Burnt Sea: A Seabound Prequel (Seabound Chronicles Book 0) by Jordan Rivet Page B

windows.
    Esther skipped over from the buffet table.
    “Hi, Judith. Hi, Daddy. Ana said I could have an extra piece of
cornbread.”
    Simon smiled at his young daughter. She had been exploring the ship
more and more. She’d know every nook and cranny soon. It was nice that he
didn’t have to worry too much about her wandering off, as there was nowhere for
her to go.
    “That looks good, button. Did you say thank you?”
    “Yup,” Esther said. “Ana says we can stay on the ship when we get to
Hawaii if we want to. She says it’s like a hotel.”
    “That’s an idea,” Simon said. “Maybe we’ll do that.”
    “Are you excited about Hawaii, Judith?” Esther asked. She was still
wearing her Thomas shirt. Simon hadn’t had the heart to make her change.
    “I guess so,” Judith said, grinning at the little girl.
    “Oh, I got to hold baby Cally today!” Esther
said as she dug her fingers into her cornbread. “She’s so small. And she sounds
like a kitty when she cries. Her mommy says I can be her ornery sister if I
want to.”
    “Honorary sister?” Simon asked.
    “Yeah, that!”
    “That’s nice of her.”
    “I want to be a good big sister,” Esther said. “Just like Namie .”
    Simon exchanged glances with Judith over Esther’s head. He felt a
twinge in his chest at the sound of his other daughter’s nickname. Esther still
hadn’t shed any tears over her mother and sister. He wasn’t sure whether he
should prepare her more, impress the likely truth upon
her. It would catch up to her in a painful way eventually if she didn’t accept
their loss.
    Based on what Simon had seen of the cloud descending over San Diego and
the confirmation that it was volcanic ash, he knew no one could have survived
in their city. He still held on to the shimmering hope that Nina and Naomi
might have driven out of San Diego and headed south in a hurry, but he couldn’t
think of a plausible reason why they would. He and Nina had been stressed and
prone to snapping at each other lately, but she would never have taken Naomi
and left him. He almost wished she were the type just so he could hold on to a
sliver of hope that they had survived.
    Rain had begun to fall. The storm was getting worse. Simon could barely
see anything through the windows. The sky was a writhing, living black. The
ship rolled hard, and Judith reached out a hand to protect Esther’s head from
swinging into the back of her chair. Esther smiled brightly at her, unafraid.
    “Judith, can you be my ornery
big sister until we find Naomi?”
    Judith looked startled. Simon had noticed a reticence about her. She kept
her emotions under tight control. But Esther didn’t seem to mind.
    “ Please , Judy.”
    “Um, I guess I can,” Judith said.
    The wind picked up, howling around them like a wolf in the darkness.
Empty chairs—and some occupied ones—began to slide across the floor
as the ship lurched. People around the dining hall exchanged worried looks.
This was not good.
    Simon stood, holding on to the table. His chair fell backwards onto the
floor with a crash.
    “Everyone,” he called. “I think we should go back to our cabins and
wait this out.”
    The wind shrieked, and the ship rocked more violently still. Plates and
glasses crashed to the floor. The heavy tables began to slide back and forth
across the room. Chairs banged against each other, and someone screamed. Then
people were jumping up, panicking, stumbling toward the doors, grabbing on to
whatever they could.
    “Be careful of the glass!” Simon yelled , his
voice swallowed by the howls of the wind and the sea. “Stay calm!”
    He reached for Esther’s hand, but she tumbled away from his grasp,
rolling like a potato bug as the ship swayed.
    “Esther!”
    A table shot across the floor between them, cutting him off. Simon
crouched low, trying to keep his balance. There was a scream from the other
side of the hall as another sliding table pinned a woman against the wall. The
lights