Dead Of Winter (The Rift Book II) (21 page)

The corner of his lips curved down and his nose twitched. “Listen, Kye, I was upset. I
am
upset. I’ve had to bury four of our friends. It’s been tough for me to take. But I
never
would wish anything bad for you.”

“But you said…”

“I know what I said, but I was just
tangenting
. Sometimes I say things I don’t mean when I’m upset. But listen, I can handle it.
Really.
We’ll adjust. I don’t want any more death around here.
None.”

“Then maybe…maybe a
child’ll
make things
better
.”

“Anything’s possible.” He smiled, and she could tell he was trying to be earnest. “I’ll protect you, Kye,” he said. “I promise I always will.
You and the baby.”

He chuckled.

“What’s that for?”

He stepped forward and took her hands in his. They swayed together for a moment and then he said, “I just wish we had one of those books. You know, the how-to manual for parents-to-be. I just can’t remember what it’s called. Do you?”

She shook her head.

“Well, maybe we can lift one from a drug store when we leave here. That sound like a plan?”

“Yeah,” she said. Her voice sounded small to her ears, small but relieved.

Josh craned his neck and peered down the path. “What do you say we get back to the house? Old lumpy can wait till tomorrow to be buried. We can tell everyone the good news…that is, if you haven’t told everyone already. Have you?”

“No.”

“That’s the plan, then.”

“It sounds nice,” she replied.

“Good. Then maybe we drink some hot chocolate or something.”

“We don’t have any.”

He laughed. “Well, we’ll just have to make do with what we got. Melted snow it is.”

He took her in his arms and together they strolled through the darkening woods. Snowflakes dropped all around them. He pulled her in close and kissed her just below her ear. The act made her shiver once more, this time in a good way.

It’s gonna be all right
, she told herself, yet her doubt still wouldn’t leave. She glanced up at her man, pressed her lips to his neck, and tried to keep the uncertainty under lock and key. Perhaps it would fade, perhaps not.

All she knew was that now Josh was with her. He knew. She wasn’t sure if he’d meant what he said, but she had to take him at his word.

Besides the child within her, it was all she had left.

Chapter 9

The Lost Archipelago

Huge swells rocked the
Bendicion
. A wave crashed into the bow, throwing the vessel into a half-roll. Water poured over the deck, casting everything not strapped down into the ocean. The retrieval arm, equipped with pulleys to lug up nets full of fish, creaked and then broke, its rivets pulling up portions of the deck. It fell over the side and disappeared.

Eduardo Pereira cowered as cold water pummeled him. He held tight to the rope fastened around his waist. His nerve endings told his body to shiver in the unbearable cold but his mind, alert and strong, held the convulsions in check. He still had a duty to perform and not even the storm to end all storms would break his will.

The ship evened out. Rain cascaded from the sky in sheets. Lightning crashed. With the footing less treacherous, Eduardo braced the rope and lugged his way to the aft. He reached the reserve fuel tanks, clattering against the side of the vessel, and grabbed hold of the strap holding them in place. He cranked the lever to tighten the slack. The strap constricted and the tanks stopped rattling. He gripped the metal bar that ran the length of the ship and counted. A pair of the barrels had come loose and fallen overboard, two more soldiers lost to the battle between the
Bendicion
and nature. There were six remaining, however, and Eduardo breathed a sigh of relief. At least the losses had been minimal.

The lights on deck flickered and went out. The hum of the motor fell silent. Eduardo glanced around, frantic. Beneath the howling wind he heard screaming. Again holding tight to his rope he hastily made his way across the deck. A flash of lightning illuminated the captain’s tower above him. In the brief light it looked haunting, like a lost centurion.

He unfastened the rope around his waist, stepped through the porthole into the cabin, sealed the door, and walked down the thin stairwell into the bowels of the ship. The boat rocked, slamming him against the wall. He heard the crash of breaking glassware. The screaming continued, emerging from the darkness around him like the shrieks of frightened ghosts.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs he used the wall to guide him on his unsteady journey toward his quarters. He hugged the doorframe and eased into the room.

“
Lucia,
donde
es
?
” he yelled.

The terrified cries ceased. “Eduardo?” replied his wife in Spanish. “Eduardo, where are you?”

“I am here,” he said. “I am coming.”

He stumbled blindly through the black until his shin struck the bed frame. His hands searched for something solid. Another bolt of lightning flashed, its glow shining through the small, round window on the far wall, for a moment revealing the imprint of his two loves cowering on the bed below him. He sat down and wrapped his arms around his family. Eddie Jr. buried his face into his father’s chest and cried. Lucia clasped her hands around his back, keeping the little one between them like a precious buffer, and panted. He could smell the staleness of her breath, contrasted against the sweetness of her body odor.

“What happened?” Lucia asked.

“We lost power.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. There might be some flooding in the engine compartment. I won’t be able to look at it until morning. We will have to wait out the night as we are.”

“I am scared,” she said.

“I know, my love. So am I.”

He eased his family down on the bed, reached beneath the frame, found the support strap, and draped it over them. Fastening the clasp on the end to its bracket on the wall he buckled them in, just as he had with the fuel tanks. So long as his trusted vessel didn’t capsize they would be fine. He hoped.

He pulled his son into him and stroked his hair. “All will be well,” he whispered. “I am here for you. The Virgin is here for you. God will not let anything bad happen.”

“Are you sure, Papa?” asked Eddie
Jr.’s
tiny voice. He felt Lucia stiffen at the question.

“I am sure. Close your eyes.”

He hummed a lullaby. Before too long his son’s trembling died away and his breathing became steady. Lucia also drifted into a restless sleep. Eduardo continued to hum a small prayer, cringing each time the ship pitched until he too succumbed to exhaustion and passed out.

*
 
 
*
 
 
*

The cawing of sea birds woke him. Eduardo opened his crusted eyes. Sunlight streamed in through the port window, intense and blinding. He cupped his hand over his brow and stared. All he saw on the other side of the small round opening was a haze of blue.

Lucia and Eddie Jr. were still asleep, huddled together. Lucia’s long, unkempt black hair draped over them both. The heavy canvas jacket she wore rode up. Her shirt had come unbuttoned, exposing a breast. Eduardo unfastened the strap holding them down and readjusted the fabric, covering her.

He swung his legs over the side of the bunk and sat up, his body aching. It had been a long while since the day they’d departed the coast of
Spain
. He’d lost track of time; they could’ve been a month at sea, perhaps more. A journey that should have taken a couple weeks at most seemed to go on and on. They encountered hellish weather almost every day. He couldn’t trust his charts any longer.

A depressing thought came to him, one he never thought he’d ever think.
The more I stay out on the ocean, the more lost I feel.

His sense of direction wasn’t the only thing that departed him, however. Over the course of their voyage he began to suffer a crisis of faith, as well. After escaping the hell that had befallen his homeland he assumed the Virgin, who had spoken to him so clearly in the days leading up to their exodus, would guide him every step of the way. But
Her
voice fell silent. There were no more visions, no more guidance,
no
more messages from above instructing him what to do. His dreams became nightmares, terrifying prophecies of doom that threatened to swallow his hope in a black pit of despair.

He dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his temples. It had all fallen apart. There was nothing left to do now but save what little faith he had left and find someplace safe for his family.

The
Bendicion
swayed calmly. With so many consecutive days of rough weather the motion felt out of place. But the gentle rocking wasn’t all that seemed odd. It took him a moment to realize what it was that made him feel this way.

The birds.

His heart skipped a beat. He jumped off the bunk and sprinted up the stairs onto the main deck. Once outside he noticed in passing the mess his prized vessel had become, but that didn’t deter him. He ran to the side of the ship, grabbed the paling, and stared up. Above him were hundreds of seagulls. They swooped and soared, balancing on air like flying ballerinas. Their caws filled the sky with sound. A smile stretched across Eduardo’s face. It had been so long since he’d seen a living thing other than his wife and child. It was good to see that at least one part of the world hadn’t died.

An odd thought struck him. What were so many birds doing this far out in the open ocean? It wasn’t normal. He shielded his eyes with his palm and gazed over the bow. There was a growing haze in the distance, a long, flat miasma of brown.

Land.

His smile grew wider. He slapped the railing, ran across the ship, grabbed his charts, and climbed to the upper deck. He snatched his binoculars from beneath the captain’s chair and pressed them to his eyes. Sure enough there was land ahead. He clasped his hands together. His prayers had been answered.

Eduardo spent the next hour examining his charts. From his best estimation they were now in the south
Atlantic
, in an area with no discernable land mass. His excitement grew. In all his years of sailing he’d never discovered an uncharted island. Uncharted meant fresh, new, and most likely unpopulated. In other words, it was the perfect spot to drop anchor and fix the engine.

“Lucia!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs. “Lucia, come here now!”

*
 
 
*
 
 
*

Eduardo enlisted the help of his wife and son to raise the sails. They drifted toward land at a crawl, but that was fine. It allowed him to bask in the glory of his new discovery all the more, to watch it unfold slowly like a sunrise.

As they neared he realized what he’d discovered was not one island but an entire volcanic archipelago. There were four land masses he could see – two large, two small. The largest was massive, with steep cliffs bordering one side and a sloping peak in the center. Palm trees and tropical pines grew in such density that it looked like a giant green pincushion had been plunked atop the sparkling water. Birds peppered the beach.

He dropped the anchor and readied the skiff. He gazed into Lucia’s and saw hope in them. They held hands as they pushed off of the
Bendicion
. Eddie Jr. sat toward the front, grabbing hold of the bow and gazing ahead with wonder. Eduardo paddled and Lucia sang. Despite their physical and mental exhaustion, everyone’s spirits rose.

They landed on shore twenty minutes later. It was a gorgeous beach of white sand infused with crushed seashells. Eduardo took off his boots and dragged his feet through it, relishing the scorching granules as they brushed against his soles. He cocked his head and listened. There were sounds coming from the dense jungle just past the beach. Animal sounds. Animals were good. Their supplies had run dangerously low, and animals meant food.

Lucia tapped him on the shoulder.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“We set up camp,” he replied. “We can build a shelter from some of the fallen trees for now, until I can go back to the ship and grab our supplies. Just think – a cool breeze at night, hot sun during the day. We can have fires every evening.” He pointed at a rock jetty to the north. “I can fish from there, or perhaps hunt. I think there is wildlife here.”

“Do you think we will stay?”

He shrugged. “This is uncharted territory, my love. There is no one to send us away.”

Lucia stepped into him and his arms engulfed her. “I do not wish to travel any longer,” she said. “I can live without all we’ve lost, as long as I have you. That is all I want.
You and Eddie Jr.
We can be a family here. We can grow old here.”

Eduardo shuddered. He thought again of his mission, his purpose, and his heart sank. He knew they couldn’t stay forever, as temping as it seemed at the moment. Yet he couldn’t tell Lucia that. Not yet, anyway.

“Yes, we can stay,” he said. He beckoned for Eddie Jr. to come, and the family huddled together in the middle of the beach, allowing the sun to beat down on them and the ocean breeze to ruffle their hair. He soaked in their love, letting it permeate his skin and warm his heart.

He barely even felt it when the ground beneath his feet started to rumble. And when it passed he barely noticed that, either.