The current shoved and jostled her up and down as she kicked wildly to breach the surface once more. Her head popped up, warm air filling her lungs, as the river pushed her to its center. She spotted the body of their attacker first. He was limp as a doll, bobbing to the water’s erratic whims. Scanning the white foamy waves, she spotted Lina upriver, her arms flailing to keep afloat.

“Drop the axe!” Bri bellowed as her fingers fumbled with her belt.

The heavy weight of her weapons pulled Bri’s body under again. Her boots brushed a rock and she used it to bounce back above the surface of the water. Finally, her slippery fingertips unbuckled her belt and it dropped like a stone off her body. She didn’t have time to think about what it meant—to lose those weapons—not as she heard Lina’s desperate gasp.

She spotted Lina’s head breaching above a choppy wave. Lina moved her arms out of her leather harness and the axe fell away, her movements calming slightly now that she didn’t have to battle its weight. Even in her distress, Bri was impressed how quickly Lina gave up her family heirloom in order to save her own life. She knew too many people who, in panic, went after their possessions even when doing so was a death sentence.

Bri’s stomach plummeted to her feet as she tumbled over a dip in the river and dropped through the air to the rapids below. She needed to get to the side, but every attempt eddied her straight back to the middle of the churning river. Glancing ahead, there was not a single rock to grab, and the river soon bent around a corner.

There.

“We’ll kick to the side at the bend,” she called back to Lina, finding her close enough that Bri could nearly reach her.

“Don’t mess it up this time,” Lina breathed, spitting water from her panting mouth.

Bri guffawed. Even in mortal danger Lina was teasing her—a fae after her own heart for sure.

As they rounded the bend, Bri reached out and grabbed Lina, shoving her toward the shoreline. Lina’s strong legs kicked with an easy grace and she made it to the side, reaching back to grab Bri, but their fingers slipped and Bri was pushed away from the banks once more.

Lina’s eyes filled with horror. “No!”

Bri turned to look in the same direction to see the river twisting around the bend, and then . . . ending in nothing but air.