah, he lived.
Just, well, he was really sick.” He sucked at his teeth again. Sarah wished he
would stop doing that.
    Heather rolled
her eyes. “And you?” she demanded, looking at a boy with black hair and dark
eyes. He was, Sarah couldn’t help but notice, incredibly good looking.
    “I stole a
police horse,” he said, his face covered in a huge grin at the memory. “What
did you do?”
    “Stabbed a man,”
said Heather, her voice full of bravado. She pointed at Sarah, “She’s a thief,”
she pointed at Marland, “and she’s an arsonist.” She turned back to the
black-haired boy. “What’s your name?”
    “Colt.”
    Sarah snorted in
amusement. The others all turned to look at her. None of them were even
smiling. She flushed. “Colt, and well, he stole a horse,” she explained. “It’s
just apt, that’s all.”
    Finn gave her a
slow smile and even Colt smirked, but the rest of them just gave her a blank
look.
    “That’s Justin,”
said Toddy, who also hadn’t got the pun. He pointed at the tall, gangly
unconscious boy on the floor. “He streaked through an important government
ceremony. They didn’t give him back his clothes for three days after they
caught him.” He grinned as if this was the funniest thing in the world. 
    Heather chortled
but no one else laughed. It was hard to find it funny when he was lying there
unconscious. Heather turned to