There’s no doubt—the eye is passing over us. And we’re about an hour from sunrise. That means that when the sun comes up, we’ll be out of time.

  We move toward the north stairs. Twice I hesitate. Once when we pass Dallas’ door and again at Alaina’s. Two people are gone. And Stanley’s missing in action.

  By the time we reach the stairs, I realize I’m feeling less vigilant, less alert.

  My body has been taut as a wire all night. Every muscle and tendon clenched.

  A body can do that for only so long. I’m starting to slip, lose some of the edge I took on when this shitstorm started.

  I stop. “Look, if there’s any trouble, just run back to Lloyd’s. Forget about me.”

  “We won’t forget—”

  “No, really. Just do it. That’s the only way.”

  “But, Dad—”

  “Kenzie, just do whatever Dad says, okay?”

  For one of the few times in her life, my daughter stops arguing.

  The encounter with Tyler comes back to me on the stairs. I take the steps slowly. Water drips everywhere, like we’re in a cave. It runs through the gutters and downspouts, streams down the stairs alongside us. When—if—this is all over, I’d be happy to never see or hear rain again. Or not for a long, long time.

  In the garage, the storm drains are completely overwhelmed and backed up. We have no choice but to walk through a pool of water to reach the sodden grass fifteen feet away.

  I shine the flashlight around, illuminating every dark corner. Garbage and other debris float on the surface. Except for the gurgling of the water slowly moving into the drains, it’s quiet. Quiet enough that I can hear the waves rising and falling against the shore, the eternal push and pull of the tides that flow in the waterway between us and the mainland.

  We slosh through the water. It rises above the tops of our shoes. My feet have been wet since I first stepped out of the Elantra yesterday, though it might as well have been a hundred years ago. The water smells like dead fish and mud. The air has cooled in the wake of the storm.

  “This is just…it’s just…so wet,” Mackenzie says.

  Other than Mackenzie stating the obvious, we are quiet.

  We reach the grass, which is covered with water as well. Not as much as the garage floor, but still a lot. The storm surge has overtaken the island. Everything is submerged.

  The rain continues to fall, washing our backs and heads. I search the shore with the flashlight beam.

  “Tyler said the dinghy was north of the building, in a thick clump of weeds. We just need to find that.”

  “What if it floated away in the storm?” Mackenzie asks.

  “What if Stanley took it?” Alaina asks.

  “You know what they say? If the worst can happen, it will.”

  “Do you really believe that?” Jordan asks.

  “If I believed that, I’d still be inside. I’d have never come to Florida. And I wouldn’t be trying to fix things with you.”

  “That’s more of an answer than I bargained for,” Jordan says. “I already knew you didn’t believe that.”

  The beam picks up a clump of weeds and grass about four feet tall and eight feet wide. It’s getting whipped around by the wind. Tyler had better have tied that dinghy tight to something as solid as time, or it’s long gone.

  The closer we get to the water, the stronger the wind gets. Waves crest the edge of the island, the water flowing around and past us, occasionally rising to the level of my shins before falling again. My hand holding the flashlight shakes. I remind myself to maintain my balance, to take my time and not fall. To do everything in my power not to get swept into the Intracoastal and dragged out to the Atlantic.

  I may be at my physical best, but I’m not as young as Alaina. I might not survive something like that.

  When we reach the clump of weeds and grass, I part them with my free hand. The wind blows them around so much it’s hard to see anything. I decide to step into them even though I can’t be sure what the footing will be like.

  My first step brings my leg into contact with something hard. I adjust the angle of the light and catch the side of the dinghy. I move the light along its length. It looks none the worse for wear. Inside sit two life vests and two paddles. The engine at the back looks to be in working order.

  But there’s really no way to know until someone gets in and starts it.

  Behind us, our building is silhouetted in the early-morning light. It’s more shadow than structure.

  Even in the near dark, it’s obvious the roof is gone. The top of the building is jagged, like a row of broken teeth. Stanley was right—the water and the wind have pounded the daylights out of it since the roof broke free.

  And once the eye passes over, another round of massive wind and unrelenting rain will be here.

  “What’s the matter?” Alaina asks. “Is the boat damaged?”

  “No, it looks okay. He tied it up tight.”

  “Then what is it, Dad?”

  I keep my eyes on the building’s outline. Thinking.

  “I was just wondering about something, that’s all.” I drop my gaze from the building and lock eyes with Jordan. “Something we might want to do differently.”

  Sixty-Five

  “What is it?” Jordan asks. “The sky already looks like it’s getting darker. We don’t have time to second-guess things.”

  “Plus, did I mention it’s wet?” Mackenzie says.

  My eyes go back to the building. Now I’m seeing the people inside.

  Lloyd, and Catalina in the hospital bed.

  Hazel.

  Kiara and Nina.

  Ethan.

  Sawyer.

  Are they all going to die?

  Can it be prevented?

  “Oh, shit.” Jordan shakes her head. “I see where this is going.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I think you have to go without me. Go get help. I’ll stay here and help the others until someone gets here. I don’t see any other way.”

  “No, no, no, Dad. We’re not doing this without you. Not after everything we’ve all been through.”

  “Kenzie…”

  “No, Mom. Listen.” She points at me as she speaks to Jordan. “I haven’t seen Dad for six months. Six months. And neither have you. And we drove all the way down here to bring him back. Because we want him back. With us. With both of us. All together. We didn’t come all the way down here to leave him on this stinking island, which will probably be underwater in about five minutes. We didn’t…”

  Mackenzie descends into sobs. Her body shakes as Jordan pulls her close and runs her hand over Mackenzie’s hair.

  “Shhh. I know. Shhh.”

  “Tell…him…he has…to go…with us.”

  “I wish I could, but I can’t. He has to do what he thinks is right.”

  Mackenzie pulls back, looks at Jordan like she’s never seen her before and couldn’t possibly understand her. “What are you talking about? After…” Mackenzie turns to me. “Dad, I’ve had to watch Mom moping around for months. She tries to hide it, but I can tell. I had to see how sad she was every day, how much she—”

  “Kenzie, enough—”

  “No, Dad. Mom’s been miserable without you. Even though you irritate me sometimes, honestly, so have I. We didn’t come all this way to blow it now.”

  Alaina clears her throat. “I hate to interrupt this tender scene, but we probably should get going.”

  “We’ll stay,” Jordan says. “Alaina can drive the boat—”

  “Yes,” Mackenzie says. “Fine.”

  “No, no.” I step toward them, my shoes squishing in the wet grass. “You have to go. You have to find us help. Any kind of help. And that’s not even the real reason I want you to go. More than anything else, I want you to go because I want you to stay safe. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you.” I turn from Mackenzie to Jordan. “Either of you.” The weight returns to my chest. Heavier than ever. Some of the pressure migrates to my shoulders, threatening to push me down into the mess of weeds. “It’s the only way I can be sure you’ll be safe.”

  Mackenzie shakes her head, and a hand covers her eyes. She sniffles. “This is just so unbelievable. Just so…I don’t know…”

  I go to her, put my arms around her. “Kenzie, you’ll see me soon. I promise.”

  “You said that when you left Ohio six months ago.”

  If Mackenzie had taken a sharpened blade of steel and driven it into my chest, it wouldn’t hurt any worse than her words.

  If anything would make me reconsider my choice to stay, it would be the chance to make my daughter happy. To erase the difficulties of the past six months and restore everything to the way it used to be with the three of us.

  But that is impossible.

  “Kenzie…” I kiss the top of her head. “You’re going with Mom. And I’ll see you again. I promise.”

  I squeeze her as tightly as I can and then turn to Jordan.

  I swallow hard. The wind picks up, blows hair across her face.

  “You’re going to keep that promise, right?” she says.

  “I am.”

  She shakes her head, brushes the hair away.

  “You’re so worried about me,” I say, “but you’re the one crossing the Intracoastal in a hurricane.”

  “The eye of a hurricane.”

  “Are you sure you feel good about this? Does it look too rough? If you have doubts, any doubts at all, I don’t want you to go.”

  Jordan examines the water, her eyes squinting into the distance, before turning back to me. “I’ve handled rougher. The tide isn’t bad at all.”

  “It’s not…but later this morning it will rise significantly.”

  “We won’t be on the water long enough for that.” Jordan sounds so confident, so sure of herself. This is why I fell in love with her. She can handle almost anything thrown her way. “We’ll be on the mainland in fifteen minutes. And besides, these people need help.”

  “If you’re sure…”

  She answers by pressing her lips to mine. I get so lost in her kiss I can’t tell if it lasts two seconds or two minutes.

  She pulls gently away, letting me know it’s time to go.

  I reach into my pocket, find Catalina’s rosary, place it in Jordan’s hand.

  “Did you become a believer?”

  “No. But I’m willing to hedge my bets.”

  “Okay,” she says, tucking it into her pocket. “It can’t hurt.”

  She takes Mackenzie by the arm and helps her climb into the dinghy. Jordan follows her, carefully balancing the boat as she pulls herself back to the stern.

  Alaina steps forward, but I put my hand out, blocking her way. “Stop.”

  She whips her head in my direction, eyes flashing.

  “You’re not going, Alaina.”

  “What?”

  “You can’t go. Not with my family. It’s too much of a risk.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. I don’t know what happened in your apartment. To Tyler. I’m not even sure how you pulled that Houdini act in the water. So I can’t send you out there alone with my wife and daughter.”

  “Fuck you, Jake. I knew you’d—”

  “You can say whatever you want to me. That’s fine. But I’m not letting you go with them.”

  Jordan puts her hand on the tiller as I untie the dinghy from the mooring. The rain sluices across my face, mingling with my tears. I half expect Alaina to make a move. To smack me over the head or shove me into the water. But she remains still, standing next to me with her mouth open.

  I give the dinghy a gentle shove. Jordan tilts the motor into the water and squeezes the primer bulb. She turns on the choke and starts the engine.

  It sputters and dies. She tries again, with the same result.

  A foolish wish swells inside me—the engine won’t start. They won’t be able to leave. Maybe it’s waterlogged or out of gas or defective. They’ll have to stay, and there won’t be any reason for us to be apart.

  But the engine catches on the third try. It revs to life, churning the water so hard Alaina and I back up. With an expert hand, Jordan guides the dinghy and angles the prow toward the mainland.

  Mackenzie offers me the most sullen wave I’ve ever seen.

  Jordan waves as well, her chin high, her eyes confident.

  The dinghy cuts through the choppy water, leaving Alaina and me behind.

  I watch them until they disappear from sight.

  “You’re such an asshole, Jake.”

  “Maybe. And maybe I’m wrong to worry. But if so, I’m an asshole who just got the two people most important to me out of danger.”

  Sixty-Six

  6:01 a.m.

  The weight is even heavier now. So heavy I could sit down in this water and not get up again.

  I’m scared for them. Scared they won’t make it.

  Scared I’ve done the wrong thing.

  But in my gut I feel it’s the right move.

  It’s the least bad choice.

  When we get back onshore, Alaina turns to me. “Do you really think I’m a murderer, Jake?” Her wet hair is plastered to her head. Her big eyes take me in.

  “I don’t know. Probably not, but I couldn’t risk it. You seem awfully determined to get off this island. Now and earlier. When you took the car.”

  “I told you why.”

  I nod. “I appreciate it if you were going to a meeting. I do. But there are still unanswered questions, and I’m not willing to take that risk with Jordan and Kenzie. I would’ve taken you with me if I were going, but I couldn’t risk you going with them alone.”

  Alaina holds her hand out near my chest. “Do you really need to know why I wanted to leave? It wasn’t an AA meeting.”

  I wait for her to continue.

  “You’re such a fucker, Jake.” She wipes her eyes. “Dallas didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell me what?”

  “You’re a fucker.”

  “We already established that.”

  “I was going to see my daughter.”

  I study her face for signs that she’s lying, but she looks deadly serious. “I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

  “Nobody does, except Dallas. Or he did, anyway. She went into foster care a couple of years ago. Because I was so messed up. I couldn’t take care of her. Okay? Now I have a chance to see her again. If I stay clean. That’s why I haven’t been paying rent. I’ve been setting money aside in case I get her back. You know, to get a nicer place. And a car. All that regular-people shit.”

  Regular-people shit. Like what I have waiting for me back in Ohio.

  “I get to visit her sometimes. Supervised visits. That’s where I was trying to go. Last night.”

  “I’m sorry, Alaina.” I feel genuinely shitty. “If I’d known…”

  “When I fell into the water…she was all I could think of. I needed to get out of there. For her.” She points in the direction of the dinghy. “You understand, right?”

  “I do.”

  “So no, I didn’t kill anybody. And no, I haven’t been using. I even stopped drinking.” She wipes her eyes again.

  “Dallas never said anything to me about it. He knows how to keep a secret.”

  “I guess….”

  “What’s her name? Your daughter?”

  “India. I’ve never been there. I don’t even know anything about it. But I thought it was a pretty name.”

  “It is.”

  Alaina looks down at the wet sand. “Are we going to die, Jake?”

  “I don’t know. But you definitely used up one of your lives last night.”

  She shakes her head. “If you only knew how many lives I’ve used up. I want things to be different now. I don’t want to be the same person anymore. You know?”

  “I do. I really do. Come on. Let’s get inside.”

  Alaina’s shoulders sag, but she summons the energy to walk over the soggy grass, back toward the roofless building. The storm will be picking up again soon. We’re far from being out of the woods.

  As we get closer, the lightening sky allows us to see the damage more clearly. Not only is the roof gone, but a large chunk of the top of the building is missing as well. It looks like a giant monster came by and took a bite.

  The building is weaker than I thought.

  Pieces of the roof are scattered all over the grounds. Wooden support beams cracked like twigs. Metal sheets mangled like tin cans. Canvas awnings torn like paper napkins.

  “Shit,” Alaina says. “What a fucking mess.”

  “Kylie is helping them tear the building down.”

  We’re halfway to the parking garage when Alaina freezes in her tracks. “Wait.”

  “What?”

  She’s staring into the dark. “Something’s moving in there. An animal or something.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Is it an alligator?”

  “Let’s make a run for—”

  If it’s an alligator, it’s one that can talk. The voice is faint, but I clearly hear someone say my name.

  “Did you hear that?” I ask.

  It starts again. “Jake…Jake…”

  “Someone’s here.”

  I jog over to the parking garage, Alaina right behind me. We splash through the water. I slow down, try not to slip on the wet pavement.

  The voice comes from beneath a large sheet of metal roofing on the far side of the garage. It’s big enough to cover a person.

  I lean down and shine the flashlight underneath, only to see Stanley there, trapped under its weight. With Alaina’s help, I push the sheet off him. I play the beam over his body. He looks like hell—his face is incredibly pale, and there’s a tremendous gash on his forehead that looks like it’s been bleeding for a while.