Silence filled the car. Mackenzie was full of blinding self-loathing – ice enhanced your emotions, and he regretted bringing it up. Images of Shelby held captive in a cellar somewhere filled his mouth with bile.

‘One week,’ said Shelby, drumming a single finger on the steering wheel. ‘I’ll be an ice cook for one week, and then . . . then I’ll leave it all behind.’

‘Okay,’ said Mackenzie. ‘Deal.’

One week.

‘But to get Blackbeard’s attention in just one week . . .’ said Shelby. ‘The ice needs a name. It needs some prestige.’

One week. We can do that. Nothing bad will happen in one week. Everything will go back to the way it was, but better.

‘Persephone brought the springtime,’ said Shelby. ‘I think we should call our ice Golden Sunshine.’

The image of Kane in an empty house, calling for his mum, came into Mackenzie’s head, and he put a knuckle in his mouth as he fought off sobs.

‘Mack . . .?’ she said.

‘I’m sorry, Shelby!’

He began to cry.

CHAPTER 48

AHAB

Ahab and Forest sat in the corner of the pub, Zeus at Forest’s feet. Ahab was cold and his hair was wet – they’d come directly from the boat – but a steady excitement built within him.

He leaned closer to the laptop screen. He wasn’t very good at technology or the internet. It took him a lot longer to find what he was looking for than it would take others, but he’d finally got there.

Kutikina.

Triumph.

He glanced up at the boy. ‘Who are you waiting for?’ he said impatiently.

‘What?’ said Forest.

‘You keep looking at the door. You’re skittish. You haven’t touched your drink.’

‘I need to go for a walk,’ said Forest.

‘You’re not leaving my sight,’ said Ahab. ‘Not until we come up with a plan.’

‘A plan for what?’ moaned Forest. ‘We found a cave full of bones and sharp rocks. So what? I was expecting treasure. What I got was another tomb.’

‘This is what,’ said Ahab. He spun the laptop around.

Forest pulled the laptop closer to him to read. ‘Kutikina Cave . . .?’

‘It’s a cave on the Franklin River, in the south-west – one of the richest Aboriginal artefact deposits ever found. It was key to the Franklin Dam controversy.’

‘Controversy over a dam?’ said Forest.

‘There’s always gonna be controversy over a dam,’ said Ahab, laughing despite himself. ‘This time, a cave was used to show how important that part of the river was, which would’ve been destroyed if the dam had gone ahead . . .’

‘So . . . those bones down there . . .? You think they’re that old?’

‘It’s above my paygrade to answer that question. But this . . .’ Ahab spun the stone chip on the table. ‘This is called a scraper. These, at least, were among the tools recovered from Kutikina Cave.’