One moment, I’m in the air—and the next, I’m submerged. I’m sinking farther and farther until my back hits the pool bottom.
For the first time in so many hours, the world is utterly silent. It’s almost peaceful.
And then chlorinated water floods my nose and mouth, surges into my throat. I can’t hold my breath, can’t swim upward, can’t fight it. I can’t even choke or thrash. I’m not sure how much time passes—it could be a few seconds or a few minutes.
Water tried to claim me once, but I was pulled from it. Now it won’t be denied a second time.
Bubbles flutter around me and there’s a muted sound. Almost like a shout.
I blink my eyes open one last time. Then a figure appears before me. That beautiful boy with the red car.
He’s the true wraith, not me. He has haunted me for so long, it makes sense he would greet me at the end.
His hand closes on my shirt. Something yanks hard, and I’m being pulled upward. Bubbles eddy around me.
We break the surface together. It’s strangely unpleasant, going from water to air. At least the water was peaceful. I am coughing so hard I think I might vomit, and it’s all I can do to keep myself above the surface. I find myself clinging to the boy, to the wraith, and it’s only when my fingers catch in his dark hair that I realize it’s the wrong boy.
Eames.
He has me around the waist, towing me toward the side of the pool. He is pulling me up and out of the water. Hands pushing the hair from my face. I’m gagging and sputtering, the taste of chlorine in my nose and mouth.
He crouches over me, fingers poised over my chest. As if ready to give compressions.
No need. I’m coughing and gagging so hard it feels as though my lungs are being scraped by sandpaper. I roll onto my side and spit up far too much water.
“Your tattoo,” I wheeze. “Could’ve—could’ve damaged it. Nanotech—not supposed to get it wet. Might malfunction.”
He shakes his head. “It was a risk I had to take,” he sayssimply. His tattooed hand falls on my shoulder and rests there.
I recover by the edge of the pool.
I’m still on my side. My mouth tastes like chlorine and vomit, and I don’t know how much time it takes me to feel normal again. I focus on my breathing—one in, one out—and let the world go on around me.
Vale is tied to one of the pool chairs. Eames dragged her from the pool, too. Zip ties encircle her wrist and ankles. “She hit the water first,” says Piper, crouching beside me. “I think she broke part of your fall.”
“You all right?” I ask. My voice is even more hoarse than normal.
She nods. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She looks outside. “What’ll happen to us now?”
“Not sure, kid.” I force myself to my feet. “But I’m not letting anyone kidnap you again, all right?”
Eames is walking toward me, carrying two backpacks. One is Carla’s stolen military gear, and the other is mine. “Thought you might want these,” he says, setting them down on the floor.
I look around the lobby. Nonna is nowhere to be seen. “Where is…?”
“Oh, she ran to her apartment for a first aid kit,” he says.
His eyes sweep over me. I must look a sight: soaked through with pool water, brown and pink hair stuck at all angles, and bruises suffusing my face. He runs a handthrough his own damp hair. “I guess we should find a way to break open the front doors.”
I catch him by the arm. He looks down at my hand, and I let him go. “Wait,” I say. “First—before you do that.” I reach for his T-shirt.
He goes still, allowing me to pull up the side of his left sleeve. There is a small, healing scar. A tracker. Just like any other wraith.
But he’s not like any other wraith. Eames isn’t a criminal. He didn’t come to ISD for penance—but for his sister. He sacrificed his home, his life, and his identity so he could save the one person he needed to protect. He’s good and kind and I don’t want ISD to have him.
I reach down and pick up Carla’s backpack, holding it out to him.
He reaches to take it, but I don’t release the strap. The backpack is suspended between us, a line of tension connecting us both. “Bud said that Carla was carrying the equipment needed to dismantle a tracker,” I say quietly. “It’s all in there. Along with a lot of small bills, lockpicks, visors, ringware, and a couple of small explosives.”
