AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Papa and I make dinner together, as we always do. He cleans the fish because he knows I’m not too fond of that part, and I prepare the vegetables I harvested this morning. Lucius watches, hopeful of scraps. Meanwhile, Papa talks me through the duties I’ll take on tomorrow when he leaves for the mainland.
As the night goes on, he keeps remembering things to tell me—about the light, the weather, and the satellite phone. I nod receptively at all the information, though most of it I already know. I’m so closely acquainted with every inch of our island, the lighthouse, the tides, and the rainclouds… I couldn’t forget a single detail if I tried.
“Do you trust me, Papa?” I ask when we are seated across the table from each other.
He regards me with a furrowed brow. “Of course I do, Orca.”
“So you think I’m capable.”
Papa nods. “Very. I think you won’t have a problem with anything while I’m gone.”
The flicker of hope in my heart wanes a bit. I suppose I should be glad that Papa trusts me to manage things here on my own. But I wish he trusted me enough to go to the mainland with him.
That’s going to be the hardest part. Watching Papa journey to the Otherworld and leave me behind.
Watching from the lantern room.
As I’ve done all my life.
At least I have my new treasures from the sea to keep me company. That fascinating notebook full of strange handwriting.
Where did they come from?
I ask myself that question again and again. I know the sack belongs to a pilot named Adam Stevenson, but how did it come to be in the ocean? The more I think about it, the more anxious I become to solve the mystery.
“So,” Papa says, pulling me out of my thoughts, “you walked the beach earlier?”
I stop chewing to stare at him. “How did you know?”
Papa smiles softly. “Lucius’s paws.”
I look down at the mongrel napping on the floor. Sure enough, his legs are still damp and sandy—evidence of a seagull chase through the shallows.
“Yes,” I admit. “We thought we’d sneak away while you were out fishing.”
“And did you find anything interesting?”
It’s a question Papa often asks me after my shell-collection walks. But this time, my heart stutters over a beat.
“Uh… no,” I say to my plate, shaking my head. “Not particularly.”
* * *
After dinner, Papa goes up to the lantern room, and I return to the mystery device I hid under my pillow. Upon closer examination, I discover a tiny hinge on one side—a mechanism to keep two parts clamped together. After a bit of prodding and prying, I manage to flip the device open.
“So it is a phone,” I breathe in astonishment, tracing my fingertip over the number pad. “A phone that flips open… Extraordinary.”
The tiny screen flashes, displaying a scrolling message.
47 missed calls from Superman
Who is that? And why has he been trying to call Adam Stevenson forty-seven times?
Better question, where is Adam Stevenson?
A chill ripples down my spine as I remember where I found his belongings—washed up on the beach. Was their owner lost at sea, too?
There’s only one way for me to find out.
