Captive Heart by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Chapter

Eight

HELP,” BECCA SCREAMED. “SOMEBODY help! Nancy’s drowning!”

Becca lay sprawled on her stomach at the top of the waterslide, watching Nancy’s unconscious body swirling around the deep pool, arms and legs limp.

Ramón scrambled over Becca and threw himself down the slide.

Ned, downriver, reacted the moment he heard Becca’s cry. Stumbling over the slick rocks, he half ran, half slid to the pool and threw himself in.

Ramón, choking as he treaded water in the swift current, had grabbed Nancy but wasn’t able to make headway to shore.

“Let me!” Ned shouted. Expertly, he flipped her over into the lifesaving hold. Swimming hard, he pulled her to the side of the pool, where David waited on a boulder.

“Take her arms,” Ned said. With David pulling and Ramón and Ned pushing, the three men managed to free Nancy from the strong current. Ned and David carried her to the riverbank and gently put her down under a palm tree. Ned knelt over her and placed his ear against her heart.

“I don’t think she’s breathing!” He quickly pressed the artery in her neck. “But she has a faint pulse.”

He tilted her chin back and breathed into her mouth twice. When he saw her chest rise, indicating there was no obstruction, he began the rescue breath. The others gathered around, stunned and silent.

Every five seconds Ned blew into Nancy’s mouth, pausing after every twelve breaths to check her pulse. Endless moments passed. Ned continued the CPR.

Finally Nancy’s chest heaved. Quickly Ned turned her on her side and she coughed up river water.

She groaned. “My—my head . . .”

“She’s all right!” Ned sighed with relief.

Nancy stirred and tried to sit up.

“Just relax, Nan,” Ned crooned, cradling her in his arms. “Don’t try to move.”

She blinked her eyes, relieved to see Ned’s familiar face. “I fell—what happened?”

“You hit your head,” Ned said. “You’re going to have a monster bump, but you’re okay.”

“Oh, I am so sorry,” Becca whispered. “I didn’t mean to . . . I tried to stop—”

“You couldn’t help it,” Ramón said, remembering how he’d felt on the Mayan ruin. He put an arm around Becca’s waist. “It was an accident.”

Becca leaned her head against his chest. “I’m just so terribly sorry.”

In a few minutes Nancy was able to sit up, although her head pounded with pain. She looked around at her friends and managed a small smile. “Looks like we’ve all been in a war.”

Becca’s stomach was scratched, her arms and legs covered with bruises from her fall. Ned’s knees were skinned from scrambling over the rocks, and Ramón had a long red scrape on his side from his hasty plunge down the waterslide.

Only David was uninjured. “I think we’d better forget about getting back to the coast and spend another night at Casa Maya. Nancy needs to rest and—”

“I’m all right,” Nancy protested, trying to get up. “Ugh.” The sudden jolt of pain was intense.

“You need to see a doctor,” David said firmly. “I’m taking you back to the lodge. We’re not going anywhere tonight.”

Nancy gave in, and during the long, hot, bumpy drive down the mountain she was glad she had.

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