Chapter 1
Lost at Sea
Haley
I’m gasping. Never a good thing when you’re trying to swim. The darn life vest is strangling me, and it’s impossible to dive underwater. But I’m doing my best. If I take it off, Zane will explode, and it’s best we all keep ourselves focused, searching. Not that I know what I’m looking for, not really. But if I’ve learned anything over the last few months, it’s to expect the unexpected. Sam turned up. He’s alive. Just because the Rock Candy’s gone doesn’t mean that Calvin and Easton are dead. They might have gotten it running and are heading around the other side of the island to pick us up.
Why wouldn’t they go the other way toward us?There could be a reason, a really smart reason, that only someone like Calvin would know.
I’ve never been an overly naïve-positive person. I wanted my mother to get better when she was sick. But the odds weren’t in her favor. And I knew that she might not make it. I was expecting it when she told me the doctors said she didn’t have much more time.
There’s no way they got the ship running. It was still months away from being done. That’s what Calvin and Sam both said. And done, by any standard, wasn’t taking it for a joyride around the other side of the island.
Reality sinks in—the pirates we’ve heard on the VHF radio are most likely responsible for the yacht being gone.
The guys have to be okay. They have to be.
The water is siltier than normal. But that’s not surprising; there’s nothing for it to flow against. They must have had to really tug the Rock Candy out of its home in the reef. Still, little fish dart through my legs, swimming away from me as fast as they can; they’re as confused as I am. How could the yacht be gone?
“Haley!” Sam calls from not far away. His head bounces above the waves.
“I’m here.” I put my hand in the air and wave it. “I’m here.”
“See anything?” He takes powerful strokes over to me.
“Nothing.”
Zane joins us.
“We should go back. Let Dante know. We’ll need to make the camp beach look as empty as possible.” Sam reaches his hand out to me.
We head back to the beach where the guys have tied up the raft. I drag myself out of the water onto the thin strip of sand near the bluff. The swim has left me exhausted. But then it’s more than the swim making my lungs burn. Anytime I think of Calvin or Easton, I seize up.
“Did you go to the cave?” I ask Sam.
“No, but I think we should take the tender closer. I want to see if the WaveRunner is there.”
Zane’s already got one of the ropes untied. Getting the rubber bottom of the tender secure next to the bluff was hard. I’mhoping that we can make it out of the opening the Rock Candy was sitting in.
“Here, Little Bird, take this rope, and I’ll get the other one.”
Sam has the outboard motor tilted up. “I’ll give you a push and swim out when you get past the reef.”
“No, you get in. I’ll push,” I say.
Sam flicks his head to me. “Zane can do it.”
I’m chewing on the side of my mouth. Sam didn’t see how Zane has become a better swimmer over the last few months, but I’m still a better swimmer. “Okay. Be careful.”
“Always, Little Bird.” He tosses the second rope in and gives a good push, letting us drift through the channel. It gives us enough depth for Sam to drop the outboard motor. There wouldn’t be enough room for Zane to jump into the tender here. He’ll have to swim out to us. My eyes sting, and I’m barely holding it together, watching Zane get smaller as we zig through the reef.
Sam turns the boat into the waves, holding us in place, waiting for Zane. I can’t take my eyes off him. He’s wearing a life vest. I watch, swimming every stroke with him until he’s at the edge of the tender.
“Give me your hand,” I say.
Zane gives one hand to me and grabs the side rope of the tender, flipping himself in. “I’m good.” He says to Sam, “Let’s check the cave. We won’t be able to get in it with the tender, but we should be able to see if the WaveRunner is there.”
I hold my breath until we can peek into the dark opening. “I don’t see anything.”
