by Jordan Rivet
“You woke me up at five to show me something on the computer?” Esther grumbled. “Salt, Neal, really?”
“Trust me, Esther, you’ll want to see this.”
Within minutes they were jogging through the corridors of the Catalina. Esther trailed her fingers along the bulkhead, still feeling groggy. She had no idea what could have caused Neal to rouse her this early.
“Look, Esther, you should take this with a grain of salt, okay?” Neal said as they neared the broadcast tower. “I don’t know anything for sure, and I’m only going off the name, so promise you won’t freak out.”
“Freak out about what?”
“It’s your sister. I think she might be alive.”
The corridors of the Catalina vanished. Esther had the sensation of fog closing in or maybe a wave crashing over her head. Something obliterated all her senses.
“What the rusted hell are you talking about?” She had stopped walking. Truths she had known for over sixteen years tumbled around in her head.
Esther’s sister was dead.
Esther’s sister had been at a dentist appointment in San Diego when the ash cloud descended.
Esther’s sister had been eight years old.
Esther’s sister had been with her mother.
“Esther,” Neal said, “please stay calm. It’s a slim chance, but I knew you’d want to know right away.” He tugged on her arm, and she followed him numbly.
Neal kept talking as they climbed the ladder to the tower. Esther had to stop him and make him start his explanation over again. She tried to focus.
“We told you about the List, right?” Neal said. “The database of survivors? Well, I got a batch of names in late last night. I’ve been putting them into the system, and one of them caught my eye. The name was Naomi Harris. Now Harris is a common name, so that’s why you can’t do anything rash.”
Esther felt queasy, like she’d been hit with an unexpected bout of seasickness.
“It’s very common, Neal.”
“But let me finish. We’ve been asking people to provide places of origin and birth dates for the database to make it easier to tell people apart. This particular Naomi Harris is from San Diego, which is why she caught my eye. And she’s about two years older than you.”
Esther swallowed hard. “What’s the full birth date?”
“That’s what I brought you up here to see.” Neal’s voice seemed to fade in and out, like he was on the radio. “I thought you should check before everyone else gets up. If it’s not her, I want to prepare your dad before he starts looking through the List and comes across that name.”
“Thank you, Neal,” Esther said. She looked over at the computer terminal. She felt like she had just seen a fin jutting out of the water and didn’t know yet whether it was a dolphin or a shark. It could be something good, or it could be incredibly painful. At least she could spare her father that.
“Show me the date.”
Without speaking, Neal sat down at his computer. He tapped a key, and the screen lit up. His finger trembling slightly, he pointed at one line.
The words seemed to shift and blur before Esther’s eyes, but she read, “Naomi Harris. Origin: San Diego, California, USA. Location: Lake Aguamilpa, Mexico.” And there, next to a date about two years before Esther’s own birth year, was July 27.
Esther’s legs folded under her, and she sat straight down on the floor.
“Is it her?” Neal asked.
Esther nodded.
Alive.
Naomi was alive.
It couldn’t be real. There had to be a mistake.
Her sister was alive.
“Wow. Man, Es, I thought there was a chance, but this is crazy,” Neal said.
Esther shook her head, unable to answer. Neal sat beside her on the floor and put a hand on her shoulder.
“There’s more, Esther. Please don’t freak out, but you need to know.”
“My mom?” Esther whispered. Her hands found the flat planes of the floor. Pressed downward.
“Her name’s not on the List. I’m sorry. No, it’s something else.”
Esther closed her eyes for a moment, gathering herself. “What is it?”
“Naomi Harris is in Lake Aguamilpa. Remember that’s where they have this strict religious thing going on? Well, the guy I usually talk to didn’t want to give me their roster. No one else there is even allowed to communicate with the outside world, and he said they couldn’t expose themselves like that. I’d sorta given up on them. Then late last night I got a transmission with a text-only message containing all these names. He didn’t say anything, just sent them over with the Lake Aguamilpa location clearly listed. He may have been going against orders by sending their roster, so I don’t know if we’ll be able to talk to Naomi.”
“You have to make him put her on the phone.”
“There’s only so much I can do from here,” Neal said.
Esther stood, her next course of action crystal clear.
“We’ll just have to go get her.”
Esther arrived at her father’s door fifteen minutes later, still trying to process what she had just found out. The wild combination of joy and shock was like being outside in a storm while lightning cracked gorgeous, deadly patterns across the sky.
Esther knocked several times before she got an answer. Her hands shook, and she hooked them in her belt to steady them as she waited for Simon to respond. He finally called out that he was coming, and a few muffled words indicated that he’d woken Penelope.
The door opened. Simon wore a “Catalina: Your Island at Sea” T-shirt. His curly salt-and-pepper hair stuck to his forehead, and he had a red crease in his cheek. Esther remembered how he’d looked during their first days on the Catalina: sad and tense and determined all at once. When the people on the Catalina learned San Diego had been completely covered in ash, he had explained to six-year-old Esther that it would have been impossible for Naomi and her mother to survive. He’d told her about the cloying, suffocating effects of ash if it got inside your lungs. He’d held her close and told her she would never see her mother and sister again.
“What’s wrong, Esther?” Simon said quietly. He looked back at the darkened cabin and stepped into the corridor with her. “Is everything okay?”
“Dad, there’s a chance . . . We think Naomi is alive.”
“Naomi?”
“There’s this List . . . Neal has been collecting names . . . She’s in Mexico . . .”
Simon watched her, confusion furrowing his brow. Esther realized she probably wasn’t making sense.
She breathed. Started again.
“Neal and Zoe are making a database of survivors. They’re collecting names from everyone on the satellite network. Naomi Harris is one of them.”
“Harris is a common name, button.”
“I know. But Neal has birthdays and where people are from. It’s July 27, Dad, Naomi’s birthday. She just turned twenty-five. And the List says she’s from San Diego.”
“How is that possible? The ash . . .”
“I have no idea. But do you think it could really be her?”
“No one could have survived in San Diego,” Simon said, his voice unbearably sad. “The ash was too thick and it spread too quickly.”
He had said as much many times before. He’d said they had to accept it. At first she’d been hurt that he didn’t hold out hope for her mother and sister, but she understood later that he’d been looking out for her. Following his example, Esther had accepted the truth of their deaths years ago. She had moved on. But now she heard the familiar words in a different light. What if her father hadn’t moved on at all? Had he believed there was a slim chance they could have survived? Had he been protecting her all this time?
“There had to have been some exceptions,” Esther said, her brain whizzing through the possibilities she hadn’t been able to entertain before. “What if they started driving straight from our house instead of going to the dentist?”
“I don’t think there would have been enough time. Is . . . is your mother—?”
“She’s not on the List, no,” Esther said quickly.
Simon nodded. Exhaled.
“Naomi was only eight years old,” he said. “I don’t see how she could have escaped on her own.”
“But the birthday, Dad. Do you think there was another Naomi Harris from San Diego born on the very same day?”
“It’s possible. Unlikely maybe, but possible. Can you talk to her on the satellite phone?”
“Neal’s trying to find out. That’s the other problem. She’s with this crazy group where they’re not allowed to have contact with anyone. We need to go and get her.”
“But if it’s not her—”
“Do you want to take that risk?” Esther said. “We’ll see what Neal can find out, but I think we should go look for her in the Lucinda if there’s any chance at all that it’s her.”
Simon put both hands on her shoulders. “Esther, I don’t want you to get your hopes up. The likelihood—”
“I know. You’re right. It seems impossible, but we have to try, don’t we?”
“Yes, we do. I’d like to talk to Neal, find out what else he knows about this group she’s with. Just let me get my shoes.” Simon released Esther’s shoulders and turned back toward his cabin. He hesitated. “Are you sure your mother wasn’t on the list?”
A picture of Esther’s mother rose before her: dark hair, a strong nose, bracelets that slid along her wrists. Nina laughed, danced with Simon in the kitchen, kissed Esther’s cheeks in a soft cloud that smelled like apple blossoms. The image was bright and warm, like her dreams of land.
“She wasn’t,” Esther said. “I’m sorry.”
Simon’s shoulders drooped, as if he had just picked up a heavy load after setting it down for a moment. He went back inside his cabin to retrieve his shoes.
Chapter 4—The Meeting
ESTHER CROSSED THE GANGWAY to the Lucinda as the sun climbed upward. She felt unmoored, almost delirious. She jogged to the passageway outside David’s cabin and hammered on the door.
“Wake up, David. We need to talk.”
He opened the door and let her in immediately. He wore his trousers but no shirt. A shiny, round scar marred his shoulder, no bigger than Esther’s thumbnail.
“You didn’t sleep out here, did you?” He sat back on his bunk, rubbing his eyes and reaching for his glasses. “I didn’t want you to do that just because we were fighting. I was wrong to act like—”
“That doesn’t matter now. Listen, my sister is alive!” Esther paced back and forth in the small cabin. She needed to do something. “She’s in that weird town in Mexico. We have to find her.”
“Slow down a minute,” David said. “Who? What town?”
Esther quickly explained about finding a Naomi Harris with the same birthday as her sister on the list of survivors from Lake Aguamilpa. “We need to go get her in the Lucinda. We’re heading through Mexico anyway. Lake Aguamilpa is a lot further south, but it’s on a big river. Lucinda might be able to sail all the way from the coast. We should leave tonight and—”
“Hold on, Esther,” David said. He was frowning. “Lucinda isn’t your ship. You can’t make a route change like that.”
“What?”
“We have a mission, and it involves the entire crew. We can’t go running off after a rumor until we discuss it with them.”
“Are you serious? My sister is alive, David. I can’t wait.”
“I appreciate that you feel like you have to do something right this instant, but you have to think of other people sometimes.”
“I am. I’m thinking of my sister.” So much for choosing to do what was best for the greater good. When it came down to it, Esther’s family was more important to her than the whole world. The other ships would have to do without her for a while.
“Esther, we can’t just do whatever you want because you happen to have a forceful personality and a good purpose,” David said.
Esther stopped pacing and stood stock still in the middle of the cabin. “I can’t believe you’re not on my side.”
“This isn’t about sides,” David said. “Hopefully we will go after Naomi in the Lucinda. I know what this means to you, but I will not change the plan out of the blue without discussing it with the crew.”
“I thought you—”
“That’s my final decision.”
“Is this because you’re mad at me?!”
“This isn’t about you and me anymore, Esther. And I wasn’t mad because you were thinking about staying behind. I was mad because you just made your decision at the last minute and without talking it over with me. I thought we had a partnership. You can’t act like you’re the only one who gets to decide things for both of us. In this case the decision affects every member of the Lucinda’s crew, and they deserve to have a say.”
“What do you mean ‘had’ a partnership?”
David sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “Let’s talk about it with the crew, okay? If we’re going to change our route, we’ll need to do it soon.”
“Okay, fine,” Esther said. “I’ll call everyone to the Mermaid Lounge. See you at 0800?”
“Aye.” David began pulling on his boots.
Esther hesitated, not sure whether she should kiss him before heading out the door. She rested her hand lightly on the smooth skin of his shoulder. Her fingers brushed over his scar. He took her hand for a moment but didn’t look up. She turned toward the door.
“I had a family too, Esther,” David said quietly, still bent over his boots. “I understand how you feel.”
She looked back at him, but he didn’t meet her eyes. She pulled the cabin door closed behind her.
Esther darted through the Lucinda’s corridors, banging on doors to rouse the crew for the meeting. Luke and Zoe emerged from one bunk together, Luke grinning foolishly. Zoe winked at Esther, about to say something until she saw Esther’s face.
“How can we help?” she said, reaching for her pocketknife.
“Get the team for the expedition over to the Mermaid Lounge. It’s important.”
She hurried back across the gangway to round up the last of the crew on the Catalina. Toni, Anita, and Zoe were in the lounge by the time Esther returned to the ninth deck. Toni’s lanky frame was sprawled over a lounge chair. Anita sat beside her, folding and unfolding her pale hands. Luke brought Cody, who he’d roused from his own bunk on the Lucinda. Other members of the Lucinda’s crew took seats alongside them, many still rubbing their eyes and staring blearily around the room. Oilmen. Former Galaxians. A few longtime Catalinans.
Neal arrived with Dax, his friend Raymond from the Galaxy, and Esther’s father. Simon looked pale. He’d wrapped his green scarf haphazardly around his neck, and the end trailed along almost to the floor. He sat at a table between Esther and Neal, his face solemn.
“Did you talk to the Aguamilpa people?” Esther asked.
“Sort of,” Neal said. “It was weird.” He glanced at Simon.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I got in touch with my usual guy,” Neal said. “He’s the only person there I’ve ever talked to. I brought up the List and the Aguamilpa roster, and he sounded confused. It was like he didn’t know what I was talking about. Then he said he had to go and hung up real quickly.”
“He didn’t remember your conversation about the List?” Esther felt a surge in her stomach, like the ship had tipped sideways. What if it wasn’t true after all? “Are you sure you had the right location?”
“If I didn’t know better,” Neal said, “I’d think he was surprised I had their roster at all. He acted like I must be mistaken.”
“We think he may have gone against the instructions of a supervisor to provide it to us,” Simon said. “He could be pretending not to know what Neal was talking about to avoid getting in trouble.”
“Doesn’t bode well for our chances to speak to Naomi,” Nea
l said.
Esther frowned. She didn’t understand what kind of supervisor or leader would insist on keeping the identities of their people a secret. They couldn’t get access to the List without sharing their own names. And who wouldn’t want to know if their families had survived?
“All the more reason to get there as soon as possible,” she said.
“I agree,” Neal said.
Esther grabbed his hand and squeezed it gratefully. Neal, at least, was on her side. He came from a small family, and his mother had died of pneumonia aboard the Catalina. But he knew, as Esther did, that any whisper of surviving family members could not be ignored.
Esther tapped her hands impatiently along the wood tabletop, counting the remaining crew as they made their way in, some with breakfast clutched in their hands. The youngest Newton boy, Ike, a tow-headed young man of twenty, was the latest addition to the crew. He waved at Simon and Esther as he entered the lounge, but Simon didn’t notice. He was too busy picking apart the worn threads of his scarf, brow furrowed in thought. For her part, Esther had resisted spending any time with the Newtons since her father started dating their mother. She had no interest in forming a new family, and she was about to get her real sibling back anyway.
At precisely 0800 David entered. He was dressed immaculately, his hair neatly combed. He strode to the bar by the sea-facing window and took charge before Esther could say a word.
“Good morning, everyone. Thank you for gathering here on such short notice. We have been planning our voyage to land for a while now. As you know, our primary objective is to assess the conditions on the coast of northern Mexico and southern California and possibly discover a secure harbor. At that point, if all is well we plan to make an inland journey, exploring as far as we can. If conditions on land are acceptable, we may go as far as the settlement in Kansas City, assessing any areas along the way that may have potential as a home for us in the future. That is the plan we’ve agreed to as a group, and the Lucinda is stocked with this purpose in mind.”
David looked around the lounge. He met Esther’s eyes, his expression cloaked.