Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59739 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59739 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
She shakes her head. “I spend my days staring out there, I have never seen something as clear as that, even if it is far away. I think it’s a boat.”
If it is, we can’t risk wasting time.
Aggie and Tatiana haven’t noticed. They are busy placing the eggs in something so they don’t break. I walk over, crouch beside them. “I think there is a boat,” I murmur, low enough that the wind almost takes it.
Aggie blinks at me, frown creasing her forehead. “Where?”
“Out on the horizon. Could be nothing.”
Tatiana leaps up, eggs forgotten, and sprints to the edge of the cliff, hair streaming behind her like a flag. Aggie and I follow, then we all stand there, staring, our eyes squinted. Deep inside, every single one of us is hoping it is a boat, but we’re all too scared to hope.
Aggie grabs my hand, squeezes it until my fingers hurt.
“If it’s really a boat,” she says, “we need to signal.”
“You’re right,” I say. “Come on. We need to get down, and fast.”
We run—me in front, Tati and Aggie behind, Rachel last. We climb carefully only when needed, the rest of the time we are dashing like our lives depend on it. We slip, tumble, bash our knees, but we make it. I can barely breathe, adrenaline making my skin buzz and my hands shake.
We reach camp, shouting for someone.
Ace and Adrian appear.
“What’s wrong?” Ace asks, his eyes on us, narrowed because we absolutely look terrible.
“I think there’s a boat, out there on the horizon,” I shout.
He glances at me, sees my face, and doesn’t waste time asking questions. “Zeke!” he roars, and within seconds, Zeke and Kellen have appeared from the woods, covered in sweat, eyes narrowed in the same confusion Ace just showed.
“Yo?”
“There’s a fuckin’ boat out there,” Ace tells him.
“What?” Zeke practically screams. “What the fuck? Let’s get this fire started. Let’s go! Throw everything you can, fucking everything on what’s there and light it up. Leaves, sticks, it don’t matter.”
We start rushing around, taking what we can into our hands and running towards the coals still burning from the night before. While we’re doing that, Kellen has the scope we found on the wreck, and has it stretched out, looking at the ship.
Then, in a cold, broken voice he bellows, “Fucking stop. Stop now.”
The sudden way Kellen’s voice cuts into the chaos zaps all the energy from the air. Everyone has their arms full—sticks, driftwood, palm fronds, Tatiana balancing a log on her shoulder—but when Kellen says stop, I stop, and then everyone else does too.
Kellen is frozen, eye pressed to the battered brass of the scope. Ace walks over and tries to pull it from him, but Kellen doesn’t let go. His knuckles go white, and it’s only when Zeke says his name in a low, warning tone, that he lowers it.
“What is it?” Ace growls.
Zeke puts his hand on the scope, silent permission. Kellen surrenders it, his jaw so tight it’s scary. Zeke stares for a long minute, then gives it to Ace. When he’s done, he drops the scope to his side and turns to stare at us, his face twisted with something unreadable.
“Pirates,” he growls, his voice low. “I think it’s fucking pirates.”
Aggie gasps beside me. Rachel is so still I think she might pass out. Tatiana swears under her breath, so softly I can’t make out the words.
“How do you even know? It could be nothing,” Adrian asks. “How can you tell it’s pirates from that far out? Are you sure you’re not being dramatic?”
Ace shoots him a look that has him shrinking back a little. “Because they are flying what looks like a fucking black flag. We ain’t takin’ that risk.”
“What do we do?” Aggie asks.
“We fuckin’ make ourselves vanish, that’s what we fuckin’ do,” Zeke orders. “Put the fire out, right fucking now. Get every bit of washing that is hanging, take everything down. If they go past with a scope, we need to make sure they can’t see a fucking thing.”
I stare in horror. Our camp is set up, it has been for a while, to take it all down is a huge job.
“Get it all,” Ace grits out, “every fucking bit of it.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
It’s Rachel who speaks, her voice tiny.
We all pause, turning to stare at her.
“What are you talkin’ about?” Kellen asks.
“What if you’re wrong, and it isn’t pirates, and we miss our one chance at getting out of here?”
My eyes dart to Aggie, who gives me a concerned look.
We all understand where she’s coming from, of course we do, but it is a huge risk to take if we’re wrong. Either way it goes.
“I’m tellin’ you,” Kellen bites out, his face firm. “That ships out here, with flags like that, are very unlikely to be good people.”