Chapter 8
I’m not quick enough this time. I’m not even standing up. I scramble after her anyway, but when I stagger to my feet and reach out, she’s already too far away. It’s too little, too late.
Tara screams as the god lifts her up to its face, looks at her for just a second, and then throws itself straight into the river, disappearing in a froth that’s swept away instantly by the current.
What can I do but jump in after them?
I dive headfirst off the still-burning bridge.
The cold is unbelievable, but I barely even notice it.
Even though I know what I’ll find–I saw it in the lake by our house, Arrow described the same thing for his sister–I’m still shocked not to see or feel or bump into anything below the surface. The river is deep but not that deep.
There’s nothing there.
In a flash, I’m already a good distance away from the bridge, then I crash into rocks, hard enough to knock the breath out of me again, rocks that would have stopped the god and Tara if they stopped me.
Where did they go? Where do any of them go?
I can’t even call out Tara’s name, see if she’s in trouble somewhere or got out of its grasp and is struggling in this cold water.
Which I’m feeling now.
It’s probably shock, too, and all the adrenaline, but with the cold, it makes me start to shiver uncontrollably. I’m in neck-deep water, my legs hanging behind me in the current, and my grip on the rock is starting to slip.
I can’t call for help.
I can’t call for Tara.
I’m alone here.
I’m maybe twenty feet from shore, but it’s a hard stretch of open current. If I don’t swim fast enough, I’ll be swept around into rapids that would probably beat me to death.
There’s no choice–
Well, there is a choice, isn’t there?
I could just let go. The world is ruined. Our city is destroyed. I don’t know where Pop or Max are. Mom is out there somewhere, in a city that’s burning. I can’t hold on much longer.
I could just let go, let the rocks take me. I feel so hopeless, so helpless in this moment that it seems like a real possibility.
The quiet falls again, even though the water is roaring in my ears. There’s nothing left to fight for, a voice is telling me. My own voice.
And then I hear, Stop being such an idiot.
And it isn’t my voice at all.
It’s Max. My brother. Who still might be out there somewhere.
I don’t wait any longer. I leap into the current and swim. My arms and legs feel like they’re made out of heavy rubber. I can barely lift them and they won’t work the way I want them to.
I still try.
I go below the surface. Then above. Then I’m turned over when I hit something, and for a second, I don’t know which direction is which, and when I do get my head up again, I breathe in water, and I’m spinning around again–
And I’m going to drown–
I’m going to drown–
And all I can think is no.
Something grabs my arm so hard it nearly wrenches it out of the socket. And as the god lifts me, I think, See? I was chosen after all.