Deep Betrayal Page 0,96

disbelief at Jack’s confession.

“Pavati, do something,” Sophie yelled. “Now! It’s your only chance!”

But Pavati was frozen, an icy pillar beside the underwater cliff face. If Sophie’s invocation registered in Jack’s mind, he didn’t show it. If he saw the object of his desire in the water below, the damage was already done. My feet slipped, and I slid closer to the edge. There was no hope now. Had there ever been?

I squeezed my eyes tight and two large tears rolled down my cheeks. When I opened my eyes, it was just in time to see a blue angel burst from the waves, sailing through the air, arms outstretched. The most amazing sight, equal in both beauty and terror: Pavati arcing against the sky. She threw her arms around Jack as she rose over us, then turned, returning to the water with him, Jack’s face glowing with fervent obsession.

Somehow, in that balletic maneuver, I was knocked off balance. One second I was mesmerized by beauty; the next, the world tilted on its axis. It was just one

staggering

step, but

now

I

was

falling.

Adrenaline raced to my brain, setting it abuzz—the chain still wrapped around my neck, the cinder block heavy in my arms. Stupidly, I clung to it like a life preserver. Above me, Sophie was watching. She was always watching.

I counted the seconds until Calder would save me: One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi …

Jack, finally appreciating he was in the arms of his beloved, burst open with an enraptured light even I could see. I heard Pavati’s mental gasp and then, overcome by starvation, she spiraled him to the bottom of the lake, crushing him to her until he was no more.

Eight Mississippi.

Nine Mississippi.

Ten …

I cried out, and a torrent of icy water rushed my lungs, drowning out any oxygen I might have been able to preserve. The seconds stretched out between my heartbeats, which slowed, then stuttered.

Twenty Mississippi …

Sophie screamed, her voice piercing the water.

Twenty-three …

Twenty-four …

Twenty-five …

The voices of all my family, some merely imagined but others real and very close, called my name: Mom from the porch steps. Calder and Dad and Maris in the water. Pavati’s sated sigh. Sophie from the rocks.

A high keening burrowed like a dentist’s drill through my brain and out the top of my head. I called for someone—anyone—though no words escaped my lips. Instead, from my open mouth burst a light so brilliant the whole world burned white-hot. A ripple of spasms tore through my body and lifted me into the air, dropping me onto the rocks, gritty and wet and hard against my grasping fingers.

And then everything went black.

35

ACCIDENT

I drifted in and out of consciousness. Men were talking in mix-and-matched sentence fragments and non sequiturs. Some of the combinations made me laugh out loud, but laughing made me sound hysterical, and hysterics only increased the din of their concern.

“Explain this,” said the angriest voice.

“I didn’t do it,” said the saddest. “I didn’t do anything. I would never do this to her.”

“You weren’t trying to be a hero?”

“She didn’t need one. She was still alive.”

“Then what the hell is this supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never understood her.”

I arched my back and opened my eyes to a cloudless sky, patchy and blue through the tree branches. Skin pulled tight across my rib cage. I levitated. No, wait, someone was lifting me from a car. Gravel crunched under their feet as they carried me down a road.

“Careful, Lily. Be still. We’ve got you. You’re home.”

“Dad?” I croaked. “Where did you come from?”

“I’ve always been here. Now don’t talk.”

“Where’s Sophie?” My throat constricted, and the words came out like a rasp.

“I’m not speaking to you,” she said.

“Put me down. You don’t have to carry me.” I struggled in a net of arms, but Dad and Calder tightened their grip.

“Get in the house, Sophie. Tell your mom we’re coming,” Dad said.

My muscles seized, arching and twisting me in their arms. Pinwheels of light spun in my field of vision, and I squeezed my eyes so tight I feared they’d turn inside out. Blood filtered over my tongue as my teeth pierced my bottom lip.

“Let me go!” I cried, trying to break free of Dad’s grip, but I couldn’t feel my legs. For the first time, I was truly afraid. Did the chain break my neck? Am I paralyzed? Is this why they are carrying me? Me and Mom both in wheelchairs? It was too much to comprehend. “No!” I cried.

“Easy, baby,” Dad said. “Everything’s okay.”

But I could