by Katie Ruggle
Chase turned and glanced at them, and Zoe’s nerve broke. She waved toward Chase, gesturing for him to return to safety. As if that had made up his mind, he shook his head and took a step onto the ice.
“One,” Zoe counted under her breath. His other foot left the rocky security of the beach and he took another step. “Two.”
Maya joined her in counting under their breath, each step feeling like it took an eternity. When they reached twenty-two, the band of fear around Zoe’s chest loosened slightly.
“Almost there,” she said quietly. “Twenty-three. Oh!” Her breath sucked harshly into her throat as she saw Chase drop to his knees. He turned his head to look at them, eyes huge in his pale face. For once, his constant smirk was gone.
“What happened?” Maya demanded. “Why’d he fall down like that?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice sounded strange—not like hers at all. She had to do something, had to help him. All at once he looked so pale and scared—not at all like the boy who constantly teased her.
But as she took a step closer to the reservoir, Chase dropped through the ice and disappeared.
* * *
It was completely unfair. Even in a ridiculous-looking neoprene onesie, Derek still managed to look hot. With the hood covering his short brown hair, only his face showed, but that was enough. His wicked smile and those eyes that couldn’t decide if they were blue or green still had the ability to reduce her to a pile of mush. The universe obviously enjoyed rubbing Artie’s long ago mistakes in her face.
When she’d noticed Derek standing by the reservoir with Callum Cook and a blond woman she didn’t know, Artie couldn’t react as she usually did to a Derek spotting—forget how to breathe and then run in the opposite direction. As badly as she’d wanted to scurry back to the bus and hide, she had to act like an adult. Derek didn’t make it easy, though, as he started the presentation, so tall and beautiful and adorably flustered. She’d forgotten how hopeless he was at public speaking.
After that rough start, Derek appeared to have found a rhythm and was actually out of the running for worst presenter of the year. He explained the steps of an ice rescue as he hooked a rope harness around his body.
“Once I’m in the water, I get behind the victim”—he stepped behind the blond woman who’d shakily introduced herself to the kids as Lou at the beginning of the presentation—“and loop this around her like so.”
Lou glanced at the half circle of students, looking nervous—and gorgeous. Artie wondered if she and Derek were dating and then immediately clamped down on that line of thought. Things had ended between them four years ago. As much as she wished it had been otherwise, Artie had no right to be jealous. None.
A child screamed.
In her job, she heard kids yelling a lot—while they were playing or arguing or pretending to be scared. This, though, this scream was so truly terrified, life-in-danger, rip-her-heart-out scream that it made all the hair rise on Artie’s arms as her stomach contracted into a hard ball. Artie started running toward Zoe Springfield almost before she realized who had made that horrified—and horrifying—sound.
“Zoe!” She dropped to her knees in front of the girl, gaze darting over her, scanning for any visible injuries. “What’s wrong, sweetie? Are you hurt?”
“Not me!” Her skin was so pale it almost had a blue tint as she pointed over Artie’s shoulder. “Chase!”
Twisting around, Artie stared at the reservoir and a dark jagged hole about forty feet from shore. It took her a second to understand what that opening in the ice meant. When realization struck, her breathing stuttered, ragged and painful. Marnie ran toward them, her face white with fright. Artie’s gaze darted toward the panting teacher, breaking her stare that had been locked on that horrible, yawning hole in the reservoir.
“Zoe!” Artie whipped back to the girl again. “Did Chase fall through the ice?”
Zoe’s eyes were huge as she nodded. As soon as she had confirmation, Artie was stumbling to her feet and running again, this time toward the shore. Before she reached the ice, something hit her from the right with the force of a freight train. She staggered sideways and would’ve fallen if two arms hadn’t wrapped around her. Her eyes fixed on that dark hole, she struggled against the iron hold.
“Artie, stop!” Derek’s voice brought her out of her panic, and she turned her head to look at him. His normally cheerful face was stern, almost fierce. “If you go out there, it won’t help. You’ll go through the ice, and then we’ll have a second victim.”
She stared at him, breathing hard. Although she understood his words, it seemed wrong not to run across the ice, to pull Chase out of that freezing water. He was one of her students, one of her kids, and she was supposed to keep him safe. She couldn’t just stand there and watch as he drowned.
“Do you want to help him? Do you?” Derek demanded, giving her a little shake. She nodded, her chin trembling. “Then promise you’ll stay on shore and let me get him. Don’t distract me by putting yourself in danger.”
“Okay.” Her voice was harsh and raspy. “I get it. I’ll stay here. Just go save Chase.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
After a final hard look, he nodded, releasing her, and ran toward the dive van. Lou was already helping Callum Cook don a dry suit similar to the one Derek was wearing. Their efforts were hampered by Callum barking orders into a portable radio. The men exchanged a quick word, and then Derek moved back toward the ice with Callum and Lou holding the end of the rope.
“Stay back, kids!” Callum warned, and his crisp order snapped Artie out of her useless daze. A glance showed that Marnie had returned to the group and was lining up the children. Betsy and Lorna, the two parent chaperones, were just gaping at the rescue preparations. The small corner of Artie’s brain that wasn’t completely overwhelmed with panic made a mental note never to ask those women to chaperone again.
“Students,” Artie barked, clapping her hands. “Everyone back to the bus. Let’s go!”
With Marnie herding them, the kids moved reluctantly away from the shore, watching over their shoulders as Derek carefully made his way closer to the broken ice. The two other chaperones finally tore their own horrified gazes from what was happening on the reservoir and began helping Marnie usher the children toward the parking lot.
As Artie nudged the stragglers farther away from shore, she couldn’t help but turn to check on Derek’s progress. When he was ten feet from the spot where Chase had disappeared, he lowered himself to his hands and knees and started to crawl. The ice cracked beneath his knee, the far side of a slab rising out of the water under his weight, and his lower body slid into the water.
Artie sucked in a breath, her feet freezing to the ground. Even though she knew he was in a dry suit that would keep him warm, the sight of him dropping into the frigid depths made her heart thunder in her ears.
Bracing his gloved hands on the edge of the hole he’d just created, Derek boosted himself out of the water. For a moment, Artie thought that he was in the clear, but then the ice folded, dropping him back into the reservoir. Air hissed between her teeth as he was submerged up to his neck.
“Adults!” Callum’s bark was loud and commanding, dragging her attention away from Derek’s struggle to reach Chase. “I need you on the line.”
“Betsy, stay with the kids!” Artie ordered as she hurried over to join Callum and Lou. “Marnie and Lorna, you’re with me.” She was relieved that she would be able to do something to help. Her gaze kept moving to Derek. On his next attempt, he managed to slide across the ice on his belly for several feet before it broke apart beneath him. As she watched him drop into the water, Artie’s own insides froze with cold, as if she were being dunked along with Derek.
“Kids!” Callum snapped. Every student clustered next to the bus stared at him with wide eyes. “If any of you takes even a single step closer to the water, I promise that you will regret it.” He sounded like he meant it. The ch
ildren froze in place.
Derek broke through the last section of ice separating him from the spot where Chase had fallen through. His head disappeared, and a small sound escaped Artie.
“He’ll be fine,” Callum said. “Derek knows what he’s doing.”
His confidence eased the churning acid in her stomach slightly, and she gave him a pathetic attempt at a smile.
“Everyone take a place on the rope,” he ordered. “Help’s on the way, but we’ll most likely get everybody out of the water before the rest of the team arrives.”
Artie found herself in front of Lou.
“This is my first day,” Lou muttered. “I haven’t even passed the freaking dive-team interview yet. I don’t know what I’m doing!”
The scary thing was that none of them—except for Callum and Derek—knew what they were doing. A little boy’s life depended on them, and Artie could do nothing to help. She hadn’t even been able to keep him from going into the water. What kind of horrible, irresponsible teacher was she? How could something so awful have happened on her watch?
Artie’s gaze was drawn inexorably back to the reservoir, and she stared at the dark water, the broken ice floating in miniature icebergs above where Derek had gone under. It seemed like forever since he’d disappeared. How long could he hold his breath? What if he got disoriented and couldn’t find his way back to the opening in the ice? The horrific image of him trying to surface but being blocked by a ceiling of solid ice filled her mind, and she bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood.
“Artemis.” Even Callum’s commanding tone couldn’t mute the nightmarish scene playing in her brain. “Artie!” His hand closed around her forearm, and he gave her a shake, jerking her out of her thoughts.
“Sorry.” Squeezing her eyes closed for a moment, she dragged in a deep breath. When she met Callum’s gaze, he looked at her closely and then released her arm.
“I’ll need you to pull soon. You with me?”
Derek suddenly popped out of the water. As he took a breath, he tapped his fist against the top of his head in some sort of signal and then dove under again. The sight of him, alive and not trapped under an impenetrable sheet of ice, made her next breath easier.
“Yes.” She grimaced. “Sorry. I’m usually calmer in emergency situations.”
“You’re doing fine.” Callum’s attention turned to the radio chattering on the ground by his feet. “Fire and Med will be here in less than five minutes.”
Five minutes suddenly felt endless.
The sound of quiet sobs made her look behind her. Marnie released the rope with one hand so she could wipe the tears from her face. Artie reached back and squeezed the other teacher’s arm before turning around so she could watch for Derek to reemerge. She couldn’t escape the crazy feeling that he needed her to keep watch, as if her hope and fear was all that was drawing him back. Please oh please oh please. Derek, please.
The seconds ticked by, the silence broken only by the incomprehensible voices on the radio and Marnie’s sniffles. Then Derek’s head broke the surface, followed by his shoulders. Tucked against his chest was a limp Chase.
“Got him.” Callum’s voice was thick with satisfaction. “Get ready to pull. I’ll tell you when.”
Everyone on the line cheered. Artie’s vision blurred, but she blinked away the wetness, determined not to dissolve into a weepy, relieved heap until everyone was safe and dry and home.
Pushing at the chunks of ice blocking his path with one hand as he kept the other wrapped around the boy, Derek made his way to the edge of the hole and signaled.
“Pull!”
They hauled on the rope as Derek boosted himself and the boy onto the ice. It immediately collapsed beneath their weight, dropping them back into the water. Shoving the newly broken pieces aside, Derek reached the edge and tried again.
“Pull!”
The ice started folding under Derek and Chase. Artie bit the inside of her cheek to stifle the panicked sound that wanted to escape.
“Pull!”
Artie threw her weight back as she yanked the rope as hard as she could, putting all her strength into it. The pair slid out of the chasm forming in the ice, with only Derek’s feet dropping back into the water.
“Pull!”
Her arms shook with adrenaline and fatigue, but she ignored the quaking of her muscles. Each yank on the rope drew the man and boy closer. The ice held beneath them, and they slid across the solid ice toward safety. Once they were just a few feet from the shore, Callum unhooked the foam strap looped around the boy and lifted him in his arms.
“Sparks! Get blankets from the warmer and the med kit,” Callum ordered, and Lou scrambled toward the dive van. Artie tore her eyes from Chase’s blue-tinted face to check on Derek. He’d gotten to his feet and was following Callum to a level area next to the van. Lou emerged from the back, blankets in one arm and a white case in the other. Derek grabbed a blanket from her, spreading it on the ground, and then took the kit from her.
“Artie, grab the radio.” Callum laid Chase on his back on top of the blanket. She scrambled to find the radio sitting on the ground where Callum had left it.
“Got it!”
“Press the big button on the side and tell dispatch that the victim is out of the water. He’s unresponsive and not breathing. Say that 1210 and 1228 are starting CPR.”
Not breathing. Her fingers went numb as she fumbled with the radio. Frustrated, she ripped off her glove and finally managed to press the button. Her lungs didn’t want to work, but she opened her mouth and forced out the words. Derek and Callum were doing freaking CPR. The least she could do was talk.
“Copy,” a calm female voice responded when Artie finished relaying the information. “Ambulance Two, did you copy?”
“Ambulance Two, we copied. ETA one minute.”
Radio still clutched in her fingers, Artie stared as Callum did chest compressions, counting out loud as he did so. When he reached thirty, Derek placed the bag valve mask over the boy’s face and squeezed twice. She watched Chase’s tiny chest rise and fall with each ventilation, which made it seem only that much more still afterward.
“C’mon, Chase,” she muttered. “Breathe. You can do it, sweetie. Just take a breath.”
Callum started compressions again, but he’d only reached nine when he pulled his hands away. The small body convulsed as Chase choked, and Derek pulled the mask off his face while Callum turned him onto his side.
As the boy coughed and vomited, Derek grabbed another blanket and wrapped it around Chase’s heaving form. Artie pressed her hand to her mouth, not sure if she was holding back relieved laughter or sobs.
“Artie.” Callum rubbed the boy’s back over the blanket as he turned toward her. “Let them know he’s breathing independently.”
Lifting the radio, she took a quavering breath and pushed the button.
“He’s breathing,” she said, her voice hoarse. Artie met Derek’s eyes and returned his relieved grin. “He’s breathing.”
* * *
The ambulance arrived just seconds later, quickly followed by two fire rescue trucks and a sheriff’s department squad car. Derek stepped back to allow the EMTs access to the shivering, crying boy.
A gust of wind reminded Derek that he was wet and getting colder by the second, so he headed for the dive van. The earlier winter sunshine was now blocked by a bank of dark clouds that cast a shadow over the distant peaks. After shutting himself in the back of the vehicle, he stripped off the dry suit and the damp layers beneath. Shivering, he hurried to dress in his street clothes.
By the time he reemerged, the EMTs had Chase bundled into the ambulance. As the emergency vehicle left the reservoir, lights and sirens flashing, Derek found himself moving toward a shell-shocked-looking Artie. He couldn’t help it. When she was close, she drew him toward her. It had been that way since kindergarten.
“Guess that little girl gets her wish about seeing some firemen,” he said.
In answer, he just gestured at the crowd of students still clustered next to the bus. Their eyes were all fixed on the big red trucks, although their feet hadn’t moved an inch since Callum had ordered them to stay still.
Her laugh was more of a gasp. “Right. At least Amber’s day is made.”
“Amber? Is that the fireman fan?”
She nodded, but Callum stepped in front of her before she could say more.
“I’ll take this. Thanks for your help, Artie,” he said, gently pulling the portable radio from her grip. She looked down at her now-empty hand, as if she’d forgotten that she’d been holding it.
“If I’d been doing my job,” she said, her eyes still fixed on her fingers as they tightened into a fist, “then he wouldn’t have gotten onto the ice in the first place.”
“No use in killing yourself over ‘ifs.’” Derek resisted the urge to wrap his arm around her shoulders. She wouldn’t welcome the touch—they’d barely spoken in years. “Besides, I count three other chaperones and three dive-team members who’re just as responsible. Put your glove on.”
Although she did as he asked without any argument, her expression showed she still blamed herself. “I should get back to the others.”
Feeling like a needy idiot, Derek followed when she walked away, taking a couple of quick strides so he caught up to her. “How’ve you been?”
“Okay.”
It was such an obvious lie that he snorted. “Let’s try this again. How’ve you been, Artie? The truth, this time.”
Her exasperated huff made him smile. He didn’t like seeing her looking so…defeated. “Honestly? There are good days and bad days. Overall, though, it’s an uphill progression, so I’m sticking with my original answer. What’s wrong?”
Derek blinked at the question before realizing that it was directed at Marnie Belcher, who’d hurried to catch them a few feet away from the group of students. Although her tears from earlier were gone, she looked unsettled.