Page 67 (1/2)

He leveraged his branch, which was far fli than the trunk he was deterht he could ht It shifted

But in the wrong direction

The weight of the trunk rolled even farther ontothe bones with a crunch that may or may not have been audible beneath the water All I kneas pain like no other

I openedeverywhere Bubbles and muted sounds rushed from my throat as the last ofI had not to inhale then Not to gasp in huge lungfuls of the frigid river water in es of istered his mistake for only a second before he threw himself on top of his makeshift lever oncehih, because that one last effort did the trick The trunk rolled away froh

My foot, the bones crushed and still throbbing, slipped free fro on the shore, Tyler and I stretched out on our backs and stared up at the sliver of aits appearance between clouds thatin and over and across the sky

Tyler was panting and breathless, while I shivered, ling in est sensation, the awareness ofbeneath , re the I didn’tat it all because it was too new and strange and unusual to do anything else

I thought about Agent Tru it would take thement of bone had knit itself back into place, I could roll

After what felt like an eternity, and when I was sure ere both still alive and relatively unscathed, I held up the fanny pack, still dripping with river water, and announced, "Got it"

Tyler rolled onto his side and glared down at me "You scared the shit out ofjaw "How did you do that, Kyra? Could youbreathe under there?"

My eyebroered "Breathe? No!" But I thought about it Tyler had gone back up for air three times while I’d been forced to hold my breath the entire time "Of course not," Iyou were down there?"

I shook my head I didn’t I’d lost all sense of time

"It had to have been ten, maybe even fifteenat the sky again, watching the viney clouds part and shift and reveal pieces of the moon Behind us the river, the place that should’ve been ush and flow

Fifteen minutes was forever In fifteen minutes I should’ve been dead

But here I was