Page 30 of Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm

Shinji glanced over at Lucy, who stared back, clearly intrigued.

Now Oliver frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Mano tapped the map, where several numbers had been scribbled in the corner. “These are the coordinates to the island,” he began. “But I know that stretch of ocean. There’s no land there. There’s nothing but open water, for miles, in every direction. There isnoisland.”

“Well.” Oliver peered over at the map with a faint smile. “According to this, there is.”

Mano sighed. “I can get us there,” he said. “Looking at these coordinates, it’ll just take a day or two. Once we arrive, we can see if there’s an island there or not.”

“A mysterious island.” Phoebe clapped her hands. “Oh, I cannot wait. This is going to be so exciting.”

The journey to the mysterious, possibly invisible island took two days. During that time, Shinji tried to stay busy, hanging out in the cargo hold with Lucy and the various scientists aboard, or in his room with his laptop. All this activity was mostly to avoid Phoebe, who seemed to lurk around every corner waiting to pounce and ask him a ton of

questions about the shark, its voice, and whether any other sea life had tried to contact him. But it was also to keep his mind occupied, because the closer they got to the supposed location of the island, the weirder Shinji felt. It was as if something knew he was coming, and was both impatient for him to get there and furious at everything else.

Lucy and Roux squabbled often. It was never a full-blown fight, especially if they were in the presence of any of the adults, but Shinji began to get tired of their constant jabs and pokes at each other. One evening, he was lying on his cot flipping through a comic book, when his door flew open and Lucy strode into the room.

“Roux! Where is it?”

Shinji jumped, banging his head on the low ceiling above his mattress. “Ow, Lucy!” he exclaimed, rubbing his skull as he swung his legs off the cot. “You know, there’s this thing called knocking that’s really popular nowadays. What do you want?”

“Where is he?”

“Who? Roux?”

“Yes, Roux.” Lucy gave him an exasperated look. “Who else would I be talking about? I certainly didn’t come in here looking for Oliver.”

“Why do you want him? What’s he done this time?”

She glowered. “My book on mythological creatures from around the world is missing,” she said. “I was going to flip through it tonight, to see if there was anything about sharks

and hidden islands, but it’s disappeared. I knowyoudidn’t take it,” she went on. “And there’s only one thief on this ship, so…”

“You assumed it was Roux.”

“Who else would it be?” Lucy demanded. “None of the adults would come into my room—my locked room—and take my stuff without telling me. Why are you always on his side?”

“What? I’m not!” Shinji glared at her, stung. “I just…I get where he’s coming from, that’s all. I know what it’s like to be on your own. I know how much it sucks to feel that you can’t trust anyone. I’ve seen how stupid and ugly and unfair the world can be, and how sometimes it feels like it’s you against everyone else. You wouldn’t see that, because…”

He trailed off, but it was too late. Lucy went very still, her voice dropping into the subzero range.

“Because I’m a Hightower,” she said flatly. “Because my family is rich, and I never had to worry about those kind of things. Right?”

Shinji shrugged. Which was definitely not a good move. Lucy’s demeanor went even colder, her expression shutting into that frosty, impersonal mask Shinji had seen on her father, Gideon Frost.

“I see. Well, forget I said anything, then. Guess I’ll find it myself.”

She turned and walked away without looking back, slamming the door behind her.

Shinji groaned, running his hands down his face. Lucy was mad at him again, and he wasn’t entirely sure why. It wasn’t likehewas the one swiping her stuff. Maybe he would find Roux and ask if he had seen Lucy’s book.

Sticking his phone in his pocket, he went looking for him.

After asking around, Shinji found Roux in the library, where Phoebe had attempted to “help” Shinji with his magic earlier. Roux was lounging in a chair with both legs dangling off the armrest, a large book propped against his knees. He didn’t look up as Shinji approached, though one hand rose in a casual wave to let him know he’d seen him.

“Hey,” he greeted, eyes still on the book. A very familiar book, Shinji suddenly realized.Mythologies from Around the World, it read on the cover.

“Hey,” Shinji repeated. “Isn’t that Lucy’s book?”

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