“Breathe!” Elias grabbed hold of her by the lapel, just as the ice beneath them shifted into the air.
Together, they dove.
Chapter 17
The shock of ice-cold water hit his system, shutting it down for the first few seconds.
Without the benefit of oxygen, it was like he just…left his body for a bit.
He’d read about a man who grew accustomed to the cold by immersing himself in frigid water daily. Apparently, this guy trained other people to do it too, heading to polar regions to swim in the water there. He liked the challenge.
Well, he’d read about it and he’d shaken his head and thought,What a prick.
And then he’d gone and done it a few times.
What else was there to do around here?
But now? Now he wished he’d practiced every damned day until it had felt like a warm bath. Because swimming—if you could call what he was doing that—in this lake was pure hell.
When he was finally able to move, he spun, looking for Leo. What he saw was a labyrinth of ice chunks—bigger from the water than they’d appeared from above it—floating like icebergs, as far as he could see. From here, the shore looked miles away.
He did another half turn, scanning the surface. They had ten minutes before their muscles gave out. Where was she?
From behind them, Bo barked.
Shit. The dog hadn’t followed.
“Leo!” he yelled, kicking in a circle until he caught sight of Bo back on a half-submerged chunk of ice, racing from one side to the other, then hunching before doing the whole thing all over again. She whined and slid a few inches closer to the edge.
Something splashed close by. There. Leo’s head, above water. “Elias!”
“Come…on.” Every word was an effort to get out. He didn’t know if he was calling his dog or Leo or giving himself the world’s shittiest pep talk.
Bo let out another high whine.
“Do it! Come on, girl!” Each inhale brought shards of icy air into his body—tiny splinters embedded in his lungs, which he’d then have to somehow exhale again. “Don’t…make me…come back there, girl, or I’ll—”
She jumped, the splash barely audible. After that, she was quiet, going through that same terrible period of nothing before the pain hit.
By the time he turned around, Leo had disappeared again. Underwater? Or behind a hunk of ice?
“Leo!” The word was a whisper, nearly inaudible against the sound of ice grinding against ice. He pulled in the most painful breath of his life and bellowed, “Leo!”
***
Down, down, under the surface, blind and frozen and throbbing with a million aching pinpricks of cold water.
Stay still, she remembered from her training.Go still and wait for the shock to pass.
It was almost impossible. The cold wasn’t like anything she’d experienced. It was like a being dragging her straight to hell.
She kicked, hard, barely budged, and kicked again, only making it out for a single, frantic breath before the ice they’d just been on rushed at another floating chunk, the two bashing together like bumper cars. She was shoved down again, with nothing but the bubble of air she held tight in her lungs.
She spun, looking for a way up. No. No, not like this. Not trapped, drowning, in the freezing cold. In the air, yes, at the controls of anything she could fly, but not like this.
She scrabbled against the underside of what had to be a freaking iceberg. Frantic for a few seconds, before possibly her single working brain cell chimed in with just enough reason to calm her down.
In a helicopter, she would never try to power out of, say, a vortex ring state—she’d establish forward flight and ease out into clean air.Do it.
