“Maybe we could do some exploring,” April suggested. “Check out the caves. See if we can find something.”
Josh scratched his head. “Maybe. Maybe tomorrow. If I can sneak away for a few minutes. I haven’t been able to get that humming voice out of my mind.”
He flashed her a thumbs-up and jogged to the head of the group. “Okay, guys—we’re going to start the climb here,” he announced. “The finish line is that jagged rock at the top there.” He pointed.
April gazed up the hill of blue rocks. This is steeper than where I climbed yesterday, she thought.
Josh blew his whistle. He told the teams to get together for a last-minute huddle.
Kristen, Anthony, and Marlin gathered at the edge of the rocks. They glared at April as she approached.
“We don’t really want you on our team,” Anthony said, his face turning red. “But we don’t have a choice.”
“Listen, guys, the first major competition is loyalty—remember?” Kristen reminded them. “So we have to forget about how we feel about April. We have to show team loyalty—or else we’re going to be eliminated in the first round.”
“Give me a chance,” April pleaded. “I know what you think. But it’s not true. Give me a chance to prove myself. I promise. You won’t be sorry.”
No one replied.
Finally, Marlin muttered, “We don’t really have a choice.”
Anthony stared unhappily at April. “Let’s just win this rock-climbing thing, okay?”
He turned and stomped away toward the starting line. The others followed him.
I have to do really well today, April thought as the climbing competition began. She watched the four kids on Team One scampering over the slippery blue rocks.
Maybe if I help my team win this competition they’ll feel a little better about me, she decided.
But a few minutes later, halfway up the rocky hill, April slipped. Her shoe caught in a crevice between two jagged stones.
Pain shot up the length of her leg.
She let out a cry. But she quickly pulled herself together. And, ignoring the pain, made her way to the top of the rocks.
Her team came in second. It won its first five points.
But April could see how disappointed her teammates were.
April walked back to camp by herself. The others hurried ahead, eager to get some beach time in. No one looked back at her.
As she walked, April had the eerie feeling she was being watched. She turned back to the caves. And saw a flash of movement in one of the black cave openings.
Was someone there?
Was someone hiding in that cave, watching her?
22
That night, Donald Marks gathered everyone together in the meeting lodge. His face was somber. He didn’t greet everyone at the door with jokes and smiles, as he usually did.
Instead, he strode heavily to the front of the room. He raised his hands for silence. Then he announced, “I’m afraid I have bad news. Our special guests—the celebrities we invited—will not be able to join us.”
Cries and groans rang out in the room.
I don’t believe this, April thought. The invitation to The Academy promised those people were coming.
“I’m sure we’re all very disappointed,” Marks continued. “But there was a problem with the ship. And several of our guests had schedule problems.”
Were they really going to come? April wondered. Or was it all a lie?
She watched Marks wipe sweat off his bald head with a white handkerchief. Around her, the other kids were shaking their heads glumly and muttering to one another.
“But there is always a bright side,” Marks said. “Now we will be able to spend all of our time on the Life Games competition.” He grinned at them. “And believe me, the staff and I have lots of surprises planned for you.”
“A big event tomorrow!” Rick called out.
“Yeah. Tomorrow is the night hike,” Josh said.
“In case it hasn’t been explained,” Marks said, “the three teams will be out on their own. Your team must stay out all night.”
“Yaay! An all-nighter!” a boy named Jared shouted. “Parrr-tee!”
Marks laughed, then continued. “You must explore as much of the island as you can. You must go all the way to the small dock on the other side. Rick and Abby will be waiting for you to check in there. Then comes the hard part—finding your way back. And remember, you cannot return to the Academy village until the sun comes up.”
“How will we be judged?” Dolores asked from the back of the room.
“The team that returns first after dawn wins,” Marks replied. “But keep in mind, these contests are part of the big competition—for loyalty.”
April glanced around the room at her teammates. How can we ever win a loyalty competition? They all hate me!
After a few more announcements, Marks told them all to get a good night’s sleep. “You’re going to need it!”
The kids climbed up from the benches and made their way out of the meeting lodge. As April stepped out into the warm night, Josh hurried to catch up with her.
“Still want to go exploring?” he asked in a whisper. “I’ll meet you by the dock tomorrow morning, right after breakfast.”
“Great!” April whispered back.
“I think you’re right, April. I think there is something—” He stopped when he saw Marks watching them. “Catch you tomorrow!”
April hurried to her cabin. She knew she needed to get to sleep. But she felt restless, tense. She kept thinking about Dolores twirling out of control toward the ceiling. She kept picturing her terrified teammates staring at her. Accusing her.
It took her hours to fall asleep.
The next morning was a hot, steamy, junglelike day. April woke up with sweat drenching her nightshirt. Her hair stuck wetly to the back of her neck.
Today is going to be a scorcher, she thought.
She yawned and stretched. Kristen and the other two girls had already left the cabin.
“Wish I could stay in bed all day,” she murmured. But then she remembered Josh and their secret plans.
She dressed quickly, pulling on a white tank-top and khaki shorts. She brushed her hair, then tugged a baseball cap down over it.
April looked for Josh at breakfast but didn’t see him. She didn’t feel like eating. She was too excited. But she gulped down some orange juice and a bowl of cornflakes.
Where was Josh?
“April? Hey, April?” Marlin was shouting to her from the next table. “We’re going to meet to talk about the night hike.”
“I—I’m sorry,” April replied. “I…have to do something.” She jumped up and ran out of the mess hall.
Just outside, she bumped into Dolores. Dolores backed up, terror in her eyes. “Stay away from me,” she snapped. She turned and headed to the cabins, arms crossed tightly over her chest.
“Dolores, I keep trying to apologize,” April said, chasing after her. “But you keep avoiding me. I swear—I didn’t do that to you. I don’t know what happened—but it wasn’t my fault.”
Dolores spun around furiously. “You almost killed me!” she cried. “You tricked me into playing that dumb joke. Then you almost broke my neck.”
“No!” April said, grabbing Dolores’s arm. “What do you think I am? Some kind of magician or witch? I can’t make people fly into the air!”
“Then why did I spin off the floor? And why did all the food fly everywhere?” Dolores demanded.
“I don’t know. I really don’t,” April told her. “But I plan to find out. Right now.”
She turned to the dock, shielding her eyes from the bright morning sun with one hand. Where was Josh? He said he would meet her there.
“Please believe me,” she said to Dolores. “Please accept my apology. I—”
But Dolores had already disappeared into her cabin.
With a sigh, April began jogging toward the dock. Small, puffy white clouds reflected in t
he clear water. A gull soared low over the water. It dove suddenly, pouncing on a fish. And brought up its prey, silvery and slender, flopping in the gull’s beak.
One of the boats was gone, she noticed. Only one remained, bobbing gently against the wooden dock.
April searched for Josh. She turned and looked up and down the beach. No sign of him.
She wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. The sun was still low in the sky. But the air was already hot and steamy.
Kicking up sand as she walked, April made her way back to the village. She was just passing the mess hall when she felt a shadow sweep over her. Donald Marks stepped into her path.
“What’s up, April?” he asked, not smiling.
“Have you seen Josh?” she blurted out.
Marks’s eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you hear? I thought Rick announced it at breakfast.”
“Announced what?” April asked. “I was a little late for breakfast this morning.”
Marks nodded. “Oh. Well…Josh got sick last night.”
“He what?” April cried.
“We think maybe his appendix burst,” Marks said, his eyes locked on hers. “He was in a great deal of pain. We had to rush him to the main island.”
Marks spoke the next words slowly, as if they had extra meaning. And his words gave April a chill.
“I don’t think Josh will be coming back.”
23
The sun had gone down, but the air was still steamy and hot. Insects chittered in the trees. A tiny sliver of a moon floated just above the swaying palm trees.
April met her teammates after dinner in front of the meeting hall. Backpacks bulged on their backs. Kristen tilted a bottle of water to her mouth.
Anthony raised the beam of light from his flashlight to April’s face. “You ready?”
April nodded. She tugged her flashlight from her backpack. She gazed around the empty camp. The other two teams had gathered near the ocean.
“I have to tell you something,” April whispered. “I think something happened to Josh, and I don’t think it was his appendix. That was just a story Marks told us.”
Anthony rolled his eyes. “Here she goes again,” he muttered.
“April, what are you talking about?” Kristen asked sharply.
“Josh and I had a plan,” April replied, glancing around again to make sure Marks wasn’t around to hear her. “To go exploring. Because we both thought there is something strange on this island. Maybe someone else living here.”
“Maybe the island is haunted!” Anthony sneered. He let out an evil movie laugh.
Marlin shook his head. “Stop this crazy talk.”
“I’m not making this up,” April insisted. “Marks overheard Josh and me making our plan. And today Josh is gone. Just like that.”
“Josh got sick last night,” Marlin said. “They announced it at breakfast. Stop trying to cause trouble, April.”
April saw that they weren’t going to believe her. “They think the only strange thing on this island is me,” she muttered to herself.
They began walking away from the camp, following the sandy path that led into the forest. Under the low trees, the pale moonlight disappeared. The only light came from the beams of their flashlights ahead of them on the forest floor.
“This path leads to the rock caves near the shore,” Marlin said. He and Anthony walked side by side, bumping each other as they walked. Kristen followed them, swinging her light over the smooth tree trunks.
April walked a few yards behind Kristen. She felt alert, excited. Over the steady chirping of insects, she heard the low warble of birds in the trees.
If only she could stop thinking about Josh…
“I don’t know if the path goes all the way to the other side of the island,” Marlin said. “We’ll have to follow it and see.”
“Well, we can’t follow the shore. It’s too rocky,” Kristen said. “We have to reach Rick and Abby at the little dock by going through the trees.”
“Finding our way back will be the hard part,” Anthony added. “We’ll be completely on the other side of the island.”
“No problem!” Marlin exclaimed. April watched him tug something from his pack. A long, silvery blade glinted in the light of Kristen’s flashlight.
“A machete!” Anthony exclaimed.
“That’s pretty scary looking, Marlin. What are you going to do with that?” Kristen demanded.
Marlin grinned. He made wide chopping motions with the big knife. “Kung-fu warrior!” he cried.
“Hey—watch out!” Kristen shrank back.
Marlin lowered the machete. “This will help us find our way back,” he said. “I’m going to mark the path.”
He stepped up to the narrow trunk of a palm tree. He pulled the machete back, then swung the blade hard into the soft wood. Choppp.
April stepped up beside her teammates and squinted into the light to examine the trunk. The machete blade had sliced a narrow groove about an inch deep.
Marlin led the way deeper into the forest. Every few paces he stopped and swung the machete. Choppp. Another slice mark in the side of a tree.
“We’ll follow the cuts home,” Marlin said. “We’ll be back at the village while the other two teams are wandering around lost, calling for their mommies.” He laughed and swung the blade.
Choppp.
“Cool!” Anthony declared. “Totally cool.”
The path curved toward the shore. April could hear the waves washing against the rocks. They all stopped as a lizard was caught in the circle of light from Anthony’s flashlight.
The lizard froze and stared up at them, its round black eyes reflecting the light.
“Ugly little guy,” Anthony said. He raised his boot. “Should I crush him?”
“No way!” Kristen cried, pulling Anthony back. “Let him go!”
“I don’t think he’s ugly. I think he’s cute,” April said.
“Takes one to know one!” Anthony replied nastily.
The lizard suddenly came to its senses and scampered into some thick ferns. The path ended at the edge of the trees. Marlin made one more chop mark, then led the way out of the forest, toward the rock caves.
April suddenly felt a chill run down her back. Josh and I were going to explore those caves this morning, she thought. Did Marks really drag Josh away in the middle of the night?
What is Marks afraid of?
The blue rocks—so cold, so eerily cold all the time—were creepy during the daytime. At night they glowed softly under the moonlight.
As April approached them, the shimmering light made them appear to pulse, to throb—as if alive!
She blinked. Stop thinking crazy thoughts, she scolded herself. She hurried across the wet, sandy ground to catch up to the others.
“Wait up,” she called. And then, as she stepped up beside them, April let out a cry.
“Stop!” she uttered, her voice shrill with terror.
A shudder of fear shook her body. She grabbed Marlin’s arm. “Stop! Do you hear it? Voices! Voices! From that cave!”
24
The others stopped. Kristen gasped. The flashlight slipped from Anthony’s hand. Listening hard, he made no attempt to pick it up.
Marlin was the first to laugh.
“April, you jerk,” he muttered.
April realized she was gripping his arm. She let go and backed away. “Huh?”
“Of course you hear voices,” Marlin said, rolling his eyes. “It’s the kids on the other team.”
April let out a long whoosh of air. “Oh, wow. Sorry.”
She gazed up at the rocks and saw Dolores. She recognized her from her long, blond hair. Dolores was climbing on a sloping rock hill with her three teammates.
April took a deep breath. Get it together, she instructed herself. Get it together—now.
I’m letting my imagination run away with me, April decided. I’ve got to shape up. I’ve got to relax and try to show my teammates that I’m
not crazy.
The three teams were not supposed to explore together. So Marlin turned away from the caves and led the way back into the trees.
Kristen and Anthony were talking together, still laughing about April’s voices. “Listen, guys—I said I was sorry,” April said. “I’ll shut up. I promise. I won’t say another word the rest of the night.”
“That’s okay,” Marlin said. “Come on, everyone. Let’s try to be a real team. It’s going to be a long night. Let’s have some fun!”
He swung the machete—choppp—and made another slice mark in the smooth trunk of a tree.
“Hey, let me try that!” Anthony said. He grabbed the big knife from Marlin’s hands.
“Watch out—” Marlin cried.
Anthony swung the blade into a tree. Choppp. “Cool!” he cried. He pulled the blade back—and swung again. This time he made an even deeper cut below the first cut.
“Hey—you’re hurting the tree!” Kristen protested.
She grabbed the handle of the machete and tried to tug it away from Anthony. The two of them wrestled with it until Marlin stepped up and took it away from them.
“Just one cut in a tree,” Marlin said. “It’s not for fun. It’s so we can get back.”
“Where are we?” April asked.
The leaves overhead had grown thicker until they blocked the sky from view. The pale moonlight couldn’t break through the thick tangle of trees.
It’s much darker here, April realized. And quiet. The insects had suddenly stopped chirping. April listened for the wash of the ocean waves on the shore. Silence.
“We must be somewhere in the middle of the island,” Marlin said. “If we just keep going straight…”
“But the path ends here,” Kristen said. She swept her flashlight over the trees. “Which way is straight?”
“We have to keep going north,” Marlin said. He pulled off his baseball cap and wiped his forehead with his hand. “Man, it’s hot tonight. Wish we could go for a swim.”
“Which way is the ocean?” April asked. “I—I’m all turned around.”