Then another.
I opened my eyes.
At first I thought the water was making me hallucinate.
Tobias’s wheelchair was empty.
My brother was no longer sitting.
He was standing inside the car.
On his own two legs.
He gripped the back of my seat while he searched for something under his jacket.
I stared at him, unable to speak.
Fifteen years of believing he couldn’t walk.
Fifteen years of helping him into cars, through doorways, from one place to another.
And now he was standing right in front of me while our car disappeared under the water.
“Your legs…?” I managed to whisper.
Tobias pulled out a small cutting tool he had hidden.
“I’ll explain later.”
He leaned over my seat.
He found the wire holding my seat belt.
He cut it.
The latch came free.
The relief was so intense I nearly collapsed.
But Tobias didn’t let me lose a single second.
“Don’t look at the shore,” he ordered quietly.
“Garrett’s out there! With Penelope!”
My brother didn’t seem surprised.
And that scared me even more.
“I know.”
I stared at him.
“What do you mean, you know?”
Tobias put a hand on my shoulder.
“Rosalind, I need you to do exactly what I tell you.”
The water was already at my neck.
I felt the pressure in my ears and could barely breathe.
My brother moved toward the rear door.
He waited while the water finished filling the car and the pressure began to equalize.
Then he planted his foot hard.
And kicked the door.
The first blow made the metal shudder.
The second moved it.
With one last effort, Tobias forced it open.
The water swirled around us.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the opening.
I tried to push straight up toward the surface.
I needed air.
I needed to get out of this nightmare.
But Tobias stopped me.
“No.”
I looked at him, terrified.
“We’re going to drown!”
My brother pulled out a small waterproof pouch he had hidden.
Inside was an emergency breathing mouthpiece.
He pressed it into my hand.
“Listen to me. Garrett is watching the car from the shore.”
I felt my tears mixing with the river water.
“We have to call for help!”
Tobias held me firmly.
His face was so close to mine that I could see the fear he was holding back in his eyes.
“If he finds out we’re still alive, he’ll try again.”
I looked toward the surface.
I thought of Garrett embracing Penelope.
Of the tampered seat belt.
Of my husband’s smile as our car went under.
And then I looked at Tobias, the brother I had spent fifteen years believing couldn’t walk.
“What is going on?” I whispered.
He put his lips to my ear.
“Play dead, Rosalind. They’re watching us.”
Then he pointed toward the darkness beneath the old pier.
And just before we started to swim, he said something that turned my terror into an even worse question:
“When we reach somewhere safe, you’ll have to hear the truth about our parents’ accident…”
Part 2
Tobias gripped my arm, and we began swimming beneath the old pier, away from the spot where Garrett and Penelope were watching the river.
The water was freezing.
I struggled to coordinate my movements, and every time I thought about how far we were from the surface, the panic came rushing back.
But my brother seemed to know exactly where he was going.
Between two enormous concrete pillars, we found a maintenance opening, hidden from the road.
We took shelter there.
When I could finally breathe normally, I turned to Tobias.
He was right in front of me.
Standing.
Without the wheelchair.
All the rage I had stored up since the accident collided with the terror we had just survived.
“Fifteen years!” I exclaimed, grabbing his jacket. “You’ve been pretending you couldn’t walk for fifteen years!”
Tobias didn’t try to defend himself.
“I know.”
“I’ve taken care of you for fifteen years! I thought that accident had taken the use of your legs!”
My brother lowered his eyes.
Then he gently took me by the shoulders.
“Because I needed everyone to believe it, Rosalind.”
I went still.
“Everyone? Who are you talking about?”
Tobias glanced toward the entrance of the shelter.
“The same kind of people who wanted to see us dead today.”
My heart began to race.
“Garrett?”
My brother took a deep breath.
“Mom and Dad’s accident wasn’t an accident either.”
For a few seconds, I couldn’t speak.
We had spent fifteen years remembering that tragedy as something that had taken our parents through unavoidable misfortune.
“What are you saying?”
“That Garrett’s family has been trying to take our shipyard for fifteen years.”
