17

Luca

The campsite at the tree line looked undisturbed since running away the night before. The dead snakes had shriveled some, and he quickly tossed the corpses into the jungle before picking up a few other things that had been knocked over, and relighting the fire. The others wouldn’t want to sleep here tonight. He couldn’t blame them, but the choices were pretty slim unless they could manage to put the van in neutral and push it back to the camp.

Now for the hard part. He glanced at the trees and took a deep breath. Raising his stick, he moved toward the bushes and branches nearest the camp. He rattled his stick through the brush, hoping to scare out anything they didn’t want hanging around their camp. When nothing came slithering out, a pent-up sigh escaped his lips. He turned toward the van and waved the stick over his head.

David stood at the hood of the van in the distance and he waved back.

The line of kids from the van started toward him.

It would be a while before they got there, so he pulled food from the box and started cooking it over the fire. He sat on a log and watched them move his way.

What were they doing here? Would they ever get home? There didn’t seem to be any hope in sight.

Luca kicked at the sand and sighed. If there were a good way out of here, he didn’t know what it was.

Rae—whatever he was—didn’t seem to have a clear plan to help them. He may live here, but he didn’t seem all that smart about the area. And by the way he watched Avery, it was almost as if he didn’t want to help them leave.

That bugged Luca. A lot. Luca forced himself to relax when he realized he was clenching his teeth.

The group inched toward him.

Even June limped along with the others. She really did seem OK.

He’d never seen anyone with a snake bite, so he hadn’t been sure what to expect. It looked like everything worked out OK—except for the fact they’d been attacked by strange snakes.

Maybe Rae would have an answer for that.

By the time everyone arrived, the food Luca had set over the fire was ready. They gathered around the fire and pulled out the water, fruit, and noodles he had cooked. The talk was mostly non-existent. Everyone looked around them continuously, glancing at the branches and listening hard.

They were anxious. Anxious about snakes. About rescue.

About non-rescue.

When they’d finally finished eating, and everyone had almost-relaxed, Luca moved to sit by June. “How are you feeling?”

She leaned close and smiled. “I’m OK. My leg’s a little sore, but if that’s the worst of my problems I guess it’s not too bad.”

“Good point. Take it easy today, though, OK? We don’t know how that anti venom stuff works.”

“I’ll do whatever you say, oh fearless leader.” She grabbed his forearm and smiled again.

Luca forced out a smile and pulled his arm away. She must be loopy from whatever Benny had given her. “I’m going to check on the others.”

He slipped away and moved toward the rest of the group. Erin seemed lucid this morning. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing. She acted resolved to seeing strange dark creatures. Used to it.

No one should have to get used to that.

Avery talked with Benny about who knew what, and some of the other girls huddled together in the girls’ shelter.

Luca headed for the other guys. “What do you think about trying to push the van back?”

Sam’s eyebrows rose and David frowned.

“You would like us to push it for over a mile?” Sam asked.

“I know it’s a lot of work, but no one is going to want to trek back and forth every morning and night.”

“Wait,” David said. “How much longer do you think we’re going to be here?”

Luca shook his head. “I wish I could answer that, but I can’t. None of us know where we are, and so far it doesn’t look like anyone is looking for us.”

David’s frown deepened and he shifted in the sand. “Do you really think we can push it that far?”

Sam nodded. “It is possible, though many things may go wrong.”

Luca looked to Sam, thankful for his stamp of approval. Having Mom thankful for his help was one thing—but she was his mom. She had to be thankful. Sam was different. Having approval from him meant that maybe Luca was doing OK after all.

Glancing around, he calculated who else could help. Benny might do some good, and Avery always jumped in with both feet.

“OK,” he said. “It may take us half the morning, so let’s get started.” He quickly rounded up Avery then Benny—who complained about making the back and forth trip for a second time that morning—and they turned to head toward the van.

Something moved in the distance.

Luca frowned. He held out his arm. “Wait. Do you guys see that?”

The others squinted toward the rising sun and open desert. At first no one said anything, but then someone gasped.

“Is that Bradley?” Tasha said from behind them. “It’s Bradley, and he brought a rescue group!”

The other girls ran forward, squealing and shouting their excitement. The feeling was contagious and Benny whooped while David and June grinned.

Tasha started crying—again—blubbering about being saved and getting home.

Luca watched the approaching group with restrained excitement. Bradley had definitely found someone, but something felt off. He glanced at Avery.

She frowned. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

He looked back to the group and nodded. “They’re all walking. If they were here to rescue us, wouldn’t they have a van?”

“Exactly. He found someone, but it looks like he found someone else who was lost.”

Defeat wrapped around him like the hot water in his shower back home. He hated to break it to everyone. They were going to be devastated when Bradley’s large group made it to them.

And it was a large group. It looked almost as big as their own group.

That’s when he realized who was coming.

Avery made the connection at the same moment and she gasped. “Daddy!”

He tried to keep her back—she’d collapse from heat stroke if she ran that far—but she was too fast. She slipped and slid through the sand as she made her way toward them. If she was going then Luca guessed he was too. Avery’s dad had some questions to answer, and he probably had a few questions to ask of his own.

“Avery wait!” Luca said. “We can’t run that far. Wait until they get closer!”

She slowed down, but barely.

They ran all the way to the van before they slowed to a stop.

Luca bent over, panting. Running was a dumb thing to do.

“I can’t believe he found them.” Avery sucked in deep breaths as sweat dripped down her temples. “There’s no one around here for miles.”

He frowned but didn’t reply. What did she mean by that?

“They’re coming from the direction they left,” Luca said instead. “So did he find them in the middle of the desert?”

She shrugged. “It’s almost like they walked in a straight line and back.”

Luca gulped and looked toward the jungle. Where were they?

The group drew closer and Avery couldn’t contain her excitement. “I can’t believe they’re here. I was afraid I’d never see him again.”

He smiled, but inside he cringed. He’d never win Avery back with her dad hanging around. He didn’t understand why she wanted to please him so badly.

Mr. Miles had no time for Avery, and he never had. Once, he’d promised to take her skiing for Christmas. He’d told her to have her bags packed on Christmas Eve morning. Then, when the big day arrived, he was gone. He’d left in the middle of the night after getting a tip on a big dig. He hadn’t called to explain, or even apologized when he finally got home.

Then, after Avery’s episode when her mom left, he’d practically stopped speaking to her—period. Instead of Avery getting angry, she’d tried harder to make him happy. When Mr. Miles was around, it felt like Avery barely had a brain.

He glanced at her again, and her smile melted his heart a little. No matter what had happened, he would always wish he’d been enough for Dad. Maybe he could understand Avery’s motives after all.

Finally, the group drew close enough for Avery to reach and she raced out to greet them. She laughed and threw herself into her dad’s arms. He wrapped her in a hug and whispered something into her ear, and Luca couldn’t help but smile for her. A jerk or not, Avery loved him.

At least she still had her dad, which was more than he could say.

Luca took a deep breath and forced himself to unclench his fists. Breaking open his knuckles—again—on the side of the van wouldn’t help anyone, especially in front of Mr. Miles.

He reached the group a few paces behind Avery and clapped Bradley on the shoulder. “I’m taking it you didn’t find a rescue group?”

Bradley’s eyes showed his confusion, but he shook his head. “We walked straight out into the desert, but somehow we ended up on the other side of the jungle.”

Luca winced, and confusion clung to his brain. How was that even possible? “This place doesn’t make any sense.”

“Where’s Erin?” Chad stepped forward and Luca saw his face. Worry practically dripped from his shoulders.

Bradley must have told him how his wife had been acting.

“She’s back at camp,” Luca said. “She’ll be glad to see you.”

Chad didn’t wait for anyone else as he jogged through the sand and toward the tree line.

Luca turned back to Bradley’s group. “Have you guys eaten? Did you run out of water?”

“We found fruit and water on our side of the jungle,” Mr. Miles said.

“What about your van?” Luca felt kind of absurd asking Mr. Miles these questions, as if they were equals when Luca knew full well they weren’t. And he knew that Mr. Miles hated him.

Mr. Miles shook his head. “Won’t crank. Bradley tells me you guys ran out of gas.”

“That’s right. But we have food and medical supplies from the back of the van, so let’s get everyone back and we’ll make sure everyone eats something more filling than fruit.”

Mr. Miles smiled and clapped Luca’s shoulder. “Well done, Luca.”

That was a first.

Luca shook off his surprise and led the march back to the tree line. As they drew closer, they came upon Chad and Erin. Chad held Erin and cried. Erin rested her head on her husband’s shoulder, but no emotion showed on her face. It was almost like she wasn’t even happy to see him. It wasn’t like her at all, but that wasn’t unusual in this place.

A few girls from Mr. Miles’ van broke free from the group and ran to meet Gabby, Katelyn, and June. They all hugged in a giant, girly love fest.

The rest of the group mingled with the kids from his own church.

It was good to be together again. Really good.

With more of them, they should be able to figure out a way home. There would be more brains working together, and Mr. Miles was sure to know something about their location—he knew everything about the Middle East.

A few of them moved to boil noodles for the newcomers, while the rest sat in the shade to rest from their long journey.

“Tell me what happened,” Luca said as Bradley got comfortable near the fire.

Everyone gathered around him and he cleared his throat. “We started off heading toward the open desert, but by midday we knew something was off. We’d made a wrong turn somewhere along the line.

“The next thing we knew we were walking toward the jungle instead of away from it, but when we got closer we saw the van. We thought we’d made it back here, to our own camp, but I noticed the van was pointing toward the jungle instead of away from it, and that’s when I saw Mr. Miles.”

“We were blown to the other side of the jungle,” Mr. Miles broke in. “We’ve been there for days now.”

Avery frowned and shook her head. “Daddy, how is this possible? We were on the same road, but we ended up in two different places. Two entirely different places.”

Mr. Miles didn’t seem at all disturbed. He shrugged and shook his head. “Stranger things have happened.”

Luca frowned. There was more to his answer that he wasn’t sharing. And he wasn’t even upset at being lost. Luca knew he’d never trusted that man.

Bradley continued his story and Luca turned to listen. “Once we’d rested for the night with Mr. Miles’s group, we loaded up and headed back here. We stopped to sleep for the night, and we weren’t even sure we were headed in the right direction, but first thing this morning we continued the trip.” Bradley pointed at their van and laughed. “I never thought I’d be so happy to see that old clunker.”

Luca smiled on the outside, and he was glad Bradley and the others had made it back, but his mind worked quickly.

Mr. Miles was hiding something, and whatever it was, it had to be big.