Page 38 of Waves of Fury

I point to Kellen. “Him too, Pretzel. He’s super pissed I rescued you, though.”

Beyond Kellen’s yelling and cursing, the whistles of the wind and sloshing waves, and Pretzel’s barking, I hear something else. A rumbling sound. A motor perhaps?

I attempt to shush the dog, but he’s too happy to be rescued. I’m scanning the horizon when something rounds the side of the building.

A boat!

This one is manned, too. I can see people on it. Kellen has stopped yelling my name and is now waving wildly toward the boat. Pretzel yowls and I also wave to the newcomers.

We’re going to be rescued.

This nightmare will soon be over.

As the boat comes into view, I recognize it. My heart hammers double time inside my chest. Is this a dream? This can’t be real.

Voices holler from the boat.

Voices I know.

Voices I love.

Holy shit.

“Aaron! Jesse!” I bellow, hot tears filling my eyes and causing me to choke on my words. “Here! Over here!”

The Angler-traz’s motor cuts off and then it drifts with the waves until it’s bobbing between me and Kellen. Jesse launches out a floating life ring that’s attached to a rope. I scramble down the ladder and into the water with Pretzel tight in my grip and then grab onto the life ring. Clinging onto it with one arm and the dog in the other, I let Jesse reel me in. When I reach the side, a teenage girl materializes in time to pull Pretzel from my arms. Then both of my brothers are there, grabbing my biceps and hauling me onto the boat.

“You’re here,” I croak out in awe as my brothers take turns squeezing the life out of me. “You came for me. How?”

Aaron takes my face in both of his hands, grinning at me. “I knew you were in the financial district when the waves hit. If anyone could survive, it’d be you.”

We hug again, this time for longer. Both of us tremble as tears of joy escape us. Once composed, he pulls away to look at me again.

“When the rain stopped, we came looking for you. I heard someone yelling your name, so we followed the sound. And then, there you were. Randomly holding a dog in nothing but your underwear on the side of a building in typical Tyler fashion.”

I snort out a laugh. “About time you showed up.”

Aaron’s grin slides away as he looks past me at the fire escape. “Tabby?”

Guilt sluices through me. If I’d known this shit would go down, maybe I could have forced Tabby to come up to the top with me. It’s doubtful, but I could have tried.

“There’re only seven of us and she’s not one. I’m sorry.”

Aaron bows his head, pain etching his features. I hated Tabby, but Aaron cared for her, and I don’t like seeing him upset. He swallows hard and then nods as though accepting my answer. “All that matters is we’re together again.”

“What happens now?”

“We get the hell out of here and to dry land, little brother.”

Thank God.

It’s almost over.

Kellen

They’re hugging.

These aren’t random people. They’re Tyler’s brothers. Unbelievable.

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