The first order of business was to pick through the Dilligaf and see what was still useable inside the hull. Once they had that figured out, they could see about getting a real plan together.

  Matt had insisted on going first, as he was the most familiar with the vessel and also the most knowledgeable about structural soundness and potential dangers. It had taken him the better part of an hour to make his way through the yacht, winding his way down the corridors and into the bedrooms and cabins.

  It was… Worse than he had thought. Walls had buckled and bulged under the impact of the Dilligaf meeting the earth. Ceilings hung low, and in the case of the media room had collapsed completely. He winced as he saw thousands of dollars of valuable electronics smashed to bits by caved-in decking.

  They could probably use it for shelter, but it would be temporary at best. Some of the rooms were open to the elements, and others were straight-up dangerous, with holes in the flooring or spots where the superstructure had forced up and in like a mine had gone off.

  He'd had a momentary scare when he'd entered the galley to find the propane tanks still on, but the stove had been turned off and the pilot light was out. Thank God. He’d swiftly cut off the gas flow, then spent the next couple minutes panting violently in an effort to get his heart rate back down.

  And then, of course, there was the fact that everything was tilted around 30 degrees thanks to the way the yacht had settled and skewed when it landed. Matt had a couple ideas on ways to fix that as he climbed through the wreck, but it would require a lot of work and some tools he wasn’t sure he had at the moment.

  When he had finished his walk-through, Matt had climbed out to find that Allie had taken the other coin, the one generated from the dead crab, and chosen her own boon as well. Like Matt, she had selected her possessions. And this time it apparently hadn’t resulted in them falling from the sky, but just appearing gently at her feet.

  Which was good, because her possessions included several boxes of ammunition and a half-dozen firearms, including her assault rifle, a handful of shotguns, and a smattering of pistols. Despite what the movies say, falling and landing on a hard surface usually wouldn’t cause a gun to fire… But falling from an unknown height and mixing magic–and wasn't that still a weird thought–in with everything else… it was just as well that they had arrived as gently as they had.

  “It’s rough in there,” Matt said as he clambered back out the hole in the hull. “Everything’s at an angle, but I might be able to get that adjusted at some point. Just need the tools and a couple block-and-tackle rigs and some building materials. Might be able to make it into a workable shelter, with enough elbow grease.”

  “I don’t like that it’s so close to the beach,” Allie said, her eyes constantly shifting around as she stood watch. “We already know there are monster crabs out there that attack on sight.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t know what else might be further into the jungle, either,” Matt pointed out.

  “If it’s anything like my books,” Olivia piped up from where she was perched on a rock, kicking her bare feet back and forth, “then there’s probably a bunch of monsters out there that we haven’t seen yet. And they’ll get more powerful the further we get away from the starting zone. Which, I guess, is the beach?”

  Matt took a moment to look around the area. THe clearing where the Dilligaf had landed wasn’t really a clearing per se, but about a football-field size patch of jungle in which there were only smaller shrubs or young trees rather than the large–and purple–thick-trunked trees that made up the bulk of the jungle nearby.

  Still, it was empty enough that they had a clear field of view within that area, and with some squinting Matt could even see beyond into the jungle a ways, though that was because the jungle appeared to have made quite a few natural pathways out of the way the trees and undergrowth had grown together and spread out. And the Dilligaf, either through luck or providence, had settled pretty much in the direct center of it, crushing several smaller trees and bushes under its bulk.

  It was a good, defensible location, as much as he could judge it anyway. Allie would be the true authority on that, of course. But he could already see how he’d erect walls to keep the wildlife at bay, and give them a method of defending their new home until–

  He stopped and felt something twitch inside of him.

  Their new home.

  The world tilted 90 degrees in front of him, and he suddenly found he had no balance even though his feet were on solid ground. His legs buckled, and he managed to just turn the motion into a hard sit-down instead of a fall-forward and faceplant. He could feel his eyes were wide, but suddenly he couldn’t see anything except a kind of gray static in front of him. He heard the blood rushing in his ears, felt his heart hammering against his chest, felt his thoughts scatter and spin out of control inside his own mind.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder.

  “Easy Matty. Easy.” Allie’s voice. His wife’s voice. She was next to him? And talking to him. That meant she was right here, right? She hadn’t gone anywhere?

  “What’s wrong with dad?” Lucas’ voice was tinged with panic.

  “Is he poisoned? Did the snake poison him? If he’s poisoned we need to look for antidote herbs or something!” Olivia’s voice was scared as well, but holding together.

  “He’s fine,” Allie’s voice was gentle. “He just overexerted himself in the boat. Isabel, put Lucas down on that rock. Then all of you go in the boat to the kitchen and bring back as much water as you can. Be careful. Your father said it was safe, but do not take chances. Fill up pitchers from the dispenser and bring them out here. And bring some food too. Anything that doesn’t require prep and is high in sugar.”

  “I know where dad hid his Snickers bars,” Olivia said. “I’ll get them!”

  “Bring enough for everyone,” Allie commanded.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Yes mom,” Matt heard the kids chorus, backed up by the “Yes Mrs. Albright” from Dinah. There was the patter of feet as they hastened to obey.

  Then he felt something warm and unyielding press against his forehead.

  “Just breathe, big guy,” his wife’s whispered words were inches from his face. She was pressing her forehead to his. Her hand on the back of his neck kneaded and soothed. “It will pass. Just breathe.”

  “What’s happening,” he managed to gasp.

  “You’re shocky. You’ve been wounded, healed, dropped into a high-stress situation, and have basically been on for the past twenty hours. Your body isn’t used to it, and it’s telling you to cool it, mi corazon.”

  “I can’t see,” he said, leaning almost desperately into Allie’s grip.

  “That happens sometimes. Just breathe. It will pass.”

  He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, foreheads pressed together, his breath coming in panicky, shaky gasps as the world seemed to spin away from him. He felt something cool and smooth pressed into his hand, and Allie’s free hand gently guided it up to his lips. The sweet tang of orange juice hit his tongue like an explosion, and he drank from the glass greedily.

  “More,” he rasped. The glass was taken from him, refilled, and handed back, and he gunned it down like a college freshman with a beer bong.

  Slowly, the shakes went away. Slowly, his vision came back. And the first thing he saw were his wife’s eyes, staring unblinking into his own from bare inches away. He blinked and sucked in a shuddery breath.

  “Better?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he said, nodding jerkily. “Thank you.”

  “Stay seated until you have your balance back. It usually takes a little time for everything to slot back into place.”

  He nodded again, and she squeezed the back of his neck before standing up and moving over to where Olivia was unloading food and drink from a cooler.

  “What happened to the Snickers bars?” she asked, humor in her voice.

  “Well, I figured, it’s probably been a whole lifetime since any of us have eaten,” Olivia said as she pulled out a pack of cold cuts. “So why not get a full meal going instead of just a snack? The fridge is offline, so I figured, might as well eat it now, right?”

  Matt turned his attention away from them as they started making sandwiches and looked around. The clearing remained the same as it had been. Nothing had changed. Lucas was sitting on a nearby rock, eyes flicking back and forth between the meal prep and Matt. He caught his son’s eyes and gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Lucas seemed to relax a little, and smiled back.

  Then he closed his eyes and turned inward, to face what had sent him over the edge in the first place.

  Our new home.

  It wasn’t really a question anymore. They were no longer in their own world. Somehow, somewhy, they’d been flung far from earth into a world where magic appeared to exist, and giant monster crabs stalked the shoreline. Where trees hid themselves from view, and some possibly sentient force could make 50-ton yachts and advanced firearms just appear out of thin air.

  He and his family were castaways, in more than one sense of the word. And he had no idea how they were going to get home.

  If.

  If there was a way to get home in the first place.

  He felt his mind start to spin away again, but this time he grabbed ahold of himself before it could do more than wobble a bit.

  We need a plan.

  He was a creature of habit. He knew it about himself. He was not great at pivoting in unexpected situations. It was why he had foremen in his business who were good at that kind of thing, so they could bring him problems and possible solutions, and he could slot them all into a plan for moving forward. And if ever there was an unexpected situation he had to come to grips with as fast as possible…

  Okay Albright. Get your head in the game.

  He was brought out of his thoughts as Isabel appeared in front of him and handed him a thick sandwich on whole-wheat bread and a glass of water. “Here dad. It’s roast beef.”

  He managed a smile. “My favorite. Thank you.”

  Bel returned his smile with a little one of her own. She watched him as he bit into the sandwich–and holy moly did it taste like the best sandwich he’d ever eaten in his life. In what seemed like mere seconds he’d devoured the entire thing and was ready for another as he chugged down the water. He started to ask Isabel for another when he noticed the way she was looking at him.

  He didn’t even have to guess what was on her mind.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  She blinked. “What?”

  “I don’t know how we’re going to get home,” he said, clambering to his feet. “I don’t even know if it’s possible.”

  He felt more than saw the eyes of his family turn towards him, sounds of eating going quiet at his words. He closed his eyes and composed his thoughts for a moment before he opened them again and turned to meet the eyes of everyone around him.

  “I don’t know what brought us here, or why. And I don’t know if there’s a way back home. For all we know, we’re stuck here.”

  That got a reaction. Eyes lowered. Shoulders slumped. A pall tried to settle over the little group of survivors and their impromptu picnic.

  “But,” Matt continued, and eyes came back up and on him again.

  “But if there is, we’re going to find it. And if there’s not, then we’re going to survive and thrive in this new world. Because God is still with us, and because we have each other. And with those two things on our side, there’s not a thing we can’t handle. We’re family, and we’re going to make it.”

  He ignored the fact that less than twenty four hours ago they’d practically been falling apart. He ignored the fact that his wife had been on the verge of leaving him and the kids. He ignored the fact that Dinah wasn’t technically family. Because right now, none of that mattered a whit.

  Because he’d made a pledge, dammit.

  He caught Allie’s eye and raised his eyebrows at her, then extended his hand. She looked at him for a long moment, then he saw her take a deep breath and square her shoulders, meet his gaze, and nod firmly. Then she gave him a smile, one he hadn’t seen on her face in what felt like years. The one she reserved for him and him alone.

  She stepped forward and took his hand, then turned and offered her hand to Olivia, the nearest child in line. After a second’s hesitation, Olivia stood and took Allie’s hand.

  Then she grabbed Dinah’s hand. And Isabel took Dinah’s other hand in one, and Lucas’s hand–who she had carried over to them again–in her other. And Matt closed the circle when he took his son’s free hand.

  “Let’s bow our heads,” Allie said quietly. Matt smiled and closed his eyes and let his head droop forward. And as he did so, he heard Allie’s soft prayer speak for them all.

  “Thank you Father, for bringing us safely through the storm. Thank you for family, for all of us here, and for giving us your great gifts.

  “We ask now for strength to face the unknown, courage to bear up under the coming trials, and wisdom and love in our hearts to deal with each other in our new circumstance. Because we know it will be hard, but we know too with you walking beside us we will make it through.”

  Matt smiled. “And all God’s children said?”

  “Amen,” said everyone.

  Matt opened his eyes and squeezed Allie’s hand once before letting go.

  “Alright,” he said. “Let’s eat, then we get to work.”