Chapter 7

Jumping into the water, Gavin almost lands on top of Elena. She's fallen close to the railing of the stairs at the pool's shallow end, and is lying motionless under the water, curled into a fetal position. Although he can't be certain, Gavin doesn't think she hit her head while falling.

Christine and Elena's sisters begin screaming her name. Gavin bends quickly, slides one arm beneath Elena's shoulders, the other under her legs, and straightens with her cradled close to his chest. Her long hair fans across his arm, trailing in the water. Lifting her higher, he turns towards the stairs, but Kate and Anna are both rushing forward, and he is forced to stop.

With a splash, Laura surfaces to his right. "You got her?" Throwing her hair back over her shoulder, she steps purposely forward, arms extended, almost as though she intends to take Elena from him.

"Yes," Gavin takes a step backward. "She was only underwater for a few seconds, but I need to get her out of here."

Laura's eyes meet his, and she nods. "I saw what happened," she says quietly.

The younger sister--Kate?--reaches forward and touches Elena's face. "She feels cold!"

"She'll be fine," Laura says, with much more certainty than Gavin feels. "Let us help her." She moves to his side, and they walk between the girls, headed for the steps.

Laura takes Elena's wrist, and appears to be searching for a pulse. "Is she breathing?" Again, her voice is quiet, for his ears only.

"I, uh," he stammers, embarrassed that he isn't sure. But wait, her chest is moving, and he can feel her breath against his neck. "Yes, yes she is."

"What happened?" A panicked Christine is standing at the top of the stairs to the pool, blocking their way out.

"It's okay," Laura says, letting go of Elena's wrist, and stepping forward to gently guide Christine out of the way. "I think she just slipped. Maybe swallowed some water."

Gavin carries Elena past the pavement surrounding the pool, and lowers her to the grass at its edge. She is breathing, although slowly, but Kate is right, her skin is very cold under his fingers. Her fair skin is also much paler than normal, and he is astonished that a short dunk in relatively shallow water can have had such drastic effects.

Kneeling beside him, Laura says, "She needs to be lying on her stomach, just in case she did swallow some water." She helps him roll Elena over, and carefully turns her head to one side. "My mother's a nurse," she says by way of explanation. Looking up at Christine, who's hovering above them, she asks, "Can you get us some blankets? She's probably going to be cold when she wakes up."

"Shouldn't we call 911?"

Gavin is wondering the same thing. Elena hadn't been in the water very long, but she's also not moved or shown any sign of waking since her collapse.

"I think she'll be okay if..."

As Laura is speaking, Gavin experiences something almost like an electrical shock. His awareness of Elena intensifies in the same moment, the dampness of her skin, her breathing, the residual chill she still feels from the air around them.

{Oh, thank God! I'm so glad you're here!}

The words are so clear, his sense of Elena so profound, that for an instant Gavin believes she's spoken out loud.

Elena moans. The fingers of one hand are resting on the exposed skin of her back, but he doesn't need the physical contact to know that her entire body is shaking, as though she's been submerged in a tub of ice water. His awareness is split, half focused on the sunny back yard and the words Laura and Christine are saying, the other on the infinite blackness surrounding Elena. He wants to lift her back into his arms, to hold her as tight as he possibly can, but isn't certain whether it's safe. Instead, unsure of exactly how he does it, he reaches for her through the blackness surrounding them both.

Her blue eyes fly open, and she looks up at him, not with fear, but with profound relief.

"Elena!" Her mother's voice is shrill, on the edge of hysteria.

As though cut by a knife, the link in-between them is severed.

Elena coughs, spits up some water, and then struggles to sit up. Gavin is transfixed, staring at her uncomprehendingly for a second, before finally scrambling off his knees to sit beside her.

Was I dreaming? I have to have been.

Cautiously, he slides a supportive arm around her shoulders. She's still for a moment, and then changes position. At first, Gavin wonders whether she's pulling away from him, until she leans back against his chest with a grateful sigh.

Looking up, she surveys the worried faces of her mother and sisters suspended above them.

"I'm sorry," she says, "I must've slipped."

"How do you feel?" Laura asks from beside them.

"I'm..." She shivers. "I'm kinda cold."

Christine studies her daughter for a second, and then says reluctantly, "Are you sure you're all right? I was about to call an ambulance."

Elena shivers again, and Gavin's arms tighten around her. "An ambulance?" She tries to laugh, but makes a poor job of it. "No Mom, please. I already feel stupid enough."

Elena doesn't trust her.

Gavin's certain he's right, although he can't understand the feeling.

"I wanna get out of this bathing suit though, and maybe drink some hot chocolate," she says.

"I can make you hot chocolate," Anna offers, and runs towards the house when Elena smiles and nods at her.

Turning in Gavin's arms, she locks eyes with him for a second, and experimentally, uncertain whether he's hoping for success or failure, he reaches with his mind, searching for the link they had so recently shared.

"Can you help me stand up?" Elena asks.

There's nothing; it's just her voice, and although he can feel her damp body pressed against him, he can't tell what she's feeling anymore.

"Gavin?"

This time, Elena's voice registers, and he forces himself to pay attention. Whatever it had been, the strange hyper awareness is gone now, and he can think and move again. At some point, Laura had stood up, and now both she and Christine are staring at him.

"Sorry. Sure."

As she bends down to help him with Elena, Laura mutters, "I swear, the two of you are perfect for each other."

Together she and Gavin lift Elena upright. Her skin is already warmer than it had been moments before, and she's gotten some of her color back as well.

Elena holds on to both of them for a second, and then lets go, taking an experimental step forward. Smiling reassuringly at her mother, she offers a hand to Kate, who still looks frightened.

"Wanna help me find something dry to wear?" she asks.

Kate nods, takes her hand, and they walk slowly towards the patio, Gavin and the rest of them trailing behind.