Nobody heard me. I was too far below, the angle wrong, and then the arms were pointing and leading them away, down the hill, to the east, and they disappeared. I pressed a fingerprint onto my red-hot thigh and it came up goose-white. A bad sign. I wanted to talk to them, ask why nobody seemed to ever sleep at Pine City, and I wanted to see Max’s house, and I wanted to get out of the sun.

My tube was rapidly approaching the shoals of the hill, covered in a dense carpet of poison ivy and stinging nettles. Paddling away from the shore was a no-go, as my motor skills were functioning in inverse proportion to the amount of bourbon I’d so diligently consumed. Lying there, weak, sunburned, and drunk, I wondered idly what it would feel like to drown, if it would feel bad—if it would hurt—or if the cold would knock out all your senses.

Moments later, in a pathetic attempt at standing upright, I lost my balance and found out.

*  *  *

I put down my legs and expected to find ground, but instead, I fell into nothingness—it was much deeper than I expected—and then the tube scooted away from me.

I’ve never been a strong swimmer.

I tried to get my feet on something solid, but there was nowhere to stand. The tube floated away; there was nothing to grab on to, but I kept trying, jabbing my feet downward, bobbing violently, searching with my toes for sand or rocks.

When I found one with the edge of my big toe, I put my weight on it. My mouth kissed the surface, with breath that was ragged and damp, but there was air. Toes balanced on the rock, I tried to calm down.

I shifted my weight.

Then the rock moved—and I moved with it.

My foot slipped, the algae greasy under my heel, and the rocks grabbed at my feet, catching my ankle and yanking me downward. I was jerked away from the surface.

NO, my body screamed. NO.

I tried to swim up.

The rocks held me back.

When my fingers touched air, my head stayed beneath. I reached down to my calf, to shake my leg free, but it didn’t work.

I screamed. A mouthful of red water went down my throat.