Lost (2 page)

Instead, Marco simply replied, “I hope so.”

A little surprised, Sarah decided to trust him. She swallowed and lowered her voice even further, so there was no chance that either Nacho or Yvonna, mere steps in front of them, would hear. “Do you think we're in danger?”

Marco turned to the side and looked straight at her, his brown eyes more serious than Sarah had ever seen them. He nodded, once. Then he faced forward again, his pace increasing.

Sarah turned to look behind them. Through two trees, she could just see the sun as it touched the water. She stopped to watch. “One, two, three…” As she counted, the sun sank farther into the waves, until—as she breathed out “fifteen”—it was gone.

This strange day—their second full one on the island—was nearly over.

A breeze ruffled her hair and goose bumps rose on her arms. Quickly, she turned and ran to catch up with the rest, Ahab panting at her heels.

 

2

At the entrance to the cave, Marco grabbed the flashlight he'd left there earlier. Inside the large, dank space, their things were as they'd left them, and everyone—including Cashmere Broussard—found a place to sit on the blankets and pillows circled in the middle.

Ahab began licking Cash's face, and she gently pushed him away. But then she seemed to reconsider, as if she felt a little bad at rejecting him. She reached out and gave his enormous head a brief rub before the dog went back to Sarah. Marco thought Cash seemed to be relaxing the more time that she spent with them. But then, she'd been so afraid when she first came to, it didn't take much to appear calmer than that.

Yvonna dug out the last of the hot dog buns, and Nacho helped her spread peanut butter and jelly on them. He held up both jars and asked Cash, “More peanut butter or more jelly?”

Cash flashed a fleeting grin, briefly revealing white teeth with a tiny gap between the front two. “Definitely more peanut butter.”

Nacho set the jars down and pointed at her. “Now you're talking my language.”

His mom smiled and said, “Why don't you make it for her instead of talking about it?”

“I have to clean my hands first.” Nacho held up the bottle of hand sanitizer. “Anyone else?”

Cash and Sarah both nodded and reached out for some. Marco and John followed suit. Nacho helped Yvonna finish making the sandwiches, and she piled them neatly on a plate. She set it down in the middle of everyone and smiled. “Bon appétit!”

Marco grabbed a sandwich and took a bite, as they all got comfortable while they chewed. Nacho ate half his bun, then asked Cash, “How did you end up in Fiji?”

Even though Marco wanted to know the answer, he said, “Let her eat.”

Cash tore off some bun and crammed it into her mouth just as she said something. Marco couldn't understand what it was, until she chewed more and swallowed. “No, it's okay. Well, except for when Sarge—that's my grandpa—was in the army, he lived his life in southern Louisiana. Three years ago, when I was nine, he won the lottery.”

Marco whistled and everyone else exclaimed or gasped.

Nacho asked, “So is he a millionaire?”

“Not exactly.” Cash shook her head. “It was one of those scratch-off tickets. After taxes, Sarge ended up with a little less than a hundred thousand.”

“Sounds like a lot of money to me,” said Nacho.

Cash smiled. “Me too. But he wanted to find somewhere beautiful and exotic to retire on the cheap, where the winnings and his pension would last him. He moved to Fiji and bought a sailboat. Sarge lives on it and does charters when he feels like it. I come every summer and stay with him.”

“That's cool,” said Marco. His grandparents had been way old when his mom came along, so now they lived in a retirement home in Arizona. Whenever they visited, he and Nacho had to sit and do jigsaw puzzles so they wouldn't make any noise. His father's parents lived in Mexico, and only visited once a year. He wished he had a grandpa to spend time with. “You must love it.”

“Yeah,” said Cash. “Until this time.”

“What happened?” asked Sarah.

Cash took a sip of water. “Last Monday I was at the port in Fiji—”

“That's only a few days before we were there,” blurted Nacho.

Marco elbowed him. “Shut up and let her talk.”

“Marco,” said his mom. “Be nice.”

“I'll be nice if he shuts up and lets her talk,” said Marco.

His mom gave him another look.

“Fine,” he said, shoving the last of the bun in his mouth and grabbing another.

Cash continued, “I was at the port in Fiji with Sarge.”

“Tell us about him,” said Nacho.

Sarah frowned at him and Marco groaned. “Oh, come on.”

Nacho crossed his arms. “I have a much better time picturing people if I know what they look like!”

Cash smiled. “I'll be happy to tell y'all what he looks like. He's darker than me, and shaves his head, because he thinks it looks cool. And his arms are muscular and he has a lot of ink.”

“Tattoos?” asked Nacho.

Cash nodded. “He got them when he was in the army. And he likes to stay in shape.” She flexed her bicep. “His muscles are huge.” She shrugged. “He's like in his fifties, but doesn't look that old at all.”

“What did he have on?” asked Nacho.

Marco rolled his eyes and wished Nacho would just let her get on with the story.

Cash thought for a moment. “That day he had on … Oh! His favorite gray army shirt and black shorts.”

Marco glared at Nacho. “Can we get on with the story now?”

“Fine,” said Nacho. “Go on.”

Cash took a sip of water, then set the bottle down. “Well, I was below in the cabin with a can of paint, doing slight touch-ups on cabinet doors and stuff.” She shook her head. “I didn't think the boat needed it, but I like to help Sarge do stuff. I heard Sarge talking to someone. I snuck up a couple of the stairs so I could peek out without anyone seeing me. There was a man—”

“What did the man look like?” asked Nacho.

“Seriously?” Marco rolled his eyes.

Yvonna said, “Boys, please.”

“Well,” said Cash. “He had on aviator sunglasses. They were mirrored, so I couldn't see his eyes. He was really tan and had this weird short beard.” With one finger, she whirled a circle around the top of her head a couple of times. “He wore this stupid-looking white safari hat.” She dropped her hand back in her lap. “And a short-sleeved blue shirt. And navy blue shorts that reached nearly to his knees.” She shook her head. “And then he had on tall white socks with brown sandals.”

“Gross,” said Sarah.

“Totally,” said Cash. She shoved the last of her bun in her mouth and wiped the crumbs off her hands.

“What did the man want?” asked John. He sounded a little impatient.

Cash looked over at him. “He wanted Sarge to take him on a sail. But Sarge said no, because he and I were supposed to go by ourselves for a couple days.”

Yvonna asked, “Was he alone?”

Cash shook her head. “There was a woman.” Before Nacho could ask what she looked like, Cash told him. “Her hair was short and dark and didn't even move in the breeze. Her sunglasses”—Cash made circles of both her thumbs and forefingers, then stuck them to her eyes—“were huge. I couldn't see her eyes either. And her lipstick was red, like bloodred.” Cash raised her eyebrows. “It was kinda weird. She didn't even pretend to be dressed for the outdoors. Not at all. Her dress was white, and her shoes, man.” Cash held her hands up, several inches apart. “The heels were like this high and see-through. And had glittery straps. And she had on a bunch of gold necklaces.” Cash held out her fingers. “Her nails were long and polished the same color as her lips. And she had a diamond ring on every finger, it seemed.”

Sarah asked, “Was she nice?”

Cash shook her head. “No. Neither was her dog. She had this big brown purse and this little white yappy thing stuck its head out.” Cash made a face and then looked at Ahab. “I like big dogs a lot better.”

Sarah patted Ahab's head and smiled. “Me too.”

“Did they tell Sarge their names?” asked Marco.

Cash nodded. “Laird Fox and Bettina Blackstone.”

“So what happened?” asked Marco, wanting her to get on with the story. He had finished his second sandwich and burped loudly.

His mom shot him a look, so he said, “Excuse me.”

Cash blew out a breath. “When Sarge told them he wasn't interested, Fox nodded at Miss Blackstone. She reached in her purse and pulled out this stack of money.” Cash held up her forefinger and thumb, several inches apart.

Nacho said, “Wow.”

Marco leaned in closer. Suddenly, the story was getting interesting.

Cash said, “I wasn't close enough to see the number on the bills, but Sarge's eyes got really big. And then he started to rub his chin, which is what he always does when he's thinking hard about something.”

Sarah asked, “What did you want him to do?”

Cash shrugged. “I wanted him to take it. I mean, he's got a lot of money saved, but he always worries about it. He wants to pay for my college some day.” Cash tilted her head to the left. “Plus, I've always wanted to go on a sail when he has customers.”

“So what did Sarge say?” asked Marco.

Cash said, “He told them he'd take them for a week.” She made a face. “And Fox smiled.” She waved a hand in front of her mouth. “He had these icky, yellowed teeth.”

Sarah scrunched up her nose. “Ew.”

“Miss Blackstone handed part of the stack to Sarge,” said Cash. “She told him he'd get the rest when they were finished.”

Marco frowned. Wouldn't it make more sense to say
when we get back or when we return or when the sail is over
?

John asked, “When did you set sail?”

“Not until the next day,” said Cash. “We had to buy food and clean the linens in the two berths downstairs for them.”

Nacho asked, “Where do you sleep on the boat?”

“Does it really matter?” asked Marco.

“To me it does,” said Nacho.

“Boys!” said Yvonna.

Cash told Nacho, “Sarge and I slept up top. When I was little, he made me a secret hiding spot near the helm.” She smiled, a little wistfully. “I don't fit there like I used to, but it's still my favorite place.”

Sarah asked, “What happened when they came back?”

Cash frowned. “Fox had this one small brown duffel bag with him.” She shot a glance at Nacho and said, “Miss Blackstone had the dog and was dressed all fancy again, with a white sleeveless blouse, black capris, black heels.”

Nacho smiled at her. “Thanks.”

Cash said, “Sarge had to haul her massive suitcase on board. He asked her if she was smuggling cement.”

Marco laughed.

Cash glanced at him. “She didn't think it was funny. She yelled at him to be careful with it.” She bent her knees and hugged them. “Usually Sarge gave the clients a few routes to choose from. But these two couldn't decide. Fox just pointed at a spot on the chart and said, ‘Let's try that one.'”

Yvonna picked up another peanut butter and jelly bun and held it out to Cash.

“Thank you.” She took a bite, then started talking with her mouth still half full. “But when we got to that island it was late in the afternoon. Fox had binoculars. He just stood there, staring at the shore through them.”

“Did you go on the island?” asked Sarah.

Cash shook her head and ate another bite of her sandwich. “I heard Miss Blackstone ask him ‘Is this it?'”

John said, “So it sounds like they were looking for a specific island.”

Cash nodded. “We didn't know it then, but yeah. Because after only a half hour, Fox told Sarge we could leave. So we sailed to another island and got there the next morning.”

“Did you go ashore there?” asked Nacho.

“Nope,” said Cash. “Same thing happened. Sarge was getting ticked off, I could tell. Then that night we hit a storm.” She pointed at the ground. “And we ended up here, at the lagoon. Sarge anchored and went down to make breakfast.”

“And you came ashore?” asked Marco.

Cash frowned. “I was trying to sleep, because it had been a rough night. Fox and Miss Blackstone came up from the cabin and stood at the stern of the boat. They didn't see me, and didn't know that I could hear them.”

Cash took a drink of water. “Miss Blackstone asked Fox, ‘Aren't you going to see if this is the island?' And he said that it couldn't be. His island had an old volcano, like this one. But it didn't have as many trees, and had a lot more rocks.” Cash took another sip. “Miss Blackstone argued with him, saying that the trees could have grown, but Fox mentioned it had only been two years and there's no way this could be the island he was looking for.”

“But how did he know?” asked Marco. He wanted to know what Fox was up to and wished Cash would get on with it.

She said, “I don't know. But Miss Blackstone must have been mad about it, because she yelled at him, said she couldn't believe that he had no idea what island it was.” Her forehead wrinkled. “But then Fox said he did know. That he could never forget the landmark, not in a million years.”

“What landmark?” asked Sarah. Marco was about to ask the same thing but she beat him to it.

Cash said, “The
face rock
.”

“What's a face rock?” asked Nacho.

Marco sighed. “Duh. Maybe a rock with a face on it.”

Nacho stuck out his tongue at Marco and turned back to Cash. “Did he say anything else? Like how he got on the island?”

Cash nodded. “He mentioned a rough sail, all the way from Africa. And that his ship was totally wrecked and he was lucky to get off before it sunk. He got rescued by a Dutch freighter, but he didn't ask them for the coordinates. He didn't want anyone else to be able to find the place. Or his cargo.”