Kylie Cantrall's Arc

Chapter 34 of 78

The puppy would hold. Arianna would not freeze. But that night, Kylie stared at the ceiling of their cabin and found a new hole in the plan. The dock was hers to leave. The ship was not. In the morning, hundreds of passengers would pour off the same ramp. Cameras. Luggage carts. Bodies pushing forward. In that crush, Arianna and the puppy could be shoved twenty feet away before Kylie ever reached the reporters. They would arrive apart, not together. The whole point was together. Kylie shook Arianna awake before dawn. "We can't walk off with everyone else. We'll get split up." Arianna sat up, holding the leash. "Then what?" "We go early. Before the crowd wakes." Kylie dressed fast. She found a crew member in the hall and asked one question. The colorful ship let its guests off at eight. Crew and staged guests could go at seven, down a side ramp. Kylie asked for three spots. The crew member checked a tablet and nodded. But early was not enough. If they got separated even on the quiet ramp, the plan still broke. Kylie pulled a spare leash from the puppy's bag. She clipped one end to her own belt loop and the other to Arianna's wrist. Arianna laughed. "You're leashing me?" "Both of us. So no one can pull us apart." Kylie held up the puppy's leash. "Three of us on one line. We move as one thing, or we don't move." At seven they stood at the side ramp. The huge painted hull rose behind them, gold and green and red in the gray light. The dock below was still empty. But down the pier, past a gate, Kylie saw the first vans. Long lenses. A knot of people already waiting. And near the front, a woman in a pale coat stood apart from the rest, arms crossed, watching the ramp. Malia. Kylie's stomach dropped. She almost turned back. Then Arianna's leashed wrist bumped her hand. "One line," Arianna said. "Remember?" Kylie breathed. "One line." They started down. The puppy trotted between them, ears up, calm. The rope stayed short. When the crowd surged toward the gate, Kylie felt the pull on her belt, but Arianna came with her. The puppy came with them. No gap opened. No one slipped. They reached the bottom together, all three still joined. The reporters shouted at once. Cameras flashed like the ones Kylie had faked on deck. The puppy did not bolt. Arianna did not freeze. "I wrote her letters for a year," Arianna said, clear and steady. "I'm not going anywhere." Kylie squeezed her hand. They had made it off the ship as one. The obstacle was gone. But Malia was already stepping through the gate, pale coat and all, walking straight at them.