“Ethan Cole!”“What?”Ethan dropped the laundry he was washing by hand and hurried to the bathroom door. Brooke Mercer was standing on the other side, furious.“You were supposed to pick me up at one thirty! What the hell happened?”Tall, poised, and strikingly beautiful, Brooke somehow managed to look flawless even when she was losing her temper.“I was doing the laundry. I forgot.”Only now did he remember. She had gone shopping and ordered him to meet her afterward to carry her bags.“You forgot. Well, isn't that convenient.” She folded her arms. “So? What do you think I should do to you?”Ethan had been twelve when his parents were killed in the line of duty. David Mercer, his father's old Army buddy and fellow police officer, had taken him in and raised him as his own.Brooke was David's daughter, six months older than Ethan. She had spent her entire life being admired. At college, she was the girl everyone noticed, the one everyone seemed to know.She had resented Ethan from the

Ethan worked in the darkness, changing the cool compresses and keeping Brooke covered as best he could.His hands wouldn't stop shaking.Only a few days earlier, she had held his head under water. Now he was the only person here who could help her.Anger stirred beneath the fear, but he pushed it aside. Whatever she had done to him, he couldn't stand by and watch her die.When the water stopped feeling cool, he replaced it. Then he went out to search for coconuts, hoping to stretch what little drinking water they had left.By the time he returned, the rain had eased.He managed to give Brooke a little to drink when she was awake enough to swallow. He checked her again and again, until at last her skin no longer felt quite so hot.Only then did he breathe properly.Getting her wet clothes back into place was awkward and exhausting. When he was finally done, he collapsed beside her and fell asleep.By morning, the sky had cleared.A slap cracked across the quiet beach.Ethan jerked awak

“You think I won't?”Years of humiliation rose in Ethan's throat until he could barely breathe around them.“If you lay a hand on me, my dad will make you sorry.”Brooke wasn't afraid. Not yet.“You don't get to keep doing this!”He grabbed her shoulders and shook her.“Have you lost your mind? Let go!”Her voice climbed into a scream.For an instant, Ethan thought of the creature in the trees. They still didn't know what it was, or how far away it might be. Screaming could bring it back.But his anger was louder than the thought.Brooke's face flushed. Then she caught the look in his eyes, and some of her certainty faltered.“Yes,” he said. “Maybe I have. Maybe you finally pushed me too far.”Seeing fear on her face gave him a brief, bitter satisfaction.Ever since he had entered the Mercer house, she had made sure he had no dignity left.He remembered an afternoon not long after David took him in. Brooke had forgotten a towel and ordered him to bring one to the bathroom. He had open

Brooke stayed tucked against Ethan in the hollow, as if the narrow space beside him were the only safe place left in the world.He barely moved. His arm was going numb, but shifting would only frighten her again.For once, she understood that he was all she had.The howling continued for hours, then finally faded. Neither of them slept well, but the creatures never came onto the beach.At dawn, a gull pecked Ethan awake.“Get lost!”He flapped a hand at it. Brooke stirred beside him.“I'm starving.” She pressed a hand to her stomach. “And so thirsty. I could drink a gallon of water.”She stared at the ocean and swallowed.“Not that water,” Ethan said. “Unless you want to make things worse.”But the sight of the sea reminded him of something.The animals in the forest had to get water somewhere. There must be a freshwater source on the island.Finding it mattered more than finding another meal.He collected a few oysters and other shellfish from around the rocks. After they had eaten e

Brooke watched them walk away hand in hand, furious.Beneath the anger was something she couldn't quite name: a sharp sense of being left behind, as if someone had taken something she had always assumed was hers.Ethan scraped a shallow pit in the sand and arranged the firewood, leaving gaps for air. Then he set to work with his improvised fire drill.It took more than ten minutes to produce an ember.He sheltered it carefully and blew until the tinder caught.“Wow,” Hannah whispered.She had never seen someone make a fire that way. She watched the first flames rise, then looked at him with such open admiration that he couldn't help smiling.Brooke saw the smile.“Doesn't take much to impress her,” she muttered.Once the fire was established, Ethan went to the rocks to gather food. He pried loose oysters and even collected barnacles. There might be crabs, shrimp, or small fish hiding in the pools too, though they would be hard to spot in the dark.The flashlight changed that.He swept