The Missing by Kiersten Modglin (essential books to read txt) 📕

seat and it was free.” She twisted one of her kinky curls around her finger. “I know it was stupid, but he thought I was twenty-one, and I just played along. I didn’t think there would be any harm done. My parents are going to kill me…”

I reached out again, gripping her hand. “I’m sure they’re just worried sick about you, sweetheart.”

She bit her lip, looking unconvinced. “I just want to go home.” With that, she leaned her head on her knees and began sobbing quietly, leaving me alone with my thoughts as I mindlessly rubbed her back.

According to Ava, the same thing that had happened to me, had also happened to her. Someone had offered her a ride on the boat for free, claiming they had just one extra seat…

I’d begun to suspect this when we were all introducing ourselves earlier and I realized no one that had been on the boat knew each other, but I didn’t want to believe it. Because if they’d invited each of us on the boat, it would mean their actions were at least somewhat calculated. I wouldn’t tell Ava my biggest fear, which was that we were being trafficked somehow, that we were having to wait for the person or people who had bought us to arrive.

Of course, my mind had always wandered to the darkest crevices of possibility. While most people try to see the positive, without my conscious effort—when faced with a situation—my mind has always gone down the rabbit hole of deception and despair.

So, I sat with my thoughts, wondering how we were going to get ourselves out of the mess we were currently in. Wondering how much time we had.

The rule of threes I knew: we could survive three minutes without oxygen, three hours without shelter from harsh weather, three days without water, three weeks without food. Which meant water and somewhere to hide would need to be our top priorities. Maybe after weapons. Could we somehow fashion the sticks James had collected into spears? I doubted it. We might be able to find sharp rocks or shells, but our time and resources were limited, which I assumed they knew, as they’d dropped us off without anything.

Which made me think they had to be coming for us soon.

If we’d been trafficked or kidnapped for ransom, they’d want us alive, wouldn’t they? Would they ask my husband to give some sort of ransom money? Had we all come from wealthy families who could do the same?

“What about you?” I heard Ava ask, though I was so deep in thought it took me a moment to realize she was talking to me.

“Hm?” I looked over at her, the moonlight reflecting on her still-damp cheeks.

“Who’s out there looking for you?”

I thought about my husband. By then, he had to have realized I was missing. Even if he’d never come looking for me, when I hadn’t returned that night, he’d have begun to worry. Right? I had to believe he had. I knew how easy it was for him to get lost in his work, distracted, almost buried by it, but surely… Yes, I forced the nagging worry from my mind. He wouldn’t leave me stranded. He would notice my absence. He wasn’t heartless, even if he was busy. If his wife didn’t come home, he would notice.

I made myself believe it with increasing ferocity. He’d probably called my cell a few dozen times by then. Had he called the police? Sent out a search party? Was my face plastered across news channels? I knew it was likely that they’d made him wait a few hours, maybe even a few days before they considered me officially missing, before they’d take any action…

Would that be too late? Would we be long gone? Swept away to some far corner of the world?

Surely someone had to have seen the boat I left on. I’d told the waiter where I was going. If anyone asked him, he would’ve told them. Then they’d send out search crews looking for the ship. We couldn’t be too far offshore, after all. It’d been less than half a day’s journey from the time we left to the time we arrived here. If the Coast Guard—or whoever did the searching—took the time, they’d find us. As long as they acted quickly.

“Sorry,” I answered her finally, noticing her worried stare. “My husband. My husband’s looking for me.”

She nodded slowly. “Was he vacationing with you? Why didn’t he come on the boat?”

“Because they told me there was only one seat. Same as they told you.” I left out the part about him being too busy to even come out of our suite. It didn’t matter anymore. I loved my husband, I missed him, and I needed him to find me.

Her eyes widened at the realization that we’d been told the same thing about a single remaining seat. “Really?”

“Mhm.”

“But what does that mean? Why would they have told us both the same thing?”

“I don’t know, Ava. I really don’t know about any of it…”

“If they wanted to hurt us, why would they have left us?”

I didn’t answer; just shook my head and drew in my lips. I wanted to comfort her, but I had no answers that would’ve made her feel any better. Nothing about what had happened made sense.

“When we change shifts, we need to ask the others if they were invited onto the boat, too. I can’t remember exactly, but I’m positive when the man invited me, he said that others had chartered the boat and they just had a free spot available. If that’s not the case, if the five of us were each invited, it means they wanted us specifically. If that’s the case, we need to find out what we have in common.”

“What do you mean?” She hugged her knees tighter.

“There has to be a reason they targeted each of us. If we have something in common, and we can narrow down what that is, maybe we can determine