A Change of Plans (10 page)

Just like my brother had done a year ago.

J
ORI BECAME
my shadow. He was always nearby to help if things became awkward. When I went to the library, he came along to sketch, never bothering me, but always there in the background. In the morning self-defense sessions, Jori served as my new partner.

Braedon maintained a pleasant manner and continued to come to all the group activities. He only spoke to me if the situation required it, though I caught him watching me several times. His expression reminded me of someone trying to solve a puzzle without all the pieces.

Rehearsals were the most awkward. Braedon and I had to stand side by side at the electronic keyboard, playing the notes he had written for me. I couldn’t get the lovely music out of my mind. I caught myself humming it several times, the lingering descant haunting my dreams.

T
HE DAY
before we reached American Samoa, everyone gathered backstage after lunch for the performance. Elle gave us our costumes, comprised of an eclectic assortment of black formal attire and leather boots. All the costumes included decorative chains and spikey jewelry that looked suspiciously like they
might have been purchased at a pet store. She had worked on them in the evenings while I had been so self-absorbed.

Jimmy had arranged to have us perform last, after a parade of passenger acts that included everything from a little girl singing “Over the Rainbow” to an old man whistling the
William Tell Overture
through his dentures while doing percussion on his chest and thighs.

When our turn came, we took our places on stage behind the closed curtain. Jimmy got himself set up and glanced back at us to make sure we were ready.

With his right hand raised, he bowed his head for a few seconds before dropping his arm. As it fell, the curtain opened, and he lifted his head while shifting into the perfect metal rock star pose.

Springing forward, Jimmy cried, “Are. You. Ready?”

The crowd screamed their agreement. Drawn by the audience’s enthusiasm, more people came into the lounge.

Jimmy paced the stage like a caged animal before throwing his arms above his head, clapping his hands, and yelling, “What will you do?”

The lead guitarist began a complicated riff, and the audience got up and clapped with the beat.

At a signal from Jimmy, the drummer and the bass followed the guitarist. After a few measures, Braedon and I joined the song on the keyboard, and Jimmy began to sing. He dazzled them. It was like someone else inhabited his body, energy emanating from him.

Jimmy connected with the audience, and they loved him. He could feel it, and he seemed to draw even more energy from it. He hadn’t been quite like this in the practices. I understood it to a degree. Performing with an audience always made me
feel like I had become part of something bigger than myself. I forgot to be self-conscious.

By the end of the song, everyone in the audience who could stand was on their feet, cheering and screaming for an encore. Savvy Jimmy had prepared us for this possibility, and we had a second song ready.

At the end, I stared at my shaking hands. “Wow.”

Braedon watched as Jimmy bent down to talk with audience members who had rushed to the stage to meet him. “I think he’ll be famous someday.”

“I think you may be right.”

After congratulating Jimmy, Jori jumped up the stairs, hugged me, and then clapped Braedon on the back. “None of the practices prepared me for that. It was nothing short of amazing.” Jori eyed Jimmy. “I’ve got a friend who’s a promoter. I’m going to do everything I can to get Jimmy in to meet him.”

Applause greeted us as we entered the restaurant for our celebratory dinner. Jimmy accepted their acknowledgement with Maria on his arm, waving to the crowd.

The party continued on the sky deck where we finalized plans for our Pago Pago snorkeling trip the next morning. The entire group had signed up for it.

CHAPTER 10

J
ORI STRAIGHTENED
my face mask as he treaded water beside me. “You good?”

We played around in the water for a while before I felt ready to try snorkeling. “Yeah, I think so.” I pointed to one of the girls waving her arms at him. “You’d better hurry. I think she needs your help more than I do.”

After he left, I floated, swirling my hands and flippered feet in the water. I wanted to remember all the details: the comforting warmth of the crystalline water on my skin and the soft caress of the breeze as it ruffled a few strands of my hair. The small island with its pristine beach lay a short distance to one side, and the catamaran floated in the little bay on my other side.

The catamaran was a sweet little vessel, much smaller than the ones I had seen around Hawaii. It sat low on the water with two sections of trampoline made from white rope in the front. Unlike larger vessels, this one had only a simple canopy with no walls.

After a review of Jori’s instructions, I closed my lips over
the snorkeling mouthpiece. When I slipped my face into the water, I almost gasped. The view under the surface made it seem as though I had put on magical glasses that revealed a secret, chaotic world of multicolored fish glowing in the reflected light of the sun. As I kicked my fins, the fish flitted around but didn’t move too far away, a few tickling my legs when they came too close.

My right eye burned, and I lifted my head from the water and removed the mask. A small amount of seawater dripped from the interior, and I shook it out before putting the mask on again, adjusting it. As soon as I put my face back in the water, my right eye burned again. Groaning, I lifted my head and tried tightening the straps.

“Something wrong?” Braedon appeared at my side and took the mask from me.

It took all my control to maintain a level voice. “I keep getting water in my right eye. I can’t tell where it’s leaking.”

Braedon put the mask back on me and adjusted the straps, taking my jaw in his hand and gently twisting my chin back and forth, scrutinizing the fit.

At his touch, my cheeks flamed. I tried to keep my expression neutral as he examined my face. “Ah, I see the problem.” He tugged a small strand of hair from under the mask on the right side. “Your hair was letting the water get through. Give it a try now.”

I slid my face under the water again, kicking my feet to propel me forward. No stinging right eye. I looked up, treading water, and faced him. “That fixed it.”

“Did you see the shark?”

I jerked at the word, drawing my feet up and whipping my head from side to side.

Braedon chuckled. “It’s just a whitetip reef shark. They’re not dangerous and leave people alone. I’ll get a picture of it for you.” With a twist, he dove under the surface.

“Wait!” I tried to grab his arm to stop him, but he was already out of reach. With shaking hands, I slipped the mouthpiece in place. Through the mask, I could make out his form sliding through a kaleidoscope of fish that darted away from him, opening my field of vision to large rocks at the bottom. I blinked back dizziness at the sight of the fin that identified the small shark.

My mind envisioned the monster turning on him, and I went deeper. Too deep. Ocean water poured through the snorkel tube, and I inhaled the salty liquid. I launched back to the surface and ripped off the gear, choking and gasping for air.

Jori was beside me in a few strokes and helped keep me afloat while I hacked. By the time Braedon resurfaced, my coughing had lessened, but my throat was raw.

He tore off his headpiece and hurried over. “What happened?”

Chuckling, Jori shook his head. “She tried to go after you and nearly drowned herself.”

I tried to argue, but all I did was trigger a fit of coughing.

Jori patted me on the back like he would a baby. I elbowed him and wheezed, “You should have more ... respect ... for poor drowning women.”

Rubbing his ribs, he snickered. “Well, you’re back to normal.”

I gave him a crusty look, which only made him laugh harder. I was about to elbow him again when the catamaran crew called us back to the boat.

Jori rolled on his back, acting all dramatic with his hand
on his rib. “I owe you.” He twisted to his stomach and swam toward the catamaran.

Braedon scowled as I coughed again. “You’re okay to go back?”

Nodding, I stretched my hands toward the catamaran, still holding the face mask, and kicked my flippers. By the time I pulled myself up on the ladder, Jori had already turned in his equipment and stood next to Elle.

“What do you mean you owe me?” I tossed my gear in the box. “What did I do?”

Jori touched his rib, faking a grimace. “I owe you some payback.” He grinned and followed Elle to the main group under the canopy. She looked back at me with a quizzical face.

I sighed.

Braedon came up beside me. “You two act like siblings sometimes.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes he does remind me of my younger brother.”

As the captain started the engine, I moved toward the trampoline, sorry to see the crew had lashed the sail. No more wind sailing. I joined Jimmy and Maria—on the opposite end of the boat from Jori.

Braedon followed. “I got a decent picture of the shark.”

“We heard about that thing. Can we see?” Jimmy asked. He and Maria made room on the trampoline.

Braedon sat next to them, pulled his camera from its underwater case, and turned it on for the others to see.

After drying off, I slipped a cover-up over my tankini before lying on the netting. It had been a long morning, and my eyelids were heavy. We had one more island to visit, where we would have lunch and then head back to Pago Pago.

I barely noticed when Braedon reclined a couple of feet from me. I opened my eyes at the movement, catching him watching me. It must have been his peaceful gaze combined with my fatigue that kept me from searching for an excuse to move.

“Would you like to see the picture?”

I shivered and closed my eyes again. “I hate sharks.”

Jimmy exhaled. “I wish every day was like this.”

I peeked over where he and Maria lay cuddled on Braedon’s other side. “We might get tired of it if we did this every day.” I yawned.

“Nah. I wouldn’t.” His eyes closed, a contented grin growing up his cheeks.

I had just drifted to sleep when a loud crack jerked me awake. Braedon jumped up, lunging forward. Someone screamed.

CHAPTER 11

I
STRUGGLED ACROSS
the netting to the main deck, trying to make sense of the screaming and shouting around me. I jolted at another sharp crack—gunfire—and then there was only sobbing.

Jimmy and Braedon were the first off the trampoline, but they stopped, both raising their hands. Like in a movie. What was going on? I tried to look around Braedon. He threw out one of his hands, keeping me behind him.

A voice shouted for him to stop. Braedon’s hand froze. The voice barked for him to move. His shoulders rigid, Braedon hesitated before stepping aside. One of the crewmen stood before us with an AK-47 pointed at Braedon, his eyes on me. My stomach lurched, and the scene before me took on a surreal, nightmarish quality.

The Asian crewman glared at us, but his hands shook as they gripped the rifle. What if he squeezed the trigger by mistake? Fear tightened my chest, making it hard to breathe.

“Move down,” the other crewman bellowed, his rifle indicating the settee where everyone else huddled.

Maria gasped. The captain lay on the deck, dark blood pooling around his sprawled body. My stomach twisted with a wave of nausea, and I looked away, my hands shaking. This couldn’t be happening.

As we moved closer to the others, I caught Jori’s gaze across the settee. His eyes blazed. Elle cried into his chest while the others huddled away from the body. I shuddered.

“I’m a doctor.” Braedon pointed to the body. “May I examine him?”

The crewman-turned-pirate nearest us sneered, “You can toss him in the water.”

Braedon’s jaw muscles tensed, his eyes narrowing. “I’ll need help.”

“I’ll do it,” Jimmy offered, his fists clenched at his sides.