The Summer We Came to Life

Chapter

52





“IS SHE ALIVE?”

Lynette’s scream pierces my ears. Everything hurts. The sudden sensation of being alive slams into me. Saltwater scorches my throat. My eyelids grind together like mismatched gears. As my body is transferred from one set of arms into another, my feet plant in the slushy sand and water falls from me in sheets.

“Samantha?” Lynette cradles me in her grip. She kisses my forehead and pets my face with abrasive hands. My eyes blink open and the light is blinding. But this light has limits, and it turns to sky, a sky that holds Lynette’s anguished face and Ahari’s searing gaze. When my eyes catch his, his dark eyes narrow, but then he nods and leaves. I wish he would come back.

“Oh my God, oh my God. Hi baby. Hi sugar.” Lynette crushes me against her chest. “Oh my God, Sammy, I thought—”

“Lynette, honey, let’s get her out of here.” That was Cornell. Cornell lifts me by my armpits and half drags, half carries me out of the ocean. My senses aren’t working right. Everything swirls and echoes. Blue sky. The house in the distance. My feet stumbling over the sand.

But other images flash before me, too. The dock, Kendra’s bloody foot, Isabel sinking in the dark water—slivers of visions slip through my fingers as if I’m scaling a mountain turned to sand. I can’t get a grip on what’s happening.

Isabel! Isabel’s laid out on the ground, crying, with Arshan and Jesse huddled above her.

I did it. I’m here. Isabel is here. But—

The ocean roars in defeat at my back. I am crying, too, I realize. Deep, racking cries.

Time turned back. A second chance. For Isabel. For Kendra. For me.

But something went wrong.