Page 75 of Leveling

Chapter 53

The ship got closerand closer until the voice became noticeable. Someone on deck was yelling.

Luna looked up. A man with white stumpy paddles for hands was waving frantically.

The boat slowed to a stop and clearly, unmistakably, “ANNA!”

Beckett.

Beckett was on that ship.

Buzz said, “Anyone knows why the Stiffneck is yelling Anna?”

Luna was dazed. “Beckett?” Her voice barely audible. She had been staring at the water’s surface and looked up to see Beckett, like an apparition, he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, or likely to be, or—it had caused her to feel dizzy. Confused.

He yelled across the distance, “Anna, it’s me, Beckett!”

She repeated, blankly, quietly, “Beckett?”

Buzz and Seggy started laughing.

Buzz asked, “How come he thinks your name is Anna?”

They laughed harder.

Luna’s breath caught in her throat as Beckett threw a leg over the railing.

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