The Complete Ingo Chronicles: Ingo, The Tide Knot, The Deep, The Crossing of Ingo, Stormswept. Helen Dunmore

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СКАЧАТЬ to watch the dive. (Mum will be bound to see us coming back in the boat, because she’ll be waiting with the picnic.) Picnic! Is it possible that it’s still the same day, and that only a couple of hours have passed? It seems so. Roger’s watch says quarter to four. Ingo time and human time have kept close together, today. I wonder why that is. Maybe because Roger and Gray were never in Ingo at all? Divers go down into the water, but they never go into Ingo. And because Roger and Gray were following human time, we had to as well, or we’d never have been able to rescue them.

      But when we bring the boat into the cove, Mum isn’t there, waiting on shore. She didn’t come down to the cove at all, she tells us later. She changed her mind, because there was so much picnic food to carry, and she wasn’t sure what time Roger and Gray would arrive in the boat. She thought it would be better to keep the food in the cool, and have the picnic up in our garden.

      Roger and Gray agree enthusiastically that it’s not worth taking the picnic back down to the cove now. Mum has spread a rug in the garden, and laid out the food with cloths to cover it against the flies.

      But once the first flurry of greetings is over, Mum gets a proper look at Roger and Gray. She sees everything. She’s horrified by the scratch across Gray’s face, and the bruises that are starting to appear on Roger and Gray’s arms and legs.

      “What happened? Oh God, you should never have gone. I should have guessed something would happen.”

      Roger puts his arm around her shoulders. It’s the first time I’ve seen him touch Mum.

      “Take it easy, Jennie, nothing’s happened. We took a bit of a battering against the rocks, that’s all. The currents out there are stronger than I’d allowed for.”

      “It’s dangerous,” says Mum. Her voice cracks with tension. “This whole coast is dangerous. People don’t realise.”

      “It’s OK, Jennie.” Roger’s hand grips Mum’s shoulder, rocking her gently. “You don’t have to think about it any more. Put it out of your mind. We won’t be diving around the Bawns again. There’s nothing there.”

      Mum’s face slowly relaxes.

      “You promise?”

      “Swear and promise,” says Roger. Conor and I exchange startled glances. I can see how relieved Mum is. Before we eat the picnic, she cleans Gray’s scratch carefully with boiled water and a pad of lint.

      “Strange,” she mutters. “This doesn’t look like a cut from a rock. It looks almost like a cat scratch. And it’s deep. I’m worried it’s going to leave a scar.”

      “You have everything round here, even underwater cats,” says Gray, wincing as Mum applies the antiseptic cream. It’s a lame joke, but Mum smiles.

      “But it does look like some sort of claw mark… we’ll have to watch it doesn’t turn septic.”

      “Give me dogs any day,” says Roger. “You know where you are with a dog. That reminds me, Jennie. What do you say we walk up to the farm one day this week, and find out what the position is with Sadie?”

      “Nothing’s settled, Sapphy!” says Mum hastily. “We’re making enquiries, that’s all. Don’t look like that.”

      “Like what?”

      “As if you’ll die if it doesn’t happen, that’s what she means,” says Conor. “Take it easy, Saph.”

      I force myself to be calm. Jack’s mum and dad might have changed their minds about selling Sadie. Who wouldn’t want to keep a dog like Sadie? I can’t imagine even thinking of giving her away, if she was mine.

      “Don’t look so desperate, Saph,” says Roger. “We’ll do what we can.”

      That night Roger sleeps on our sofa, and I hear him yelling out in the middle of the night. Mum goes padding downstairs, and I hear them talking, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. Their voices rise and fall for a long time. I ask Mum about it in the morning, once Roger has left.

      “What happened last night, Mum?”

      “Roger had a nightmare,” Mum says.

      “What was it about?”

      “You know how it is. Nightmares never make sense. He dreamed he was being tossed by a herd of giant bulls. They were underwater and he couldn’t escape. It must have been terrifying. He woke up drenched in sweat. Underwater bulls! Funny what our minds come up with when we’re asleep.”

      “Poor Roger.”

      “It’s nice the way you’re trying to get on with him now,” says Mum, smiling at me approvingly. “Do you know, when we were talking about his nightmare, he suddenly said he was very grateful to you. That was a strange thing for him to say, wasn’t it? What’s he got to be grateful to you for?You’ve only just stopped acting like a little madam with him… Sapphire, are you all right? You’ve gone very pale.”

      “It’s OK, Mum. Just sometimes it hurts when I breathe.”

      “What sort of pain is it? Does your chest feel tight? Breathe in deeply now, Sapphy, let me hear if you’re wheezing.”

      Mum wanted to be a nurse when she was young, but she didn’t have the right qualifications. She’s trained as a first-aider, but she always says she’d like to take it further. So far, the only place she has taken it further is in our house.

      “Mum, I haven’t had asthma since I was about six. It’s not that sort of pain.”

      “All the same, you ought to have a quiet day for once, tomorrow. Watch a film, read a book. You and Conor are always in that sea. You’ll turn into a fish if you’re not careful.”

      “Oh, Mum.”

      “I mean it.”

      “If we had a dog,” I say casually, glancing sideways at Mum, “it would be good to hang out around the house with her. When I wasn’t taking her for walks.”

      I can almost see the thought crossing Mum’s face. It’s true. If Sapphy had a dog to look after, she wouldn’t be running off down to the cove all the time.

      I say nothing more. With Mum, it’s best to let the thought settle, and sink in.

      If Sadie was here now, I could tell her everything. I could whisper it into her soft ears and she’d strain to understand me. I think she would understand some of it. There are so many things I can’t tell anyone, not even Conor, or Faro. So many questions I want to ask.

      It’s Conor that Roger ought to be grateful to, not me. Conor could barely breathe or move, but he faced the seals for Roger’s sake. I don’t know what magic was in Conor’s song, but it must have been powerful, to stop the seals’ attack. Granny Carne said that Conor had his own power, and he must never forget it. I believed that Conor was weak in Ingo, and I was strong, but it was Conor who saved Roger and Gray. Faro and I and Elvira only helped to finish what Conor began.

      I’ve called for Faro twice now when I’ve needed him. Both times he’s answered and come to help me. But he doesn’t come because of any power I’ve got, I’m sure of that. I don’t know СКАЧАТЬ