Page 32 of No One Aboard

Lila reached up to grasp his arm. “Francis Rylan Cameron...”

Rylan shrugged her off and spun on his heel. Francis stepped in the way. The two of them were eye to eye.

“Boy,” Francis said, and Rylan’s spine seemed to fold. He dropped his chin to his chest and stared hard at the deck.

“What?”

Francis took him by the shoulders and spun him to face Lila, who was using her thumb to dab at the corners of her eyes.

“You upset your mother,” Francis said calmly. He had Rylan’s shoulders pulled so far back he was sure his shoulder blades would touch.

Rylan glanced around for Tia instinctively. She was on the other side of the ship, getting a scuba tank out of one of the bilges with Alejandro’s help. MJ, however, had heard or maybe sensed the disagreement. She thundered across the deck.

“Francis!”

Francis released Rylan and stepped instead by Lila’s side, arm around her once more. He looked at Rylan in profound disappointment, and every muscle in Rylan’s body seized up. MJ was going to try to intervene. Or, worse, let her temper boil over and spout off everything she knew. Everything Rylan had told her.

“I’m sorry,” Rylan whispered.

MJ reached them, nostrils flared. She paused when she heard Rylan apologize. He did his best not to look like a damsel, just sulky. But he couldn’t ignore the way his breaths came clipped and his muscles wouldn’t unclench.

Lila perked instantly. “That’s my gentle boy.”

Francis studied him for a moment, then gave a nod, and relief rinsed away Rylan’s tension. MJ’s brows gathered over narrowed eyes.

“I’ll go get ready now,” Rylan said, and he removed himself from the three of them before something worse could happen.

“Excellent idea, son,” Francis called after him. “And once we’re in the water, gird your loins. I think it’s the perfect time to demonstrate your new rescue skills.”

Chapter 15

Tia Cameron

Call sign: Thimble

Day 3 at Sea

Tia lugged her full tank to a bare space on the bow where she could set up the regulator and BCD. When everything was connected—tubes and mouthpieces flailing about—she laid the tank on its back and hunted for her fins and mask. Rylan lagged behind her.

Tia hadn’t seen her family laughing and talking like they just had been in years. It made her angry, furious even, but not because she thought they were faking it or even that it made her guilty about her plan to run away.

She was angry because they had found that sense of family after all this timewithouther.

Not that it was new for Rylan to be Lila and Francis’s favorite child. They’d always had a sort of fascination with him that curdled to disgust whenever Tia tried, in vain, to get them to focus on her.

Tia tried to force herself to relax, tell herself she didn’t care about her parents anymore, but she couldn’t help it. It was like she was a kid all over again, desperate for attention and receiving only mild disinterest.

Francis and Lila had disappeared belowdecks, and MJ wasat the stern of the ship, muttering something to Nico, who had popped out from the chart house companionway with his guitar strapped to his back. Tia headed toward them until she almost tripped into the open dive locker. The locker was similar to the anchor one up at the bow, only it was wedged in the walk space between midships and the cockpit/stern. She knew it was there and that it was open, and she wouldn’t have stumbled except that Alejandro was stooped inside, working on a tank valve.

“Alejandro?” What was he doing in the dive locker? As far as Tia remembered, he had never been on a dive with them. He wasn’t certified, let alone interested.

Alejandro straightened up and nodded to her. “Tia.”

“What are you doing?”

“MJ asked me to grab a tank for her while she speaks to Nicolás.” Alejandro handed her the tank and hauled himself out of the locker, shutting the panel behind him. “Make sure she gets it, sí, Tia?”

“Sure.” Tia glanced back at MJ and Nico who had gone their separate ways like they’d never spoken.