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The wind is howling.The ship is rocking—not rocking in a soothing way like it usually does at night, but huge, uneven rolls that almost toss me out of my bunk. Even so, it takes me a long time to wake. I have to force my eyes open against lids that feel glued shut.
I shriek when a cold hand touches my arm.
It’s Jude, his eyes huge in his small face. He sleeps on the top bunk, but he’s not on the top bunk right now, he’s crouching on the floor, wearing a coat over his pajamas.
“Remi…,” he whispers. “Something’s wrong, there’s water in the hall…”
Jude turns his head and gives a hacking cough into the crook of his arm. His hands are filthy, streaks of grease on his coat.
“Where’s Dad?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
When I open the door to our tiny room, water sloshes in the hallway. We climb the steep steps to the hatch and look out, but there’s no one on the deck, and the ship isn’t properly anchored—the wheel turns back and forth as the boat reels. Lightning cracks and rain pours sideways, lashing the sails to ribbons.
We’re practically hurled back down the steps; I have to catch Jude to stop him from falling, my shoulder joint screaming.
The water’s deeper in the hallway now, up to our ankles, and black smoke billows from the direction of the engine room.
“Get a life jacket!” I tell Jude, rifling through the cabinets. But then I see he’s already wearing one under his coat. I pull the life jacket over my own head instead.
We slosh down the hallway to our parents’ room. The door is locked. I knock and then hammer on it with the side of my fist. The seconds drag past with no answer as smoke pours down the hallway, making Jude cough worse than ever.
“DAD!” I bellow, hammering on the door. “MOM! DAD! Wake up!”
At last, after what feels like an eternity, our dad wrenches open the door with a splintering sound. Half the frame rips free, the tips of exposed nails pointing in all directions.
“Remi?” he mumbles.
His eyes look sleepy and dazed. He’s still holding the door handle, swaying with each roll of the ship.
“The boat’s sinking!” I shout. “The engine’s on fire, there’s water everywhere…”
He stares at me like he doesn’t understand what I’m saying. His eyes are dull, his expression confused.
“Something’s wrong with your mom,” he says at last, slow and slightly slurred. “She won’t wake up…”
The ship lurches and a wine bottle rolls across the floor behind my dad. He’s drunk, they both must be, that’s why he’s acting so stupid and slow…
“We have to get out of here!” I shout, trying to wake him up so he’ll be himself again, so he’ll take action and save us.
He stares between Jude and me, blinking slowly, so fucking painfully slowly. Then he gazes back at the bed, where I can see my mother’s hand hanging over the edge of the mattress, fingers tangled in her blonde hair.
The ship rolls the other way, throwing Jude and me against the wall and knocking my dad sideways into the door. This time it stays, tilted at a crazy angle, and more water rushes down the hall. Black smoke fills the air, making us hack and choke.
“DAD!” I scream.
He blinks again, shaking his head as if to clear it, but that only makes him more unsteady on his feet.
“Get—get Jude in the lifeboat,” he mumbles.
“But what about—“
“Get him in the boat.” He hangs on the door. “I’ll bring your mom.”
I don’t want to leave him there, but the water is rushing in, flooding down the hall, pouring into my parents’ room. The angle of the floor grows steeper. The hallway up to the hatch is like a ramp now.
