“Don’t look down,” he yells over the crashing current.
I obey immediately, my heart thrashing in my chest, my arms shivering from my nerves and the cold water, but they stay locked around my partners. I look up at the forest a few yards ahead of us. The limbs of trees tangle around each other in the thick woods. Almost there.
I take deep breaths through my nose, my chest heaving. Small steps. Don’t look down. Almost there. Something slams against my leg in the water and I scream in pain as my leg gives out and I release my hold on my mother and Asher.
I regret my mistake as soon as it’s made. My fingers slip against the leather of their belts to find my safety again, but it’s no use. My fingers flail through cool water, and my arms are pushed back away from them both. My mother doesn’t release me, but the weight of the river and me nearly pull her down. Her thin body is half submerged in the water. Her long blonde hair is wet and sticks to her terrified face. Water chokes down my throat and burns my nose as I fight for small breaths.
Ky holds strong to a thin tree that’s growing into the river from the side of the grassy bank. He holds himself up against the weight of my mother and me. His muscles strain against the pull of us. It only takes a few terrifying seconds to pass before I’m being pulled into Asher’s chest.
“Let go,” he yells to my mother. She’s failing to keep herself up; her neck is angled to keep above the water. I see pain and fear flash in her eyes as she looks from me to Asher. Her round eyes study my face quickly like it’s the last time she might ever see her only daughter. She takes a gasping breath.
Then she lets go of my hand.
The cool current washes over my body pulling me farther into the rapids, then my fingers dig instinctively into Asher’s shoulders as he pulls me tightly to him with one arm around my waist.
We’re unsteady. He tries to regain his footing, and Ky’s words echo like thunder through my mind, it’ll only drag you down. It slowly occurs to me that he needs to ditch me before I drown us both. As if reading my mind, his fingers dig into my hip. My hair clings to my face, and my clothes are drenched, only adding more weight to his task. I breathe in, moisture clinging to the air and filling my lungs.
It only takes a second for him to find his footing again, and I press the side of my face against his chest, wanting to hide my face, but afraid to look away from everything. Asher takes bigger steps now than we did as a group, his face set in determination.
I see Ky pulling my mother to the bank. She stumbles out onto the muddy ground, and he climbs out of the water behind her. It takes me a moment to realize we’re trailing farther downstream, away from them. My heart sinks deeper in my chest with every tree we pass. Ky runs along the bank, keeping pace with us. Asher’s feet never stumble; he doesn’t look down. His eyes stay focused on the bank ahead of us.
We’re only a few feet away now. Ky leans out to us, his hand held out for Asher. Asher visibly swallows, his jaw set tight. Then he lurches forward, extending his arm in front of himself. The river sweeps us up in an instant, carrying us like fish in a current, but Ky grabs Asher’s arm at the last second.
Ky groans against our weight, his teeth clenched as he hangs onto Asher’s wet hand. He pulls us from the rapids, the water fighting to release us. He sinks his boots into the thick mud and pulls us into the bank. Asher pushes me up out of the water. My fingers claw at the dirt as I crawl up the grass. My left leg shoots pain through my body with every move. My mother helps me up and hugs me into her cold, drenched side. Ky pulls Asher up from the water, and he instantly finds his balance. I watch as Asher takes deep breaths, his chest rising and falling under his clinging shirt, the hard lines of his stomach accentuated beneath the translucent fabric.
“Are you okay?” he asks, taking my cold hand in