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The water enveloped her and she felt her lungs constrict. Her breath was stolen away by the cold.
She wasn’t in a drysuit this time. Now she felt every drop of freezing water through her clothes, the weight of it dragging her down even deeper below the surface. Her muscles constricted; she lost her grip on Janine. The pain was far more intense than when the glass shard had sliced her arm – it felt like she had fallen into a pool of broken glass, and every which way she turned, the pain intensified.
Then, almost as quickly as it came, pain left her. So did panic and fear. She was floating in the deepest, coldest darkness. She wanted to fight, but her mind was shutting down.
Thankfully her body had other ideas. Her muscles spasmed, her mouth and throat desperately fighting the urge to gasp for air.Stay calm, Olivia.Her dad’s voice. It was as if she could hear him right next to her. Her eyes flew open, searching for him, but all she could see was the green-black water.
Which way was up? It was too confusing. She squeezed her eyes tight shut again. The desire to take a breath was almost overwhelming. She needed to kick, to surface. But which direction?
With one desperate plea from her brain, she opened her eyes again. She saw a blinking red light – the ship? Itwas her only chance. She kicked towards it, arcing her arms in a breaststroke.
With seconds to spare, she burst through the surface, and now she gasped. Her arms and legs flailed; some part of her knew that she should try to stay calm but she wasn’t in control.
There was no sign of Janine, but the water was thick on the surface with a slurry of ice, those bergy bits she’d seen from the shore, dragged out into the bay by the calving from the glacier. The wind whipped the waves up, so she had to expend even more energy to keep her head up.
She tried to cry out, but there was no power in her voice. Her entire body felt heavy.
‘Over there!’
‘Quick, throw it now.’
A splash close to her. An orange life ring. She tried to swim towards it, but the weight of her drenched clothes and the tightness of her muscles made it almost impossible.
One more push.Somehow she got an arm around the ring and clung on out of desperation as she was dragged back towards theClarissa II.
Strong arms grabbed her jacket, pulling her up on deck and immediately wrapping her in heavy towels.
She couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering, violent shivers taking over every part of her body.
‘Where’s – Janine?’ she stammered out.
No one looked at her. She stopped moving on the outer deck, spinning around to stare at the water. She scoured the ice-strewn waves, trying to spot a sign of the girl.
There was nothing.
‘We are watching for her,’ said Pierre. ‘I swear it. Now get inside.’
She nodded, then once they were in the lounge, Melissa helped peel her jacket and boots off. Olivia blinked up at the expedition leader. She was on board. Was everyone safe? She wanted to ask, but every time she opened her mouth, nothing would come out.
‘I’ll find her a change of clothes,’ said Pierre. ‘Take her into my cabin. I’ll get the galley to send up a warm drink. Get her dry and then we’ll meet in the lounge – it’s warmest in there.’
Olivia’s legs weren’t cooperating, but somehow – with Melissa’s help – she stumbled into the master cabin.
Strangely the first thing that struck her was the sound. A hum reverberated through her body, the frequency signalling her stressed-out body to breathe deeper. She recognized it immediately.
She looked up and her feet almost gave out from under her. An enormous painting hung on the far wall.nemiga.The original Yennin that Pierre had bought at the auction.
The reason she was in this condition: soaking wet, freezing, cut, bloody and bruised. Now she wondered if she’d died in the icy water. Was this a dream? Was she slowly slipping into hypothermia and this was her body’s way of comforting her?
Pierre knocked on the door. Melissa took the clothes and waited for Olivia to dry herself in the bathroom. She didn’t even feel that cold, but that could also be a symptom of severe hypothermia.
By the time she’d crawled into the soft cashmereclothes that Pierre provided, she felt her skin beginning to tingle, her senses coming back to life.
Melissa placed a blanket around her shoulders, rubbed at her hands, then looked with concern at the cut on her arm. ‘We should have the doctor look at that.’
‘You guys made it. Is everyone OK?’ Olivia asked through chattering teeth.