Arthur shook his head. All that fearful time pleading for help, hoping the Mariner’s disc would do something, and now he came!
‘I’m not walking on water for long,’ shouted Arthur. He put the Third Key through his belt. As it left his hand, he started to sink into the sea once again, as did Suzy and Leaf.
‘So,’ called Arthur, just before he got a mouthful of seawater, ‘we do need someone to take us — and three thousand Denizens — to Port Wednesday, as soon as it can be done.’
‘We’ll take you,’ answered the Mariner. ‘As for your three thousand Denizens, there are five vessels manned by fine Rats following not far behind. They’ll take on passengers, for a fee.’
‘Wednesday’s Noon will arrange payment,’ Arthur answered, the brigantine drifting closer, so he didn’t have to shout so loud.
‘There is no Wednesday’s Noon,’ objected the Carp.
‘He used to be called Sunscorch,’ said Arthur. ‘We’ll fix up the formalities when we get ashore, provided he wants the job. There’ll be a new Dusk too, if he wants the job when he regains consciousness. A Denizen called Doctor Scamandros.’
‘This is most irregular,’ said the Carp. ‘I believe you’re supposed to consult me about such matters.’
‘Believe away,’ said Arthur. He put his head down and swam a few strokes to the net the brigantine’s crew had flung over the side. ‘I’ll see you in Port Wednesday, if you’re quick.’
‘What? What?’ asked the Carp. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I’m going to go home,’ said Arthur. ‘Just to make sure everything’s all right. Then I’m going to come back and take on Sir Thursday. And I’m keeping the Third Key for now. I just won’t use it too much.’
‘But you’re needed here!’ protested the Carp. It was goggling at him as only a goggle-eyed fish could do. ‘The Key is needed here! Without it the balance between the Border Sea, the Realms, and Nothing may go all awry!’
Arthur had started climbing the net, with Suzy and Leaf close behind. He stopped and hung there, looking back down at the Carp.
‘I need it!’ he shouted. ‘I’m tired of being powerless when the Morrow Days come and attack my family and my world, or drag me back here straight into trouble. Like I said, I’m only going to zip home and make sure everything’s okay, then I’ll come back. I don’t want to, but I know I have to.’
He started climbing again, but as he reached the deck he stopped and looked down at the Carp once more.
‘So just leave me alone!’
‘It won’t,’ said Leaf. ‘Just like the Morrow Days.’
‘I know!’ snapped Arthur. ‘I know —’
‘Please excuse me,’ interrupted Suzy in a very prim and proper voice. ‘I must immediately find something suitable to change into. Miss Leaf, I daresay I could find a dress for you too.’
‘A dress!?’ asked Leaf. ‘Why would I want to wear a dress?’
‘She promised Dame Primus to behave properly on the Border Sea,’ said Arthur hastily. ‘So that’s another good reason for all of us to get out of here.’
‘Indeed, I am most eager to return to more civilised regions,’ said Suzy. She nodded slightly to Arthur and Leaf, then hurried across the deck, pausing only to offer a curtsey to the Mariner, who tipped his cap and chuckled before striding over to offer his hand to Arthur, who shook it firmly.
‘Where away, Lord Arthur?’ asked the Mariner. ‘I’ve a mind to take a cruise around the Border Sea, for it’s long since I sailed these waters, but I’ll land you wherever you please.’
‘Like back on Earth?’ asked Leaf.
The Mariner bent his piercing blue gaze on her.
‘A ship’s boy should generally include ‘sir’ in their questions,’ he said. ‘Yes, I could sail this ship to Earth, for wherever the Border Sea’s waters have lapped a shore, so they may touch again. But I do not think it would be wise. The Border Sea has already spread too far, and that fish was right. The shores and bounds of this Sea need to be fixed once more by the Third Key.’
‘I said I’ll be back with the Key,’ protested Arthur. ‘But for now, can you take us to Port Wednesday so we can get an elevator to the Lower House?’
‘Aye,’ said the Mariner. ‘Port Wednesday it is.’
‘Where do we go from the Lower House?’ asked Leaf.
‘Through the Front Door,’ said Arthur wearily. He bent his left leg and looked down at the crab armour. The Third Key could remove that, but he thought he’d leave it on till the last moment. It was going to be hard to explain what had happened to the original cast. ‘Straight back to the hospital, I hope, a few seconds after we left.’
‘So it’ll still be Wednesday?’
‘Yep.’
‘Longest Wednesday I’ve ever had,’ said Leaf. ‘I’ll be happy to get home.’
‘Me too,’ said Arthur.
Thirty–two
‘ARTHUR, ARE YOU sure you’re okay?’ asked Emily. She was hovering over his bed again.
The boy looked at her, but did not speak or meet her gaze.
Emily turned away to check the readouts on the diagnostic equipment next to the bed.
‘Come on, son,’ said Bob from the other side. ‘Just tell us you’re okay. I know it must have been a terrible shock to have that water main exploding like that, but you’re all checked out now. No injuries.’
The boy rolled over and buried his face in the pillow. Emily and Bob exchanged glances over his back.
‘We’re just going outside for a little while,’ said Emily. She gestured at the door. ‘But we’ll be close.’
‘There’s no water main here, either,’ added Bob. ‘I’ve checked. Nothing can go wrong.’
Arthur’s parents tiptoed out and closed the door. In the corridor, they both took deep breaths.
‘He’s never been like this before,’ said Emily. ‘Never, even when he’s been barely conscious with a whole team working to re-establish his breathing.’
‘It was a weird accident though,’ said Bob. ‘Must have been a huge shock. That sudden over-pressure in the firefighting riser. No one’s been able to explain it to me.’
‘Budget cuts,’ said Emily wearily. ‘The hospital hasn’t been properly maintained for years. I just don’t understand why Arthur won’t talk. He just . . . I don’t know . . . he just doesn’t seem himself.’
Inside the room, the Skinless Boy grinned and let the illusory flesh that covered half his body slide away to reveal the red ochre bones of the skeleton beneath.