Page 90 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

The roof of the farthest casita had collapsed, just as she suspected it might when she’d explored it last night. She had been able to tell, by the water stains and the constant dripping, that there was already standing water trapped above the ceiling and that heavy rain and more water might finally collapse the rotting wood. Buena Vista was the biggest by far and clung to the edge of the cliff, once upon a time, she was sure, offering the best view. It was mere feet from the rim, the volcanic lake glittering below.

Why do we have to try to own it?Her father used to marvel at houses built on the coasts, near the forests, on the cliffs.Don’t they know they don’t belong there?

Adele stood at the side open entrance where the doors used to be.

“Who’s there?” she called into the darkness, her voice taken by the wind.

Faintly, she heard an answer, gave a worried glance at the roof, then back to Cody, and raced inside with him behind her.

The floor was a pool of murky water pouring downhill toward the cliff edge. She took the rope from her pack and with Cody’s help wrapped it around a pillar that didn’t seem quite secure but was their only option.

She tugged at it, and it seemed to hold. Then Cody fastened the rest of the rope around her waist, tying an expert knot.

“Where are you?” Adele called. The ceiling above them was gaping, water pouring down.

“Oh, my God, thank God. Here! The balcony! I can’t hold much longer. Please.”

Malinka.

Adele backed herself into the flow, with Cody holding the rope, watching the water pour over her feet, up to her calves, and getting deeper. She could only pray that the pillar would hold and that Cody was strong enough if it didn’t. Another flash of lightning, a hard crack of thunder that made the ground shake. Something got hit. Almost instantly she smelled smoke.

She backed toward the edge, keeping her gaze roving—the water, the ceiling, behind her.

There.

Malinka clung to what was left of the porch railing, water rushing past her, her body dangling over the edge.

“Adele!”

“I’m coming!”

She edged with the current toward Malinka. Just a few more feet. That’s when she saw that the whole porch was detaching from the house, about to plunge over the edge of the cliff and take Malinka with it.

Adrenaline still pulsing, Adele got on her knees and started reaching for Malinka, relying all her weight on Cody and the failing pillar.

“Can you reach for me?”

“Ican’t,” said the girl, panic clear on her pale face.

Adele could just see the top of her head and her eyes. Both of her hands grasped the wrought metal of the railing that was mostly missing.The entirety of her body weight was dangling. There was no way the girl was strong enough to pull herself up. And doing so might cause the whole porch to fall away.

Think. Think!

She rushed back against the current to Cody. “I can’t reach her.”

He untied the rope from the pillar, then grabbed another from his pack and tied it around her waist. “I’ll hold on to you. You throw her this.”

Was he strong enough to hold both her and Malinka against the rushing current of rainwater?

“Please! Adele! I’m falling.”

No time to decide.

Adele ran back to the porch, lay flat on the casita floor in the floodwater and flung the rope, Cody holding tight to the one that was attached to Adele. The lifeline draped over the side, the water rushing past her and over the edge.

“Reach for it!” Adele yelled.

“I can’t.” Horror and desperation pulled the girl’s voice taut.