Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

Hannah warmth and strength and reassured her that help was on the way. She touched Jonas’s mind, and knew it was true, he was coming at breakneck speed, Ilya fol owing close behind. Because they were locked so tightly together, there was no way to hide from Jackson the way her brain misfired, the tiny electrical shocks that jolted her. She could feel the blood trickling from her mouth and nose and she accepted the fact that she wasn’t simply risking her life to aid them, she was risking becoming a vegetable. Her brain desperately needed healing, and she was only adding to the stress it was under, deepening the lesions, ripping open the wounds in order to save Jackson and Hannah.
    Damn it, Elle, pull back, we’ll make it.
    I can’t do that. You know I can’t, not when both of you are in danger. Don’t fight me, Jackson. Because she couldn’t survive without him. She didn’t say it to him, not even telepathical y, but she knew he felt it, because he immediately stopped al resistance and let her flow easily into his mind.
    I’m trying to get her to stay calm. She can’t panic. Have her swim parallel to the shore.
    She can’t. She’s already exhausted, drained of all energy by the healing she performed, and trying to move her arms and legs is impossible. El e made certain to keep her voice very calm, not wanting him to feel the pain lashing through her head. She moved outside and headed swiftly to the beach.
    Tell her to turn over and float for me.
    El e pushed the command into Hannah’s sluggish mind. Hannah tried, but something was wrapped tightly around her leg and arm, refusing to let her go. For a moment the image of a monster octopus was in Hannah’s head.
    It’s the kelp, El e told him. Now she was on her knees in the sand, holding her head. The kelp has her trapped. You’ll have to free her, Jackson. She tasted blood in her mouth and her eyes stung as her vision blurred. She wiped at them and her fingers came away stained with blood.
    She waited for what seemed like forever, feeling Jackson’s mind, the icy invasion, slowly creeping into his brain, slowing his thoughts and reflexes.
    She couldn’t keep both of them going, so she had to help Hannah, so much weaker than Jackson, although everything in her reached for him. It felt dark and cold and lonely where he was and she could feel his lungs burning. At last he seemed to reach for air.
    Tell her we’ll be fine, to swim parallel to the shore. Tell her not to look at the beach, to just keep swimming.
    With a sinking heart, El e realized Hannah couldn’t possibly swim. She had already slipped from the first stage of shaking uncontrol ably to a much deeper sleep state. Her mind had slowed way down and the continual shivering had nearly ceased, a bad sign as the shivering was the body’s way of trying to keep her temperature up.
    She can’t swim, Jackson, she’s too far gone. There was despair in her voice. I’m coming for you in the dory.
    No! You’re not strong enough, Elle. You couldn’t get either of us in the boat. Jonas will come. You know he’ll come.
    Even in her mind, Jackson’s words slurred, but he was stil holding Hannah to him. She did the only thing she could think to do, send him and Hannah as much warmth as possible.
    Bomber went into a frenzy of barking as first Jonas’s sheriff car and then Ilya’s truck, nearly bumper to bumper, slid around the corner of the yard. The dog nearly went insane, snarling and barking as the two men bailed out, running past El e for the shore. It took El e a couple of minutes to remember to give him the dismiss command, stopping the dog from barking and adding to the chaos of the moment. Ilya stopped to lean over Joley, who waved a feeble hand toward the fog bank. Jonas actual y leapt over Sarah’s body sprawled in the sand as he made for the smal double-ended Oregon dory Jackson kept aground on the higher dune.
    The dory was hitched to an old four-wheel-drive truck Jackson kept only for the purpose of launching the boat into the surf. He yanked open the door and started the truck immediately, not waiting for Ilya as he drove backward into the waves. He was grateful that Jackson always had his equipment in top running order. Leaping from the truck he released the boat and Ilya jumped into the driver’s seat to pul away from the