Snap (8 page)

“Good to meet you girls,” Simone said. She stared at them for a beat longer than normal, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “You know, you two look familiar.”

Instantly Danya's chest clenched. Had Simone seen their photographs on a missing person's poster? Or maybe on the back of a milk carton—she'd read in a book that sometimes there were photographs of missing children on the backs of milk cartons. Did people still do that?

Danya grabbed Pia's hand and squeezed, but Simone just grinned and said, “Maybe it's just because you two are so photogenic. You could be on TV, you know?” Shaking her head, she turned back around and started up the bus.

“She knows,” Danya hissed as she and Pia slid into a seat. Pia sighed deeply.

“You are being paranoid,” she said. “No one knows anything. She just thought we were pretty.
Chill!
”

Danya tried to chill, like Pia said. She tried to count the trees moving past her window, and when that got boring, she started looking for out-of-state license plates. But the drive to the river took longer than she expected it to. One hour passed, then another. She was just starting to get tired of staring out the window at the blur of buildings and vast, green landscape when she saw something that chilled her right to the bone.

On the highway just ahead stood a huge, electronic billboard. Danya was still too far away to read exactly what the sign said, but she could clearly see the words
_{AMBER ALERT}
flashing in giant letters across the top. A lump formed in her throat. Danya knew what an Amber Alert was—once her mom explained that when a kid went missing, the cops put out a national alert on every highway and street; that way everyone knew to be on the lookout. Danya pressed her face against the glass, cold dread creeping up her spine as she watched the sign come closer.

Just then the bus seat shifted as Pia stood, propping one foot on the back of her seat. “Hey, adventurers!” she called to the little old ladies through cupped hands. “Let's play a game.”

“What are you doing?” Danya hissed beneath her breath. Pia's eyes shifted quickly, toward the Amber Alert sign out the window.
She's distracting them!
Danya realized.

“The game's called adventure bus bingo,” Pia explained. “Er . . . it's just like normal bingo, but you have to find things
inside
the bus to win. Got it? Hey, Karina, want to help me make scorecards?”

Karina and Pia quickly whipped up bingo score cards out of a stack of napkins Simone dug out of the glove compartment, and soon the little old ladies were shouting and pointing every time they found a wad of gum beneath their seat or saw a penny sitting heads-side up in the aisle. When they whizzed past the Amber Alert, not one of the old ladies seemed to notice it. Even Simone was too busy watching the rearview mirror to see who was winning to catch sight of the sign.

“That was a close one,” Pia said, plopping back down in her seat. Danya nodded.
Too close
, she thought.

Between the game, and Sancho's happy horsey snorts, and the rambling, rocking motion of the bus, the rest of the trip passed quickly, and soon they were driving along the bank of the river, where Danya didn't have to worry about any more electronic signs giving them away.

Sun gleamed over the river, making it shine like glass. Packed mud spread out along the riverbank. The water wasn't blue like it was on the map—it was green and silver and brown, and there were ripples along its surface that reminded Danya of the wrinkles on Simone's and Karina's arms. It was so wide, Danya had to squint to see the opposite shore. She pressed her face up against the bus window, her breath making little fog clouds on the glass.

The big white bus rumbled to a stop next to a rickety dock. Karina, Simone, and the rest of the adventurers all started to get out of their seats and head for the doors, talking excitedly among themselves. They all headed down to the dock, where a shiny blue-and-white speedboat was parked. At the sight of the speedboat, the adventurers whooped and began stripping down into bathing suits.

Danya froze. There was a green sign sticking out of the ground right next to the water. It read
WELCOME TO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
.

“This is the
Mississippi
River?” Danya could feel her heart racing as she pulled out the atlas and turned to the map in back. “I thought we were headed for the Tennessee River!”

“Heavens no, child! We're an adventuring community,” Simone said, stripping down to a blue-and-white polka-dot one-piece bathing suit. “Nothing's as exciting as taking a speedboat down the Mississippi.”

“We should know—we've done a bit of everything,” Karina added. Underneath her sweat suit she wore a red two-piece with a frilly little skirt. “We've worked at a cannery in Alaska . . .”

“Made tires in New Zealand . . .”

“We were even lumberjacks in Portland for a while,” Karina finished. “That was a lot of fun, but you wouldn't
believe
the splinters.”

Danya nodded absently, but she was having trouble listening. She stared down at the map, panic rising in her throat. After all this time they were still in Tennessee, miles and miles west of where she thought they were headed.

“Don't worry, Danya. We must be right over here,” Pia said, pointing to a spot on the map just north of Memphis. “We made it really far south, see? And we can follow the Mississippi to Louisiana and then cut over to Florida.”

Danya nodded woodenly, even though she really didn't think it'd be quite as easy as “cutting over to Florida” like Pia said.
Tick tick tick
, she thought, her anxiety growing.

Still, they
had
gotten farther south—and they'd traveled much more quickly than they would have if they were walking. If she went down the river with the old lady adventurers, they'd get farther still, and they'd avoid any more Amber Alert signs, at least for a little while. Sighing, Danya stuck the atlas in her backpack and tried to stay positive.

“We're adventurers, too,” Pia said to Karina and Simone, motioning to herself and Danya. “We traveled all the way from Kentucky. On horseback!”

Simone and Karina shared a confused look. “I thought you came from Mississippi? You know, from up the river?” Karina said.

“Pia meant we
want
to be adventurers. You know, someday . . .” Danya said quickly. Then she lowered her voice, whispering to Pia, “Don't say Kentucky! It'll just make them remember that there are girls missing from Kentucky, and then they'll think of the posters and realize those girls are us!”

“Snap, you made those posters up. You don't even know if they're
real
.”

Danya swallowed, hoping Pia was right. Karina grabbed two orange life jackets and tossed them over to Pia and Danya. Pia stared down at the jacket like it was the ugly sweater she got for Christmas last year. It'd been covered in green sequins—Pia said it made her feel like a can of Sprite.

“Why do we need these on a boat?” she asked.

“Safety first.” Simone zipped a life jacket over her swimsuit. “You wouldn't want to get hurt, would you?”

Pia muttered that she didn't think she needed her jacket because she was on the swim team at school. Danya, on the other hand, pulled her life jacket on immediately. She swam okay in the shallow end of the community pool, where she could stretch until her toes skimmed the slick floor, but she was certain her stubby arms and legs were no match for the wild river waves. She'd sink like a rock.

“
You
said we were going to suffer a great loss,” Danya pointed out, zipping up her jacket. Danya didn't believe that, but she figured it'd be a good way to convince Pia to be safe. “You think we can fit one on Sancho?”

“We have plenty—maybe you could tie a few of them together?” Simone was still unloading the bus, removing towels and coolers and more life jackets. Danya turned to Sancho. She hadn't exactly thought about how tricky it might be to get him on the boat. The pony shook his heavy mane and snorted, then pawed at the dusty ground. He looked at the little speedboat, and his eyes grew wide and frightened beneath his mane.

“Come on, buddy, it'll be okay.” Danya leaned forward and pressed her forehead against Sancho's. His ears flicked back and forth and he let out a low, mournful whinny. “You know I would never let anything bad happen to you,” Danya whispered. And she meant it. After the fire, after losing Jupiña, Sancho was her responsibility now. For a moment, he was silent. Then Sancho licked the side of Danya's face and flicked his ears forward, his nostrils flared. He looked resigned. Brave, even.

“Sancho's in,” Danya said.

Carefully, she and Pia and Simone and Karina strapped Sancho into four different life jackets—one for each leg.

“There, there, Sancho,” Danya whispered. Sancho nudged Danya's shoulder and gave an encouraging snort. She realized then that she was even more nervous than Sancho. Smiling, she rubbed him behind one ear to thank him for trying to make her feel better. She checked her pockets, pushing the sandwich bag of money to the very bottom so there was no chance it would fall out.

With Sancho all ready to go, Pia and Danya followed the little old ladies onto the speedboat. It rocked beneath their feet as they climbed aboard, and Danya grabbed onto the guardrails, holding so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She'd never been on a boat before, and she hadn't thought it would be like this.

Sancho came over to her and licked the side of her face. Danya felt a surge of pride. If Sancho was going to be brave, she could be, too.

“Don't be nervous,” Pia whispered to Danya. “It's a speedboat, not a canoe.” Danya nodded and tried to relax as the speedboat began to move, cutting through the waves and sending up a fine spray of water.

Despite her nerves, it was the perfect time to ride down the river. The sun was low in the sky, but the air was warm, with just a hint of a breeze. The tall, brown grass to either side of the river swayed easily in the wind, which blew over the water and created little ripples in the waves. After a while, one of the Golden Girls Adventurers cracked open a cooler and started passing around bottles of fizzy organic pear cider and peach juice. Danya and Pia helped themselves. They even clanked the bottles together in a toast before taking a swig.

“To the adventure!” Pia said. “To becoming heroes!”

“To saving Sancho!” Danya added. She lifted her bottle to take a drink, but just then the boat hit a wave and the juice ended up all over her face. She sneezed and wiped the sticky liquid off her cheeks.

The waves were getting choppier. There were rocks and logs sticking out of the water around them. The Golden Girls Adventurers were all alert. Karina steered the boat through the water, her eyes narrowed in concentration. When she saw Danya watching her, she winked.

“Don't worry,” she called out over the noise of the engine. “This is the fun part.”

Danya nodded, but she wasn't sure she agreed. Her stomach lurched like she was on a roller coaster. Rapids shook the boat—it bounced high on the waves, then dropped back down. Water churned every which way, and it made Danya feel like she was in a blender. With one hand she held tightly to the guardrails, and with the other she held onto Sancho. Her pony's mane stuck to his neck and hung over his eyes in thick, wet clumps. He let out a reassuring whinny to let Danya know he was all right.

Then Danya saw the large rock jutting out of the water ahead.

“Watch out!” she shouted.

“Batten down the hatches,” Karina called back. The old lady jerked around the rock at the last second, and the boat teetered to the side. Danya was sure it would flip over, but it righted itself at the last second.

Shaken, Sancho snorted and reared back. Danya grabbed for his reins, but they were slick from the river water, and they slipped from her fingers. Sancho's eyes grew wide. He tried to come back down to all fours, but he lost his balance, and toppled overboard into the river.

“No!” Danya screamed. “Sancho!” She crawled to the back of the boat and watched Sancho bob in the water. She was about to dive into the waves after him, but someone grabbed her and pulled her back.

“Those waves are too dangerous!” Simone said, shouting because the roar of the water all around them was too loud. “He'll be fine as long as he has those life jackets—we'll just have to go downstream, where the waves are calmer, and wait for him there.”

“We can't just leave him.” Danya blinked back tears. “He needs me.”

“Don't worry, Danya! I've got this!” Pia charged for the side of the boat, but Danya grabbed her sleeve before she could leap into the river. She tried to wrestle Pia away from the boat's edge, but Pia was too strong and wiry.

“What are you doing?” Danya yelled, yanking on Pia's arm. “I can't lose you, too.”

“You gotta trust me, Snap,” Pia said. She easily twisted her arm out of Danya's grip and performed a perfect swan dive into the river. A second later she bobbed back to the surface, though Danya could only make out the orange of her life jacket in the treacherous gray waves.

Danya pulled away from Karina and leaned over the side of the boat. Pia was a strong swimmer, but Karina was right—the waves were just too powerful. Pia kicked and kicked, but a wave swept over her, forcing her beneath the water. Her life jacket kept her afloat, and she popped back up a second later, spitting out a stream of river water. Then another wave crashed over her. This time she didn't come up again.

“PIA!” Danya shouted, louder than she ever thought she could. Something ripped through her—some strange mixture of anger and adrenaline and fear. Without thinking, she leapt into the waves. She was going to save her friend! She was going to save Sancho! She wasn't ready to suffer a loss, no matter what Pia's hero's journey list said.