abandoned. Isolated. Completely and terribly alone.
Fear.
“Look.” Caleb hesitated, barely a fraction of a second, then said crisply, “You’re going to have to get it together. If you panic, I’m going to leave you behind.”
“You wouldn’t.”
His voice thinned. “Wouldn’t I?”
It was as if he’d pushed her off some indefinable edge. Everything in Juliet’s body, her mind, spilled free. The fury— terror! —battering at her control cracked, and it seemed as if she watched someone else wearing her skin turn and launch herself in the direction of that so calm voice.
As if it wasn’t her body that collided with his, her voice that strangled on a sound shredded from a throat gone tight and raw.
Caleb caught her, but not easily. He deflected her, struggled to grab her shoulders, her arms, cursing in surprise and warning and staggering as she battered at him. As she twisted her fingers into claws and sobbed something that didn’t make it into real words, his back flattened against the wall. His boots scrabbled for purchase amid the rocks that crumbled at their feet.
Something cracked. Juliet hoped it was bone—she would have settled for his thick head. Then the world tilted on its axis. Vertigo slammed home as Caleb’s arms tightened around her, and the weak cement crumbled into nothing behind them.
They toppled as she screamed.
Chapter Four
A ir rushed past her ears, air and darkness and screams that echoed from all sides. It seemed as if she hung forever, trapped and falling all at the same time, her fingers somehow twisted in his jacket.
Juliet didn’t have time to think. Didn’t have time to watch her life play through the projector of her mind. One wide hand wrapped around the back of her head and Caleb’s voice roared by her ear, “Inhale!”
She managed to open her mouth, to reverse the flow of air from an endless scream to a breath sucked into her burning lungs as the rushing sound grew louder and louder.
Between one second and the next, air turned to ice and she gasped as they plunged into the frozen river at the bottom of the trench. Caleb’s jacket wrenched out of her grip.
Bubbles streamed around her face, mind spinning wildly as the cold sucked every ounce of warmth from her body. It stole her breath, her thought, her ability to move. Her memory. The current wrapped liquid fingers around her limbs and dragged her tumbling downriver.
Was this how she’d die? Sucked into the icy currents and thrown against some desolate shore miles away?
Juliet flailed. She forced her eyes open as her lungs burned for air, thrashed and fought through water that seemed thick and viscous from cold. Water filled her ears, her mouth and nose, her skin, and she struggled to kick her booted feet. To climb through layers upon layers of freezing currents until finally, thank God, her head broke through the surface.
Lungs burning, she sucked in air, choked on a mouthful of water and thrashed as a cresting swell sloshed over her head. The flow moved too fast to see anything in the near dark, and she didn’t tread water so much as force herself to float on the top, to not fight as she relearned how to breathe.
“Caleb!” The white-capped rush of icy water swallowed the sound, threw it back at her in taunting, muffled echoes. She caught a mouthful of water, choked again, sobbing.
It was as if she floated in freezing, weightless nothing; a void of sensory deprivation so intense that it took her breath away. She fought the current—didn’t she? She could feel herself thinking about it, but she couldn’t shape the words in her head.
Swim. Stay afloat.
Rest.
Something closed around her ankle. She barely managed a breath before her head slid beneath the surface, hands grasping at nothing. The river pulled at her, fought to keep her, and the grip tightened to near pain.
Then another anchor, an iron band laced around her upper arm, and she gasped as it yanked her back to the surface. Panting, she
Fear.
“Look.” Caleb hesitated, barely a fraction of a second, then said crisply, “You’re going to have to get it together. If you panic, I’m going to leave you behind.”
“You wouldn’t.”
His voice thinned. “Wouldn’t I?”
It was as if he’d pushed her off some indefinable edge. Everything in Juliet’s body, her mind, spilled free. The fury— terror! —battering at her control cracked, and it seemed as if she watched someone else wearing her skin turn and launch herself in the direction of that so calm voice.
As if it wasn’t her body that collided with his, her voice that strangled on a sound shredded from a throat gone tight and raw.
Caleb caught her, but not easily. He deflected her, struggled to grab her shoulders, her arms, cursing in surprise and warning and staggering as she battered at him. As she twisted her fingers into claws and sobbed something that didn’t make it into real words, his back flattened against the wall. His boots scrabbled for purchase amid the rocks that crumbled at their feet.
Something cracked. Juliet hoped it was bone—she would have settled for his thick head. Then the world tilted on its axis. Vertigo slammed home as Caleb’s arms tightened around her, and the weak cement crumbled into nothing behind them.
They toppled as she screamed.
Chapter Four
A ir rushed past her ears, air and darkness and screams that echoed from all sides. It seemed as if she hung forever, trapped and falling all at the same time, her fingers somehow twisted in his jacket.
Juliet didn’t have time to think. Didn’t have time to watch her life play through the projector of her mind. One wide hand wrapped around the back of her head and Caleb’s voice roared by her ear, “Inhale!”
She managed to open her mouth, to reverse the flow of air from an endless scream to a breath sucked into her burning lungs as the rushing sound grew louder and louder.
Between one second and the next, air turned to ice and she gasped as they plunged into the frozen river at the bottom of the trench. Caleb’s jacket wrenched out of her grip.
Bubbles streamed around her face, mind spinning wildly as the cold sucked every ounce of warmth from her body. It stole her breath, her thought, her ability to move. Her memory. The current wrapped liquid fingers around her limbs and dragged her tumbling downriver.
Was this how she’d die? Sucked into the icy currents and thrown against some desolate shore miles away?
Juliet flailed. She forced her eyes open as her lungs burned for air, thrashed and fought through water that seemed thick and viscous from cold. Water filled her ears, her mouth and nose, her skin, and she struggled to kick her booted feet. To climb through layers upon layers of freezing currents until finally, thank God, her head broke through the surface.
Lungs burning, she sucked in air, choked on a mouthful of water and thrashed as a cresting swell sloshed over her head. The flow moved too fast to see anything in the near dark, and she didn’t tread water so much as force herself to float on the top, to not fight as she relearned how to breathe.
“Caleb!” The white-capped rush of icy water swallowed the sound, threw it back at her in taunting, muffled echoes. She caught a mouthful of water, choked again, sobbing.
It was as if she floated in freezing, weightless nothing; a void of sensory deprivation so intense that it took her breath away. She fought the current—didn’t she? She could feel herself thinking about it, but she couldn’t shape the words in her head.
Swim. Stay afloat.
Rest.
Something closed around her ankle. She barely managed a breath before her head slid beneath the surface, hands grasping at nothing. The river pulled at her, fought to keep her, and the grip tightened to near pain.
Then another anchor, an iron band laced around her upper arm, and she gasped as it yanked her back to the surface. Panting, she
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