Page 48 of The Doctor's Truth

We split up to cover more ground.

Maria and Diego cover the aquarium. Kenzi takes her car back to the house, in case Otto has hitched a ride there.

Donovan and I take his car and drive in circles up and down Main Street. We circle the ice cream shop, around the bookstore, up and down.

“What did you say to him?” Donovan asks.

“I don’t know! We were just…talking about normal stuff. And then he went to the bathroom and never came back.”

“Define normal stuff.”

“Like…taking charge. Writing your own destiny.”

“Okay. Maybe leave Guru Jason at home. Sounds a little existential for a kid.”

“He started it!”

My stomach is in so many knots, I can barely breathe.

Then I see a flash of pink, and my hand clutches the dashboard. “Stop. There. On the ferry. Pull in. Is that him?”

Across the gravel parking lot of the loading dock, I can see a small child sneak aboard. They’re taking the lines off the huge pilings, casting off, when Otto ducks underneath the rope keeping passengers from boarding and scrambles up the ramp.

“I see him,” Donovan says and immediately turns left in the parking lot.

The ferry blasts its horn, signaling its departure. He barely brings the car to a stop before I open the door and leap out. Donovan is close on my heels.

The ramp has already been pulled up, and the engine is churning.

“It’s pulling away,” Donovan says. His voice is thin with panic, and I can practically hear his brain working. “I’m going to find a radio.”

“Good idea.”

Donovan rushes to the ticket seller’s booth, and I can hear him demanding that the guy use his radio to contact the ferryman. I don’t have a plan, but I don’t stop moving forward.

I race to the very edge of the dock. The street falls away into a steep drop, nothing but a worn rope keeping me from the churning, icy water below.

John, a straggly dude who works the ferry on the off-season, comes up and puts his hand on my chest. “Hey—no more passengers right now. Sorry, Mr. King. It’s already departed.”

“There’s a kid on there,” I say. “He’s all alone.”

John looks at me, then looks at the ferry. “Shit—okay. Here’s what I’m gonna do. I’ll radio Mike and he’ll bring him back on the return trip.”

“The return trip? I can see him—he’s right there.”

John grimaces. “Like I said, it’s already departed. There’s nothing I can do—”

“Otto!” I shout his name, and the kid turns. He’s clutching his backpack, and when he sees me, his eyes go wide. “Don’t worry, buddy!” I tell him. “I’m coming to get you!”

I push past John and swing my legs over the rope barrier. I’m on the very edge of Hannsett Island now, clutching the rope behind me. The ferry is five, six feet away. Below, a drop into freezing cold water, and the low growl of the engine chopping and churning.

“Yo…” John’s voice behind me, “Mr. King, you gotta come back over…”

The passengers on board turn at the commotion and stare at me, bug-eyed.

But the ferry moves forward, inching away from the landing platform, and it’s now or never.

I take a breath.

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