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Then, before any of us realises the danger of our situation, we hit the sea hard The boat flips over I bang my head on the side My mouth fills as I spill into the sea I try to spit the water out, but I haven’t the energy As I sink slowly, I raise h the liquid layers above me Then the world turns black

ALL AT SEA

Arms squeeze roan My head’s hanging over the edge of the lifeboat, bits ofup and down in the water beneathinto

“It’s OK,” I groan as he tenses his arain “I’m alive”

Dervish gently tugs me back over the side There’s water in the botto it out with his hands But we’re afloat and the lifeboat doesn’t look like it sustained any e

“We thought we’d lost you,” Dervish says, s with relief “Kirilli fished you out, but you were motionless…” He clears his throat and brushes wet hair back from my eyes The tenderness in his expression warms me more than the sun

“Have I been unconscious long?” I ask

“No”

“The ship…?”

“Still there”

Dervish helpssharply It can’t last er We’re quite far away from it, but if I squint I can h the hole in pursuit of us They don’t last long once they hit the water

Kirilli stops bailing and studies the ship with us We don’t say a word It’s a weird sensation, watching soht It’s as if the ship is a living creature that’s dying I feel strangely sad for it

“All those people,” Dervish sighs as the last section slips beneath the waves in a froth of angry bubbles “I e could have saved them”

“Beranabus,” I w

hisper, fresh tears welling in my eyes “Sharmila Kernel”