Chapter 54
amy
Amy acted on instinct.
She went to the child who needed her most.
Finn was unconscious. Even in the flickering light, Amy could see blood pouring from the wound on the back of his head. Nicky was scared, yes, terrified; but in this moment, he was unharmed, alive. If she didn’t go to Finn, he would die, right here, right now.
She let go of the table leg, and was immediately swept down the boat by a wave of water.
The fitful emergency lighting was dimming by the moment as the generator finally sputtered to an end, and Amy lost any sense of direction in the near-total darkness.
Something hard smashed against her jaw, and her mouth filled with blood.
Her shoulder was useless, and she was struggling to keep herself afloat, never mind rescue Finn. She was running out of fight.
And then she saw his dark red head, almost submerged in the water by the stairwell.
Summoning all her remaining energy, she plunged towards him, pulling herself along the grab rail with her good arm.
He was unconscious, but breathing.
The fire hose was still tied around his waist, and Amy realised it’d probably saved him: tethered to the stairwell, it’d kept his upper body above water, or he’d almost certainly have drowned by now.
She didn’t have time to undo the hose. The Lady was in its death throes, and there was nothing she could do but support Finn in the traditional lifesaver’s hold, hooking one arm under his armpit and across his chest, keeping his head above water as long as she could.
There was nothing she could do for anyone now.
All around her, children screamed in terror as the boat rose on its end. And then suddenly the Lady paused, frozen, and a terrible stillness settled over the cabin. The shouting and crying stopped. The water sloshing around the cabin slowed and then ceased moving altogether.
For a brief instant, even the clamour of grinding, tearing metal paused. It was so quiet they could hear the drip of water from the hull, the pant of hushed breathing.
Amy knew the Lady was about to begin its last, mortal tumble. Their lives could be counted now in seconds, not minutes.
The lights went out for the last time.
‘Mom?’ Nicky cried, his voice coming from far above her.
Amy felt her heart break open. ‘I’m here!’
‘Mommy!’
‘I’m here,’ Amy shouted up into the darkness. ‘You’re not alone, Nicky. Mommy’s right here!’
And then the boat started to move again.
A huge swell of water broke over her, and for the first time, as she fought for air, her fear and panic became personal. She didn’t want to die, not here, not today. There was so much she still wanted to do.
So much she needed to put right.
Finn was wrenched from her arms. The boat rolled, and everything and everyone within the cabin spun.
Amy lost track of time and space, whirling through water, waiting for the end to come, for the darkness to take her.
She thought of Nicky, holding him in her mind, praying he knew just how much she loved him, would always love him.
And then, just as suddenly as it’d started, the motion stopped.
The Lady had come to rest on the lakebed.
Somehow, she was alive.
The nightmare hadn’t ended.
‘Nicky!’ she screamed.
There was no answer. She thrashed in the water in panic, and her head bumped against the hull. The air pocket was no more than four inches now; she had to raise her chin and tilt her head back to keep her mouth and nose above the surface.
Her leg caught on something as she flailed in the darkness, and she realised it was the fire hose: Finn was still tethered to the stairwell.
She knew it was pointless to free him; she couldn’t find a way out, she couldn’t save him, she couldn’t even save herself. But she couldn’t just give up either.
Taking a deep breath, she dived down, groping for Finn in the blackness. She found him and tugged at the fire hose, trying to undo the knot. She had to return to the surface for another breath, but on her second dive, by some miracle it loosened, and she pulled Finn free.
As soon as his head broke the surface, Finn gasped for air, coughing up the rank water he’d swallowed. Amy couldn’t believe he was alive, never mind conscious.
‘Mom,’ he said.
‘It’s me,’ Amy said.
‘Where is she?’
‘I don’t know—’
Finn spun in the water. ‘Mom!’
Amy couldn’t hear the sound of anyone else moving in the boat. She had no idea if Nicky or Iris were still alive. For all she knew, she and Finn might be the only survivors. The water hadn’t risen any further in the last minute or two, but there wasn’t enough air to keep them alive for long.
‘We’re near the kitchen,’ Finn said, his voice suddenly further away. ‘I can feel the foot rail at the end of the bar. There’s another way out through the galley.’
To Amy’s astonishment, Finn didn’t seem badly injured. The blow to his head must have been more superficial than it’d first appeared, and no doubt it helped that he was running on adrenaline, too.
She pulled herself along what had once been the floor of the cabin with her good hand. ‘Finn,’ she said. ‘Wait—’
There was a sudden splash.
Amy trod water, suddenly terrified of being left alone. But Finn resurfaced more quickly than she’d expected.
‘The galley door’s blocked,’ he said, panting. ‘But we can get into a corridor next to the kitchen, and it’s not underwater. There’s plenty of air. You can wait there and I’ll try to get the door open. And I found this!’
She was dazzled by a sudden, blinding light.
‘The emergency flashlight from the kitchen,’ Finn said. ‘It’s waterproof.’
Amy followed him, guided by the flashlight.
Moments later, they emerged into a narrow corridor between the galley and the toilet cubicles.
He was right: astonishingly, there was less than an inch of water in the upper half of the corridor.
The air pocket that had sustained them all in the main cabin must have moved here as the boat had shifted.
‘I don’t think the galley door is blocked from the outside,’ Finn said. ‘If I can move stuff in the kitchen, we’ll be able to get out. Give me three minutes. If I’m not back by then, you’ll know I made it out, and you can follow me.’
Amy sank to the floor, cradling her damaged arm. She was too exhausted to rally yet again and argue with her nephew. She simply didn’t have it in her.
Finn thrust the flashlight at her. ‘Take this,’ he said. ‘I need both hands to move things.’
And with that, he was gone.