Haunted Waters (14 page)

Chapter 51

Ashley and I held each other,
shivering and crying and praying. It wasn’t praying like you hear at church. It was just us two begging God for help.

It seemed like years went by, and we didn’t see any sign of Dylan or Sam. I knew Sam would never leave my little brother down there, and soon I was sure they were both gone. How in the world would we tell Mom?

Losing one dad is bad enough
, I prayed.
Isn’t it, God?

Ashley turned to me and pointed at bubbles rising 10 or 15 feet from the rock. First it was only a few little bubbles, then a bunch, then bigger bubbles.

Dylan’s head popped through, and Sam held him out toward us. Sam coughed and sputtered as Ashley and I whooped and hollered.

But something was wrong. Dylan wasn’t coughing. His face was white, and his eyelids were blue. He looked as limp as a rag doll.

“Take him!” Sam yelled. “Help me get him out!”

We got our hands under Dylan’s armpits, but he felt like a sack of potatoes in his water-soaked clothes. Ashley helped me pull him up onto the cold rock.

Sam crawled up quickly, panting. He knelt beside Dylan, but I could tell by the way my little brother’s body lay still that he was gone.

Chapter 52

When Sam rolled Dylan onto his side,
Bryce looked shocked too. I could only imagine what those last few seconds in the SUV were like for Sam and Dylan.

Sam’s face was all screwed up in a mix of anger and tears while he patted Dylan’s back. “Not again,” he said through clenched teeth. “You’re not putting me through this again.”

At first I thought he was talking to Dylan, but then I realized he was praying. I’d never heard him talk to God.

“Breathe!” Sam’s voice echoed off the walls of the mountains as he pushed on Dylan’s chest. “Make him breathe!”

Then came the sweetest sound I have ever heard. Dylan coughed and burped. Water gurgled from his mouth, and his eyelids fluttered. It was better than Christmas morning.

Sam hugged Dylan to his chest, and Bryce and I sat beside them and put our arms around them. I didn’t care that I was freezing or that there were goons out there who wanted to hurt us. My little brother was back, and I saw how much Sam cared about us. We all sat there crying, even Sam, which scared Dylan even more and he began to sob loudly. That made us laugh, which seemed to puzzle him to no end.

All of us were trembling uncontrollably now, and I knew we had to get dry and warm fast or we’d be in trouble.

Chapter 53

Something special was happening
on the rock in that reservoir—something unexplainable. Was God watching us? I’m sure. Were angels protecting us? I think so.

A guy in a Jeep saw us waving and stopped. We scrambled off the rock and piled into his SUV. I held Dylan, trying to warm him, and Sam hugged Ashley. After the driver turned on the heat full blast, Sam told him what had happened. The man drove us to the sheriff’s office and stayed with us to make sure we were okay.

They laid out our wet clothes on an old heater and wrapped us in blankets. One of the officers made us hot chocolate while Sam drank coffee. The guy in the Jeep went home and brought back clothes for Sam and robes for Ashley, Dylan, and me. I couldn’t help smiling every time I looked at Dylan getting lost in that old robe.

Sam gave the officers the license plate number of the green car, which amazed me. Despite all we had been through, he had memorized it. He also gave them the memory stick he had shoved in his pocket, but it was full of water and I doubted it would work.

“I can’t believe those guys wanted to kill us,” Ashley said when the officers left us alone.

“Maybe they just wanted to scare us,” Sam said.

“They did a good job,” I said.

After Sam called Mom, the officers drove us to a nearby hospital to get checked out. It was fun riding in the cruiser, and I expected Dylan to be all over the car. But he just sat next to Sam and held his hand.

A nurse clucked her tongue and said, “You poor things,” then led us into a room to wait for the doctor.

The doctor came in and looked at Dylan’s eyes with his light. He checked his ears and lungs, then looked the rest of us over and shook his head. “You guys are either very lucky or you have somebody upstairs looking out for you.”

Chapter 54

When Mom got to the hospital,
Bryce and I ran into her arms. The only time I’ve cried harder was the night of the plane crash. She and Sam hugged a long time too.

Mom’s mouth popped open with each new wrinkle in the story. She put her hand on Sam’s arm. “They think it was the people who stole the gold?”

“Had to be,” Sam said.

The real miracle was that I had not had a seizure, even with all we had been through. The doctor found some medicine and gave it to me.

A police officer came in and asked Sam to sign a couple of things. “Oh, and the local paper wants to talk with you and take your picture,” the officer said.

Sam looked at Mom kind of funny and asked to speak with the officer outside. I was trying to think of what I would say to the reporter when Sam came back and told us we wouldn’t be doing any interview or pictures.

“Why not?” Bryce said, looking disappointed.

Sam sighed. “We’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

I don’t remember much of the drive home except waking up once and hearing Dylan snore. Bryce slept against the other door. The dashboard lights lit Mom’s face, and I saw her wipe away tears as she and Sam listened to the radio. I usually gag when she turns on the Christian station with the slow music, but tonight it felt good to hear those old songs.

Sam carried me to bed when we got home, and it felt so good to be held in his strong arms that I pretended to still be asleep. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I started calling him Dad too.