“Angel? We’re here.”
He followed the sound and moved to the right. He could hear the water but couldn’t see anything. Several parents moved close and turned on their flashlights. Then Angel spotted movement. Regan and Chloe were clinging to a tree. Taryn was with them. Water lapped at their feet.
“We went to get my bracelet,” Regan admitted when she saw him. “Taryn said to stay with the others, but we didn’t. We’re sorry.”
Something Angel would deal with later, he thought as he started down the muddy side of the mountain. He braced himself against a still-standing tree and reached for Regan. She grabbed his hands and he pulled her to him.
Behind him several other Grove Keepers drew her up to safety.
“You’re next,” he told Chloe.
Nearby another tree snapped and the ground beneath them shifted. Chloe screamed.
“I’m here,” Angel told her. “I’m not going anywhere. Just move up the tree and I’ll grab you.”
Chloe nodded and inched toward him. He leaned forward as far as he could, but it wasn’t enough.
“Here!”
He felt something hit his back. A rope. He tied it around his waist, then felt it tighten as the others hung on to him. He leaned forward and reached for Chloe again. This time he grabbed her.
She clung to him like a monkey. He stepped back and felt them both being hauled up a few feet.
“Come on, Chloe,” Denise Hendrix said firmly as she stuck out her hand. “I’ve got you.”
Chloe reached for her, then scrambled to the top. Which left only Taryn.
Angel adjusted the rope at his waist, then moved toward her. The ground shifted and she screamed as the tree she was on cracked and bent. The night was dark and the flashlights didn’t reach this far. He could only see shapes rather than details, but he knew she was watching him.
“Taryn,” he said slowly. “Taryn, listen to me.”
Because the tree she was on was going to be swallowed by the river any second. She was going to have to let go and grab on to him. She was going to have to trust him.
Defeat settled on his shoulders. There was no way he could convince her. Not so fast. Not with a lifetime of horror to recover from. Her father had reached out and had let her fall.
The water continued to rise. It was loud and he could see objects floating by. He felt the first waves lapping at his feet. Before long, the tree she clung to would be pulled into the current and she would go with it.
“Taryn, you have to trust me,” he said, frustrated, scared and aware of the growing danger.
“You’ll catch me, right?” she asked.
He nodded. As he wondered if he could simply lunge forward and hang on, she pushed against the tree and launched herself toward him. He caught her just as the tree cracked in half and fell into the swirling water.
“He’s got her!” someone yelled. “Pull!”
* * *
TARYN HAD NEVER been so cold her in her life. She couldn’t stop shaking. It didn’t help that her clothes were soaked and muddy. No matter how many blankets people piled on her shoulders, she knew she wasn’t going to get warm until she could get home and step into a hot shower.
People kept coming up to her and asking if she was okay. She nodded, and kept counting heads of the grove. Eight heads, she told herself. All the girls were okay.
Angel stayed close. He, too, was being covered in blankets. He joined her in making sure their grove was all there, then kept his eye on her.
Regan’s parents and Chloe’s mother had already thanked them both about three times. While the adults looked shell-shocked, the girls couldn’t stop talking about their adventure.
“The water rose really fast,” Chloe was saying. “It was cold and we were scared, but Taryn kept us safe and Angel saved us.”
They were all smiles, Taryn thought, knowing she would never forget the horror of turning around and finding the two girls had disappeared. In the second it had taken her to process the information, the stream had turned into a wild river and had risen what felt like twenty feet.
“I can’t wait until next year,” Regan told her folks.
Chloe grinned. “Me, too.”
“I need a drink,” Taryn murmured.
“Me, too.”
Angel put his arm around her and led her to his truck. She started to mention that her car was here, then realized she had lost her bag in the flash flood. It was gone, along with her car keys, her house keys, her driver’s license and credit cards.
She came to a stop. “I can’t get in my house.”
“I’ll get you in.”
“I lost my bag. My wallet.”
“All replaceable.”
He guided her to his SUV. He had his keys tucked in his jeans.
She hesitated before sliding onto the passenger seat. “I’m going to mess up the leather.”
He grabbed her by her upper arms and gave her a slight shake. “You think I care about that?”
The intensity of his expression made her exhale. “Not really.”