The Missing - Kiersten Modglin (the reading strategies book TXT) 📗

be blood sugar… Are you diabetic? We already asked you that, didn’t we?”

Ava dabbed her mouth, staying still for a few moments as if to make sure she wasn’t going to be sick again. Then, she shook her head. “No, I’m not diabetic,” she croaked out.

At Harry’s question, I remembered the day we’d gotten off the boat, how weak Ava had felt then. We’d asked her the same questions… That felt like a lifetime ago.

“You said you don’t have any illnesses, right? I’m not trying to pry, but if you’ve missed your medicine for a while, that could explain why you’re the only one who’s sick.”

“No, nothing like that. I’m healthy,” she said. “No medicine except a multivitamin I usually forget to take and melatonin to help me sleep.”

“Then what could it be?” James asked, resting his forehead against her temple. “She can’t travel like this.”

“James, I’m fine, I—”

“No,” I agreed. “He’s right. Harry, we can’t have her traipsing all around the island while she’s obviously sick. It could be any number of things: a parasite, dehydration, some weird tropical island sickness…”

“We have to get to the cliff,” Harry argued, his tone soft and understanding. “I hear what you’re saying, I really do. But it’s the only way to see what’s around us and figure out a way out of here. We have to go.”

“Then I’ll stay with her here. The rest of you can go,” James said.

“We shouldn’t split up,” Ava cried.

“We don’t have a choice. You can’t travel right now. We have to get you better first. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you. I’ll stay here with you, protect you, and they can come back and tell us what they’ve found.”

We all looked around, no one able to determine whether this was just a bad idea or a terrible one. Finally, Noah sighed, placing his hands on his knees and standing up.

“Well, that’s fine. Leave the real work for the adults, you two.” He clucked his tongue, stretching his arms over his head with a loud groan.

“You need to keep her hydrated,” Harry told James begrudgingly, obviously not crazy about the idea of splitting up. “Boil the water for several minutes and then let it cool before you give it to her. Wait right here. Don’t leave this area unless it’s an emergency. We’ll use the machetes to cut marks in the trees directing you to us. If you have to leave for any reason, follow that trail toward us.”

“Will do,” James agreed, his face solemn. I think we all felt like it might be the last time we saw each other.

Harry turned to me. “We should find some coconuts to take with us when we travel. Want to help me look?”

With that, we made our way toward the outskirts of the clearing while James comforted Ava, helping to ease her down next to the fire before he began filling the empty coconut halves.

Half an hour later, with coconuts and weapons loaded up, Noah, Harry, and I said our goodbyes and headed out into the woods, pointed toward the cliff in the rising, early morning sunlight.

We made our way through the tangled, strange woods in silence, as talking seemed to only make our throats drier. We spoke only when we needed to warn each other of fallen branches that may trip our step, or once, when we crossed paths with a snake slithering across the branch of a tree.

We stopped whenever anyone got too tired, which was often, and caught our breath, drinking from the coconuts sparingly.

As the cliff began to come into view, I felt a strange sense of urgency fill me. When Noah asked if anyone needed to stop for a break when we found the latest clearing, I was the first to decline, and Harry followed my lead. I just wanted to get there. This was the closest we’d been to figuring everything out, and I just wanted it to be over. I just wanted to understand what was happening, what was going on.

As we neared the bottom of the cliff, we stopped briefly, catching our breath. It was several stories high, the bottom framed with boulders of every size, and it jutted out away from the earth, straight on top, and nearly a forty-five-degree angle of a ledge where we could stand. It was covered in moss and ivy, the stone a dark gray that reminded me of pavement and made me crave home.

Once we started climbing, we’d have no shade from the blazing sun that was growing higher in the sky by the minute. Noah’s shoulders and chest were already red and blistering, Harry’s arms and face, too.

“Let’s leave the coconuts down here, and I’ll wear my sarong, that way you can have your shirt back.” I started to pull it over my head.

“No, we might need those up there, especially in the sun.”

“We could carry them,” I offered.

“I don’t need my shirt back, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m going to burn anyway. May as well get it over with.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

Whether or not he was, he didn’t say. Instead, he placed his foot on a small boulder, hoisting himself up and turning around to take my hand. I did the same for Harry, and we continued the pattern, finding our footing one by one and then helping the others to find theirs.

Finally, when my muscles burned, my body trembling so hard I was sure I was going to collapse at any moment, when the sun felt as if it had baked my skin, we reached the top of the cliff. I collapsed on the warm rock with a loud groan before I’d taken the time to look over my surroundings. I was too tired. I didn’t even want to think about how much harder the trip down may be.

“We’re so high up,” Noah said, standing just in front of me, his hands resting on his hips. His chest glistened with sweat, rising and falling with heavy