Seabound (Seabound Chronicles Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

and sky. She sometimes envied Neal his windowed perch above the ship. It
was an eagle’s nest with a view only interrupted by the hodgepodge of windmills
behind them. The sun was almost visible. “You ever think about leaving, Neal?”
Esther asked.
    “My tower? I come
down to eat sometimes. You’d know that if you weren’t always in the desal room,
tinkering with Frank.”
    “I mean the Catalina .
You ever think about leave leaving?
There are other ships out there,” Esther said. Neal was quiet. “The process is
a pain, but it might be worth it to get away from The Judith Show .”
    “What about your
dad?” Neal said quietly.
    “I know.”
    Esther loved her father
for his wisdom, his patience, the way he made her feel safe in the midst of
catastrophe. But as she faced her adult years, she yearned for independence,
for a change that didn’t seem to be on the horizon for her. She wanted to test
her ideas and her abilities somewhere besides this floating small town. She
loved fiddling and asking questions and experimenting, but there was only so
far she could get on her own. There were other ships out there surviving as
they did: tankers, battleships, cargo vessels that had been repurposed when the
land rejected them. If Judith wouldn’t let her prove herself here, maybe she
could do it somewhere else.
    Esther turned to
face Neal. “If things were the way they used to be,” she said, “if we still
lived in California, I’d have gone off to college and then started my own life
by now. My dad would understand. And I could always come back.” But if she left
now, the Catalina would be lost in the vastness of the sea. Perhaps
they’d meet again, but it could take years. She hesitated, unsure whether to
voice the idea that had been growing in her since the night before. “I’ve also
been thinking about land,” she said.
    “Land?” Neal
scoffed. “You want to die of starvation? Drowning would be a hundred times
better.”
    He was probably right.
Sixteen years ago, if Esther had stayed on land their fate would have been
worse than drowning. The ash cloud from the volcanic blast had spread, choking
and heavy, as the Catalina ran. They had tried to travel to Asia, to
seek refuge on the shores of Japan or even the Philippines. But as they sailed,
the world changed beyond recognition. The ash filled the atmosphere, wreaking
havoc on weather patterns and decimating the world’s food supplies. Where the
ash and poisonous gases didn’t spread, drought and famine did. The sea
revolted, sending surge after surge up coastlines across the world,
obliterating whole cities in a whirl of water and sound. Island populations
didn’t have a chance: Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines. Communications were
disrupted across the globe as the ash blocked out satellites and waves toppled
communications towers. But the people huddled in the hallways and cabins of the
cruise ship didn’t yet know the extent of the devastation.
    By the time they
reached the shores of China, the borders were slammed shut. Voices crackling
over the old-fashioned radio waves reported that the famine had been so
extensive the Chinese government was refusing to admit stragglers from the Americas.
They shut themselves in to starve, bury, and mourn.
    And then the Catalina drifted. They faced treacherous coastlines and almost certain starvation
inland, so the sea became their refuge. They modified the ship to help it
weather the storms and learned to harvest the waters for sustenance. Food was
scarce, but it was still more plentiful than what had survived the more extreme
temperature changes on land. People left now and again, joining the crews of
passing vessels, beginning futile searches for lost loved ones. A few jumped
into the sea. No one could blame them. But still, 1,003 survivors remained. And
somewhere, perhaps, land waited.
    “It’s been a while
since we heard what’s going on there,” Esther said. “And the weather’s getting
a little better.