Free Bluedawn (A Watermagic Novel, #2) by Brighton Hill Page B

wake
relaxed in the dark glossy water.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    Death, in itself, is nothing; but we
fear,
    To be we know not what, we
know not where. –John Dryden,  Aureng-Zebe
    I took in a jagged breath—my emotions were
aflame. The full moon was overhead with millions of stars twinkling
on the black surface. How could Dylan be so cruel?
    It was so quiet far out in the ocean like
that. I was so alone and one with the world now. Oh, how much I
hated Dylan Masters.
    “Stop these horrible thoughts,” I told
myself.
    With that, I tried to drown out my emotions
by swimming as fast and far as I could. The ocean seemed endless.
My body ached, but I pushed myself further. The tedious motions of
my arms lifting over my head and down into the water as I moved
forward in the crawl stroke, tired me both mentally and physically.
I wanted to stop.
    “Don’t give up,” I said to myself as I gasped
for air. I used all my muscle and mental strength to push forward.
I had no idea how far out this island of flowers and stones
was.
    I was exhausted. My body felt so weak that I
had to stop to rest. To conserve energy I doggie paddled in place
for a while. As I analyzed the situation, I realized something
didn’t seem right.
    The island couldn’t be this far out. With all
my team training, I was a very strong swimmer. I was fast and could
swim great lengths. I was one of the best swimmers in my
school.
    It was unlikely that Wren, Lyra, or Gia could
make it even this far. There was no way they all could be better
swimmers than me. Possibly one of them could have greater endurance
in the water than I did, but the likelihood that all of them
possessed superior skills, seemed most unlikely.
    Maybe they lied about the island. But why
would they do that? Then it occurred to me that I could have been
swimming in the wrong direction. The island could be northeast or
southeast. As far as I knew I had been swimming east. Possibly I
had missed it in the dark.
    I looked around and everything was almost
completely black. Just tiny shimmers of light sparkled on the water
from the moon and stars. I realized that in my anguish over Dylan,
I had acted stupidly. What was I thinking? I was out in the middle
of the ocean and I was all alone.
    Any moment, a shark could attack me. It could
just bite off my dangling legs and pull me under to my death. And
sharks weren’t the only terrors of the ocean: stingrays, octopi,
jelly fish, and numerous other horrors. I was crazy, absolutely
crazy to swim out this far. And for what? Over a boy who didn’t
even care about me.
    I didn’t feel like I had the strength to swim
back to shore. My body ached all over. Even just doggie paddling
felt overwhelming. My teeth were chattering by now. I felt so cold.
If only I could sleep for just a little while. My eyelids dropped
and my head started to slip into the water.
    I came up choking, spitting out salt water.
If I died, my parents would be devastated. I was their only child.
Mom tried to have other children, but she was never able to get
pregnant a second time. They would be crushed without me. Who would
take care of them in their old age?
    I continued to paddle in place, if not for my
sake then for my parent’s sake. My mind raced with terrible
thoughts.
    “Shut up,” I told myself. “I have to figure
this out.” I tried to still my mind.
    But I couldn’t come up with a solution to my
predicament. I just didn’t have the strength to swim back and even
if I did, it was most likely that I had drifted off course. Nobody
swims in a straight line for miles and miles. Who knew what
direction it was to shore?
    I had to keep moving further out and hope I
reached the island. It must be out here somewhere because Dylan was
adamant about not wanting me to land it—his and Gia’s precious
abode. He would not have protested so vehemently if it was not
real.
    Maybe Wren or Lyra would call the coastguard
to come looking for me. I doubted if a search team would come at
night. It was