3

“Drew!”

He was half asleep on the couch, headphones blaring and a biography of Tony Hawk open on his chest. Alex ran over and shook his leg. “Drew!”

“Huh?” His eyes fluttered open. “What?”

“It’s an earthquake! We have to take shelter! Come on!”

Even as she said it, the tremor shook the ground harder.

Drew rolled off the couch and onto his feet, the headphones wrapped around his neck. The kitchen cabinet doors rattled, and the plates and glasses inside clattered. Then the floor actually moved, and a crack split the middle of the living room ceiling.

“Hide! Quick! Get under something sturdy!” Alex directed.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know!”

“The bathroom tub?” Drew asked.

“No. Not in something. Under something. Quick! Follow me!” Alex grabbed his arm, and they ran into their parents’ bedroom.

Drew dove under the bed. “Ow!” He rubbed his head as he scooted underneath.

“Be careful.”

Alex couldn’t fit under the bed, so she ducked under the next best thing: her mom’s desk, up against the wall. Mom had refused to leave it behind, saying that nothing would ever replace that solid oak monster. Alex crawled inside the rectangular cubby and folded up, pulling her knees to her chest. She tucked her head, just like they had done during school tornado drills in Minnesota. She placed her hands behind her neck and interlaced her fingers, protecting her spine. Was that good? It was a lot different than being in the hallways by the lockers during a drill.

Drew was facedown under the bed. His arms shook. He glanced up at her. Above her, she heard framed photos toppling over on the desktop. One slid off and landed next to Alex: a picture from her parents’ wedding. Mom and Dad faced each other, smiling, looking so young. Where were they? Somewhere safe? The ground shook again, and a look of horror crossed Drew’s face.

“I forgot Lulu!” he screamed.

“Stay put!” Alex yelled. “There’s no time to get your lizard!”

A loud crash came from outside. Drew screamed.

“Cover your head and neck!” Alex shouted.

Instead, Drew grabbed the photo of Mom and Dad, pulled it under the bed, and hugged it.

The rumble reminded Alex of a train, but it felt more like riding the rickety old roller coaster at the amusement park near her old house.

Outside something crashed, sounding like metal and glass shattering. Then suddenly the rumbles stopped. Everything went still.

Alex didn’t move at first. She held her breath, afraid another tremor would come, but nothing happened.

“Is it over?” Drew asked.

“Wait,” Alex answered. “Stay put.”

She took a deep breath and slowly lifted her head. Her hands shook, but she steadied them on the carpet and rolled onto all fours. She peeked out from under the desk and looked up toward the ceiling—and whacked her head on the desk drawer, which had opened halfway during the quake. She slid the drawer closed.

The earthquake couldn’t have lasted more than a minute.

When Alex stood up, her legs wobbled.

“Drew,” she whispered, “you can come out now.”

Drew crawled out from under the bed. His cheeks were red.

“You okay?” she asked, trying to sound brave.

“Yeah.” He wiped his eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Are you crying?”

“No.” Drew sniffled and rubbed his eyes with one hand, the wedding photo clutched tight against his chest in the other. “Is it over?”

“Yeah.” Alex glanced over the room, her arms wrapped tight around her rib cage. “I think so.”

Drew rubbed his head where he had bumped it on the bed.

“Let me see.” Alex pushed aside his longish black hair, which he kept growing out in an effort to look cool, and studied the bump. There was a red mark. “I think you’ll be fine. You might have a bruise.”

Alex surveyed the room. A jagged crack two feet long broke the yellow-painted wall. A longer crack split the ceiling. Was the foundation crumbling too?

“Come on,” she said, almost tiptoeing down the hallway. “I think we should go outside.”

Drew ran to his room. “Lulu! Good girl. Good girl. She’s fine!” he yelled.

“Glad to hear it,” Alex said. Having a lizard in the house gave her the creeps, but so did the geckos that sneaked into the house and climbed the walls.

The rest of the house appeared intact. The bookshelves were bolted to the walls, and the cupboards were designed to withstand tremors. With an active volcano on the Big Island and a history of eruptions and landslides, Hawaii was at high risk for earthquakes. The Big Island was on the fault line. An earthquake was less likely on Oahu, but still possible—obviously.

“Come on.” Alex grabbed Drew’s arm. “Let’s go see if everyone else is okay.”

Outside, a few neighbors were already cleaning up damage, but most people were at work on a Monday morning. Telephone poles had fallen down—that must have caused the awful crash. Across the street, a palm tree had fallen right on Mr. Chu’s tiny car, smashing the hood. The Chus’ yard was full of potted plants and palm trees, and Mrs. Chu often shared the avocados and pineapples she grew with her neighbors. Now fallen coconuts littered the ground like balls in some huge croquet game.

Mr. and Mrs. Chu were retired, so they were home most days, and Alex spotted Mrs. Chu as she righted a plant stand. Next to it, a clay pot with intricate flower carvings lay in pieces. Mrs. Chu’s stereo sang with a soloist playing a classical violin piece. She glanced over at them, threw her hands in the air, and then waved.

“Aloha,” Mrs. Chu said.

“Aloha,” Alex yelled and waved back. The Chus had welcomed Alex and her family right after they had moved in. With her dad’s mom in the distant Philippines and her mom’s parents far away in Minnesota, it was like having an extra set of grandparents. “Where is Mr. Chu?”

“Napping.” Mrs. Chu gestured toward their house. “He probably slept through the whole thing.” She made a snoring noise and then laughed. The Chus had lived through several earthquakes, so this was no big deal to them. “How are you enjoying your break from school?”

“Well,” Alex said, looking around, “it was going fine.”

“We’re just lucky no one was hurt,” Mrs. Chu said.

“Good point!” Alex said. “I’ll come over and help you in a minute.” She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and pointed to it. Mrs. Chu nodded.

Alex wanted to get hold of Mom and Dad. Had the earthquake reached their workplaces? She searched for the bars on her phone. No signal. She had heard cell phones sometimes didn’t work in emergencies. She stuffed it back in her pocket.

After helping Mrs. Chu, she could wander down to Sienna’s and see if their house had any damage. If it wasn’t too bad, they could meet Maia at the beach like they’d planned. They’d share snacks and compare notes about who was dating whom and talk about where they were applying to college. Alex was applying to three schools in Minnesota: Concordia College up north, Mankato State, and the University of Minnesota. Her dad had also suggested the University of Hawaii.

She and Simone had talked about being roommates in college so they wouldn’t get stuck with someone super annoying, but that meant they would have to agree on a school. Simone wanted to go to the University of Minnesota-Duluth, but Alex didn’t know if she wanted to move to Duluth. Sienna wanted to get back to the mainland too: she didn’t have a major picked, but she was considering schools in California. Last week she’d been really excited about the creative writing program at Mills College.

Alex felt another rumble.

“What is that?” Drew said.

“I’m not sure.” A chill ran up the back of Alex’s neck. Was another earthquake about to hit? No. This rumble felt different, and the usually calm sound of crashing waves seemed closer than normal.

A look of horror crossed Mrs. Chu’s face as she looked past Alex.

Drew pointed behind Alex and shouted, “Look out!”

Alex turned toward the ocean. A wave stretched across it, as wide as she could see and reaching at least two stories high, as high as their house. It was as if an enormous dam had broken—a dam that had been holding in the whole Pacific Ocean—and now a giant wall of water rushed toward them. Alex reached for Drew’s hand. But she only grazed his fingertips, and then he was gone.