Burning Day

Chapter 23

The frigid water pierced my skin, numbing my arms as I pumped them through the river. It was as if someone had shredded off my skin and replaced it with frost, my muscles seizing as I forced them forward. But it was nothing compared to the sizzling rage threatening to consume me.

I barely felt the cold, because all I could think about was how furious just the thought of Amandi made me, and how much it filled me with hatred. She betrayed us. We trusted her, we shared our darkest fears with her, and then she betrayed us.

With Amandi's shivering arms wrapped around my neck, I swam through the water. Even now the bitch was dragging me back.

They destroyed the car, and we left the cabin to find it'd been reduced to a heap of parts and shredded wheels. We waited for another, but there was a reason we'd picked that street—Amandi had told us it'd be empty. The streets were deserted.

We'd learned our lesson from walking; the distance covered wasn't worth the pain. It drains your energy, and by the time dusk falls, you've only travelled a few miles. The river's biting cold seeps through your body, chilling you down to the very last bone. But at least with the river, you travel along with the flow of the water. You move quickly, no matter the toll on your physique. Besides, it was nothing I hadn't been through before. Trainer Nelson made sure we were well trained and experienced in different temperatures.

With Gwen at my side and Amandi on my back, we swam along with the river. We swam straight through the night, and only slowed when the first flashes of sun peeked through the horizon.

But it wasn't the brightness of day shining over the world—instead a murky gray, one that made me unsure if it was morning at all.

It's gonna rain, I realized, slowing down and reaching for the edge of the river. We'd swum to the middle of a forest, and trees surrounded me as I threw one of my hands out of the water. My fingers scraped the surface of a rock, and I dug my nails into the base. I reached my other hand out for Gwen to grab hold of. She latched onto my wrist and I pulled her through the sweeping current to land. Gwen threw her leg over first, rolling off the edge and onto the muddy grass.

Tutor Wilson told us if we were swimming, the worst weather to do so was in the rain. If the clouds turned dark gray, we had to fall out immediately, or the tide would win over the strain of our muscles and we'd drown.

I wondered if it would've been so bad anyway.

"A little help please," I said, my voice shuddering.

Gwen nodded, and the weight on my back eased when she lifted Amandi off of me and onto the grass. As Gwen leaned out of the trees, the sunlight caught her face, making the bags under her dark eyes shine like bruises.

She hoisted me out of the river, using great care to do it slowly. My stringy hair plastered to the sides of my face, and drops of water streamed down my legs and arms, plopping back into the river.

I didn't even know it was possible to feel colder than I did already, a rush of wind whipping through my soaked body, giving me goosebumps.

Gwen's eyes were closed as she lowered me against a tree, but I could tell it wasn't for concentration. When she needed to focus, she'd shut her eyes tightly, not anything as softly as she did now, her head drooped down. When I finally touched the grass, Gwen collapsed to the ground, her knees sloshing into the mud.

I forced my breath in and back out in slow breaths, waiting for my heartbeat to slow down. The muscles in my arms and legs screamed with pain, and even though I lay flat against the dirt, I could still feel them rushing through the water.

I rolled over to my side, closing my eyes and slipping my hand into the pocket where I'd kept Nikolai's star, yearning for the usual rush of comfort it afforded me. When my fingers felt nothing but soaked fabric, I sat up with a jolt, frantically slapping my hands around my clothes searching for hard plastic. I didn't lose it, I desperately thought, there's no way it's gone. An overwhelming wave of loss and misery settled in my heart, making it heavy. The last piece I had left of the only adult who ever truly loved me, and I lost it. The worst part was I didn't even know where—had the Keepers taken it in the cabin, or did it wash away with the river?