CHAPTER 26
ABOUT FOUR HOURS into the passage, the skies turned gray. The wind grew chill and the waves grew choppy. They did their best to row, but the boat bucked so hard on the waves that much of the time the oars weren’t even in the water. When the rain started coming down in sheets, Rachel didn’t see how the storm could get worse.
The storm got worse.
The waves were so big by nightfall that Rachel began to think of them as fluid mountains; they rose up and up and up before the tiny boat, and then crashed down upon it with such force it felt like they would be driven below the sea. Malgam struggled to keep them headed toward shore with the last remaining oar. They were taking on water at such a rate that they couldn’t hope to remain afloat for much longer. Pathik and Daniel bailed frantically, but they may as well have been lounging on deck for all the difference their efforts made; the storm was too much. Rachel, Vivian, and Nandy began to untie the duffels from the boat and tie them all together; they thought if they got washed overboard they might have a better chance of floating ashore in one piece. Rachel grabbed two of the orchid cubes and shoved them deep into her jacket pocket. She tried to bail water with her hands, but she almost fell out of the boat when a big wave hit. Pathik saw and shook his head frantically.
“Just hold on! Hold on to the boat!” He waved his arms so that Vivian and Nandy looked over. “Watch the rhythm!” Rachel could barely hear Pathik’s shout over the storm. He pointed to a cresting wave. “Brace yourself when it gets like that. Otherwise you’ll be swept away when it comes down.”
Rachel grabbed the side and held on. She looked for Vivian and Nandy and saw that they too were readying themselves for the onslaught of the wave. Nandy was holding on to Nipper as tightly as he would let her. Daniel and Pathik kept bailing until the last possible moment, and Malgam kept rowing, but when the wave reached its full height, they too held tight to the nearest part of the boat they could. For a time there was nothing but the water, battering them all, seeking their fingers, loosening their grips.
When it was over, Rachel wiped the seawater from her eyes and tried to see where everyone was. Everyone was still in the boat. She saw that Nandy’s head was bowed, and she looked like she was crying, though Rachel couldn’t hear over the sounds of the storm. She didn’t understand at first, but then she realized Nipper was gone. She turned and leaned over the edge of the boat to see if she could spot him. She couldn’t see anything but more waves, at first. But then she saw something . . . at least she thought she did. It was hard to tell with the rocking of the boat, but on the crest of the next wave she was sure. It wasn’t the Woolly she saw—it was something else.
“Look! I see it!” Rachel shouted to the others over the sounds of the storm. She pointed at the thin, dark line. It had to be Salishan.
Then she heard Nandy scream. She was pointing too, at the biggest wave Rachel had seen yet. It was high above them, and on its way down. Rachel grabbed for the boat.
When it hit it felt like something solid, like a wall of rock hitting. It knocked Rachel out of the boat as though she were nothing. She flew, over the edge, into the water. And then under.