Page 47 of Dearly Departed

I whip around to see what’s making the noise, but it stops. I can’t see anything moving but some swaying branches and leaves.

Fast footsteps patpatpatpatpat out of time with the rain, getting closer.

I can’t hold my breath—can’t stop panting—so I freeze instead.

A second break in the rain, and the footsteps pause⁠—

And run in the opposite direction, the way I come.

I’ve just turned to keep climbing when a similar rustling sound rushes through the leaves above me.

I tilt my head back—what’s doing that?—and all the leaves that form the canopy are fluttering in the breeze. It feels like I’m looking up at the surface of the water from underneath. The breeze strengthens, becoming wind. It whistles like a flute, and then⁠—

It’s day.

The clouds blow away, and the sun is up. I missed the start of the sunrise.

Now it’s here, and Jacob’s waiting.

The wind stops as suddenly as it started, the rain stopping with it. Droplets fall lazily from the leaves. After so many hours of downpour, my ears don’t know what to do with the silence. I keep moving through it, my thighs burning, my breath shallow, checking the compass every few feet.

Boulder.

Climb.

Boulder.

Climb.

And there it is.

The ladder. The radio tower. It’s just there, metal gleaming in the light, on the highest spot on the island.

Nowhere else looks higher from here.

I stare for a minute.

The tower is part of a tree. Its metal structure hugs the trunk and the branches. The top of the tower rises a few feet above the highest branch on the tree.

More camouflage.

I did it. I found it. It’s not a ladder.

I want to sprint back down to Jacob.

Instead, I follow the plan.

Booklet. Radio. Black box. When I flip a switch on the black box, a red light turns on that didn’t before.

I turn on the walkie-talkie.

The static is the same as it was before.

Until a voice breaks through. A voice. Another voice? Someone chatting. They’re too faint for me to make out the words, but those are voices. Those are people. We have a chance.

I sit down on the ground. My ass is already wet from the rain, and I don’t care. I flip open the booklet to the horoscope page, find the first channel, and hold down the button.

“Aries.” Is this the right protocol or whatever? Too bad if it’s not. “I don’t know if anyone can hear this, but I found your radio, and I need help. My husband and I are on the island where you left the book and the radio. The word next to your name is shield. I—” I release the button. More static. Faint, crackling voices. “I’m looking for Aries, and the word next to Aries is shield. I’m going to try the rest of the signs now.”