by S.A. Bodeen
Marco shook his head. “No, you go. I’ll hold it.”
“You can’t with your arm,” said Sarah.
“You’re hurt?” asked Yvonna.
“Just get on the boat.” Sarah gripped the stick. “This thing is going down.”
Marco firmed up the backpack’s strap on one shoulder and leaped across the gap. He made it, then turned back to face the skimmer, which sunk slowly toward the water. “Mom, come on!”
Yvonna met Sarah’s gaze. “You promise. You’ll come right after me.”
“Cross my heart,” said Sarah. “I’m off this thing as soon as possible.”
Yvonna hitched up her pink dress above her knees and leaped across the gap. She landed on the rail and Marco grabbed her arm. She jumped down to the deck and turned back. “Your turn!”
Suddenly the skimmer listed to one side. Sarah slipped and fell, grabbing on to the stick before she slid all the way off.
“Sarah!” yelled Yvonna.
Breathless, heart pounding, Sarah stuck her feet in slat after slat, scrambling her way up the skimmer until she was high enough to see over the top. About five feet of air lay between her and Yvonna’s stricken face.
Sarah hooked one leg over and managed to get up on her knees. Gingerly, she got to her feet, her arms straight out to steady her on the narrow balance-beam edge.
Yvonna leaned over the rail. Sarah held her breath and reached for Yvonna.
“You can do this!” Yvonna leaned out farther.
Sarah pushed off with both her legs, but the skimmer gave slightly, cutting her momentum. But she was already airborne, straining to reach out for Yvonna—
Sarah’s fingers brushed the slippery side of the sailboat as she fell.
“Sarah!” yelled Yvonna.
A rope hung down the side of the boat and Sarah managed to snatch it with her right hand. But she slid all the way down, her hand burning. The rest of her body banged into the side of the sailboat. She reached up and held the rope with her other hand.
She clung there, her shoes about a foot above the waves, and stared up.
Yvonna was above, dark hair hanging down as she called to Sarah, “Hold on, sweetie!”
Sarah could do nothing but nod as she hung there, her hands and arms and shoulders screaming from the effort.
Tears leaked out. Where was her dad? Why wasn’t he there to save her?
“What is that?” yelled Cash.
A fin was thirty yards away and closing in.
Sarah screamed.
The rope began to slowly raise her.
Not fast enough.
Sarah’s burning hands trembled so much she nearly let go of the rope.
Twenty yards.
Sarah dangled there, bumping against the side, going upward inches at a time.
Too slow.
Ten yards.
She was halfway up the side. Still far too close to the water.
Marco yelled, “It’s coming!”
The fin neared.
Sarah put one stinging hand above the other and tried to climb.
Nine yards.
Sarah moved her other hand up, barely above the other. Her arms were so tired from hanging on.
Eight yards—
A short distance behind the fin, the water surged and rose up ten feet into the air. A massive red maw of a mouth opened, revealing sharp white teeth at least a foot long.
Sarah screamed.
The mouth clamped down, devoured the sharkodile in one bite, and then disappeared beneath the water.
The resulting wave swamped Sarah and sent her spinning like a top at the end of the rope.
She gasped for breath. Her hands slipped on the drenched rope, and she started to slide.
She was going to fall into the water where that thing would—
Someone grabbed Sarah by her wrist.
She blinked water out of her eyes.
Yvonna hung halfway over the railing. “I’ve got you.” Her eyes fixed on Sarah’s. “Focus on me.”
Sarah nodded.
Yvonna tightened her grip.
Sarah winced. “Just don’t let go.”
“I won’t.” Yvonna yelled, “Pull us up!”
Slowly, slowly, Sarah inched upward, her wrist killing her where her stepmother grasped it. Yvonna disappeared over the top, only her arms still visible at the edge.
Sarah’s wrist reached the railing. She lifted her other hand and grabbed on.
Yvonna let go.
Sarah was pulled into a hot, sweaty embrace, encircled by familiar arms.
“Dad.” Sarah wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his damp, dirty shirt. He had been the one holding Yvonna. So he had been there to help save her, after all. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Same here, kiddo.” He pulled back and kissed her forehead. “Are you okay?”
Sarah smiled. “I am now.”
“What was that thing?” asked Cash.
Sarah exchanged a glance with Marco. Apparently the sharkodile wasn’t the only water mutant Leo and his grandfather had created.
Sarge said, “I’m not sticking around to find out. Everyone on board? Because that, my friends, was our cue to leave.”
Sarah’s dad set her down on the deck and wrapped a towel around her.
Yvonna hugged Marco. “Where are you hurt?”
Marco held up his arm. “I think I sprained it or something.”
“We’ve got a first-aid kit with some wraps,” said Cash. “I’ll show you.”
She disappeared down into the hold with Marco and Yvonna.
Sarge started the engine and the boat headed out of the lagoon.
Sarah turned toward Shipwreck Island.
The volcano was a black cloud, with momentary glimpses of glowing orange. Half the island was on fire. Sarah could make out the animals at the water’s edge. “What’s going to happen to them?”
“Look!” said Nacho.
To the west, dark storm clouds had begun to build.
“Maybe it’ll rain enough to put out the fire,” said Sarah.
Nacho asked, “So Leo left?”
“He did.” Sarah noticed the backpack. “Hey, we brought that back.”
Nacho took it in both arms and nearly collapsed. “What’s in it?”
“Leo left us in charge of half his progenitor.”
Nacho set the backpack on the deck and unzipped it. He carefully pulled back the sides, revealing an object wrapped in the white netting. “Should we open it?”
Sarah shook her head. “It’s better that we leave it as it is.”
Nacho looked disappointed. Then his eyes widened. “What’s this?” He pulled out a small parcel wrapped in cloth the color of Leo’s jumpsuit. Nacho knelt down and set the cloth on his knees. Slowly he set one corner aside, then another. He gasped.
Two small white eggs lay there.
“What are they?” asked Sarah.
“I think…” Nacho trailed off. “But it’s not possible.”
“What?”
Nacho smiled. “Well, I think, even though it couldn’t be … I think they’re passenger pigeon eggs.”
Sarah said, “With Leo? Anything is possible.”
Nacho wrapped the eggs back up and carefully tucked them under his shirt, cradling the bulge gently.
Marco came up a moment later, his wrist wrapped in a white bandage.
Yvonna followed behind him and held up a small white tube of cream. “Now for you.”
“What’s that?” Sarah asked.
“Your hands look like they hurt.”
“A little.” Sarah held out her rope-burned palms.
Yvonna squeezed out some clear, pungent-smelling ointment and gently rubbed it in. She blew on Sarah’s hands and asked, “Better?”
Sarah nodded.
Yvonna winked. “Good.” She leaned forward and kissed Sarah’s forehead, then went over to Sarah’s dad by the railing. They hugged and then he set his hand on her belly.
/> “And so it starts,” said Sarah.
Marco turned away and faced the island with Sarah. “I suppose we should get used to it.”
Sarah smiled. “You first.”
Marco laughed.
Sarah watched Shipwreck Island grow smaller and smaller. The sun reflected brightly off the water and Sarah squinted. “No one would believe any of this.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Sarah glanced up at him. “Why do you say that?”
“Well, we know it happened. We know it’s real.” He shrugged. “Does it really matter what anyone else thinks?”
“I guess not.”
“What’s that?” Marco pointed up.
A bird followed them, winging its way closer. Sarah shaded her eyes with a hand. The sun was too bright for her to see the color of the bird, but the outline was impossible to miss. “Are those…”
“Four wings? Yeah,” Marco said. “Maybe we should keep this between us.”
“Definitely,” agreed Sarah.
Marco glanced down at his wrist and her hands. “We could shake on it, but…”
Sarah grinned.
Sarge called out, “I set a course. Should be to port before dawn.”
“This isn’t so bad,” said Marco.
“The sailboat?” asked Sarah.
Marco shook his head and watched their parents. “Them. Us. This family thing.” Before Sarah could say anything, he quickly added, “I’m still never riding with you again.”
Marco headed toward the hold.
Sarah turned back for one last look at Shipwreck Island.
“Everything okay?” Yvonna stood with her arms around Sarah’s dad, both of them smiling, looking like two people who were, no question, absolutely in love.
“Yeah. Everything is just fine.” Sarah stepped to the railing and stared up at the sky. More dark clouds headed toward the island. Chances were the fires would be out by dark.
* * *
Shipwreck Island became a speck in the distance. Sarah would never forget it, that was for sure. None of them ever would, even once they got back home.
Home.
She watched her dad and Yvonna for a moment as they held each other. Their house would be that now, a home. With all of them. And the new baby.
Sarah smiled. The thought actually didn’t seem that bad.
Shouts erupted from below.
Yvonna groaned. “Those boys. I better go see what the problem is.”
“No,” said Sarah. “I got it.” She took one last look at the island where they became a family and went to straighten out her brothers.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
S.A. Bodeen is the author of The Garden and The Compound, which earned her an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, and a Publishers Weekly “Flying Start.” She is also the author of several picture books, including Elizabeti’s Doll, winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award. Bodeen grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Her first friends were cows, which she named after characters in books. From there she went on to be a Peace Corps volunteer in East Africa, and has lived in seven states, as well as a remote Pacific island. She adores books and is a big fan of cheese. She lives in Oregon. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by S. A. Bodeen
A Feiwel and Friends Book
An Imprint of Macmillan Publishing, LLC.
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
mackids.com
All rights reserved.
Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
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First hardcover edition February 2017
eBook edition 2017
eISBN 978-1-250-13417-2