Free The navigator by Eoin McNamee Page B

of control until it seemed that she must collide with the heavy metal. Quickly she slipped the lid back on the box and the lump of iron stopped abruptly in the middle of the floor.
    "It's a magnet!" Owen said excitedly. "You do everything with magnetism!"
    "I don't know," Silkie said, frowning. "All I know is that it is magno. It does lights. It makes Boat work."
    At the top of the first building they crossed a makeshift ramp that led to the next building, Owen trying not to look down. Silkie opened a door at the far end and they stepped off the ramp. It was dark and it took Owen's eyes a little time to get used to it. After a while he saw that they were standing in a room that resembled the Starry at the Workhouse, where he had seen all the beds and the people still sleeping. This room was much smaller, but there was the same pale gleam, as if of
    82
    stars, from the ceiling. The beds were smaller because these were for children and young people, but, as in the Starry, some of them were still occupied, and on each pillow there rested a blue cornflower. Sign of remembering, Cati had said. In the corner two girls were sleeping. They looked like sisters. Silkie stopped by one bed. A small boy slept in it. He had the same sharp, freckled face as Silkie. She brushed his hair back from his face with a sad smile.
    "My brother," she said. "He never was good at getting up in the morning." Owen could see that she was trying to make a joke of it, but there were tears in her eyes. "Come on out of here," she said gruffly.
    As he hurried toward the door, Owen stumbled slightly and his hand brushed against the forehead of a small girl. He had not expected the skin to feel warm. He looked down at her. The little face looked pinched and careworn. He wondered what she was dreaming about, or if she dreamed about anything.
    "Come on," Silkie said shortly, and he hurried after her.
    Silkie brought him up to the roof of the building. Far below they could see that Wesley and others were busy repairing the broken oar on Boat, if oar it was, thought Owen, remembering the way the craft had almost flown across the water. The wind was cold, blowing hard from the north, but they sat in the lee of the parapet, where the sun had warmed the stone.
    83
    "Where do you come from?" Owen asked.
    "Me?"
    "No, I mean the Raggies. Where are all the adults?"
    "The story we tell is this. That there was a man called Smith who was put in charge of all these children. And each child was given a gold coin for their future. But Smith was a bad man. He wanted the money for himself. He abandoned the children and took their money, leaving us on this shore forever."
    She spoke in a singsong voice, so Owen thought that this was the explanation that was given to the younger children by the older ones. He felt sorry for them, losing their parents, being all alone in the world. Then he remembered that he too was alone.
    They sat on the roof until it started to rain. The rain was icy, blown in by the north wind. Looking down on the causeway, Owen saw that the waves were now pounding against it. Peering through the spray, he saw a small figure darting across the causeway. It was Cati. They went down and found her in the kitchen, dripping wet.
    "You shouldn't be here," said Owen. "You're supposed to be sleeping, Contessa said--"
    "Contessa's great," Cati interrupted, "but she's a bit of a mother hen. I was bored to the back teeth."
    "She said you were frozen," Owen said slowly.
    For the first time the hint of a shadow crossed his friend's face.
    "I was ... I think," she said slowly, then more
    84
    brightly, "But I'm going to freeze now for definite if you keep me standing here!" Owen jumped out of the way as she darted across the big room and went to the fire. She stood warming her hands, steam beginning to rise from her clothes.
    "They're looking everywhere for you, by the way," she said. "Far as I can see, you're in big trouble." She seemed to relish this idea.
    "Why?" he said. "It