The Hourglass Read online

“Any bright ideas?” asked Sarah light-heartedly, trying to stop April’s staring in the most friendly way possible.

  “There’s no way off this ship.” April turned around and went back in to her cell. It sounded so dismal, so final that Sarah was lost for a reply.

  “Right, well I know not to go to you for a pick-me-up,” she muttered, but she stopped fiddling with the door and returned to her own cell as well. She figured it was close to the time when the other inmates would return, and she didn’t want to be caught alone and in the open when they did. After all, these were meant to be serious criminals. With the possible exception of Heather, she didn’t think anyone in their group met that criteria, and things hadn’t gone that well with Heather. After brushing her teeth and making her bed she sat on it awkwardly, waiting. A moment later she heard the door leading into the cell block open and a gaggle of voices penetrate the air as forty-odd girls entered the room. Sarah stood up, sat back down on the bunk, and then stood up again, not sure what to do. A girl across the corridor screeched something about there being a new girl at the same time as an Asian girl with black, straight hair and thick eyebrows which seemed to be set into a permanent frown entered the cell. She paused for half a second when she saw Sarah, then grunted.

  “Great,” she muttered to herself sarcastically, just loud enough for Sarah to hear, “like there wasn’t enough room in here anyway.” She leaned against the bunk and stared at Sarah with her arms crossed.

  “Who are you then?”

  “Sarah,” replied Sarah, trying to sound calm and confident and only failing in her task slightly.

  “Sarah. I’m Gretel. This is only going to work if you mind your own business. Just because we are sharing a cell doesn’t make us bosom buddies, you get that?”

  Sarah nodded, “yeah, sure.”

  “Fabulous.” Gretel stepped past her and into the small ensuite. The sounds of Gretel brushing her teeth reached Sarah shortly. She slowly sat back down on her bed and nodded to herself. She could deal with being ignored. Maybe this whole experience wouldn’t be as bad as she feared. A voice yelled that doors were closing in five. There was a mad rush of feet and then Sarah watched as the transparent plastic doorway slid shut. The main lights were turned off a few seconds later. A few small lights studded along the corridor floor remained on, providing just enough light for someone to see inside the cells. She saw Gretel’s outline emerge from the ensuite and climb the bunk. The bed squeaked in protest. Sarah hoped that Gretel didn’t move around a lot in her sleep. Indistinct voices rose up in the dark as the inmates all spoke to each other. Despite the air holes in the transparent wall, their voices were still mostly muffled. Occasionally someone would press their mouth to the opening in an attempt to have a clearer conversation with a neighbour, but for the most part the words were difficult to decipher. She thought that she could just make out Marland crying softly in the next cell. After a moment she slipped out of bed and crept to the air hole closest to Marland’s.

  “Marland?” she whispered. “Marland are you ok?” She thought she heard a pause in the crying and then Marland’s voice, quiet and wavering, floated back to her.

  “I’m fine, thanks.”

  Sarah lowered her voice even further, hoping to keep the conversation as private as possible. “What’s your cell mate like? Has she… has she done something?”

  “Nah, it’s not that. It’s just this place, you know?”

  Sarah did know. “Yeah. Well, goodnight.”

  “Night.”

  As Sarah pulled away from the wall she heard a thud, like a body slamming against the wall from the direction of April’s cell. She leaned forward again and squinted through the hole. She couldn’t really make out anything clearly. It was dark in April’s cell, being the furthest away from the lights on either side of it. There was no yell or shriek however, not even raised voices. The voices of the other inmates, which had paused at the noise, floated back unchanged. She was about to yell April’s name and then paused. She wasn’t even sure that it came from April’s cell, or what the noise actually was. If she made a ruckus and roped April into it she might even make things worse. Slowly, and keeping an ear out for any other strange noises, she returned to bed. For a long time she just lay there, slowly tracing the shape of the burn on her wrist. It still hurt.

  Chapter Nine

  The Queen

  Sarah woke up early the next morning. There was a frustrating absence of windows to the outside world for her to estimate the time from, but the sounds of heavy breathing and soft snores escaping from the cells around her assured her that it was still early. After failing to fall back asleep she got up, used the toilet and brushed her teeth before returning to lie on her bunk and wait for everybody else to wake up. She wished that someone had prepared her for all of this. She supposed that the court-assigned councillor might have done so if he had known that she would end up on the Anoscosa. But who would have guessed that stealing a pie would have resulted in her ending up here? It was ridiculous that she was even on this ship. The idea of her tanning to a soft brown while she worked on a farm seemed extremely appealing as she lay there on a metal ship devoid of sunlight. After what seemed like an age the lights flickered on and a loud ringing noise was played throughout the ship’s speaker system. There was a loud communal groan and a few half-hearted curses were flung at the alarm, and then the sounds of forty-odd girls getting up in the morning spread throughout the block. Gretel rolled off her top bunk and landed on her feet almost silently. Without a word she headed straight to the bathroom. She emerged a couple of minutes later and somehow, Sarah silently marvelled, not a single hair was out of place. At almost the exact same time that Gretel exited the bathroom the transparent door to their cell slid open and Gretel exited the cell without breaking her stride or sparing Sarah a single glance. Sarah got up and followed her out of the cell. All of the girls were heading towards the door they had entered through yesterday. Some joined others and exchanged bleary morning greetings and some girls kept to themselves. Sarah felt someone move up quickly behind her and she swivelled, tense and ready for whatever might happen. A sigh of relief escaped her as she realised it was just Marland.

  “Morning,” said Marland. Sarah turned to look at her. She was still making agitated movements with her hands, and her eyes still flickered around the room, but she wasn’t trembling anymore and there was almost a smile on her face.

  “Morning. How’s your roommate?”

  “Actually, better than I thought. She was a bit, um, well that’s her,” she said, pointing towards a hulking mass of a girl with greasy hair, “if you know what I mean, and it was a bit terrible at first, but then she found out that I burned down that shed and she became totally sympathetic. Bit of a fire-bug herself,” Marland added with a crooked smile.

  “Right.” Sarah couldn’t believe that she was in a place where arson, something that killed people, was used as a bonding point. Surreptitiously she pinched her arm in the mad hope that she would wake up surrounded by normal, sensible people. It didn’t work.

  “How’s yours?” enquired Marland politely.

  “She’s ignoring me.”

  “Probably not a bad thing?” Marland suggested.

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  They were nearly at the door now and had reached a slight bottle-neck as the girls slowed down to pass through. Sarah took this opportunity to stand on her tiptoes and swivel around so that she was looking behind them.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for April. Hey did you hear something last night? Like a thud that came from her cell?”

  Marland shrugged. “Maybe, but I’m not sure it was April’s.”

  “Yeah,” said Sarah softly, “same here.”

  The flow of girls carried them through the door, down a corridor and up a set of stairs. A guard was standing next to the stairs to make sure that they all went up and not further along the corridor. Sarah turned around again, hoping to catch sight of Apri
l, and saw that a guard had appeared at the rear end of the group and was herding the slow walkers onwards. April was still nowhere in sight. At the top of the stairs there was a short corridor that ended in a set of double doors flung wide open. They walked through to find themselves in a large room with tables and benches bolted down at regular intervals. Along one side of the room was a buffet style breakfast set-up. The boys had apparently arrived earlier than the girls, because most of them were already in line, waiting to be served. Sarah wondered if this was planned and they were woken up earlier, or if they simply had a shorter distance to travel. She spotted Finn fairly easily because of his white hair, but he was deep in conversation with Justin and didn’t see her. They joined the line along with the rest of the girls. It was all surprisingly civilised. Occasionally one of the girls would branch off and join up with a boy and vice versa. Once she got to the front of the line a pimply, bored looking boy served Sarah some horrible looking porridge and a glass of rehydrated milk. She looked at it dismally and moved on. Marland joined her shortly afterwards and they found a table that had nobody sitting at it. Sarah glanced around.

  “There’s actually not that many of us,” she noted, “I mean look at all those empty tables. Clearly the ship was designed for more people.”

  “So?” asked Marland, pulling a face as she ate her breakfast.

  “Nothing, I just mean, well, you hear of people getting sent away all the time, don’t you? So where are they?”

  “Probably where we’re meant to be, on those farms.”

  “Yeah,” mumbled Sarah, unconvinced, “maybe.”

  “That or they were thrown overboard for some infringement.”

  Marland looked like she was about to expand on this more but Sarah wasn’t listening. She had been scanning the crowd again for April, only this time she found her. April was hovering at the back of the food line. Without knowing why Sarah felt comforted. Turning back to the table she tackled her food, consuming it at a steady rate and trying not to think too hard about what exactly was put into it to make it taste that way.

  “Ghastly, isn’t it?” said a voice at her shoulder. She glanced up to see Finn standing next to her, looking miserably at the contents of his own tray. He shook his head and then sat down at an empty seat uninvited.

  “Good night?” asked Sarah. For no particular reason that she could identify she felt a happy flutter in her stomach.

  “Not bad. My cell mate is in solitary at the moment, so that should be a fun little meeting when he gets out.” Sarah pulled a face in sympathy. “So,” went on Finn, changing the subject so as to not dwell on his cell mate, “how did Mr Wall treat your lot?”

  “He actually seems quite ok,” replied Sarah. “Better than the woman who replaced him at any rate. She pulled out a chunk of Heather’s hair. Although to be fair, it was Heather,” she added, as if that somehow made it ok. “How was Mr Painter?”

  “An absolute bastard. Toddy made a crack about his name, asked him something about redecorating the cell. Painter grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head against the wall. It was fairly nasty. He got sent to the infirmary when he wouldn’t stop bleeding. Haven’t seen him back yet though.”

  “Well it’s not like he can go anywhere, we’re in the middle of the ocean!” twittered Marland. She laughed nervously and then trailed off when the others didn’t join in.

  Justin, the tall boy with the floppy hair who got electrocuted on the first day sat down next to Finn. “He just came back,” he said, nodding over at the back of the food line.

  They all looked over. A massive bruise covered one side of Toddy’s face and there was still some dried blood stuck in his hair. He looked miserable. Sarah turned around and scanned the crowd.

  “What you looking for?” asked Justin, his mouth full of food.

  “Just, ah, trying to find Colt,” said Sarah, still searching the room. Her cheeks pinkened slightly.

  Finn pulled a face. “Why?”

  Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. We all came over together, right? It just seems like we should keep an eye out for each other.”

  Finn snorted. “Colt can handle himself. Besides, he’s a bit of a tosser.”

  “What?” asked Sarah, startled. “Why do you say that?”

  Before he could reply a large shadow fell across the table. They all looked up to see Marland’s huge cell mate towering above them. “Oh, hello Tandy,” said Marland nervously.

  “She’s waiting for you lot,” replied Tandy, looking at Marland and Sarah. Her voice was flat and without inflection.

  Marland just made a few nervous noises, so Sarah asked who was waiting for them.

  “The Queen.”

  Sarah snorted in amusement but stopped quickly after seeing the looks on the other’s faces. Marland looked terrified and even Finn look a little concerned. Her stomach dropped. These were not good reactions.

  “Who’s the Queen?” she demanded quickly.

  “Let’s go, now.” Tandy grabbed Marland’s arm and gently stood her up. Sarah followed suit slowly, giving Finn enough time to explain before Tandy could make her leave.

  “She’s sort of like the leader of the girls,” muttered Finn. “The boys have something similar. Don’t cross her, Sarah. She controls everything that happens on the girls’ side of things. Just shut up and be polite, ok?”

  Sarah frowned but Tandy had grabbed her arm and was propelling her forward before she could reply. They were led to a table near the front of the hall. On one side sat Heather and April, looking timidly across at the girl who sat in the middle of the bench opposite them. Sarah hesitated, confused. Surely this couldn’t be her, the girl who had caused those reactions from her friends. The girls looked far younger than Sarah had imagined. She was maybe fourteen, with a perfect porcelain face and a slim, childish figure. She was sitting in the middle of the bench. The girl looked up at them as they approached and Sarah finally realised why those around her looked unsettled. Her eyes looked dead. Sarah had never seen anything more cold, more soulless, more unalive in her life. The pupils, uncomfortably large in their pale grey irises assessed the two of them them in a cool, calculating manner. Sarah felt as if every inch of her was evaluated for worth and weighed. She didn’t fancy that she ranked highly, although it was impossible to tell from the Queen’s expression. It was eerily similar to the warden’s assessment yesterday, although Sarah fancied that they gave weight to different values. Tandy motioned for them to sit down next to Heather and April, which they did, squeezing together so that they all fit onto the same bench. The Queen’s eyes slid back towards the first person on the bench opposite her.

  “Name.” Her voice was devoid of emotion, but softly high-pitched at the same time and oddly melodic. It was a question but she didn’t state it as one.

  “Heather.”

  “Full name.”

  Heather Grimmer.”

  “Reason.”

  “Er, reason?” repeated Heather nervously. All of her old bluster was gone.

  “Why are you here?” clarified the Queen, a mote of impatience creeping into her voice.

  “Oh, right, or course. I stabbed a man. He robbed me.”

  “And?”

  “Um, and he died.” A tiny bit of pride crept back into Heather’s voice.

  Sarah felt slightly sick. Not a muscle twitched on the Queen’s face. Her eyes slid to April.

  April didn’t need to be prompted. She spoke quickly and quietly. “April Upton. I sold black market fruit.”

  “You should be on the farm.”

  “There was a bomb. They couldn’t transfer any new prisoners there.”

  The dead eyes slid towards Sarah. She too had learnt from Heather’s mistakes. “Sarah Underhill. I stole food.” The eyes lingered for half a second longer than was comfortable before sliding onto Marland. Marland was by this time a mess. Her hands were trembling so much that she had clutched them together under the table in an attempt to stop them. Unfortunately for Marland, all this
achieved was to send the tremor further up her arms, so that her shoulder’s looked like they were participating in a weird little dance that her head wanted no part of.

  “Marland Banker,” she squeaked, a little too loud and a little too fast. “I burnt down my mother’s shed because things were shit. Oh god, sorry,” she started to breath in short, fast gasps, “I shouldn’t have sworn. Sorry.” The Queen had looked away before Marland had even finished, apparently uninterested. She made a small, smooth motion with her head and suddenly Tandy appeared, looming over them.

  “You can go now,” said Tandy. They all got up and left as quickly as they could without actually running away.

  “What happened?” asked Finn and Justin in unison as they sat back down at the table.

  “She was just sussing us out I think,” replied Sarah. “How did you even know about her?”

  “I told you, we have something similar,” replied Finn. He calls himself the King, and I was told the girls have their own version.”

  “Is yours a doll-like version of hell incarnate?”

  A girl who had been passing by their table stumbled to a stop. “Keep your voice down, idiots!” she muttered at them. Her red curly hair raged around her head. “If the wrong person overheard you, you’d find yourself flung overboard before you knew it.”

  They stared at her, nonplussed.

  The red-headed girl evidently took their silence for stupidity, because she sighed dramatically and walked away. Sarah just made out her muttering “newbies” in a derogatory tone before she passed out of hearing range.

  Finn turned back to face the group. “That’s him,” he said, continuing the conversation as if the girl had never interrupted them. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of a group of boys. Sarah knew who he was talking about straight away. The boy was massive. He looked like he could lift a car with little effort. Every now and then the boys sitting around him would glance his way, trying to gauge his reaction to the conversation. Marland let out a strange squeak and the tremor in her hand increased.