you’re doing, it’s working,’ said Tomas to Poppy on the phone the following morning. ‘You can probably stop now.’
‘What?’ Poppy had just crawled out of the cave in order to answer the phone. Sebastian was nowhere to be seen. He’d been nowhere to be seen all morning. Probably halfway up a cliff face or deep in the belly of a shark by now.
She’d tried telling herself that his prolonged absence didn’t bother her and that it had nothing to do with the events of last night. She’d tried focusing on her work instead. Neither had been very effective.
‘Seb’s ready and willing to leave theisland,’ said Tomas, bringing her back to the present with a thud. ‘Thanks for the motivational push.’
‘It wasn’t intentional.’
‘I don’t care. He’s been there too long. He needs to re-engage. How’s
your
work going?’
‘I’m throwing everything I have at it. Nothing yet.’
‘Have you considered that this might be one code you just aren’t going to break?’ he asked with studied gentleness.
‘In a word? No. Failure is not an option. I just need more time.’ Poppy ran a hand through her hair and would have paced the room as well had the phone allowed her to. ‘As for your brother, if he wants off the island so urgently, can’t he just leave me here and go?’
‘He won’t.’
‘I don’t need a babysitter, Tomas.’
‘It’s a little isolated, Poppy. I’m kinda with Seb on this one.’
‘And if people
do
insist that I need a carer, there’s always the option of asking a friend to come and stay a few days until I’m done. I know plenty of Action-Man types who would happily play hero. All I’d need is your okay to issue the invite.’
‘Don’t ask me,’ muttered Tomas. ‘Ask Seb.’
‘Well, I would if he were
here.
But I haven’t seen him yet today.’
‘Where is he?’ asked Tomas. ‘I’m confused.’
‘Aren’t we all,’ muttered Poppy. ‘Was there anything else?’
The rest of the day passed excruciatingly slowly for Poppy, and it wasn’t just because Seb came back around lunch time and started pacing the outer office like an irritated lion. He made calls and took them. Ordered emails sent and paced some more. Man with an almighty need to be somewhere else, decided Poppy grimly, and whether it was due to circumstance or on her account she didn’t know.
She doubled her efforts when it came to cracking code. She crashed the bat-cave computer—and the household electrical circuits—twice. And she was still no closer to reading Jared’s file—if indeed it even was Jared’s file.
Who knew?
‘I’d ask you what the hell you’re doing,’ muttered Seb as he headed out to reset the generator again, only this time he’d decided to take Poppy with him for her future reference. ‘Only it’s obvious you don’t know. Otherwise you’d stop doing it.’
Poppy spared him a cutting glance, which quelled him not one little bit.
‘You look like Tinkerbell having a tantrum,’ he told her.
‘Don’t you have some fishing to do, Peter? Lost boys to lead?’
‘Fishing’s not ‘til later,’ he said. ‘Fresh is best. And the lost boys are making do without me at the moment and apparently doing just fine. How’s
your
work going?’
‘How do you think it’s going?’ she snapped.
‘That well,’ he murmured. ‘Anything I can help you with? Besides bringing Gotham City’s power grid back online?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘But thank you.’ The thank-you was an afterthought, and he knew it, but he showed her how to reset the power board and crank up the generator, and this time Poppy’s thank-you came faster and far more freely.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said next. ‘I’m not making any progress and Tomas phoned this morning and said you wanted off the island. He also said you didn’t want to leave me here on my own. I hate the thought of you waiting on me to finish when I don’t know how long it’s going to take. But I do have a solution. Yougo.
‘What?’ Poppy had just crawled out of the cave in order to answer the phone. Sebastian was nowhere to be seen. He’d been nowhere to be seen all morning. Probably halfway up a cliff face or deep in the belly of a shark by now.
She’d tried telling herself that his prolonged absence didn’t bother her and that it had nothing to do with the events of last night. She’d tried focusing on her work instead. Neither had been very effective.
‘Seb’s ready and willing to leave theisland,’ said Tomas, bringing her back to the present with a thud. ‘Thanks for the motivational push.’
‘It wasn’t intentional.’
‘I don’t care. He’s been there too long. He needs to re-engage. How’s
your
work going?’
‘I’m throwing everything I have at it. Nothing yet.’
‘Have you considered that this might be one code you just aren’t going to break?’ he asked with studied gentleness.
‘In a word? No. Failure is not an option. I just need more time.’ Poppy ran a hand through her hair and would have paced the room as well had the phone allowed her to. ‘As for your brother, if he wants off the island so urgently, can’t he just leave me here and go?’
‘He won’t.’
‘I don’t need a babysitter, Tomas.’
‘It’s a little isolated, Poppy. I’m kinda with Seb on this one.’
‘And if people
do
insist that I need a carer, there’s always the option of asking a friend to come and stay a few days until I’m done. I know plenty of Action-Man types who would happily play hero. All I’d need is your okay to issue the invite.’
‘Don’t ask me,’ muttered Tomas. ‘Ask Seb.’
‘Well, I would if he were
here.
But I haven’t seen him yet today.’
‘Where is he?’ asked Tomas. ‘I’m confused.’
‘Aren’t we all,’ muttered Poppy. ‘Was there anything else?’
The rest of the day passed excruciatingly slowly for Poppy, and it wasn’t just because Seb came back around lunch time and started pacing the outer office like an irritated lion. He made calls and took them. Ordered emails sent and paced some more. Man with an almighty need to be somewhere else, decided Poppy grimly, and whether it was due to circumstance or on her account she didn’t know.
She doubled her efforts when it came to cracking code. She crashed the bat-cave computer—and the household electrical circuits—twice. And she was still no closer to reading Jared’s file—if indeed it even was Jared’s file.
Who knew?
‘I’d ask you what the hell you’re doing,’ muttered Seb as he headed out to reset the generator again, only this time he’d decided to take Poppy with him for her future reference. ‘Only it’s obvious you don’t know. Otherwise you’d stop doing it.’
Poppy spared him a cutting glance, which quelled him not one little bit.
‘You look like Tinkerbell having a tantrum,’ he told her.
‘Don’t you have some fishing to do, Peter? Lost boys to lead?’
‘Fishing’s not ‘til later,’ he said. ‘Fresh is best. And the lost boys are making do without me at the moment and apparently doing just fine. How’s
your
work going?’
‘How do you think it’s going?’ she snapped.
‘That well,’ he murmured. ‘Anything I can help you with? Besides bringing Gotham City’s power grid back online?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘But thank you.’ The thank-you was an afterthought, and he knew it, but he showed her how to reset the power board and crank up the generator, and this time Poppy’s thank-you came faster and far more freely.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said next. ‘I’m not making any progress and Tomas phoned this morning and said you wanted off the island. He also said you didn’t want to leave me here on my own. I hate the thought of you waiting on me to finish when I don’t know how long it’s going to take. But I do have a solution. Yougo.
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