Chapter 28
Rylan Cameron
Call sign: Minnow
It was just after four in the morning when Pirate woke Rylan up by kneading his paws on his shoulder and purring like a tractor.
Rylan’s heart broke for the cat, and he shifted to include him underneath his sheets. He hadn’t been sleeping well anyway,
for fear of dreaming up swollen, waterlogged bodies dripping salt water in the corner of his bedroom.
So instead he lay there, trying not to think about what Francis had said at breakfast. He wished that Tia hadn’t pushed their
father, that Francis hadn’t revealed there would be a surprise destination. Rylan would have preferred to find out when they
got there instead of wondering for the rest of the trip where they could be headed and why.
Pirate also seemed uneasy. The cat curled on his chest, and Rylan couldn’t shake the feeling that Pirate knew something the
humans didn’t. Everyone said that the cat didn’t understand MJ was gone, that he was waiting patiently for her return, but
Rylan suspected the opposite was true. Pirate had been pawing at the freezer in the galley, and now he stared down the door.
As if someone was waiting on the other side.
Tia’s watch alarm beeped. Why would she have had an alarm set at this hour?
Rylan watched her. Even though the watch was pressed against her face as she slept, it still took her a solid sixty seconds to groan and switch it off.
She dragged herself to an upright position, hair sticking at strange angles.
“Did I wake you?” she whispered loudly.
“Did you think you could somehow not wake me after all that?” Rylan replied, knuckle rubbing between Pirate’s ears.
Tia sighed. “I was trying not to.”
“Technically Pirate woke me. Why are you getting up?”
Tia seemed to hesitate, which drove Rylan crazy. He was desperate to regain the ease of their friendship, back when the only
secrets they had were from the world, never each other.
“Tell me,” Rylan pressed. He couldn’t sit up, with the cat like a paperweight on his torso, but he tried to round his eyes
persuasively.
Tia made a throaty, exasperated sound, and Rylan knew she’d relented.
“I’m going to the chart house. Nico and I found where we’re going, and he’s on watch now, so this is the best time to contact
whoever’s nearby and try to get off this ship.”
“Oh.”
“I stashed the paper with the coordinates on it in your raincoat pocket, just so you know.”
Rylan frowned. “Why my coat?”
“Because I want you to be part of this too,” Tia said.
Rylan heard what she didn’t say. Whether you like it or not.
Tia’s jaw popped as she yawned. “So you should come with us. Since you’re already up.”
Rylan wanted to be a part of things, but not if it meant sleuthing behind Francis’s back.
“I don’t know . . .”
It was Tia’s turn to make her pupils into disks. “Come on, Ry. I’ve been having a really hard time since MJ. It’ll be like when we were little, playing with the ship’s log. Please?”
She had been having a hard time since MJ’s death. Rylan swallowed. Tia knew exactly how to find an exposed nerve and flick it.
“Fine,” Rylan said at last. He carefully scooped Pirate into his arms as he got up, petting the cat profusely to keep him
from slipping away.
He hugged him to his heart and followed Tia out into the hallway and onto the deck. Pirate shifted in his arms, on edge.
Nico waved the twins over from the cockpit, and they took their seats on the cockpit bench.
“Tia drag you into this?” Nico joked, then glanced between them. “You look like you didn’t sleep a wink.”
Pirate wormed out of Rylan’s arms and wove between Nico’s legs. Rylan watched Pirate. If he needed any more confirmation that
Nico was trustworthy, it was this.
“We’re good. We need to call in on that radio,” Tia said.
“Probably easier if I go down there myself since neither of you know VHF. Can you take the wheel, Tia?”
Take the wheel? Tia couldn’t steer the ship—she didn’t know how.
“Sure I can.” Tia traded places with Nico, and Rylan stared at her. Since when could his sister helm a sailboat?
Tia turned her face up toward the stars, as if she knew what they said.
Nico put a hand on Rylan’s shoulder, snapping him out of it. “You can help me in the chart house. And I can show you the spot
we think they’re taking us to. Francis ordered our heading changed to one hundred and ten. We’re officially off course now.”
Rylan followed Nico to the chart house companionway. Belowdecks, Lila and Francis were asleep. But what if they woke up?
Nico put a finger to his lips and pointed down into the chart house. Rylan looked and froze.
Alejandro was slumped on the counter, snoring. The ship’s log sat by his outstretched hand. What was he doing there? Had he
known Tia and Nico planned to look at the log book? No . . . no, he must have fallen asleep doing navigation work. Or something.
Nico crept into the chart house, apparently unconcerned by his uncle’s presence, though he took care to be quiet as he thumbed
through a stack of maps. Rylan stayed rooted to the spot, afraid of making noise if he tried to help or retreat. Nico gestured
with his other hand for Rylan to come see a map.
Rylan held his breath and tiptoed closer. Nico pointed.
This is it, he mouthed.
At first, Rylan didn’t understand. There was nothing on the map where Nico had indicated, just empty space that represented
the ocean. But when Rylan bent closer he saw a minuscule speck that stood for land. It was far south of Florida, closer to
the Bahamas than anything else, and unlabeled.
An island.
That’s where Nico and Tia had found that they were going? To this dot in the center of the sea? Rylan swayed a little: he’d
been holding his breath too long. He inhaled, but his breaths came shallower than he needed. He couldn’t look away from the
map, from the wide white space and the small black dot. Something about it stunted his breathing.
Could it still be a vacation if the place they were going was the size of a piece of dust and wasn’t associated with any other
place on the map?
Nico started writing, copying the coordinates in the ship’s log down on a separate scrap of paper that he placed inside his pocket before looking past his uncle’s sleeping form at the wall.
Rylan followed his gaze.
The ship’s radio sat in its cradle over the counter. Nico moved so he was almost touching Rylan.
“The radio is attached to a cord,” Nico breathed into Rylan’s ear. Rylan shivered.
Even if they managed to get the radio, the cord would keep them from sneaking back on deck to use it. There was no way they
could use it without Alejandro waking up.
This is ridiculous, Rylan told himself, mouth dry. If he wakes up, what’s he going to do anyway?
Wake up Dad . . .
Rylan balked and tried to go back up the companionway, but Nico held him steady by the hand and gestured for him to breathe.
“I can’t,” Rylan said between his teeth. “It won’t work.”
Nico hesitated, then released his hand and offered a kind smile. He wasn’t even angry at Rylan’s cowardice. It made Rylan
sick. Tia should have been the one in here, but it wasn’t like Rylan could steer The Old Eileen. He sucked in a breath. He should have stayed with Pirate in bed.
“What do you want me to do, anyway?” he whispered.
“Distract him if he wakes up. Just be casual.”
Rylan whipped his head from side to side.
Nico caught his shoulders. “Okay, I’ll distract him. You grab the radio.”
“I—I don’t know what to do with it even if I got it,” Rylan sputtered. He glanced to make sure Alejandro was still sleeping
through this.
“Just press the button on the side and start talking.” Nico tilted Rylan’s chin upward and gave a heart-melting smile. “You’re braver than you think, Rylan. Trust me.”
Braver than you think . . . I’m braver than I think . . . Rylan filled his lungs, then snuck forward. His long arms easily reached over Alejandro’s slouched form, and the radio came
loose from its cradle with a gentle click that made Rylan wince. But Nico was right beside him, ready to move between Rylan
and Alejandro in case he woke up.
Rylan stepped back, radio in hand. His pulse made its way into every one of his fingers.
He held his thumb over the big button on the side. Once he pressed the button, static would crackle, and Alejandro would wake
up for sure.
Rylan tried to organize his thoughts. This is The Old Eileen. We’re being taken to some island without our consent.
The thought of the island made Rylan’s fingers buzz.
This is The Old Eileen. We’re being taken to some island without our consent. Can you help us get home?
He had to speak quickly and articulately.
Would Nico be able to distract Alejandro long enough?
Nico signaled at him to go ahead. Rylan retreated as far from Alejandro as the radio cord would allow before he pushed down
on the button.
Nothing. No static. No connection. Rylan pressed it again then looked at Nico in confusion. Only Nico wasn’t looking at him.
Rylan followed his gaze to the radio cord, which was uncoiling from the cradle.
But instead of stretching the distance between the radio and the wall, the cord unraveled and fell.
Cut clean through the middle.