Chapter 29

• Terah watched as the other man, Tripp, walked back into the trees. Her heart was still beating fast. When she’d watched him approach Konner, her only goal was to protect him. She didn’t even know she could move that fast until she was holding his head in her hands. Letting her body go under the surface, she closed her eyes and let the water brush over her. She liked this moving water; it was exciting to be in.
• Opening them, she looked up to see the snow touching the water’s surface. Snow was strange, it tasted like the rain had, only it vanished when it hit her tongue. If it disappeared, how did it pile up on the ground? For years, she had watched winter from a window and wondered what it would be like to go stand in it. The people would move it with scoops on a handle and she wondered if it was heavy. The most interesting part of it was after winter it turned into water and then the ground drank it like it had an incredible thirst. She needed to see more snow to figure it out.
• Breaking the surface again, she moved closer to the water’s edge. Konner was putting the bottles back in the bag. That would mean they were going. Kicking against the pull of the water, she went back over to the edge and slowly climbed up the bank.