Discoveries

30

With a splash I hit the water.

Well, obviously.

It swallowed me up, pulling me down and further.

At least there weren't any rocks.

I hit a rock.

The irony.

I tried to swim, but my hands and feet were bound; a strange wriggle was the best I could do. I tried to summon the water to push me up, but it was hard. It pushed me up a little, and then I realised that Aspen would get me if I did. Now I was trying very hard not to float to the surface. I felt myself being swept with the current, downstream to another, smaller waterfall. The was no way to prevent myself from dropping over the edge. In a flash I saw Aspen standing on the river's bank, heaving, his jaw set at an angry angle. Then I went under again, and tried to get as deep as possible. Horribly inconvenient was the fact that the water was crystal-clear. Aspen was probably following me along, and would fish me out eventually. I had to find some way to escape.

The banks, I noticed, slightly overlapped the water. If I could just...

I directed myself towards one side of the river, hoping Aspen wasn't waiting for me. But controlling a whole river was rather different from directing a little water from a stream to one's basin. It required a lot more concentration and skill.

In the end I got there, and clamped my hand around a tree root. For a minute I hung there spastically.

Suddenly a hand came straight at me, and I tried to [deins] backward, but the earth behind me made it impossible. It felt as if the water was pulling me towards the hand, and it got hold of my arm. I was hoisted out of the water.

Oh no.

But the face wasn't Aspen's.

It was Melany's.

She plonked me on the ground and cut my ropes, saying, "Now we're even." Then she disappeared into the shrubbery.

I blinked.

What exactly had just happened?

Someone cursed, not so far away. It made me remember that I was on the run.

Without wasting another second I stood up and ran, free once more. I didn't know where to, but away from here. Away from him.

#

I clawed at the ground. This root was really stubborn.

Finally it shot loose, causing me to fall backwards. I stood up to wash it in a nearby stream before eating it. It didn't have the best of tastes, but it was food.