Chapter 204

After lunch, Elodie and Ari took a nap, which turned into an hour-long siesta, lulled by the rhythmic crash of waves against the shore. But then, there was no hurry to get up; it was not as if they had any place to go. Elodie sat up and stretched. Suddenly, a flicker of movement in the distance caught her eye. She squinted. Was that…? No, it couldn’t be… A sleek white shape materialised on the horizon, a speck growing larger with each passing second. Another dolphin? Maybe a playful whale breaching the surface? Elodie watched with bated breath. Hope battled with scepticism. Then, the unmistakable silhouette of a boat cut through the blue. A boat. A real, honest-to-goodness boat. Elodie’s breath hitched in her throat. This couldn’t be real. Could it? ‘Ari!’ she shrieked. ‘Look!’ Ari, who had been engrossed in the never-ending task of repairing their makeshift fishing spear, whipped his head around. His eyes followed hers. ‘Is that… a yacht?’ Elodie let out a whoop. A yacht! Scrambling t