Page 91 of Balance

Miles shook his head and inched toward me. He was standing in the water, his hand outstretched in my direction. “Hurry and grab on to me.”

But I couldn’t do that without moving. That would assuredly result in the tree breaking, and me plummeting to my death into the rapids below. “I can’t…”

This was it. I flipping knew it.Thiswas what Julian had seen that day.

I thought I was going to fall off a building, but this was how I was going to die.

Why wouldn’t he warn me? Maybe he only knew when people would die, and not how.

Of course, this was the last thing I should be focusing on. But facing your impending doom had a way of shutting down the logical parts of your brain.

“Goddamn it, Bianca. You better fucking listen to me right now,” Miles cursed, the sound of it snapping me out of my shock. His features were fierce and demanding, and his presence sharp in the center of my tunneling vision. “Inch your way to me and grab my hand.”

His order rushed through me. My muscles twitched, itching to obey. Milesneverhad given me a direct order before, but… “It’ll break…”

“It’s going to break no matter what you do,” he said. “Come here and I’ll catch you.”

But…

“I saidnow,” he commanded, breaking through my fear.

My actions were instinctual. My body was compelled to obey. I half-leaped forward, desperate to reach Miles before the inevitable.

I almost made it.

Our fingers touched for a brief second, and then it happened.

There was another echoing snap, and then the branch dropped out from under my feet. For an instant, time seemed to linger. Miles’s stricken expression remained branded into my focus, and his mouth opened in a shout I couldn’t hear.

Then the deadly river closed over my head as I fell down, down, down.

Chapter Twenty

Bianca

Plunge

The cold was a numbing weight. It caused my muscles to seize and limbs to lock. Darkness surrounded me as the light blue of the sky faded. An invisible force dragged me deeper.

Already my lungs ached. Panic compounded my inability to breathe.

I kicked, desperate to reach the surface. It worked, but for less than an instant as the rapids tossed me under once more. They pulled and pushed until it was impossible to see. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even tell which way was up or down.

A hard body crashed into mine, and the little air I had left was knocked from me. On reflex, I gasped, and water flooded my mouth. I fought against it, but the presence wouldn’t let go. My arms were trapped against my chest and I could no longer move.

My teeth rattled as I was thrown, helplessly and painfully, against an unforgiving surface.

“Bianca!” Miles roared in my ears.

The strength of his voice, so close even though seconds ago I’d been alone, was the only thing to drag me out of the dark. I blinked, trying to clear my eyes and dodge the waves.

Miles had jumped in, unless he’d fallen in himself, which I doubted. He held me tight against him with one arm. We’d found temporary reprieve against a trio of boulders, which were, unfortunately, smack dab in the middle of the waters. He had his back to the current, the lines of his face set in a mixture of concentration and agony as he fought to keep me sheltered between him and the stones.

“D-d-did you actually jump in a-a-after me?” This time my stutter wasn’t from nerves at all; my teeth were already chattering.

“It’s fine.” It didn’t sound very fine, nor did his expression scream confidence. “I’m fine,” he repeated, more to himself than to me. “I can do this. It’s only a little water. Just hold on to me.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. This was far froma littlewater. But for the lack of options, scrambled to obey. Twisting in his hold, I wrapped my arms around his neck even as his arms shook in his attempt to keep his weight off me.