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Chapter 1
Chapter 1: The List
Frankie Hobbs kept a list in the back of his notebook. Not the kind of list most nine-year-olds keep, like favourite dinosaurs or birthday wishes. Frankie's list was titled THINGS THAT ARE TERRIFYING, and it was three pages long.
The dark was number one. Heights was number two. Loud noises came in at number three, right above spiders and right below thunder. But the item circled twice in red pen, underlined, and starred—the undisputed champion of Frankie's fear list—was the sea.
This was a problem, because Frankie lived in Merrow Bay, a town so close to the ocean that you could taste salt on your cereal in the morning. Every house had a view of the water. Every kid in his class could swim like a seal. Every family spent their weekends on boats or at the beach or diving off the harbour wall for fun, which Frankie thought was actual, certifiable madness.
He preferred the library. The library was warm, dry, and located a solid two hundred metres from the waterfront. Nobody ever drowned in a library.
"Frankie! FRANKIE!"
Tamsin Ridley burst through the library doors like a small, red-haired hurricane. She skidded across the carpet, slammed both palms on his table, and grinned so wide that Frankie could see the gap where she'd lost a tooth last week.
"I've done something brilliant," she said.
Frankie closed his book. When Tamsin said she'd done something brilliant, it usually meant she'd done something that would make Frankie's stomach hurt.
"What kind of brilliant?" he asked carefully.
"Survival camp brilliant. Kittiwake Island. This weekend. Two days, one night, real outdoor skills. Building shelters, starting fires, navigating by the stars." She bounced on her heels. "And I signed us both up."
Frankie's stomach did not just hurt. It dropped straight through the floor.
"You—what? Tamsin, Kittiwake Island is in the middle of the sea!"
"Well, yes. That's generally where islands are."
"We'd have to take a ferry!"
"A short ferry."
"Over water!"
"That is how ferries work, Frankie."
He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. Tamsin sat down across from him and her grin softened into something more serious.
"Look," she said, "I know you're scared. But you're also the smartest person I know. You've read every survival book in this library. You know more about stars and tides and weather patterns than Mr. Coggins, and he's the actual teacher. You just need a chance to prove it."
"I don't need to prove anything. I need to stay alive. On land."
But Tamsin had already written their names on the sign-up sheet, and Frankie's mum had already said yes (Tamsin had called her first, the traitor), and before Frankie could add "survival camp" to his list of terrifying things, Friday arrived.
