Page 292 of The Romance Adventure

Isla hops onto the dock, as bouncy as ever, but then she stumbles, needing to regain her land legs. Royal catches her in his arms, steadying her. Am I able to catch Harley if she falls? Does she want me to?

“So?” Royal asks.

CJ scowls. “Nothing. Not a thing. There was no boat, no wreckage. No evidence.”

“Maybe we had the wrong coordinates.”

“I contacted Robyn to check and double-check. Unless the captain made a mistake, we were in the right spot,” Magnus says.

“But the barque must be out there somewhere,” Harley says.

“But where? There’s a lot of ocean.” I shake my head with disappointment, feeling defeated.

“How about you guys, find out anything?” Magnus asks.

“Not much. We should take cover.” Royal points to the sky.

A nasty cloud looms to the west and lightning leaps toward the water like it’s warning us to get inside.

“Anyone order this weather?” I ask.

“We’d better get home to the dogs.” Lally is already halfway down the dock.

“What did I say about red sky in morning?” Magnus mutters, trailing her.

“Should we be worried about our Sip & Scoop progress being ruined?” Harley looks down the street.

“I doubt this is worse than Hurricane Howie. The rain might do us a favor and wash away the remaining grime.”

CJ unties the boat and starts it back up.

“Where are you going?” I holler over the combined roar of the engine and the wind.

“Home. I’ll catch up with you guys later,” he calls.

“Home? Where’s that?” I ask.

“This island isn’t that big, but we’ve never quite figured that out,” my twin mutters.

“Does he dock at the resort?” They have a small boat lift over there.

He shakes his head and I can’t help but wonder about my baby brother’s mysterious life, living on the edge during a lightning storm.

Clasping Harley’s hand with mine, we all race toward Beans & Books, which is closest. Only moments after we get inside, the sky opens up with a drenching downpour.

“That storm came out of nowhere.” Thunder shakes the old beach shack converted to a coffee shop as if punctuating my statement.

“I got a notification about it twenty minutes ago. But no updates from you guys.” Robyn jiggles her phone.

“There’s nothing much to say. Water. Sand. Fish. That was about all we found.” I hang my head.

“We learned a few things.” Harley tells us about the symbol being a battle flag.

Royal shows us the original sketch of the Pirate Defense League’s symbol on a piece of paper that is the same size as the ones in the journal. “And there are some numbers down here in the corner.”

Squinting, I read them, “Eleven, two, nine, one, nine, three, nine. Not enough digits for a telephone number. Too many for a zip code. Do they mean anything to you?” I look at my brother.

“Chip could’ve needed some scratch paper,” Royal supplies.