And then, she felt herself being pulled away from them. Dragged up, held firmly with strong arms around her. She was out of breath. She hadn’t noticed before, but now, it felt as if her lungs might explode. The pain was excruciating. It was just a short distance, but the effort was mammoth. Liv thought that she’d never experienced anything like it. This is what it must feel like to push back a tsunami from the edge of the world. The water wolfed more fiercely against her skin. It dug in malevolent daggers all around her body. Just as she felt her body giving up, a tiny crack of light appeared above. Green emeralds shooting off across the water. She looked back at Rachel who was smiling at her. It was their sign. Shooting stars. Somehow, Rachel was still standing next to Pete and Liv cried out. It was too late.

She felt her body, as if it was something separate to her, being dragged to the top of the water. Finn O’Connell. He’d swum out to save her. She must be dreaming. He was pulling her back to the bank now, wading along with her in his arms, murmuring into her wet hair. Oh thank God. I thought I lost you. I couldn’t bear to lose you, Liv. It was all too much. Liv closed her eyes. Pete and Rachel. They were both gone now.

‘Oh, thank God. Thank God, Liv. You’re safe now, you’re going to be fine. I have you now.’ He was leaning over her, on the towpath. Liv could hear him, but she couldn’t speak. Was it too late? Had it all been for nothing? She heard Rachel’s voice, pleading with her from beneath the water, urging her to live. Please, you can make it this time. Wake up, please, just wake up.

‘What the…’ She was spluttering, now her body was taken over with a paroxysm of coughing, doubling up and expelling the filthy canal water.

‘Oh, Liv, never do that to me again, do you hear?’ Finn O’Connell was crying, but he sounded more relieved than anything else. ‘I don’t think I could have coped with losing you now,’ he breathed into her wet hair.

‘That’s the second time you’ve saved my life,’ she murmured, but she was trying hard to make out the shapes beneath the water. Finn was completely unaware that he was being watched from halfway across the canal. In the darkness, Liv lying on the bank strained to see what she could only imagine was there. And then, a pang of loneliness swept through her. ‘Pete?’ She was crying, because she already knew the answer.