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Sarina whispered a word under her breath, and Suki felt a prickle of magic go down her arms. Suddenly, the magic of the kem äm was swirling around them in golden motes. But she hadn’t summoned it.
Her mother had.
“They won’t see us,” Sarina said calmingly. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GULF OF MEXICO
January 9
The magic of the kem äm had helped them escape the police in the parking lot just before moonset. They’d slipped away without being noticed by the officers, and Brenda had ushered them onto the boat and then the boat into the harbor.
It was the first cruise Suki had been on actually. She didn’t much like boats, and if it hadn’t been necessary for their escape, she would have happily avoided it. But the leftover seafood ceviche—that was awesome.
The sun was nice and warm, but the constant wind from the forward motion of the boat and the choppiness of the water made it impossible to get comfortable. They’d passed by Cuba, which Brenda had pointed out to them, and were getting close to the coast of Florida. Brenda had taken tourists to Cuba before, but never so far as Florida. As long as they kept in the direction they were heading, they’d make it to one of the western ports—like Fort Myers, Naples, or Everglades City. From there, they’d try to contact Dad or Uncle Steve to let them know where they were.
Suki felt a lightness she hadn’t thought herself capable of anymore. It was so comforting having her mom back. They talked for hours, no longer having to worry about being caught or overheard. Jane Louise had fallen asleep first, and Suki’s mom had eventually drifted off too. Suki couldn’t sleep. She grabbed a can of Pepsi from the cooler, cracked it open, and took a long drink from it, staring off into the distance. Earlier that morning, some dolphins had started jumping from the waves behind them. That had been pretty sweet. They’d been on the boat for so long, Suki had lost track of time.
“I thought this might happen,” Brenda said, her normally cheerful tone sounding more worried. “You the only one awake, Suki?”
“I think so,” Suki replied, then glanced over and saw her mom was still asleep, with Jane Louise nestled against her side. “Yup. What’s up?”
“A US Coast Guard ship is heading for us,” Brenda said. “They’re bigger and faster. Wake up your mom.”
Suki set down the soda can and then walked crookedly over to Sarina and shook her shoulder.
“Mom, wake up.”
Sarina’s eyes blinked open. “Are we almost there?”
“There’s a coast guard ship heading our way.”
Jane Louise sat up, rubbing her eyes.
Sarina looked exhausted still. She squinted at Brenda, who pointed to their right. Suki glanced over and finally took notice of it. It was a large white ship, about five times bigger than theirs, with a red stripe at an angle from the front. A metal tower at the top had radar equipment.
“How far are we from Florida?” Sarina asked.
“Couple of hours still,” Brenda answered. “I was hoping we could slip past, but we weren’t lucky. They’ll reach us in thirty minutes or less.”
“That’s not a lot of time,” Suki said.
“No, it’s not,” Sarina agreed. “Will you get in trouble?”
“I don’t think so. They’re going to ask a lot of questions, but the three of you are American, so it’s not the same as if you were refugees.”
“We don’t have any ID,” Sarina said. “But it shouldn’t be hard to prove our identities. The problem is alerting the wrong people to where we are.”
“Yeah,” Suki agreed. “Like Dad’s friend Moretti.” Of course she’d told her mother the whole story about him turning her over to Calakmul.
“Exactly. Brenda, you’ve done enough. Let’s just make the story easy. You found us adrift and picked us up and were taking us to the nearest port, hoping the coast guard would find us.”
“Are we going for a Gilligan’s Island vibe, Mom?” Suki asked with a grin.
“Not really, but that’s funny. Hopefully their port is in Florida.”
“It has to be,” Brenda said. “They patrol the Gulf of Mexico all the time. But they probably won’t believe that story.”
