The distance to the rock shrank. The raft inched slightly right. But we weren’t going to make it. I cut my eyes over at Stephanie and rowed harder.
“Paddle forward!” Wes shouted. “Get ready to ride the rapids, baby!”
Our raft missed the rock by inches, slid over a three-foot waterfall and into the boiling white water. Water cascaded over the sides of the raft, completely soaking us all. For a minute I thought we were going to flip over, but then the raft flew up and forward and we were through it.
“Whoo-hoo!” I shouted. This was as much fun as jumping fences on horseback, like riding at a full gallop. Fantastic!
“Yee-hii!” Mom shouted behind me. “All right!”
“Yikes!” Norm yelped.
Stephanie screamed.
“Paddle forward, paddle forward!” shouted Wild Wes.
I leaned into the oar. Laughing my head off because this was so much fun. The roar of the water filled every space inside my head. I glanced at Stephanie, whose face was totally white. She’d stopped paddling.
“Paddle harder, don’t stop!” Wild Wes yelled. We dodged another rock that jumped out on the left. Then Wes squeezed us through a two-foot chute into the shallows, and suddenly we were gliding through calm water, and the roar settled to a sound as soothing as wind chimes.
“Way to go,” said Wes.
“Whew!” Norm said. “Everybody okay?”
“Great!” said Mom.
“That was awesome!” I said.
“Awesome.” Stephanie managed a grin.
“Well, you’ve conquered your first class four,” said Wes. “One more to go, about a mile down. Right now everybody can take it easy. It’s deep and calm through here. You can jump in and swim if you want.”
“Seriously?” I said. I gazed at the wooded riverbank sliding by.
“Sure.”
“Won’t the raft leave them behind?” Norm asked.
“Just hang on to the side. Or, if you let go, we can always come get you.” Wes grinned wickedly. “Or we can leave you out here for the bears and coyotes.”
Stephanie gasped.
“Kidding!” Wild Wes said. He scooped up a handful of water. Tossed it at Stephanie.
“Here I go!” I laid down my oar, stood on the edge of the raft, and dove in.
“No diving!” shouted Wes as the water closed over my head. I opened my eyes and saw two small fish suspended a foot in front of my face, with black spots by their eyes. I reached for them and they darted away, then I swam upward through angled cones of light filtering from the surface. Suspended mud made the river water seem silky and thick.
“Whoo-hooo!” Wild Wes yelled as my head broke the surface. And he leaped. A wall of water exploded as he did a cannonball right next to me. He jerked his head sideways as he surfaced, tossing the water from his dreadlocks. “Never dive into a river, girl. Always jump.”
“Sorry.” I grinned at him, then grabbed an outside handhold and felt the cool tug of the water as the raft moved through it.
“Shouldn’t you be in the raft?” Norm asked Wild Wes.
“Just taking a little dip, back in a sec,” said Wild Wes. He was doing the backstroke.
“It’s okay, Norm, I can steer it,” Mom said. “Diana, stay close to the raft now, all right, sweetie?”
“Come on in, Steph,” I said. “The water’s great.” I could tell from the way Stephanie looked at me that she was dying to come in but was afraid. Stephanie was such a chicken it was hard to resist teasing her. “If you see a copperhead, you don’t have to worry because they can’t bite you while they’re swimming.”
“Diana!” Mom said sternly. “That’s mean.” Mom squeezed Stephanie’s knee. “There aren’t any snakes in there, Steph.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said Wild Wes as he climbed back in the raft.
“That’s it. I’m not swimming,” Stephanie said.
“Me, neither,” said Norm. He had his hand over Stephanie’s shoulder, holding firmly, but I saw Stephanie shrug his hand off.
Wild Wes reached down to me. His grip was wiry and strong as he pulled me over the side. Water sluiced from our bodies and streamed into the raft. Thin rivulets washed over the blue-green sea monster on Wes’s arm.
“I love your tattoo,” I said.
“Thanks.” Wild Wes flexed his muscle, and the monster appeared to slither along his arm.
“Did it hurt?” Stephanie asked.
“Yes, ma’am, it sure did; hurt like a son of a gun. Don’t ever do it.” Wes settled onto the back of the raft and grabbed his oar.
“Don’t worry,” said Stephanie.
I reached for my oar. How much could it hurt? I had tried to get a tattoo last year, but Mom refused to sign the waiver. That made me so mad. Mom said as long as she refused to sign I couldn’t get a tattoo until I was eighteen. I used to think when I got to Florida Dad could sign. Just thinking about Dad now made my whole chest and neck feel hot. Dr. Shrink’s Moronic Mood-o-Meter jumped from a five to a seven and then back again.
In the brief silence after that, I heard the faint sound of rapids ahead.
I glanced over at Norm and saw that he heard them, too. He wasn’t his jovial self. Was Norm scared? That seemed weird.
“Second set of class four rapids up ahead,” said Wes. “This one happens to be called Gator Guts.”
“What?” I laughed.
“Why?” Stephanie sounded like she was going to gag.
“Don’t know,” Wes said. “Now, if you’ll look up there, those high school kids are going to the left of the rocks. Big mistake. Guaranteed wipeout. The only way through these rapids is to stay to the right of the rocks and row like crazy.”
I looked at the raft with the high school guys. So far ahead, it looked small, like a toy, bouncing over the waves. There was a huge rock in the center of the river with waterfalls on either side. The guys were going left. Their raft slid over the falls, then I heard yelling and saw heads and legs flailing. The raft popped into the air, totally empty.
“Told you,” said Wes.
Norm breathed out. “Are you sure we should let these kids go over those falls?”
“Absolutely, I am the king of the river,” Wild Wes said. Bared his teeth and growled. “Paddle forward!”
The rock grew as we slid toward it. I shoved my feet deeper into the crevice under the side, tensed my thighs, and dug my oar through the water. The tiny people ahead were swimming toward the loose raft. One person threw a leg over the side, but the three others were bobbing like little crazy people in the water.
“Right back!” Wes shouted.
I glanced at Stephanie. Oops. She was starting to cry.
“Don’t cry!” I said. “Paddle!”
“Come on, come on, get out of our way,” Wild Wes growled, watching the tiny flailing people. “Move it!” Wes shouted.
But one of the people ahead must have gotten hurt or got his leg stuck in some rocks because the people were still splashing around at the foot of the falls. The one person who had managed to get back onto the raft had it perched on a small, flat rock in the middle of the rapids and was leaning out, trying to help the others.
“They’re in our way,” Wes said. “We can’t go down yet. We’ve gotta go over to the shore and wait.” Wes guided us to the far right side of the river. Yellow-green branches of weeping willows hung over and brushed the surface, forming a feathery, shifting screen.
I reached up and clasped a whip-like weeping willow branch.
“No! Don’t—” Wes started.
The next thing I knew, the raft swept under me. I did a back flip into the water. I heard Mom and Stephanie scream before I went under. Something slammed into my thigh. I felt rocks beneath me and tried to get my head above the waves. I sucked in a whole bunch of muddy-tasting water. Which way was up? Which way was air? God help me! I prayed. This is it, I thought. My foot slid between two rocks.
The current dragged the raft and yanked on my foot. My sk
in scraped against the rock. I gasped and gulped down gallons of water. My foot was at such a strange angle.
“Mom!” I tried to shout. A wave smacked me in the face and filled my mouth with water. I choked. I tried pulling my foot again. I heard splashing, a loud roaring in my head sounded like screams. Then strong arms were pulling at my shoulders, strong fingers grasped my ankle and released my foot from the rock. I grabbed and wrapped my arms around Mom, trying to hang on.
But when my eyes cleared of water I saw Mom leaning out of the raft, reaching for me with a paddle, her face terrified. The person I was holding on to, the person I was practically strangling, was Norm.
“You’re okay,” he said, holding me. His arms were wrapped around me. The water wasn’t that cold but his teeth were chattering. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”
I was pulled and lifted into the raft at the same time, and I laid there, catching my breath, shaking all over. Mom sat next to me, stroking my arm, murmuring soothing things.
“That was pretty swift there, Norm,” Wes said. “Having a swimmer just upriver of Gator Guts is not a good thing.” Wes had banked the raft along the edge between a rock and massive tree root. “You okay there, little lady?” he asked. I nodded, “What I’d been about to say is don’t ever grab something that’s onshore while the raft is still moving!”
“Well, she’s okay and that’s what matters,” Norm said. I could feel his solid warm hand still resting lightly on my shoulder.
My ankle was scraped and bleeding. A bad bruise was starting to throb on my thigh, but Mom said nothing was broken or sprained. The high school guys had finally cleared the rapids. Their raft was a tiny yellow dot disappearing around the river bend. Wes said it was time to go.
I took a deep breath and glanced at Stephanie. “You okay?” Stephanie said.
I nodded and grinned. “Never grab on to anything onshore while the raft is still moving.”
“Got it.”
“And never try to stand up in the river!”
“Right.”
“All paddle!” Wes yelled.
I leaned into my oar as the rock loomed, the size of an elephant this time.
“Right back! Right back!”
I paddled. I glanced at Mom, who still looked pale, but she raised her eyebrows, smiled, and showed me crossed fingers.
“Paddle harder, right!” Wes shouted. “Give it everything! Don’t hold back!”
The rock was ten yards away. Steph was practically crying with the effort of the rowing.
“Come on, Stephanie,” Norm yelled.
“Come on, Steph, you’re doing great!” I shouted.
The rock was on us. We weren’t going to make it.
“Shove your oars into the side of the rock and push the raft away,” Wes yelled. “Now!”
Stephanie and Norm shoved their oars into the side of the rock with all their might. The raft slid three feet to the right and spun around, so we were poised backward above a five-foot drop into a boiling, roaring white pit. My brain sizzled. I thought my heart would explode.
And then, like going down an elevator, we dropped with a loud whoosh. Walls of water came from everywhere! Stephanie screamed.
“All paddle! All paddle!” shouted Wes.
The raft did a full three hundred sixty-degree turn. Boiling white water rocketed us into the surging current. We bumped through the rapids like a horse trotting over a gravel road. And with an amazing suddenness, the roar of the water quieted and the raft began to glide. No one had the energy to say a word. I sat in a stupor with my oar on my lap, waiting for my heart to slow down.
“Congratulations, folks,” Wes said at last. “You’ve just survived and conquered Gator Guts, the toughest class four rapids on the Big Pigeon. Take-out is just ahead.”
“Yeee-hiii!” Stephanie shouted.
Wild Wes stretched his arms over his head and yawned. On his bicep, the sea monster’s scales glistened. “The king of the river welcomes tips from all survivors.”
I breathed out and felt light-headed with relief and joy. The muscles in my legs and arms twitched. My ankle ached. Mom squeezed my shoulder.
I felt kind of self-conscious about Norm, since he’d sort of saved my life. I didn’t look at him, but I smiled at Stephanie and trailed my fingers in the silky water.
18
STEPHANIE
On the way home from rafting, Diana sat with me in the backseat of the car, wrapped in wet towels, laughing and singing along with the radio. We found little bits of leaves and algae on each other’s legs and peeled them off and threw them in each other’s hair. Daddy and Lynn were imitating Wild Wes, and Lynn’s hand was resting on the back of Daddy’s neck.
“I didn’t tell you this, Lynn, but I’ve decided I’m going to quit my job and become a river guide,” Daddy was saying. “I realize ‘Norm’ doesn’t have quite the same ring as Wild Wes, so I’ve been trying to come up with a good name. How about ‘The Norminator’?”
“I would go back to the drawing board,” Lynn said.
I rolled my eyes and tried not to smile, but imagining Daddy as a river guide was just too funny.
“What about ‘Norman the Nasty’?” Daddy said.
“Ewww,” Diana said.
“How about ‘Stormin’ Norman’?” suggested Lynn.
“Ooh, that’s good,” Daddy said, nodding. “But hasn’t it been taken?”
“‘Abnormal Norman’?” said Diana.
“Hey, watch that, it’s supposed to be a name that inspires fear and respect.” But Daddy seemed tickled that Diana was joining in. “Okay, well, we’ll put the name aside for the time being. But what about the tattoo? Since I’m an accountant, what about, say, an adding machine?”
“Daddy!” I was working hard not to laugh. “That is so lame!”
“Well, it would be a really mean-looking one, with jagged numbers on it.”
We were a few miles from the ranch and I was smiling, turning to Diana, thinking that this felt so fun, like a real family. My eyes swept the darkening woods beside us, and I saw a gray shadow sliding between trees. My gaze froze. I blinked. Another shadow. I grabbed Diana’s hand and pointed. Two gray, hooded heads, pricked ears, and slanted yellow eyes glided beside our car, floating like ghosts. Her hand covered her mouth, and she turned in her seat.
“Hey!” she screeched. “The wolves, we see the wolves!”
“What?” Dad hit the brake and glanced back at us. “Where?”
We both leaned out the window, pointing. By that time the wolves had melted into the shadows, and there was nothing for Dad and Lynn to see.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it!” Diana said. We shared a look of relief and hope. Maybe, somehow, we could fix what we’d done.
The minute we got back to the ranch, Dad pulled into the parking lot beside the barn, and Diana and I ran inside, looking for Maggie. Cones of sunshine shone from the doorway into the dark, pungent center of the barn. We found Maggie in the office.
“We just saw the wolves!” Diana said. “When we were driving back from rafting. Stephanie and I looked over beside the car and saw them running through the woods.”
“How far away?” Maggie asked, dropping her clipboard.
“No more than three miles from here,” Dad said as he and Lynn ran into the barn. We described the area where we’d seen them.
“Doc and I just spent the day putting out humane traps around Morgan’s place, plus we put up a bunch of signs. You’re sure it was Waya and Oginali?” Maggie reached for her cell phone and flipped it open.
“Yeah,” Diana nodded and glanced at me. “They had the long legs and their heads looked like they were wearing gray hoods.”
“It wasn’t dogs; it was the wolves. I know it,” I said.
“Fantastic!” Maggie turned toward Daddy and Lynn. “Could you help us out, folks? Could Russell and Doc take one of the girls with them so she could show them right where she saw them? They’ve only got room for one in the truck. Doc will h
ave his tranquilizer gun. It would be a help if they could show them the exact spot.”
“Me!” said Diana, raising her hand. “I’ll go.”
“You mean now?” Lynn said.
“Daylight’s fadin’,” Maggie said. “Wolves sleep during the day, and they’re most active at dawn and dusk. We’ve got about two and a half more hours before they vamoose.” She dialed a number on her cell phone.
“Pleeeeeeease?” Diana begged.
“Well …,” Lynn said.
“Absolutely not,” Daddy said. “There is no way we are going to let her go out tramping around the woods at dusk after two wolves.”
My heart squeezed tight and I felt dizzy. I was the one who had seen the wolves.
Lynn glared at Daddy, then turned back to Maggie. “Diana can go, Maggie, but she’ll have to be home by ten. Diana, you need to go back to the cabin and put on warmer clothes.”
“You’re letting Diana go?” Daddy stared at Lynn.
“Yes, I am.” Lynn’s lips were pressed together in a straight line.
As she was dialing Doc’s number on her cell phone, Maggie told Diana she’d meet her by the front door of the lodge in fifteen minutes. We all headed back to the car.
I walked way ahead of everyone else. Daddy and Lynn were arguing about letting Diana go. Diana was skipping along beside Lynn.
What about me?
Back in the cabin, Daddy went in the bedroom and shut the door. I stood by the CD player, lining up the CD cases, listening while Lynn lectured Diana about being safe. Diana hugged her mom and said thanks, and I saw Lynn run her fingers through Diana’s hair. Sometimes Mama did that to me.
All of a sudden, I felt really homesick.
I felt betrayed. I turned and stared at Diana, my arms crossed. She didn’t even notice.
I thought we’d had a pact about the things that happened that night. Riding our bikes through the mountain woods, releasing the wolves, the way they’d jumped over our heads while we were watching at the stars, and now Diana was going with Russell and Doc to look for them while I got left behind!
I knew there was only room for one in the truck, and I was kind of scared to go, but still.
I stomped upstairs to the loft, but nobody even looked. I sat on the floor beside my bed, took my cell phone from my suitcase, and plugged it in. Mama had said only to use it in an emergency, but how could Mama be mad about hearing my voice?
Summer of the Wolves Page 10