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Each of them held a tray of fizz, the liquid almost looking like it was steaming from the flutes. Olivia shook her head. She couldn’t think about drinking champagne on board any more. She wasn’t sure she’d ever drink it again. Instead, she took a glass of apple juice. The non-alcoholic option.
The captain stood on the upper level, with one eye on his bridge. The moment the ship sailed over the line, he would sound the signal. He looked up and gave the ten-second countdown, as everyone joined in.
Then the captain set off a foghorn, and cheering erupted on deck.
There was no magic flash, no bump, no flag or post – just miles and miles of sea-ice shards strewn across the water. As she clinked her glass against Janine’s, standing shoulder to shoulder with the other passengers in red, she felt tears swim in her eyes, her breath stuttering in her chest.
There was something undeniably moving about crossing over to this part of the world where few people ever got to travel. They’d truly come all the way to the ends of the Earth.
Yet despite all the warmth and joy on the deck around her, Olivia found herself shivering.
The sun wasn’t going to set on the ship. There was someone on board who was targeting her. And that meant there was no place to hide.
28
As Olivia’s watch ticked past midnight and towards one a.m., the party was still raging.
After what had felt like an impossibly long day, she wanted nothing more than to retreat to bed, but her stomach churned with anxiety at the thought of going back to the cabin – especially alone. Her cabinmates weren’t ready to leave yet. Janine was tossing back shots with Liam, who had wrapped his multicoloured lei around her neck and was liberally pouring from an electric blue liqueur bottle, his hand on Janine’s knee. Annalise was deep in conversation with Lucinda and Greg, while Patty was cutting a rug with Captain Enzo on the dance floor.
The bar at the top of the ship had a small outside deck. Olivia stepped through the sliding doors, glad to leave the noise and stale air of the bar. Immediately she felt the blast of freezing air creep into the collar of her jacket, but she breathed it in deeply.
The midnight sun. One of the few places in the world where it was visible. It wasn’t like daylight, per se. The sky had an indigo, purpling quality, a bruise spreading behind the clouds. The sun itself hugged the horizon, shrouded in a haze. The light reflected off the icebergs, making it difficult to distinguish ice from cloud, water from sky.
She thought she would miss Aaron being there, but instead she found herself thinking of her parents. Herdad’s dreams of Antarctica. Her mother appreciating the stillness and unique quality of the light, maybe getting her paintbrush out.
She took out her phone to take a photo. Even if she had no one to share it with, at least she could show her mum once she was back home.
‘It doesn’t even look real,’ said a voice from behind her.
Olivia turned to see Janine walking through the sliding doors. She hadn’t brought her jacket with her, and she was only in her sparkly tank top and jeans.
‘He would have loved this,’ she said, standing beside Olivia and leaning out against the railing.
Olivia winced for her, thinking how cold the metal was even through the thick material of her jacket. ‘Are you talking about your boyfriend?’
Janine nodded. Tears welled up in her eyes. ‘Ex-boyfriend now, I guess you would say. It’s just hard.’ She swayed ever so slightly, her cheeks flushed.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Olivia said. ‘You’ve spent so long listening to my problems and I’ve never asked you about him. Do you want to talk about it?’
‘We were supposed to be doing this trip together, but it’s history now.’ She shivered.
‘Are you OK? Let me grab your jacket from inside.’
But in the next instant Janine’s tears were gone, so quickly that Olivia thought she must have imagined them. Instead, the girl gave herself a shake and winked. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’m going to freeze my tits off out here. Hey, so that Liam is really cute, right? Should I go for it?’
‘Janine … remember what you said to me earlier?’
‘Oh, that? No, it will be fine. I’m fine. No better way to get over someone, right?’ She waved at Liam, whowas holding up two more shots and gesturing for her to come back in.
Olivia bit her lip. ‘Look, you must be feeling so vulnerable …’
‘I think you’re just jealous,’ she said with a wink, then sashayed back into the bar.
Olivia followed her in, sitting in an empty armchair next to Patty. Through the crowd she could still see Janine and Liam, especially Liam’s arm casually thrown over the girl’s shoulder.
‘That man’s going to find himself kicked off the boat if he’s not careful,’ muttered Patty. ‘I’m not sure fraternizing with the passengers is allowed.’
‘It’s a bad idea. I’m worried about her.’