Chapter 234

At first, I was too frightened to speak. Yes, I was scared for myself, but Victor was still asleep. If he woke up and saw a man painting a gun at me, he would try to disarm the man and maybe get shot.

“Who are you, and why are you in my house?” the man demanded.

“We …we …were on a …ya …yacht that blew up and …and the …life …lifeboat dra …drifted here,” I stammered. After everything that happened, this, being held at gunpoint, was too much.

The man lowered the rifle slightly. He appeared to be about as old as Alex and was dressed in old jeans and a T-shirt. He would seem normal if he wasn’t aiming a gun at me.

“You were on a yacht that blew up, huh?” he sneered. “What’s your name, girl?”

“Duh …Daisy,” I replied. “Please don’t shoot us. We came into your house because we were hungry, tired, and dirty. A shark almost ate us!” I began to cry, and Victor stirred behind me.

“Put the gun down, Arthur,” a woman said as she entered the house with her arms full of shopping bags. She was the same age as the man and was dressed in jeans too. “I bet these are the missing kids from the boat explosion.”

Arthur pointed the rifle at the floor. “How do you know it’s them?”

The woman put the bags on the floor and smiled at me. “You’re Daisy Wilson, aren’t you? And this is Victor Klein.”

Victor sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Yes, ma’am, we are. And I will gladly pay for anything we used of yours, plus any fee you want to help us get back to Hallston Beach.”

“You don’t need to pay us anything,” she said before glaring at Arthur. “We can’t take money for helping the kids of our old friends.”

“Dang it, Cathy,” Arthur scolded. “How do you know it’s them?”

“Look at her, Arthur. Daisy looks just like her mom did at her age,” Cathy replied.

“She does resemble Joanna,” Arthur agreed and put the gun into a cabinet near the front door.

“You knew my mom?” I asked. What incredible luck if it was true.

“We were at your parent’s wedding,” Cathy confirmed. “I went to school with Joanna. It was heartbreaking when she died in the accident, and you were lost.”

“Everyone is looking for you,” Arthur told us. “Captain Burns was picked up by a fishing boat and alerted the authorities that you two were out on the water in a dinghy.”

Victor sat up. “I’m glad to hear Captain Burns is alive. The current swept us away before I could help him.”

“He’s got a concussion and a little hearing loss, but he’ll be fine,” Arthur said. “I'm surprised none of the boats moving around the neighboring island recently didn’t pick you up.”

“We didn’t see any boats,” Victor said.

“Just a big shark,” I added.

“You poor dears.” Cathy picked up her shopping bags. “We must unload the boat and get ready for the storm. Then I’ll make you a decent meal.”

“When can we leave?” I asked. Alex, Lana, and Harry have to be worried sick about us.

“You’ll have to wait until after the storm passes,” Arthur replied.

“What storm?” Victor asked.

“Hurricane Della,” Arthur answered. “It changed course and is coming this way. If you two are up to it, we could use some help getting ready.”

A hurricane? I couldn’t believe it. Were Victor and I cursed? I just wanted to go home.

“Sure,” Victor offered. “What can we do to help?”

“Is there a way to let our parents’ know we are safe first?” I asked.

“Use our satellite phone,” Cathy offered. “Unless you have your cell phone with you.”

“It’s in my backpack,” I said and pulled it out. “But there’s no service.”

“Connect to our internet,” Cathy said. It’s via satellite, too. The password is Islandlife79.”

I did as she said and called Alex. He was relieved to hear from me and confirmed his friendship with Arthur and Cathy Hall.

Before we hung up, Alex promised to tell Lana and Harry we were safe and made me promise to do whatever Arthur and Cathy said to get through the hurricane.

“They know what they’re doing on that island, honey,” Alex said. “Arthur’s family has lived there for generations. I’ll send a helicopter for you and Victor as soon as the storm passes.”

I was helping Cathy put away groceries when Victor and Arthur popped into the house with another load of supplies.

Arthur gave Cathy a quick kiss. “You girls take care of battening down the house while Victor helps me secure the boat and get the generator gassed up.”

“Of course, dear,” Cathy said.

We finished putting away the supplies before I followed Cathy outside with a stepladder.

“Help me close and fasten the shutters,” Cathy said. “Make sure they’re fastened well. And don’t look so frightened, sweetie. Arthur and I have been through worse.”

“Are you sure we’ll make it through the storm safely?” I asked.

“Why, sure,” Cathy replied. “If we thought we were going to die, we would have stayed on the mainland.”

“What’s the worst that can happen? I asked as I moved the ladder to the next window.

“The house was swamped with tidal surge fifty years ago,” Cathy admitted. “But that’s rare. And it isn’t much to look at, but the house was built to withstand the wind.”

I watched the trees writhing around us in the rising winds and wished I was home. I was sick of being afraid.

We finished closing the shutters and returned to the living room. Cathy was at the stove, cooking dinner. I would offer to help after I got my phone from my backpack again.

It wouldn’t work without the satellite internet, but it made me feel better to have the phone in my sweatpants pocket.

Then I remembered the moonstone pendant. I had tucked it inside a little pocket in the backpack before we left for the afternoon on the yacht.

It was still there, so I fastened it around my neck and rubbed the twin moonstones with my thumbs. They seemed to radiate warmth, and my anxiety levels lowered.

Why did the pendant make me feel calm?

“Who cares why? Calm is better than being out of my mind with fear,” I whispered to myself before tucking the pendant under my shirt against my skin. Then I asked Cathy what I could do to help.

We had dinner on the table when Arthur and Victor came inside the house. I could see and hear the wind was much worse than when I was outside, fastening shutters with Cathy.

My heart began to race, but when I touched the moonstones under my shirt, I felt calmer. I was never going to take the pendant off again.

We ate a delicious meal of pork chops, mac and cheese, and broccoli while making small talk and ignoring the freight train sound of the wind.

“I remember riding out my first bad storm here,” Cathy said as she served slices of apple pie for dessert. “It’s scary, but we’ll be fine.”

But before we were finished eating our pie, there was a loud crash outside, and Arthur shot to his feet. He went to a large framed picture on the inner kitchen wall.

After pushing the picture aside, he revealed a control panel and viewing screen.

“I’ve got cameras all over the island,” he said. “If we would have been home today, I would have seen you coming.”

He touched buttons and made different views of the island appear on the screen.

His face grew tense. “It’s worse than they predicted,” he said. “The storm surge is coming up the path to the house, and the solar panels are coming loose. That means the roof is in jeopardy.”

He motioned to Victor. “Help me move a mattress into the bathroom. We may need to shelter in there. It’s built like a safe room.”

The moonstones grew warmer against my skin as I watched Arthur and Victor prepare our shelter in the bathroom.

I was about to ask if I could help when a horrible creaking crash sounded over my head.

“We better move, Cathy,” Arthur said. His expression was pained. The house was dear to him. “It sounds like we’re losing the roof …or worse.”

“Daisy, help me move some bottled water and supplies into the bathroom,” Cathy said. “Hurry, dear.”

Victor helped move the supplies, and we piled into the bathroom while Arthur grabbed the satellite phone and sealed the bathroom door behind us.

We stood, listening to the storm for a few minutes until there was a horrible screeching sound. Then the walls shook, and we were plunged into darkness.