The boat lurched to the side, and Daniel slid across the bench into her.
"Sorry," he said and tried to scoot away.
"It's okay." She smiled demurely at him, and then neither of them said anything for a few minutes. "It's cold back here."
Mackenzie was wearing a light jacket, but it was freezing out on the boat. Daniel looked over at her and noticed her shivering a little.
"Here." He pulled his hooded sweatshirt up over his head and held it out to her. "You can use my hoodie."
"Won't you get cold?" Mackenzie asked, looking at his T-shirt.
"I'll be fine," he insisted.
"Thank you." She put on his sweatshirt, then settled in the seat next to him. "So, you're John's little brother?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"You look alike," Mackenzie commented. "He's, like, a shorter, stockier version of you."
Daniel and John shared the same unkempt dirty blond hair and the same hazel eyes. Daniel was muscular, but he was leaner than his brother. John was broad-shouldered and bordering on husky. They were both quick to laugh, although John may have been a little bit quicker.
"It's funny, because you're taller than him," she said.
Mackenzie brushed a hair out of her eyes, and Daniel realized that she was rather beautiful. Something about that simple gesture--the way her slender fingers brushed up against the pale skin of her forehead--disarmed him, and it took him a second to answer her question.
"I had a growth spurt last year," Daniel said. "And now I'm six-foot."
"How old are you?" Mackenzie asked.
"Fifteen."
She narrowed her eyes, almost as if she didn't believe it. "I thought you were older than that. I think it's because you have mature eyes."
"Thanks. I think." He smiled. "How old are you?"
"Eighteen," Mackenzie said proudly. "I'm a senior."
"Cool," Daniel said and did his best to look equally proud. "I'm a freshman."
"You're cute," Mackenzie said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "But it would never work out between us. I don't date younger guys."
"Neither do I," Daniel replied.
She raised her eyebrow. "So you only date older girls?"
"No, I just don't date younger guys," he quipped.
Mackenzie smiled but didn't laugh. "Funny."
"Have you been friends with Zoe for a long time?" Daniel asked.
"Since grade school."
He looked ahead to where Zoe and John were talking and laughing. "So does it ever get easier?"
"What?" Mackenzie asked.
"Being the sober one." Daniel looked back at her.
"Well, I'm not completely sober, but..." She sighed and considered it. "I don't know if it gets easier. Most of the time it's fun, but sometimes I do get sick of being the reasonable one while everybody else has fun."
They'd gone farther out in the bay, almost to the point where it became the ocean. Daniel was about to suggest that John turn around, but John made the same decision himself and turned the boat back. They'd been zooming past Bernie's Island, and John began driving in fast circles around it.
Bernie's Island was a small island, just big enough for a cabin, a boathouse, and lots of trees. The only inhabitant was an old British man named Bernie McAllister, and while he'd become a bit of a hermit in his later years, everyone in town knew of him because of his island.
"Whooo!" Zoe yelled, holding her arms high above her head as John whipped around the island.
"Zoe!" Mackenzie shouted, her eyes fixed on the bald cypress trees that extended beyond the edges of the island. "Quiet down. You're gonna wake up Mr. McAllister."
"Who cares? He should wake up and enjoy this glorious night!" Zoe smiled radiantly back at her best friend. "You need to live a little, Mackenzie!"
"Yeah, whoooo!" John joined in and did a fist pump, but he steered away from the island, going back toward the mainland.
"Maybe they're right," Daniel said.
"You think we should wake up an old man?" Mackenzie asked in surprise.
He laughed. "No. Maybe we should loosen up. Have some fun."
"Wanna do a shot?" Mackenzie asked and pointed to the oversized purse sitting on the bottom of the boat. "I think Zoe has a bottle of vodka in her purse."
Daniel shook his head, smiling mischievously. "I meant, why don't we break some rules?"
Mackenzie appeared intrigued. "Like what?"
"Like your rule about not dating younger guys."
"I don't know," she said with faux-seriousness. "That's a pretty big rule."
"Well, maybe we could start simple," Daniel suggested. "With just kissing younger guys."
Mackenzie pretended to think about it, but when he leaned in toward her, she didn't move away.
Then the boat suddenly jerked to the side, nearly tipping so it was completely vertical. Daniel grabbed onto the boat with one hand and Mackenzie with the other to keep her from going overboard.
"Shit, John!" Daniel shouted once John had righted the boat. Somehow, both John and Zoe had managed to stay aboard, and Daniel made his way up front, meaning to talk some sense into his brother. "Slow down! You're gonna flip the boat."
"Everything's fine, Daniel." John brushed him off. "Go sit back down."
"Why don't you and Zoe sit down for a while?" Daniel asked. "I'll steer, and me and Mackenzie can sit up here."
"I got it," John snapped. "Stop acting like Mom. I'm fine."
"Yeah, Danny Boy." Zoe giggled and swayed with the waves. "We got this."
"Zoe, come back and sit with me before you fall over," Mackenzie said.
When boat lurched again, Zoe really did almost fall over, and Daniel grabbed the waistband of her jeans just in time to keep her from going over. Mackenzie put her arm around her friend's waist and led her to the back, where she could hold on to her.
"Great," John muttered after Zoe had gone back. "Now you scared the girl away."
"Look, now you can go back and sit with her and put the moves on her." Daniel was hovering over John, practically talking in his ear. "Wasn't that your reason for taking the boat? She's good to go, John."
"Yeah, well, I would've, but you ruined it." John glared up at him. "I'm not gonna let her think that I'm letting my kid brother boss me around."
"She doesn't even--" Daniel was in the middle of arguing with his brother when he glanced out to the open water in front of them as the boat's light flashed on something.
A girl swam right in front of them, her head and shoulders above the water. Her eyes were wide in surprise, and they were about to hit her.
3. Reverberation
"John, watch out!" Daniel yelled, and he grabbed the wheel, jerking it to the side just in time to keep from hitting the girl.
It happened in seconds--the jerk of the wheel, the boat veering to the side, Daniel seeing the jagged rocks jutting twenty feet above the water--but time seemed to slow. The moments felt endless, and Daniel felt frozen in them, unable to move fast enough to change anything.
The boat careened to one side, and Zoe screamed as she was flung overboard. Daniel had been hanging on to the wheel, trying to steer them to safety, but as the boat tipped to the side, he was just trying to grab on to something to keep from going over.
He heard the crunch of metal as the boat slammed into the rock, and his fingers slipped from the wheel. Gravity seemed to suspend itself, and suddenly he was in free fall. For what felt like minutes--but was probably only a split second--he floated and hovered above the boat. John had already let go. Screams were echoing in Daniel's ears, but he wasn't sure if they were his own or John's.
Then, all at once, gravity kicked back in, flinging him painfully against the boat. His right side slammed sharply against something, and his head smacked into the dashboard.
When it all finally came to a stop, the boat was still tilted to the side, perched at an odd angle as it hung from the rocks, slightly suspended above the water. Daniel was on the deck of the boat, cr
umpled between the front seats, and when he opened his eyes, everything was blurry for a second. A ringing in his ears blocked everything out, but when it finally stopped, his vision cleared, and he heard a girl softly weeping.
"Is everybody okay?" Daniel asked, trying to push himself up.
The boat was swaying slightly, and it moved even more, the hull creaking and groaning against the rock as the weight shifted. The engine was still running, with the propeller rattling loudly.
"Help," Mackenzie whimpered.
Daniel sat up slowly, his body aching, and looked around. The windshield had been smashed out, and there was blood all over the glass and the dashboard. At the back of the boat, Mackenzie was pinned against the backseat by all the gear that had been flying around, but John was nowhere in sight.
As soon as he saw the blood, his adrenaline kicked in, pushing away the confused fog that had been muddling his thoughts. He slid down toward the back of the boat to Mackenzie, and the frame groaned in protest.
"I'll get you out," Daniel promised Mackenzie as he crouched down on the seat beside her. He started to pull everything off her, but it was mostly light life jackets.
She shook her head. "It's my leg. There's something wrong with my leg," Mackenzie said in a tight voice.
An old blanket his grandpa kept on board had fallen across her lap, and when Daniel pulled it back, he instantly saw the problem. The boat's grapnel anchor had her left leg pinned down. It was only thirty-five pounds, so it wouldn't be that big a deal to lift it off her, except one of the hooks had gone straight through her calf muscle.
"Oh, shit," Daniel whispered.
"What?" Mackenzie asked, instantly terrified. "What is it?"
"Mackenzie!" Zoe screamed from the water. "Mackenzie! Where are you?"
"I'm up here!" Mackenzie shouted. "I'm still on the boat!"
"I'll get her out in a second. She'll be okay," Daniel said, speaking loudly to be heard over the engine.
"Holy shit," Mackenzie said when she looked down at her leg for the first time.
"This is gonna hurt like hell, but I'm gonna get it out fast, okay?" Daniel said, but she stared down at her leg with abject terror. "Mackenzie. Look at me." She did as she was told, her wide brown eyes fixed on his. "I'm going to take it out. But everything will be okay. Just keep looking at me. Okay?"
She nodded, with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Okay."
He took a deep breath, then grabbed on to one of the anchor hooks. When he began pulling it, Mackenzie cried out in pain, and the boat jerked.
For one horrifying second, Daniel was afraid the boat would plummet to the water before he could get the anchor out. There was no way she'd be able to swim with that thing lodged in her leg.
He and Mackenzie froze, waiting for the boat to settle, and when it didn't fall into the water, they both began to breathe again.
"Mackenzie?" Zoe shouted. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Mackenzie cried.
"It's just one more good tug, and then..." Daniel gritted his teeth and yanked it free. This time the boat only swayed a bit, and it seemed they would be safe for at least a couple more minutes.
Blood poured from the wound as Mackenzie sobbed, and Daniel quickly wrapped the blanket around it. He secured it with a rope, tying it just above the hole in her leg to slow down the blood loss.
"What's going on up there?" Zoe asked.
Daniel carefully leaned over the edge, not wanting to upset the boat, and then peered down to the water. The bay was farther below them than he'd thought. The boat must've started going up the slanted the rock race, almost like a ramp, until the sharp tip of the rock had broken through the hull. Now the boat was hanging on it, and the groaning and creaking of the frame was the sound of the crack in the hull tearing further.
A few feet away, Zoe was treading water, staring up at the boat dangling precariously above her.
"Have you seen John?" Daniel asked, now that the immediate crisis of getting Mackenzie free seemed averted.
"No, I haven't." Zoe shook her head.
The boat suddenly rocked, without either him or Mackenzie inciting it, and it jerked them to the side. He grabbed the edge and realized they needed to get off immediately. The only thing worse than being on a boat stuck on a rock was being in a boat sinking to the bottom of the bay.
"Zoe, I need you to help me with Mackenzie," Daniel said. "She's not going to be able to swim really well, and she'll need your help."
He grabbed a life jacket and tossed it down to Zoe, then he helped Mackenzie put one on. Her hands were trembling too badly to do up the buckle. His hands were slick with blood from her leg, but he managed to keep them from shaking.
Zoe came as close to the boat as she felt safe, so she could grab Mackenzie as soon as she got in the bay. Daniel wrapped his arms around Mackenzie's chest, looping his arms underneath hers, and he carefully lowered her down. She gasped when she finally dropped into the freezing waters.
The boat shifted because of the weight change, and Daniel grabbed on to the side to keep from tumbling face-first into the water. He could've jumped down after them, but since the boat was at a higher vantage point, he wanted to be able to scan the water for John.
Besides, he wanted to turn off the boat and silence the incessant rattle of the motor so he'd be able to listen for his brother.
"Go, swim to shore," Daniel commanded, once Zoe had a hold of Mackenzie's life jacket.
"Aren't you coming with?" Mackenzie asked.
"No. I have to look for John," he said. "Get out of here and get help."
With the girls swimming off to safety, Daniel tried to stand up on the side of the boat to get a better look out at the bay. The moon had gone behind the clouds, and he could barely see anything.
"John!" Daniel shouted. "John!"
He couldn't hear well over the engine, so he tried to climb up to turn it off. The boat was now hanging almost completely vertical, and the deck was slick with water. He had to grab the front seat to try to pull himself up, but then the boat jerked again.
He lost his grip and fell back, nearly landing on the anchor he'd pulled out of Mackenzie's leg, and then the boat really lurched. There was no way it could stay up here much longer, and if he tried to climb up again, he'd only succeed in making the boat fall.
With the boat slipping, Daniel decided it was time to abandon ship. He jumped off, splashing into the bay, and it was even colder than he'd imagined; the icy water froze him through his core. Salt water filled his mouth as he gasped for breath.
He wiped the water from his eyes, squinting in the darkness. As Daniel treaded water, he scanned the waves for any sign of his brother. He tried to figure out how long it had been since the accident, since John would've been thrown from the boat, but it was impossible to tell. It felt like it had been only a few minutes, but it could've been as long as a half hour.
But either way, it was too long. John was in serious trouble if Daniel didn't find him immediately.
"John!" Daniel shouted into the night, his teeth chattering from the cold. "John!"
When his brother didn't answer, Daniel tried shouting again, only louder this time. The engine roared and shook, making the metal frame rattle against the rock, and he hoped that it was just that John couldn't hear him over the boat.
But Zoe had been able to hear Daniel and Mackenzie just fine. He could even hear the girls crying as they swam to shore. If John wasn't responding, it was because he was unconscious or underwater. Or both.
Daniel dove down under the waves, searching the bay for his brother. In the darkness, he thought he saw a glint of light that might be the silver chain John wore around his neck. He swam after it, chasing the only hope he had.
Above him, the boat hung perilously on the rocks above, and the vibrations of the engine made its grip even more tenuous. As Daniel plunged into the murky depths of Anthemusa Bay, the speedboat broke free.
Oblivious to the commotion above him, Daniel swam after the phantom l
ight. His arms and legs were going numb from the cold, and his lungs burned.
He swam upward at the last possible moment, and just as he surfaced, gasping for breath, the boat was upon him. There was a searing pain as the propeller blade sliced into his shoulder, and then everything was blackness.
4. Salvage
As she pulled him onto the rocky shore that surrounded the bay, Aggie was certain that she was too late. She'd stayed away, but when she'd seen the blood, she knew she had to do something. He wouldn't survive unless she intervened, and even now it looked like he still might not.
"Wake up," she begged, making her voice as sweet and enticing as she could. She slapped his cold cheek gently as she cradled his head in her hands. "Oh, please, wake up. I didn't mean for this to happen. I swear."
Daniel leaned forward, coughing up sea water, and Aggie let out a sigh of relief. Not breathing may have been the biggest of his problems, but it definitely wasn't the only one. The propeller had really done a number on him.
Both of his ears were bleeding, and he had a horrible gash running from just behind his right ear to the middle of the back of his skull. His shirt had been completely shredded in the back, and while Aggie hadn't gotten a good look, she could see it was stained with his blood, and his shoulder was torn up.
"You're okay, you're gonna be okay," Aggie promised him when his eyes opened.
Those were the same eyes that had locked on hers when she'd been in the water. She hadn't seen the boat at all, not until it was too late and it was coming right for her. But as soon as Daniel saw her, he'd jerked the boat to the side, trying to save her.
And now he'd ended up like this because he'd wanted to protect her. She couldn't leave him like this, even if that was what her sisters would want her to do. She refused to.
"John," he whispered.
"What?" Aggie asked, leaning closer to hear him better.
"John," he repeated, louder this time. "Where's John?"
"I don't know." Aggie shook her head. "I don't know who that is."
"My brother." Daniel coughed, and then tried to sit up. "I have to find my brother."
"No, you can't go back out there," Aggie told him and pushed him back down. "You need to get help. You'll die if you go back out in the water."