Free Shipwreck by Gordon Korman Page A

“J.J.!” He’d even be happy to see J.J. at this point.
    “Luke!”
    It was Will. No question about it this time. Careful not to lose his balance on the cabin top, Luke rose to his knees. It was almost completely dark now.
    Then he saw it — a flailing arm. He stood up — did he dare stand up? There, twenty yards away, someone — Will? — was rolling in and out of the waves, clinging desperately to a mangled deck plank.
    Luke flung himself back on his stomach and began to paddle. He looked up. Will wasn’t an inch closer. Here in the open ocean, the wave action canceled out whatever progress he could manage. To save Will, he would have to swim for it.
    Swim for it? Was he nuts? He was weak — could hardly force his arms into a dog paddle. A few minutes ago, he’d barely made it to the cabin top ten feet away. This was five times that distance — at least! And the same again coming back, dragging Will, who might be hurt or burned. It was insanity. He’d drown the both of them.
    “I can’t hang on much longer!” Will called.
    The decision was made. A slim chance was better than no chance at all. Luke threw himself off the cabin top and hit the water. He drove each stroke deep into the waves, fighting the sea and his own exhaustion. His eyes stung from salt, but he forced himself to keep them open. Can’f losehim. Can’t lose him. He tried to call Will’s name and came up choking on seawater.
    Alone/ Where was Will? Oh, no! He’d lost Will and — a frantic look backward — he could no longer see the floating cabin top!
    He’d given up his raft — his one chance at survival — for nothing.
    And then a wave broke, and Luke saw him, still clinging to the piece of deck —
    “Will?” Luke blurted.
    The boy’s face was completely blackened with soot.
    Will blinked in amazement. “Luke?” In that instant, Luke realized he must look the same.
    He struggled to focus his racing mind on what was important. “Can you swim?”
    “I — I’m not sure.” Will seemed aimless and confused. “I found a piece of wood — “
    “Hang on to it,” Luke commanded. “It’ll help us float.”
    Grabbing Will Red Cross style — oh, how he wished he’d paid better attention in that lifesav-ing class! — Luke started back in the direction of the cabin top.We’ll find it , he told himself. If they didn’t, they would both drown. Sidestroke — shuttle-kick. Will’s deadweight threatened to drag him down.
    “There’s a cabin top floating up ahead,” Luke managed to say between tortured breaths. His paddling arm throbbed with pain. “Can you see it?”
    “Too dark,” replied Will. He sounded sleepy.
    “Try!” Luke demanded, wasting precious strength shaking his friend. “It’s around here somewhere! It has to be!”
    “There’s nothing,” insisted Will, a little more alertly.
    Agony pulsed from every muscle in Luke’s body, from his cramped feet to the aching knuckles that were locked on to Will’s shoulder. It would be so easy to give up right now. There would be no disgrace in that. Who could have expected him to make it this far? The call to quit radiated from the very core of his being.Just let go, it seemed to say, andsurrender to the waves
    “Wait a minute,” came Will’s voice. “What’s that?”
    Luke kicked like he had never kicked before, as if he had reached down and opened a hidden supply of emergency energy. He screamed as he swam — from pain and rage but mostly from sheer effort.
    Whump! His head knocked against something.
    “This is it!” he exclaimed. “Will, we found it!”
    Luke pushed Will, plank and all, onto the cabin top. Then he scrambled on himself and collapsed, choking and gasping.
    “The others? Lyssa?” asked Will.
    Luke could only shake his head.
    “Nobody?”
    They turned to face the Phoenix. It was a floating bonfire. White-hot flames covered every inch of the schooner except the very peak of the foremast. The bow, which had hung so low, was now pointed up like a cannon as