Page 54 of Totally Shipped
Key eventually settles. We lay together in silence for a while, then she sits up. “Why aren’t they back yet?” she asks.
Good question.
“They had to travel to another island, and it takes time to do that. Several days to get there and back. We don’t need to worry, though. Killian, Gray, and Leander are probably moving slowly so Daisy doesn’t get too exhausted.”
“Do you think Harvey was mean to her?” she asks, chewing her lip. How do I answer that?
“I think Harvey was lonely; that’s why he took Daisy off to the other island. He wouldn’t be mean to someone he wants to be his friend, would he?”
“Will he be coming to live with us again?”
“No, honey, he most definitely will not.”
“Good,” she says.
Then, smiling for the first time in days, she gives me a hug.
“I’m hungry, can we have banana pancakes?”
GRAY
Our makeshift raft moves steadily through the late afternoon.
The brightness of the sky is changing; we don’t have a ton of daylight left. I’m not happy about our progress.
Daisy is looking out to sea, a glazed expression on her face. There are smudges and scratches across her face, and bugs bites and bruises cover her arms and legs. Harvey had sliced her with his makeshift knife—basically a shiv—and cut her on the neck, the belly (my blood boils just thinking of that), and across her calf. That’s the one that went the deepest. The seawater has opened up the wound, and there is a thin stream of blood trickling down her ankle. She doesn’t notice.
“You doing alright, love?”
The raft bobs up and down, and Daisy gives me a thumbs up, but in truth she is worn out. I hate to see those large purple shadows beneath her eyes, and the way her wet clothes outline her swelling belly and stick thin limbs.
“Not long now.”
I watch as she puts a hand up to shade her eyes, then she shifts and leans forward a little.
“Careful babe,” says Leander.
Daisy freezes, but it’s not because of what Leander said.
“There’s something in the water.”
I’m on alert, instantly. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. I saw something for a moment, but now it’s gone.”
The raft is taken up on a wave, and as we crest, I can see quite clearly what the something is.
“There’s a shark…” I hiss, doing my best to keep my voice calm.
“A SHARK?” Harvey screams, immediately starting to thrash around in the water and kick harder.
The dark fin comes at us.
“What do we do?” Killian’s voice is shaking. We have so little time to think.
Daisy is frozen, her mouth open, clutching at the bamboo platform.
The shark surfaces close to us, swimming past fast. It’s slate gray, and long. Maybe twelve feet?
