The Extinction Trials(34)

“That wasn’t part of the plan.”

“There was no use planning it. One of us had to take the risk. Talking about it would have just added more stress and worry. I did it. It’s done.”

“This discussion isn’t about what’s done. It’s about next time. Next time, we talk about any potentially fatal, unexpected moves. Agreed?”

He smiled. “Sure.”

“I’m not feeling convinced.”

“Look, in my line of work, doing deadly things that you know need to be done—without talking it over with your team—is pretty common.”

“Well, your job is gone. According to Bryce, so is the world we knew. So, let’s make some new rules.”

He laughed. “All right.”

“All right.”





The boat, for all its mechanical problems, was quite advanced. After they had entered the GPS coordinates, it charted a course and managed its speed based on the amount of power the batteries held (and could collect via the solar panels in a given day).

The ship even had a subscription to satellite data that included weather. But none of the information would download. Owen wondered if the weather satellites were even still up there. Thankfully, the GPS satellites were.

When the sun had set, weariness seemed to settle on the group. With the danger of the island behind them, the adrenaline was fading, fatigue taking its place.

There was some discussion about the sleeping arrangements, but they came to a quick resolution when Alister held his hands up. “Look. We all know it. I snore. I snore loudly. You heard it back at the station. Which of you want to sleep in a room with that?”

No one said a word, and Blair drifted closer to Maya, placing her small hand in hers. Maya pulled the girl closer to her. Owen wondered if Maya had kids of her own. She seemed to be a natural at it. He wondered if he was too. He had always imagined himself having children, but it had never happened. He’d never met the right person. In a way, work had always been his first love. Until recently.

After Alister’s speech, they settled on sleeping assignments. He got the loud room at the bow, where the waves crashed, and there was a single bed that suited him well.

Owen and Will took the room with two narrow beds. Maya, Cara, and Blair took the largest room, with the wide bed and a daybed beside it and a large bathroom.

They made a watch schedule for the night, with Alister taking the first shift, Will taking the second, and Owen taking the third and final before sunrise.

It had been a long day, but Owen still felt the urge to open the book—The Birthright—and read before bed. It was like gravity drawing him in.

Will, on the other hand, laid on his narrow bed, closed his eyes, and his breathing slowed almost instantly. Owen watched him, wondering if his reading light would bother—or wake—the younger man, but he didn’t stir. He had had a long day. He was out cold.

The door slowly opened, revealing Maya’s face peeking in.

She smiled. “Good night.”

And then she was gone.





Chapter Twenty-Nine





Maya had expected to have trouble getting to sleep. The boat rocked as it powered toward the GPS coordinates, the motion almost as bad as the noise of the waves in the bedroom she shared with Cara and Blair.

To Maya’s surprise, sleep came almost unbidden, moments after she laid down. She slept deeply, the sort of rest that came only with the absence of worry—a sleep born of relief, from the weight of their troubles on the island lifted away.

She awoke on the edge of the bed. Blair had fallen asleep on the other side of the bed, and somewhere in the night, she had moved closer to Maya, and closer still, wedging herself in, pushing as she snuggled.

Maya placed a pillow where her body had been, gently set Blair’s arm around it, and crept out of the bedroom and up to the main deck.

The sunrise was a dim haze on the horizon, and Owen stood watching it, a small smile on his face.

“How’d you sleep?” he asked, his tone cheerful.

“Not bad, actually.” She studied him. “Oh no. You’re a morning person.”

He laughed. “I sort of am.”

“That’s terrible.”

“I take it you are too?”

“Me and mornings don’t get along.”

“Luckily, you have me here to keep the peace.” He held up a pre-packed meal with the ARC logo on it. “How does green goo sound for breakfast?”

“Exactly what I was about to order.”

They sat together at the banquette, watching the sunrise like two honeymooners on vacation, not a care in the world. It was, in Maya’s mind, a perfect moment. Serene. Effortless. If she could, she would have stayed in it forever.

But the horizon loomed, and with it, she hoped, answers—and safety.

“I was too tired to ask last night. How long to reach the GPS coordinates?”

“The ship’s nav system says about six days.”

“Do we have that much food?”

Owen grimaced. “Just about. We’ll have to stretch a bit, but I don’t think it will be a big deal.”

“It won’t be a big deal assuming we find more food at those coordinates.”

He nodded solemnly. “That’s true.”