Trial by Fire (6 page)

“I can't see!” Jane shouted back. Vanessa was scrambling now, too, and went to help her.

Buzz's hand shook as he bent toward the bamboo. The instant the flare came near the husk, it blazed up brightly and then burned out just as fast.

Meanwhile, the flare itself was starting to sputter and hiccup in his hand. It wouldn't be good for much longer.

“HURRY!” he called. He held the lit end of it to the bamboo now. The little trough glowed orange, and for a few seconds, he felt a glimmer of encouragement. A small flame even licked up from the wood. The edge of the trough blackened as it burned quickly from the last of the flare's power.

“Here! Here!” Jane said. She fell to the ground next to him with an armload of branches. Buzz took several twigs from the pile and stacked them roughly over the bamboo, but there wasn't nearly enough of a flame to get anything going.

The flare was still just barely burning. He shook it in his hand as if that might do any good. A second later, it was dead.

Buzz blinked several times. After the brilliance of the flare, everything seemed even darker than when they'd started. All he could see in front of him was a flat blackness. That was it. There was nothing more they could do until morning.

It was instantly depressing. They'd just lost a real opportunity to get fire. Maybe their only opportunity. The chance had been right there, literally in his hand. And what did they have now? Nothing. They were back to square one.

Not even square one, Buzz realized. Now they didn't even have the flare—the one they'd been saving all along for the most important thing of all.

Rescue.

“W
e can't stay here anymore,” Vanessa said.

It was just getting light out. Somehow, they'd made it through the night without losing their minds. Carter had finally stopped throwing up. He lay on one of the blankets with his arms around his knees, in that half-waking state that had become a part of normal life here.

Buzz had finally found the axe, and it was still in his hands as the sun came up. Vanessa could tell he felt guilty about having used their only flare, but there had been no choice. Just the opposite, in fact. Buzz had saved them.

The only real question was, What now?

“Vanessa's right,” Buzz said. “It's too dangerous to sleep up here. Those boars could just keep coming back.”

Jane waved at the buzzing cloud around her head. “The bugs aren't nearly so bad down by the beach, either,” she said. “And it's not so hot during the day.”

The other advantage was that a shelter on the beach would let them keep an eye out for rescue planes and ships, Vanessa thought. That was huge.

For once, everyone seemed to be in agreement. They had to move their camp as soon as possible. But without the cave, they'd be out in the open—in the rain, in the sun. And that brought up the obvious question.

“Anyone know how to build a shelter?” Vanessa asked. “Buzz?”

Her brother shrugged, which she'd come to realize didn't mean no. He was just uncomfortable being in charge of anything.

“I'm not sure,” he said. “But there's a lot of bamboo around. We could make a floor with that. Maybe a roof, too, if we could get a bunch of palm fronds.”

“Gee, where are we going to get those?” Vanessa asked. It was supposed to be a joke, but nobody seemed to be in the mood. So instead, she counted off the day's priorities.

“Okay, number one—I really want to try to get down to the
Lucky Star
.”

“Me, too,” Carter said. “Talk about sunken treasure.”

“You should rest,” Vanessa told him.

Now it was Carter's turn to shrug. He obviously didn't like being told what to do, even when he was sick. But it wasn't as if he was going anywhere fast that morning. At least he'd had a little coconut water and kept it down. That seemed like a good sign.

“Number two—new shelter,” she went on. “Even a lame one could be okay for now, as long as it doesn't rain. And three—we need more coconuts, especially until we can figure out where to get water.”

With no flashlight, no camera, and no fire for making torches, there would be no going through the caves to the falls anymore. And even if they could boil the remaining bottle and a half of water from the cavern pool, nobody was prepared to drink it. Not after the night Carter had just had. They'd have to stick to coconut water in the meantime, and keep looking for another source.

“Also,” Vanessa said, “number four. There has to be something else we can eat around here.”

“There is,” Carter said. “Down on the bottom of the ocean. In our boat.”

That's not what she'd meant, but he was right about one thing. The
Lucky Star
was exactly where they needed to start.

It took a few hot, sweaty trips to carry all of their things down to the beach, but it was worth it. As soon as Buzz stepped out of the woods, the breeze off the ocean cooled his face. The bugs seemed to go away at the tree line. Even the air was different. Somehow, the jungle smelled like dirt and the beach seemed clean.

They stacked everything they brought under a palm, where the sand gave way to the woods. The rocks of Dead Man's Shelf jutted up on one side here. It all formed a half-sunny, half-shady alcove, where they could make a bamboo lean-to against the rock wall and still keep themselves above the high tide line.

“We should have done this yesterday,” Buzz said.

“No time like the present,” Jane chirped. Buzz could tell she was glad to get out of the jungle, too. The second run-in with the boars had shaken them all pretty badly.

Meanwhile, there was work to do, and lots of it. Vanessa and Jane were already getting ready to dive down to the boat, while Carter took a minute to catch his breath in the shade.

“We'll just be right over there,” Vanessa told him. She pointed up toward the rocks. “Hopefully, this won't take too long.”

“I'll cut some bamboo for the shelter,” Carter said. “And I can look for more fallen coconuts, too.”

“Just rest, Carter. Please?” Vanessa asked. “We can do that when we get back.”

There was no question that Carter was too shaky to try to reach the boat. He still looked pale, but Buzz could tell he was trying not to seem weak.

For his part, Buzz was going to help the girls however he could. Diving and swimming weren't exactly his specialty. That was no secret. But given the alternative—hanging out and listening to Carter tell him what to do—Buzz knew exactly where he wanted to be.

“Let's go,” Vanessa said, and Buzz followed the girls up onto the rocks, toward the spot where the
Lucky Star
had last been seen.

When Jane first dove into the water, it felt amazing just to rinse off for the first time in days. Jungle living had left all four of them covered in layers of grime. Vanessa's and Buzz's faces were both streaked with dirt as they looked down at her from the rocks above.

“You sure you don't want me to go first?” Vanessa asked.

“I can do it,” Jane told her.

It was exciting to think about being the first one to reach the boat. And it couldn't hurt for everyone to stop seeing her as the baby of the family, either. Maybe she was the youngest, but she was a good swimmer. That wasn't being conceited. It was just true.

“It shouldn't be that far,” Vanessa said. She pointed straight out from where they stood. “Can you see it?”

Jane ducked her head under the water to look around. Sure enough, there was the
Lucky Star
, a short swim away. It lay half on its side, resting at the edge of a coral reef. Just beyond that, the ocean floor dropped off, farther down than Jane could see. It was like giant underwater stair steps.

“Got it!” she called back. There was no reason to use up energy treading water, so she started swimming right away.

The ocean was calm this morning. It didn't take long to stroke across its glassy surface, until she was floating directly above the boat. There was the white cabin roof. The pointed bow at the far end. And almost straight down, she could see the cockpit. That's where she needed to go.

According to Buzz, the spare signal flares were in one of the small lockers behind the captain's wheel. Of all the things they wanted to salvage from the boat, nothing was more important than those flares. Especially after the night before. If a ship or plane passed the island now, they'd have no good way of lighting their signal fire up on Lookout Point.

When Jane looked down again, the stainless steel captain's wheel glinted back a few snatches of sunlight from the surface, as if it were showing her the way. She flashed a thumbs-up to Buzz and Vanessa on the shore, then flipped over in the water and started for the bottom.

The salt water stung her eyes as she swam. She kept them open anyway, focusing on the
Lucky Star
. Fish darted in and out of the reef, showing flashes of electric yellow, blue, and even bright pink. The colors got only more intense as she went deeper—but so did the pressure in her head.

It didn't take long to realize this was going to be harder than Jane had thought. The tightness behind her eyes quickly turned into a shooting pain. The urge to turn back was strong.

Just a little farther,
she thought.
Just a little farther . . .

It was a thrill when she reached the boat itself, and touched the edge of the cabin roof. But that was as far as she could go. She turned around and kicked toward the surface, following the trail of her own bubbles.

Her head was pounding as she came up for air. The sunlight seemed to make the headache worse, but she ignored it. She could see Vanessa and Buzz over on the rocks, watching expectantly.

“Anything?” Buzz yelled.

Jane nodded, saving her breath. She wasn't done yet. Before they could tell her to come back, she swallowed another huge gulp of air and headed right back down.

With her arms at her side this time, she found it was quicker to kick all the way, like a dolphin moving through the water. It was only when she reached the boat a second time that she remembered something. It was a trick her mother had shown her, in the pool at the gym back home.

Holding on to the captain's wheel with one hand, Jane pinched her nose closed and blew out. Right away, the pressure in her head eased, with a pop in her ears and a tiny squeaking sound inside her head. She wished she'd thought of it sooner.

Still, she couldn't stay down here forever. Her lungs were already sending up a plea for air. She had to hurry.

Using the spokes of the captain's wheel, she pulled herself down toward the cockpit floor. That's where the three lockers were. The first one was already hanging open. Even through the blur of the water, Jane could make out the empty white space inside.
Nobody home.

She moved to the second locker and fumbled quickly with the latch. As she pulled the door open, two bright orange floaties popped out in a rush. They shot right right past her and disappeared toward the surface.

The surprise of it forced a gasp of precious air out of Jane's lungs. The need to breathe was becoming intense. Her vision twinkled around the edges, like seeing stars.

No stopping now, though. No way.

She knew if she turned around, she wouldn't be able to make it back down—and then someone else would have to finish what baby Jane had started. Besides, there was just one more locker to check. The flares had to be in there.

It was only when her hand landed on the third locker door that Jane realized it was already ajar. It sent a sinking feeling through her. And sure enough, when she pulled it open, the space inside was just as empty as the first locker had been. If the flares were ever here, they were long gone now.

That was it. There was no more time for thinking. No time for disappointment. Just a desperate need to breathe. The second she realized there was nothing left to find, Jane took off kicking for the surface as fast as she could go.

Buzz tried not to look disappointed when Jane came out of the water empty-handed.

“I don't think those flares are down there,” she said. She lay back on the sun-warmed rocks, her chest still heaving as she tried to catch her breath. “Are you sure they were in the cockpit?”

“Pretty sure,” Buzz said. “But that was before the whole boat got trashed, so . . .”

There wasn't much to say about that. The flares were probably lost by now.

Jane told them how difficult it had been just getting as far as the cockpit. Reaching the cabin belowdecks was going to be even harder.