Icebreaker by Lian Tanner Page B

him here—the ship that even now was following the Oyster , waiting for the boy to kill the demon. Waiting for the signal to attack …
    The wrongness took hold once more. The boy hardly noticed when the imp left him. He thought he heard the tick tick tick of its claws heading towards Petrel, but it might just as easily have been his heart beating too fast, or Brother Thrawn’s cane tapping the desk in front of him.
    Petrel woke up and crawled past him, whispering to the imp as if they had known each other for years. The boy tried to be angry with her. How could she befriend a servant of the demon? How could she betray the human race like that?
    Perhaps, whispered his fevered mind, she does not know what the imp is. Perhaps she is just ignorant.
    But then Brother Thrawn was leaning over him, saying, “Ignorance is no excuse. Most people choose to be ignorant. And to be poor and lazy and dirty. It is only right that we should be severe with them.”
    To his astonishment, the boy found himself protesting. The people on the Oyster might be poor and dirty, but they were not lazy. The fishing shift worked extremely hard, he had seen that for himself.
    Which was confusing, because hard work was virtuous, and the crew of the Oyster was definitely not virtuous …
    The boy groaned and tightened his grip on the spanner. “I must move,” he whispered. “I have a mission to carry out. I must move. I must !”
    *   *   *
    Mister Smoke was waiting for Petrel in the darkness outside the rope locker. But it was Missus Slink who began the attack.
    â€œThat boy,” she said, “went poking around where he had no business to poke around. And he launched a vicious assault on my person.”
    â€œDon’t be cross with him, Missus Slink,” said Petrel. “He’s scared of rats, that’s all.”
    Missus Slink’s voice was stiff with offense. “‘That’s all ’? I say he’s dangerous, and those who want to get rid of him are right.”
    â€œNo!” said Petrel, who was not yet ready to give up on Fin, despite his foolishness. “We have to get those answers, don’t we? You were the ones who were so keen. You were the ones who wouldn’t rest till I got ’em.”
    The rats were silent for a moment, as if they were talking in some way that Petrel couldn’t hear.
    â€œThere’s things that matter more than answers, shipmate,” said Mister Smoke. “We can’t ’ave the boy pokin’ round the ship, no matter what.”
    Petrel had never heard him sound so serious and determined. But she was determined too. “Well then,” she said, “I’ll stay with him! All the time. Then he can’t assault anyone and he can’t go poking round, ’cos I’ll stop him.”
    â€œAnd how’re ya gunna eat, with a stranger hangin’ round yer neck like a sea anchor?” asked Mister Smoke. “Can’t take ’im up to the galley to beg for scraps. Can’t take ’im anywhere, specially now Orca’s been done away with. Everyone’s on the lookout for ’im.”
    He was right and Petrel knew it. But she said, “Can’t you give him one more chance? Please? I’ll question him. I’ll start right now. I’ll get those answers, you’ll see.”
    Without waiting for a reply she wriggled back into the locker. “Fin,” she hissed, squatting next to the boy. “Wake up. How did you get on the ice?”
    â€œWhat?” said Fin, opening his eyes and blinking up at Petrel. In the thin light that trickled down from above, his face looked gray and blotchy.
    â€œHow’d you get on the ice?” she repeated. “You said you’d tell me.”
    The boy nodded vaguely. “I did—say so.”
    â€œAre you all right?” asked Petrel.
    â€œNo— Yes— Did you poison me?”
    Petrel stared at