The Fandom(99)

I ignore Ash’s hand and keep on pushing the boat. The water reaches mid-thigh.

‘Come on, Violet,’ Ash says.

The helicopters grow louder, the water reaches my waist, and I just keep on pushing.

‘That’s deep enough,’ Saskia says.

The current decentralizes my balance. But I don’t stop pushing.

‘Good luck, Vi,’ Katie says, her voice shaky and small beneath the night sky.

‘Just stay alive, OK?’ I reply.

She nods.

Ash reaches for me, almost toppling the boat with his weight. I grasp his hands and gaze into his face, taking one last look into the palest blue eyes I’ll ever see. ‘That secret I’ve been keeping?’

Confusion touches his features. ‘Yes?’

I smile. ‘It’s always been you.’ And with one final push, I watch them drift away.





‘Violet, Violet.’ I hear them call my name. The scratch of wood against metal as oars click into the rowlocks, the frantic splashing of water as they attempt to turn the boat and follow me. ‘Violet, wait.’ I ignore them and turn and wade towards the shore. The helicopters have nearly arrived, and I pick up my pace, pumping my arms like mad. The river glistens like a pool of tar – I can just make out the reflection of the stars, cragged and blurred by my motion. ‘Please, Violet, they’ll kill you.’

Large hoops of light appear around me. I raise my head to see shafts of white carving up the black. The helicopters. Until I saw them, I wasn’t entirely sure they’d arrive. Perhaps Alice disclosed this location too, or perhaps it’s the canon again, haunting me, dragging me to the gallows.

I just need to get arrested, then hopefully the soldiers won’t bother with the little wooden boat floating in the background – it’s me they want, thanks to the fact Howard Stoneback’s dead. I take some comfort that the hovercrafts haven’t yet arrived. I’ll never forget them in the film. Black, glossy discs hanging in the sky like stones, generating this low whirring noise that travelled through the sofa and into the backs of my legs. They snatched Rose and Willow from their little boat with long, metal tentacles – scared the life out of me. But I shove them from my mind and repeat the words again and again, hugging them to my body like a life vest: I won’t let them die too. I won’t let them die too. I won’t let them die too.

I reach the shore. I think I’ve made it. But the joy of saving my friends is completely overshadowed by the fear of facing the Gem soldiers. I begin to run along the bank, waving my arms, trying to attract the Gems’ attention. ‘Don’t shoot,’ I shout. ‘I surrender.’ They want me alive, at least for now, but the sight of the guns still makes me want to puke.

I hear a shot. I don’t know who fired first; the Gem soldiers or my friends in the boat. It doesn’t matter. Once the bullets start flying, I lose control of the situation. I turn to see Matthew, caught by a bullet. He falls over the side like a bag of sand, tipping the boat. Every one of the passengers falls into the water, pulled beneath the surface. I forget about the soldiers – I only know I must reach Matthew. Shot and sinking. But then another thought finds me, even more terrifying, even more paralysing. Imps can’t swim. Which means Ash is likely drowning at this very moment.

I run towards the upturned boat, flinging my body into the water. I take a large breath and squeeze my eyes closed, just before a thousand nails drive into my skull. The river may look like tar, but it is undeniably water – ice cold, endless. I kick my legs and force my hips to twist, propelling me upwards. The surface breaks over my head and I take one enormous gasp of air. For a moment, I feel disorientated. I can’t see anything – the stars, the torches, the soldiers. But I can hear. Muffled gunshots, the echo of my own breath, lapping water. My hands paddle and bash against something solid. I realize I’ve emerged beneath the upturned boat.

‘Violet?’ I hear Katie beside me, panting and treading water.

My eyes adjust, and I can just pick out Saskia, clinging to the upturned seat, holding the boat as though it’s a giant shield. Her head bobs under the water until Katie pulls her up again, looping an arm beneath her chin.

‘Imps can’t swim.’ I spray river from my mouth. ‘Stay with Saskia.’

I dive back into the cold and power through the black, not entirely sure which way is up or down, manically swimming in circles, my arms reaching for imaginary shapes. But there is no Ash. No Matthew. Only grey, watery phantoms. My lungs feel ready to burst, and I know I desperately need more air, but panic drives me on, reeling, spinning, groping through the dark.

An intense light pushes its way into every corner of the black, like angels have ripped a hole in the clouds, letting the heavens burst through. The underwater world can no longer hide. I see every piece of driftwood, every murky stone, every strip of seaweed carried in by the tide, my own hands, pale and hopeless before me.

My eyes find Matthew first. He lies motionless. His mahogany skin already part of the riverbed, his lifeless eyes like two freshwater pearls. A dark cloud billows from a hole in his chest. And although this is not what I wanted, the last thing I wanted, I feel thankful. Because I only have one pair of arms, and now I don’t have to choose who to save.

Next, I see Ash, suspended and flailing, wrestling an invisible sea beast. Bubbles spiral from his hands, and his black hair fans around his pale, bruised face. I’ve never seen him look so scared, and for a shard of a moment, I feel completely flooded with love. Within seconds, I reach him, slot my hands beneath his armpits, and drive us towards the surface.