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  We’d almost made it to the marina exit. The group that had been following us now stood in small groups at the end of our pier. They were all screaming at once.

  Then one voice carried over the rest. “Your keys,” a woman screamed. “Please. Throw us your keys.”

  Keys? Is that what they wanted? I stood at the rail and held up my hand. “You want our car keys?”

  One of the men stepped forward. “I don’t know why you’re taking a boat out to sea, but we need to get to the airport. There aren’t any buses or taxis.”

  I wondered if the airport was still open, but that didn’t matter. We could at least give them a chance to survive.

  “Cole, slow down.” I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled. “Everyone! Throw your car keys to those families. They came here on an Alaskan cruise ship. They’re stranded.”

  Cole and Dylan looked at each other. Nick reached into his pocket, pulled out a set of keys, and frowned. Takumi stood beside me, dangling his keys.

  “No way!” Zoë clutched her purse. “Why should I give them my car?”

  “Because your car will be destroyed in a few hours.” Dylan snatched our car key from Cole and held out his hand to Zoë.

  “Throw them. Now! We have to get going.” Cole fought the wheel. We were going too slowly and the current was pushing the boat around.

  Zoë held out her palm with a Mercedes key on it. Her lips trembled. Dylan threw our key, then Zoë’s. Nick and Takumi tossed theirs at the same time. Someone on the pier caught each one. The only one left was Jervis.

  “I rode with Nick.” He shrugged.

  “Take supplies from the restaurant before you go, just in case the airport’s closed.” Takumi pointed to the marina restaurant.

  Some of the guys checked to see where he was pointing. A few nodded.

  “Thank you. Thank you,” a woman holding a baby called out.

  A curly-haired girl waved.

  I tried to feel good about helping them, but all I could think was that I’d only driven the car by myself three times. I lay back on the deck. The disaster was real now. Too real.

  A wave hit the side of the boat. Cole spun the wheel away from the breakwater and towards the choppy seas of the Puget Sound.

  Our car was gone. We were heading out to sea. There was no turning back.

  Chapter Four

  Fifteen Hours Before

  We motored away from the only city I’d ever lived in. Seattle glistened in the sun. Mount Rainier floated like an ice-cream sundae with marshmallow topping. There was not a cloud in the sky.

  Whistler was my father’s pride and joy. It was a beautiful boat. It had two sails. A small sail called a jib hung loosely in the bow, or front, of the boat. A huge main sail was attached to a giant mast in the middle of the boat. My dad had just finished painting the teak trim.

  Dad. My parents hadn’t made it. I doubled over in pain and clutched my stomach.

  A hand touched my shoulder. Zoë sat beside me. “At least you have part of your family with you.”

  She was right. I had my brothers. I couldn’t imagine heading out on this trip without them.

  I didn’t know Zoë well. She’d been at the house a lot over the summer, but she almost never spoke to me. I guess I was kind of in awe of her. She was beautiful, with raven black hair, and a curvy figure. She and my brother were both going to be seniors, and skinny sophomores like me were not welcome in their crowd. But now, none of that mattered.

  I gazed around the boat at our crew.

  Cole and Dylan stood behind the wheel, their backs to the skyline. Cole steered the boat while Dylan pointed and mumbled something about the chart system.

  A lump formed in my throat. My brothers were handsome, with their sandy hair and blue eyes. People said they had trouble telling them apart. I never understood that. Cole had a narrow face. His eyes were bigger and softer than Dylan’s. They looked clearly different from one another.

  Angelina and Makala were snuggled in the cockpit seats. Jervis sat across from them and seemed troubled. I wondered what their stories were. How had the girls ended up in a tent? Where had Jervis’s family gone?

  Zoë sniffed and I searched for something she could wipe her nose on. We hit some rough seas and a box of tissues in the front of the boat slid toward the water.

  “Grab that.” I pointed at the box.

  Nick and Takumi were sitting on the bow, not far from us. They’d been checking their cell phones and staring back at the city, quiet and still.

  Takumi dove for the box and passed it to Zoë.

  The deck was still covered in supplies. I thought about getting up and putting everything away, but I could still see the city and Mount Rainier. I didn’t want to move and miss a second of it.

  The bay sparkled in the sun. The only boat in sight was a giant car ferry. It circled around the port of Seattle, a short ways from the city. All the ferries in the area had returned to Seattle. This one couldn’t find a place to dock.

  The crew of the ferry began lowering lifeboats. Their voices carried over the water. Some of the passengers argued that they needed their cars and demanded the ferry find a place to unload. Others seemed to be pushing to get aboard the lifeboats.

  Then there were screams. Terrible screams.

  One of the loaded rafts dropped, flipped upside down, and dumped its passengers into the frigid salt water.

  "Cole, turn around." I gestured wildly.

  Cole and Dylan glanced back at the ferry and stared at each other. Our boat didn’t change course.

  “Hurry,” I yelled. “We have to help.”

  Takumi and Nick rose up. A wave hit and they grabbed the life lines.

  “What are you waiting for?” Takumi asked.

  Nick yelled. “Come on. They’re drowning.”

  Zoë whimpered.

  Dylan gripped Cole’s shoulder.

  Jervis sat up. “What do you think you’re doing? We gotta help them.”

  Dylan moved to hover above Jervis. One hand rested on the canvas dodger. “We can’t go back. We’re an hour behind schedule. If we don’t get out far enough...”

  “Screw that. There are kids and old people in the water.” Jervis rose up as tall as he could under the cockpit cover, face-to-face with my brother.

  Dylan didn’t flinch. “So what happens if we pull them from the water and carry them to the marina? Then what? Do you think they’ll want to be left there, dripping wet, without their cars, or any supplies? And even if they agree to be dropped off, how long would the rescue take?”

  “But we can’t just go off and leave—” Jervis dropped his arm. “This is wrong, Dylan. I don’t care what you say. This is wrong.”

  A ferry worker threw life rings to the victims. Another lifeboat was being lowered. The screams grew weaker. Some people floated in the water, hardly moving at all.

  “I agree, but it’s what we have to do.” Dylan pushed off the dodger. “If we help them, we’ll all die.” He lowered his voice. “We’re on the sea now.”

  The guys glared. Finally Jervis scowled and sat down.

  I gasped. “Cole, we can’t––”

  Cole put his hand up for me to stop. “Dylan’s right. Without transportation they won’t make it out of the city. We don’t have room to take them all. And the hours the rescue would take would mean we wouldn’t get out far enough. We’d all be crushed by the wave. I’m so sorry. I hate it. I hate all of this, but it’s the way it is.”

  “No!” I cried.

  Dylan came and sat between Zoë and me. "Don't watch." He wrapped an arm around each of us. I struggled to pull away but he held me tight. “Don’t make this harder for Cole,” he whispered.

  “My baby!” a woman in the distance screamed.

  I burst into tears. I wept for the ferry victims. I sobbed for my parents. I bawled as I hadn’t since I was a small child. The tears wouldn’t stop. I hated what was happening. I cried and cried, and at some point, fell asleep.

  Dylan
’s growling stomach woke me. The sun was high overhead. It was at least two o’clock. The Seattle skyline and the ferry disaster were far behind us.

  I left Zoë asleep in Dylan’s arms.

  Dylan mouthed, “You okay?”

  I shrugged and picked up the box of tissues and wiped my face. The boat was still a mess of strewn about supplies. I made my way back to the back of the boat, stepping over snorkeling equipment and paper products. Cole’s face was grim.

  I studied the coastline and realized we were almost to Port Ludlow. I always liked Ludlow. We sometimes anchored in the bay for a night when we headed out on our family sailing trips. Mom liked the restaurant at the lodge.

  I whispered to Cole, “I’m going below to get some of this stuff stowed.”

  “Toni, I…”

  “I don’t agree,” I said. Our eyes met. “But I understand.”

  “Thanks.” Cole’s shoulders straightened and he studied the instruments. “I wish there’d been another way.”

  I touched his arm. “I know.”

  Angelina and her sister had fallen asleep too. Jervis glared stonily out at the passing shore. He ignored me as I climbed over him. I missed his wink.

  Below deck was worse than I expected. Bags, boxes, and equipment had been dumped everywhere.

  The daypacks, I threw into sleeping cabins: boys’ stuff in the bow, girls’ in the stern. We could sort them later. Angelina had a full-sized hiking pack. I’d have to find a place for it once it was unloaded.

  Raising the glass hatch in the v-berth, I climbed up on the bed, and poked my head out the opening. Takumi and Nick were still on the bow.

  “Hand me down all the stuff lying around the deck, will you?” I whispered.

  The guys startled, but moved fast. Soon the upper deck was clear.

  “Need any help?” Takumi averted his eyes as he handed me the box of tampons.

  “Do you cook?” I was too wiped out to blush.

  He shrugged. “Yeah, a little.”

  “Great. You’re on for lunch. Come on down.”

  With hands on hips, I checked the cabin. There was more gear than storage space. I left a roasted chicken, grapes, and the bread Mom had sent sitting next to the kitchen sink.

  I climbed up the four steps to the cockpit opening. “Cole. Ready for lunch?”

  Angelina and her sister jolted awake. The little girl rubbed her eyes. “I am!”

  Cole nodded. “Sounds good. What you got?”

  “Takumi’s making lunch. Mom loaded us with lots of perishable food. We’ll use it first.” I glanced at the girls.

  Makala scrunched her face.

  “What’s wrong, munchkin?” Jervis leaned across the cockpit.

  “I don’t like per’shible food,” she whimpered.

  I managed a weak grin and waited for Takumi to join me.

  Chapter Five

  Fourteen Hours Before

  The seas were still calm. The boat rocked gently. I sat in the captain’s seat across from the galley and watched Takumi make sandwiches. I rested my elbows on a desk Dad called the ‘chart table.’ The constant hum of the engine filled the salon and heated it.

  “Do you think anyone will want mayo?” Takumi opened the loaf of organic whole-grain bread.

  “Probably.” I didn’t care for mayo, but my brothers did. “Just put a little on all of them. We can’t start by making special meals for anyone.”

  He laid nine pieces of bread out on the cutting board that fit over the stove. Finding a knife in the drawer, he began slicing and piecing the chicken sections onto the bread.

  “That’s a smart way to do it.” I grabbed the hand rail as the boat gently rolled.

  Takumi kept working. “How would you do it?”

  “I’d make one sandwich at a time, I guess.”

  “You don’t cook much, do you?” Takumi spread another thin layer of mayo on the top bread slices.

  I shrugged. “No. Mom tried to teach me, but cooking takes too long. You spend hours making something that disappears in minutes.”

  Takumi smiled. He had a nice smile. I felt a rush of heat on my face.

  “Cole likes to mess around in the kitchen when he has time. And Dylan barbecues. I’m happy with yogurt. Easy and fast.”

  Slicing the sandwiches in half, Takumi searched for a plate in the cupboard above the fridge. “I like to cook. My father gave some cooking classes to Mom a few years ago and I went with her. It was kinda fun.”

  I fiddled with the panel switches. “Guess everyone has a different idea of what’s fun.”

  He became quiet, his eyes downcast while he piled the sandwiches on a large plate. “I think cooking is creative.” He held up the plate for me to see. “What else?”

  “There are chips in the locker.” I pointed. “And grapes. We can open a box of cookies for dessert.”

  He stood still for a few seconds and then set the plate down. “This food has to last a long time, right?”

  I nodded.

  “We should leave the chips and cookies for later. Grapes and sandwiches are good for now. If the chips and cookies are sealed, they’ll keep. Grapes and bread won’t.”

  “Fine,” I agreed. “And after lunch, why don’t I show you where we’ve put the rest of the food we brought. You can figure out the best way to use it.”

  “Whoa, I didn’t mean to sound like an expert. I just thought…” Takumi’s eyebrows furrowed.

  “Yeah, you did, and I didn’t. That’s the point. I get hungry. I eat. I don’t think about it, nor do I want to. If you can make this food last, and think it is fun to create meals out of what we have, then it should be your job.”

  “My job?” He washed the grapes and put them in a bowl.

  “I’ll help, but I wouldn’t know where to begin. And having someone in charge is good.”

  “I …I …,” Takumi stuttered.

  With sandwiches in hand, I started up the stairs. The sun was warm. There was no wind and the waters were flat, except for the occasional swell. I couldn’t remember ever making the passage when the sea was so calm. Maybe it was because there weren’t any other boats. Or maybe we just happened to hit the tides right.

  The seating area in the back of the boat, called the cockpit, was crowded with nine people. We opened the teak table and put the plate of sandwiches and bowl of grapes in the middle. Jervis and Zoë sat on one bench. Angelina and Makala sat across from them on the other. Cole stood behind the wheel. I handed him a sandwich.

  Dylan and Nick settled into the molded seats at the corners of the stern. I climbed in behind Angelina and Makala, making their back support my seat. I slid my legs between them. Takumi handed out bottles of water and then sat the same way between Jervis and Zoë.

  “Everyone gets two halves. That’s it.” I took my sandwich.

  “Good sandwiches,” Cole said with his mouth full.

  “Yeah, who made them?” Dylan grinned at me.

  I laughed. “Okay, you guys. I know I’m no good in the kitchen, or in this case, the galley. But I did something better. I found us a chef. Takumi has taken cooking classes.”

  The group stared at Takumi. He started to take a bite of his sandwich, but then rested it on his knee. “I was twelve.”

  “Has anyone else had cooking lessons?” I saw nothing but blank faces. “Okay, then. Job’s yours.” I smiled at Takumi.

  He frowned.

  Zoë opened her sandwich and threw the chicken overboard. “I’m vegetarian.”

  I glanced at Takumi. We’d been wrong. We should have asked what they would and wouldn’t eat. We couldn’t afford to waste food.

  Jervis finished the last of his halves and licked his fingers. “Great. What’s for dinner?”

  Smiles filled the cockpit. It felt weird to be having lighthearted conversation after what we’d just been through, but it was also nice.

  Makala whispered in her sister’s ear. Angelina nodded, took the little girl’s second half of her sandwich, and held it out to J
ervis. “She wants you to have this. She says you are big and she is small.”

  Jervis’ eyes glistened as he took the sandwich. He held it gingerly, but didn’t eat it.

  “Want me to take a picture?” Dylan feigned reaching into his pocket.

  Jervis shoved the whole sandwich into his mouth.

  Makala giggled.

  We passed the bowl of grapes around, flicking the stems into the water. For a long while we were each lost in his or her thoughts. I checked my cell for service. It was still out.

  Zoë listened to old messages, over and over again. Jervis shared pictures on his phone of his three little sisters and his mom. For a second I thought his eyes welled up, but I might have been mistaken.

  I put my phone away. “Someone tell me about the volcanoes. Why did a whole bunch of them go off?”

  “Volcanoes?” Angelina swiveled to face me. “I thought you said a tsunami?”

  “Dylan said volcanoes set off the tsunami.” I searched for someone to fill me in.

  Nick grabbed a handful of grapes and threw a rotten one overboard. “A guy on the radio said there was a big tectonic plate shift on the other side of the Pacific. Over half the volcanoes in Indonesia went off.”

  “What’s In’o’esia?” Makala asked.

  “It’s an island country between India and Australia,” Takumi said. “What about Japan’s volcanoes?”

  Nick put a grape in his mouth. “The radio didn’t say anything about Japan, except that the tsunami was headed straight for it.”

  “My parents are there.” Takumi’s voice cracked.

  Nick shook his head. “Sorry, dude.” He threw a couple more grapes overboard, and then continued. “The radio also said the last time a giant volcano went off in Indonesia, there was a year of winter around the world. Since so many erupted this time, no one knows how long this winter might last. It might even trigger another Ice Age.”

  “Ice Age?” Zoë yelped.