Page 48

Haley

I roll over, and Sam’s blue eyes are watching me. “Morning, Sugar,” he says.

“Sugar?” Zane laughs from the platform below.

“You good to get going? I know Calvin’s anxious to get working on things.”

I put my head on his chest. “I know Calvin won’t say, but do you think he’s close to getting an engine to turn over?”

Sam presses a kiss to the top of my rat’s nest hair. “I think so. It damn well feels like things are really close. But then, really close could be another month.”

The tender’s loaded for the day. Dante is staying back today to work on smoking more fish.

“Ready?” Zane pulls the lines and jumps in. Sam has his hand on the motor’s tiller. Dante gives us a good push and we’re away. Penny runs along the beach, following us until we can’t see her anymore.

“What a blue sky,” Zane says. “I think the rainy season might finally be over.”

“I hope so.” I tilt my face to the sun. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do on the ship today, but I’m going to try and be as helpful as possible.

The waves next to the bluffs are calmer than normal. It’s one of those days where, back in the States, it would be hard to go to work.

We turn the corner, and my hands fly to my face, covering my mouth. There where the Rock Candy should be is nothing but cut ropes floating above the reef. My throat burns from my cut-off screams. I can’t breathe. I want to throw up.

“Haley.” Zane wraps me in his arms. His hand covers my head, pulling me to his chest. “Get us out of here, Sam.” The thudding of Zane’s heart echoes in my ear. “Go.” But the tender slows. “What are you doing?”

“We only have so much fuel. And we need to search. You want to know everything we can, right? Haley?”

I lift my head from Zane’s chest and nod. “Yes, Sam’s right. We need to find out as much as we can.”

“What if the pirates are still here?” Zane barks.

“If they’ve seen us already, what does it matter?” Sam fires back.

I stare into Sam’s eyes. In the bright light, they are so blue they blend with the sky.

“Sam’s right. We need to get all the facts.” I’m shaking.

“I’d just like to get the facts when you’re safe. But I suppose you’re right, we only have a couple of ten-gallon cans of fuel at camp.”

My eyes flit over the reef. My stomach turns. I can’t think of Calvin and Easton as dead. They can’t be.

“Little Bird, I see you. Don’t do that to yourself. They’re rugged, smart men. They can handle a lot. Don’t count them out.”

“I’m not. I’m not,” I say, but I don’t believe it.

Sam points the tiller through the cradle opening in the reef that the Rock Candy sat in for months. When we get to the sand, Zane hops out and pulls us up onto the little strip of beach. It’s high tide, so there’s not much of it.

Sam pulls off his shirt and tosses it into the tender. We all follow his lead. Then we’re in the water, swimming over the reef. I turn and realize that Zane’s there, but he’s swimming great. He waves at me. All the months with a great coach, he’s really got it now.

I have no idea what Sam wants us to look for, but I’ve got my eyes peeled for anything might give us a clue to what’s happened to Calvin and Easton. And whether we’ll ever see them again. My stomach twists and I clench my core. Will I ever see them again?

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