Lost on Brier Island (13 page)

“We need something to keep him wet. His skin is drying out too fast!”

Rachel came over to stand beside her. “What about if we dunk the jacket again and cover him with that?”

“We can't.” Alex shook her head. “We need it to carry the water.”

“Oh, right.”

Looking around for inspiration, Alex noticed how the thick seaweed was covering everything. Seaweed! When they were climbing down the rocks, it had still been wet, even though the tide was out. It must keep water inside it.

“Rachel, get some seaweed and soak it in the water. Then put it on his back.”

Rachel scrunched up her face. “Yuck, seaweed? It's slimy!”

“But it might help him. Then we can try to get the fishing line untangled.” Alex grabbed a fistful, dragged it through the salt water, and laid it carefully on Daredevil's skin. Some of it slid to the ground, but most of it stuck.

Reenergized, she grabbed more bunches already in the water and placed them wherever she could on Daredevil. Rachel also began picking up loose seaweed and kelp strands floating in the water and placing them on the baby whale.

“Ew—this stuff is disgusting.”

Alex lost track of how much time had passed. Even though they'd covered most of him with seaweed and his skin was now staying wet, Daredevil was barely moving.

“C'mon, Daredevil, don't give up!”

Daredevil twitched slightly.

“We have to get these lines off him,” Alex said. The fishing line was a jumbled mess, wrapped around his body and twisted around his flippers. She remembered Gus talking about an entangled right whale he'd rescued, and how whales needed their flippers for balance and to swim.

Alex leaned forward to examine the line. She ran her fingers over it. It was just rope. Maybe she could cut it. She pulled Adam's knife from her pocket and opened the blade.

“Rachel, try and pull out a piece so I can get the blade under it.”

She started sawing on a piece of line with the knife and eventually cut through the threads. But it was hard work and her arms were already aching from carrying the water.

It took a long time to get through one piece of the line—a small victory. There were several more loops to be cut.

Desperately, she started on the next piece. “I'll cut through it all,” she vowed. “I will.”

Without the constant spray of water, Daredevil's skin was getting drier by the second. “Rachel, get some water on him!”

“I'm sorry, Alex. My arms won't work anymore. I think I'm going to throw up.”

“I can't do it all by myself!” Alex tugged at the fishing line again. It wouldn't budge. She'd have to cut every bit off. “Why didn't you stay with your mother like you're supposed to?” she cried at Daredevil. “All the other babies do. Why didn't you?”

The baby flicked his tail weakly. Dread overwhelmed her. He was running out of time, Alex could feel it.

“You
are
just like Adam. Daredevil is the perfect name for you, too. He wouldn't wait for his helmet. Why? I almost had the strap off—only another second and he would have had it.” Alex was weeping and muttering to herself as she sawed frantically at the line.

She didn't even pause as she cut through another loop. Immediately, she started on the next, then the next. “Neither one of you did what you were supposed to,” Alex raved as she tugged at the line. “And look what happened. You should be out there, safe, swimming with your mom. But no! You decided to go off by yourself.”

At that moment, Alex stumbled backward. Dazed, she glanced down to see the knife broken in her hands. Time seemed to stop as she watched the blade fall.

She reached down and fished it out of the water. It had snapped off at the base. There was no fixing it. She slipped the broken blade into her pocket and examined the rest of the fishing line. She had managed to cut through many of the pieces. Maybe that was enough to untangle the rest.

Carefully, she pulled the cut pieces over and under the other loops. It was like trying to un-knot her grandmother's yarn. It took forever to weave the pieces in and out. But finally, a large piece came loose in her hands.

Her heart soared. “Yes!” she cried, tossing the piece of line aside and starting on another piece. It was a bit easier to untangle than the first.

“Alex?”

“Stop complaining and come over and help me!” She'd gotten half the line off now. “It's working.”

“No, it's not that.” Rachel's voice was quivering. “The tide is coming in.”

Alex looked at the small waves that were now lapping around her. She hadn't even noticed. Glancing behind her, she was shocked to see that the water had quietly circled around them and now covered all of the shore. It was at least twenty feet to dry land.

Farther out in the cove, Rooftop was circling closer, too. Biggest tides in the world—twenty feet in six hours, Aunt Sophie had said. Alex looked up at the seaweed clinging to the basalt cliffs far above their heads. They were running out of time, too.

“Hang in there, Daredevil,” she said, working faster. “You'll be back with your mom soon.” She pulled another loop free.

“Alex?”

“What now?”

“I…I'm trapped.”

Alex looked over at Rachel. She was perched on a boulder several feet away and below her, farther out in the cove. It was now surrounded by water. “Why didn't you get off before?”

“I don't know, it didn't seem so bad…and then it was.”

“It won't be too deep yet. Jump.”

“I can't!”

“You have to. I can't leave Daredevil. Jump down!” Alex said. “You can swim, right? What's the problem? Don't be such a wuss—” Alex paused. She couldn't believe she'd said that. It had hurt every time Adam had called her that.

“I can't help it,” Rachel cried. “The water is full of floating seaweed. I can't see where to put my feet. What if I fall in a hole or something?”

The rising tide was now at Alex's calves. Buoyed seaweed smacked against her legs, tossed by the angry waves. Alex shivered, uneasiness rippling through her.
How quickly did the tide come in?
She tried to calculate it in her head. Twenty feet in six hours—that would be more than three feet in an hour, over a foot every twenty minutes. She looked down. In twenty minutes, the water would be past her thighs.

They weren't running out of time—they were out of time.

“Alex!”

She leaned her forehead against Daredevil's side. More time—she had to have more time. “I'm coming,” she said.

Quickly, she loosened two more loops. But no matter how hard she pulled, the rest of the line wouldn't move. It was still wrapped tightly around one of Daredevil's flippers.

Alex pulled the broken blade from her pocket and ran her finger lightly along the edge. Biting her lip, she wondered if it would leave a deep cut.

“The water is getting higher!” Rachel was sounding more panicked by the minute. She'd picked a poor place to rest. The waves were breaking over the rock she was on.

Alex held her breath and slashed at the fishing line. With no handle, the metal of the blade dug into the flesh of Alex's hand.

“Help me!”

“Hold on, I'll be right there!” Alex worked as fast as she could, trying to ignore the pain shooting through her. Her hands shook, but she kept going, working the blade as best she could at the section of line that was still wrapped around Daredevil's flipper. If she could at least free that, he could swim and dive. He might stand a chance. Waves were brushing against her thighs now.

I can save them both. I can save them both.
She kept repeating it in her head, hoping that would make it true. Daredevil twitched. Had she hurt him?

“It's okay, Daredevil. Shh,” she murmured. Just a bit more and he might be able to get free.

“ALEX! The waves are pushing me!”

The crests of the waves were now lapping at Rachel's legs and she was weaving, trying to keep her balance. How long had Alex been working on Daredevil? She couldn't wait any longer.

Time was up.

Tears burned Alex's eyes. She'd done all she could.

Dropping the blade, she leaned forward, running her hands softly over Daredevil's head—the way she had the first time she'd seen him. “I'm sorry,” she sobbed. “I tried, I really did. But I couldn't get it all off.” She felt Daredevil stir beneath her hands.

The incoming tide was now high enough to float Daredevil and finally loosen him from his land prison. He bobbed gently in the current for a moment. Alex gasped as he tipped to one side. But then he righted himself, or the current pushed him back up. He began to drift away from her, out towards the open sea and his mom. Rooftop was still out by the rocks close to the mouth of the cove. It must have been too shallow for her to come closer.

“Bye, Daredevil,” she whispered.

“ALEX!”

Rachel's scream spurred Alex to action. Ignoring her aching limbs, she fought the swirling current, forcing her exhausted body forward into deeper water to Rachel. Her pack floated beside her, its strap still across her shoulder.

She stumbled in the choppy waves, tripping over slippery rocks. Frigid ocean water sprayed up her nose and into her mouth. She squeezed her stinging eyes shut and coughed as the salty water burned its way down her throat.

Higher waves had splashed up, soaking Rachel's shorts. She was staggering against the onslaught of the tide to keep her balance, still clinging to her perch.

“I'll piggyback you,” Alex gasped, finally reaching Rachel's side. Standing on the ocean floor, the water was now at her waist.

Rachel didn't say a word, but lunged at her with wild eyes.

Alex almost gagged as she was grabbed in a stranglehold. “Not so tight,” she rasped, pulling Rachel's arms lower, away from her throat. “And let me turn around. Get on my back.”

Rachel whimpered and Alex could feel her pressing her face into Alex's back.

Alex waded through the seaweed-clogged water. Her leg muscles were on fire. Her arms felt like they were being stabbed with a thousand needles. The salt water burned her cut hands like acid. She fixed her eyes on the rocky cliff.

The barking of the seals seemed to be encouragement to keep going. Or maybe they were laughing at her lame attempt to escape the relentless tide.

You can do it, sis. Just one more step.
Adam's voice whispered inside her head.

Alex's foot slipped.

Suddenly, they were submerged in the icy water. Alex tried to push her head above the waves, but was pulled back down by two arms twisting like struggling snakes around her neck. Rachel was pulling her under.

Alex tugged frantically at Rachel's hands, but couldn't loosen her grip. Her lungs were going to explode! Again, she tried to push herself up out of the water. She needed air.

And again, Rachel dragged her down.

Desperate, Alex jabbed her elbow as hard as she could backward. Immediately, Rachel went limp. Alex surged upward, her head bursting through the waves. She sucked in a huge lungful of air.

“It's okay, Rachel,” Alex panted. There was no answer. Alex couldn't feel Rachel behind her. She turned around.

Rachel wasn't there.

Alex held her breath and ducked below the surface. It was hard to see in the murky, swirling water. Large pieces of kelp drifted in front of her eyes. She swept them away. Rachel was there, floating just out of reach.

Alex lurched forward and grabbed Rachel's pink shirt, pulling her back. She hefted Rachel's head above the water and shook her.

“Rachel!” She shook her harder. “Rachel!”

Rachel coughed and opened her eyes, spitting out a mouthful of water. “I'm okay,” she wheezed.

Alex tugged her along as she struggled the last few feet to the edge of the cliff. She grabbed onto a protruding ledge. Sagging with relief, she hugged tightly against the cliff as she tried to catch her breath. The waves were a constant beat against her back. Thankfully, the ground had sloped up a bit closer to shore, or they'd be under water by now.

Rachel was also clinging to the rocks—her head bowed and shoulders heaving as she sucked in large gulps of air.

Alex glanced upward. The seaweed wallpapered the rocks for at least fifteen feet above them. The tide wasn't even close to being done. They weren't safe here. “We've got to climb,” Alex said.

“Please, Alex, can we wait? I don't think I can move.”

“I know. I'm hurting too. But you see up there?” Alex pointed upward.

Rachel followed Alex's finger with her eyes. “Yeah.”

“That's how high the water is going to be. If we don't climb right now, we'll die.”