Anchored, page 5
I checked on Takumi, my heart pounding. He was trying to use a screwdriver he must have found to unscrew a bolt on the loading hatch. It didn’t seem to be working.
I went back to stalling. “Where are you kids living? Why haven’t you gone someplace that has clean water?”
“You’re not our mother. Find us food. Two minutes!” the girl said.
I couldn’t see the girl, but I heard her whisper. “They’re stalling. They have nothing. Let’s lock them in and move on.”
The six-year-old started to cry. “I’m hungry. Please. She said she’d find us something.”
The ten-year-old shoved his little brother, hard. “There isn’t nothin’ left. Don’t you get it? That girl’s right, Shawna. We should leave this stupid place.”
“If we leave, they’ll never find us,” Shawna answered.
“Mom and Dad are dead!” the ten-year-old boy yelled. “If we stay, we are too.”
“Don’t say that. Don’t you ever say that.” Shawna slapped him.
He held his hand over his cheek and glared at her.
“He’s right,” I cried. “This place is toxic. It is killing you. Go inland. Or go to the settlement camp a way down the shore. You can get…”
“Shut up! You don’t know nothin’. That’s it. Time’s up. Lock them in!” Shawna yelled.
The hatch began to close. I grabbed my pack and used it to block it. “Takumi!” I yelled.
Takumi tried to pull the hatch back open, but the hydraulic hinge took over and nothing he did would stop it. He had to let go or lose his fingers.
The hatch closed with a whoosh. We were trapped.
“Wait!” I pounded on the metal door. “Wait. Don’t leave. I have a bag of gummy bears.”
The voices below were muffled. If I couldn’t hear them, would they hear me? I kept hitting the door and yelling.
Slowly the hatch opened back up.
“Prove it!” Shawna thrust her knife at me. “Show us the gummy bears.”
I jumped back and grabbed the bag of gummy bears out of my pack and ripped them open.
“Don’t give them the bag until they let us down…” Takumi said softly.
My hands were shaking so hard that a few candies fell on the floor. Takumi quickly snatched up three little bears and dropped them down to the kids.
The kids scrambled for the candies. The youngest boy started screaming. “Give it back. That’s mine.” He tackled his older brother, his voice high-pitched and desperate. “It’s mine. Mine.” The boys began to roll around in the aisle, fists punching, legs kicking.
Takumi used the distraction to drop down through the hatch. The cart he landed on rolled out from under him. He reached up and held onto the back of an upside-down seat as the cart crashed on the kids. He landed and snatched up both of the metal boat hooks the boys had lost in their tussle. He pointed one of the spears at the kids.
“Toni, get down here.” His voice startled the boys and they stopped fighting. Their sister frantically searched for her spear.
I quickly tossed the packs through the opening. The bag of gummies was stuffed in my pocket. I picked a red bear up off the floor, and plummeted feet first through the hatch. Takumi grabbed my arm to keep me from crashing, while still holding the sharp stick aimed at the kids.
The kids scrambled to their feet. Shawna stood with her spear pointed at us. The boys hid behind her. The littlest peeked around her side.
I opened my hand and showed him the red gummy. Without hesitation, he shoved his way past his sister, snatched up the red candy, and popped it into his mouth.
“You little brat!” Shawna screamed.
But the little boy was lost in red gummy goodness. His cheeks went in and out as he sucked, savoring the candy as long as he could.
It was hard not to smile. But Shawna wasn’t happy.
I began backing toward the exit. “We’re getting off this plane. Now. We’ll give you the rest of the gummy bears if you promise not to follow us. Gummy bears are all we have.”
Shawna forced a smile and held out her hand. “I promise.”
“Not until we’re off the plane.” Takumi waved his spear at her and tossed the other one to me. We kept moving backwards towards the door.
When we were all off the plane, I slide my spear through the straps in my pack and pulled the bag of gummy bears out of my pocket.
Shawna still pointed her knife-tipped spear at us. Takumi aimed his right back.
I knelt and motioned for the little guy to come to me, again.
His eyes glowed with anticipation as he crept forward.
His sister realized what he was doing, and grabbed for him. “Get back here, you…”
He twisted out of her reach and raced to me.
I shoved a handful of gummies into his pocket and yelled, “Run!”
The little boy took off like a rocket toward the airport. His brother and sister watched him go for a shocked moment, then screamed for him to come back.
Takumi stepped forward with his pointy boat hook and stopped them from going after him.
I waved the half full bag of candy in their faces. “Let him go. He just has a handful. You can have the rest.”
Shawna snatched the gummies from me, shoved them into her coat pocket, and took off.
Her brother followed after her and whined as he ran. “Come on, Shawna, give me some. You promised.”
Takumi and I watched them disappear into the ruins of the airport. We picked up the life jackets we’d tossed off the plane and snapped them onto our packs.
“Do you think they’ll leave here? Find a safer place?” I asked as we sprinted to the marina.
Takumi glanced back at the way they’d gone. “They tried to kill us. We did what we could.”
Chapter Eight
It started to rain as we made our way to the kayaks. The rain made the going miserable, but at least the air smelled better. I could feel my headache lessen.
Takumi wanted to stop at the marina and check out the damaged boats for supplies, but we were out of time. We snagged a plastic kayak that was only slightly slimy, and loaded our overstuffed packs into it.
We paddled to Whistler in silence. It was raining hard and we weren’t surprised there was nobody on deck. But the dinghy wasn’t back. That bothered me. Takumi pulled the kayaks onboard, while I hurried below to grab towels and check on the girls. They’d been left alone with Zoë for over three hours.
I rubbed a dirty towel on my hair and called out. “Where is everyone?”
“In here,” Makala yelled from Zoë’s cabin.
I changed into dry clothing and opened the door to my brother’s room. Zoë was sprawled across her bed with her head propped up on a couple of pillows. Her eyes were closed. Jervis’s sisters were painting Zoë’s toes bright red. Makala was brushing Zoë’s long dark hair.
“Not so hard,” Zoë complained when the brush caught in a tangle.
“What is going on?” I asked.
Zoë sat up. “I’m babysitting. Did you find anything good?” She relaxed back down. Before I could answer, she cried, “Don’t stop, girls. You still need to do my fingernails.”
Rebecca held up the polish she and her sister were using.
Zoë’s eyebrows cinched. “Mmm. Not red. Is there a clear or a dark blue? Wait. Before you put the red away, touch up my little toe. You missed… Ouch!” She grabbed the back of her head. “Makala, stop. That hurts.”
Makala dropped the brush. Her lips went into a pout.
“Zoë, you’re too much.” I shook my head.
“What?” Zoë closed her eyes.
“Come on, Makala.” I held out my hand.
Makala whined. “I wanted to paint Zoë’s nails, too.”
“Let’s see what we can find to eat, and then you can paint mine. Would that be fun?”
Makala looked over at the girls working on Zoë. They were each focused on Zoë’s fingernails. Makala still pouted. She shrugged. “I guess.”
I propped Makala up on the seat at the chart table and checked the time. The dinghy was late returning, but I wasn’t worried. Not yet.
My stomach rumbled and I checked the storage locker for food. We would have to eat something before we took off for the border, and we needed to carry food with us. And water. We had supplies from the island, but little else. The rice and pasta were gone. We still had a bag of potatoes that had started to sprout. Takumi wanted to save them so we could grow potatoes when we finally got to where we’d stay.
I opened the lower level storage and found the fish and snake meat we’d smoked, some dried seaweed, a basket of tiny wine grapes, and the ketchup Takumi had gotten for me.
I couldn’t see making a meal out of any of this. Just when I was about to ask Takumi for help, I heard voices up top. I grinned at Makala. The dinghy was back.
Makala jumped off her seat and scurried up the steps. I followed close behind.
Then Takumi yelled, “Where’s Jervis and Dylan?”
My heart stopped.
Angelina pointed. “They’re trapped. Under a boat.”
I held Makala as Takumi took the line from Nick. “What happened?”
Zoë and Jervis’s sisters appeared. Zoë pushed Makala and me aside. “Where’s my husband?”
Rebecca and Naomi stared at the dinghy and hugged each other close.
Nick climbed aboard and avoided looking at Zoë or Jervis’s sisters. “We dropped Dylan and Jervis off to check on a yacht. It was listing quite a bit, but Dylan was sure it would be fine. Angelina and I went to explore a cargo ship. When we came back for the guys, the boat we’d left them on had flipped over and was starting to sink. The boys were yelling, so we know they’re okay, but I don’t know for how long. We need to cut through the hull and get them out.”
Takumi shook his head. “There’s no way to cut through…”
“There has to be a way!” Zoë screeched.
“We have wet suits. We can swim to them. Rescue them from below the water,” Takumi suggested.
“But we don’t have air tanks,” I said.
“Right. Let’s think about this. They’d swim out if they could. They’re yelling, so they have air.”
“We need tools,” Nick said. “Like a sledgehammer or a saw.”
I couldn’t believe how calm and logical they were being. We were wasting time. I rushed to the tool box. The hammer we had was small, but there was a metal claw on one side. Takumi searched through the outside locker and found the ax and boat hook. We didn’t have a saw.
Angelina scrambled onto Whistler and Makala threw her arms around her neck. And then Angelina pulled Rebecca and Naomi off to the side and kneeled down. “Jervis is going to be okay,” she whispered. Rebecca nodded. A tear rolled down Naomi’s cheek.
“Okay, Nick, let’s load up.” I climbed into the dinghy.
“I’m going too!” Zoë stepped onto the swim step.
“The dinghy will be too crowded on the way back,” I said.
“Then you stay. Dylan’s my husband. If he’s hurt, he’ll need me.”
“I’m a competitive swimmer.” I snarled. “But if you’re going, at least move out of the way.” I settled into the bow of the dinghy. Nick handed me the ax, the hammer, and climbed in. The clock was ticking. Where was Takumi?
“Takumi, let’s go. Now!” Zoë yelled.
Takumi tossed down the wetsuits, climbed aboard, and shoved off. Nick rowed. I could feel my heart pounding. What if the boat sank before we got there? What if they ran out of air? Nick was rowing hard, but it felt like we were hardly moving.
“Faster! Row faster!” Zoë cried.
“There!” Nick pointed. The bright red bottom of a large yacht was floating directly ahead. At least it hadn’t sunk.
“Dylan!” Zoë stood up and screamed. “Dylan!”
“Sit down or you’ll capsize us,” Nick yelled.
The muffled voices of the guys erupted from the overturned boat. I exhaled and realized I’d been holding my breath.
Takumi and Nick reached for the two wet suits.
“I’m the best swimmer. I’ve spent years swimming underwater.” I snatched the smallest wet suit.
Nick and Takumi stared at one another.
“She’s right. So, which one of us…” Nick stared at the wet suit in his hands.
“Have you ever done any deep-sea dives?” Takumi asked.
“I’m not sure what you mean by deep sea,” Nick answered.
“It’s when you swim down into the depths. I learned to dive for fish and lobsters every summer in Japan,” Takumi said.
Nick handed a suit to Takumi. “Haven’t done that.”
While the boys had been busy deciding, I had my wet suit on. I dipped the face mask in the water to make a seal and put it on. Dylan and Jervis were in trouble. I was coming.
Takumi yelled for me to wait as I jumped into the oily bay and dove to rescue my brother and friend.
I swam for the stern of the capsized boat. I tested the little flashlight attached to the suit, took three deep breaths, and dove. The upside-down yacht cabin was mostly glass. The huge sliding glass door was open, and I swam right in. Plastic glasses, seat cushions, and placemats floated inside the completely flooded cabin. I headed down the narrow hallway.
My lungs were starting to complain.
At the end of the hall I came to a closed door. It was probably the master bedroom. I didn’t dare open it, but tried knocking instead.
One of the boys knocked back. They were behind the door. It didn’t look like it would be hard to open. I wiggled the door handle. It wasn’t locked.
My lungs were screaming, “Air. Now.”
Takumi swam into the cabin as I exited. I motioned to the door the boys were trapped behind and gave the thumbs-up signal to go up. We needed to talk.
When I reached the surface, I sucked in air. A few minutes later, Takumi’s head popped up.
“Why don’t they just open the door and swim out?” I gasped.
“The water pressure on the door must be strong. It’s forcing it closed. They need to let water in to release the pressure.”
“But if they do, air will escape, and the boat will sink.”
Takumi adjusted his face mask. “I’m going to dive down and see how deep the bay is. Be right back.”
Before I could respond, he was gone. I swam to the bow of the capsized yacht.
“Dylan, Jervis, can you hear me…?”
Again, both the boys began yelling. I couldn’t make out what either was saying.
“One at a time! Are you hurt?”
“No!” Dylan answered.
“Are you trapped by something other than the door?”
“Just the door. It’s stuck,” Dylan yelled. “If we force it open, the air will rush out and the boat will sink.”
“Takumi’s checking the depth. If it’s not too deep, we are going to let the water in. You need to take deep breaths and swim out when the door opens. We’ll help you.”
I waited for a response. There was silence. “Guys? It’s the only way. You’re going to have to hold your breath.”
“Okay. We’re ready,” Dylan called.
“Jervis? What about you?’ I asked.
“Just get us out,” he yelled.
Takumi appeared, floated on his back and gasped for air. “It’s about forty or fifty feet deep. Also, the air will escape and might make the water bubbly. When we get to the top, we’ll have to swim away from the bubbles.”
The capsized boat groaned and the stern sunk deeper in the water. The guys were yelling for us to hurry.
Takumi yelled, “We’ll let the water in and open the door. The cabin is going to fill. The boat will start to sink. We’ll help you swim out before the boat goes down. Ready?”
“Ready,” the guys said in unison.
Takumi and I took in air and dove. The water was clearer the deeper we swam. We made it through the boat cabin again and to the door. I tried the claw of the hammer. It was too wide to get in the crack of the door.
Takumi tried to wedge the axe blade between the door and the door frame. It was too wide too. He swung the axe and hit the door. Swinging an axe underwater was like swinging an ax in slow motion.
And then we were out of air. Takumi motioned to go back up top.
We floated on our backs as oily waves rocked us. “How are we going to open that door?” I asked.
“The water is putting too much pressure on it. If I break it, even a little, the pressure should do the rest of the work. Ready?”
I nodded and we swam back.
Takumi swung the ax through the water three times. The wood started chipping away. We could hear the guys yelling, but not what they were saying. The crack in the door grew.
A whoosh of air knocked Takumi and me back. The boat started listing, the stern heading down. My brother and Jervis were still trapped.
Takumi banged on the door again. I shined the little flashlight into the crack.
The guys were underwater.
I grabbed the handle and pushed. Suddenly the door opened. Jervis swam out. I gestured for him to go with Takumi while I waited for Dylan.
Dylan clutched a long plastic tube in one hand. His eyes were huge with fear.
My lungs felt like they were going to explode. We had to go, and fast.
I pointed to the exit door and took off, checking once to make sure Dylan was following. I started swimming, and froze in place. The floor of the bay was coming at us, fast.
I desperately needed air.
I blocked the exit and shook my head. Panic filled Dylan’s face. I grabbed his arm. We hit bottom and were flung apart.
The boat leveled off and bounced before it settled. I shined my light at the exit and pushed Dylan out. I followed him.
It was hard to tell which way was up and which was down. Dylan let go of the tube. It floated up and we swam after it.
We were going to crash.
Chapter Nine
Halfway to the surface, Dylan took in water and began thrashing. My lifeguarding skills came rushing back to me. I grabbed him from behind and kicked for the surface. He passed out and was easier to manage, but weighed me down. We were in trouble. I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. Air was only a few yards away, but it felt like miles. I kicked harder than ever.
I went back to stalling. “Where are you kids living? Why haven’t you gone someplace that has clean water?”
“You’re not our mother. Find us food. Two minutes!” the girl said.
I couldn’t see the girl, but I heard her whisper. “They’re stalling. They have nothing. Let’s lock them in and move on.”
The six-year-old started to cry. “I’m hungry. Please. She said she’d find us something.”
The ten-year-old shoved his little brother, hard. “There isn’t nothin’ left. Don’t you get it? That girl’s right, Shawna. We should leave this stupid place.”
“If we leave, they’ll never find us,” Shawna answered.
“Mom and Dad are dead!” the ten-year-old boy yelled. “If we stay, we are too.”
“Don’t say that. Don’t you ever say that.” Shawna slapped him.
He held his hand over his cheek and glared at her.
“He’s right,” I cried. “This place is toxic. It is killing you. Go inland. Or go to the settlement camp a way down the shore. You can get…”
“Shut up! You don’t know nothin’. That’s it. Time’s up. Lock them in!” Shawna yelled.
The hatch began to close. I grabbed my pack and used it to block it. “Takumi!” I yelled.
Takumi tried to pull the hatch back open, but the hydraulic hinge took over and nothing he did would stop it. He had to let go or lose his fingers.
The hatch closed with a whoosh. We were trapped.
“Wait!” I pounded on the metal door. “Wait. Don’t leave. I have a bag of gummy bears.”
The voices below were muffled. If I couldn’t hear them, would they hear me? I kept hitting the door and yelling.
Slowly the hatch opened back up.
“Prove it!” Shawna thrust her knife at me. “Show us the gummy bears.”
I jumped back and grabbed the bag of gummy bears out of my pack and ripped them open.
“Don’t give them the bag until they let us down…” Takumi said softly.
My hands were shaking so hard that a few candies fell on the floor. Takumi quickly snatched up three little bears and dropped them down to the kids.
The kids scrambled for the candies. The youngest boy started screaming. “Give it back. That’s mine.” He tackled his older brother, his voice high-pitched and desperate. “It’s mine. Mine.” The boys began to roll around in the aisle, fists punching, legs kicking.
Takumi used the distraction to drop down through the hatch. The cart he landed on rolled out from under him. He reached up and held onto the back of an upside-down seat as the cart crashed on the kids. He landed and snatched up both of the metal boat hooks the boys had lost in their tussle. He pointed one of the spears at the kids.
“Toni, get down here.” His voice startled the boys and they stopped fighting. Their sister frantically searched for her spear.
I quickly tossed the packs through the opening. The bag of gummies was stuffed in my pocket. I picked a red bear up off the floor, and plummeted feet first through the hatch. Takumi grabbed my arm to keep me from crashing, while still holding the sharp stick aimed at the kids.
The kids scrambled to their feet. Shawna stood with her spear pointed at us. The boys hid behind her. The littlest peeked around her side.
I opened my hand and showed him the red gummy. Without hesitation, he shoved his way past his sister, snatched up the red candy, and popped it into his mouth.
“You little brat!” Shawna screamed.
But the little boy was lost in red gummy goodness. His cheeks went in and out as he sucked, savoring the candy as long as he could.
It was hard not to smile. But Shawna wasn’t happy.
I began backing toward the exit. “We’re getting off this plane. Now. We’ll give you the rest of the gummy bears if you promise not to follow us. Gummy bears are all we have.”
Shawna forced a smile and held out her hand. “I promise.”
“Not until we’re off the plane.” Takumi waved his spear at her and tossed the other one to me. We kept moving backwards towards the door.
When we were all off the plane, I slide my spear through the straps in my pack and pulled the bag of gummy bears out of my pocket.
Shawna still pointed her knife-tipped spear at us. Takumi aimed his right back.
I knelt and motioned for the little guy to come to me, again.
His eyes glowed with anticipation as he crept forward.
His sister realized what he was doing, and grabbed for him. “Get back here, you…”
He twisted out of her reach and raced to me.
I shoved a handful of gummies into his pocket and yelled, “Run!”
The little boy took off like a rocket toward the airport. His brother and sister watched him go for a shocked moment, then screamed for him to come back.
Takumi stepped forward with his pointy boat hook and stopped them from going after him.
I waved the half full bag of candy in their faces. “Let him go. He just has a handful. You can have the rest.”
Shawna snatched the gummies from me, shoved them into her coat pocket, and took off.
Her brother followed after her and whined as he ran. “Come on, Shawna, give me some. You promised.”
Takumi and I watched them disappear into the ruins of the airport. We picked up the life jackets we’d tossed off the plane and snapped them onto our packs.
“Do you think they’ll leave here? Find a safer place?” I asked as we sprinted to the marina.
Takumi glanced back at the way they’d gone. “They tried to kill us. We did what we could.”
Chapter Eight
It started to rain as we made our way to the kayaks. The rain made the going miserable, but at least the air smelled better. I could feel my headache lessen.
Takumi wanted to stop at the marina and check out the damaged boats for supplies, but we were out of time. We snagged a plastic kayak that was only slightly slimy, and loaded our overstuffed packs into it.
We paddled to Whistler in silence. It was raining hard and we weren’t surprised there was nobody on deck. But the dinghy wasn’t back. That bothered me. Takumi pulled the kayaks onboard, while I hurried below to grab towels and check on the girls. They’d been left alone with Zoë for over three hours.
I rubbed a dirty towel on my hair and called out. “Where is everyone?”
“In here,” Makala yelled from Zoë’s cabin.
I changed into dry clothing and opened the door to my brother’s room. Zoë was sprawled across her bed with her head propped up on a couple of pillows. Her eyes were closed. Jervis’s sisters were painting Zoë’s toes bright red. Makala was brushing Zoë’s long dark hair.
“Not so hard,” Zoë complained when the brush caught in a tangle.
“What is going on?” I asked.
Zoë sat up. “I’m babysitting. Did you find anything good?” She relaxed back down. Before I could answer, she cried, “Don’t stop, girls. You still need to do my fingernails.”
Rebecca held up the polish she and her sister were using.
Zoë’s eyebrows cinched. “Mmm. Not red. Is there a clear or a dark blue? Wait. Before you put the red away, touch up my little toe. You missed… Ouch!” She grabbed the back of her head. “Makala, stop. That hurts.”
Makala dropped the brush. Her lips went into a pout.
“Zoë, you’re too much.” I shook my head.
“What?” Zoë closed her eyes.
“Come on, Makala.” I held out my hand.
Makala whined. “I wanted to paint Zoë’s nails, too.”
“Let’s see what we can find to eat, and then you can paint mine. Would that be fun?”
Makala looked over at the girls working on Zoë. They were each focused on Zoë’s fingernails. Makala still pouted. She shrugged. “I guess.”
I propped Makala up on the seat at the chart table and checked the time. The dinghy was late returning, but I wasn’t worried. Not yet.
My stomach rumbled and I checked the storage locker for food. We would have to eat something before we took off for the border, and we needed to carry food with us. And water. We had supplies from the island, but little else. The rice and pasta were gone. We still had a bag of potatoes that had started to sprout. Takumi wanted to save them so we could grow potatoes when we finally got to where we’d stay.
I opened the lower level storage and found the fish and snake meat we’d smoked, some dried seaweed, a basket of tiny wine grapes, and the ketchup Takumi had gotten for me.
I couldn’t see making a meal out of any of this. Just when I was about to ask Takumi for help, I heard voices up top. I grinned at Makala. The dinghy was back.
Makala jumped off her seat and scurried up the steps. I followed close behind.
Then Takumi yelled, “Where’s Jervis and Dylan?”
My heart stopped.
Angelina pointed. “They’re trapped. Under a boat.”
I held Makala as Takumi took the line from Nick. “What happened?”
Zoë and Jervis’s sisters appeared. Zoë pushed Makala and me aside. “Where’s my husband?”
Rebecca and Naomi stared at the dinghy and hugged each other close.
Nick climbed aboard and avoided looking at Zoë or Jervis’s sisters. “We dropped Dylan and Jervis off to check on a yacht. It was listing quite a bit, but Dylan was sure it would be fine. Angelina and I went to explore a cargo ship. When we came back for the guys, the boat we’d left them on had flipped over and was starting to sink. The boys were yelling, so we know they’re okay, but I don’t know for how long. We need to cut through the hull and get them out.”
Takumi shook his head. “There’s no way to cut through…”
“There has to be a way!” Zoë screeched.
“We have wet suits. We can swim to them. Rescue them from below the water,” Takumi suggested.
“But we don’t have air tanks,” I said.
“Right. Let’s think about this. They’d swim out if they could. They’re yelling, so they have air.”
“We need tools,” Nick said. “Like a sledgehammer or a saw.”
I couldn’t believe how calm and logical they were being. We were wasting time. I rushed to the tool box. The hammer we had was small, but there was a metal claw on one side. Takumi searched through the outside locker and found the ax and boat hook. We didn’t have a saw.
Angelina scrambled onto Whistler and Makala threw her arms around her neck. And then Angelina pulled Rebecca and Naomi off to the side and kneeled down. “Jervis is going to be okay,” she whispered. Rebecca nodded. A tear rolled down Naomi’s cheek.
“Okay, Nick, let’s load up.” I climbed into the dinghy.
“I’m going too!” Zoë stepped onto the swim step.
“The dinghy will be too crowded on the way back,” I said.
“Then you stay. Dylan’s my husband. If he’s hurt, he’ll need me.”
“I’m a competitive swimmer.” I snarled. “But if you’re going, at least move out of the way.” I settled into the bow of the dinghy. Nick handed me the ax, the hammer, and climbed in. The clock was ticking. Where was Takumi?
“Takumi, let’s go. Now!” Zoë yelled.
Takumi tossed down the wetsuits, climbed aboard, and shoved off. Nick rowed. I could feel my heart pounding. What if the boat sank before we got there? What if they ran out of air? Nick was rowing hard, but it felt like we were hardly moving.
“Faster! Row faster!” Zoë cried.
“There!” Nick pointed. The bright red bottom of a large yacht was floating directly ahead. At least it hadn’t sunk.
“Dylan!” Zoë stood up and screamed. “Dylan!”
“Sit down or you’ll capsize us,” Nick yelled.
The muffled voices of the guys erupted from the overturned boat. I exhaled and realized I’d been holding my breath.
Takumi and Nick reached for the two wet suits.
“I’m the best swimmer. I’ve spent years swimming underwater.” I snatched the smallest wet suit.
Nick and Takumi stared at one another.
“She’s right. So, which one of us…” Nick stared at the wet suit in his hands.
“Have you ever done any deep-sea dives?” Takumi asked.
“I’m not sure what you mean by deep sea,” Nick answered.
“It’s when you swim down into the depths. I learned to dive for fish and lobsters every summer in Japan,” Takumi said.
Nick handed a suit to Takumi. “Haven’t done that.”
While the boys had been busy deciding, I had my wet suit on. I dipped the face mask in the water to make a seal and put it on. Dylan and Jervis were in trouble. I was coming.
Takumi yelled for me to wait as I jumped into the oily bay and dove to rescue my brother and friend.
I swam for the stern of the capsized boat. I tested the little flashlight attached to the suit, took three deep breaths, and dove. The upside-down yacht cabin was mostly glass. The huge sliding glass door was open, and I swam right in. Plastic glasses, seat cushions, and placemats floated inside the completely flooded cabin. I headed down the narrow hallway.
My lungs were starting to complain.
At the end of the hall I came to a closed door. It was probably the master bedroom. I didn’t dare open it, but tried knocking instead.
One of the boys knocked back. They were behind the door. It didn’t look like it would be hard to open. I wiggled the door handle. It wasn’t locked.
My lungs were screaming, “Air. Now.”
Takumi swam into the cabin as I exited. I motioned to the door the boys were trapped behind and gave the thumbs-up signal to go up. We needed to talk.
When I reached the surface, I sucked in air. A few minutes later, Takumi’s head popped up.
“Why don’t they just open the door and swim out?” I gasped.
“The water pressure on the door must be strong. It’s forcing it closed. They need to let water in to release the pressure.”
“But if they do, air will escape, and the boat will sink.”
Takumi adjusted his face mask. “I’m going to dive down and see how deep the bay is. Be right back.”
Before I could respond, he was gone. I swam to the bow of the capsized yacht.
“Dylan, Jervis, can you hear me…?”
Again, both the boys began yelling. I couldn’t make out what either was saying.
“One at a time! Are you hurt?”
“No!” Dylan answered.
“Are you trapped by something other than the door?”
“Just the door. It’s stuck,” Dylan yelled. “If we force it open, the air will rush out and the boat will sink.”
“Takumi’s checking the depth. If it’s not too deep, we are going to let the water in. You need to take deep breaths and swim out when the door opens. We’ll help you.”
I waited for a response. There was silence. “Guys? It’s the only way. You’re going to have to hold your breath.”
“Okay. We’re ready,” Dylan called.
“Jervis? What about you?’ I asked.
“Just get us out,” he yelled.
Takumi appeared, floated on his back and gasped for air. “It’s about forty or fifty feet deep. Also, the air will escape and might make the water bubbly. When we get to the top, we’ll have to swim away from the bubbles.”
The capsized boat groaned and the stern sunk deeper in the water. The guys were yelling for us to hurry.
Takumi yelled, “We’ll let the water in and open the door. The cabin is going to fill. The boat will start to sink. We’ll help you swim out before the boat goes down. Ready?”
“Ready,” the guys said in unison.
Takumi and I took in air and dove. The water was clearer the deeper we swam. We made it through the boat cabin again and to the door. I tried the claw of the hammer. It was too wide to get in the crack of the door.
Takumi tried to wedge the axe blade between the door and the door frame. It was too wide too. He swung the axe and hit the door. Swinging an axe underwater was like swinging an ax in slow motion.
And then we were out of air. Takumi motioned to go back up top.
We floated on our backs as oily waves rocked us. “How are we going to open that door?” I asked.
“The water is putting too much pressure on it. If I break it, even a little, the pressure should do the rest of the work. Ready?”
I nodded and we swam back.
Takumi swung the ax through the water three times. The wood started chipping away. We could hear the guys yelling, but not what they were saying. The crack in the door grew.
A whoosh of air knocked Takumi and me back. The boat started listing, the stern heading down. My brother and Jervis were still trapped.
Takumi banged on the door again. I shined the little flashlight into the crack.
The guys were underwater.
I grabbed the handle and pushed. Suddenly the door opened. Jervis swam out. I gestured for him to go with Takumi while I waited for Dylan.
Dylan clutched a long plastic tube in one hand. His eyes were huge with fear.
My lungs felt like they were going to explode. We had to go, and fast.
I pointed to the exit door and took off, checking once to make sure Dylan was following. I started swimming, and froze in place. The floor of the bay was coming at us, fast.
I desperately needed air.
I blocked the exit and shook my head. Panic filled Dylan’s face. I grabbed his arm. We hit bottom and were flung apart.
The boat leveled off and bounced before it settled. I shined my light at the exit and pushed Dylan out. I followed him.
It was hard to tell which way was up and which was down. Dylan let go of the tube. It floated up and we swam after it.
We were going to crash.
Chapter Nine
Halfway to the surface, Dylan took in water and began thrashing. My lifeguarding skills came rushing back to me. I grabbed him from behind and kicked for the surface. He passed out and was easier to manage, but weighed me down. We were in trouble. I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. Air was only a few yards away, but it felt like miles. I kicked harder than ever.
