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

We’d been sailing for less than a day, less than half a day most likely. We couldn’t have gone more than two hundred miles, so we’re looking at an island off the coast of…the Bahamas or Cuba, most likely. But…” He was thinking aloud again, not really talking to either of us as he mumbled and stammered along. “When we traveled and the sun had begun to set, I don’t remember it being behind us. I’m nearly positive it was to our right, so we were heading south. That narrows it down to either Cuba or a part of the Keys that remains uninhabited. There are some private islands around here, but most are owned by billionaires. I can’t see why this one would be sitting empty.”

“Unless it’s not empty,” Ava whispered, causing me to look at her.

“What do you mean?”

“What if it’s not empty, after all? What if there are others here?”

“You mean others who’ve been kidnapped?” Harry asked. “Or our kidnappers?”

“Either. Neither. Just…maybe there are others who live here. We haven’t seen every part of the island. Maybe the other side has houses or people…maybe even a town.”

Harry looked at me and one eyebrow shot up as if to say, she’s got a point.

“But if there are other people on the island, do you think they know we’re here?” I asked.

“They can’t,” Ava said quickly. “Right?”

“If they did, why would they just leave us out here to fend for ourselves?” I agreed, touching her arm gently. Harry looked toward the horizon.

“If there are others, we’ll need to figure out where they might be. Even if there aren’t, I think trying to get somewhere higher, somewhere where we can get a better sense of the island would be helpful. We can find out if there are structures, waterfalls, mountains, places for shelter, places to find food. As it stands, we don’t know anything about this space. If it’s big or small, even. If we can find a stream, or a waterfall, we’ll find fresh water, but also plants and animals for food, too.”

“How do you know so much about this?” I asked, narrowing my gaze quizzically at him. “Not just about the waterfalls, but about how far we traveled and what direction? And about what we should be doing? You said you read a lot of survival books. Are you some type of…adventurer?” I said the word, well aware of how bizarre it sounded. It wasn’t as if that were an actual job title, was it?

He gave me a patronizing grin, but there was nothing cold in his gaze. In fact, he almost seemed embarrassed. “No,” he said, shoving his glasses up over the hump on his nose. “Not at all. I just read a lot. I like to know things.”

“What’s the capital of Mumbai?” Ava challenged, crossing her arms.

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked.

“You really expect us to believe that you just happen to know all the things that will help save us here? How do we know you’re not involved in it all?” She jutted a finger in his direction.

I looked at her, then at him. Despite the truth in her words, I did trust Harry. But was I wrong to trust? It did strike me as odd that he knew so much about our surroundings and next steps.

He looked at me, his brow furrowed as he waited for me to come to his rescue, but when I didn’t, he sighed. “It’s a trick question. Nothing is the capital of Mumbai. Mumbai is actually the capital of Maharashtra. It’s also India’s biggest city. And a lovely one. My husband and I went a few years ago.” He tucked a hand in his pocket, waiting for us to respond. When I looked at Ava, her jaw was slack.

“Well?” I prompted. “Is he right?”

“How should I know?” she asked. “I was just throwing out a random question.”

“You didn’t even know the answer?” I scoffed, shaking my head.

“Well, what was I supposed to ask him? The capital of freakin’...Kentucky? I wanted to give him something everyone doesn’t know.”

“What is the capital of Kentucky?” Harry challenged her with a laugh, his head cocked to the side.

“Lexington,” she said. “No, Louisville.”

“Frankfort,” he corrected. “Now, if we’re done with that… Can we move on?”

I nodded, unofficially having been made the middleman in their argument. “So, where should we go?”

Harry looked up to where James was still working diligently on the fire, knocking over pieces of wood and struggling to keep them standing as he went.

“We should start a desalination system because we’re all going to start dehydrating soon, and then we should go and search for water, because no matter how quickly we’re able to produce clean water, without pots or pans or bottles to store anything, it’ll never be enough.” With a grim expression, he turned away from us and began walking back in the direction we’d come from, back toward the rock that had provided us with shelter the night before.

When we arrived, we stopped, Harry’s arms held back to keep us from moving forward.

“What is it—” Ava started to ask, but cut herself off when she saw what we were both staring at.

A small piece of bright orange paper lay folded on the forest ground, a heavy stone on its corner to keep it from moving. Harry looked at me, and I looked at Ava.

“Should we open it?” he asked.

I nodded, moving forward just an inch. “Maybe it’s from Noah. Maybe he came back and couldn’t find us. Maybe he found food and is telling us where to come.” Even as I said it, I knew it was untrue. Noah didn’t have paper, or the pencil that someone had used to scribble the message we were now all staring at, the paper laying open in my hands. No, I doubted very much that this message had come from Noah. But, if not him, then who?

I read the message twice before looking at the others, the words refusing to make