by Rose, Amelia
Laney suppressed the scream that had tried to bubble up in her throat, knowing it would do no good now. She watched without breathing for several long seconds, silently counting all the way to ten before she saw Axel’s head break the surface of the water. He slow-crawled the rest of the way to the other bank, not trying to fight against the water but letting it roll over him as he moved fluidly. He crawled across the shallows of the bank, still being buffeted about by wave after wave of crashing mud, until he was finally able to pull himself free and stand on mostly dry land.
He recovered for only a second before remembering why he’d trekked across the river and springing into action. Ax made his way to the spot where they’d seen what they could only hope was Oren’s jacket, ideally with the boy safely inside. He lay face down on the muddy bank and reached into the water, holding his position for several minutes as he looked into the current. Laney fought the urge to dive into the river, so intense was the pain from waiting to see what was happening. Without once looking at her, Axel finally pulled one thin arm out of the water and wrapped it around his neck, running his hands through the fabric of the jacket in order to secure its cargo in place. Everything around them moved in slow motion, and even the roar of the river turned silent in Laney’s ears.
With one swift jerking motion, Axel wrapped his arms tightly together before rolling from his stomach to his back and then onto his stomach again, dragging Oren with him from the river. When the boy’s thin limbs flopped lifelessly to the ground, Laney sank to her knees in the mud where she’d stood and wept. Through the blur of her tears, the first movement she saw was Oren’s foot, digging into the mud to try to sit himself up. Axel pushed him back down and held him still while he spoke to the boy, while Laney simply took in the fact that Oren was at least alive.
She searched wildly along the bank, looking for anything long enough to lead them to the safety of the other side. Her first few attempts at bringing down a large tree were useless, but she finally found a rotted tree as big around as her arm that fairly crumbled beneath the kicks she launched at it. She dragged it through the mud to the fallen log that already stretched most of the way across the river, balancing herself precariously on its slick surface as she hauled the smaller tree into place, wedging it against the log in order to secure it.
Laney was soaking wet by the time she made it across, using both trees to guide her, but she was in one piece. She raced to Oren and dropped down next to him, begging him to speak to her. He smiled weakly and only nodded his head instead before closing his eyes.
Chapter Eighteen
Casey sat at the table in the bus, his map spread out in front of him, pencil marks dotting the pink, blue, and green surface. He picked up the satellite phone and dialed the sequence of numbers he needed to reach his sister-in-law back in Hale.
“Amy? It’s Casey.” He waited while she responded excitedly. “Well, no, I wish it was good news. I need you to get your contacts going and get a rescue unit out to the coordinates I’m gonna give you. We had a rider get separated from the group. He’s been found, but I’m not sure how serious it might be. Apparently, he’s not in good shape. It’s a kid, too, only about twelve or so. He’s already got some medical problems, and this isn’t gonna do him any better.”
He waited while she called instructions to him, then he supplied her with the coordinates to Axel’s location, called in when they answered that they’d found Oren. Casey switched off the phone and let it fall to the table top with a clatter, following it with his head as he dropped to rest on his folded arms.
“Is this the thing you were worried so much about?” Carey asked politely. He was trying to help Casey see the positive side of things, the fact that his team of riders and ranch hands was so capable that even rescuing a child trapped in a river was not beyond their capability.
“Yup. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I just had this bad feeling, you know. And the thing I forgot to bring was a list of contacts for all the police and medical agencies between the ranch and the end of the line. I had to call Amy just to get her to call someone up here. They’re probably sitting in a fire station ten miles from here, but I had no way of knowing it and no way of getting in touch with them.”
“We try our best to plan for every possibility, but we simply can’t look in a crystal ball and know what we’re gonna need to do. Have we even found out how that kid got separated in the first place? It’s not your job to think, ‘Hey, there’s a kid on this trip and he looks kind of shifty, I bet he’s gonna take off on his own and throw himself in the creek!’”
“But it was my job to keep him safe. His family brought him out here for a great vacation, and instead, they may be taking a helicopter into the nearest major city with a trauma unit.”
“You don’t know it’s that bad yet, so don’t go throwing yourself into a panic. And for that matter, it could have been any one of the riders. The city people are supposed to be the easy part of the drive, it’s the cowboys you usually have to worry about maiming themselves!” He sat down across from his brother and turned serious. “Casey, it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have predicted this, but you’re doing everything you can right now for them. And I think you’re right, carrying a list is a good idea, but Amy’s got it under control. They didn’t make her sheriff for being incompetent, she’ll have someone out there to the kid in no time.”
+++
Laney lay down next to Oren and pressed closer to him, trying to warm him with her only semi-dry body as Axel did the same on Oren’s other side. Between the two of them and the emergency blanket from their packs, they’d hoped to bring his temperature back up quickly. Instead, they found themselves just as wet as he was, the chill of his body and his soaking wet clothing seeping into theirs. The temperature under the foil blanket eventually rose with their body heat, and slowly Oren’s color began to look less pale, less blue.
After pulling Oren from the river, Axel had gone to work checking him over while Laney made a makeshift camp. She had crossed the river again to retrieve the packs from the horses, and Ax had had to remind her to tie the horses up to where they could reach the creek for a drink and get at the grass that grew along the bank.
It had taken her forever to get the fire going, but she finally produced a small blaze after walking a good distance from the bank to find grass that was still dry enough to use for kindling. She’d built up a usable pile of wood to keep the fire going through the night, too, then Axel had shown her how to use one of their mylar emergency blankets as a backdrop that would funnel the heat in their direction instead of letting it drift uselessly overhead.
She set out their supplies and Axel reminded her that Oren needed a drink when she gathered their rations from their packs. He helped her sit him up so she could pour water in his mouth, which he drank gratefully.
“Aren’t we supposed to keep him awake or something?” Laney asked Axel later that night, watching Oren’s face carefully as he slept.
“You’re thinking of a concussion,” he reminded her, shaking his head slightly. He looked Oren over again, just to be sure. “His breathing is normal and his heart rate is coming back up now that he’s getting warmer. But hanging onto that limb wore him out. There’s no telling how long he had to hold onto it to keep from being washed down stream. He’s a really smart kid.”
“But are you sure he’s just asleep? He’s not unconscious or anything?” she asked, still not convinced. It wasn’t enough to have found him and hold onto him, she had to know that her brother was going to be okay.
“He responds when we make him, and his reflexes are still intact. Of course, remember that he stayed up through the night last night, then rode throughout the day today. That’ll wear anybody out, even without his ordeal with the river. This may also be related to missing his medication. What did you say he was taking?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, feeling all the more guilty for not even knowing what her brother had to take. “He takes one for seiz
ures, and one for his ADHD, and there’s another one because the seizure medicine makes something happen to his blood count… that’s all of it, I guess.”
“That’s not a lot to go on, sorry,” Axel reminded her.
“I know. I can’t believe I don’t even know what kind of medicine he takes. I didn’t even know what kind of shoes he had on!” she said, berating herself for not caring more about her own brother.
“You can’t beat yourself up over this. You didn’t do this to him.”
“Then why do I feel like I did? It’s my fault he was riding in the first place. When Drew said he would tell my parents about it, I just went in the bus and went to bed. I didn’t think to make sure that someone actually knew where he was, I just thought of myself. But even worse, it was my job to tell him he needed to get some rest. Instead, I was just trying to make up for being an awful sister, and I didn’t stop for a second to think of the consequences.”
Axel didn’t say anything for a long time, and Laney keenly felt the weight of judgment in his eyes. Finally, he spoke up.
“When Mason was four, I locked him in the cellar and didn’t tell anyone.”
“What?” she asked, wondering how the situation even compared.
“Yup. Just got tired of him following me, so I told him I’d put one of his toys down there and I bolted the door shut. I went back to my chores, and didn’t think of him again. Around dinner time, Mama started asking for him, and I told her I didn’t know where he was. Even when they questioned me about where we’d been playing, and even when they called the police to come out and search for him, I just sat there not saying a word.
“Of course, once they found him in the cellar and he told them why he was in there, they figured it out. I got a tail whooping the likes of which you’ve never seen.”
Laney tried not to smile at his story as she was in no mood to be made to laugh. But the look of total peevish remorse on his face was too much to resist.
“Why didn’t you let him out when your mom got worried?” she asked, engaging him in his tale.
“I didn’t like him. He was annoying. He followed me all day long, everywhere I went, and even if I wasn’t doing anything, I got stuck babysitting him while my parents worked on the farm. We had a small farm, nothing like the size of Carson Hill, and we only had hired hands during the harvest. That meant that the rest of the year—every day, seven days a week—it was just us working the farm. Even once I got old enough to help my mom and dad, I had Mason tagging after me, trying to talk and play. So one day, I had just had enough and needed some peace and quiet.”
“And you locked him in the dark cellar? He must have been terrified!” And here Laney thought Axel had been judging her all this time for how she treated Oren… he was far worse!
“I put some cookies and some toys down there! I even had a blanket and a pillow laid out if he got tired. He was perfectly safe, and probably more entertained than if he’d been out running around.”
This time she couldn’t help but laugh. She’d only met Mason briefly on the trip, but she could picture them as children, Mason following Axel around like a yapping puppy. She was silent for a moment before the urge to confess her own failings as a sibling took over.
“I’ve always blamed Oren for being different,” she said quietly, looking down at her brother’s face and brushing some hair back from his forehead where it had stuck with dried mud. “My parents put us in a different school—the public school,” she added, rolling her eyes at her own pretentiousness, “and even though they never said why, I knew it was because my brother needed special help. So in my mind, if Oren hadn’t been born different—or if he hadn’t been born at all—I would never have had to leave my friends and my school.”
“That’s understandable,” Axel conceded. “What kid wouldn’t be pissed at having to change schools?”
“That’s not the worst part.” Laney cringed and looked away. “I didn’t want people calling Oren ‘retarded’ or anything like that, so I told people we changed schools because my parents couldn’t afford the private school anymore. Because, you know, it makes perfect sense. Suddenly waking up one day and losing everything you worked hard for is better than anyone finding out there’s something wrong with your son. I didn’t just hurt Oren by refusing to claim him as he is, I made everyone think my dad had lost his job or something.”
Axel looked at her, cringing comically. Laney nodded. “Yeah, so I win the worst sibling award. At least you were trying to get some quiet time and your brother’s suffering ended that same day. I pretty much told my brother and my parents that they didn’t matter to me, and I kept it going for years. That’s why I let Oren ride this morning. I’ve figured out just how horrible I’ve been—with the help of some very sarcastic cowboys on this trip, I’d like to point out—and I guess I was trying to buy back his love by giving him whatever he wanted. Instead, when he really needed his big sister to step in and care for him, I just let him down all over again.”
“You’re here now, Laney. That’s what matters.” Axel looked at her, seeing for the first time that there really was a caring, giving person buried under the layers of self-centered insecurity. “Okay, time to change the subject. First, let’s wake your brother and give him some more to drink.”
To her relief, Oren drank some more water before going right back to sleep, only this time he resembled a sleeping person instead of a corpse. His color was better, and instead of lying flopped on the hard ground with his tired, sore limbs askew, he lay on his side and curled up with his hand under his cheek. Laney looked around for something to cushion his head before giving up her own jacket. She folded it carefully and tenderly lifted Oren’s head, tucking it under him and smoothing the fabric so it didn’t rub harshly against his skin.
Axel smiled. “How are you the same person who yelled at her brother and kicked a slop bucket on him? Yeah, I heard about that,” he explained when she looked astonished.
“What? I’m the same person! I’m just… smarter now,” she answered, turning back to Oren and crumbling a little more of the mud from his hair to keep it from falling in his eyes.
“Well, I’ve always thought you were pretty smart,” he said, looking over at the fire to see if it needed more wood. He reached for a couple of thin sapling logs and tossed them gently on top.
“What are you talking about? You’ve known me for exactly less than one week, and you didn’t think all that highly of me from day one!” she answered, grinning at his attempt at a compliment. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder and gave him a haughty, knowing look. She watched as Axel looked away, seeming to lose his self-confident exterior for a minute. He looked uncomfortable as she continued to wait for an explanation. He finally let out a breath and explained.
“We’ve met before. At school.”
It was Laney’s turn to look uncomfortable and confused. She shook her head before answering.
“No, you’re wrong. I’m not from around here, I go to school in New Hampshire,” she explained, relieved that it was just a misunderstanding. Axel pressed on.
“I do, too. Pentian College. I conducted your campus tour last year. I couldn’t quite place you when I saw you first get on the van with your family, but after a while I remembered you.”
“That’s so impossible. What are the chances that you just happened to be on this cattle drive, and my family decided to take a vacation to the same spot?” she asked, suspicion clouding her voice as she watched Axel’s face for any kind of sign that he’d give himself away. Laney looked over to her brother, so pale and still that it hurt to watch him. Was this someone from back east bent on getting revenge against her family for some reason? Pentian was a small school as far as colleges went, and it seemed entirely too convenient that they not only attended the same university but that he’d just so happened to be the student ambassador who escorted her family on their tour of the campus.
She stole a glance at Axel to see if he’d somehow shifted in his pe
rsona. Did he look different now? Was there an unexpected look in his eye now that he’d admitted something so impossible that it just couldn’t be believed? She waited for an explanation, knowing that if his words didn’t line up in her mind, she wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Pentian was the only place to offer me a full scholarship and to provide me with grant funding towards medical school if I agreed to serve in their foreign mission corps after finishing. With my grades and my test scores, everyone else had the bachelor’s degree covered, but not anything beyond that. I knew my parents could never have helped me, and I couldn’t ask them to put their farm up as any kind of security for a loan. It can be hard for farm families to qualify for aid otherwise since they don’t have a typical weekly paycheck.”
Laney felt small inside just thinking about her BMW convertible. She’d never had to think of things like that, and she felt rotten for thinking the worst about Axel.
“Oh great,” she replied, humiliated at what he must have thought of her. “So you got stuck escorting the spoiled princess around the college. I remember getting into an argument with my dad on that tour because I was still hoping he wouldn’t make me live in the dorm with a random girl.”
“Yeah, that rings a bell,” he answered, hedging his answer. It was obvious on his face that he not only remembered having to witness that argument, but that he’d been pretty uncomfortable at the time.
“Gosh, I’m still a horrible person. Why can’t I remember you? I seriously can’t remember the person who first took me around my own college?”
“Well, you had a lot on your mind that day. Leaving home for the first time, going off to a new school… breaking a nail, making sure the humidity didn’t frizz your hair…”
