Knockdown (20 page)

A huge swell swayed the boat.

Takumi put his arm around me. I stiffened and shrugged him off. He watched the white caps on the sea. “It’s too dangerous for you to go up the mast in these swells.”

I
studied the line clamps. They were covered in towels and blankets. I peeled off the linens and found the lines going into the clamps were tangled and knotted. I cleared each one, even pulling a thin rag out of one of the clamps.

When the
lines were free, I called to Nick, “Try taking the reef out now.”

The
guys cheered as the reef lines released and they were able to pull the sail up to full size. The boat took the next swell much better.

“
Don’t throw stuff on top of these clamps, okay?” I patted the line clamps then collapsed in the cockpit, shivering. My warm bed called to me. Takumi wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and sat beside me.

“Thanks
.” I slid away from him.

“How can I help you?
” Takumi hung his head.

I forced myself to face him. “I never thanked you for jumping
in to save Dylan.”

“I wish we had an underwater light.
I might have been able to find Cole. The water was too dark.”

“But
you tried. And I remember you bringing me food and sitting with me. That was nice.”

Takumi jerked
as if I’d slapped him. “Nice? Of course. Toni, I care about you.”

I shrugged. “I can’t…everything is…is different now.”
I could see I was hurting him, but I couldn’t help it. I felt numb. I didn’t care. Not about him. Not about the boat.

“What do you mean?”

I gazed out at the water. “I don’t know.”

Takumi’s eyes narrowed
.

Nick came on deck and dumped a chart book in my lap. Takumi sighed and walked away.

“Dylan and Cole planned to go ashore and refill the water tank.” Nick tapped the book. “Did they tell you where?”

Takumi move
d to the rail. I glanced at Nick. “Can’t we wait until Dylan sobers up to find fresh water?”

“W
e just passed this marker off Cape Elizabeth.” Nick pointed to a spot on the map.” This seems like a safe bay, Grays Harbor. It’s not too far from the marker.”

Takumi joined Nick. “Lots of fresh water streams flow into that bay.”

I glared at the broken instrument panel. If only we had a GPS and depth finder. Entering any harbor and anchoring was going to be hard without a way to gauge the bottom. However, we couldn’t continue on without water.

“If we find the buoys marking the harbor
, do you guys think we should sail into this bay?” I asked.

“We don’t have a choice. We’re out of water and only three cans of soda left
,” Nick said.

Dylan was going to be angry. This was
Dad’s boat and his decision to make. I took a deep breath. Until he sobered up, he had no right to say anything. And then… well, then things would just be different.

“Grays Harbor.” I closed the book. “Let’s go for it.”

Chapter
Twenty-Three

Seven and a Half Days Left

We heard the buoy that marked the entrance before we saw it. My heart thumped with the rhythm of the clanging bell. The chart showed we were on top of a huge underwater shelf. The shallowest point was eighty-seven feet, but it made the sea rough. Huge swells swallowed us and then spit us out.

Luckily, we had enough wind to control the boat, although at times I struggled with t
he wheel. I wished Dylan would wake up and help. The other guys offered, but I needed to do this.

Nobody complained about the cold anymore. The thought of getting off the boat was on everyone’s mind. I worried about what we would find when we finally go
t on land. There was still no cell service. For once I was glad. How would I ever tell my parents about Cole?

Makala, Boots, and Angelina stayed below deck with Dylan. It was too rough for Makala to be on top. The rest of us sat in silence, staring at the coastline, searching for some sign of life.
What land we could see was barren. The huge trees that had stood for centuries were gone. Even most of the shrubs that dotted the coastline had been washed away. All that was left were steep rocky cliffs.

“Look,” Takumi handed me the binoculars.

“What am I trying to see?” I asked.

“There. At the top of that ridge.”

A beautiful cedar tree stood tall and proud––at least one had survived. I smiled sadly. That tree might be the only one left. But at least there was one. And a hundred years from now, there’d be more trees.

I aimed the binoculars to the south, searching for the
second buoy that marked the entrance to the bay. I shook my head and passed the glasses back to Takumi.

While he continued to
examine the coast, I glanced at the map. The opening to Grays Harbor was two miles wide, but from out at sea, it was impossible to spot. If we sailed too close to shore, we’d get caught in the surf, and crash into the cliffs.

“Can I borrow those for a while?”
Zoë reached for the binoculars.

She made her way to the bow, ducking under the mainsail. She crawled on top of the cabin next to
Jervis, held onto the rail, and scanned the coastline.

“Check this out,” s
he told Jervis, indicating where to focus.

“There’s a marker.” He pointed. “
Zoë found it.”

“Okay, okay.” I gripped the wheel. “We found a marker. That’s good. That’s
good.” Everyone was watching me.

“So what do we do now?” Nick asked. “If we go farther south, we’ll pass it.”

“Yeah. I can see that. But there should be two markers. What color is the one you found?”

“What?”
Zoë made a face. “What difference does it make what color it is?”

I ignored her. “Nick, Takumi, can we sail into the
harbor without tacking?”

Nick nodded. “We should be good as long as the wind keeps blowing
this direction.”

“I still need to know the color of the buoy.” I waited but nobody spoke. “Red, right, return. Red, right, return
,” I whispered and adjusted the wheel.

“What are you mumbling?” Takumi asked.

“A saying Dad had. The markers we are searching for, one will be green, the other red. When you are returning to a harbor, you keep the red marker to your right.”

“Cool.” Takumi repeated the phrase to himself. “Red, right, return.”

“Okay. Prepare to come about.” I’d made a decision. “Zoë, tell Angelina and Makala to hold on below. Nick and Takumi, ready the lines. Let me know when you’re set.”

After a few moments Nick held his line in the air. “Ready!”

“Watch your heads. Coming about.” I spun the wheel toward the buoy Zoë spotted.

Nick brought in the main sail, and then let it out after the turn. Takumi did the same for the jib. The sails fluttered. A wave hit us from the side. I held my breath.

The sails filled, but we heeled too far over, overpowered by the wind.

“Let out more sail!” I gripped the wheel.

Soon we were moving fast toward the marker. I prayed we’d either spot the second marker, or see the color of this one.

Zoë
squealed. “Land. Here we come.”

“I need the color of that buoy.” I squinted, trying hard to see for myself.

“Why do you keep asking what color it is?” Zoë shook her head.

“If we go to the wron
g side of it, we’ll hit rocks.”

Zoë
’s eyes got big. She ran to the rail and studied the buoy.

The marker kept bobbing up and down in the gray water. The sky was darkening. For some reason, the buoy just
looked black. And we were sailing right for it. I didn’t know what else to do.

“Toni, don’t hit it
.” Takumi put his hand on my shoulder.

“Then tell me what color it—”

“Green. It’s green!” Zoë screamed. “See? There in the middle. A green triangle.”

We sailed to the left of the buoy
, barely missing it. I exhaled. I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath.

When
we entered the harbor, the water became calm. The wind began to die. Our progress slowed, but I felt more comfortable with the speed we were traveling.

“Check for debris. There are two good
sized towns here. At least there used to be. Stuff will be floating. I don’t know how close to shore we’ll get.”

I handed the chart to Takumi. “Did you guys see a good place to anchor when you studied the map?”

Takumi put his finger on a spot on the page. “The marinas will be wiped out. The problem with anchoring will be the current from all the rivers that enter the bay. There are lots of streams for fresh water, but they make strong currents too. And add that to the tidal changes—”

“So much for finding a safe harbor.”

Takumi smiled. “Maybe a marina survived. All we actually need is a piling to tie up to. If a piling survived the tsunamis, it should hold us for a night or two. And we can row to shore.”

“Fine.
I don’t want to be around desperate townspeople though. Help me find an isolated piling, okay?”

“Got it.”

We sailed slowly around the bay and studied the possible spots to tie up for a night. Mostly, we tried to see some sign of a normal town or marina. But this bay wasn’t the place to find that.

I kept my eye on the wind direction arrow that is attached to the top of
the mast. I adjusted the wheel enough to miss debris, but not enough to lose the wind in the sails. The closer we got to shore, the more wreckage we found. It became harder and harder to sail. The bay was a muddy brown.

On shore, I glimpsed boats sitting on top of boats. Some were in the water, some far up on land. A luxury yacht was broken and partially sunk
en. The top of a fishing trawler stuck out behind what was left of a barn. The foundations of buildings remained, but there were no standing structures. The only creatures moving were seagulls and crows. No sign of people.

“What do you guys think?” There’d been more than a few near misses and my hands ached from clutching the wheel. “See a place we can tie up and feel safe?”

“The south side, near the town of Westport. It’s close to the bay opening and there are several damaged marinas with pilings we can tie to. We could scavenge stuff in the town and off wrecked boats,” Nick said.

“Anyone else?”

Jervis stood and gestured to the right. “It seemed safer on the north side to me. No towns and lots of rivers. Shouldn’t we anchor there?”

Takumi studied the chart. “I thought that too, but at least five streams empty into the
bay over there. Our anchor might not hold.”

“I like the idea of the town. Maybe I can find a non-used toothbrush.”
Zoë grinned.

We found a piling at the
end of what used to be a marina. It was all by itself. The dock that had been attached to it was completely gone.
Whistler
could spin around and not touch a thing. And nothing could get to us without a boat or swimming. It took me three tries with the motor on to get close enough to the piling for the guys to tie a line around it. I hated wasting what little gas we had. Dylan could have driven better, but he was still asleep.

Zoë
had her backpack on the second we tied up.

I tried to get her to wait. “It’s going to be dangerous. Nothing will be stable.
And desperate people…”

Zoë
put her hand in my face. “I don’t care if Dracula himself was standing on that shore. I’m getting off this boat.”

Zoë
, Nick, and Jervis offered to go ashore on our little make-shift raft and check things out. They’d search for a dinghy and fresh water if it was safe. A place to boil the water before we brought it on board would be good too. Nick promised to return and row Makala and Angelina ashore if everything checked out. Takumi and I said we’d stay onboard with Dylan and guard the boat.

Makala and Boots caught the excitement and ran around the deck. Between her squeals of joy and the dog’s barking, there was no way we were going to go unnoticed. But it was nice to be tied up in a gentle bay. We’d have to watch for floating debris, but that was nothing new.

It was growing dark. I handed a couple of flashlights to the team as they climbed aboard the raft. I glanced nervously at the shoreline. “We can stay around for a day or two if it’s safe. You don’t have to find everything tonight.”

Hurry back, I almost added. I couldn’t shake the feeling we were being watched.

Chapter
Twenty-Four