Trapped

  Nacho pulled a bottle of water out of the bag and handed it to Sarah.

  Sarah hadn’t realized how thirsty she was until she began drinking. As she downed half of the bottle, her stomach growled and gurgled. She poured some in her hand, and Ahab licked it up.

  Nacho handed Cash a granola bar, then tossed two to Sarah. “Thanks.” She smiled and ripped off the wrapper, devouring the first bar in less than four bites. She read the label of the other one and peeled off the wrapper. “Well, boy, I think this is dog friendly.” Ahab devoured it and wagged his tail.

  Sarah opened another bottle of water and moved closer to Yvonna. She set a hand under her head to tip it up, and then set the bottle on her stepmom’s lips. “You need to drink.”

  Yvonna managed to get a few swallows in before dropping her head back down.

  Cash said, “So you’re gonna get a brother or sister, huh?”

  Sarah locked eyes with Nacho, who grinned.

  “Are you happy about that?” Cash asked.

  Nacho said, “Yeah. I hope it’s a boy.”

  Sarah didn’t answer right away. At first, when Yvonna told them she was pregnant, she’d been shocked. But as she’d thought about it, she warmed to the idea. A little, anyway. She hadn’t been around babies very much. She said, “Maybe it won’t be that bad.”

  Cash nodded. “Babies are cool. I have a little cousin who is one. He’s really fun.” She took a bite of a granola bar.

  Neither of them said anything else. Sarah stared into the flames as the night gradually descended around them.

  Cash lay down on her side and shut her eyes.

  Sarah tried not to think about what might be out there. She picked up a stick and poked it into the fire, stirring up the glowing coals. “Too bad we don’t have marshmallows.”

  Nacho nodded. “Yeah.” He yawned.

  Sarah said, “You can go to sleep.”

  “But we should keep watch,” said Nacho.

  Sarah nodded. “I’ll take the first shift.”

  “Okay,” said Nacho. “But make sure to wake me up.”

  “I will,” said Sarah.

  Nacho reclined beside the fire and shut his eyes. Within minutes, his breathing slowed and his mouth fell open. How could that boy sleep? Sarah was fairly certain she wouldn’t be able to. Her heart pounded too hard.

  What if the crabs came back?

  What if one of Leo’s freaky animals showed up?

  She gazed out at the water where the lights of the sailboat glowed in the darkness. She wished those people would have come ashore before dark, even if they were bad. Being the lone one awake and alert made her feel so … responsible.

  Sarah yawned. After everything that happened that day, stressed out or not, she couldn’t fight the exhaustion. She pulled a blanket up over Yvonna. As far as she could tell, her stepmother was asleep. So she went back to her spot by the fire and hunkered down a bit, trying to get more comfortable in the sand herself. Ahab stretched out and fell asleep.

  Sarah lay down on her side, head propped up on her elbow as she watched the flickering fire. Maybe she should relish the peace, because who knew what would happen in the morning when the boat-jackers came ashore?

  She yawned again. “You have to stay awake.”

  But she let her eyes shut. Only for a moment. She was simply so tired, and it was so hard to keep them open. She couldn’t help it.

  “Sarah!”

  Cash’s panicked voice startled Sarah awake. Immediately, her heart pounded and her hands trembled. The fire was still bright, the night was still dark. Cash’s face was illuminated only by the firelight.

  “What’s wrong?” whispered Sarah.

  Cash whispered back, “I heard something. From over there.” She pointed toward the trees.

  Ahab whined.

  Sarah quickly tossed more wood on the fire. Whatever was out there, she hoped it hated fire. The flames might be their best—if not only—defense. For the first time, she wished she hadn’t thrown that white tube into the waves. “Do you see anything?” Then she realized how stupid her question was.

  They huddled together, Sarah stoking the fire. She set aside a club-sized piece of wood.

  Nacho’s eyes opened at a crashing in the bushes. He crawled next to Ahab and Sarah. She felt like her heart would pound its way out of her chest.

  Nacho leaned into her, his voice so quiet Sarah could barely hear him as he asked, “What do you think it is?”

  Sarah didn’t want to think about what might be making the sound. “Probably nothing.”

  She looked sideways at Nacho, who raised his eyebrows at her. Sarah shrugged. “Isn’t that better than telling you it might be something that could eat us?”

  A corner of his mouth turned up. “Yeah.”

  Sarah picked up the piece of wood she’d set aside and let the end catch fire, then handed it to Nacho. Nacho stood up. Sarah did the same to another stick and got to her feet.

  “Are you going in there?” asked Cash.

  “Either that or we stay here, huddled like frightened rabbits all night.” Sarah sounded far braver than she felt. “Let’s go, boy.” Ahab got to his feet beside her.

  Nacho nodded. “Let’s do it.”

  Side by side, brandishing their torches, they crept toward the edge of the trees where they’d heard the sound. Sarah tried to hold the torch steady in her shaking hand. Impossible, so she reached up with her other hand, clutching the stick with both. She held it out in front of her.

  Suddenly, a ball of fur jumped out at them.

  Ahab barked and Sarah screamed as Nacho yelled. Sarah scrunched her eyes shut as she jabbed out with her torch, waiting for something to attack her.

  Nacho began to laugh.

  Sarah opened her eyes.

  Ahab barked again.

  The squirrel with the striped tail sat there, nose twitching at them. “It’s not funny.” But as she looked at the squirrel, then back at Nacho, she realized it was funny. And she began to laugh too, so hard that she had to bend over and clutch her stomach. She dropped the torch, which landed with a fizz in the sand.

  Still laughing, Nacho grabbed her arm. “Come on. Let’s go back to the fire.”

  Ahab wanted to keep barking at the creature, so Sarah pulled him by the collar until he followed them. They sat back down.

  Cash asked, “Did you see anything?”

  Sarah giggled. “A very weird squirrel.”

  Nacho said, “Let’s just build up the fire and go to sleep. If we get eaten, we get eaten.”

  “By a squirrel?” asked Cash.

  They began to laugh again. Then, finally, Sarah lay down beside Ahab and fell asleep, putting a stop, at last, to what had seemed like a never-ending day.

  16

  By the time the sun went down, Marco and Leo had stopped to rest exactly four times. Marco estimated the weight of the chest as not more than twenty-five pounds or so, but it was the size of a large suitcase and awkward to carry. They continued to move in the dusk on the flat, sandy beach. Marco kicked something with his foot, and saw a rock roll out of the way. A moment later, he tripped on a piece of driftwood and fell to one knee, letting his end of the chest drop to the sand. He shook his head. “It’s getting too dark.”

  Leo set his end of the chest in the sand. His face was barely visible in the waning light.

  Marco said, “I don’t know why I didn’t think to bring a flashlight.” He glanced at the chest. “I guess I couldn’t have carried it anyway.” Clouds began to cover the moon and stars. Soon they wouldn’t have any light to see by. “I can’t believe this. We’re gonna have to stop for the night.”

  “Why?” asked Leo.

  “Duh. We can’t see.” Marco rolled his eyes.

  Leo said, “Light is not a problem.”

  Marco mumbled, “No, just the lack of it is.”

  Suddenly a glowing blue bubble of light surrounded them, spreading out about ten yards, revealing the sand and even stretching to the waves
slipping up on the sand.

  “Whoa!” Marco jumped back, but the light stayed with him.

  He ran to the side a few feet. The light followed.

  Marco juked and dodged, but couldn’t escape the blueness. Finally, he stopped trying. “What is that?”

  Leo held out his hands. “Light. So we can keep going.”

  Marco relaxed. The inside of the bubble was as light as day. Just more … blue. “How did you do that?”

  Leo turned one arm over and slid up his sleeve, revealing the black bracelet from before. “Technology.”

  Marco grinned. “Can that thing make me a sandwich?”

  Leo smiled and shook his head. “That has to wait until we’re back at the ship.”

  Marco leaned down and grabbed his end of the chest. “Well then, let’s go.”

  The light made things so much easier. Other than the brief periodic stops, they made good time along the beach. As they neared the spot where the sharkodile had attacked them, Leo set his end of the chest in the sand.

  “Why are you stopping?” asked Marco.

  “I need a rest,” Leo said.

  Marco firmed up his grip. “We need to keep going. We can’t stop here.”

  Leo wiped some sweat off his face. “I have to rest.”

  Marco dropped his end of the chest. “Listen, this is not a good place.” His gaze darted out to the waves, lit by the blue light for a little ways offshore. “Some … thing came after us here.”

  Leo whirled to face the water. “A shark. With feet.”

  Marco frowned. “Yeah. How did you know?”

  Leo shrugged. “One of our mistakes.”

  Marco sucked on his lower lip for a moment and asked something he wasn’t sure he wanted an answer to. “Did you make anything else that went in the water?”

  Leo picked up his end of the chest. “I think we should get going.”

  Marco hefted his end, and they used quick steps for the next several minutes. When Leo finally slowed down, Marco did too. They rounded the last corner and Leo said, “We’re here.”

  The blue light entered the cavern before them. There was no chill air to greet them like when Marco and Sarah had first found the entrance. Marco figured it was because Leo was with him. They continued into the vast room with all the containers.

  Marco immediately felt a clench in his gut at the sight of all those trapped creatures. Even though he knew Leo would take good care of them on his planet, if they made it there, the sight still freaked him out. Especially since he personally knew one of the frozen. His chest tightened as he saw the module that held Sarah’s dad. He needed to get John out of there, not only for Sarah, but also his mom. For what he hoped was the last time, Marco set the chest down. He wiped his sweaty hands on his shirt, walked up to the frosty glass, and blew on it. Slowly, a patch cleared and he set his eye to it. John was there, same as before. “Can we let my stepdad out now?”

  Leo stepped over to the module and reached for the keypad.

  Near the bottom of the module, Marco noticed a steady green light he hadn’t seen before. “What’s that?”

  Leo sucked in a breath and quickly stepped back. “We need to wait until morning.”

  Marco shook his head. “We need to do this now so we can get back to my mom and the others. They need us.”

  Leo looked nervous. “I agree. But … but we need the night to rest.” Leo headed toward the end of the cavern.

  “Wait!” Marco followed. “You said the freezing process would be complete in less than a day. Don’t we need to let him out now?”

  Leo didn’t answer and kept walking.

  Marco grabbed the boy’s shoulder. “What’s that green light? Why are you acting so weird?”

  Leo said, “It’s nothing.”

  But Marco could tell by the sound of his voice that it was anything but. He turned to look at John’s module again, and noticed similar lights on the bottom of all the modules. But the others were a steady red. The ones on the modules that had housed Nacho and Ahab were blinking green.

  “What do the lights mean, Leo?” Marco had to get John out and would do whatever it took. “Let him out or I’ll drag the chest out of here, right now! You can’t back out of our deal.”

  Leo frowned. “I’m not backing out. But when I said it was about timing, it was more than just getting back to your camp to help your mom.”

  Marco went and picked up one end of the chest.

  “Please!” Leo walked briskly over to Marco, stopping a few feet away. “Listen. The lights…” He set a hand on his forehead. “I’m so stupid. I didn’t notice them. I forgot.”

  “Forgot what?” Marco dropped the chest.

  Leo lowered his hand. “The containers have to be refilled.”

  “What do you mean ‘refilled’?” Marco did not like the way things were sounding. “Like they have to go back in?”

  “Something has to go back in,” said Leo.

  “Or what happens?” asked Marco.

  “It’s over. The automatic shutdown happens and the ship will never leave.” Leo sighed.

  Marco frowned. “You said the extra containers don’t count toward the final tally.”

  Leo waved his hand toward a bank of empty modules. “Those don’t.” He pointed at Ahab’s, Nacho’s, and John’s. “But the ones I filled do.”

  “Once you let them out, how long do you have?”

  “About twenty Earth hours.”

  Nacho and Ahab had already been out for a few hours. Marco asked, “Do you trust me?”

  Leo met his stare. “Do you trust me?”

  Neither said anything for a moment.

  Marco swallowed. Did he trust Leo? He wasn’t sure. “I think we have to trust each other. I swear to you, I will get those containers refilled. I’m not sure how or with what, but I swear I will. And then we’ll help you fill the others that you need and get you home.” He held out his hand.

  Leo shook it. “I trust you.” A corner of his mouth curved up. “But we need to rest, at least a little. I will trust you if you trust me.”

  Marco didn’t like leaving John frozen any longer than he had to. But he nodded, took a last look at both the chest and the module holding John, and followed Leo out of the cave.

  * * *

  IN THE GALLEY OF THE SPACESHIP, Marco sat down. His arms and legs were heavy, exhausted from hauling the chest. He yawned as his stomach growled. He realized he wouldn’t do anyone any good in his condition; he needed to eat and get some sleep because there was no telling what lay ahead of them when they got back to the others. He crossed his arms on the table and set his head on them, for just a moment.

  He woke to a hand on his shoulder. “Marco. It will be dawn soon.”

  Marco jumped up. “We need to go!”

  “Eat first.” Leo pointed at the plate on the table that held scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns, and sliced strawberries. A large glass of milk sat next to it.

  Marco grabbed the milk first and took a long drink. Then he grabbed a fork and dug into the breakfast. With his mouth full, he asked Leo, “Can we make food to bring along for the others?”

  “I’ve taken care of that already.” He pointed to a silver container. “I feel much better after sleeping.”

  Although he was mad at himself for nodding off for so long, Marco realized he did too. As he kept eating, he felt even stronger, ready to face whatever lay ahead of them.

  Leo set a small white case down on the table. “I think this will help your mother.”

  “Thank you.” Marco pushed the plate away and slipped the small case into his pocket. “Can we unfreeze John now?”

  Leo nodded, grabbed the silver container of food, and hurried with Marco to the cavern.

  As they reached the module holding John, Marco said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you might want to go back to your Earth-boy face? Just for the, um, introductions?”

  Immediately, Leo’s face morphed into that of the boy Marco had first met.
One hand stayed webbed, and he set it on the keypad.

  Hssssssssssss.

  Mist blew out, sending goose bumps up Marco’s arms.

  Marco waved both hands about to disperse the cloud.

  Seconds later, John stepped out, a bewildered expression on his face. He stumbled and braced himself against the side of the module. Then he took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt. He replaced them, blinking several times as if to clear his vision. “Marco? Where’s Sarah?”

  “She’s fine,” Marco blurted. “She’s back at the camp with Mom.”

  His stepfather relaxed, until he took in his surroundings. “Where am I?” He noticed Leo and pointed at him. “Who are you?”

  Marco stepped between Leo and John. “There’s a lot we have to tell you. Basically, everything Cash told us was true. But right now we have to go back to camp. Fast. I’ll explain on the way.”

  John frowned at the boys. “Okay. Let’s go. But you’d better tell me everything. Now which way is out?”

  Leo pointed and John headed that way. Marco noticed that John was limping slightly, like he had some kinks to work out.

  Leo touched Marco’s arm. “Everything depends on this. My planet. My entire people’s existence.”

  Marco gulped. He had to wait a moment before he had enough breath to say, “I’ll figure it out. I promise. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

  Leo gave him a curt nod and handed him the silver container.

  Marco wanted so badly to come through for the stranded alien boy and his people. But he had no idea how he was going to do that. His family was top priority. He would make sure his mom was safe. And the others. Then, and only then, would he try to help Leo out. Because he did mean to try or he wouldn’t have promised. But he didn’t want to think about what might happen if—when—he failed to live up to that promise.

  17

  Sarah opened her eyes to a faint pink line across the sky and Ahab’s cold nose in her face. She pushed him away gently, then yawned and sat up, stretching her arms above her head. Her body was stiff from sleeping on the sand, and she wondered when she would ever get to sleep in a real bed again. She checked on Yvonna. Her forehead was hot, but she seemed to be resting peacefully. Cash was still asleep too. Nacho’s towel was empty.