“I’d say that’s exactly where we are. But I’m going to be your guide out of here.” He held out his hand. “I’m Bear. Are you ready for some real adventure?”

Mia shook, cautiously.

“I’m Mia. Uh, what do you mean, real adventure?”

“Real, as in, a couple of hundred miles in a badly damaged boat?”

Mia quickly looked around.

“We’re sinking?”

“Not quite, but Ursula got a bit beaten up by a storm a couple of days ago.”

Now Mia she looked closer, she thought she could see the storm damage. She had already noticed the patched sails. The woodwork was all stained, like it had been soaked through and hadn’t completely dried out yet.

“A lot of our supplies got swept away,” Bear went on, “plus the dinghy, the radio antenna and self-steering gear. Some water got into the fuel so the engine’s useless. The one thing we can still do is float, which fortunately doesn’t take any effort on our part. We’re heading for an island a couple of days away, where I’ll make repairs.”

“Are you sure the boat will make it?” Mia asked.

“Oh yes. We’ll make it together,” the man promised, with a smile. “The great thing about being at sea is that as long as you can stay alive, you know you’ll make land eventually. The record for that’s a guy called José Salvador Alvarenga, who managed to drift for thirteen months before hitting land. We’ll be quicker than that, I promise.”

Mia shivered suddenly. Despite the sun beating down, the sea breeze cut right through her in her wet swimsuit.

“Mia, you’d better get out of those wet things,” Bear said quickly. “You’ll find spare clothes in the locker down below, at the front of the cabin. Get something like mine, light enough to be cool but covering as much bare skin as you can. Sunburn can get you in a couple of hours.”

“Thanks.”

Mia made her way down a wooden ladder into the cabin. It was snug and cosy, with a bunk on each side and a little kitchen in one corner. But it smelled damp and she could see more damage wherever she looked. The walls were lined with wooden locker doors, and some were splintered and broken. A couple of windows had cracked. Everything looked like it had been thrown about.

She picked out some gear like Bear had described. Suddenly the boat began to tilt slowly over to one side. Mia yelped in alarm and staggered to the ladder. If this boat was going to tip over, she didn’t want to be trapped in the cabin.

“It’s okay,” Bear called from above. “We’re just getting under way again.”