Page 80 of Adrift

“You know climbing a rope is about upper body strength and not ankles, right?” She cocks her head at me, the purple bandana wrapped in her hair. “I can climb a rope. Or at least, I could in high school.”

“I have no doubt, Little Bird, but—” Zane begins.

“What Zane means is there’s more—” Easton butts in.

“No.” I cut him off. She doesn’t need to worry about where we might be.

“No what?” She turns to me. Her finger is in the air, and she puts it in the middle of my chest.

“Fuck.” I cover my mouth.

She pokes me in the chest. Hard. “Calvin. What are you not telling me?”

I stare down at her. Fucking hell, we didn’t even make it two days without telling her. “It’s been five nights. But the thing is, no one is coming for us. We’re too far off course. The only way we’re ever getting off this island is by chance. A container ship sees our fire.”

“I kind of thought so.” Haley is staring at the rope like she understands there’s more and there’s also much more.

“And...?” Dante leads, and I want to give him a matching goose egg on the other side of his head.

“And?” Haley glances from him to me.

I nod at Zane.

“We’re here.” Zane touches the little X.

“Okay?”

“But from the top of the tree, we can see things.”

“Zane. Tell me what the heck you’re getting at.” Her voice shakes. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen: we’re scaring her. “What can you see?”

“It’s a chain of islands. Small ones. About the size of the one we’re on.”

“But we couldn’t see anything on the way in.”

“They’re right behind this one. We’re in disagreement about whether there’s three or four more.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it? Maybe there’s someone on one of the other islands?”

I take a big breath. “That’s the problem, Haley. There’s no cooking fire smoke. So no natives. But if Zane’s positioning onthe map is correct, we think these might be a chain of islands that are known for smuggling. And pirates. Even if a boat sees us calling for help, they’re not going to stop?—”

“Because they will be scared of us, thinking we’re smugglers.” Haley hugs herself.

“And if they do stop, we might be in more danger.”

“What do we have to steal that they would want?” Haley asks. But I see the moment she figures it out for herself. The moment when she knows—she’s the prize.

“I would think the authorities will look for us for three weeks. And after that, I’m not sure we want to be found.”

“We have fourteen more days.” She’s still holding on to the rope hanging from the tree.

“Thirteen,” Easton says. “We just have to be hopeful.”

“And cautious.” I glance up at the tree. “If we built a platform, we could station someone with a flare gun. To stay the night.”

“You aren’t staying in a tree all night.” Haley taps me in the chest again.

“I said on the platform. I’ll build it tomorrow.” I cock my head back at her, grabbing her finger off my chest. There are things I want her to do with that little hand of hers, but they don’t include stabbing me with it. “Careful, Haley, or I’ll find something else for that finger to do.”

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