La Bouche

Forty nautical miles off Madagascar's northeast coast, a volcanic island blooms with reefs no marine biologist has ever catalogued. Nate Fournell needs it for his thesis. The fishermen who refuse to anchor there call it la bouche—the mouth—because things go in and nothing comes out. Nate has seventy-two hours before his charter returns. By the second night, the jungle is crawling onto the beach, and the beautiful water is starting to feel like a tongue.