Chapter 15

Startled awake by burning lungs, I open my eyes, hands automatically going to my throat. My eyes don’t open. My hands don’t move. Horrified I realize that I don’t even hear my heart isn’t beating. My mind starts to blank with terror. Fighting it down, I force myself to count.

Focusing on each number, I imagine each digit as though it was carved in stone. I count until my mind calms.

After forcing the panic down, I try to think clearly about the situation.

One, I’m not dead. Two, I can’t breathe.

The panic rises again. Focus on breathing. I force my stomach to rise, my diaphragm to move. Nothing.

With absolute focus, I open my right eye. Nothing.

I force a toe to wiggle. Nothing.

I count and force my mind back into calmness.

One, I’m not dead. Two, I can’t breathe. Three, I can’t move.

How can I still be alive and conscious without breathing? I should be dead. Even falling into freezing water wouldn’t keep my brain alive this long. How can I be alive?

Oh.

The necklace Lynn gave me. She said it could heal almost anything. It must be keeping me alive. Did I have a heart attack? A brain aneurysm?

That’s the only thing that makes sense.

This is scary, but it’s not the end.

Lynn is keeping me alive. When I don’t show up, Ernand will come look for me. He will find me. When he sees I need healing, he will find Lynn.

Pushing all doubt aside, I focus on two facts. Simple truths.

He will come for me. She will heal me.

He will come for me. She will heal me.

He will come for me. She will heal me.