Read Online Shipwreck Island by S. A. Bodeen - Free Book Online Page A

fall asleep, so she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to pretend she was in her room back in California. She lay there for hours, hoping they’d make it out alive.
    And then she woke up on her side by herself, and there was … nothing.
    Well, not nothing in the sense of absolute silence, but nothing in the sense of no rushing, howling wind, or beating rain and waves. There was no movement. She heard a trickle of water that seemed to come and go.
    Was it over?
    She sat up in the dim cabin, lit only by the lantern, whose battery-powered glow was fading by the minute. Her dad leaned back against the wall, his mouth hanging open as he quietly snored, Yvonna’s head on his lap. The boys were on their sides on the floor, both of them still asleep.
    Sarah stood, but couldn’t stay upright. The boat was tilted to one side.
    And the boat was still. Not moving.
    She quickly undid the straps of her smelly life jacket and tossed it as far away as she could. “Ugh.”
    And then she realized what was missing. Who was missing.
    â€œAhab?” Her voice was a whisper, but should have been loud enough for the dog to hear if he was on board the boat. She walked through the galley and over to the stairs. She looked up at daylight through the open hatch, then began to climb.
    She’d been wrong. The hatch wasn’t simply open, it was gone entirely, ripped off the hinges by the fury of the storm. Sarah stepped on deck and was immediately warmed by the sun. The sky was blue, not a cloud to be seen. She froze.
    The main mast was gone. All that remained was the bottom third, shards of wood where the rest of it had been broken off.
    The deck was clear; everything that had been there the last time she’d been on top was gone, swept overboard. “Ahab?”
    She stepped to the side of the boat that was tipped up, grabbed on to the side rail, and looked over. She gasped.
    Only a few hundred yards away lay an island.
    Moonflight had come to rest in a picturesque turquoise cove with a pristine white sand beach and thick, luscious palm trees. Her gaze went upward. Far beyond the initial line of trees, a green-topped mountain rose high above the rest. The place looked like a painting, far too beautiful to be real.
    Sarah gulped. Had they made it? Was this where they had been heading all along?
    She heard a bark. “Ahab?”
    The dog appeared between two palm trees and ran down onto the beach. As gentle waves lapped at his paws, he sat there, barking at Sarah. Then whining. Then barking again.
    â€œWhat is he doing?”
    The sailboat shuddered, and Sarah looked down.
    They had sideswiped a rock, which had impaled the hull, rendering the boat immobile. But Sarah saw water seeping in and out of the edges of the hole. Was Ahab trying to tell her that they needed to get off? He had been right about the storm, that was for sure.
    Sarah stuck her head through the doorway and yelled, “Get up!” Moonflight shuddered again. “Now!” she screamed.
    Her dad’s face appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “We’ve stopped?”
    Sarah nodded. “There’s an island. But we ran into a rock and I think the boat is going to sink.”
    John came up beside her and froze when he saw the island. “It’s so beautiful.”
    â€œDad!” Sarah grabbed his arm. “The boat!”
    John appraised the situation. “The keel must be touching the bottom, or some other rocks. That’s why we’re leaning. We seem to be pretty solid, but that could change with the tide. We probably shouldn’t waste time in getting off.” He disappeared and Sarah heard him calling to the others. Then he called up to her. “We need to grab all the supplies we can. Is the dinghy still there?”
    â€œNo! Yes! I don’t know!” She threw her hands in the air. “What’s a dinghy?”
    Her dad took a deep breath, like he needed extra patience or something.