Page 114 of A Second Chance for the Beta

“I can,” I say.

Dario leads us to a river. “It’s pretty deep,” he mutters. “We will have to swim some parts.”

“I’ll watch out for her,” Felix promises, turning towards me. “I’m a good swimmer.”

“Good is an understatement,” Dario says. “It’s like Felix was a merman in his previous life.”

I want to know more about his love for the water, but there is no time to chat. “Be careful,” Felix mutters. “A river can be unpredictable.” Dario nods and jumps in first. He wasn’t lying. It’s deep. It seems like he can barely stand. Felix and I follow suit. I’m not a bad swimmer, but the flow is strong, making me cling to Felix. He shows me how to hold onto him without disturbing his movements or pulling him down into the water, then we move forward. The two guys let the drift move them forward while I cling to Felix. Goodness, I had no time to think about what kind of mess I ended up in now. I should have stayed in the packhouse instead of wandering around like a stupid idiot. Dante trusted me to stay there. But no, I just had to mope and dwell in self-pity and run into these… whatever and whoever they are.

The flow gets stronger, the water swirling around us louder.

“Do you know the area?” Dario yells towards me through the noise.

“Yes,” I yell back, hoping our attackers won’t be able to hear us. The noise from the water is so loud that I hope we are safe. “This river leads to a…”

I pause, dread settling in.

“Oh fuck,” Felix curses, instantly realizing what I was about to say. “Dario, be careful. If you can, try to jump so you put some distance between yourself and the waterfall.”

“And if I can’t?” Dario asks. There is a tremor in his voice but other than that he sounds shockingly composed.

“Position yourself so you go down feet first! Arms around or over your head, press your nose and mouth into your elbow.”

“Got it,” Dario says.

“And tense your muscles.”

I can see how the edge comes closer. Dario is a bit ahead of us, so he is almost there. My heartbeat picks up its pace.

“Once down, swim away from the waterfall even when you are still under the surface,” Felix yells while Dario slips over the edge.

“Please tell me it’s deep,” Felix says, his voice nervous.

“It is,” I mutter, my body so tense it’s shivering.

“Okay,” Felix makes me turn around so I’m clinging to his side. “I need you to let go and lie on your back. Hold my hand and don’t let go.”

There are so many questions I want to ask. Why don’t they teach us that in school!? Seriously, it would have come in handy, but instead I could do algebra right now. Once Uncle Dante finds me again, and I’m safe, and he isn’t mad at me anymore for getting into this situation, I will ask him to show me some survival tricks.

“Here we go,” Felix says. I can feel his body tensing, and follow his lead, my fingers tightly around his hand. I wish I could say I remember all his rules, but once we move over the edge, all I can do is try to not scream like a maniac. All my strength and willpower go into not yelling out in fear so as to not alert our attackers.

The strength of the flow basically kicks us over the edge. Instead of dropping down with the stream of water, we are a bit ahead of it. It feels like my intestines and my stomach move up to my throat. Soon the water catches up with us, making it feel like I’m being punched from all sides. It feels like I’m taking a beating while gravity pulls us down fast. With a loud thud, we burst through the surface of the water as if we crashed on asphalt. The strength of the waterfall pushes us down. My hand feels slippery, and with the strength of the water, my grip around Felix’s hand loosens.

Before I can let go, he grabs me by my shirt and tugs me further into the water. It’s pitch-black around us. Fuck, fuck, fuck, did I go blind? There is the slightest light to be seen, so I hope my eyes are alright, but my orientation certainly isn’t. The water keeps pressing against my chest while my lungs scream for air.

Felix tugs us in a direction. I don’t know where to, but I let him pull me along, trying to support him by kicking my feet and then, just like that, we break through the surface. I cough, gasping for air while Felix tugs me further and further until we hit the shore.

“Tha”—I cough a bit more, rolling onto my back, relief filling me as I’m at the safety of the shore—“Thank you.”

“No problem,” Felix says. “But that was dangerous.”

“I thought it would be to your liking.” I can hear Dario’s voice; even more relief fills me when I notice he is okay.

“I just did it once. Once,” Felix says, looking a bit flustered. “And dad almost killed me for it.”

“Your experience helped us, though,” Dario mutters.

Felix eyes him over, his eyes clouded with worry. “You got hurt?”