Page 29

Lost Cargo

Haley

“ W hat?” Easton’s staring at the rock.

I take a deep breath and slow down. “In the cave where we tied the WaveRunner up, there’s a box covered in seaweed and barnacles. I completely forgot about it. I was too worked up about the knots in the vests and you and Calvin being missing.”

Easton sinks to the big flat rock, his feet dangling over into the water. His neck twists up at me, then back to the spot where we buried the Phoenix diamond. “Like buried treasure?”

“Maybe. I didn’t exactly get a good look at it.”

“That sounds like a fun mission. But we’ll need to group it with a trip over to the pomelo beach.” He pats the rock. “This is the one?” He pats the smaller rock, which isn’t small at all.

“Yeah, never mind, it’s too big.”

“It’s too big to move like this, for sure. But if I find another rock to use as an awl, we can split it.”

We’re back in camp in no time. It’s weird how far away I used to think the waterfall was.

Easton leans over me and whispers, “You distract Zane, and I’ll grab the hammer.”

Zane and Dante are sitting close together when we come back into camp. Dante throws a lid over the top of his pot with an extra dramatic flair.

I sit down in Zane’s lap, and he rotates, turning me away from Dante. “How are you doing, Little Bird? What’s Easton up to?”

I fling my arms around his neck and kiss him on his collarbone. I have lava spots on my body, but so does my Birmingham Boy.

He tilts his head, giving me better access. “I no longer care what he’s bloody doing. Fuck, Haley.”

“Hmm.” I go higher and nibble his ear.

“Where are you going with that?” Zane’s head cocks to the side.

“With what?” I slide off Zane’s lap and wiggle my eyebrows at him, then take off down the path to the waterfall with Easton.

“How about this one?” I hold up another solid rock. I took geology in college, but I don’t remember much.

“I’ll give it a go.” Easton takes the triangular-shaped rock and holds it against the edge of the one we want to use. He smacks it, and the wedge shatters into pieces. We try three more wedges before the rock cracks. I can see the split happening.

“You did it!”

“We did it.” Easton looks up from the split rock.

“We did,” I say, staring at him.

“We’re a good team.”

I sit down on the edge of a nearby boulder, and Easton places the newly manageable-sized rock next to me. I brush my hand over it, taking a corner of a rag and wiping it down.

“This is really going to work. He’ll be able to decipher the rest of the notebook and have room to write his answers in the rest of the agenda,” I add, glancing at Easton.

Easton smiles, his eyes glistening as he nods. “Yeah, he’s really gonna love it. You did good.”

“Come on, you did all the work,” I reply.

“Sure, I’m just the muscle, but you had the idea.

That’s the most important part.” He flexes his biceps at me and laughs.

Then he glances away, over the top of the waterfall, and back to me.

“I just want you to know I really still believe that we’re going to get off this island, and when that happens.

.. Haley Brewster, I need you in my life.

I don’t want you to vanish. Please tell me you won’t vanish. ”

I grab his hands and laugh. “I have the same fear about you. I don’t want you to vanish out of my life either.”

“Good, good,” he says thoughtfully, nodding with his lips closed. “Then it’s settled—no vanishing.”

“No vanishing,” I agree.

I don’t know which of us moves first, but our lips entwine, and he pulls me over the new slate to sit in his lap. We kiss until I’m dizzy.

“Do you want to take a dip?” I ask.

Easton squeezes his eyes shut tight. “Oh, I wish I hadn’t promised Sam?—”

“You promised Sam what? What’s going on?”

“I also promised not to tell, so... I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Easton says, trying to sound casual.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mimic back at him, my jaw locking tightly, arms crossing over my chest. “Okay, I suppose this is the season of surprises.”

“It is the season of surprises,” Easton replies, interlocking his fingers with mine, the slate tucked underneath his arm.

I glance back to where we did the work. “Oh, wait, I should clean up the evidence.”

I push the shards around so they’re hidden and nothing sharp can hurt us when we come back at night. Then I join him on the path, our fingers locking together again.

I hide the slate in my ever-growing pile in my cubby.

Luckily, the camp kitchen is empty. Everyone else must have scurried away to do secret things in this time of secrecy. Easton gives me another kiss.

“Okay, now, turn around. I’ll see you later,” Easton says.

“It’s fine. I’m going to the beach anyway,” I say, taking my notebook and heading for the sea. I plop down in the shade, my back resting against a rock.

One gift down, four to go. Now I just have to come up with four more good ideas. I’m... vibrating inside. I’m honestly happy. Maybe this Christmas won’t be so bad.

“Hey there, Chiefie!” Calvin’s working on the WaveRunner again.

I jump off the rock and tuck my notebook under my arm. “How’s it going? Did you get the carburetor back in?” I ask.

Calvin nods. “Yup. I think it might actually be time to see if it’s working.”

“You’re kidding. Really?”

“Nope. Let’s do it. You want to do the honors?” He closes the panel on the backside. “Well, no. Maybe you should stand over there. I don’t want you to get all mucky if it spurts things.”

I watch the tick in Calvin’s neck. I don’t think he really means “mucky”—I think he means if it explodes. But I nod and step to the side.

He turns the key once, and nothing happens.

He tries again, and it sputters, starts, and then stops again.

Calvin wrinkles his nose. He grabs a tool from the box, opens the panel, and fiddles with something.

Then he steps back, turns the key, and this time the engine turns over.

He lets it run for a minute, then turns it off.

“I think we’re good to go. Want to take a spin with me and see how it works?”

I glance at the ocean, then back at Calvin.

“We haven’t taken the tender out in a long time... or at least, I haven’t been on it in a while,” I say, unsure if I want to go or not. “Shouldn’t we tell the others first?”

Calvin glances at the jungle. “I suppose we should. Let me see if I can find somebody. I’ll be right back.”

He runs off to the camp, and I sit down again, pondering while staring at my notebook, pen in hand, my lips twitching left and right. I’m coming up blank, and I don’t like it. I tap my pen on my pad, but no good ideas come to mind for the other guys.

By the time Calvin returns with life vests in hand, Zane is with him.

“Zane’s going to help,” Calvin says.

“Okay,” I reply. I tuck my notebook underneath the toolbox, then second-guess myself. “I’ll be right back.” I run it all the way to my cubby, and Dante’s there in the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

I’m out of breath. This is exciting. I didn’t doubt that Calvin would get the WaveRunner fixed. The other guys? Yeah, not so much. Easton’s been calling it Calvin’s salvaged sculpture. “Calvin got the WaveRunner fixed. We’re gonna take it for a spin,” I say to Dante.

“Oh, I want to see!” Dante quickly covers up his lunch in progress and follows me out.

Calvin and Zane are hauling the WaveRunner to the water on a bamboo sled. Dante joins in to help while I hold the life jackets.

After a few minutes of fiddling, Calvin gets on it and starts it right up.

He’s cautious and takes it only twenty feet out into the shallows.

But it’s not spouting flames or even smoke anymore.

He widens his loop from the shallows, taking it farther out before he carefully brings it back in, avoiding the rocks on the beach.

“Are you ready for that ride I promised, Haley?” Calvin asks.

I nod, handing him a life jacket. He begrudgingly puts it on, and I do as well.

“We’ll be right back,” he tells the others.

I scream with laughter as he spins off the beach. As chief stew, I didn’t get much opportunity to actually play in the water—I was too busy working. I think I can count the number of times I’ve been on a WaveRunner before the Rock Candy died on one hand.

Calvin turns to me. “Anything you want to do while we have it out?”

I hesitate, then lean forward. “When I was searching for you in the cave, I noticed there’s a large box underneath where we used to tie the WaveRunner up. Did you see it when you were in the cave?”

“No, I didn’t.” Calvin turns the WaveRunner toward the Rock Candy alcove. “But I want to now.”

“Shouldn’t we be getting back? We said we were only going out for a short spin.”

“This won’t take long,” Calvin says. “Besides, the tide’s low, and if we’re going to look at it at some point, we might as well do it now. I want to run all the gas I put in here through it, just to make sure it’s completely clean.”

At least, I think that’s what he says—he’s screaming into the wind.

I nod and glance back at the beach. Easton and Sam are there now too. I wonder if Easton will tell them what we’re doing. Since I mentioned the box earlier today, I’m hoping that’s what happens.

I hold on to Calvin’s waist and press my head into his large back. It’s amazing the difference his wide shoulders make as a windbreak.

The ride over to the cave feels twice as long as it does when we take the tender. But the weather is perfect today, the skies clear, the ocean like glass. Of course, that doesn’t mean a thing during the rainy season. But now, we’re good. It won’t rain today.

No matter how many times I see this place without the Rock Candy, my stomach is going to drop.

It’s like cursed water now. The place where our hope washed out to sea.

I turn my head the other way and watch the waves coming in.

My heart thuds in my chest. The last time I was here, I thought Calvin and Easton might be dead. I cling tightly to him.

He pulls into the cave, slowly putting the machine into neutral. “I’m going to tie up the WaveRunner, but I don’t want to turn it off. Just in case.” Calvin tugs on my ponytail. “Where’s the box?”

I lean to the side and find the shadow. “There.” I point it out.

“Hold on to the handlebars. It shouldn’t move, but...” Calvin slides out of his life vest and dives. I’m holding on to the handles so hard my knuckles are turning white. I’m doing my best to keep the machine steady while watching what he’s doing.

He pops up a minute later, shaking the water from his head.

“Damn, Chiefie, I think you found sunken treasure.”