The rest of her reply died on her lips as the sound of an engine split the peaceful silence around her. She raised her gaze to the sky, where a plane approached. Aircrafts weren’t unheard of over their small island, but since the modest airstrip on the big island sat on the opposite side, most planes rarely traveled in this direction. And when they did, they were much higher than this one.
From the plane came a haunting click click click—a sound Cameron had hoped to never hear again. Suddenly, a face flashed into her mind. The same face she’d seen in her dream just hours before—that of the young, helpless boy who’d stared at her from across a jungle with regret and fear in his eyes before fire erupted between them.
Her heart lurched into her throat, keeping the scream bubbling inside her from escaping. As she swung her gaze from the plane to her friends’ boat, fear grabbed hold of her with talon-like fingers.
“Esme,” she screamed fruitlessly. Her voice couldn’t compete with the sudden explosion overhead.
The plane blew apart, sending metal and flames shooting through the air. Cameron stood, frozen, as a tire flew past her. Pieces of the plane’s body dropped into the sea. A small wave swelled, coming toward where she stood rooted in the sand.
“Move,” her brain screamed. But she couldn’t stop watching.
Finally, her body responded, and she turned and sprinted toward the rocks. Water licked at her heels, then rose to her calves. Fear gripped her, trying to keep her immobile as the water splashed against her legs. Until she’d moved to this island, she’d avoided the ocean at all costs. She didn’t trust any of the elements. How could anyone trust anything so powerful and unpredictable? But, as she’d learned in Africa, avoidance didn’t equal safety. Her back still bore the scars of the fire that had ravaged her body and left her womb empty. Shaking away the fear clawing at her, she pushed forward. Above her, the tops of palm trees burned. Their limbs crackled with flames. Once she reached the rocks, she climbed atop the nearest one and looked over her shoulder. Debris filled the water that only moments before had been tranquil. Now, fire burned on the surface as gas and oil leaked from the plane. She recognized the sinking and burning pieces of wood amongst the plane’s remains as Brodie’s boat, Kè Mwen. My Heart.
Tears stung her eyes. Her vision blurred. “Esme,” she screamed. “Brodie.” A sob cut her off before she could call for little Vea, and a tight fist squeezed her heart. Closing her eyes against the pain, she pictured Esme’s smiling face as Brodie cast his net. Please, God, don’t make their babies orphans.
Footsteps pounded over the ground behind her.
“What the hell happened here?” Edmund, a fisherman like most men on the island, ran toward her.
Lifting a useless hand, she pointed to the burning wreckage. “A plane. It just . . . it exploded.”
Edmund’s brother, Pauler and the island’s mami, Luci joined them, their wide eyes scanning the water.
“Do you see the Huntes?” she asked the group. “They were just there and . . .” She couldn’t voice her fears. From the looks of the plane, likely no one on board had survived. Hopefully, her friends hadn’t suffered the same fate.
“No, I don’t see them,” Pauler answered.
“Were they here?” Luci asked.
Cameron nodded, pointing to the burning wreckage.
“Dios Mio,” Luci muttered.
“We have to get to them. If there’s any chance—”
“Mami. Papi.”
Cameron’s breath ceased at the desperate cry from the wreckage.
“Mami.”
“Vea,” she whispered. Then louder, “Vea. Where are you?”
“Mami.” The baby’s terrified scream broke over the water.
“I don’t see her,” Pauler murmured, running toward the water’s edge. “Where is she?”
Everything inside Cameron urged her to enter the water and search for the frightened baby, but where was her own daughter? Ara must be so frightened right now. Luckily, the girl and her dog had been playing in the boulders, searching for the mermaid caves her father had convinced her housed the mythical creatures, not in the water like Vea. Although Cameron’s mother’s heart screamed for her to find her daughter, she couldn’t ignore the fact that Ara was likely hiding in the caves, and although scared, not in immediate danger.
“Mami.” Vea’s calls were becoming more frantic.
If anything happened to her friend’s child in the water, Cameron could never live with herself. She turned to the older woman standing beside her. “Luci, find Arabella. Please. She’s probably hiding in the rocks with Creek, afraid of the explosion.” And the fire burning the tops of the surrounding trees. “Find her and stay with her. Please.” Her voice broke and tears filled her eyes at the thought of her baby frightened and cowering.
The older woman nodded. “Of course,” she whispered. “I’ll look after her as my own.”
Cameron gave the woman’s hand a reassuring squeeze, then grabbed her board and, fighting back the fear threatening to drown her faster than the ocean, dashed into the water.
Standing on her board, Cameron searched the now murky sea for Vea and her parents.
“Mami,” the girl cried to Cameron’s left.
Before Cameron could open her mouth to answer Vea, Esme’s strained voice cut through the distance. “Vea. Baby. Can you hear me?”
Emotion clogged Cameron’s chest at the desperation in her friend’s voice.
“Come to me, baby,” Esme directed. Oh no. If Esme needed Vea to come to her, that meant she couldn’t get to her daughter.
“Vea. I’m coming,” Cameron called. “Yell for me, sweetie.”
“Doc, find her, please.” Esme’s voice grew fainter, sending fear into Cameron’s heart.
“Vea?”
“Doc C,” the girl’s tiny voice called to her.
Sticking her paddle into the now churning ocean to stop her board, Cameron changed directions and headed toward the toddler’s voice. As her paddle sliced through the water, she spotted the girl, wearing a bright pink life jacket, bobbing amid the debris. The fist constricting her heart loosened slightly.
“Vea, I’m coming. Hold on.”
The girl paddled around to face Cameron, her dark eyes, so much like her father’s, grew wide when she spotted Cameron on her board. When her little face went slack with relief, tears Cameron thought she’d forced back resurfaced.
The girl sighed. “Doc C.”
Ignoring the fear bubbling in her chest, Cameron paddled harder. If she could just get the girl to safety, she could come back for her parents. As she reached the girl, she butted her board against a wooden crate bobbing in the water, then went to her knees to help Vea up. Movement from the other side of the crate caught her attention. Keeping one eye on whatever moved through the water, Cameron snagged the girl’s lifejacket and hauled her onto the board. Before she stood to paddle back, she focused on the area where she’d seen movement. A body floated face down in the water. Dark hair surrounded the head like a halo. Cameron closed her eyes and her heart kicked in her chest, plummeting to her stomach as she pictured Esme smiling at her from the boat, her dark hair billowing behind her. But she’d heard Esme calling for Vea; this couldn’t be her. Forcing her eyes open, she realized the body floating in the water wore a red spaghetti strap top. Esme had been wearing an orange sleeveless dress with a flowing skirt. The body wasn’t her friend. But she belonged to someone.
Shaking herself into action, Cameron pointed to the handles on the front of her board. “Hold on to these. I’ll get you back to the beach.”
Doing as instructed, Vea clutched the handles, then turned her face to Cameron. “Mami? Papi?”
Lies didn’t come easily to Cameron. At least they hadn’t before she moved to the island. She wanted to tell Vea everything would be okay, but she couldn’t make her mouth form the words.
“I’m going to get you back and go get them,” she promised instead.
She just hoped she found them alive.