Down World by Rebecca Phelps (best new books to read .txt) 📕

up for air. When I did, I turned quickly to judge my location based on the shoreline, and found that I was probably over the box. George’s cabin was to my left, its dark silhouette stark against the lightly glowing night air behind the woods.

I took a deep breath, and just before my eyes went under, I saw the lights in George’s cabin snap on. This was it. Somebody was back at the cabin. I didn’t know if they had seen me, but I knew that no matter what, I couldn’t come up to the surface again. I either found the box, or I would be stuck here, possibly forever.

In the darkness at the bottom of the lake, I desperately felt along for the outline of wood. And all I felt was sand. I could feel my chest straining under the lack of air, and knew I had maybe half a minute left before I wouldn’t be able to hold my breath anymore.

My fingers desperately groped the ground, my eyes straining to make out any form in the pitch-darkness. I was on the brink of giving up hope when I felt something. It was hard and metal, and I realized it was the clasp of the box.

My breath was all but gone, but it was now or never. With all my strength, I flung open the lid of the box and pulled myself through. The flash of light passed, followed by an even more profound darkness.

As with before, I had no idea which direction I was facing, and it was too dark to follow my air bubbles. I picked a direction and started swimming against the thick, murky water, only to bump my head against the lake floor.

I was upside-down. And I was out of breath.

Quickly, and with my last might, I pushed myself off the sandy wall beneath me and propelled my body upwards, opening my mouth and letting the last of my air escape. It seemed like an eternity of water around me, and for a moment I wondered if this time I really was going to drown.

But then the light started to seep into my vision, and soon the water’s surface appeared before my eyes. My head burst through, and I gulped in a mouthful of air. For a moment, all I could do was breathe and be grateful. I had never been a religious person, despite the efforts of St. Joe’s to make me one, but I found myself thanking God that I was alive and that air was filling my lungs.

Before me, I saw only the water and the far edge of the lake, and I realized I was facing away from the shore.

That’s when I turned around, in the bright light of day, and saw them standing there waiting for me.

Sage and John looked like they had been standing vigil for hours, and both sighed deeply upon seeing me. And after a moment, I saw Kieren come to join them. I felt like I must be seeing things, and my brain couldn’t reconcile the image of him on the shore with what I had been expecting to see. I searched left and right for my father, feeling I would burst if I didn’t see him. But he wasn’t there. Kieren bent over at the waist, as if catching his breath after a long run.

And somehow I knew, looking at Kieren, that my father wasn’t coming.

CHAPTER 16

Back at the hotel, Sage was treating me like a wounded bird she had pulled in from the forest. A cup of tea. A warm blanket. And the smell of something savory she was cooking in the kitchen. We were all sitting in her apartment, on the throw pillows where Brady and I had been offered tea before.

The information was coming at me faster than I could comprehend it. My father had been taken into “detention,” whatever that meant, at a processing center in town. Something had happened at the high school, something big that had changed everything.

“Slow down,” I told Kieren, feeling more frustrated than ever. “Tell me what you’re talking about.”

“The police were at your house,” Kieren began, clearly trying to check his pace and use phrases that would be clear to me. “They had become suspicious about your mom’s disappearance. Like, maybe your dad had something to do with it.”

“What?”

“I know it’s insane. But I guess they wanted to interview you, see if you knew more than you were saying.”

“Oh God.”

“So your dad called the camp, from the number on their website.”

“And let me guess. They had never heard of me.”

Kieren gave me a moment to process this before going on. “Your dad called your friend Christy, and asked if she knew where you were. And Christy told him everything.”

I buried my face in my hands, imagining poor Christy on the phone with my father, panicking. I felt terrible for having put her in that position. It hadn’t even occurred to me how selfish it was of me to ask such a big favor of her. And I couldn’t wait to talk to her again so I could apologize.

“Don’t be mad at her,” Kieren said.

“No, no, I’m not,” I insisted. “I just feel guilty. I should have never asked her to lie for me.”

“Christy came to find me and asked if I could help. So I went to your house . . .”

“You what?” I asked. “Are you crazy? My dad could have seen you. He would have killed you.”

“I didn’t care about that anymore. I wanted to tell him that you were okay.”

“What did he say when he saw you?”

Kieren was silent for a moment, and he stared down at the cup of tea that he had yet to sip. The quiet of the room echoed in my ears, chilling me to the bone.

“They were already taking him away,” Kieren said. “I’m sorry, M. I was too late. I snuck in through the back door after they were gone. They