The Similars (The Similars #1)(16)

My mind races. I’m rational. I can fix this. Can’t I?

I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe because I’m underwater.

I’m submerged.

But where am I? At the bottom of a pool? Then it hits me: Dark Lake.

In Dark Lake. I’M IN DARK LAKE.

Horror builds in my chest as I try, again, to gasp for fresh air. Once again, I gulp in water. No! This isn’t happening!

Ears pounding, heart thundering against my rib cage, I try to swim to the surface. But something’s stopping me. My right leg. It’s as heavy as lead. Or maybe it’s caught? No, there’s a brick tied to it, or something as heavy as a brick. I shake my leg with all the force I can muster, but the weight doesn’t budge.

No, no, no. I will not die this way. I can’t. I won’t!

I grasp for my left wrist, locating my plum by feel and pressing down on the home button, hard. I pray Dash will send out a lifesaving signal. It may be my only hope. Then I angle my head and torso downward toward my leg. The water’s pitch-black, and I can’t orient myself. Can’t see a thing. In desperation, I feel for my right ankle. My fingers fumble around until they rest on a string. There’s a string tied around my ankle! And attached to that, the heavy object that’s making me sink to the bottom of the lake. The thing that will kill me if I can’t get it off.

I can’t scream. I can’t call for help. I’m trapped, and the seconds are racing by. Precious seconds I need to save myself. No, no. Please no. My brain begins to fog. My mind swirls against my will, becoming soft, fuzzy.

But I’m not done. Not even close. Mustering all my strength, adrenaline, and will, I yank at the string. It chafes against my leg. Painfully. I yank again.

The string slips off, and along with it, the weight.

I’m free now. Free! But so disoriented. I don’t know which way is up. Or which way is down. I make a last-ditch guess as to where the surface is, and I swim, kicking my legs as hard as I can and reaching my arms up with all the fight I have left. But the surface doesn’t come.

I must be swimming in the opposite direction. The wrong direction. And now, it’s too late. My brain clouds from lack of oxygen, and though I try not to give in to it, I close my eyes. I’m so tired… Will it be easier this way? Will I see Oliver sooner? I don’t think I believe in heaven, but maybe the universe will be merciful. Maybe I’ll wake up on the other side, and he’ll be there next to me.

The thing is, I don’t actually want to die. Not now. Not yet. Not like this.

Maybe it isn’t my time, because someone’s pulling me. Someone’s saving me. I feel sturdy hands around my waist, hoisting me in one direction. Dragging me through the frigid water. To the surface? Or to drown me in the lake’s depths? It’s impossible to tell, but I have no choice. Nearly gone—nearly unconscious—I do the only thing left. I hold on for dear life, letting my savior guide me.

An eternity later, I’m heaved out of the water and onto the shore of Dark Lake. Every bone in my body feels like it’s thudding against the ground. My head throbs with an alarming level of pain.

I gasp for breath. I cough and choke. I’m alive—I think.

I look up at the figure bending over me. It’s Pru. Pippa? No. It’s Prudence. She’s soaking wet.

“Emma.” Pru’s voice is ragged. “Emmaline! Are you okay? Tell me you’re okay.”

I cough for a good thirty seconds before I can utter any words. When I do, my voice sounds choppy and raw, like someone took a grater to my throat. “I’m okay,” I sputter. “What happened?”

I’m racking my brain to remember how I got to the lake, but I can’t recall anything after dinner. The stratum rankings. The round, white pharma…

“Did I fall in?”

“Not exactly,” Pru says, pulling me into a seated position.

“So how did I…?” I stare at Pru’s grim face. “Somebody threw me in, didn’t they?”

Pru nods.

“But the pharmas.” I’m trying to make sense of this. “They aren’t that strong. Are they?”

Except I took more than one today. It’s the only way to explain how I was so dead asleep that I could have been dragged from my bed, never waking until I was submerged under the black water. With a brick tied to my leg. Still, I’m not so sure my pills would completely knock me out like that…

Prudence doesn’t explain. As she throws a dry sweater over my shoulders, I hear stifled giggling a few feet away from us on the shore. Confused, I turn in the direction of the laughter and squint at the figures standing there. In the moonlight, I can see Madison Huxley flanked by Tessa Leroy and a slim girl with jet-black hair to her waist. A senior, Angela Chen. Madison holds a hand up to cover her mouth, and I’m certain she’s the one who laughed. Tessa examines the platinum polish on her fingertips, appearing bored. They aren’t alone. Off to the side a few paces is Archer, who yawns, barely awake. A few feet from him is Maude. She looks awkward standing there by herself, and incredibly tense. They all stare as Pru helps me to my feet.

“Better grab some towels, you two,” Madison lilts. “Wouldn’t want you to get sick. It’s flu season. Oh,” she adds, turning to me and grinning. “Silly me. I forgot to say welcome.”

“Welcome?” I pull the sweater as tight around me as I can. I’m shivering and disoriented, and still reeling from almost drowning. Not to mention thankful that Pru is so athletic she could rescue me. “Welcome to what?”