“What’s up?” Hanna asked.
Emily ran her fingers across the pool’s surface, unable to meet Hanna’s eye. “What do you know about Thailand?”
Hanna frowned. “I’ve heard it’s pretty cool, I guess. Why?”
Emily bit her lip. “If you had the opportunity to go there, to leave all this behind, would you?”
“Sure,” Hanna said emphatically.
All of a sudden, Emily’s mind felt as clear and cloudless as the sky. She pushed out of the pool, hurried across the deck, and grabbed her towel. Hanna followed her. “Wait. What’s this all about? Are you going to Thailand?”
“Of course not,” Emily said quickly. But her voice caught.
Hanna frowned. “Emily. What are you planning?”
Emily gazed at her friend for a beat. All at once, Emily thought of the sleepovers at Ali’s house when she and Hanna would be the last two girls to fall asleep. “Let’s look through Ali’s photo albums,” Hanna had whispered once, and they had turned the pages of the old book by nightlight. “She doesn’t look so great in that photo,” Hanna would say, pointing at one of Ali from fourth grade or one of Ali without any makeup on Christmas morning. Even though Hanna desperately sought Ali’s worst shots, she seemed to understand that Emily was looking through the albums to see Ali at her very best, and she’d occasionally point out one of Ali looking beautiful. “She has the prettiest eyes, doesn’t she?” she’d say wistfully. Or, “She looks like a model.” All for Emily’s benefit.
Her eyes brimmed with tears from the memory. She’d miss all her best friends terribly.
“I’m not planning anything,” she said, running away before Hanna could stop her.
Off the starboard side of the ship, she could see the Bermuda docks. Kids were already jamming the elevator area to be the first to disembark. Was Jordan among them? Would Emily get to her in time?
The elevators were too crowded, so Emily ran down the three flights to her room in bare feet. She flung open the door and looked around hopefully, but Jordan was already gone. Frantic, she pulled a terry-cloth cover-up over her head, then grabbed her suitcase from under the bed and stuffed her things into it. She slung the bag over her shoulder and scuttled out the door, joining the convoy of kids making their way off the ship.
She clambered down the stairs and burst through the door that led to the ramp. The gangplank had been lowered, and a crowd of kids waited to disembark. Emily stood on her tiptoes and searched for Jordan’s dark hair. When she didn’t see her, her heart jumped into her throat. “Jordan?” she called out. “Jordan?” What if she’d missed her? Would Jordan leave without her?
“Jordan?” she cried again.
“Emily?”
Emily swung around. There, under the boat’s exit sign, was Jordan, dressed in a T-shirt Emily had loaned her, a pair of jeans, a baseball cap, and dark sunglasses. Emily’s knees went weak. Jordan’s mouth crumpled into a relieved, ecstatic smile. Emily ran into her arms.
“So does this mean you’re coming?” Jordan said in Emily’s ear.
“I guess it does,” Emily said shakily.
Jordan stepped back and pulled her cell phone from her bag. “This is going to be amazing,” she said excitedly, her eyes shining. “I promise.”
Then she dialed a number and put her phone to her ear. “Hello, Jasmine? I’d like to book an extra ticket to Thailand. Her name is Emily Fields.” She spelled it slowly. “I’ll pay in cash at the airport, okay?”
Emily opened her mouth, ready to say she’d help pay, but then she realized—she didn’t have that kind of money. She didn’t know how Jordan had access to that kind of money, either, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
The line for the door slowly moved up. Emily grabbed Jordan’s hand so she wouldn’t lose her in the crush. As they got closer, Emily could see the docks out the door. The light was so bright, she had to shade her eyes. When it was their turn, Jordan started off the ramp first. Emily followed, her heart pounding. Jordan was halfway down the ramp when she stopped short. Emily bumped into her back.
“What’s wrong?” Emily asked. Kids flowed around them like water moved around rocks in a stream.
Jordan’s face had gone ghostly pale. Her gaze was on something out in the water. Emily craned her neck to see what she was looking at. A speedboat was docked next to the ship. A few men in serious-looking uniforms were climbing off. One was speaking into a walkie-talkie. The other looked like he had a gun in his holster. The boat had an official-looking logo on the side. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION.
Emily clapped her hand over her mouth. She watched, paralyzed, as the Feds charged up the dock, straight to the ship. And then she heard one of them say “Katherine DeLong” clearly into his walkie-talkie.
Jordan whipped around to face her. “Did you call them?”
“Of course not!” Emily cried, her eyes widening. “You know I wouldn’t do that to you!”
Jordan’s gaze flicked from Emily to the Feds and then Emily once more. “I know you wouldn’t,” she admitted. “But … I don’t understand. You’re the only one here who knows who I am.”
A cold, hard knot formed in the pit of Emily’s stomach. She wasn’t the only one. Someone else had known for a while now. Emily should have warned Jordan as soon as A taunted her with that first note, but she’d been too selfish.
The first FBI agent barreled quickly down the dock, his face bright red. Jordan grabbed Emily’s hand hard. “Come on,” she said through her teeth. “We have to get away from them.”
She pulled Emily back into the ship and through a stairwell door. They raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time. At first, Emily dragged her heavy bag behind her, but then she ditched it in the stairs because it was slowing her down. They finally stopped at Deck 5, where the theater and a bunch of the restaurants were. Kids were at the buffet line and putting in their orders at the sandwich station.
Jordan raced past them and skidded around the corner toward the state rooms. Something banged behind them. “Stop right there!” a voice boomed.
On instinct, Emily froze. Both Feds had burst through the stairwell doors and were starting for Jordan. The kids at the buffet paused, agape. Someone dropped a plate. One girl even screamed.
Emily’s legs felt glued to the floor. In seconds, Jordan was going to be caught. She was going to be caught, too.
She jerked her head to the side, hating herself for even thinking it. As she glanced at Jordan, Jordan gave her a mournful smile. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “Run. Pretend you’ve never seen me before.”
“No!” Emily cried, ashamed that Jordan sensed the thought that had crossed her mind. “I’m not going to abandon you like that!”
But Jordan just darted toward the ship railing. “Stop right there, Miss DeLong,” the tall agent commanded.
Jordan groped for the railing, her eyes hard. There was something feral about her expression, like she was a cornered, wild animal looking for an escape. Everyone in the cafeteria stared. And then, Jordan hurdled herself to the top of the railing. She balanced there for a moment, gazing at the lapping waves below. It was then that Emily realized what she was about to do.
“No!” she screamed, lunging forward.
But she was too late. Jordan’s body disappeared over the side of the ship. Seconds later, there was a splash. Everyone ran to look over the side. The turquoise sea rolled against the boat. Huge rafts of seaweed floated on the surface.
Please come up, please come up, Emily willed, searching for Jordan’s head. But it didn’t appear.