grunts in agreement, no doubt still furious that they took his boat.
‘Well, hey, we’ll all be gone soon too,’ I say, my voice all fake cheery, like I’m doing the voice-over for a commercial.
Nobody replies.
A bird suddenly takes flight from the forest and swoops down over the beach toward the sea. If only I was a bird too. If only I could fly all the way back to LA – back to my mom and dad, and my cat, Tigger. I feel a lump growing in my throat. Cruz puts his arm round me and kisses the top of my head. I take a deep breath and make myself smile up at him. I can’t fall apart now, not when we’re so close to getting out of here.
‘Should we start getting ready?’ the Flea says. ‘So we can leave as soon as the sun comes up?’
Cruz nods and he and Dan get to their feet and head over to the boat. After giving Belle a quick hug, the Flea jumps up and goes to pack his things.
‘I’ll sit with you, Belle,’ I say, noticing that she’s starting to look freaked out again. I shuffle up and put my arm round her. Her shoulder blades feel bony beneath her T-shirt. I think back to the digs Jenna and Cariss made about her being overweight before we left and it makes me feel sick.
‘Why did you run off just now?’ Belle whispers to me.
I try to think of an answer that won’t make me sound like a fruit loop, and won’t totally freak Belle out. ‘I don’t know. Frustration, I guess. I just wanted to find the person who’s behind all the weird stuff that’s happened here.’
Belle looks at me, but her eyes are blank. ‘The person who took me?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘Do you know who it is?’
My face instantly flushes. ‘No, of course not.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Sure I’m sure.’
Belle looks so stressed. Maybe I ought to tell her what I know – or at least, what I think I know about Hortense. But then I see Belle’s mom’s broken necklace glinting in her hand. And I remember what the Flea told us about her mom being diagnosed with cancer right before we left. I can’t tell her anything. It’ll just make her even more upset.
‘We don’t know any more than you,’ I tell her. ‘When we found you in the volcano whoever had taken you there had gone.’
Belle frowns. She doesn’t look all that convinced.
‘I’m just going down to the water to wash the sand out of my trainers,’ the Flea says, coming over to us. ‘You okay, Beau-Belle?’
Belle nods.
‘Cool. I won’t be long and then I’ll help you get your stuff together, ’kay?’
‘Okay.’ As soon as he’s gone, Belle turns back to me. ‘Hold my hand, Grace,’ she whispers.
Still keeping my arm round her, I take hold of her hand and squeeze it tightly. Despite the humidity it’s as cold as ice. ‘You’re gonna be okay,’ I tell her, softly.
She closes her eyes and leans into me.‘Thank you,’ she sighs.
I glance over at Cruz. He and Dan are engrossed in checking out the sail on the boat.
I’m about to tell Belle what they’re doing when I see the Flea racing back toward us, a look of horror on his face.
‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ I call out to him.
‘What’s happening?’ Belle says, gripping my hand tightly.
‘It’s okay, it’s the Flea,’ I tell her as he gets back to us, gasping for breath. ‘What’s the matter?’
The Flea just stands there, his mouth hanging open, but no words coming out.
‘Hey, what’s up?’ Dan says, coming over with Cruz right behind him.
‘Th-the boat,’ the Flea stammers.
‘It’s okay, Dan and I just checked it again,’ Cruz says.
‘No, not that boat. The boat. Our boat. Your boat – the one the others took,’ the Flea says, looking straight at Cruz.
Cruz instantly looks alarmed. ‘What about it?’
The Flea gulps. ‘It – it’s been washed up on the beach. It’s totally trashed.’
As we run down the beach all I can think of is Jenna. And all I can hear is her voice, soft and scared, when we were trapped in the hold during the storm when this nightmare all began.
‘Grace, what’s happening? Are we going to die? ’
I can see a dark shape at the water’s edge. It looks like a beached whale. But as I get closer I see it’s the hull of the boat. There’s a huge jagged hole in the side, like something took a great bite out of it.
‘Oh no!’ My knees give way and I sink down on to the wet sand. My mind flashes back to the moment when I was left alone on the deck and I thought the waves were going to sweep me away. The idea of that actually happening to the others is so unbearable I can barely breathe.
The Flea starts pacing up and down.‘I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. There hasn’t been a storm. There hasn’t been a storm!’ he yells up at the sky, like he’s hollering at the weather gods.
‘Can someone please help me?’ Belle calls.
I wipe the tears from my eyes and clamber to my feet. We’d told Belle to wait by the trees but she’s stumbling blindly down the beach toward us.
‘I’ll go get her,’ the Flea says.
I nod. Dan and Cruz begin inspecting what’s left of the boat. For a second, fear has me frozen to the spot. I don’t know if I want to see any more. I force myself to walk over to them. The sea water feels icy against my warm feet and sends an instant chill through my body.
‘How – how bad is it?’ I ask them from the other side of the boat.
‘It’s bad,’ Dan replies. I’ve never heard him so serious.
I look at Cruz and he shakes his head.
Bile burns at the back of my throat and I fight the urge to retch. As I walk round the battered hull, water sloshes up to my knees.
The inside of the boat is an empty shell. The deck has been ripped out and only the floorboards of the hold remain. I look at Cruz frantically. ‘How did this happen? Is it storm damage? I don’t understand.’
Cruz frowns. ‘I
