“Yeah.” I skim my hands along the stream, scooping up water in my palms and letting it run through my fingers. “I know she’s safe for now, ’cause her hair’s too short. But sooner or later, they’re going to test her. And then they’ll find out about her psychic abilities and take her away.”
“Was Mikey able to get a message to your mom through the Underground?”
“He’s trying.” I stare at my hands, distorted through the water. “He’s not sure how clear the communication with your mom is.”
I recline in the water again, and Logan supports my neck and back. If there weren’t so much going on in my head, this would be nice. The water sways me, and his eyes flicker down the length of my body before returning to my face.
I lift my hand to touch him…and sink into the water once again. When I surface, he leans his forehead against mine. “You’ve got to focus, Callie.”
His lips are right there, inches from mine, so I kiss him. As our lips spar, I push out all the images cluttering my brain. A woman in a FuMA uniform, with bright silver hair. Beks’s wild eyes as she grabs on to my ankle. My arm slicing through the air and stabbing a needle into my sister’s heart.
I kiss Logan until these images fade. I kiss him until white noise roars in my ears and my mind is frenzied static. I kiss him until I forget everything but the feel of his bare chest and arms slick against me.
But it’s not enough. I jump up and wrap my legs around his waist. He staggers backward, and we sink into the stream, still kissing. My hair swirls around us, mixing with the ribbons of algae, and we’re still kissing. The water creeps up our necks toward our chins, and we still…continue…to…kiss.
He breaks the contact with a gasp, his hot breath panting over me. “Maybe we’d better stop before we get carried away.”
I wrap my fingers around his neck. “I like getting carried away with you.”
“So do I.” He gives me a peck on the nose. I know, somewhere in the back of my mind, that his eyes are green, yet at this moment, I’d swear they’re made from the same murky blackness as the water. “But I get the feeling we’re not talking about the exact same thing.”
Aren’t we? Because part of me is very sure I’m ready to take the next step. If I only have a short time left with Logan, I want to make the most of every moment. But the other part of me isn’t sure, isn’t ready.
I take a couple of steps away, to give both my emotions and my body some space. The water laps against my ribs, cool and refreshing against my burning skin. With the amount of heat we generated, I’m surprised the stream didn’t boil.
Lying back on the water, I kick my feet, trying to remember everything he taught me. Amazingly, I don’t sink.
Something buoys me up, and I’m floating. Weightless. Skimming the top of the world.
“You’re doing it.” The words sound muffled through the water, and I smile. And then my heavy limbs take over and I sink.
“Twelve seconds,” he says. “You were floating for twelve whole seconds.”
I wipe the drops off my face. “Is that good?”
“Good enough for your first lesson.”
We go back to shore. When we sit down, Logan’s eyes have turned green once again. I show him the net I’ve been weaving out of plant stalks, as I waited for the fish to get caught in my traps.
He runs his fingers over the bumps where the fronds cross one another. “How come you don’t know how to swim? You said your mom doesn’t like the water. But couldn’t your dad have taught you?”
I take a swig from my canteen, although the lump in my throat has nothing to do with thirst. “My dad hasn’t been around since I was four.”
“I knew he left, but I thought you said he came back. After Jessa was born.”
“Nope.” I drink more water. “I remember his last day so clearly. I was standing on the sanitation machine in my nightgown in order to hug him good-bye. He turned to my mom and said ‘They’re going to shave my head. I’ll have to get a wig when I come back so Boo-Boo doesn’t get scared.’ That’s what he called me. Boo-Boo.”