100 Hours

  My brother sighs as he sinks onto the sand next to me. “I’m not judging. I’m worrying.”

  “I can fend for myself.” It’s not Benard’s fault I can’t handle my liquor. “And he’s not a predator. He’s a classics major.”

  “The two are not mutually exclusive,” Ryan insists.

  I roll my eyes at him and grab the granola bar. “If I eat this, will you go away?”

  Ryan scruffs my hair, like he used to when I was a kid. “Only long enough to get us some water.” He heads toward the restaurant, and his shadow stretches across the sand behind him.

  “Bonjour, belle,” Benard says, and I turn as he steps onto the sand from the stairs. Something flutters deep in my stomach as he pulls me to my feet and slides his arms around me. “The night got cold, and I enjoyed your warmth.” He leans in to press a kiss beneath my ear, and suddenly I am tingling all over.

  “I enjoyed yours too.” I slide my arms behind his neck and inhale the scent of his sunscreen.

  The sun casts a halo around his dark hair. “Will you excuse me while I find my toothbrush?”

  “Of course.” I need to find mine too.

  Benard kisses my forehead, then heads back up the stairs.

  I head for the restaurant to find my brother, hoping he packed toothpaste, and on the way, I hear Holden and Genesis arguing behind the communal bathroom.

  “You’re completely overreacting.” His tone drips with tedium. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but—”

  “You crossed a line. So here’s how this is going to go.” Genesis’s voice is like a wall of ice. “You’re going to be the ideal boyfriend for the remainder of spring break. If you even look at Penelope again, I’ll slip the nearest soldier a fifty to give you a thorough search for contraband. Which he will find. And I will leave your ass to rot in a Colombian prison.”

  I squat to brush sand from my feet, trying to listen inconspicuously. I can’t help myself.

  “Don’t you think that’s a bit extreme?” Holden demands, but his question lacks conviction.

  “Extreme would be calling in Colombia’s finest right now. I’m being pretty damn generous. So go pack. We’re done with Cabo.”

  No way. We just got here!

  “Nico’s taking us to see some ruins in the jungle.”

  Queen G has spoken, and her subjects will no doubt follow her into the wilderness. But that doesn’t mean I have to go.

  When I stand again, I find Benard heading down the beach from the hut, wearing a fresh set of swim trunks. Sunscreen glistens on his skin. I start to jog toward him, but someone grabs my arm.

  “Salut,” Milo says as I pull my arm from his grip.

  “Salut,” I return. But my gaze is glued to Benard as he heads for a group that’s just emerged from the jungle path, carrying hiking gear.

  Unease crawls over my skin. Something feels wrong.

  Benard wraps his arms around a girl at the front of the group, lifting her off the ground with the enthusiasm of his embrace.

  I stare, and in spite of the bright, warm sun, I feel suddenly cold.

  “That’s his girlfriend,” Milo says, so close to my ear that I jump, startled. “So, maybe you won’t mention sharing a hammock with him, oui?”

  I’m too humiliated to speak. Of course he has a girlfriend. Of course she’s tall and beautiful and graceful, even at a distance.

  Of course yesterday was too good to be true.

  “We are all adults, non?” Milo says in his stupid French accent.

  I nod. That’s the only response I can manage.

  He leans down to kiss me on the cheek. “I knew someone as mature as you would understand.”

  67 HOURS EARLIER

  GENESIS

  “Hey.” I fall into step with Indiana, before he can hit the water in his snorkel gear. “We’re going sightseeing. Come with us.”

  “‘We’?” He looks past me to where Neda is complaining about the upcoming hike, though Nico, Penelope, and Holden are too mired in an uncomfortable silence to pay attention. “All of you?”

  “Yeah. Though I should warn you that no one’s really in a good mood today, except for Ryan.” Now that he’s not a raging alcoholic depressive, he could have fun standing on the edge of an erupting volcano.

  But Indiana is only looking at me. “What kind of mood are you in?”

  “That depends. Are you coming with us?” I’m not flirting—not really. And I feel a little guilty for asking him to come on a trip pretty much guaranteed to end with one of my friends either punching or sleeping with another one of my friends.

  But I could really use an ally.

  “I’ll get my stuff.”

  “We’re waiting for the porters to bring our gear from the cabanas. Meet us in front of the restaurant in about fifteen.”

  “Porters? As in, plural?” He raises one eyebrow. “You have enough gear to require professional assistance?”

  I laugh. “Admit it. You won’t forget me either.” I feel him watching me as I walk away.

  Halfway across the beach, I find my cousin watching the Belgian boy and his girlfriend as they feed each other gooey bites of pain au chocolate. No wonder she was so willing to leave Cabo.

  She actually liked him.

  Maddie doesn’t notice me until I’m standing right next to her, shading my eyes from the sun with my hand. “The only way to protect yourself is to assume everyone else is lying.”

  She crosses her arms over her bikini top. “That sounds like step one from the Conspiracy Theorist’s Guide to Mental Health.”

  I nod at Benard. “You can get over it, or you can get even.”

  “Karma will take care of him.” But her jaw is clenched and her cheeks are flushed. That Belgian bastard humiliated her.

  Maddie may be naive and sanctimonious, but she’s still a Valencia.

  “Fine. Call me Karma.” But she grabs my arm before I get two steps away.

  “What are you doing, Genesis?”

  “What you don’t have the nerve to do.” I pull my arm from her grip. “Teaching him a lesson.” I let my hips swing as I march across the beach toward Benard. He’s still holding his girlfriend’s hand when I spin him around and kiss him like he’s the only source of oxygen on the planet.

  His girlfriend sputters in shock, and when I finally let him go, Benard is too stunned for words.

  “Last night was great,” I practically purr as I let my hand trail down his chest. Then I turn to the girlfriend. “Don’t let this one get away. He’s a keeper.”

  MADDIE

  I will never be able to unsee Genesis kissing Benard.

  Still, that was awesome.

  As I head for the restaurant, I glance back to watch Benard’s girlfriend yell at him, and my shoulder hits something firm but yielding.

  “Ow!”

  “I’m so sorry!” I turn to see who I’ve run into and find myself face-to-face with Luke Hazelwood.

  “Hey, Maddie.” He looks disappointed when he notices my backpack. “Where you goin’?”

  “My cousin is dragging us back into the jungle.” As if I’m not thrilled to be escaping Benard and his girlfriend.

  “Cool. Can I come? It’s just that . . .” He looks really young and needy. Even for fifteen.

  “Yeah,” I say, still mired in my own drama. “Wait, what?”

  “I’ll grab my stuff and meet you back here.” Luke takes off down the beach at a jog before I’ve even figured out what I just agreed to.

  “Wait, Luke! I—” Damn it.

  The porter and his donkey have arrived with the rest of our luggage, so I grab my backpack and meet Genesis in front of the restaurant. Domenica, Ryan’s new Peruvian friend, has packed up her tent to join us, and Holden has invited most of the bros and some old guy I can only assume is the source of their supply.

  Our group has doubled in size.

  “Who’s your new man?” Genesis asks with a grin, and I turn to see that Luke is already awkwardly running tow
ard us in the sand, as if he’s afraid we’ll leave without him. Suddenly I’m very aware of how pale and skinny he is. Of how his goofy grin is as big and awkward as the pack he wears.

  I glare at her. “He’s not—”

  “He looks like he should be carrying a lunch box,” Neda says.

  Genesis laughs. “Or a cute little heart-shaped collar that reads, ‘If lost, please return to Maddie Valencia.’”

  “Shut up!” I snap as he jogs to a stop three feet away. “Genesis, this is Luke Hazelwood.” I plead with my cousin silently to just smile and nod, for once. “I know him from school. I told him he could come with us.”

  “My parents are fine with it,” he adds, then he immediately looks like he wants to stuff the words back into his mouth and swallow them. Like a poison pill.

  “Well, as long as it’s okay with Mommy and Daddy,” Penelope sneers, but Genesis only rolls her eyes. Gen and Pen have been joined at the hip since they were eight, but obviously Genelope couldn’t survive Hurricane Holden.

  “Sure,” Genesis says to Luke, but I can tell that’s not the last I’ll hear of this. “We’re not very selective anyway, are we?” She glances from Pen to Holden, who is audibly grinding his teeth.

  Luke flushes, and I already regret telling him he could come.

  My cousin and her friends are going to eat the poor boy alive.

  65 HOURS EARLIER

  GENESIS

  “So, where is this ancient ruin, exactly?” Neda asks as she pushes a branch out of her way.

  “It’s not on the tour circuit.” Nico flips open his water bottle as he steps over an exposed root. “Not many people go, because the hike is kind of a pain.”

  I shoot him an angry glance; why would he tell her that?

  “Hey,” Ryan says, when Neda’s groan begins to resemble a wildcat’s growl. “Think of exploring this ruin as the sightseeing equivalent of an early glimpse at the new Manolo Blahnik scarf.”

  Neda laughs. “Manolo Blahnik doesn’t make scarves.”

  “Or maybe he does, but no one knows yet. Anyone can go to the beach, but not just anyone can go see the Manolo Blahnik scarf of ancient ruins. After you go, everyone will want to go.”

  Neda laughs again. Ryan’s logic is ridiculous, but she’s smiling now. Better yet, she’s not complaining.

  “Hey, who’s that old guy?” Domenica whispers as she hangs back to walk with us. “The one with a never-ending supply of pot.” She nods at the cluster of stoners keeping Holden blissfully oblivious of anything but his own buzz.

  “I’m calling him Rog,” I tell her. “For Random Old Guy.”

  “He’s, like, some kind of professional loser,” Penelope adds, and I can tell from the way she keeps glancing at me that she’s testing the waters of our friendship. Waiting to see if I’ll try to drown her. “He looks like he’s been wandering around the jungle for years.”

  “Maybe he lives out here, hiking from campsite to campsite, trading weed for food so he doesn’t starve,” Neda suggests with a giggle.

  “Or maybe he betrayed his friends, so they left him out here to wander until he dies all alone,” I counter, looking right at Penelope.

  She flinches and looks away.

  “Rog it is,” Neda says. “Judging from the cloud of smoke he lives in, I doubt he even remembers his real name.”

  Rog turns and exhales a ring of smoke. “I’ve forgotten a lot of things—most of ’em on purpose—but my name isn’t one of them. Never really liked it, though.” He shrugs and taps ash from the end of his joint. “I could answer to Rog.”

  The old guy turns back around, and Neda gives me a wide-eyed, embarrassed look.

  Indiana laughs out loud.

  The minute the Ecohabs come into sight, Maddie stops to look up at them with a dramatic sigh. “What a waste,” she says, while the rest of us pass her. “We didn’t even sleep there.”

  Penelope shrugs. “Once you pay for the rooms, they’re yours to do whatever you want with.”

  Maddie stomps down the trail after us. “That is such a typical American philosophy of waste and entitlement. The money spent to rob some other poor tourists of their vacation plans means nothing to you because you have plenty of it. They lost their hotel room for no reason.”

  “You do know you’re American too, right?” Neda says as she slaps at another mosquito on her leg.

  “Fortunately, we don’t all fit the stereotype,” Maddie snaps.

  “What you call a waste is actually a conservation of the local resources,” I tell my cousin.

  “How on earth do you figure that?” Maddie demands.

  “Since no one was in our rooms, no water was wasted washing towels and beddings. Which means less detergent was emptied into the local water source, and less electricity was used.”

  “And the staff had less work to do, yet they still got paid,” Indiana adds with a shrug.

  I give him my brightest smile. “I’d call that one a win for everyone. Including the environment.”

  Maddie’s mouth opens and closes for a second, as if her shock needs a way to escape her body. She’s still staring at me when I settle into the hike, feasting on private satisfaction.

  A minute later, Indiana falls into step beside me.

  “Just how far off the grid are we?” Holden asks through a cloud of smoke, as our narrow path begins to climb,

  “The grid isn’t an actual thing, mono.” Nico is breathing easily, in spite of the exercise and the increase in altitude. “So I can’t judge our distance from it.”

  I savor Holden’s scowl as I pull myself uphill with a good grip on the nearest thin branch.

  Penelope props one foot on a fallen log and reaches back for the bottle of water strapped to the side of her pack. “So, if someone were to get hurt, how long would it take the rescue team to get here?”

  Nico chuckles. “What makes you think they’d find us?”

  64 HOURS EARLIER

  MADDIE

  “Please tell me that’s a joke.” Neda stares out at the jungle with mistrust. As if it hasn’t been dangerous all along.

  Genesis rolls her eyes. “Of course it’s a joke.” But she directs a questioning look to Nico for confirmation, and suddenly I’m uneasy about how deep into the jungle we might actually be.

  We didn’t tell anyone where we were going.

  That’s my cousin’s standard operating procedure, not mine. I was so eager to get away from Benard and the drama on the beach that I let Genesis herd us into the jungle without even trying to get a message to Abuelita.

  Nico shrugs at Genesis. “You said you wanted remote and private.” And again, she’s gotten exactly what she wanted. But unlike soldiers and park staff, snakes and caiman can’t be bribed.

  Still, Nico is a real tour guide. Right? He knew most of the soldiers on patrol at the park.

  “We’ll be fine,” I insist as I pull my water bottle from my pack and charge ahead.

  When the trail flattens out a few minutes later, our hike develops its own rhythm. We actually make decent progress until we come to a stream rushing quickly downhill. Sunlight gleams on the surface from overhead.

  “It’s not very deep, but the rocks get slippery,” Nico says. “So set your feet carefully.”

  The rocks are actually a series of small boulders sticking up from the water, forming a crooked, perilous path to dry—er, muddy—land on the other side.

  “You have to be kidding,” Neda groans.

  “Come on, Neda, this is an adventure!” My brother slides his arm around her and winks at me over her head.

  Nico re-centers his pack on his shoulders and ventures onto the first rock. He makes it across with a series of nimble steps.

  “Come on!” Penelope shows him up with the skill of a retired Olympic gymnast, and once Rog and the bros have crossed, I suck in a deep breath and go for it.

  Water splatters my calves as I step carefully from rock to rock, resisting the urge to slap at mosquitoes and upset my balanc
e. My foot slides a little on the third boulder, but two steps later I’m across, grinning like an idiot from the adrenaline rush.

  Neda and Ryan are the last ones left on the other side. “You got this,” my brother says as Neda steps onto the first rock.

  She takes the first four boulders slowly, listening as Genesis and Pen encourage her. Basking in the attention. When she’s down to the last step, arrogance shines in her eyes. Indiana reaches out to steady her, and she clings to him as she makes a bold hop from the last boulder into the mud.

  Her couture sandal slides out from under her. Her foot folds at an awkward angle.

  Neda’s shrill scream sends birds fleeing from a treetop to our west.

  I roll my eyes, sure she’s exaggerating for attention. But before Ryan can make it across the stream, her ankle has swollen so badly that she’s openly lamenting the tragic and premature end of her (nonexistent) career on the runway.

  “I need ice!” she cries, while Nico kneels to palpate her injury.

  “Lucky for us, this jungle is famously situated over the very last of the Caribbean glaciers,” I tell her.

  Indiana and Luke laugh, but Neda only moans louder.

  Ryan kneels next to Nico and gently lifts her mud-coated foot. “I’m sure it’s just a sprain, but we’ll wrap it. I have an Ace bandage in my pack.”

  She looks at him with actual tears shining in her eyes as he wraps her muddy ankle. “I need to call my orthopedist.”

  “Neda,” I snap. “We don’t have ice or cell service. Those are the hallmark traits of ‘off the grid.’”

  “Come on, beautiful.” Ryan winks at Domenica as he reaches down to pull Neda up. She flinches when her foot touches the ground. “I’ll give you a ride, and when we make camp, you can put your foot up.” He hands his bag to me. Then my brother actually kneels in the mud so the spoiled heiress can climb onto his back as if he were a beast of burden!

  “Who are you trying to be?” I mumble as I trudge past him. “Prince Charming, or Cinderella’s horse and carriage?”

  61 HOURS EARLIER

  GENESIS