Trapped in Stormy Seas: Sailing to Treasure Island
Missing He’s probably just off questioning Storm You know he doesn’t check in much He’s missing she repeated following him as he headed upstairs toward the fridge I checked Uncle Dan’s e-mail All of his contacts are looking for him That means they don’t know where he is So he’s missing Or busy Carter insisted He rooted in the fridge for a can of soda then settled gloomily for a juice box He might be roughing Storm up and he doesn’t want any witnesses You think Uncle Dan would hurt someone Carter paused His uncle was really more of a brains over brawn guy In fact he was tall but scrawny like Carter Maybe he mumbled Sure and he might secretly be a ninja Izzy said But he’s not You still don’t know that he’s missing Carter insisted stubbornly Uncle Dan has always been a little strange Maybe he just doesn’t want to be found Izzy shook her head her long blonde hair 8
falling like a curtain over her face There’s something wrong I can feel it Carter shrugged Izzy was starting to make him nervous What if something was wrong We could try calling him he suggested Isabelle opened her eyes wide On what He thinks cell phones are a government plot to spy on people He does Still he took one with him Carter folded his arms over his chest happy to be the one with secret information It was one of those disposables Just in case Izzy socked him in the arm Why didn’t you tell me that I’ve been scared to death Carter fought the urge to rub his sore arm It was a secret He gave me the number He told me to memorize it and eat the paper or something I’m not that good at the whole memorizing thing I wrote it inside my shoe Hold on He sat on the edge of one of his uncle’s kitchen stools and pulled off his shoe See 9
Isabelle grabbed the shoe and peered inside She wrinkled her nose but she didn’t make a single rude comment about the smell Carter realized she must really be worried if she passed up a cheap shot about his stinky feet It’s a little faded she said as she dug her cell phone out of her pocket But I can read it She punched buttons then she tossed the shoe back into Carter’s lap He watched her pull on her lower lip with her teeth as she waited for their uncle to answer Finally the call must have rolled over to voice mail She sighed and said Uncle Dan no one seems to know where you are We’re worried Can you call or e-mail or something Izzy stuffed the phone back in her pocket and walked to the fridge Carter heard her sniff as she rooted around pretending to look for a soda Try not to worry he said He felt a little panicky when he realized she might be crying again He’ll probably call you really soon 10
She nodded but didn’t turn around for another minute or two Carter wondered if you could get frostbite on your face from staring into the fridge like that Then she swiped at her eyes with one hand and grabbed a juice box with the other He was glad to see she wasn’t crying when she looked at him but her eyes did look redder You’re probably right she said her voice sounding funny He’s going to call soon As if in answer they heard the antique telephone ringtone that Izzy used for her cell phone She almost dropped her juice box as she hurried to pull out her phone It’s Uncle Dan’s number she yelped Uncle Dan Suddenly her face grew pale She pulled the phone away from her ear as if it had stung her She quickly hit the speakerphone button We’ve only met virtually so far a robotic sounding voice said but now we’re going to get to know each other much better As you 11
