arms wrapped around them. I found the sight difficult to take in because she was not even sitting at the bottom of the river; she just seemed suspended in the water.
Lu, are you okay? I asked trying to hide my panic and doing a miserable job of it.
It's too cold out on the surface, so I thought I'd wait here till you found me.
I felt the panic subside and anger take its place. I'd almost gone berserk from fear and all the while she'd been chilling here because of the cold?
We need to get out of here. I said but remained where I was. Someone had thrown a bomb or whatever at us and that someone might still have been out there. I didn't want to move up to the surface and find myself surrounded.
I was still debating what to do when my phone rang. She raised an eyebrow at me but I ignored her. I was still mad at her. I eyed her, wondering how she could just be suspended like that, inside the water while I had to make an effort at threading water to keep from sinking to the bottom. The phone rang again and I dug it out from my pocket.
My relief was great when I saw the number belonged to the London Protector HQ.
“We've sent rescue to you at the lake. You may both come out now.” I was told.
I shut the phone and slipped it back into my pocket.
They've sent a rescue team. We need to go now.
I saw her give me a questioning look at the abrupt tone I'd used but I ignored it and stretched out my hand to her. As soon as she curled her small hand in mine, we shot for the surface. I was still mad as hell, but I figured we could deal with that later. Right then I needed to make sure she was safe and warm.
Chapter Four
Back at the Protector's HQ, we had gotten out of our wet things and were at what I learned was the briefing room. It didn't look much different from any regular conference room to me, but I figured that with the heavy TOP SECRET and the OUT OF BOUNDS stamped onto the door, the protectors took it very seriously.
I was handed a steaming cup of tea as soon as I sat down on one of the comfortable seats around the conference table with some other Protectors. I'd noticed as soon as I entered that Dylan seemed to be missing. He'd gone to his room as soon as he'd seen me to my room and though I'd tried to convince him to take a hot shower in my room; he simply shook his head and strode off.
As I sipped from my teacup, I glanced at the other protectors milling around. They were generally ignoring me and there was none of the warmth that had been directed at me by the other protectors in the United States. I noticed a particularly frosty stare coming from a stunning protector. She had wavy raven locks that seemed to spill down her back in sleek, shiny waves. I gauged her to be about four or five inches taller than I was and she looked like a combination of every model that had every walked the runway. Katrina was obsessed with fashion shows and had even dragged me to a few in New York and in Paris.
I lowered my gaze to my teacup but couldn't help looking at her again. She'd turned to speak to a huge protector guy that was seated next to her. She must have felt me looking at her because she turned and gave me a pointed stare before turning back to her companion. She said a few words and they both turned and looked at me with smirks on their faces. I was immediately conscious of the fact that while she was dressed in a black leather catsuit; I was more simply attired in a pair of skinny jeans and a light blue sweater. My hair was in a ponytail and I wished I'd taken the time to make it into a French braid. They had no right to smirk at me when none of them had bothered to even speak to me. I was not going to let a bunch of snobby protectors make me feel inferior. I lifted my chin and gave them a stare filled with disdain.
Just then the Top Secret door opened and Dylan walked in. He