“Stop!” The scream tears itself from my throat and I jolt forward, but she’s so far ahead of me already, she’s so fast.
Rivulets of rain snake down Piper’s back as she swings out over the railing, like she did the other day. And before I can reach her, before I can say anything else to stop her, Piper jumps.
I almost break a knee slipping on the wet deck, racing over to the edge, getting to the railing in time to watch Piper jackknife down into the turbulent water, a straight arrow that disappears into the surf with barely a splash. The rooftop deck isn’t that high; we’re about twenty, maybe twenty-five feet above the water, and Piper is a water-based athlete, but it’s shallow here and I’m terrified she’s hit the bottom of the ocean and broken all her bones.
For a moment, I’m paralyzed with indecision. Is there a life vest anywhere on this damn boat? There must be, somewhere, right? I’ve yet to see any rescue or safety equipment; I guess it’s not “glamorous” enough.
Piper’s head breaks the surface ten feet away fromEmpress, and an exhale whooshes out of my chest so fast my knees buckle.
She’s alive.
For now.
I watch helplessly, her blond head bobbing on the surface, as she’s flung to the side by a large cresting wave.
“Piper!” I scream, but the wind has picked back up again and her name is ripped from my mouth and carried away like a mouse by a hawk.
I squint through the rain. My jaw drops open—Piper isswimming. Away fromEmpress, toward the dark blot before us that represents Ligia. Her powerful arms are visible, thrashing through the water as she propels herself forward. She keeps getting knocked underneath by the rough waves, and this can’t end well. She’s strong, she’s used to violent waves from surfing, but this is different. There’s no way she’ll make it to Ligia in hurricane-level weather.
Piper is sucked under the surface again, and this time, she doesn’t come back up.
“Piper!”
Fuck, fuck! I have to do something!
I spin around and run back inside, wet feet slapping as I slide into the relative warmth and safety of the yacht. I don’t bother closing the sliding doors; the storm is already inside the upper living area and I don’t have time. I only slow down on the stairs, whichare already slippery even when I’m not soaking wet. I won’t be able to get help for Piper if I break my neck.
I’m screaming by the time I hit the lower level, so loud that the others spill out of the billiard room, crowding the mouth of the hallway.
“Piper’s in the water!” I shout. “We need to help her!”
The others look at me with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Fiona’s misery has cleared, replaced by concern. Rachel and Ashley are clutching each other’s arms again. Even Viv is ruffled, brushing her hair back and quickly tying it up with an alarmed expression on her face.
“What are you talking about?” Viv asks. “Piper fell in?”
For the smallest second, I pause. Piper didn’t tell me exactly what happened, but she certainly held some animosity toward the others, enough that she jumped overboard to try to get away from them. But I don’t know if revealing that is the best move.
Instead, I lie. “Yeah. I saw her out there, and she was wobbling. I think she was drunk. I went outside to bring her back, but before I could get to her, she fell over the railing and into the water. We have to help her!”
“She’s in the water?” Trey asks, pushing past the others; he must have heard me, even from the bridge.
“We have to see if we can help her,” Viv says, face tight and lips folding together.
“Viv…” Trey says.
“Trey,” she snarls back. “We have to try.”
“That water…”
He doesn’t need to say it. I saw. I saw how Piper was struggling. The chances of her surviving out there are slim to none.
“She was still alive when I came down here,” I say, putting iron in my voice. Piper might not have much of a chance, she might be a murderer, she might have stranded us all out here, but that doesn’t mean we should sit back and do nothing. “She was swimming to Ligia. Maybe she thought that was her best shot. But we have to gonow.”
Viv nods, finally in agreement with me. “If the tender hasn’t been ripped away fromEmpress, I might be able to go out there and get her.”
“Let’s go,” I say, urgently.
“It’s too dangerous!” Trey cries, looking at me in the eye for the first time since the incident in my room. “You’ll be flipped over in a second; the tender can’t handle waves like this.”
