I flinched from his raised hand, remembering his painful blow in the van.
“You...hit me,” I croaked.
“Alive. Great.” Leslo nodded, ignoring my accusation. “Let’s go then. We’re almost there.”
Go where?
How?
We weren’tgoinganywhere. We wereswimming.
Thoughts and questions stampeded through my mind.
How did we get into the water? And why?
He wanted to drown me!
Punic surged in me. I shoved against his shoulders with all my might, but it was like trying to move a mountain.
His giant mitt moved from the back of my head to my neck. It’d take just a squeeze for him to kill me. Yet he seemed to be relieved to have me alive. Killing me wasn’t in his plans then? At least not for now.
“Where are we?” I treaded water, moving my eyes to take in our surroundings since he still wouldn’t let me move my head.
“Almost there,” he repeated, then added with a grimace of disgust, “Let’s get the fuck out of this ocean.”
“Ocean? What ocean?” I croaked in alarm.
What had he done to me?
Switching his grip from my neck to my arm, he swam ahead, dragging me behind him.
“Hey!” I sputtered and thrashed in his wake. “Let go of me! I’ll swim on my own.”
“You can swim?” He glanced at me in surprise, then let go of my arm without warning.
I kicked my feet, realizing that my high-heeled pumps were now gone. I was barefoot, but still in my gray pantsuit and blouse.
The soggy jacket restricted my movements. Treading water, I pulled off the jacket and let it sink. The suit was ruined anyway, and I didn’t care. More important things filled my mind.
I just had to get out of here somehow. For that, however, I needed to figure out where I was.
It was a bright, sunny day, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The water felt warm and looked crystal-clean. Everywhere I looked, the water met the sky at the horizon. There was no shore, except to the left, where something sparkled and shone so brightly it hurt my eyes even to look in that direction.
But that was where Leslo was swimming, propelling himself forward with big, jerky strokes. After a few yards, he glanced over his shoulder and noticed I was still only treading water, not following him.
“Are you coming or not?” he barked impatiently.
“Where are we?” I yelled out to him. “What did you do to me? Where are you taking me?”
“You said you could swim,” he snapped. “So, swim then. Or don’t. Whatever. I’ve just about had it with you.”
He turned around and took off, slicing through the water with more power than grace.
I had no choice but to follow or risk being left alone in the open water. Thankfully, the many years of swimming lessons and summer camps while growing up made me a decent swimmer. I couldn’t quite catch up to Leslo, but I managed to keep up with him, not losing sight of him.
The shimmering light in the distance morphed into a spectacular structure as we got closer. I tried to think of something to compare it to.
A mountain?
