“You don’t have to do this,” David said. “We can keep our mouths shut. No one—”

“Shhh,” Red said, clapping a hand over David’s mouth. “Just listen. Do you hear that?”

Laurel paused. She heard a few birds and crickets, but above everything else, she heard the distant rush of the Chetco River.

“That’s the sound of your future, waiting to carry you away. Come on,” he said, setting David roughly on his feet. “You have an appointment and we wouldn’t want you to be late.”

They prodded their captives forward along the dark path as one of the men sang raucously and badly off-tune, “Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you. Away you rolling river.” Laurel grimaced as she kicked yet another rock with her bare toes and wished for the first time in her life that she’d worn some real shoes instead of flip-flops.

Then the trees cleared and they stood in front of the Chetco River. Laurel sucked in a breath as she stared out at the foamy white rapids rushing by.

Scarface pushed her onto the ground. “You just sit here,” he snarled. “We’ll be right back.”

Laurel had no hands to catch herself with and she’d sprawled on her stomach, her cheek resting in dark, wet mud. David soon sprawled beside her, and the hopelessness of their situation finally sank in. It was all her fault and she knew it, but how do you apologize for getting someone killed?

“This isn’t how I thought it would end,” David muttered.

“Me neither,” Laurel said. “Dead at the hands of…what do you think they are? I don’t…I don’t think they’re human. Not any of them. Maybe not even Barnes.”

David sighed. “I’ve never been so reluctant to admit that I think you’re right.”

They were silent for a few moments.

“How long do you think it’ll take?” Laurel asked, her eyes fixed on the frothy rapids.

David shook his head. “I don’t know. How long can you hold your breath?” He laughed morosely. “I guess you’ll last a lot longer than me.” But his laughter broke off quickly and he sighed.

It took two seconds for Laurel’s mind to put it all together. “David!” A tiny spark of hope quivered to life in her head. “Remember my experiment? At your house, in your kitchen?” She heard the mutters of the two men as they made their way back to the riverbank. “David, take a very, very big breath,” she whispered.

The men were carrying huge rocks and singing some song Laurel didn’t recognize. More loops of rope wound around her hands and she felt Scarface test the weight of a rock almost as big as a beach ball.

A few more minutes found David in the same position. “You ready?” Scarface asked his partner.

Laurel stared out at the river. It was at least a hundred feet to the middle; what did they expect them to do, walk? As if sensing her question, Scarface picked Laurel up in one hand and the rock in the other as if neither weighed more than a pound or two. Red did the same with David. Before Laurel could wrap her mind around this new anomaly, Scarface tossed her. Cold air rushed against her face, and she screamed as she flew high in the air, just past the middle of the river. She barely managed to gulp in a mouthful of air before the rock sank through the surface and dragged her under.

The water stung like frigid needles as the roaring darkness closed in over her head. She blinked her eyes open and strained her ears for David. His rock rushed past her, barely missing her head as it descended into the murky blackness below. She wrapped her legs around his chest as he slid through the water beside her. Her rock yanked at her arms, and she tightened her legs around David. She hoped he’d managed to take a good breath.

It was only a few seconds before their rocks thunked against the bottom of the river with an eerie clack. Laurel looked up but couldn’t see even a pinprick of light. She could make out only the barest outline of David’s white skin in front of her eyes and couldn’t tell if he was still conscious. Her mouth delved in the darkness searching for his. Relief flooded through her when she felt his face move too. Their mouths met and Laurel concentrated on sealing her lips with his before blowing gently into his mouth. He held his breath for a few seconds and blew some of the air back into hers. Hoping he would understand what she was doing, Laurel pulled her mouth away and began wriggling, testing her bonds.

The water was icy cold and Laurel knew she had to work fast. First she had to get her hands in front of her, or none of this was going to work—she might not even be able to get close enough to David to give him another breath if she couldn’t use her hands. She bent forward and tried to slide her arms down her back and under her legs, but her back didn’t want to bend that far. She felt the skin on her wrists tear as she pulled harder, knowing David couldn’t hold his breath for much longer. Her spine ached as she forced it to bend farther—then even a little farther than that.

Her body rebelled, but finally her hands slipped under her knees and she kicked her legs free, searching frantically for David. She looped her arms over his neck and pressed her mouth to his again. They breathed several breaths in and out as she tried to decide what to do next. She blew a big breath back into David’s lungs and separated herself again. She pulled on the rope that connected her to her rock, and when she reached the bottom, her numb fingers searched for something sharp.

But the river was too swift. Anything that might once have been sharp had been ground down to a slick, smooth finish. She let herself float up to David for more breaths before pulling herself back down, following David’s rope this time. Her fingers fumbled with the knot around the rock and she slowly began to pull a strand of the rope free.