7

“Look!” Drew shouted.

Alex looked up from the dangerously mucky ground. Drew was scrambling toward a boat jammed between some trees and a rock. The name Reel Deal appeared on the stern.

“Why is that fishing boat so far inland?” Alex said, but she knew the answer. The tsunami had carried it this far. When will we reach the end of the wreckage?

Drew looked in awe at the boat and ran his hand over the topside. It was the kind of boat their dad had taken them out on once when he went deep-sea fishing.

Seaweed draped over the edges of the boat, and a palm tree rested against the side like a gangplank.

“Hello!” Alex yelled. “Hello!” No one answered.

Drew glanced at Alex and then they raced for the gangplank. Drew limped on his twisted ankle, but he got there before Alex and walked the plank first.

At the top he struck a pirate pose and declared, “Arrrrrr!”

“Move it, Captain Hook,” Alex said, climbing up the palm tree after him. On deck, she surveyed the boat. Shipwreck was more like it. The decks had been swabbed clean by the tsunami.

“Look for anything we can use,” Alex said.

“Aye-aye.” Drew saluted her.

“I’m going below to investigate.” Alex climbed down a ladder with only five rungs. Then she had a horrible thought: Where is the owner? What if someone is down here? And what if they are dead? Or alive and furious that we’re on their boat?

“We shouldn’t be here,” she said aloud, even though Drew couldn’t hear her.

She cautiously poked a door below deck. It creaked open.

“Hello?” she said more quietly than before. No one answered. She stepped through the doorway.

Cabinet doors hung open, and fishing gear, plastic dishes, and vinyl cushions were strewn everywhere. Water dripped across the wooden planks in the floor, which was cracked in several places, showing fiberglass beneath.

Alex turned back to the door, but a figure loomed up just as she pushed the door open and she screamed.

It was only Drew.

“You scared me half to death!” she scolded.

“Sorry.”

Alex sighed. “Let’s see what else is on the boat.” She hunted through the rest of the cabinets for anything useful that had survived the tsunami. Life jackets—too late for those. Two beach towels that were soaked through. She laid them out to dry on the boat’s narrow foredeck.

She felt awkward picking through someone else’s belongings, but she and her brother needed food, even if they had become looters. Alex’s stomach growled. What time was it? She hadn’t eaten anything since the bagel on the beach this morning. Something crinkled at her feet.

“Score! It’s like we really are pirates,” Alex said, holding up a bag of potato chips.

“I know you’re going to share those,” Drew said. He sat down on the floor of the boat and rummaged through the storage space under a bench built into the hull. “I hope we find someone else soon,” he added.

“We will,” Alex said. She stopped searching and met his eyes, repeating, “We will. We have to stay positive. Don’t give up.”

Their mom had hung a plaque on the wall of the house, right where people could see it on the way out the front door. It said, “Don’t forget to be awesome!”

Awesome. That seemed impossible right now. How could she be awesome walking through the wreckage of a tsunami?

She prayed they would find their parents. She would feel better now if they ran into anyone at all.

“Look!” Drew held up a can of flavored water.

“We’re splitting that,” Alex said, her dry tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth.

“Hello!” someone yelled.

“Who’s there?” Alex asked.

“Hello!” the person yelled again.

Alex climbed the ladder and looked around.

“Hello?” Alex yelled. “Is someone there?”

“Where are you?” the voice yelled.

Alex knew that voice. “Sienna? Sienna!”

Drew stopped rummaging as Alex climbed out of the boat and down the tree trunk. Heedless of the wreckage, she ran to Sienna and gave her a huge hug. It was so great to find another person, and someone she knew was even better.

“Mi amiga,” Sienna said.

“Mi amiga,” Alex repeated. Then she stepped back for a moment. “I’m worried. Where is everybody? Where’s Maia?”

“Oh!” Sienna said, “I forgot to tell you. Maia called yesterday and said she couldn’t meet us this morning because her parents had decided to spend the break in L.A. They left last night.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alex said.

“Nope.”

“Wow. That was lucky for them to have missed this.” Alex swept her arm around then shook her head. “My dad said we might visit my grandma in the Philippines this year because we’re so close. If only we had gone there now, we wouldn’t be here. Crazy.”

“I know,” Sienna said. Alex led her back to the Reel Deal, and they climbed aboard.

“I’m worried about my parents,” Alex said.

“Me too. My mom and dad went to work as usual. Nobody had any idea.” Sienna shook her head. Then she looked Alex in the eye. “Don’t worry. They were on higher ground. They’re probably fine. We’ll keep looking. My dad’s probably out doing rescues with his squad.”

Alex blinked back tears and nodded. They stood there a moment.

“What happened to your leg?” Alex asked, looking at the gash on Sienna’s left shin. Blood streamed down from the wound.

“I don’t know. Something cut me.”

“Wait here,” Alex said.

Sienna sat down on the deck. Drew was still digging around for more food.

Alex sorted through the mess again, muttering, “Aren’t they supposed to always have first aid kits on boats?” More bad luck. The rock in her pocket bounced against her leg.

“It’s okay.” Sienna waved her off. “It’s not bleeding much anymore. I’ll be fine.”

Alex pulled the bag of potato chips open and thrust the bag toward Sienna. “The first’s for you.”

Sienna smiled and scooped out a chip, stuffed it into her mouth, and crunched.

“That is the best thing ever!” She handed the bag back to Alex, who took two chips and passed the bag to Drew, who shoved a handful of chips into his mouth at once.

“Eat slowly. We don’t know when we’ll find food again,” Alex said.

Drew returned the bag to Alex.

Alex tapped the can of mineral water with her fingernails in an effort to keep it from spraying. They needed every drop of water they could get. She pulled the top and the can opened with a satisfying fizzle. Alex took a couple of sips and handed the can to Drew.

“Sip. Don’t gulp,” Alex said.

“I know. Geez.”

“Well, follow directions,” Alex said.

Drew took two sips.

“When will you stop treating me like a kid?”

“You are a kid.”

Drew burped just as he answered Alex, “I’m tweeeeeelve. Ahhhhh.” He handed the can to Sienna.

Alex rolled her eyes.

“Typical boy,” Sienna said.

“Alex?” Drew said.

“Yeah?”

“What if . . .”

She knew he was going to ask again about what would happen if they never got rescued. What if they died out in the sun? What if . . .?

“Do you think Mom and Dad are okay?”

“I hope so,” Alex said. “Grandma lived through a tsunami. Dad said her whole village was underwater. If she survived that, so can we.”

“I thought Dad said Grandma’s parents died in that tsunami.”

Alex sipped the mineral water and stood up without answering him. Sienna sipped from the can and then handed it to Drew.

“Come on,” Alex said. “If we stay here, we could die in the heat. We need to keep moving.”