Chapter 13: Fish And Drift See Eye To Eye

“What am I supposed to do now?” Fish shouted at the sky. “How do I resuscitate an unconscious snowman?” She stumbled over the words. “I can’t even say resuscitate an unconscious snowman.”

She bent her head close to Drift’s and closed her eyes and opened her mouth. Then she pulled back. “No way,” she said. “Knowing my luck, giving a snowman the kiss of life would freeze my lips to him.” She looked around for something she could use to wake him but all she could see was snow. She jumped to her feet and unwrapped her blanket from around her shoulders.

Laying the soft skin on the floor, Fish began to scoop armfuls of snow into it. Once she was happy with the pile she’d collected, she gathered up the corners of the blanket and dragged it to where Drift lay. Heaving it up into the air, Fish emptied the whole lot onto Drift’s head.

“I DIDN’T DO IT,” he shouted, sitting up with a splutter. He looked around as his head quickly doubled in size. “What? Oh, hello Fish. Where am I?”

In the thin blue light of the fading day, Fish hugged Drift. “You’re here,” she said. “Right where you’re supposed to be. I found you.”

Drift scooped snow onto his body and his head began to look a little less huge. Or, more accurately, it began to look more normal on his body. “Did you?” he said. “Oh, that’s good.”

“It is good,” Fish said, holding on to him. “It’s better than good. It’s the best good there’s been in ages. And I know the secret. I know who killed my dad. I can clear your name and we can go home and everything will be wonderful.” She leapt away from Drift and danced like an otter chasing a gull.

Drift was pleased. “Can we?” he said. “Oh, that’s good. Well, mustn’t dawdle.” He stood, wobbled, and then fell back into the snow. “I think I need a minute.”

Fish ran to him again and flopped down onto her knees. “Take all the time you need. Then we can go and tell mum about those two horrid snowmen and she can tell everyone else.”

“And the man,” said Drift. “Don’t forget the man. He wasn’t terribly nice either. I’m sure he was telling Block and Blast what to do.”

“What man?” Fish asked, puzzled. A cold wind picked up all of a sudden and the girl shuddered. “Drift. What do you know? What happened to you? Tell me.”

Slowly, Drift told Fish how he had run away. He’d hoped to find a way to cross the water and save her but something had run into him. Or he had run into something.

“And when I woke I was Block and Blast’s prisoner,” he finished. “But they were working for the man,” Drift said. He noticed Fish looking confused. “The one with your mum.”

“My mum?” Fish went wide-eyed and gave Drift a poke in the chest. “You saw my mum? Why didn’t you tell me? Where is she?”

“Ouch! Stop doing that,” said Drift. “Of course I didn’t see your mum. I lost my eyes, didn’t I? Or did I not mention that? I think those two bad uns took them when I ran into them after…”

“Focus, Drift. My mum. Tell me about my mum.”

“Oh. Yes. That. Well, I couldn’t see her of course, but I heard her. And I heard him. She believed me though. Not like you did. So I kidnapped her.”

“Hang on. You kidnapped my mum?” Fish looked around, expecting to see Anna lying under a pile of snow.

“Of course I did. You believed I was innocent after I kidnapped you so I thought…”

“WHERE IS SHE?” Fish screamed at Drift, just centimetres from his face. He pulled back from her and covered his nose.

“Not the nose. Don’t take my nose,” he said, shrinking into the snow a little. “I don’t know where she is. I ran but I dropped her. I couldn’t see, remember? I fell into the water and ended up in a cave and found these.” He pointed to the two sparkling eyes in his head. “Do you like them? They make you look very pretty. Not that you weren’t before. You just looked a bit…”

“Drift, hush. Stop babbling.” Fish turned and paced in the snow, cutting deep trenches in the snow. “You found the cave? The Cave of Wonders?”

“Oh yes. It was quite nice I suppose. I think you’d like it more, though. Far too hot for me, and there was no snow around. But I did find new eyes. Did I mention my eyes? Do you like them?” He grew two eyestalks and waggled them at Fish so she could take a closer look.

Fish stopped her pacing and looked at Drift’s face. Those eyes. She reached out and plucked one from his face. “OW!” Drift said. “I have feelings, you know.”

“Shh. I’m thinking.” Fish examined the stone, turning it in her hand and holding it up against the setting sun. “Do you know what this is?” she asked.

“It’s my eye,” Drift said. “My eye.”

“It’s a diamond,” Fish informed him.

“That’s nice.” Drift stood and stomped about. “Can I have it back now, please? I feel a bit dizzy with only one eye.” He wobbled about in a dramatic fashion.

“It’s a diamond,” Fish repeated. “Don’t you see?” She held up a hand before Drift could reply. “Diamonds are worth a fortune to us. Mum was going to sell Viktor our land, which would include the Cave. She wanted to buy a house by the coast. She said it would keep us safe. That’s why I was running away. I bet Viktor knew about the Cave of Wonders. I bet Dad even told him about it. Dad trusted Viktor.”

“Right. So that’s… Good? Everything sorted now?” Drift tried to sound as though he understood.

“No,” Fish said. “Everything isn’t good. We have to find mum. We have to tell her.”

“Oh, I expect she knows by now,” Drift said. “Viktor called them into action and they nearly killed both of us. Besides, being his prisoner means she’ll have plenty of time to figure it out before they actually do kill her.” Drift gave Fish a pat on the head. “See? There’s always an upside.”

Fish stuck the diamond eye into Drift’s face with a less-than-gentle thrust. “Ouch,” the snowman protested. “Will you…”

“That’s NOT an upside,” Fish said. “We have to save her. We have to go.” She shoved Drift hard. “We have to go now.”

Drift moved his eye to its proper place and shook his head. “Oh no, Fish,” he said. “That’s not a good idea. It’s Block and Blast. You haven’t met them. They are big. Really big.”

“So are you. Or you can be.” Fish began to pile more and more snow on her snowman.

“I can’t get that big, Fish. I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do. We wouldn’t stand a chance. I couldn’t keep you safe.”

Fish wasn’t listening. She just carried on heaping snow on him until her hands turned blue and the snowman held them in his.

“There is no way, Fish,” he said. “I can’t do it. We can’t do it. We aren’t strong enough.”

Fish struggled in his grip and said “We have to save her. My dad would. He’d find a way. Or mum would.”

“I’m not your dad, Fish. All I can do is run away.”

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Illustration © Carl Pugh