Page 139 (1/1)

He kicked her a third time Samantha screamed in pain She probably had some cracked ribs that would need another dose of fountain water to cure While her instincts told her to get back to her feet, the pain was too ht it

"See you around, kid" She braced for another kick, but he only walked away

Sa to breathe By the tiado had untied the boat The waves began carrying it away from the beach He waded into the water after it He'd left so the side to use as a ladder to cli off of him Then he waved In that moment she wanted to believe he really was her uncle, that he really would coth to wave back or to chase after him She could only kneel in the sand and watch him leave without her

She watched as the boat drifted farther and farther back into the sea Mr Delgado disappeared froone until she heard the Lady Jane's as left, but perhaps that had been a lie too

It did at least have enough gas to turn the boat around In the e, guiding the boat out to sea "Come back," she whispered "Don't leave ht, she saw Wendell had been right The Lady Jane wasn't ready to sail yet At first she thought it was only an optical illusion that the boat was riding low in the water Soon, though she realized that wasn't the case The boat was sinking!

Samantha forced herself to her feet She kicked off her shoes and then took off her deniround too so they wouldn't slow her down Then she charged into the water Uncle Hector would drown if she didn't

As she began to paddle forward in the water, she saw the lights of the boat dip beneath the waves She could only hear the crash of the waves for aher name

She squinted in the darkness and saw hi in the water For thewas not one of them No matter how hard she clawed and kicked at the water, she couldn't get any closer