Marlowe ventured to dip a toe in the water.
“Big mistake,” Nora said. “It’s best to just jump and do it quick.”
Marlowe looked back. Nora’s skin was already purple with cold.
“All right.” Marlowe took a breath. “No more thinking, we jump together.”
“I’ll jump when you jump.”
Marlowe counted them down. “One, two, three, go!”
They dove headfirst into the current. The rush of water was nothing like swimming in the summer. It wasn’t painful at first—it felt amazing. As Marlowe pushed her head through the surface, she felt energy spread over her skin, as if her body had come alive.
Only after another second did Marlowe feel the cold. Her chest suddenly felt as if it had caved in, and she let out a scream of mingled joy and pain.
“Holy shit!” Nora yelped. “Oh my God.”
Her hair was plastered to her head, the blond streaks turned dark by the water. They paddled back to shore as quickly as possible, their teeth chattering.
“That was amazing,” Marlowe cried.
“My lungs.” Nora pressed a hand to her chest.
“Yeah, mine too.”
They yanked on their jeans, the thick fabric catching on their wet skin. Then they threw on their shirts and shoved their feet into their boots without bothering with socks. They scooped up their coats and ran.
“I feel like I’m gonna die!” Nora screamed as they sprinted across the Flats, the cold air biting at their skin.
“Why do I have the urge to jump back in?” Marlowe gasped.
“Because you’re a lunatic!”
They scrambled into the gully and then climbed out, half stumbling to the top of the Rise, and then the Gallagher barn was in sight.
“Almost there!” Nora yelled.
A second burst of adrenaline kicked in, and Marlowe felt as if sparks were flying from her fingertips as they ran down to the cowfence and launched themselves over. She landed in a crouch and set off running again. Her feet were going numb, but surely hypothermia took more than ten minutes to set in.
They banged through the front door of the Gray House and kicked off their boots.
Henry poked his head out from the kitchen. “What the heck?”
“We jumped in the Bean!” Marlowe yelled. “It wasfreezing.”
“But amazing!”
Glory looked like she might scold them, but she laughed instead. “You girls are crazy! Now hurry, go get some dry clothes on before you turn into icicles.”
Within minutes, they had dashed to the girls’ room, torn off their wet clothes, and yanked on dry shirts and sweatpants, too cold and used to each other to be precious about nudity. They ran back down to the fire and pressed themselves up against the screen, lips purple but stretched into smiles.
“It felt so good,” Marlowe said. “Like my skin was buzzing.”
“I almost want to do it again,” Nora said.
“Brave girls.” Enzo winked. “French ladies douse their faces in ice water every day to make their skin glow.”
Henry did not hide his jealousy as he stomped about swinging his long limbs. He had finally hit his growth spurt and had shot up by several inches, but he still acted boyish at times. He hadn’t joined them on the walk. With Nate away at college, Henry was hesitant to believe the girls were capable of cooking up exciting activities on their own.
