A Captive of Wing and Feather A Retelling of Swan Lake - Melanie Cellier Page 0,96

sling made of cotton. Just like before, we all dropped, two heartbeats passing before the swans’ powerful wings caught us, lifting us back into the sky.

I slumped down, curled into a ball, and gave myself over to exhaustion. I had hoped to see Audrey again, and Gabe, one last time, but I had no energy left to try to direct the birds. They would take me where they willed.

Long moments passed in which I slipped in and out of consciousness, somehow still clinging to life. Eventually I roused enough to notice that we were flying slowly, our pace decreasing and our altitude dropping. I peered around, trying to get my bearings through the dizziness and nausea.

Everything looked different from up here, seen from a swan’s view, but at last I recognized it. The swans were taking me home to my lake. I nodded and let myself slip back down again. It seemed a fitting place to die, among friends.

They must have been tiring of their burden because by the time the lake appeared beneath us, we were perilously low. I tried to find the voice to warn them that I could not land on the water as they could, but I remembered that I had no swan words in the darkness.

And then we jerked and dipped, Snowy faltering and crashing to the lake below. Her corner dropped, and the sling catapulted me out and into the dark, cold embrace of the water.

Chapter 28

The shock of the impact, followed by the cold water, revived me somewhat. I thrashed around, struggling for the surface. Finally I broke free into the cool moonlight, gasping for air, but the brief burst of energy was already subsiding.

My legs kicked weakly, but my arms and shoulders slipped beneath the surface, the water swallowing me slowly. I looked around for something to grasp hold of, thinking perhaps I could cling to one of the swans, but it took me a moment to find them.

The seven shapes on the water barely moved, their necks drooping and their small movements feeble. My heart contracted. It had not been exhaustion, then. They shared my fate, just as Leander had threatened. My hands fluttered and my feet scissored, but my skirts weighed me down, and I sank.

“Adelaide!” A strong voice shouted my name, followed by energetic splashes.

The water moved around me, new life injected into the lake as Gabe appeared, swimming fast in my direction.

“Adelaide,” he cried again, coming to a stop beside me, and slipping his arm under me.

I breathed a sigh of relief and stopped my efforts, letting myself hang there, while he kept us both afloat.

“What are you doing here?” I managed to whisper.

“I saw you fly overhead,” he said. “And I guessed where the swans would take you. I ran all the way.”

I could hear his labored breathing now, and new fear clutched at my heart. It was far too late for me, but Gabe shouldn’t be out here in the middle of the lake, exhausted and trying to support my weight. I thrashed weakly, trying to push him away.

“Addie, stop! What are you doing?”

“Go,” I said, my voice as weak as my body. “It’s too late for me. You need to go.”

“No.” He sounded stubborn and strong. “I won’t leave you. I don’t know what trick Leander has been playing tonight, but no matter what, I won’t leave you.”

Fear for him proved as effective as cold water at giving me a burst of energy. I grasped at him. “Then we will both die. You have to swim back.”

I could feel it even more, the way we kept dipping down. He had to exert more and more energy to keep us both afloat. I tried to disentangle myself, but he was the one clinging on now, and I couldn’t get myself loose. I would be the dead weight that dragged him to the bottom, his energy drained in his attempt to hold back the inevitable.

“Gabe, no,” I managed to say, and then we both sank, water rushing around my nose and mouth and eyes and cutting off my words.

For a horrible moment, I panicked, pushing and clawing in my attempts to get my head back above water. And then I remember who I pushed against and stopped, everything going limp once more. But Gabe’s arm came alive beneath me, propelling me up toward the surface.

I broke free, gasping and spluttering as I sucked in precious gulps of air. But Gabe hadn’t emerged, and I let myself sink