It’s like Saphrine has pulled a plug, reverse-draining the water so that I’m sucked back up to the surface. I try pedaling furiously but it makes no difference – the whirlpool is rejecting me, spitting me back to the surface of The Wash. When the boat breaks through I stop pedaling, hoping the whirlpool might take me down to the deep again – back to Rufus – but it’s no use. The boat is on auto-pilot, back to the boathouse.

About two minutes into the journey something strange happens. Although it’s still dark – the sky seems as black as it was when I went into the whirlpool – there’s a flicker in my vision, at the side of my eye, like I’m seeing movement but when I fix my eyes on that point, I can see nothing. I have the unmistakable feeling I’m seeing myself, facing the other direction in the boat, heading towards the whirlpool.

I don’t have much time to ponder it, because just then the boat takes off quickly towards the boathouse, like it has a mind of its own. It’s acting like a motor boat, rather than a pedal boat. It docks itself in its original position, and I flip open the bubble roof. My lower back feels like it’s on fire, my legs are like jelly as I step out of the boat, and then I topple over completely when I hear a voice.

“Hey.”

I look at the end of the wooden dock and see a shadowy shape hunched there. “Rufus?”

“I know – imagine meeting me here, eh?”

“Saphrine says you were doing battle with giant squid.”

“Yes, I was. It’s over now.”

“Did you win?”

“No, they’re holding me captive in their underground lair.”

I rush forward and hug him to me, tightly. I want to tell him how much I’ve missed him, but no words will come.

“I know. I’ve missed you too.”

“You - you can really read my mind?” I croak.

“When you’re this close to me, it’s easy. Not so easy when you’re in Scotland.”

I pull back, holding him at arm’s length and really look at him. “You look exactly the same.”

“I wish I could say the same for you. You look kinda old, man.” His eyes crinkle up and he laughs. “But I know – you were thinking I might be covered in scales or barnacles or whatnot, right?”

“I honestly had no idea. I didn’t even know if you were alive.”

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s part of the deal, that we’re not supposed to tell anyone what we’re doing. About our calling, if you want to call it that.”

“You could have told me. You said goodbye when you weren’t supposed to.”

“Yeah, when you were in your stupor. Saphrine put you out so that you wouldn’t see me leave. I broke the rules, and here we are – you’re one of us now, kind of.”

“Saphrine says I can’t help you fight.”

“Underwater, no. We don’t know how long you can breathe for, so it’s too big a risk. But things are popping up all over the place. The squid, for instance- they’ve already dragged two people under.”

I wince. “Harry?”

Rufus grimaces. “Harry. Poor guy. And an elderly lady no one seems to have realized is missing yet.”

“No way. Did she have any pets?”

“I have no idea.”

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“It’s just – if she did – who’s looking after them?”

Rufus tells me where her house is – like his, it backs onto The Wash – and I tell him I’ll check it.

“So everything we were told about The Wash when we were kids is true.”

“It is. And more.”

“Will you teach me what to do if something tries to break through the surface?”

Rufus cups his hands and sinks them into the water, then moves them together like he’s making a snowball. A second later, it looks like he’d holding a barrel in his hands. He releases it, and it careens across the surface of the water then makes a huge splash as it makes contact.

“Wow.”

“You try it.”

I scoop some water and snowball it, but the resulting shape looks like less like a barrel than a large teacup. I keep moving my hands, but it’s still a teacup. I throw it and it whizzes across the surface of the water, hitting with a much gentler sound than Rufus’s barrel, but at least it’s something.

“Not bad at all,” Rufus says. “Keep working at it.”

“So what happens if I hit a sea beast with one of those things?”

“It depends. You might stun it, make it retreat or – if it hits in the right place at the right velocity – you might kill it.”

“So what do I do? Pick a spot on the shore, stand there, and wait to throw water bombs?”

Rufus nods. “There a few places along the shore that seem most vulnerable to attack. They can come up anywhere, but there are some areas we know we need to defend more than others.”

I tell him about the water in his back yard, how it seemed like it was attacking us. “That’s not good,” he says, his face etched with worry. “Did any of it get on you?”

“A drop fell onto Robbo’s boot – burned a hole in the leather.”

“Sea demon,” he says gravely. “They take on the shape of water. Their main characteristic is burning human flesh. They usually claim their victims because they blend in with the rest of the water. Clearly, what happened to you was a targeted attack.”

“Why would they attack me?”

“You’re a Sentinel. Or kind of one. Prime bait for water demons.”

I close my eyes, not quite able to believe what I’m hearing. “I’m so sorry I left you here alone.”

Rufus looks confused for an instant, then sad, and then he says, “You didn’t leave me here alone. And I’m sorry, about everything that happened.”

I have so many questions for him that I’m not sure where to begin. “Rufus, I-.”

My attention is drawn away from him, to a point in the water behind where he’s standing, where I'm sure I just saw movement. “What?” he asks.

I put my fingers to my lips and in the same instant, the water rises up like it’s a living thing. In the dark pre-dawn light I think I see a giant eel, emerging from the lake right behind Rufus. He doesn’t even have time to turn around before my arms are in the air, on either side of him. The giant eel’s head drops and shoots forward, making a beeline for Rufus, and my hands shake with the tension of holding them in the air. I feel them make a vice on either side of the eel’s head before I see the faint shape of it and then I bring my hands together, squeezing with all of my strength. I feel the eel’s resistance as it tries to escape but it’s no use – I’m not letting go and with a soft pop pop pop its head bursts and my hands go slack.

“What was it?” Rufus asks in a low voice, which holds no fear.

“A giant eel.”

“You killed it?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks man,” Rufus says, leaning across to slap me on the back.

“No sweat.”

“You are sweating though, Thom – it’s kind of gross.”

I automatically lift my hand to my forehead, swiping it across, but my skin is dry as a bone. “Was it?” I ask.

“Was it a giant eel? Yeah, probably. We’ve been seeing more and more of them, too.” Rufus stares at me intensely for a moment then says, “I didn’t think you’d be able to do that.”

“What – kill it?”

Rufus nods. “Your powers might be stronger than we thought.”

“Meaning I can fight with you after all?”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment, then shakes his head once, quickly. “I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway. If anything happened to you-.”

And then I nod my head. I know what he means. Thinking you’re responsible for your best friend’s demise is a terrible thing, almost impossible to live with. After a minute I ask, “So what do I do – just stand here and watch for more of them to come out of the water?”

“It’s almost dawn – they won’t come out during the day. I’d suggest you go home, get some sleep, and come back at sunset. I’ll meet you here.”

I want to ask Rufus what will happen if he’s fighting something under the water when I get back, but I realize it doesn’t matter – I’ll wait for him no matter what happens. And then I get a fleeting mental image of the blip I saw soon after I came out of the whirlpool, when I was sure I caught sight of myself heading in the other direction.

“Every time we shift the timeline there’s a judder,” Rufus says softly. I forgot, briefly, that he can read my mind. “I’ll be here at sunset, don’t worry.”

“What should I tell my friends?” I ask. “My dad?”

“I guess that depends on what they already know, and how you think they’ll react. We use thought-blockers, because of the risks if the people of Juniperville know too much of the truth. What am I saying – I mean any of the truth. But I can’t tell you what to tell those you care about.”

He pulls me to him and we hug again, just for a second, and I can feel his pain, and shame, and worry about me. “Don’t worry about me,” I say, meaning it. “I’m going to be fine. See you at dusk.”