“Hello?” he called. “Katya? Dunsany?”

Silus laughed with joy when Katya’s face appeared above him and was delighted to see her look of relief in turn. On deck, the rest of the crew were just as happy to see him. Even Emuel cracked a smile.

Once onboard, Silus kissed Katya long and deep before taking Zac from her arms. He moved to the rail and pointed down.

“Look, Zac. Daddy’s new friends.”

“Fish! Fish!” his son squealed, and the razor dolphins responded to his delight.

“We tried to look for you after the storm,” Katya said. “But the tempest carried us away so swiftly. By the time it was over we didn’t even know where to start looking.”

“And we had no idea when the next storm would roll in,” Dunsany said. “We’ve been battered by two more since. There’s very little warning of their approach. They just rise from nowhere and attack.”

Silus looked around them. The sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue.

“Deceptive, ain’t it?” Ignacio said. “Come on, we best secure the ship before the next one arrives.”

Silus helped lash down anything likely to be swept overboard, and then he, Dunsany and Ignacio reset the boom and secured the masts. The sun was reaching its zenith as they finished, and all were drenched in sweat and out of breath.

Silus took a long draught from one of the rain barrels. He detected an odd taste in the water — something like cinnamon and burnt stone.

Now, fully prepared, the crew settled in to await the arrival of the next storm, but if anything, the sea was calmer than before. Silus felt the merest breath of wind, but after several minutes it became clear that it was not to be the harbinger of anything more significant.

On the other side of the deck, Emuel rose from the crate he had been sitting on and approached the prow. He stood at the rail with his back to them, his right hand rising, moving from side to side, the fingers twitching as they picked out the notes of a melody only he could hear.