SEVEN
BEFORE DAWN, THEY BRUSHED THE SAND OFF as best
they could and walked back into the trees. They followed Mr. Pratt
on a path skirting the shore to a cover where the Thompsons were
waiting. They rushed to Pamela and to Honor. They wanted to touch
Pamela and talk to her. She seemed almost like a dream to them.
They had to know that she was real. And they had to ask Honor about
Helix. If only there had been more time. The sky was brightening.
Soon the sun would rise.
Mr. Thompson and Mr. Pratt and Honor’s father
walked back into the forest. When they returned, they dragged a
boat through the sea grapes onto the sand. The boat was an
outrigger canoe, and it was made of hollowed-out logs and rigged
with the sinew of plants. In the hull of the canoe the Thompsons
had hidden food and water. They also had new clothes for Pamela and
Will. Mrs. Thompson gave Pamela a hat to protect her bald head from
the sun.
Together they all pushed the boat into the
shallow water. Mr. Pratt held it there, ready to sail.
“How will we all fit?” asked Honor.
“We aren’t all going,” said Mr. Pratt. “Just the
Thompsons and your parents.”
“But what about me?” asked Honor.
Her mother wrapped her arm around her.
“Why can’t I go with you?” she
pleaded.
“Who will watch Quintilian?” asked her
mother.
Honor bowed her head, ashamed she had forgotten
him. “But couldn’t we take him too? And Helix? We could get them
and—”
“You know it’s not safe to get them,” said her
father. “And where we’re going is not for children.”
“We don’t know if we’ll succeed,” her mother
said.
“Other people have tried to take the Weather
Station,” Mr. Thompson told Honor.
“And what happened to them?” Honor demanded,
holding on to her mother.
“No one knows,” said Will.
“Then you can’t go,” Honor said. “I won’t let
you.”
“We have to go. It’s a day’s sailing at least.
Maybe two.”
“How is it safe for me to stay here?” Honor
demanded. “They’ll send Retrievers after me. You know they
will.”
“We aren’t going to let Retrievers find you,”
Will said. “You’ll go back to school first.”
“I can’t go back there.”
“You have to,” said Will.
“We’ll come for you, just like you came for me,”
Pamela promised.
“If we succeed, it won’t be long,” Will said.
“Watch the sky and you’ll know if we have the Weather
Station.”
“But you might not succeed,” Honor
said.
“We have to try,” said Will. “We have to try,
even if we might fail.”
“And what will happen then?”
“Then you’ll be at school,” said Pamela. “You’ll
think about what to do next. You’ll take care of your
brother.”
“We named you Honor for a reason,” Will
said.