Trial by Fire (11 page)

“HEY! HEY! DOWN HERE!”

Jane and Buzz were right behind now, screaming as well.

“HELP US!”

“STOP! COME BACK!”

Carter fell to his knees at the base of their six-foot-tall pile of twigs, branches, and palm fronds. He reached inside, pulled out the flare, and yanked off the cap. It began to spark and flame right away, igniting the smallest pieces of kindling.

He dropped the flare in the middle of the pyre and let the flames take over. The fire grew quickly, and started to grow taller. Hotter. Brighter.

“DOWN HERE! DOWN HERE!” Buzz and Jane continued to yell, jumping and waving. The plane was right there—still close enough for them to see its gray body and the dark blue markings on its wings and tail.

There were people inside that plane. People who could help them. Water. Food. Rescue.
Turn around,
Carter thought.
Just turn around and look.

But it was banking west now, heading back out over the ocean. For good.

“NO!”

“COME BACK!”

“STOP! PLEASE!”

It seemed impossible, but there was no denying it.
The plane was leaving.
It didn't matter how much shouting or waving they did anymore. A minute later, it was gone, almost as if it had never been there to begin with.

For a long time, nobody said anything or even moved. There were no words for the feelings Carter had. He knew he was going to cry. Eventually. But not right now. All he could really feel was the heat of the signal fire behind him. The whole thing had blazed up as quickly and intensely as they'd imagined it might.

Just not in time to save them.

Buzz felt numb. He stared at the empty sky where the plane had been just a minute ago, willing it to reappear. But of course, it didn't. Their one chance of rescue had just evaporated, like some kind of dream. Or a nightmare, really.

Finally, Jane stood up. Buzz stayed where he was. He followed her with his eyes as she walked to the edge of the point. She looked down for several seconds, then turned and walked slowly in the other direction, to gaze back through the trees toward the ravine.

“Jane?” Buzz asked. “What is it?”

She seemed to be thinking about something besides the plane. When she turned around again, there was a strange expression on her face.

“The tree bridge,” she said.

“What about it?” Carter asked.

But Buzz realized right away what she meant. It came over him with a fresh wave of dread. The fact was, they already had a whole new problem to deal with. A big one.

There was a reason they'd built their signal fire up here. Lookout Point was an isolated tower of rock, with views in every direction. There were no trails or paths leading up here—just steep cliffs and drop-offs on every side. Up to now, the only way to reach the point had been by crossing the tree bridge—the one that no longer existed.

And
that
meant they'd lost their only way down from this place.

V
anessa stood on the rocks of an unfamiliar stretch of shore, staring at the last thing she'd expected to find here on Nowhere Island.

It was an old boat. It sat in a rocky clearing of the shore, at the foot of several tall lava cliffs. The boat must have crashed here, just like the
Lucky Star
—except this one had never left its resting spot.

It was hard to believe her eyes. She watched it from a distance for several minutes, just taking it all in.

She hadn't intended to be gone this long. Somewhere around sunrise, the unexplored shore-line had called to her. She'd climbed up onto Dead Man's Shelf, started picking her way across the rocks, and just kept going. It was a way to get off by herself for a little while—a chance to get her head together before she tried to face the others back at camp.

Now, here she stood, transfixed by what she'd found.

The boat was nearly twice as big as the
Lucky Star
had been. Vanessa didn't know much about this kind of thing, but it looked as if it had been built for carrying cargo of some kind. Not a pleasure craft, and definitely not a sailboat. But it was hard to tell any more than that.

It seemed to be made entirely of metal. The outside had turned halfway back to the colors of the earth around it, with a heavy coat of green algae on its rusted hull. If there had been a name painted on the side at some point, there wasn't anymore.

Then slowly, it dawned on Vanessa that the boat, however long it had been here, might still have something on board that they could use. Blankets, maybe. Tools. A tarp. Anything at all.

She had to work her way inland a little bit to get closer. She pushed through vines and fallen limbs, keeping an eye on the tiny bay to her right through the trees, looking for the best way to reach the boat.

As she came out of the woods again, it was onto a small spit of sand, not even big enough to be a beach. At the far end was a stream trickling down through a wide crack in the rocky shore. At the top of that were more woods on a level piece of ground overlooking the boat itself.

And if Vanessa wasn't mistaken, there was some kind of small structure up there. She squinted, trying to get a better look. It wasn't a building. It was a post of some kind—something in the ground. Definitely man-made.

“Hello?” she called out. The sound of her own voice in the silent cove startled her, and for a moment she forgot about the boat.

She worked her way up through the crevice in the rocks, stopping long enough for a long, sweet drink of fresh water from the stream—her first in days. Then she climbed a little higher, until she was standing in a woodsy, sun-dappled clearing at the top.

There, sunk into the ground, was a crudely made wooden cross. It had no name or markings. It was just two planks with a single nail in the middle to hold them together. Vanessa's heart pounded as she took it in, considering what it all meant.

As her eyes traveled a few feet farther into the woods, she saw something else. Something much worse. Lying on the ground, under some number of years' worth of growth and decay, sat a skeleton. A
human
skeleton. Half covered as it was with leaves and fallen branches, there was still no mistaking the shape of it for anything else.

Vanessa staggered back. As she did, a fuller realization came to her. Whoever those people had been, they were trapped here on Nowhere Island, too.

And more than that, they'd never been rescued.

Without another look, she turned and ran back in the direction from which she'd just come. The new boat, the stream of fresh water—all of it would have to wait.

More than anything right now, she had to tell the others.

KONA, HAWAII—Progress on the search for the Benson-Diaz party from the missing
Lucky Star
has been slow, according to Coast Guard officials. Initial hopes were that the rescued captain and first mate of that vessel would be able to point rescue operations in the direction of the four missing children. So far, those efforts have proven unsuccessful.

Dexter Kingson and Joe Kahali, captain and first mate of the
Lucky Star,
say that they're thankful to be alive, but that their first concern has been, and remains, the Benson-Diaz family children—Vanessa Diaz, Benjamin “Buzz” Diaz, Carter Benson, and Jane Benson.

Commander Carl Blakey of the U.S. Coast Guard expressed both relief at the recovery of Captain Kingson and Mr. Kahali, and also some continued hope that they will be able to offer unique assistance in the ongoing search.

“If anyone can figure out where the children might be, it's these guys,” Blakey told reporters.

Search and rescue efforts continue daily.

THE STORY CONTINUES IN

It's been days since Buzz, Vanessa, Carter, and Jane were stranded on a deserted island in the middle of the South Pacific. No adults. No supplies. Nothing but themselves and the jungle. And now they've lost their only shelter, and quite possibly their one chance at being rescued. Now the four kids must come together and delve even deeper into Nowhere Island for food and supplies if they're going to be able to survive. But the island has a few secrets of its own to tell. . . . With danger at every turn, this blended family has to learn how to trust one another if they stand any chance of survival.

READ HOW THE ADVENTURE BEGAN IN

It was supposed to be a vacation—and a chance to get to know one another better. But when a massive storm sets in without warning, four kids are shipwrecked alone on a rocky jungle island in the middle of the South Pacific. No adults. No instructions. Nobody to rely on but themselves. Can they make it home alive?

A week ago, the biggest challenge Vanessa, Buzz, Carter, and Jane had was learning to live as a new blended family. Now the four siblings must find a way to work together if they're going to make it off the island. But first they've got to learn to survive one another.