Page 34

Twenty-Six

Benny

Present Day

Ansel picked Ryan up off the floor, which was now rising with water as it spilled in from the flood above. Ryan’s eyes were closed, and his body was limp. Benny rushed over to feel for a pulse.

“He’s okay,” she told Zara, who reached down and retrieved their flashlights, shook out the water, and handed one back to her. “He’s just knocked out.” The beam glitched, going on and off. Thankfully the gaping hole above provided more light.

“Good. I’m mad at him, but I still don’t want to see anything happen to the idiot,” Zara mumbled.

Benny gave Ansel a look. “You could have killed him!”

Even in the darkness, she could see the deep blue of Ansel’s eyes. He was dressed in a white short-sleeved tee, dark jeans, and combat boots. “Hey, kid, do you think it was my idea to come crashing through the floor? I went to the drop-down door behind the bar to get down here, and was looking for something to pry it open with when the floor just opened up beneath me.” He hoisted Ryan onto his shoulder like he was a sack. “What are you three doing trespassing down here?”

“What are we doing?” Zara demanded. “What are you doing down here?”

He pursed his lips and shifted his weight to hold Ryan steady. “I asked you first,” he said like a petulant child. “This room has been out of commission…for a long time. How did you even know it was here?”

“How do you know it’s here?” Benny countered. Her flashlight came to life again and the beam caught Ansel’s arm. Benny saw a tattoo peeking out of his T-shirt and felt a prickling sensation at the back of her neck. “Your tattoo. It’s of a bird.” She glanced at Zara. “It’s a sparrow.”

“Like the one on Evelyn Terry’s velvet bags,” Zara realized. “And like the one stamped on this window.”

“How do you know who Evelyn Terry is?” Ansel demanded, stepping into Benny’s flashlight beam. “You’re her,” he said, staring at Benny. “The girl from the docks yesterday. Aren’t you? Everly Benedict.”

“How do you know that? How does he know that?” Zara asked, freaking out a bit as water continued to rain down from above. It was now up to Benny’s calves.

Benny’s heart was beating out of her chest as she stared at him. The tattoo. His eyes—like Evelyn described. His hair. His age. The slight accent in his voice. The cat, Winks, who was his and yet Aggy’s too. It all was too coincidental. “You’re him, aren’t you? You’re Captain Jonas Kimble.”

“No. He— no ,” Zara said.

Ansel, however exhaled through his lips, the sound like a whistle. “Now that’s a name no one has called me in a very long time.”

Benny had goose bumps. “You said that to Evelyn too.”

He just looked at her. “And she said you’d come when it was time.” He stared at her a beat. “And if you’re anything like she was, kid, I’m not even going to try to argue with you.” He hoisted Ryan higher. “So let’s get going,” he said heading into the darkness. “The island is calling us.”

Benny and Zara reached for one another’s hands and followed him into the darkness.

Benny’s heart was beating fast now as she trailed behind Kimble in the tunnel. Did she call him Kimble? Or Ansel? She’d call him Kimble, she decided. Benny shined her flashlight on him and saw him attempt to put Ryan down on the ground, still wet with water. “Wait! We can’t leave him here. What if the tunnel floods? We have to take him with us.”

“We do,” Zara agreed. “Even after he was a total jerk. You have to carry him.”

“Kids,” he mumbled to himself. He hoisted Ryan higher and kept walking.

Benny was trying hard not to think about the fact that the man walking through the tunnel ahead of them was four hundred years old and looked the same age as her mom.

Or that she was about to walk onto Evelyn’s island.

Where she’d hopefully find Evelyn’s friends, alive and waiting.

And she’d win the game.

She felt her pocket vibrating and remembered the compass. “Hey…uhh…Captain Kimble?” That didn’t feel too weird to say. “Do you need this?” She held it up and he turned around.

A smile spread across his face. “My compass!” He plucked it from Benny’s hands and kissed it. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”

“Does it show us which way to go in the cave?” Benny wondered as he pocketed the compass and started walking again.

“No.”

Benny and Zara snuck a glance at each other.

“What does it point to? Evelyn’s friends who are trapped?” Zara asked.

“Nope.”

“Are you going to tell us anything?” Benny asked.

“Not if I can help it. I’ve made that mistake before.”

“You know how to find the island entrance by memory?” Zara pestered him.

“Yes.”

“So what’s the compass for? Why did it point me in this direction?” Benny wondered.

He groaned some more, sounding like an old man trapped in a young man’s body. “Kid, can we just focus on one thing at a time? Step one: let’s get to the island already.”

They walked in silence then, Kimble leading the way as the tunnel started to curve upward, the air grew warmer, the breeze lighter, and the whispers Benny had heard before grew louder.

Welcome, Everly Benedict! Welcome!

Her thoughts were coming fast and furious. She couldn’t wait to tell Mom. To tell Peter. How would she prove to Peter she’d found the island? Did she need to bring him here? Take pictures with her phone? But before she could figure any of that out, the tunnel was widening, and she heard the sound of rushing water before she saw a wall of water in front of them.

The waterfall Evelyn had described in her journal.

“Good thing you’re already wet,” Kimble said, walking right through the water to the other side, Ryan still slung over his shoulder.

Benny squeezed Zara’s hand. Then Benny took a deep breath and together they stepped through the water. When she emerged, she wiped the water from her eyes.

Trees surrounded the waterfall’s pool of water. They swayed gently in the breeze, which smelled like honeysuckle and the sea, and the air was warm from the sun. The sun, which she hadn’t seen in days, shone bright here, not a cloud in the sky.

Evelyn’s island. It was real.

And she was here.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Zara asked, still clutching Benny’s hand.

“I think so,” Benny said, her smile growing.

She had the sudden urge to scream at the top of her lungs. To possibly burst into tears. They did it! They found the island. Together. She held tight to Zara’s hand. She didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t sure what came next, but she would figure it out. Just like she’d figured out Evelyn’s game. Do you hear that, Evelyn? I’m here. I’m on your island. I found it.

“Are you two just going to stand there?” Kimble yelled to them as Ryan hung from his shoulder, like a rag doll. “Or are you going to come to the beach? They’re probably waiting.”

Benny held her breath. They were Evelyn’s friends. She and Zara started running, following Kimble through the trees, which led to a long sandy beach that looked out on the kind of turquoise water she’d only seen on computer wallpaper. And then she saw five kids running down the beach toward her.

“It’s them,” Zara said, squeezing Benny’s arm. “It has to be them, right?”

“They’re alive,” Benny said softly. Her heart was beating so loud then, she could hardly take in the sight of the two girls and three boys, who had stopped a few feet from where Captain Kimble was standing. They looked like they were part of a historical reenactment. Benny tried to figure out who was who. The boy, dark-haired and sullen, was Axel, for certain. A boy with hair the color of sand and a warm smile had to be Gilbert, and the two older teens holding hands were obviously Thomas and Laurel. Finally, a girl with bright red cheeks and long curly brown hair stepped forward.

“Everly Benedict?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“Yes,” Benny said. She could feel her whole body shaking. ““Are you Aggy?”

The girl nodded, tears springing to her eyes.

“Aggy,” Zara repeated, the name getting caught in her throat.

Aggy smiled at Zara then too before turning back to Benny and embracing her tightly. “Welcome to the island, Everly Benedict. We’ve been waiting for you a very long time.”