Page 33 of The Otherworld

Mom gapes at me, tears standing in her eyes. Dad stares, too, like he did in the driveway. Like I’m out of my mind. The stoic, blank way you stare at a senile coot who’s rambling on about people who don’t exist.

“I didn’t want to tell you guys because I didn’t want to get your hopes up if it’s nothing, but she’s looking. She’s searching the island—”

“What island?” Dad says.

“I… I don’t know. She didn’t tell me the name of it; I don’t know if it even has a name—”

“And does this girl have a name?”

“Orca.”

Dad blinks. “Like the whale?”

“Yeah, I know, it’s weird. But that’s not the point—”

“Jack.” He reels in a steady breath. “You saw the plane. They found the wreck seventeen nautical miles off the coast. There is no way his backpack washed up on a beach anywhere.”

I stare at him. “You think I’m making this up?”

“I think—” Dad sighs, looking at me with sympathy in his eyes. “I think this whole thing has been extremely hard on you, Jack. I think your mind… might be creating hope where there is none. Evidence where there is none.”

“You think I’m nuts? Mom, do you think I’m nuts?”

“Sweetheart, I don’t know—”

“You don’t know?” I mutter a sarcastic laugh, pulling out my phone and dialing Adam. “Okay, fine, then—don’t believe me. Talk to her yourself.”

“Jack, I don’t—”

“No, I’m gonna call Orca right now, and you can talk to her if you want evidence.”

I hand the phone to Mom, but Dad’s the one who grabs it with a big annoyed sigh like he just wants to get this charade over with. He puts the phone to his ear, and I wait for the look of astonishment to dawn on his face when Orca’s voice says hello.

The kitchen is so silent, I can hear the ring, ring, ring, ring…

My heart drops.

“No answer,” Dad declares, unsurprised.

Thunder rumbles outside.

I lunge forward and grab the phone. “She must be outside or up in the lighthouse or something—”

“She lives in a lighthouse?”

I nod. “Yeah. She lives there with her father, and he keeps the light. But he’s gone to the mainland, so she’s all by herself right now.”

Dad looks at Mom, and I know what he’s thinking. But he’s wrong.

He has to be wrong.

My fingers tremble uncontrollably as I redial Adam and hold the phone to my ear. My heart hammers as I wait and listen to it ring…

And ring…

And ring…

And ring.

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