Just as hard as he’d shoved her into the water, John pulled her back out. The night wind was hot and sharp as a whip on her cheeks and she screamed for help. She screamed until her throat was raw.
“That’s so loud,” Paul said from somewhere far away.
John laughed, hoarse and smug, and Logan knew he wouldn’t stop until he’d killed her. He was beyond stopping now, twisted up with rage and hurt. Logan couldn’t see anything but the water. John held her head steadily an inch above the water. She only saw black waves and nothingness.
“I’m calling the cops!” Ashley screamed. “If you don’t let her go, I’m—”
“Do it,” John thundered.
He said something else, but it was lost. John shoved Logan’s head back under the water with enough force to scrape her cheek over the rocks along the lake floor. Her lips parted in a gasp and her mouth filled with lake water. It rushed to the back of her throat and she was going to die. Black water closed over her vision, pulling her farther and farther into the waves.
And then, Logan was somewhere else.
She looked up at the surface of the water. It rippled like a sheet of glass overhead, distorting the moon into nothing but white light. The sounds of the lake disappeared and only starlight covered her eyes. There was no water anymore—she didn’t need to breathe.
The voice that spoke to her was cool and sweet.
You cannot die here. I still need you.
Logan was ripped out of the water again. Behind her, Paul and John laughed in chorus. John turned her over, and his laughter died on his face.
“What the hell?” he breathed.
Logan touched her cheek. Warm blood dotted her fingertips, but other than the small cut, she was okay. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been under the water, but judging by John’s shock, it should’ve been long enough. She kicked at John’s legs in another vain attempt to break free. Behind him, she heard Ashley’s muffled voice yelling into her phone.
John pushed Logan back into the water.
Come back to the place this all started, the voice from before whispered through the lake. Logan felt suspended. She was a weightless, untethered thing. She floated under the water’s surface for only a moment, but she felt time swirl past her in the black current. The voice sang, I saved you once. Let me save you again.
Logan was pulled from the water again, breathing and alive.
“Shit,” John muttered.
He released Logan and stepped away from her. She rolled to her side and spit water into the gravel. The sky was black with night now; red and blue flashed against the dark, and Logan realized that the police had arrived. She shivered, wet hair clinging to her neck. The sky and the black hills and the lake all spun around her.
Footsteps struck the gravel, and then a hand wiped the blood from her cheek.
“Hey,” Ashley breathed. “Hey, stay with me, it’s gonna be okay.”
Logan blinked up at her, but her vision was spotted with wild color. She lolled back on the gravel and took Ashley’s hand.
“We’re gonna be okay,” Ashley continued to whisper. “We’re gonna be okay, we’re gonna be…”
Logan’s eyes fluttered shut and she slipped into the dark.
32
At The Bottom Of Below
“You’re sure that’s everything?” Deputy Golden asked. “You’re making it sound like they had her underwater for over fifteen minutes.”
“They did,” Ashley snapped.
“And there’s nothing you’re leaving out?”