Rising Tides Author: Katy Haye
Genre: YA Post-Apocalyptic
Release Date: June 20, 2016
Summary from Goodreads:
The truth won’t stay submerged forever.
City is the last civilised place left on a drowned Earth, a floating town built from metal and plastic from the Time Before. It’s the only home doctor's daughter Libby Marchmont has ever known or wanted–until her father helps the wrong patient and she's forced to flee.
Cosimo came to City for one reason. Then he should have vanished back to his people on the Wastes. But what about his promise to Libby’s father?
Stranded in the middle of the sea, can the two enemies learn to trust each other? And can they survive long enough to uncover the truth: City isn’t the safe haven Libby always believed it to be...
“Away from here.”
As though that was an answer! “Where, Pa?”
“Tonight we’ll go wherever we can. I apologise that our plans are a little flimsy.”
I cast a sour look at the boy, Cosimo. “I don’t blame you,” I said to my father.
“Don’t you? I rather think you should, Libby.” I heard the smile in my father’s voice and fell silent. I was clearly not going to get any sense from him while he was in this mood.
For a few minutes, the light of the lantern bobbed in front of us as we walked, haloed by the mist. The only sound was our tinny footsteps and the sloshing of the sea beneath. I was never in any doubt of our initial destination, and it was confirmed as we weaved through alleyways between houses and the sound of our feet was joined by the snap of ropes and the creak of barges shifting in the water. The quayside. Then that sound was joined by another; footsteps, coming towards us. I was anxious, but not alarmed. The tide was turning so there were bound to be people about, regardless of the foul night.
“Doctor Miracle! Are you there?”
Fear gripped me at the sudden call. My father stopped. “Ah.” He sighed, as though this were an inconvenience, but nothing worse. “I had hoped we might have a little more time than this...”
“Who is it?” I didn’t recognise the voice, but it had almost been drowned out by the thumping of my heart.
“No one of importance.” Pa smiled, although the gesture looked forced. “You go on ahead while I deal with this. Cosimo will escort you to the boat.”
I looked at the boy, who nodded as though he accepted all these slipshod arrangements. Perhaps this was what they’d been whispering about before the operation, while I’d been out of the room. Plans my father hadn’t trusted to me but had given freely to a stranger.
“I’ll go with you, Pa.” Nothing would induce me to go with the boy without my father.
“No, you will go ahead as I bid you.” Pa was calm, which sped up the rate of my heart.
I shook my head. The only word that would go past my suddenly thick throat was, “No.”
“The tide’s already turning. You hurry ahead and get everything ready.” He spoke to reassure me, but I caught the glance he gave Cosimo, the shooing motion he made.
Fear surged through my veins, increasing with every beat of my heart. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Go with Cosimo. I’ll follow.”
“No.” I had the strongest conviction that if I let my father out of my sight I would never see him again. It was irrational, but the world didn’t make sense. Not today. My father was Dr Miracle. How could he need to flee? What was there that could threaten him in all the world?
Pa looked over my head. “Take her.” He pushed me towards Cosimo and turned to meet our pursuer, Pa’s footsteps echoing rapidly as he strode away. I staggered, turning, and would have followed, but Cosimo’s grip tightened around my arm with a strength that took me by surprise. “Let me go!” I twisted to look for Pa, already disappearing into the autumn fog, the lantern light swallowed by the night. If anything, the boy’s grip tightened further. He pulled me onwards and I stumbled beside him. He was stronger than he looked. I twisted but I couldn’t get away.
We turned in to the quayside and the sea came into sight. Cosimo was distracted, looking up to orient himself and find the boat we were destined for.
I took my chance. I stamped on his foot and heard a hiss of pain but still he didn’t release me, his hands like steel around my wrists. I distinguished the word “idiot” from his damaged throat and fury leant me strength. It wasn’t his father walking into danger. I paused, sagging, as though I’d given up. When he relaxed, I drove my elbow into his stomach and ran back to where I’d left my father while Cosimo was doubled over.
After a few paces, I slowed, aware of the clatter of my steps. I didn’t think the boy would follow, but I didn’t want to make it easy for him if he did. Nor did I want to announce my presence to my father – and the person he’d stopped to meet. I heard footsteps echoing against the walls, barely distinguishable from other sounds, although I couldn’t be sure if they were my father’s or someone else’s. I followed the noise down an alleyway, the mist drifting thick around me, and caught sight of a bobbing light that had to be his lantern. I hurried as he turned a corner, letting my hand drift along the sides of the houses so I wouldn’t miss the turn.
Another corner. Something tangled in my feet. I stumbled, hands out to protect me as I slammed headlong onto the pontoons. Rising, I distinguished the obstacle. My father’s medical bag. I leaned against the wall, peering through the mist. He had to be close since he wouldn’t have left that behind.
There was a glow ahead, not moving. As I hugged the wall, I heard a voice, and I relaxed to recognise my father’s tones, echoey and thin in the mist but unmistakeable. “I’d hoped to be away from here by now, then you wouldn’t have found me.”
“We would have followed. You’re too important to leave.” Another man. His voice was distorted by the weather. I felt as though I should recognise him, but didn’t. An old patient, perhaps, a recollection just beyond my memory. Whoever he was, he wasn’t the captain of a boat contracted to take us away.
“What if I promise to come back?” There was a pause, as though the other man were considering that offer. Come back after what? I crept closer. I could distinguish two forms, but they were still no better than indistinct shapes. I’m ashamed to own, fear kept me where I was when I should have stepped right up to them.
“I can’t let you leave. I have my orders.”
“And I can’t bear to stay.” My father again. I could tell which figure was which. Pa stood with his back to me and no knowledge that I was there.
“You don’t have a choice.”
My heart bounced against my ribs. I was debating whether to step out and make myself known when my arm was grabbed once more. Cosimo. His face was close, shiny with damp. If I’d had any doubt that he was furious, it was eliminated by his expression and his ferocious grip.
Want to read more? You can get a copy of Rising Tides in paperback or for your Kindle (to buy, or free with Kindle Unlimited) using this link: http://authl.it/B01FHXD8HG?d
You can get a copy of Rising Tides in paperback or for your Kindle (to buy, or with
Kindle Unlimited) using this link: http://authl.it/B01FHXD8HG?d
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