Stranded Page 9

  “We have to go!” he said.

  “I know!” Vanessa yelled. “Come on.”

  Buzz was throwing what he could up onto the deck, while Carter wrapped his arms around the pile of charts and books on the galley table. There was no seeing which was which in the dark. All of that was secondary right now. He stuffed what he had into the pillowcase and let the rest drop to the ground, forgotten.

  Then he grabbed Jane by the arm and pushed her up the galley stairs.

  Then Buzz, then Vanessa.

  Carter was the last one out.

  * * *

  Jane stood on the deck, trying to take in what was all around them. Vanessa was up ahead with the flashlight, shining it off the bow of the boat. She motioned the rest of them over and pointed down toward the beach.

  “We need to time this right!” she shouted. The waves were rushing in to hit the cliff wall in front of them, then pulling back, then rushing in again. It explained how the Lucky Star had gotten this far up Dead Man’s Shelf to begin with. But Jane also realized that the boat wasn’t going to stay there for much longer. Each wave sent it shuddering back and forth now, almost as if it were restless and ready to go.

  Jane felt Carter’s hand on her shoulder again, urging her up toward the bow. When the boat tipped suddenly to the side, both of them fell to the deck. They stayed down and crawled to where Vanessa was waiting for them.

  “Buzz!” she shouted as they got there. Jane looked back, and he was bringing up the rear, his arms filled with whatever he had grabbed.

  Carter left her there with Vanessa and went to help him up the slippery deck.

  “Ready?” Vanessa shouted in her ear. “We’re going to jump after the next wave comes.”

  “We have to wait for them!” Jane said, looking over her shoulder. They couldn’t leave the boys alone on the ship.

  “They’re coming!” Vanessa shouted. “Let’s go.”

  Jane was just as terrified of staying as she was of jumping. They’d done it in the daylight with no problem, but not like this. Never like this.

  Still, there was no choice. She locked arms with Vanessa and shut her eyes as the next explosion of water hit the cliff wall in front of them, then pulled back.

  “Now!” Vanessa said.

  Blindly, she jumped and hit Dead Man’s Shelf, just a few feet below. Her grip left Vanessa’s, but only for a moment. They found each other again and scrabbled together, over the rocks and toward the beach. Jane could feel the sharp edges cutting into her hands, but it was hard to care about that right now. When they reached the drop-off, they jumped again, this time onto wet sand.

  “Keep moving!” Vanessa said. She pulled Jane along, up toward the woods. Jane could hear the scraping sound of the boat over the rocks. And she could only hope that the boys were right behind her, too.

  * * *

  Buzz and Carter reached the edge of the deck at the same time. With the bundle in his arms, it was hard for Buzz to see ahead, but he was going to hold on tight to everything he had for as long as he could.

  “Come on! We can do this!” Carter yelled. There was no time to think. “Ready? One, two, three!”

  They jumped onto the rocks and continued in the same direction Vanessa and Jane had just gone. A few moments later, they were down on the sand, looking around for the girls.

  “Up here!” Vanessa shouted from somewhere just inside the tree line. He saw them then, huddled under a low-hanging palm. Vanessa gestured them over, while the rain continued to beat down.

  “Is everyone okay?” Carter asked as soon as they were all together again. Buzz nodded. He was as okay as he could be, considering.

  The next thing they heard was the crash of another wave, and then a long, loud scraping sound, different from the ones before. He leaned out to see back toward the beach and the rocks. Vanessa shone the flashlight that way, just in time to show them the Lucky Star as it was washed away from its former resting place and back out toward the ocean. It was like watching a house get swept away. In fact, it was their house.

  However far the boat got, Buzz couldn’t see. It slipped beyond the edge of the flashlight beam with one last groaning, splintering sound, and disappeared.

  When he looked around at the other three, each of them was just a shadow in the dark.

  “What are we going to do now?” Buzz asked.

  “The cave!” Jane shouted.

  It was a good idea. The cave was farther uphill but not too far to reach. It would at least let them get out of the storm until they could make sense of everything that had just happened.

  There was no need for any more conversation. All four of them turned at the same time, holding on to one another as they pressed up into the woods behind Vanessa’s flashlight beam.

  “Stick together!” Buzz shouted. He’d never meant anything more in his life. Everything they thought they had going for them had just been washed away, back into the ocean.

  All they really had now was one another.

  EPILOGUE

  CASTAWAYS FOUND ADRIFT AT SEA—FOUR STILL MISSING

  KONA, HAWAII—A sea captain and his first mate were rescued early this morning, adrift in the life raft that was meant to save all six people on board their sinking boat.

  Captain Dexter Kingson and First Mate Joe Kahali, both of Kona, Hawaii, spent the last four days with only emergency rations as the swiftly moving southerly Pacific currents swept their small raft farther and farther from the site where Captain Kingson’s boat, the Lucky Star, ran aground of a rocky shoal on the night of June 29.

  Also on board the Lucky Star were four young passengers—Vanessa Diaz, 13; Benjamin Diaz, 11; Carter Benson, 11; and Jane Benson, 9. Coast Guard representatives in Kona have confirmed hearing from the children, but communication was lost before a specific location could be determined.

  Search and rescue operations are working with Captain Kingson and Mr. Kahali, trying to re-create the life raft’s drift since it was separated from the Lucky Star, but recent weather conditions, combined with seasonal wind and water currents, have frustrated their efforts. The search continues daily.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’d like to thank anyone, anywhere, who had anything to do with making this project happen. And, because writers are supposed to be specific, I’ll add a few names here:

  Thank you to sailors extraordinaire Jill Kuramoto, P. Milo Frawley, and Sam Culver for sharing their knowledge and experience with us. This adventure never could have left port without them. The same goes for Tom Champlin and Carl Elwert at Alteris Renewables, who taught me a thing or two (or three) about solar power.

  Thanks also to some of my favorite Survivor survivors—Kathy O’Brien, Cirie Fields, Rob Mariano, and Amber Brkich—as well as Dr. Liza Siegel, for their unique insight on what it means to be a castaway.

  This story also benefited from some good ideas, careful reading, and friendly encouragement along the way—starting with Paul Lasher, Angela Galyean, and their amazingly thoughtful students at Hinesburg Community School. It also included early-draft readers Jan Donley, Barbara Gregorich, Vicki Hayes, and Joe Nusbaum, who shone a light on the good, the bad, and the in-between. Kyle Jablonski could always be counted on for a great idea in a pinch. And Jonathan Radigan is—and always has been—the muse with the mostest.

  Thanks also to George Nicholson and Caitlin McDonald at Sterling Lord Literistic, and to copy editor Sandy Smith and to Abigail Powers and Pat Shuldiner at Puffin for their eagle eyes.

  And lastly, a big double down ditto on all of the above, with thanks to our editor at Puffin, Jennifer Bonnell, who is as patient and insightful as she is great to work with and good at what she does.

  —CT

  The adventure continues in

  They thought it couldn’t get any worse. They were wrong. Bei
ng shipwrecked on a jungle island was bad enough. But now that Carter, Vanessa, Buzz, and Jane have lost their boat to another storm, it’s like starting over. Survival is no individual sport in a place like this, but there’s only one way to learn that. The hard way.

  Look for book three!