Shipwreck Island (15 page)

“There's something I didn't tell you. Something I haven't told anyone.” Marco reached into the pouch of his sweatshirt and held up the bottle.

Sarah squinted. “What is that?”

“I think that it's some kind of perfume.”

Sarah started to open it.

Marco tried to grab it back. “Don't—!”

But she already had the stopper off, and held up the bottle to take a whiff. Her lips began to curve, but then the smile froze halfway. Sarah's eyes widened and she stared at Marco.

He whispered, “You heard it? The voice?”

Slowly, Sarah nodded. “She said,
Come back
.” She replaced the lid and couldn't hand the bottle back to Marco fast enough. “Where did you get that?”

“The house.” Marco put the bottle back in his pocket.

“Is that why you didn't want to go back there?” asked Sarah.

He nodded. “Something is wrong with this place. This island.”

“I know,” said Sarah. “Did you notice…”

“What?”

Sarah motioned up at the sky. “Birds.”

Marco looked up. “I don't see any.”

She nodded. “Exactly. When we were on the boat, they were all over. But here…”

Marco breathed out slowly. “When we found the waterfall and the pool, it was so beautiful. So
perfect
. But something just felt off. And that's what it is. This place is too quiet.”

“Way too quiet,” said Sarah. “There's nothing here, other than those crabs and your bird and my kangaroo—”

“Your
what
?” Marco frowned.

Sarah described what she'd seen. “But I could have imagined it.” Even as she said it, even as she
hoped
it, she knew it wasn't true. “This freaks me out, but … I believe it was real.”

“So do I.” Marco gazed out at the water. “But you know what really scares me?”

Sarah wasn't sure she wanted to know. But she asked anyway. “What?”

His eyes locked with hers. “I have a feeling that we haven't seen the worst of this place. Not at all.” He began walking back to camp.

A breeze picked up, puffing at Sarah's face and flicking her hair up off her shoulders. Ahab growled, and a chill ran up Sarah's spine. “It's okay, boy. It's okay.” Then, knowing that she was dead wrong, that nothing at all about that island was even in the same ballpark as
okay,
she jogged after Marco, Ahab at her heels.

 

A FEIWEL AND FRIENDS BOOK

An Imprint of Macmillan

 

SHIPWRECK ISLAND. Copyright © 2014 by S. A. Bodeen. All rights reserved. For information, address Feiwel and Friends, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

 

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

 

ISBN: Hardcover – 978-1-250-02777-1 / Ebook – 978-1-250-06323-6

 

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First Edition: 2014

 

eISBN 9781250063236

 

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