Chosen: Part Two (Allure) by Litton Josie

Author:Litton, Josie [Litton, Josie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2015-12-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The water was cold enough to shock. I gasped, sucking in air, and forced my limbs to move. I hadn’t wanted to do this, had hoped against hope to avoid it. But whoever it was that had come after me was too fast and too strong. I couldn’t outrun him. The best I could hope for was that he wasn’t as good a swimmer as I was.

Across the dark swathe of water, the distant lights of a town gave me hope. I could do this. I had to.

As a child, I’d confided to a teacher that I wanted to be a mermaid when I grew up. That had never seemed like a better goal than it did right then.

After the initial shock passed, I fell into a steady rhythm, each stroke propelling me farther from shore. I didn’t dare to look back again but instead kept my sights on the opposite shore. It really wasn’t far, less than a mile.

Under normal circumstances, I could swim that without difficulty. But the ordeal of the past few days had worn me down. Too soon, I had to pause and let myself float for a few moments until I was strong enough to go on.

When I started swimming again, my body moved more reluctantly. Each motion of my arms and legs required more effort. As much as I hated to admit it, what was left of my strength was fading fast. I had to slow down and pace myself.

But when I did, I glimpsed the wake of another swimmer heading directly toward me. Whoever he was, he wasn’t slowing down. On the contrary, he cut through the water with long, powerful strokes. At that speed, he was going to catch me and quickly. A bolt of fear shot through me. Forgetting the need to conserve my strength, I struck out frantically.

Almost at once, the feel of the water changed. I was suddenly aware of moving faster than my own efforts could take me. Worse yet, a quick glance confirmed that I was no longer heading toward the other shore. Instead, I was being carried away from it, out toward the open sea.

I’d been warned about rip currents all my life but I’d never encountered one before. As I realized what was happening, I told myself not to panic. I knew what to do.

Don’t try to swim against it; I’d just end up exhausted and drown. Go with it instead and wait for it to dissipate, as it likely would in just a few hundred yards. Contrary to what my brain was screaming at me, I wasn’t going to end up in the ocean. I’d be all right as long as I kept my head.

That might work for most rip currents but this one was so powerful that when I tried to relax into it, I was pulled under. The instant the water closed over my head, all thought of not panicking vanished. The primal terror of drowning burned through me. I struck out for the surface desperately, only just managing to claw my way to it.

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