The Different Girl

on the cliffs. I knew that it had been twenty minutes since Irene had left us, and that it took Robbert half an hour to walk down from the cliffs. It seemed probable that May had come down in a hurry at almost the same time the five of us had seen the boat.
    “Get up!” she hissed. “Get up! We have to go!”
    “What’s wrong?”
    May pulled with both hands to heave me up, though I was too heavy. I caught myself before I fell, and moved my legs off one at a time so I could stand.
    “Where are Irene and Robbert?” she asked.
    “They went to meet the supply boat,” I said. “But now you’re here, maybe we can all get a peek.”
    “Bloody hell! They could be here any minute!” May flung herself toward Isobel’s cot and began groping behind her ear.
    “May, it’s all right—Robbert and Irene won’t make you do anything you don’t want.”
    “It’s not Irene and Robbert!”
    “May, you have to be gentle—”
    “Wake ’em up!” she cried. “Wake ’em up! We have to go!”
    “May—”
    “We don’t have time!”
    She found Isobel’s spot, and Isobel blinked awake. May moved to Eleanor. “Get her up!” she called to me, meaning Isobel.
    “What’s happening?” asked Isobel.
    “I don’t know,” I said. “May says something is wrong. The supply boat—”
    “That’s no supply boat!” snarled May as Eleanor stirred to wakefulness.
    “But Irene saw it,” said Isobel. “Didn’t she recognize it?”
    May shook her head. “Then she wasn’t paying attention!”
    “Tell us why, May.” I reached for her arm, but she pushed me away and hurried to Caroline. “May, what did you see?”
    When we had a lot of things to think at once, our eyes blinked. With May it seemed like too many words came into her mouth from different directions. Her jaw worked and the thoughts came out in bits.
    “Everyone knows—Will told me. You can tell! They have a flag!” May shut her eyes and waved her hands. “They don’t even care—because they don’t care if you know—they’re coming anyway! And there’s nothing anyone can ever do!”
    She thrust her fingers under Caroline’s head, searching for the spot.
    “You have to be gentle!” cried Isobel.
    May ignored her. She pressed the spot, and Caroline shifted on her cot. “We have to go ! We have to hide!”
    “But where are Irene and Robbert?” asked Eleanor.
    “They must still be at the dock,” I said.
    “Do they know about the flag?” said Eleanor.
    “May said everyone knows,” said Isobel.
    “We don’t,” said Eleanor. “May, who is in the boat? Who is coming?”
    May groaned aloud, looking down at Caroline. “Why won’t she get up?”
    Caroline’s eyes flickered.
    “She’s had a dream,” said Eleanor.
    “What?”
    “When Caroline dreams, she wakes up slowly,” said Isobel.
    “There isn’t time !” cried May. Her eyes had filled with tears.
    A sound we’d never heard chopped through the air, echoing across the island. A flat, loud, rattling crack, like a chain yanked fast through an iron loop. It came from the dock.
    “O no,” whispered May. “O no.”
    I reached for Caroline’s arm, like Irene did. “Caroline, wake up!”
    Caroline rolled her head toward me, still blinking.
    “The notebook,” she said.
    “May says we have to go.”
    “Take Robbert’s notebook.”
    We got Caroline to sit. Isobel stood at the door, holding the screen open and listening.
    “What was that sound?” she asked.
    Caroline’s head tilted to one side. One eye blinked faster than the other. “I remembered. They want us to take the notebook.”
    “It isn’t here,” said Eleanor, looking around her.
    “Then it’s in the classroom,” said Isobel.
    “We have to go,” said May, tugging Caroline toward the door.
    “It’s important,” insisted Caroline.
    “I’ll get it.” I let Isobel take my place with Caroline and went out first.
    “You can’t!” hissed May behind me.
    “Go ahead,” I whispered back. “I’ll catch up!”
    I glanced once at the dock path, then crossed the courtyard as fast as I could.
    • • •
    I hadn’t been inside the classroom since we’d crept in to look at May. The bedsheets were balled into a pile, as if Robbert meant to wash them but hadn’t made time. The rest of the classroom looked just as disorganized, with things in stacks and boxes pulled out and left open. The boxes were for supplies, so it seemed Robbert had opened them to find out what they needed from the supply boat. I