The Summer We Came to Life

Chapter

51





“SWIM, SAMANTHA,” I HEAR MINA SAY.

But my body is a mangled bicycle, thudding against the ocean floor. I can’t swim.

“Swim, Sammy. The world is waiting for you.”

I try but I can’t. The water is too strong. It’s too deep. My heart’s going to pop like a water balloon.

“Swim, Samantha. Ahari’s coming for you.”



I open my eyes and punch the sea in the face.

Then five dark fingers wrap around my wrist and my arm snaps out of view, yanked along under Ahari’s shadow as if I’m grasping the tail of a black stallion. My eyes clamp shut again against the sting, but make no mistake—my body is sailing upward, slicing through the sea.

Up. Up. Up to a waiting world.