Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Fell
Not that Amie had wanted the Ferris wheel ride to be longer than it was, but if it had been, she would have had some time to ask herself a few questions. Like, “How deep do you think this lake is?” or … no, that would have been the primary one, probably.
Amie crashed through the surface of the water, her scream cut off as she clamped her mouth shut to preserve oxygen. A lightning bolt of pain shot up her ankle as her left foot hit the lake bed. (That answered that question.)
The sudden quiet under the water was startling, even more startling than the pain in her ankle or the freezing cold of the lake. For a moment, Amie floated in place as the water shielded her from the dull thrumming of the world above.
Her survival instincts checked in as her chest began to tighten. Limiting movement in her throbbing ankle, Amie kicked with her other leg and swam upward.
The noise felt almost deafening as she broke through the surface, gasping for air. The din grew even louder as onlookers spotted her and began shouting.
“—over there!”
“I see her!”
“David!”
Amie searched for the source of the last voice as she wiped water out of her eyes, struggling to stay afloat with only one leg in operation.
Ziya stood in her socks on the lakeside, one boot in her hand, the other lying in the grass behind her.
David was already wading into the lake, water up to his knees.
“I’m—” A fit of coughing interfered with her assurances that she was okay, so she demonstrated instead by paddling to shore. David met her in the shallows.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, hauling her upright.
“No—ow.” Amie winced as she stepped with her left foot. Her hand stung from where she’d grabbed the knife, which she’d lost her grip on somewhere between jumping into the lake and resurfacing.
“Those are mutually exclusive responses. Which one is it?”
“Ow,” Amie repeated, putting her weight on her right foot. “Final answer.”
David helped her hop through the shallow water and onto dry land, depositing her into Ziya’s arms.
“You’re gonna smell like lake,” Amie said half-heartedly, hoping she didn’t sound too convincing as Ziya hugged her.
“I don’t care. You scared the shit out of me.” Ziya pulled away, looking her up and down. “Your hand is bleeding!”
“Is it bad?” Amie asked, examining the wound. It was deeper than it felt. She supposed she would feel it more once the adrenaline wore off.
“We should wrap it—”
Amie pulled off her cardigan. “I’ve got it,” she said, swathing it around the wound.
It wasn’t until the act was done that she realized she hadn’t considered the long-term stain ramifications.
Despite her reacclimation efforts that week, she was still at times operating on the assumption that things would reset the following day.
She wondered how long it would take until she no longer had moments like that.
Ziya’s jaw was set with anger as she watched Amie wrap her hand. “Did Raina push you?”
“No. I jumped.”
“What?” Ziya and David exclaimed.
“Shh!” Amie glanced around as David dropped his jacket over her shoulders. The onlookers were thankfully keeping their distance as they watched with curiosity. “She killed Savannah. She knew I knew, and gave me two choices. I didn’t like either of them, so I grabbed her knife and jumped.”
“Why didn’t you just toss the knife?” Ziya asked, appalled.
“I wanted to make it seem like she pushed me,” Amie explained, her teeth beginning to chatter, “so people will finally suspect her. And I needed to get you two away from her. Is she still here?”
“I see security coming,” David said, glancing over their heads. “Looks like someone held on to her.” Slipping his shoes back on, he said, “You take a second. I’ll make sure she stays put.”
He turned to leave, then hesitated, giving Amie a look of concern that made her heart squeeze for worrying him.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Promise.”
David nodded, giving her a silent pat on the shoulder before heading back to the base of the Ferris wheel.
“I knew the name Genevieve sounded familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it,” Ziya said, watching him leave.
“I told the girls I thought something was wrong, but they told me I was just being jealous. I’d just left them when I found David looking for you.
He locked in as soon as I told him about the Genevieve thing. ”
“How did you know something was wrong?” Amie asked, pulling David’s jacket tighter around her as the breeze picked up.
“Raina said you were going to the Ferris wheel,” Ziya scoffed. “In what world does Amie Teller, famously afraid of falling from a great height, voluntarily get on the Ferris wheel? Idiot. Her, not you.”
Amie watched Ziya as she continued to wax poetic about Raina’s intelligence, a warm feeling battling the chill that had begun creeping through her body. Everything was going to be okay. Ziya was still there. And Amie was going to take as much time as was needed to keep her around.
“What did I say?” Amie asked softly.
Ziya stopped mid-epithet. “What?”
“I told you,” Amie said, fighting a smile, “to forget everything you know about me.”
“Oh my god.” Ziya’s shoulders relaxed as she pulled her back into a hug. “I’m still working on it,” she mumbled into Amie’s shoulder.
“It’s just that, you know, you’ve had four whole days since I asked, and it seems like you’re really struggling—”
“I was supposed to forget everything about you in four days?”
“I would’ve preferred two, but I was trying to be reasonable.”
“I give up. If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s probably not going to happen.”
“Darn.”
They pulled apart, Ziya’s hands still resting on the sleeves of David’s jacket.
“Hey,” Amie said. “Tell me what you think I should do now.”
Ziya gave her a curious look. “I think … you should talk to the police. And then let me take you home.”
Amie hesitated, an automatic “okay” resting on her lips. She hadn’t been expecting that.
“No,” she said instead, holding strong. “David can take me home. I want to shower and go to sleep.”
“Oh.” Ziya stepped back, looking chagrined. “Of course, yeah.”
“But can I see you tomorrow?” Amie asked tentatively. “I’ve been thinking about everything you said, and—”
“Yes,” Ziya cut her off, eyes sparkling. “Tomorrow sounds great.”
Tomorrow did sound great.