Free Shipwreck by Gordon Korman Page B

water flooded into the ruined stern.
    “They abandoned ship,” said Will. “They musf have!”
    Using the deck plank as an oar, Luke paddled alongside the doomed ship, looking for a path through the burning gasoline that coated the sea.
    “Hey!” came a voice. “Over here!”
    “Where?” chorused Luke and Will. It was pitch-dark now. The fire was the only light on the moonless night.
    Suddenly, Luke saw a faint glimmer of canvas struggling through the waves. And attached to it —
    “Ian!” Luke cried. “Drop that sail!”
    “We need it!” Ian insisted, panting along.
    “Forwhat ?”
    Luke and Will almost capsized hauling Ian onto their raft. The younger boy was ready to sink to the bottom of the ocean rather than let go of a large piece of half-charred foresail and a yellow rubber rain hat. Quickly, Luke rolled to the far end of the cabin top to restore balance. The raft wobbled dangerously for a moment and stabilized.
    “Where are the others?” rasped Luke.
    Ian shrugged helplessly. “I was with J.J., but we got separated.”
    “What about my sister?” demanded Will.
    “I thought she was with you.”
    “She was!” Will was frantic. “But she disappeared in the explosion!”
    “And Charla?” asked Luke.
    “Charla’s — I mean shewas — ” lan’s eyes fell on the flaming hulk of thePhoenix . “Oh, God!”
    With an audible groan, the burning schooner seemed to give up the fight before their very eyes. Slowly — agonizingly slowly — the ship slid into the sea, following the angle of its raised bow. A split second before it disappeared beneath the waves, a dark shape plunged off the tip of the foremast.
    It was a desperation dive, yet it wasperfect . A graceful arc, and then the slim figure slipped into the ocean with barely a splash. It could have only been one person.
    “Charla!” they chorused.
    Pointing straight up to the sky, the flaming bowsprit of thePhoenix sank out of sight. CNC’s schooner was no more. There was a mournful hiss as the ocean extinguished the blazing wreck. Suddenly, all light was gone, save for the few patches of burning gasoline.
    Luke picked up the plank and began paddling toward the spot where the girl had entered the water. “Charla!”
    “I hope she knows to splash around and make noise,” Ian said. “Style counts for nothing when you’re being rescued.”
    They made their way through the gloom, bellowing her name.
    “Over here!” She was plowing through the waves in a textbook freestyle.
    Luke had to smile. “Maybe we can tie her to the raft and she’ll tow us home.”
    The light mood didn’t last long. As they heaved Charla on board, the cabin top overbalanced, flipping them all into the water. Several more tries gave the same result.
    “It’s too much weight!” Ion shouted, treading water. “This thing won’t hold more than three of us!”
    “What are we supposed to do?” asked Charla, her voice shrill with panic. “Go eeny-meeny, and the loser drowns?”
    “Nobody’s going to drown!” panted Luke. “You three climb on; I’ll hang off the side!”
    Charla was aghast. “Are you crazy? You’re shark bait!”
    “We’ll switch every few hours,” Luke decided. “It’s only going to get more crowded when we find the others.” He cupped his hands to his mouth. “LyssalJJ.!”
    But his calls went unanswered. And when the last of the gasoline had burned itself out, the cabin top bobbed and rolled in a silent world of limitless black.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    Tuesday, July 18, 0700 hours
    Morning found the makeshift raft still adrift in the middle of nowhere. Luke, Will, and Ian slept the sleep of the exhausted side by side on the tight cabin top. Only Charla, who hung in the water, was awake. She scanned the dawn-gray waves, hoping against hope for some sign of Lyssa and J.J.
    Nothing. Less than nothing. No debris from thePhoenix — not even a toothpick.
    She checked lan’sNational GeographicExplorer watch — a cheap mail-order thing, but hey, it