Burned

28 WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST

Emily followed the stream of kids toward the stairs, her nostrils burning with smoke. Above her, emergency lights flashed. Kids were screaming about the strange explosion, laughing hysterically, or making nervous comparisons to Titanic. And even though they’d attended a safety meeting the very first day on the boat, no one seemed to remember where their lifeboat stations were.

“Everyone!” Jeremy yelled over the loudspeaker. “If we get separated, please remember to meet us at the Royal Arms Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda.”

Jeremy repeated the message three times more. As Emily waited to go down the stairs, she glanced at the sky. A plane zoomed overhead, coming from the Bermuda airport, which was now a ten-minute boat trip away. Was it the plane she and Jordan were supposed to be on? She pictured the people sitting in their seats, the stewardesses cruising up the aisles, the smell of fresh-brewed coffee wafting through the cabin—and the two unoccupied seats meant for her and Jordan.

The line moved up a little, and a few more kids made it through the stairwell door. A girl in front of Emily with cornrows in her hair nudged her friend. “I heard terrorists blew up the cafeteria.”

“No, these two guys who were in the talent show did it,” her friend replied knowingly. “They knew their act sucked, so they decided to bomb the place and steal the Vespa.”

“You’re making that up.” Cornrows rolled her eyes.

“Maybe it was that girl who jumped overboard earlier,” another voice said. “Maybe this was revenge for whoever ratted her out to the Feds.”

“That’s crazy.” Someone sounded annoyed. “That girl never came up for air. She’s dead.”

“Can you believe she was on this ship the whole time? Who do you think turned her in?”

Stop talking about her! Emily wanted to scream. It was like Jordan was an infamous celebrity, someone weird and unknowable. She likes a lot of milk in her coffee, she thought. She’s fearless. She’s the most amazing girl I’ve ever met.

She shut her eyes and considered Jordan’s body sinking down, down, down, to the depths of the bay, just like Tabitha’s had. She wanted to strangle A with her bare hands. Why couldn’t A have just let them go? Why did A have to ruin Every. Single. Thing?

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Aria was on the stairs behind her, dressed in a bikini and her grass hula skirt and drenched in sweat. Hanna and Spencer were there, too, dressed normally but looking hysterical.

“What’s going on?” Emily asked.

Aria glanced back and forth at all the kids on the stairs, then dragged Emily onto the landing, which was cool, dark, and empty. Kids swarmed past, but no one seemed to notice they were there.

“Look.” Aria fished the round gold locket she’d been wearing all week out of her pocket and dangled it under Emily’s nose. The two halves of the pendant splayed open. Emily squinted at the two girls in the picture inside. One of the girls was Ali. When she realized who the other one was, she stepped away, confused.

“Is that Tabitha?” she whispered.

“This was her necklace,” Aria said. “Noel found it on the beach, but I checked the pictures of Tabitha online, and it was definitely hers.”

Spencer shook her head, stunned. “I bet Naomi planted it for Noel to find and give to Aria.”

“Or maybe Graham did,” Aria said, still breathing hard. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. “I was wrong about him, guys. He stared right at the necklace like he knew what it was, and then gave me this look like he knew everything I’d done. I ran from him and shut myself in the boiler room, but he screamed at me through the door. I screamed out an apology for what we did to Tabitha, but it didn’t make him stop. He said he was watching me, and he mentioned a picture. I think he was the one who set off the bomb, too. He mentioned gunpowder once when we were talking—he would have known how to make an explosion.”

Spencer clapped a hand over her mouth. “You could have been killed!”

“I know.” Aria swallowed hard.

Emily trembled. “What picture do you think he was talking about?”

“I don’t know,” Aria said. “Maybe the one of Tabitha on the beach. I think he’s the one working with Naomi.”

“Oh my God.” Spencer sank onto a stair, looking woozy.

“But why would Naomi—or Graham, or whoever—plant that necklace for Noel to give to Aria?” Hanna asked.

“It proves we killed Tabitha,” Spencer said, leaning closer so that a bunch of boys clamoring down the stairs wouldn’t hear. “It connects us to her and that night. A is trying to build an airtight case.”

Emily wilted against the wall. “I don’t get it. Why would A need to build even more of a case on us? A—both of them—have the pictures. One of the As saw us. And we did do it. Why does A need to gather extra evidence?”

Spencer shrugged, the emergency light flashing red across her face. “I don’t know. But the FBI is nearby, looking for that girl who jumped overboard.” She glanced at Emily when she said this, then looked away. “This would be a perfect time to tell. We could be arrested within hours, especially if we have this necklace on us.”

Hanna looked at Aria. “Where is Graham now?”

Aria tapped her nails against the railing. “I’m not sure. He disappeared after the explosion.”

Spencer frowned. “That’s strange, don’t you think?”

Aria shrugged. “I’m glad he’s gone. I was afraid he was going to jump out and hurt me.”

“That would make the most sense, don’t you think?” Spencer hugged her knees. “I mean, I’m glad you’re safe, but why wasn’t he waiting for you after the bomb went off? Why did he leave?”

Emily thought for a moment, absently watching as more kids streamed down the stairs. “Maybe he miscalculated where he set off the bomb, and he had to run from it so he didn’t get hurt himself.”

“Or what if Graham wasn’t sure it was us on the roof that night?” Hanna asked, pausing to cough. “Even those pictures of us are pretty blurry. But maybe when you ran from him, Aria, he got his proof. Maybe he and Naomi are going to tell the cops.”

Spencer used the railing to hoist herself to standing. “The necklace will definitely connect us to the crime. The cops will think we tore it off Tabitha that night.”

Hanna nodded. “We have to ditch this necklace now. We don’t need anything connecting us to Tabitha—especially with the FBI here.”

“You should have gotten rid of it as soon as you realized what it was,” Emily said to Aria. “Why didn’t you throw it overboard?”

Aria looked dazed. The fluorescent light in the stairwell made her already-pale skin look even ghostlier. “I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.”

“It’s good you didn’t throw it overboard,” Hanna said forcefully. “There are a zillion cops dredging the harbor. One of them could have found it. All sorts of people saw you wearing it, Aria—they’d connect it to you in a heartbeat, and then A would make sure that they linked it to Tabitha, too. We need to throw this thing away for good so that it doesn’t come back to haunt us. We should weigh it down with something so that no one ever finds it.”

There was a screech of feedback through the speakers, and the girls looked up. Jeremy breathed into the microphone. “Once again, that’s the Royal Arms Hotel. We’re sending an e-mail out to everyone in case you forget.”

“I have an idea,” Spencer said after the announcement clicked off. “There’s a diving cove not far from here—my diving group went out near it this afternoon. Apparently it’s really deep. What if we took one of the life rafts and headed for it? We could swim to the bottom and bury the necklace under the coral.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “But we’re not all assigned to the same life raft. And usually there are more than just four people to a raft, right? What if we jeopardize someone’s safety?”

Spencer shrugged. “Have you seen how many life rafts there are on this ship? There are enough to go around.”

“Actually, it’s true,” Hanna said thoughtfully. “Some of the data-entry I dealt with in the admin office mentioned this ship’s capacity and how many kids were on it now. It might seem like there are a million of us on board, but they usually cram about a hundred more people on this boat for normal cruises.”

Aria swallowed hard. “Spencer, I don’t know how to swim.”

“I do,” Spencer reminded her. “I’m scuba-certified. I’ll bury it. You don’t even have to get off the raft.”

“What about when we’re done?” Aria asked. “We’ll be out in the middle of the ocean. How will we find the others?”

Spencer didn’t look worried. “You heard the announcements—we’re meeting up at the Royal Arms Hotel in Hamilton. We’ll be able to get there.”

Hanna picked at the flaky paint on the wall. “It might be dangerous to take a boat out alone, especially to somewhere so secluded.”

Spencer waved the thought away. “I’ve been to Bermuda six times with my family. I know these waters.”

“I’m in,” Emily decided. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll do it,” Aria agreed finally. Everyone looked at Hanna, and she reluctantly shrugged.

They rejoined the masses of kids heading to the bottom deck, stopping at the scuba storage closet to grab a mask, a tank, and swim fins. The doors to the lifeboats had been thrown open, and the blue-black ocean and a brilliant sunset splayed out before them. Everyone was haphazardly climbing aboard the lifeboats, seemingly not paying much attention to their assignments. Friends sat with friends. Couples huddled together. Kids were still holding drinks from the talent show pre-party. Most were still dressed in their performance outfits, including Aria.

“Come on,” Spencer said, pointing to an empty lifeboat at the end of the corridor. Everyone ran for it, and they climbed aboard while the ship safety staff members were busy loading up the other boats. Emily held onto the boat’s rubber sides and stared at the choppy harbor in front of her. The shore looked miles away. An FBI boat bobbed in the waves to her left, sending a fizz through her stomach. Everyone strapped on life vests, which smelled faintly of mildew. When they’d safely nestled into the seats, Spencer pulled the chain to start the outboard motor.

Then, a hand grabbed Emily’s arm. “Room for one more?”

Emily turned and swallowed a gasp. On the ship’s deck, staring at her, was Naomi. “Um … ,” she squeaked, not moving over.

Naomi’s gaze darted from Emily to Spencer to Aria to Hanna. All of them looked just as shocked. The corners of her mouth turned down in a disgruntled frown. “Can I join you or not?” she asked sharply.

“Sorry, Naomi. There’s no room.” Hanna gripped Spencer’s arm. “Go!”

Spencer hit the gas and pulled away from the deck, nearly yanking Naomi into the water. Emily rubbed the spot on her arm that Naomi had touched. Her skin prickled.

“Hey!” Naomi called after them. “What the hell?”

“Don’t answer her,” Hanna said under her breath.

“Hey!” Naomi called again, watching as Spencer turned the boat away from the shore. “Where are you going? That’s the wrong way!”

Aria whimpered. Hanna looked like she was going to throw up. Emily’s heart thrummed jackrabbit-fast. Spencer’s jaw was set and hard as she steered toward the cove. In a minute, they had pulled so far away that they had a panoramic view of the entire ship. Tiny lifeboats peeled away from the hull. An alarm light blared on the top deck. Black smoke poured from the windows.

And then, Emily’s gaze returned to deck where the staff was organizing the remaining lifeboats. Naomi was still standing there, hands on hips, glaring. Emily watched her rigid figure until she got smaller and smaller, fainter and fainter, until she finally vanished into the growing darkness.