Shipwreck Island by S. A. Bodeen Read Free Book Online Page A

needed to get that dog downstairs.
    She set a hand on his massive head and his brown eyes gazed up at her.
    â€œI promise. I’ll take good care of you.”
    Ahab took one last look at Captain Norm, then got to his feet and headed down the stairs into the cabin. Before she followed, she glanced over at the captain. He was hunched over his controls, speaking into his handheld radio.
    We’ll be fine, thought Sarah. He was already calling for help and nothing bad had even happened.
    Just as she began to step down, a draft lifted her hair off her shoulders. And then, as the breeze stiffened into a wind, rain began pelting her face. She quickly took the stairs down into the cabin, and burst into the galley.
    Ahab paced back and forth in the small space, his tail low, not wagging in the slightest.
    Everyone else was seated in the booth, eating spaghetti from the looks of Nacho, whose chin was utterly orange.
    John smiled. “Hungry?”
    Sarah shook her head as she wiped rain off her face. “A storm’s coming.”
    Yvonna frowned. “But the sky was so clear.”
    â€œNot anymore,” said Sarah, surprised at herself that there was not a trace of snark in her words. She was too puzzled by how fast the storm had come up. “The stars disappeared and Captain Norm sent us down here.”
    Her dad stood up. “I wonder if he needs help.”
    Sarah said, “He wants us to stay down here.”
    The captain hadn’t used those words exactly , but something inside Sarah told her she needed to keep her family downstairs. Well, her dad was her only family, really, but she didn’t want anything to happen to anyone on that boat. So a little white lie wasn’t going to hurt if it did, in fact, keep them all safe inside the cabin.
    The boat began to rock, and then, suddenly, the dishes on the table slid to one side.
    â€œGrab them!” yelled Yvonna.
    Luckily, the edge of the table had a lip that stopped the dishes before the boys had a chance to react. Sarah picked up the pot of noodles and sauce. Together they quickly piled dirty dishes in the small sink and everything else in the cupboard above the sink, firmly securing the latch on the cabinet.
    Sarah realized she’d better tell her dad the captain needed help. “Dad, I forgot. The captain wanted you to help him with the sail.”
    John quickly headed up on deck.
    By the time they were done cleaning up the dinner table, the thunder and wind and rain were so loud that they had to yell to be heard. The boat was all over the place, climbing up and then plunging so far that Sarah’s stomach lurched like she was on a roller coaster.
    Her dad came back down.
    Yvonna asked, “What’s going on?”
    John said, “We got the sail put away and the skipper put the boat on autopilot.” He tried to smile. “Let’s go in and sit down.”
    Grabbing at the knobs on the cupboard and then the table in order to keep her balance, Sarah followed him into the other small room and they all crowded together on the cushioned benches, no one saying anything. Sarah’s heart was pounding and she felt like she had to throw up again. Her dad put his arm around her. “You okay?”
    She wanted to scream. She wanted so badly to stand up and shout, “No, I’m not okay! I want to be home! With you and me, the way it was!” If it weren’t for the Murillo three that is exactly where they would be. Safe and sound in Southern California.
    But instead of saying any of what she was really feeling, she chose to share only a small part of it. She said, “I don’t like this.”
    But no one answered her, because a second after the words came out, the lights in the cabin went out. They were in the belly of the sailboat, in the dark, in the middle of a maelstrom.
    And then, finally, Sarah did let out the scream she had been holding in.

 
    10
    Marco was unsure whether he hit the floor before or