Voyage (Powerless Nation #2) (13 page)

Nor any drop to drink.”

“How does it end?” asked Danny. “Do they find land?” 

Danny knew better than to speak of rescue. They had an unspoken agreement not to mention it. Planes didn’t fly over and ships were never sighted. The sea was unimaginably vast and no one was looking for them.

“Not exactly. The rest of the crew dies, but the sailor had killed a bird, so he is doomed to go through life telling his tale.”

“For killing a bird?” Sena asked. If a bird landed anywhere near her right now it wouldn’t stand a chance. She looked around at the others and wondered if anyone else was hungry or thirsty enough to eat a bird. A raw bird.

Kade stared at the canopy of the raft, his face blank. She was worried about him. He had barely spoken since Charity died and spent most of his time in silent contemplation of the raft’s canopy. The only time she saw a spark of life in him was when it was time for their food or water ration. After that he went back to staring.

The sea stretched endlessly in every direction, and as the days and weeks passed, Sena didn’t blame him for checking out.

To pass the time, everyone but Kade played games like
I Spy
or
Twenty Questions
. One day Danny suggested, “How about we play
Two Truths and a Lie
?” He explained that each person would say two things about themselves that were true and one thing that was a lie. The others had to guess which was the lie.

“I’ll go first,” said Danny. “I have been ice fishing. I’m eighteen years old. I’ve never had a cavity.”

“That one’s easy,” said Claire. “You’re not eighteen. That’s the lie. I looked it up once, and you have to be twenty-one to get a job on a cruise ship.”

The others looked to Lydia for confirmation and she nodded. “It’s true.”

“So is that your answer?” asked Danny. They nodded and he grinned. “Wrong! My dad knew the captain and he gave me a job as a favor to an old friend. I knew you’d guess that!”

 “Where’s your dad now?” Lydia asked.

Danny was silent a moment and then said, “With the captain.”

Sena remembered the conversation she’d heard between Danny and the captain before she’d jumped into the chute and knew Danny’s dad had passed away. She saw Lydia processing what Danny had said, and the moment realization hit her. She obviously felt bad for asking.

Danny saw Lydia’s discomfort and gave her a small smile. “It’s okay, I’m the one that brought it up. Let’s keep going. Your turn.”

Lydia said, “Three things. Right. I love horror movies. I’m scared of the dark. And I’ve got two dogs.”

“Oh, I love horror movies too,” said Claire. “Especially
Jaws
.” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that!”

Merely the mention of sharks was enough to make Sena’s heart beat faster. Twice the raft had shaken violently and they had seen a shark fin in the water. Ted sat closest to the door and he kept a paddle nearby to drive them off, but it was a toothpick compared to the huge sharks they’d seen.

Danny said they didn’t need to worry about sharks, because the raft had two tubes that kept them afloat. If a shark bit a hole in one, the other would still be okay. What he left unsaid was that if they only had one tube, the raft would ride lower and fill with water again. Their suits wouldn’t protect them from constant contact with the icy cold sea. It would only be a matter of time before they died of hypothermia.

“How can you love horror movies and be afraid of the dark?” asked Ted, trying to take their minds off sharks. “People who are scared of the dark don’t watch horror movies. I think one of those is the lie.”

“She’s not afraid of the dark,” said Sena with certainty.

“Wait, have you ever heard her talk about dogs?” said Claire. “Don’t you think she would have told us?”

“She’s got a picture of something in that locket she’s wearing,” said Ted.

Danny sat closest to her and had seen the photos over her shoulder. “They’re cute too.”

“Oh, can we see?” asked Claire. Lydia passed around her locket for everyone to look at. 

Claire studied it for several moments. “You’re so lucky to have this. Her voice broke. “I’d give anything for a photo of my kids right now.”

“Maybe we should play something else,” Danny said. “This game is not turning out the way I thought it would.”

“Hang on, let me try,” said Sena. She decided to liven it up with outrageous statements.

“I once vomited in a child’s eyes and blinded her.”

“That’s a real whopper,” said Lydia.

“Were you seasick?” joked Danny.

“Okay, here’s the second one—I had a tapeworm.”

A chorus of “Ew,” went up, and Danny added, “No wonder you’re such a runt.”

“Wait, are you saying one of those is true?” asked Claire, confusion wrinkling her brow.

“Last one,” Sena said. “A meth lab exploded in my kitchen.”

“Wait, what?” said Danny.

An awkward silence fell.

Finally Lydia said in a hesitant voice, “Um, the tapeworm?”

Ted interrupted. “Okay, that’s enough of that game. I think it’s time for a drink.”

Kade sat up. “I’m first.”

After everyone had their sips of water the raft grew quiet as they prepared for sleep. On the second night Ted told everyone they would be warmer if they shared the thermal jumpers. Claire had tried to squeeze in with Ted, but it was impossible. He was too big to share with anyone. 

Kade refused to share, which left Claire, Lydia, Sena and Danny. No one thought the two teens should share, though Sena and Danny both insisted they had no interest in any ‘shenanigans,’ as Lydia called it.

Claire offered to share with Sena, which left Lydia and Danny together. For the first hour or two Sena was uncomfortable about being so physically close to someone, and then the increased warmth changed her mind. Now sleeping near Claire was one of her few comforts. She snuggled up to Claire's back, and closed her eyes. 

She hadn’t thought about the meth lab in a long time. It was after Sena’s grandmother had died, so Sena was living in her mother’s apartment for the first time since she was a toddler. Sena’s mother hadn’t wanted to take her back but didn’t want to give her away either, so she reluctantly made room for her daughter in the trashy, rundown apartment.

Most of the house was off-limits to ten-year-old Sena, especially the kitchen. Then her mother forgot to feed her for two days in a row, and Sena decided to risk it. 

Tubing, syringes and scissors were scattered among the various bottles and containers half full of chemicals, and lots of glassware. A heavy smell of cat pee hung in the air, though they didn’t have a cat.

Tentatively she’d looked through the mess, trying to find something to eat, and that’s how her mother had found her. 

She was so angry. 

Sena didn’t know if it was out of worry for her child or because she thought she might ruin something in the lab, but that’s when she started locking Sena in the closet.

Sena’s eyes flew open and she tried to get enough moisture in her mouth to turn on the little light on her life jacket. When it was glowing, she sighed and rolled to her other side. Claire rolled too and put an arm around her, holding her close. 

Not even her grandmother had held her like that. She was a very strict and formal woman, given more to cold silences and disapproving stares.

In the safety of Claire's arms, Sena dared close her eyes, and she was eleven years old again, back in her mom’s apartment. 

She’d learned a lot that summer. It was the summer she’d been introduced to her mom’s new boyfriend, and the summer she’d started staying on the streets as much as possible in order to avoid him.

She learned that hotels had free breakfast every morning, and that the public library was open weekdays until nine. She discovered which parks had family reunions on weekends and learned how to fill a plate with food and sneak away without drawing attention.

In short, she learned to survive.

Survival depended on a few simple rules and she was careful never to break her own code. Her most important rule was to remain unnoticed. This meant following rules and not causing conflict or making unnecessary eye contact. She had to act normal, inconspicuous, and never, ever look or smell like she lived on the street.

On Sunday mornings when the library was closed and her mom was sleeping off whatever bizarre cocktail she’d ingested the previous night, Sena went home to shower and do laundry and see if things had improved. They never had. 

Today was Sunday so she would go home soon. First she was going to get some breakfast.

Sena approached the side door of the hotel and bent to untie her shoe. She was stalling. To get into the hotel without attracting any attention she needed to go through the side entrance instead of the main lobby, but it had a key card entry and she wasn’t a guest.

It was eight o’clock in the morning, a veritable rush hour for hotel guests loading up their cars and checking out. Sena knew from experience it wouldn’t be long before someone exited the hotel through the side door.

She was right. The door opened and out came a weary-looking mother carrying a wailing baby and dragging a toddler by the hand. She was followed by a pair of children already bickering about who got to sit by the window. Their father, weighed down by multiple bags over each shoulder, tugged a large suitcase behind him. At the car the parents argued over which route they would take, while the toddler whined about snacks.

Sena paused in the open doorway and looked at the family. She imagined how it would be to spend the day in the car with a group like that. Probably loud and uncomfortable. And wonderful. She felt a surge of envy. Then her stomach gave a growl and she turned to go into the hotel.

As she walked the long hallway to the breakfast lounge, Sena slipped some earbuds into her ears. She didn’t have a music player to plug them into, but she’d noticed people were less likely to try to start up a conversation with her while she was wearing them.

Unfortunately, the earbuds didn’t stop the guard from noticing her and kicking her out of the hotel that day. Sena wasn’t sure what had given her away. She must have been careless…

She had hurried out the main entrance and put as much distance as she could between her and the hotel district, her stomach complaining at her the entire way.

Sena had heard the sirens before she saw them. When she turned the corner onto her block there were cop cars everywhere and people in hazmat suits going in and out of her front door, carrying out chemicals and equipment. Where was her mom? She scanned the crowd and finally spotted her, cuffed and sitting in the back of a cop car.

Great. Once they ID’d her mom they’d start looking for her too. Sena pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt and sat on the steps of the apartment building across the street. She knew she should get out of the area, but she thought it might be the last time she’d see her mom. 

She watched her through the window of the police car, a tight feeling in her chest and a hot burning in her eyes. Who would hold cool cloths to her mom’s head when she had one of her migraines? Who would make sure she ate?

Eventually, the scene quieted down and the street cleared out. The police car with her mom inside drove away. The yellow tape on her front door was the only indication that Sena’s life was never going to be the same again. She stood and squared her small shoulders to face down the world. 

Sena would survive.

Loud voices dragged her up from the depths of memories and sleep, leaving her feeling confused and dull. Ted and Kade were shouting. Ted held something in his hand and was shaking it in Kade’s face. Kade looked ready to hit Ted. Danny and Claire were trying to calm the two down, and Sena attempted to understand what was going on.

As her vision cleared and she realized what was in Ted’s hand, despair crept in and clutched at her heart.

Ted was holding the last of their water containers. All empty.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“W
HAT
IS
WRONG
WITH
you, you stupid kid!” roared Ted. “You drank all the water we had!”

“You don’t have any proof, it could have been anyone. Why are you picking on me?” Kade’s voice was petulant, almost a whine.

“Do you think we’re all idiots?” Ted’s entire body shook with fury. “Look around. No one else could have done it without waking up the others.”

“Two could have planned it together. They have the perfect alibi and I get blamed. It’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair is that you’ve stolen
days
of our lives, all of ours. Days we might have reached land or been rescued. You’re a murderer now, you know that? You might as well have stuck a knife in us while we slept.” A dark gleam entered Ted’s eyes. “Do you know what happens to murderers? From where I’m sitting, we’re surrounded by an ocean full of death penalty. You’re out of here.”

Claire scrambled to free herself from the thermal suit. “Ted, wait. He’s a kid.”

“No, he’s a
murderer
, and that entitled little brat isn’t going to sit there and let us all die. He’s going over the side.” Ted got to his knees crawled toward Kade.

Kade’s feet churned the space inside his thermal suit, trying to get a foothold and back away from Ted and the entrance, but there was no escape within the limited confines of their rubber prison.

Claire was screaming and crying and clutching her husband’s arm. He threw her off with such strength that doubt blossomed in Sena’s mind.

“How do we know
you
didn’t do it?” she asked.

Her softly spoken question penetrated the insanity in the raft and Ted glared at her angrily. “I wouldn’t do that. I don’t kill people.”

“How do we know?”

Kade jumped on his last chance. “That’s right, you didn’t have anyone suited up with you either. The water is right next to you, so it would be easy. Way easier for you than for me, and since you’re the leader you knew you could get everyone to blame the stupid jock. Real nice.”