Chapter 59
iris
Iris followed Nicky’s light, her lungs already straining as they swam through the galley kitchen.
Despite the light, it was impossible to see anything in the murk.
Unseen objects bumped against her legs, and several times they had to manoeuvre around debris blocking the narrow galley.
Nicky stopped ahead of her to shift a piece of metal, and Iris felt the terror bubbling up inside her as she trod water. She’d never been a strong swimmer.
Panic rose in Iris’s chest.
She couldn’t breathe.
She gasped and inhaled a mouthful of lake water, churning frantically in circles in the dark. She heard screaming, and had no idea if it was real or in her head.
She couldn’t see Nicky’s light anymore. She swallowed more water, the world starting to turn black.
And then suddenly Amy was there, gripping her shoulders, pulling her backwards into a tiny air pocket a couple of inches beneath the boat’s hull.
Iris sucked in air: rapid, dizzying snatches of breath.
‘We have to go back for them,’ she said, clutching her sister’s arm in the darkness. ‘We have to . . . go back – I can’t, I can’t —’
‘In through the nose,’ Amy said, her voice calm.
‘Out through the mouth. Come on, Iris. You can do it. Slowly, gently. You’re having a panic attack, that’s all.
We need to slow your breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth.
Come on. Do it with me. In . . . two . .
. three. Out . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five.’
Iris forced herself to breathe in time with her sister’s words.
In through the nose.
Out through the mouth.
‘That’s it,’ Amy said. ‘Take your time. It’s OK.’
Her sister rubbed her back as if they had all the time in the world. The pain around Iris’s chest finally started to ease.
‘Better?’ Amy asked.
‘Let me go back, Amy, please—’
‘We need to get out of here,’ Amy said. ‘I’ll be right behind you. We’re almost there. You can do this, Iris. Nicky’s done it. You can do it, too.’
Iris plunged back beneath the oily lake water. She had no light to follow, but they were further along the galley kitchen than she’d thought: within a few strokes, she felt a sudden wash of eddying lake currents and realised she was at the open door to the outside.
Amy was right behind her. Her sister groped for her hands in the dark, and Iris felt the stream of bubbles as Amy exhaled next to her cheek.
Like you’re blowing out birthday candles.
They ascended together through the murky gloom, still holding hands as if they were dancing together.
Iris felt an overwhelming urge to kick up towards the surface, but Amy tightened her grip, forcing Iris to slow her pace. She exhaled steadily, birthday candles, and then, abruptly, with almost ridiculous ease, her head broke the surface.
They were free.
A cool night breeze ruffled the surface of the lake. The velvet black sky above them glittered with stars.
Iris inhaled greedily. After the foetid, rank air they’d been breathing, it felt like a cool drink of iced water when you’d been lost in the desert for a week.
She heard voices echoing across the water, and the sound of boat engines circling near them.
Sirens wailed in the distance. The lights were still out around the lake, so it was impossible to pinpoint a landmark or know how far they were from the shore, but Iris recognised the Adirondack mountain range silhouetted in the moonlight.
Its solid familiarity made it suddenly hard to swallow.
The trauma they’d just endured had happened minutes from home.
Amy let go of her hands, splashing and shouting to attract attention. A flashlight panned across the water towards them.
‘Nicky!’ Amy cried, spiralling in circles.
‘We’ve got you, ma’am,’ someone shouted. ‘We’re gonna be there directly. You hold on, ma’am. Caleb’s tossing you a rope, now.’
‘Finn!’ Iris called.
A small inflatable dinghy sped across the lake towards them. It was almost eerily calm, the water barely rippling beyond the progress of the boat.
‘I can’t see the boys,’ Iris said, panicking. ‘Amy, where are they?’
‘They’ve probably been picked up already,’ Amy said.
She sounded confident, but Iris could hear the fear underscoring her voice.
‘Why aren’t there more boats?’ Iris said.
Two or three small craft were moving across the water, their lights bobbing with the motion, but where were the red and blue flashing lights of the emergency services?
Where were the police, the fire department, the Coast Guard?
They’d been trapped in the boat for well over an hour.
Why had it taken so long to raise the alarm?
The dinghy finally reached them, and two men hauled her and Amy across its gunwale. No one else was on board.
‘My son is out here,’ Amy cried, unsettling the boat as she knelt up against the side and spun wildly, scanning the dark lake. ‘He was just with us.’
‘Haven’t seen anyone out here but you, ma’am.’
‘Maybe he’s in one of the other boats—’
‘We haven’t picked anyone up in a while,’ the man said.
Iris felt a cold knot of fear tighten in her stomach.
‘Are you sure?’ Iris said. ‘My son’s called Finn. And I have a daughter, Rose—’
‘There’s a Rose at the marina,’ the older man said, clearly desperate to share some good news. ‘Red hair. She’s fine, ma’am. Came in with MacGill Smith about an hour ago. Gonna be just fine. We’ll take you to them right now—’
‘No,’ Amy said. ‘We have to look for our boys.’ She snatched the flashlight from the bottom of the dinghy. ‘We don’t go back until we find them.’