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Back Featherlight Save as PDF
Chapters (20)
  1. Dedication
  2. Chapter 1
  3. Chapter 2
  4. Chapter 3
  5. Chapter 4
  6. Chapter 5
  7. Chapter 6
  8. Chapter 7
  9. Chapter 8
  10. Chapter 9
  11. Chapter 10
  12. Chapter 11
  13. Chapter 12
  14. Chapter 13
  15. Chapter 14
  16. Chapter 15
  17. Chapter 16
  18. Firebird Lighthouse
  19. Author's Note
  20. Lighting the Way

“By the time you’re done with that, we should be back,” Mum adds. She takes Dad’s hand, and he helps her down into the boat.

I untie the moorings, while Dad mans the tiller and the bowline.

“Goodbye and good luck, Deryn, darling!” Mum calls out, her voice cracking with worry. “You be good!”

“You too!” I shout as the boat sails off. “See you soon!”

I watch the boat get smaller. Fear flaps inside me like a ragged sail in a storm. The tiny lantern on the boat’s prow floats like a firefly in the darkness as Dad steers between the rocks. The next time I see Mum she will have a baby in her arms. That’s if things go well.

From their worried looks, I’m not so sure they will.

Chapter 3

3

MY SHOOTING STAR

When I get home, I climb the stairs to the lantern room at the top of the lighthouse, above the keeper’s office.

There always has to be someone watching the sea and the lantern in case of emergencies. For the rest of the hours of this strange night, that person has to be me. For the first time ever, I am by myself in the lighthouse, taking Dad’s place on the night watch. That scares me a little.

Up here, the walls are made from glass panels. That way the light beam from the oil lantern can pass through them in the dark.

The lantern itself is not that big, but it’s surrounded by lenses and a silver reflector and a metal stand and machinery that take up almost the whole room.

The machinery and stand help the lenses to rotate. The lenses have blackout sections that make the light flash every three seconds.

The flashing is important – it helps the ships far out at sea work out which lighthouse they are seeing, where they are on their map and how close they are to the rocks.

That way the sailors can keep themselves safe.

I check the oil reservoir beneath the lamp. It is getting low, so I pump the pump handle. The pipe gurgles as it sucks oil from the tank in the basement and spits it into the lamp’s reservoir. Now there should be enough oil to keep the flame burning until morning.

Next I turn the big wheel on the wall. This winds the clockwork that keeps the lenses of the lantern turning.

Dad normally does both these jobs, but they’re my duty tonight. It’s hard work as the pump handle and the wheel are both very stiff. I have to summon all my strength to get them moving.