She knew exactly what it was but wasn’t about to announce that she was afraid. According to Brynna’s mother, Mrs. Markie should have known about her fear. She had, after all, granted Brynna permission to “practice” in the indoor pool, but now her slate-gray eyes looked hard, her lips pressed into a thin line, edges pulling downward.
Brynna glanced away from Mrs. Markie and her interrogating eyes and instead looked down, seeing the droplets of water that splashed up after the girls jumped. It speckled the concrete underneath her, and rivulets of water rushed toward her, pooling around her bare feet. “I don’t think I should go in.”
Brynna could hear her classmates’ arms pounding through the water. The sound of the water frothing with their kicks, with their wriggling bodies, made her think of Erica, and her stomach really did sour, bile itching at the back of her neck.
“You’re not trying to get out of class, are you, Chase?”
Brynna shook her head, and Lauren leaned into her. “You were fine five minutes ago,” she murmured.
Darcy hit the water next, and fire shot up the back of Brynna’s neck as she watched the blond girl suspended in midair before her pointed toes cracked the undulating surface of the water. She was transfixed, horrified as the water swallowed Darcy up—her strong, tanned legs first, then over her belly, her arms, her shoulders, and finally, her blond head engulfed, disappearing under.
“Erica!” The blood-curdling scream ripped through the concrete enclosure, and Brynna looked around, stunned. There was water on her face and she was moving, her thighs burning as she propelled herself forward. She felt her fingertips break the water, and then her face was under. Her eyes sprang open and she heard the repeated thud of limbs slapping water, and then, there was Erica.
Brynna could see Erica’s painted toes barely scraping the bottom of the pool. She could see her elegant arms pawing at the water as she struggled to stay afloat. She was more compact than Brynna remembered, but it was easier to toss an arm around her, push Erica to her back, and then swim with her toward the shallow end.
She had rescued her. Erica would survive.
“What are you doing? What are you doing?”
Brynna could barely hear the gurgled words for the sound of the waves and the odd chirping sound cutting through the night. She opened her eyes and the sunlight blinded her, stopping her for a beat while Erica struggled against her, finally breaking her hold and getting away.
“Chase! What the heck was that?” Mrs. Markie barked.
Brynna blinked, her feet settling on the smooth bottom of the pool.
Then her heart started to go. A single beat, and then a single beat more. Faster, faster. Brynna was standing in water up to her elbows, and there were people all around her, lining the square edges of the pool, eyes wide, mouths opened. Her stomach started to churn, and the panic shot through her, chilling her body even though the water temperature was warm.
“Get out, Chase.”
Brynna barely heard the words, but her feet were rooted in place. Her body was a thousand pounds and solid steel. She tried to force something to work, something to move, but nothing did.
She was terrified.
All around her, the water waved and slapped.
Erica?
Her vision started to blur.
“Brynna!”
She vaguely recognized that voice. Erica? Ella?
Somewhere, there was a sucking sound as a body entered the water.
Brynna’s teeth started to chatter, and the clouds, thick and gray, snaked across the sun. The pool was enveloped with a sinister gray.
“Brynna?” That voice was close to her now, at her left ear, and Brynna wanted to acknowledge it—but not as much as she wanted to sink back into the water. She felt the lap of the water go over her arms, then over her shoulders. It would be so easy, so comfortable. Then she could be with Erica. She could apologize. She could say it was her fault. She could sleep…
The water engulfed her like soft, enveloping arms. She felt it on her lips, on her nose. Her lungs burned at first, but it was so peaceful under the water that she didn’t struggle. All sound was muffled as the water plugged her ears, and the world above her wobbled outside of the water and was moving so far away, so fast.
“Come on, Brynna!”
Lauren’s arms darted out instinctively to cradle Brynna, and Brynna lay still, stiff in the water, unable to move. She watched the clouds in the sky as she slid out from underneath them, Lauren’s legs kicking gracefully beneath her. By the time they reached the edge of the pool, there were people to help scoop Brynna from the water as they commanded her to move, but she couldn’t, not even an eyelash, not even a single inch. Nothing worked, and once again, she had lost Erica.
At some point, Brynna slipped back into her clothes and someone called her mother. She remembered everyone being silent, everyone watching as she hiked up her shoulder bag. In the locker room, Lauren linked arms with Brynna, ready to steer her toward the hall. Her lips felt numb.
“I just freaked out.”
She felt Lauren squeeze her arm. “It’s okay. Do you want to talk about it? Talk about what—”