Angie grasped her wrist firmly, pulling her close. “Wewilldie if we don’t. Got it? I’ll hold on to you tightly.”
“I ... I can’t swim.”
Fuckfuckfuck.“It’s okay. It’s fine—” Another gunshotthwockedinto a tree, exploding bark right next to them. A man yelled as he spotted Angie and Annelise below.
“They’re down there! We got ’em!”
Angie leaped, yanking Annelise with her. She heard Annelise scream as they dropped like rocks through the air.
CHAPTER 46
The impact as they hit the water stopped Angie’s heart. They plunged beneath the surface, cold crushing through her body, exploding pain through her skull, her sinuses, like the worst brain freeze she’d ever experienced. The coppery taste of blood from her nose filled the back of her throat.
As they sank down, down, down into the frigid depths of the Nahamish River, white bubbles poured up from Angie’s nose and mouth, and her red hair streamed around her face. She clutched tightly on to Annelise, who appeared as a waving black shape in Holgersen’s voluminous coat. Otherwise, everything underneath was watery green.
As they continued to sink down to the bottom, Angie saw in her mind’s eye Axel’s open eyes, the two arrows sticking out of his chest. She saw Holgersen’s body lying motionless under the cold November sky, the arrow with yellow-and-white fletching piercing clean through his pale, sinewy neck. The snow falling upon his face. She saw Maddocks’s smile. She saw Ginny’s expression at the sight of the wedding gown. She saw her mother’s fingers gently touching the photo of Angie in the dress. She felt her dad’s arms tightly around her, and she heard the words of the hymn.
Ave Maria
Vergin del ciel
Sovrana di grazie e madre pia ...
Angie mentally shook herself. She would not die. She could not. She was going to save this woman for Holgersen. She was going to take Annelise home. She was going to marry Maddocks. She would have that wedding ... Angie fought to hold on to Annelise as the young woman suddenly began to writhe wildly in search of air, to escape the grip of the current that now swept them fast downstream in the direction of the falls.
Hold on hold on hold on to her ...
Angie repeated the mantra over and over in her head as her lungs began to burst. Her boots hit the rocky bottom. She pushed off from the river bed, kicking madly and using her free arm in an effort to struggle up to the surface while still maintaining her grasp on Annelise’s thin wrist.
The current tossed and churned and hurtled them downriver faster than they were getting any closer to the surface. Angie’s lungs burned in pain. Her vision blurred. She reached the surface, and her head popped out. She gasped wildly for air, working her legs like an eggbeater as she yanked Annelise to the surface.
The young woman’s head emerged, hair plastering her face as she gasped and choked. The trees on the other side of the bank raced past as they were carried swiftly toward the falls.
Debris swirled about their faces. Water churned white. Annelise was thrashing desperately, slapping at the water, slipping from Angie’s grasp. The river was shockingly cold. Angie couldn’t feel her limbs.
They smashed into a rock, glanced off, sweeping sideways into a churning gulley of water. Angie’s shoulder bashed into another rock, and she hit her head hard. Feeling dazed, she struggled to pull herself back into focus, kicking wildly to stay afloat, to try to steer their drift. They suddenly hit a calm but fast-flowing spot. She took a moment to catch her breath, trying to keep her head above the surface while at the same time pulling Annelise closer. But her limbs wouldn’t work. Her fingers could no longer grip things. She had no control. Her mind was going fuzzy. Thinking was hard. She felt herself getting hot, hotter. Angie knew on some level what was happening. Hypothermia.
All her blood was rushing to her core to protect vital organs as other things shut down. In instances like this a person lost in snow in below-freezing temperatures would start stripping off clothes. And when rescuers found the victim, he or she would bizarrely present half-naked.
She could no longer think clearly. No logic. She felt tired, incredibly sleepy. Annelise had gone limp—she looked unconscious now, hair and coat floating out about her on the water. Angie felt the woman slip out of her grasp. She saw her drifting away in the current. Angie tried to raise her hand, to swim. She tried to kick her legs. But the river took her into cold arms, embraced her, and drew her gently down.
“Angie!Angie!”
She felt herself being ripped out of the depths. Back up to the surface. Something strong was dragging her free from the death grip of the current and the icy claws of the river. A hand on her arm? More hands? Rope around her chest? Being tugged. She cracked up onto the surface, tried to gulp air but swallowed water. She retched. Another hand. Pulling her up higher. Something hard against her body. She was being hauled over it. Boat. Gunwale. She sucked in air, coughed, threw up foam, bile. Water ran over her eyes. Hair plastered her cheeks. She tried to open her eyes, looked up, saw a face. White face. A face framed by black hair. Green eyes, huge eyes, looked down at her. Pale-green eyes full with worry. Green like the Nahamish River in sunlight, green like spring leaves in sunshine.
“Angie! Can you hear me? Angie?”
Claire? It was Claire. Orange life vest under her face. Her black hair was wet, and water streamed over her creamy complexion. Behind her was another shape in black, also with an orange vest over top. Angie realized she was in one of the lodge jet boats, lying on the bottom. Claire must have gone into the water after her, affixed her to a line. Pulled her in. She heard the roar of the engine, felt the boat rise out of the water. Movement.
Annelise?
“Where ... Where is ... A—” She gagged and turned her head sideways. She threw up spittle and water and foam. Claire was wrapping her in a survival blanket.
“We got her, Angie. We got the other woman. What is her name? Who is she?”
“Is she ... is she ... okay? Is ...” Her voice died in her throat, her mind fading again.
Angie heard a man yelling something over the roar of the engine. She blinked, trying to pull into focus the man behind Claire. The man steering the boat.
