Wicked Tempest: A Kate Waters Mystery (Kate Waters Mysteries Book 2) (31 page)

Shadows from the Burnside Bridge drifted closer. Kate watched Wells, gauging the timing of his jump from the bridge. When he made his move, she planned to make hers. She turned back to the river. Light from the city threw bright flashes of shape and color across the black water. Somewhere beneath it, Nick fought for his life. She struggled to locate the area where Andre had shoved him overboard. They drifted farther downstream, the large boulder a good thirty feet away now. She thought she saw the splash of water, but it disappeared and nothing else emerged from the black ether of the river.

Wells’ readiness to jump exceeded hers, and he leapt from the bridge, arms raised high and feet spread wide to catch himself. Andre caught sight of his shadow passing overhead. Wells landed with a hard strike directly in the middle of the stern. He fell to the side and rolled to break his fall. Andre scrambled out of the cabin, gun still in his hand. The boat churned to a halt and careened sideways, tossing everyone to one side of the boat. Kate grabbed a hold of the railing to brace herself from crashing to the floorboards.

Wells pushed himself up and drew his gun from behind his back. “Drop your weapon! Put it down!”

Andre had fastened his aim on him and wasn’t about to comply. In all the surprise and confusion of Wells’ intrusion, Andre didn’t notice Kate behind him, didn’t see her rush from the side. She kicked her foot out and shoved him hard. Andre stumbled and slammed against a storage trunk at the side of the boat. The gun slipped from his hand and skidded underneath one of the bench seats.

Wells locked his aim. “Stop right there, Andre.”

Andre drew back with vehemence ripe in his eyes.

Time ticked for Nick, who had been in the water for almost four minutes. Wells would have to handle Andre on his own, Kate thought.

“Nick is in the water!” she shouted to Wells. “He’s handcuffed and drowning. I have to help him.” Kate climbed up on the railing.

“Kate! Wait!” Wells yelled.

Kate had already jumped into the stark cold water. The cold enveloped her like a clenched fist, squeezing her breath from her lungs. She surfaced with a howling gasp of air. Twisting around in the water, she caught a glimpse of the boulder and set her course.

The looming shadow of the bridge above and the wide span of the river made her feel small and vulnerable. A part of her regretted her decision. The current flowed faster and stronger than she had expected. Nick could be carried along in the channel beneath her, passing her by and she wouldn’t even know it.  

“Nick! Nick!” she shouted. “Nick!”

Kate paddled toward the area she thought she had last seen him. The surface of the water flickered with a mirage of chrome and silver, making it impossible to see anything. Her lungs constricted from the water’s icy temperature. She sucked in a tight breath and kept paddling until she came to the large boulder along the embankment. Keeping herself afloat, she raked her arms and kicked her feet in a steady rhythm, making sure she didn’t tire herself out, but if she stopped swimming for long, hypothermia would set in. Her limbs would lose strength, become like river logs, and she would be in the same position as Nick, a sinking lead weight.

Kate shouted for Nick again. She didn’t hear anything. If he conserved energy by floating face down and lifting his head out of the water for air, she might spot the curve of his back and the rise of his head. She scanned the waters again.

“Nick! Where are you?”

Ahead, a patch of darkness blocked the reflection of city lights on the water. As she neared, water splashed up and a head rose up out of the water. It was Nick. He struggled to stay afloat. His head scarcely lifted above water. He gave a hacking cough, as though he had already taken in too much water.

Kate reached for his shoulders and heaved him up, feeling herself sink even as she did. “Nick,” she sputtered. “It’s me.”

He didn’t respond, didn’t appear to be conscious. She propped him up onto her back, the weight of him pushing her down into the water. She tasted seaweed and oil. Without the use of his hands, he couldn’t hold onto her, and kept rolling off.

Kate turned toward the shore, twenty feet too far away, but close enough, she told herself. The Dawn Maiden continued to drift farther downstream. She couldn’t swim back to it even if she wanted to.

Kate clutched Nick’s arm and swam on her side, hauling him along, but with little luck. She could barely keep her face out of water. Nick tried to say something, but his words muttered out. In the distance, she noted lights just above the water and the sound of a motor. A boat approached, someone to help them. Kate waved her arm, knowing how difficult it would be for them to see her. A bar of light skimmed across the waters in the direction of the Dawn Maiden. The people in the boat didn’t realize two people thrashed in the water; they focused their attention on the Dawn Maiden only.

“Help! Over here!” Kate shouted.

Nick slid beneath the water again. Kate splashed water up with her hand, hoping to make enough commotion to catch the attention of those in the boat, but the boat’s engine droned louder than her upheavel, and with the passengers looking elsewhere, they wouldn’t hear or spot them.

Visions flashed like lightning before Kate, loose images she had seen before, visions from the spell at the river. The dark waters, the gleam of bright lights, the humming sound of a motor…only this time it wasn’t a vision. The dream happened now, like a stitch in time bringing the two events together. The boat headed straight for her and Nick and aimed to run them down, the driver unaware of two people bobbing helplessly in its path.

A siren blared on the other side of the river. Two police cars crossed the Burnside Bridge. Without losing her grip on Nick, Kate turned in the water searching for the Dawn Maiden. It coasted and floated backwards down the river. No one steered at the wheel. She pushed away a thought that Wells might lose his fight with Andre.

The small motor boat stayed on course toward the Dawn Maiden. The spotlight swiped across the water again, passing right over the top of Kate’s head. The person couldn’t see them, but the boat headed straight for them. She needed to swim both herself and Nick out of its path.

Kate wrapped her arm around Nick’s neck and shoulder, and heaved him backwards. The cold seeped deep into her muscles and drained her of strength. Nick slipped from her hands. She dove under the water to haul him back up. Her shoes weighed like cement blocks and her clothes tugged on her as though hands pulled her down.  

The boat drew close enough now she could see its bow kick up and slam back down with each jump of the waves. Too close. Kate believed then that she and Nick wouldn’t make it, not by trying to swim out of the way. The boat would run them over. The only other thing left to do was to dive down underneath it, towing Nick with her. She hoped it would be enough, prayed neither of them would be maimed.

“Nick,” she called to him. He mumbled, only half-awake, his mind slowing from the frigid water. “We have to go under. The boat is going to hit us.”

He didn’t respond. The boat closed in on them. Kate placed her hands on Nick’s shoulders, praying to some god (or goddess) she chose to do the right thing, that Nick wouldn’t drown. She couldn’t keep him under for long. He had taken in water and couldn’t handle any more. Besides, she wouldn’t be able to resuscitate him until they got to shore.

Another vision flashed before Kate. The drowning sensation that had come over her in the bathroom when she slipped and fell surged back into her. The past reached a hand into the future, and she heard the voices of Erika, Donna, and Thea chanting as though they gathered around her:

Wrapped in light

Block evil’s flight

Kate pushed Nick down in front of her, using her arms and legs to get him under. Then she dove down with him. The motor of the boat beneath the waves roared and thundered around her. Nick fought against her. He kicked his legs and resisted her efforts to push him farther down. He didn’t understand the situation. For all he knew, she was Andre trying to drown him.

They hadn’t swam deep enough. Kate needed to get below him so she could pull him farther under. She swam down and around and grabbed a hold of his leg. She jerked on him with all her strength. The sound of the boat’s motor rose in pitch, only feet away. Kate tugged again and again. A hot-biting pain swelled in her lungs as they burned for air. Suddenly, Nick went slack. She pulled on him hard again and into the cold of a deeper current beneath them.

Above, the swish of water whirled around. The boat thrust water against them like the crashing of waves. Kate cringed and held tight to Nick, imagining the bottom of the boat raking across their backsides, locking around their limbs, and severing tendon from bone. Breath wanted to explode from her lungs, and if it did, she wouldn’t be able to stop the reflexive gasp for air. Only her breath would be cold, filthy water inundating her lungs.

The urge to inhale became an intense struggle against her will as she held Nick under. Her eyes opened, and she detected a faint light in the water, light that didn’t seem to filter through the water from above. It glowed beneath her.

The sound of the boat faded. Either it had passed over them or she had lost consciousness. Something scraped the bottom of her foot and tightened into a grip around her ankle. Kate looked down and saw what appeared to be black hair fanned out in the deep green water. A pale, grey face emerged. Silver-gray eyes. Rán, in the flesh, made of blue mottled skin and white spots and dark, matted hair clogged with the rot of seaweed and grime.

Kate fought not to scream. Rán parted her mouth into a smile full of greenish-white jagged teeth. Kate recoiled from her, tried to swim away, but Rán snagged at her middle. Kate kicked her legs and spun around for Nick, but he wasn’t behind her anymore.

A shot of fear hammered deep inside her. She wrestled against Rán’s strength, but the goddess’ power crushed into her. Rán constricted herself around Kate, not with legs and arms, but a long snake-like tail. She smelled of brine and decay. Kate couldn’t stop the scream that opened her mouth. The muscle at the back of her throat gave way, and cold water gushed into her throat. She hacked and choked as her body rejected it. Rán clutched her tight, embracing her into a cold death. Kate thought about what had happened to Brooke and Suzanne. Images of her father and David played out in her mind. She hadn’t told David she loved him, and would now never get the chance to again.

Her lungs filled with water, a force so powerful, she had no choice but to surrender. She would become part of the river, an extension of Rán. Her thoughts slowed. The pull of the afterlife eased through her slack muscles, as it had with Nick. Rán’s grip loosened, and Kate floated in the black of space. She gave in to the moment, let the panic shudder out of her chest until nothing but stillness echoed. A silhouette drifted to her. It was her mother. She heard a laugh, Jev’s laugh. To see her mother’s beautiful face and hear her sister again filled Kate with a peace like no other. They came to take her home. She saw them both now, could almost touch them.

You are always with us, Kate. Take our hands.  

Kate reached out to them. Their fingers entwined around hers. Soft arms embraced her and wrapped gently around her. Warmth pressed into her as memories from her youth blinked in and out. Her body lifted up into a trajectory of light. The tunnel. She was dying. She was going home.

Kate’s body soared through the abyss. She looked down, expecting to see her body sinking farther into the dark void, but instead, she noticed something that put weight back into her bones—her lifeless body lying flat on the floorboards of a boat. People surrounded her. Arms lifted her head, hands pumped on her chest—people worked to save her, but confusion and fear strained through their voices. Someone opened her mouth, blew air into her water-filled lungs. Nothing. Her heart wasn’t beating. The stillness soaked into her, turning her as cold as the ocean.

Pressure took hold of her. She wasn’t floating anymore. Something had torn her down and pushed against her. Someone heaved on her chest, deep thrusts that tested the strength of her ribcage. Water spewed from her mouth. She choked violently. Pain seared into every corner of her body.

The voices of her mother and sister came back to her again.
You are always with us, Kate.
The soft breeze of Jev’s laughter enveloped her. She could see Jev sitting on a bike she’d had when she was ten. They played on top of a steep grassy hill.

Jev looked down. “Are you scared to go down?”

Kate gazed around for the bottom of the hill, but she couldn’t see it around the bend. “Where does it stop?”

“Maybe it doesn’t.” Jev broke out in laughter. She waved to her, a sly smile creasing over her lips. “See you at the bottom, sis.”

“Jev! Wait!”

She disappeared into the rusted gold of a sinking sun.

Adrenaline slammed into Kate’s heart. Her body thrashed with another cough. “Jev!”

Her mother’s voice, “Kate, don’t be afraid. I’m always with you.”

Kate let go of the brakes on her bike, let the wind fly through her hair. Her stomach dropped as she careened downward. The golden dusk turned to darkness above her. Water spilled from the corner of her mouth again. She gagged for breath. More water heaved up. Hands pushed her over sideways and pounded on her back.