by Pam Webber
Grabbing her hand, Andy pulled her halfway onto a narrow, muddy ledge. Letting go of her dreamcatcher, he put both hands under her shoulders and pulled her out of the water.
Unable to speak, Nettie coughed debris and gulped air. She could hear Andy talking, his voice muffled. “We have to get off this ledge before it gives way. Hold on.” He pulled Nettie to her feet. She cried out as her right leg dragged in the mud. Throbbing and wobbling, it refused to hold any weight.
Scooping her up, Andy pivoted on the narrow ledge enough to lift and push Nettie to the top of the bank. Using a thin root dangling from the dirt, he scrambled up after her. Kneeling, he brushed hair out of her eyes. “Thank God you’re alive.”
Blinking to clear the blur, she searched for the details of his face, trying to form words but drifting into nothingness.
Terror fueled Nettie’s struggle to get free as a heavy whupping sound pounded in her head. Blinded by light, she couldn’t breathe. Her arms and her legs wouldn’t work.
“Honey, don’t. Don’t move.”
She squinched her eyes against the burning grit and blurriness, then forced them to stay open.
“It’s me, Andy. Don’t move. You’re hurt.”
She quivered, trying to say his name but not knowing if she could.
“Don’t talk. You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”
Nettie swallowed and cleared her scratchy throat enough to whisper, “Win? Boys?”
Andy shook his head. “I haven’t seen them since last night.”
She found his hand. “Mrs. Loving. In the brush.”
“I found her. She’s up on the bank now. I covered her with leaves.”
The whupping sound, which had almost disappeared, grew louder.
Andy let go of her hand and ran to the middle of the clearing. “They’re coming back!”
Even through her clogged ears, the noise was deafening as an olive-green helicopter topped the trees, beating a path toward them. Andy jumped up and down, waving. Slowing, the aircraft hovered at the edge of the clearing, its blades creating a blizzard of tree rain, leaves, and twigs. The aircraft made a quick dip toward them, then banked and sped away.
Andy skidded to his knees beside her, his bare chest and face sprinkled with bits of green and brown debris. His shirt wrapped her like a cocoon.
“They saw us. There’s no place to land, but at least they know we’re here. They’ll send help. We need to get you to a hospital.” Andy’s voice softened with worry. “It’s going to be dark soon.”
“Dark?” Just beyond him, layers of orange and yellow trailed the sun into the deepest draw in the mountains.
“You were out cold most of the day. You didn’t even stir when I moved you up here. I know it had to hurt.”
The desire for pain-free sleep pulled at her, but she wanted to stay with Andy more.
“I doubt rescuers will get here before morning. But the river’s not rising anymore and the mudslides have stopped. We’ll be okay until then. Are you warm enough?”
Nettie nodded. “Thirsty.”
“The river’s a cesspool. Maybe I can find a clean puddle.”
She raised her hand enough to point toward the boulders. “There’s a spring.”
“What?”
She cleared her throat again. “By the rocks. There’s a spring.”
“How do you know?”
“Nibi.”
As Andy rustled among the storm debris near the boulders, Nettie concentrated on breathing more deeply and keeping her right leg still to lessen the pain.
“Found it! Bless that woman.”
Dropping beside her, he dribbled the few drops remaining in his cupped hands onto Nettie’s parched lips. “This isn’t going to work. I need to get you over to the spring.” He positioned himself to look into her eyes. “You’re all banged up, and your right leg is broken. I splinted it, but I’m afraid to lift it. I’ll have to drag you. It’s going to hurt.”
Nettie nodded. Her pain paled in comparison with the terror Andy had rescued her from.
He stripped a small stick. “If it gets too bad, bite on this.” Squatting, he slid his hands under her arms and pulled.
Their backward momentum stopped abruptly as the bottom points on the makeshift splint dug into the ground. Nettie moaned and bit the stick harder.
“Jeez, I’m sorry.”
She nodded as he brushed perspiration from her forehead. Seeing nearby trees, Nettie remembered how Nibi got big game back to her house. “Evergreens. Litter.”
Andy jumped up. “I’ll be right back.” Minutes later, he reappeared with thick green branches that smelled of Christmas. “Think you could stand it if I moved you onto these?”
She nodded.
Rolling her gently from side to side, Andy positioned the soft branches under her, using smaller pieces as a makeshift pillow. He dragged the litter next to the bubbling spring. Taking the stick from Nettie’s mouth, he wiped bits of bark from her lips. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
Cupping his hands, he couriered water for Nettie to rinse the grit and foul taste out of her mouth. After she drank her fill, he drank his.
Nettie’s throat still felt scratchy, but she could speak more easily. “Would you rinse my eyes, please?”
Dribbling fresh water over and under her lids until it ran clear, Andy carefully washed her face and flushed the debris from her ears. “Better?”
“Much.”
Using the sleeves of his shirt, he dried her off. “I thought I’d lost you. When you went in the water back at Nibi’s, I nearly went out of my mind.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” She took his hand. “How did you find me?”
“Grace of God. I tried to follow you downriver, but it started raining even harder than it had up on the mountain. I couldn’t see. I could hardly move. I couldn’t even breathe without holding my hands over my nose. I managed to crawl under an evergreen, which broke the downpour enough that I could find a little bit of air.”
“Trees saved us both.”
“I could hear the landslides—big ones, roaring down the mountains, shaking everything. One after the other, they just kept coming. It was a miracle one didn’t take out the tree I was under. I’ve never been so afraid. For both of us.”
“You could have died.”
“I couldn’t die. I had to find you. I prayed for that all night long. Just before dawn, the rain let up enough that I could get out from under the tree. There was nothing but bedrock and mud on both sides. I worked my way downstream, calling, searching. I’d just reached the edge of this clearing when I spotted the fairy fire and you. I started running and yelling when I realized you were getting ready to go into the water. I would have lost you all over again if it hadn’t been for your dreamcatcher and the hold it had on you.” He cupped more water and combed it through her hair with his fingers.
“How did you manage to get it untangled? From the arrowheads, I mean?”
“After you warmed up, there wasn’t anything to do but wait, so I started unraveling them. The white one was the worst. It was wrapped in a ball the size of my fist. I was afraid it might have to be cut out, but I kept working at it. By midafternoon, it was free.”
“Where is it? My dreamcatcher.”
Andy retrieved the webbed ring, washed off the remaining river debris, and laid it next to Nettie. “It followed you all the way into the river. It must have gotten caught when you fell the first time. Damnedest thing.”
“It helped keep my head above water until the tree caught me.”
“Then it saved you twice.”
“It wouldn’t have without you.” Nettie ran her hand over the web. “Making it was supposed to be a summer project. Nibi knew it was meant to do more. A lot more.”
“She knew about the storm?”
“Not at first. She knew a blood moon was coming and that something big was going to happen. She also knew Win and I were involved and that the dreamcatchers were going to
play a role, but until last night she didn’t know exactly what it was or how bad it was going to be. I pray she’s someplace safe.”
“Me too.” Andy lay on his side, leaning on his elbow. “She was worried about you.”
“Me? Why? Wait, how do you know that?”
“Win.”
“You talked with Win?”
“A couple of weeks ago. She was worried about you too.”
“Let me guess—Danes.”
“She didn’t trust him.”
Nettie tried to move to get more comfortable. “I should have listened to her. I just wanted those damn sessions to be over with so I could get baptized and move on.”
Andy sat up and helped her reposition. “I went to see him.”
“Danes?”
“Last week. Win told me he’d been pressuring you to talk about us. I told him you didn’t have anything to prove about being a Christian and that our relationship was none of his concern.”
“What did he say?”
“He danced around it. Said it was all a misunderstanding and that he’d straighten everything out when you all met this week. I was going to talk with Pastor Williams too, but Mrs. Mac beat me to it. Apparently, she was concerned as well. Later, she told me Pastor Williams had agreed that last night would be your final session, and that Mr. Danes would be leaving the church at the end of the month. Apparently, he has a drinking problem.”
Nettie stared at the night sky, trying to put the puzzle pieces together. “They fired him? Before he tried to hurt me?”
“From what I understand.”
“That’s why he had a suitcase and other stuff in his car last night. He wasn’t going to wait and leave at the end of the month—he was going to leave after he . . .”
Andy moved closer, putting his arm over her. “He can’t hurt you now.”
“I don’t understand how he could do what he did. Turn into that horrible person.”
“I don’t either. People live with all kinds of demons. Some you can see; most you can’t.”
“He was spying on us back in the spring, when we were at River’s Rest.”
Andy sat up. “What?”
“He was there. Hiding in bushes. Watching.”
Andy tensed. “That sick bastard. He had to have followed us there. The night we broke up, I knew something wasn’t right. I could feel it. But I blamed it on what was happening between us.”
“I wonder if he hurt any of the other girls.”
“My guess is, the police are going to ask him the same question.”
“If they catch him.”
He took her hand. “Don’t worry, they will. He can’t get but so far.”
“Our parents must be worried sick.”
“We’ll be able to call them soon.”
“And Pastor Williams is probably beside himself.”
“I would imagine. He won’t think twice about baptizing you now.”
“I was baptized last night.” Nettie looked at the stars. “I believed when I went into the water, and I believe now. The rest is icing.”
“A lot of believers died last night.”
“They weren’t alone. Neither was I.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Something Danes said about bad things happening to good people. That physical safety here is not the same as spiritual safety for eternity.”
Andy glanced at the mound of leaves covering Mrs. Loving. “I hope you’re right. I don’t understand it, but maybe we’re not meant to.”
“Danes said that too.”
“Great. So he knows his Bible but got confused about the sinning part?”
“I don’t think he was confused at all. I think he’s tormented and weak.”
A lustrous, cream-colored supermoon rose above the mountains, just as it had for billions of years, oblivious to the death and destruction that lay beneath. As the hours passed, Nettie’s pain worsened, ground-in dirt and sand stabbed her skin like needles, her ribs hurt, and her right leg throbbed.
Andy fidgeted, not knowing how to help.
“Talk to me. Maybe it will take my mind off it.”
“Maybe this will help too.” Beginning with her feet, he drizzled spring water all over her, rinsing grit and bits of debris from her battered body. Rolling her onto her side, he washed her back, massaging unbroken skin as he went. As the water dripped into the boughs of the evergreens beneath her, it carried away some of the discomfort.
Nettie hadn’t thought about the fact that she was naked under his shirt until now but couldn’t bring herself to blush. It simply didn’t matter.
“When I got you out of the water, you were ice cold. I couldn’t even start a fire—everything was soaked—so I wrapped you in my shirt and covered you with leaves until you warmed up and got some color back.”
“I hurt in places I didn’t know I had. Good thing I don’t have a mirror.”
“It’s a good thing your legs took the brunt of it.”
“Give me a cast and some aspirin, and I’ll be good to go. Just in time for school to start.”
“Hard to believe we’re seniors.”
“I never thought I’d look forward to going back, but I am, even if it is on crutches.”
“Speaking of school, I have something to tell you.”
“What?”
Andy sat cross-legged, propping his elbows on his knees. “Remember the surprise I wanted to tell you about that day at the lake?”
Nettie nodded.
“These last few weeks, when you couldn’t find me, I was at VMI.”
“Virginia Military Institute? Why?”
“They have a summer boot camp for those applying for early admission.”
“But you wanted to go to West Point.”
“No. My dad wanted me to go to West Point, like he did.”
“You’re not changing your plans because of me, are you?”
“No. I changed them for me. I’ve had a lot of time to think this summer. I don’t want a long military career. Dad was gone for so much of my life. I want to serve my country for a few years, then settle down and build a life. With you.”
Above the sound of the engorged river, the night offered nothing familiar. All of Nature’s living noisemakers seemed to have vanished. In the silence, Nettie acknowledged the reason for her indecision about Andy. “Forever is a long time when we’re barely thinking past tomorrow.”
“What?”
“It’s what I told you at River’s Rest the night we broke up. You were going away to West Point, starting a whole new life—one I couldn’t be part of. I thought it would be easier to let you go if I didn’t love you.”
Andy pushed a stray hair from Nettie’s forehead. “I’m so sorry about that night. I should never have pushed you to say something you weren’t ready to say. It was unfair. I thought I had my life all figured out, except for one missing piece: you. I knew right away I’d made a mistake, but I was too stubborn to admit it.”
“Is that why you asked Anne out?” Nettie teased.
“I didn’t ask her. She asked me.”
“Figures.”
“Going out with someone, anyone, seemed like a good idea at the time. I was hurting. I thought it might make you jealous enough to come back to me. It didn’t take long to realize I’d made another big mistake.”
“Was she responsible for you two being named May Day king and queen?”
Andy rolled his eyes. “Her grandfather was. He’s on the May Day committee and gives them a lot of money. They were glad to give him what she wanted.”
“That night at the Tastee Freez, were you all breaking up?”
“We weren’t going together, despite what she kept telling people.” Andy picked up a twig and spun it. “That night, I apologized if I’d misled her, and I told her the relationship was never going to go where she wanted it to.”
“I’m sure she didn’t take that well.”
“Not at all. When you and Ethan pulled in, she was quick t
o point out that you’d moved on and that I needed to do the same.”
“I hadn’t moved on. Ethan just happened to come to town at the right time. We were both going through a lot. He’s a nice guy.”
“Yes, he is. He’s responsible for getting me to Nibi’s last night. He was worried about you and Win.” Andy stopped spinning the twig. “He said you were in love with me.”
“I’ve known it for a while.”
“I’ve known it for a while too.”
“We’re so young. What we feel now may not be what we feel a year from now, or five, or ten. Maybe more.”
Andy flicked the twig away and kissed her. “Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be? Relationships are supposed to evolve. Look how far we’ve come since the sandbox days. I’m betting the way we feel will change. It will grow stronger. We just need to take it one day at a time.”
“I hadn’t thought about it like that, but you’re right.” Nettie carefully pushed herself up onto her elbows. Despite the pain in her leg and ribs, it felt good to stretch. “So many things are still up in the air right now. I still don’t know what I want to do, if I want to go to college or where.”
“One day at a time, remember. What you decide to do and when and where you do it is up to you. I’ll support whatever decisions you make.”
The churning hum of an outboard motor interrupted the moment.
Andy jumped to his feet and searched the river. “Lights!” Running to the bank, he yelled and waved until the concentrated beams turned their way.
Flashlights bobbed as the long johnboat motored close to shore. Stopping the engine, two National Guardsmen used paddles to pull the boat into the muck close to the bank. Win sat on the middle seat. Dropping over the sides, the guardsmen pulled the boat far enough into the mud to anchor it. One carried Win to the bank, while the other unloaded supplies.
Win hugged Andy. “Where is she?”
“Over by the spring.”