âI mean he is gone , as in not on the boat anymore.â
Marco felt his stomach drop and Sarah gasped.
Nacho looked up, his eyes red from crying. âWhere? Where did he go?!â
Sarah cried, âHe canât just leave us!â
âHe wouldnât just leave us, sweetheart,â said John.
âAre you sure?â Yvonna asked. âHow can he be gone?â
âIâm not sure.â John slumped down on the floor. âI went to use the distress call, but I couldnât get it to work, and then ⦠he was gone.â He put a hand to his forehead.
Yvonna said, âWe need to look for him! He could be hurtââ
Marco said, âItâs terrible out there.â
As if to emphasize his point, the boat tilted horrendously to one side and paused there, causing Marcoâs heart to stop, before the craft finally righted itself, only to tilt to the other side.
âDad, what do we do?â Sarahâs voice was small and shaky, and John held out his arms to her. She crawled over to him, Ahab at her heels, and he embraced her as he looked at the others.
John cleared his throat. âWeâre not going to go looking for the captain.â
Yvonna started to say something, but Johnâs expression made her stop. He said, âHe was ⦠he was already gone when we went up there. I meanââ
âDead?â asked Nacho. His voice was shaky.
Marco put a hand on his shoulder. âYeah. We think it was the mast.â
His momâs forehead wrinkled. âThe mast? Whatâs wrong with the mast?â
Marco exchanged a glance with his stepfather, who nodded and said, âThe sound we heard was the mast falling. Itâs broken.â
As Nacho ran to their mom, Sarah shoved her face into Ahabâs fur.
Marco remembered the headset. âWe can call for help!â He shined the flashlight at the electronics panel heâd found earlier.
John made his way over and sat down in the chair. He put on the headset and starting pushing buttons. âSOS! SOS!â He paused. âHello! SOS! SOS!â He kept flipping switches, shouting, âSOS!â now and then. After a few minutes, he took off the headset and put it on the table. He shook his head. âI donât think it worked.â
Sarah asked, âWhat do we do?â
âWe have to ride it out,â John said. âThatâs all we can do.â He swallowed. âWe have no choice.â
Marco made his way over to his mom, who put her other arm around his shoulder and squeezed. Marco had questions.
He wanted to ask, What if the boat starts leaking?
What if the boat capsizes?
What ifâ
But then he realized he already knew the answer.
Worst case?
They would go down with the boat.
Best case?
They would all be adrift in the ocean during a storm.
Either way, the chances of surviving â¦
Marco leaned his head on his mother, scrunched his eyes shut, and pretended she had never met John; they were still back in Texas, and had never even left home.
Â
13
All night long they huddled in the cabin as the furious sea tossed Moonflight about, sometimes so violently that Sarah held her breath, thinking they were done for. She couldnât sleep, not with her heart pounding and the rest of her body a trembling knot as she braced herself for each dip and sway of the boat. At least she was over her seasickness.
Yvonna, however, had crawled into the small bathroom earlier and was vomiting for a while. Sarah knew how she felt and couldnât help but muster a little sympathy for her.
Ahab stayed by Sarah. He whined now and then, but he made no move to try to escape the boat, which seemed to help calm Sarah. The dog seemed to know things, and if he was content to stay on board the boat, then maybe ⦠well, she hoped anyway, that it meant they would be okay.
Finally, she gave up and laid her head down in her dadâs lap. She knew sheâd never
Julie Buxbaum
MAGGIE SHAYNE
Edward Humes
Samantha Westlake
Joe Rhatigan
Lois Duncan
MacKenzie McKade
Patricia Veryan
Robin Stevens
Enid Blyton