The crowd gasped as the huge animal’s tail rose just yards from the side of the ferry, then came crashing down, spraying the onlookers with what felt like sleet. There were several cries of alarm and many hands grasping the rail in sudden fear.

“What’s it doing?”

“There’s something caught on its tail.”

“Christ! It’s a kid!”

Ginny saw they were right. There was a rope around the whale’s fluke and attached to the rope, caught in it, was the shape of a young man. He was struggling to get loose, still alive, but in very great danger of being drowned.

Ginny turned to find Charlie climbing the rail, a knife in his hand. She didn’t even have time to tell him not to do it before she saw him dive into the frigid water.

She felt her heart stop. As she watched, Charlie reached the whale and caught the trailing rope. She saw him grasp the boy’s arm and pull himself up, then vanish beneath the water. The crowd on the rail was gasping, crying out, shrieking for help.

“Look!”

The boy surfaced, struggling for breath.

The ferry couldn’t stop quickly, but it could turn back and did so now. It pulled around, circling the area where the boy bobbed in the icy water, lowering a rescue boat.

“What about the other, the man who saved him?”

Ginny watched the water, looking for a sign of life, any disturbance. She saw the whale’s fluke once more, still trailing the rope, then nothing. Nothing at all. Charlie was gone.