Finding Serendipity by Angelica Banks

Author:Angelica Banks
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781627794404
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Chapter Twelve

“Baxterr!” Tuesday called again.

She dived under the water. Below, in the clear green of the sea, she could make out the mast pointing toward the sea floor and the sails billowing gently in the gloom. She came up for air, and still Baxterr was nowhere to be seen. She dived again, this time going under the boat and coming up in the space beneath the curve of the floorboards. Here there was air to breathe, though the sea was slopping at her neck. She felt frantically about on the submerged deck and as she did so, she brushed against something. Her fingers grasped fur. It was Baxterr! She tried to haul him up, but he was caught. Ropes were twisted around his neck, trapping him underwater. Tuesday forced her fingers under the ropes and began peeling them over Baxterr’s head, freeing his legs. Water splashed in her mouth, making her cough. Despite the choking water, she kept at it, working hard until at last Baxterr was free. She hauled him up beside her, but Baxterr’s eyes were closed and he was heavy in the water.

“No! No!” she cried, her words echoing in the tiny space under the boat.

Holding Baxterr tight, Tuesday dived from under the boat out to the open sea beyond. As she surfaced, she realized that it was only her life jacket keeping them both afloat. She was tired and cold, and Baxterr was a deadweight in her arms.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Tuesday saw something dark leaping along the rocks from the shore. Not something—someone. Tuesday wiped salt water from her eyes and blinked. Above the wind, Tuesday could hear yelling.

In one fleet movement, the someone leapt from the rocks onto the upturned hull of Vivacious, landing as nimbly as a gymnast.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing? You can’t bring her in like that!” yelled the small girl.

“My dog has drowned!” Tuesday called. “Help!”

The girl noticed Baxterr in Tuesday’s arms, and she nodded.

“Hold his head up,” she yelled over the wind. “Swim for the shore!”

Then the girl dived beneath the boat. A few moments later, Vivacious was righted, looking disheveled but awaiting instruction. Soon she was under way again, and expertly, the girl sailed the small dinghy the short distance to the shore. Tuesday staggered out of the waves with Baxterr utterly limp in her arms. Instantly, the girl was beside her, helping her carry Baxterr up the gray pebbled beach. Together the two girls laid him down on his side.

“Oh!” said the girl, in a hushed voice. “It’s a … no, he can’t be a—”

“He got a rope caught around him and was trapped under the boat when it capsized. Oh, please, what can we do? Please, if there’s anything…” Tuesday’s words rushed out of her, tears running hot and fast down her cheeks as she looked at Baxterr’s lifeless body.

“We must save him,” the girl said, with fierce determination, and she ran her hands over Baxterr’s sodden fur, feeling his belly, his chest, his throat, his back.

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