Page 118 of No One Aboard
I didn’t mean for things to go this way. I didn’t mean to end up liking you so much. Or relating to you. Sometimes I even wished things could stay like this, me working for you on your boats, talking about lost brothers and drinking away bad storms. But there’s someone I need to find, and—who knows!—maybe this kick in your ass will be the best thing that ever happened to you. I’m sorry for takingSheila(though, truly it was time you moved on from her), but now you have no choice. Good-bye, stinkpot! Hello, sailboat! It’s time, old man.
Face your fears.
A thrill built up in Jerry’s stomach unlike anything he’d experienced before. Adrenaline? Fear? Maybe even determination.
He didn’t understand fully what had happened, only that fate had forced his hand. And that he wanted to make Lainey and Steve—both Steves—proud.
If it was even from Lainey at all. There was no signature at the bottom of the page, just an object bound by tape. Jerry stared at it, unsure what it meant or if he was even supposed to know. He peeled it back from the paper and held it up to the moonlight that beamed from behind the mast of his sailboat.
It was a thimble.
The Convey
Ernie Carmichael Arrested for Involvement in Cameron Disaster
Mike Grady
The disturbing ghost ship turned crime shakedown has more key players than initially imagined. Ernie Carmichael, longtime friend of Francis Cameron and Alejandro Matamoros, has been arrested and charged as an accomplice in Cameron’s illicit business practices throughout the years. Carmichael was originally meant to be part of the crew onThe Old Eileen, but he backed out of the getaway at the last second in the hopes police would not connect him to Cameron’s crimes. Cameron, while still officially MIA, is suspected to be dead, leaving no word about the fates of his best friend, first mate, wife, or two teenage children. Only Nicolás de la Vega, Matamoros’s nephew and a crew member onThe Old Eileen, has been officially declared dead now that officials received a family DNA sample to confirm the body’s identity. His cause of death is drowning. Authorities have not ruled out foul play.
With the rest of the Camerons and crew likely deceased as well, Carmichael seems poised tobecome a scapegoat in what looks like will be a long and substantial trial. Longtime fans of Lila Logan Cameron have flocked to post videos and photos on social media of the star in her younger years and to wish for her safe return. Oxbridge Academy has held a candlelight vigil for their two former students after releasing a statement that the Cameron twins, specifically Rylan, were “some of Oxbridge Academy’s finest.” St. Bernadette’s School for Girls stated their prayers remain with the family and the crew, and there is continued hope among those who knew Taliea that she is alive.
With an entire month having gone by since the ship was found empty, investigators say no new information is on the horizon. This leaves the police, the press, and the public alike with only speculation as to what might have happened on those final days aboardThe Old Eileenand what became of the dark and ill-fated empire that was the Cameron family.
Epilogue
Tia Cameron
Call sign: Thimble
One Month After the Storm
Tia lay flat on her back on the deck ofSheila 2.0. The sun rose around her and stretched itself out in every inch of the sky. It was uninhibited by land, and it used the whole space it was given, baking her watery world in gold.
The trusty old motorboat made an ugly chugging noise as she skipped over the water. Tia had been listening to that sound for days, and she still wasn’t used to it, but at least that was a constant. At least with the drone of the motor, she couldn’t quite hear the way the waves folded over one another. Even when she managed to catch handfuls of sleep, the engine’s sound chased away any nightmares of the storm.
Tia gazed up at the sky, but it was the sea below her that consumed her thoughts. She wondered for the thousandth time if she was riding over shipwrecks and treasures, living monsters and dead. Had she crossed the latitude that held her father’s body? What about Alejandro’s? MJ’s? Nico’s?
Was Rylan out here, dead, and she just motored on by without seeing? For all she knew, the only survivors were herself and the white ghost ship she’d left far behind.
Tia had almost stolenThe Old Eileenon one of the firstnights in the harbor. After she’d introduced herself to Jerry, she’d slipped aboard the ship that night and hidden in the bilges until she thought she was alone. She hadn’t been. Jerry had almost seen her, and then all would have been lost.
But it was better this way, stealingSheila 2.0, which was steady and easy to control.
She would find Rylan faster.
Then again, if Rylan were dead, she didn’t know what she would do next. That world was an impossible one to occupy, so she dismissed it. In her world, her twin was alive, and she would either find him or be content to search forever.
Above her, the clouds were lined in gold, and the goose bumps that had prickled across her skull dissipated. Her hair was growing back now, dark and thick and stubbly. She itched at it nonstop but was secretly thankful for its return. When the wind blew sharp at night, she had that at least to warm her.
The boat alarm jolted her from her senses. It had the same obnoxious tinniness asSheila 2.0’s engine. Tia got up, groaning, and went to the cockpit where the monitor blinked out its warning. She squinted to see what lay in her path.
Land.
The monitor showed a mile more of ocean and then, there in the middle of it tucked away like a secret, an island shaped rather like a triangle or a teardrop. She was headed right for it. Tia had taped the paper with the coordinates to the dashboard of the cockpit, and it flapped gently in the wind.
Tia sat behind the helm. She sank deep into Jerry’s cushioned seat, which smelled faintly of grouper, and took the little wheel in her hands. Was there another world where she ended up with her family alive on this island, whereThe Old Eileennever turned up empty or never turned up at all?
Sheila 2.0churned doggedly forward until the island became a real thing on the horizon. It grew from a speck to adot to a blob to a promise. As the boat moved into shallower, greener waters, Tia eased the throttle to a stop.
