Great Bear Rainforest by Patti Wheeler, Keith Hemstreet Page B

room, where he haphazardly went about packing a waterproof bag with supplies.
    “What are you doing?” I asked.
    “I’ll never forgive myself if we don’t do everything we can to save Mom and Dad,” he said. “Plus, there’s no way I’m staying aboard this ghost ship any longer than I have to.”
    “Do you understand how dangerous it would be to travel to that island alone?”
    “I don’t know about you, but I learned a lot about the rainforest from Alu yesterday. I’m confident I’ll be okay.”
    I folded my arms and paced the room.
    “Let’s just take a minute to think this through,” I said.
    “I don’t need a minute. My mind is made up. The way I see it, you have a choice. You can either come with me or enjoy a night aboard a haunted ship.”
    “You know Joe and Liam aren’t going to let you go anywhere.”
    “They aren’t going to know. The next time they go down to the engine room, I’m going to sneak off the ship.”
    “And just how do you plan to sneak off the ship? Both tenders are gone and you can’t unload the skiff without Joe’s help.”
    “I’ll take one of the kayaks. I’ll be on the island before they know I’m gone.”
    Gannon wasn’t giving me much of a choice. He was going ashore no matter what.
    “Okay, fine,” I said. “Give me ten minutes to pack. I’m coming with you.”
    As the THIRD LAW OF EXPLORATION states: Make certain you are properly equipped before embarking on an adventure.
    The difference between a properly equipped explorer and a poorly equipped explorer can be life or death. It’s that simple.
    Much like preparing for travel, packing for a search and rescue mission isn’t something you want to do in a hurry. But again, I had no choice. Time was short. I grabbed another waterproof backpack and quickly went to work.
    After packing, I pulled the latest weather report from the bridge and read that there’s another front coming off the Pacific Ocean. We can’t catch a break. These storm fronts keep coming at us, one right after another. And this one is bringing colder temperatures.
    In the captain’s library, I found a topographical map of Princess Royal Island and some general information about the area to take with us.
    We have to be careful not to raise the suspicions of Joe or Liam. If they catch us preparing for this mission, we won’t be going anywhere.
GANNON
    A FEW HOURS BEFORE DUSK
FEAR FACTOR: HIGH

    Princess Royal Island rising above the clouds
    Okay, Wyatt and I are all set. Our packs are under a tarp and the kayaks are near the edge of the boat for an easy drop. Our fingers are crossed that Liam and Joe won’t notice. Now, all we have to do is wait for them to disappear into the bowels of the ship. As soon as they do, we launch for Princess Royal Island!
GANNON
    10:02 PM
    About two hours before sundown, Liam and Joe finally disappeared into the engine room and Wyatt and I went to work sliding the kayaks over the side of the ship and carefully climbing aboard. A pretty strong wind blew over the water making the surface really choppy with white-caps breaking over the front of the kayaks and knocking us around and we had to work hard to keep from getting dumped into the Pacific.
    Within minutes of leaving the Pacific Yellowfin, we were totally surrounded by fog and what we had been able to see of the island disappeared. In that fog, it felt like we were all alone, paddling in the middle of the ocean, but we knew that if we continued moving west we’d eventually run right into the island, so that’s what we did.
    Getting to Princess Royal took a lot longer than we thought, mostly because a strong headwind and rough conditions made for slow going. There were times where it seemed like we weren’t making any progress at all, or were even going backward, but eventually we broke through the fog and the rocky shoreline came into view.
    As we got closer to the coastline, I spotted a lone wolf staring at us from atop a boulder field that spilled onto