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Chapters (77)
  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Also by Silas House
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Contents
  7. Part One
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. Part Two
  27. 1
  28. 2
  29. 3
  30. 4
  31. 5
  32. 6
  33. 7
  34. 8
  35. 9
  36. 10
  37. Part Three
  38. 1
  39. 2
  40. 3
  41. 4
  42. 5
  43. 6
  44. 7
  45. 8
  46. 9
  47. 10
  48. 11
  49. 12
  50. 13
  51. 14
  52. 15
  53. 16
  54. 17
  55. 18
  56. 19
  57. 20
  58. 21
  59. 22
  60. 23
  61. 24
  62. 25
  63. 26
  64. 27
  65. 28
  66. 29
  67. 30
  68. 31
  69. Part Four
  70. 1
  71. 2
  72. 3
  73. Epilogue: The Everything
  74. Acknowledgments
  75. About the Author
  76. About Algonquin
  77. Copyright

“Asher, wait!” Zelda hollered, one hand out in front of her as if she were about to catch a ball being thrown to her. But Asher did not wait and didn’t realize for a moment that Lydia was right at his heels even though it would have made more sense for them to look in different directions to cover more ground.

They had no other choice but to go to the flood. Here the tree cover was not so thick; the starlight managed to shine through the willows. Asher could see the flood growing before his eyes as if a tidal wave was sweeping toward them. He could see only the very tops of the concrete railings of the bridge and even they were disappearing as the water heightened.

Then: the great screeching grind of the house pirouetting as it was swept down the Cumberland toward them, the surge of water unfolding itself across the valley, the three figures hollering as they ran toward them, the screaming of a child.

3

3

Asher didn’t know the two men running with Justin down the water’s edge, yelling and pointing to the floating house as if Asher and Lydia hadn’t seen it, hadn’t heard the people screaming from inside it. Asher didn’t know how he had the foresight to run to the nearest willow that wasn’t already submerged and tie the rope there. The men with Justin were shouting to him but he could not hear over the groaning of the floodwaters. He could see that the house was going to slam into the bridge and when that happened, the people inside might be forced into the water. He could make out two: a man, he thought, holding a child in his arms as he thrust his body out of a window that was crowded with tree limbs. The man was screaming and the child was crying and both were little more than silhouettes about to die.

The larger of the two men with Justin saw what Asher was doing and ran to him. Asher thrust the rope into the man’s hands and hoped he would be able to hold it taut. Already the man had looped and tied the rope around his waist.

Asher watched as the man disappeared into the water.