The Impossible Poisoning.

Chapter 4

"So" I commented sarcastically, an hour or so later. "This is sailing."

I was balanced on a rotting old dock, with a decidedly pristine-looking sailboat floating on the water at about a foot below me. The sun was out, a miracle in wintertime, but Felicity had insisted we wear our coats, and I was boiling. To add to my discomfort, I had been squeezed into a tacky old life jacket that looked to have been built for a child, and it stuck out at awkward angles, meaning my arms were sort of propped up from my sides and the whole thing was daring to slide off over my head. I had to keep yanking it down. Breathing was also an issue, as due to my coat and my scarf that Isabel had insisted I wore, there wasn't much space for me in my tiny lifejacket.

"Come on, you!" Newham sighed from down below in the sailboat. "How am I going to get Isabel on if you won't do it?"

"It would help if I could breathe" I grumbled, as I shuffled to where I thought the edge of the dock was, as I actually couldn't see my feet over the front of the jacket.

"Careful!" Newham chided, stopping me before I reached where I thought I had to be. "You're going to walk off the edge!"

"I can't see!" I retorted, in the same tone of voice as he had used. Between us, we managed to manoeuvre me to the edge of the dock, and then I sort of leapt/flung myself down into the boat, and Newham stopped me before I hit the deck. Nodding my thanks, I stalked over to sit down. This was not my idea of fun.

Isabel sort of hopped daintily down behind me, in her much better fitting lifejacket, holding on to Fisher's hand. I looked out over the water and sulked while the rest of them chattered and laughed, and as Aaron the sailor-boy unhooked the ropes from the dock (I heard someone mention the words 'casting off' but I didn't know what that meant, and frankly, I didn't care) and suddenly we were afloat. The boat rocked a little on the waves, and I gripped feverently onto a convenient handrail.

"Alright, Allie?" Hettie asked brightly. I huffed.

"You don't have to come, Miss Winter" Felicity said, in what I thought she assumed was a knowing tone. "You can stay on dry land if it would make you feel better."

I considered my options. I had been originally quite looking forward to the prospect of sailing, but that excitement had been dampened decidedly by the arrival of the lifejacket. Part of me just wanted the wretched thing off.

That part of me won.

"I think I might pass" I sighed, standing back up and balancing blindly to the edge of the boat, which was still, although untied, quite near the dock. After re-tying the boat, I was allowed off, and then as the others set out on their voyage I stayed on the dock, waving them off and waiting impatiently for the moment when I could rip the offending lifejacket off my body and possibly rip quite a bit of the jacket itself for good measure.

The moment came, and I wasn't ashamed to admit I left the jacket in a rather sorry heap underneath all of the others in the dockyard. Fanning myself with my hand and loosening off my scarf, I unbuttoned my coat (it was boiling) and began a gentle walk around the lake. It was far too hot for wintertime, I decided, and I couldn't begin to imagine how red my face was. My arm, which I had cut on a shard of glass whilst escaping from the Crystal Palace in the dead of night, was sweating under its light bandages I still wore. Ugh. This was turning out to be the very worst of days.

Out on the lake, I could see the boat and the others enjoying themselves. Isabel, even, was standing at the prow, the wind in her hair and Fisher behind her, and she had her arms outstretched, feeling the breeze. At this, I smiled. My darling sister deserved all the happiness she could get.