Page 180 of The Otherworld

I give his shoulder a firm shake, but his eyes remain shut. My stomach lurches as a wave of panic crashes over me. I bring my ear to his mouth, desperate to hear his breath.

Yes.

It is faint but there. He is alive.

“Papa, can you hear me?”

He doesn’t stir. My heartbeat thunders in my chest, and I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I don’t know what to do—

Call Adam.

Scrambling to my feet, I shove aside a worried Lucius and frantically run into the living room to grab the satellite phone. I jab at the buttons, recalling the sequence of numbers I typed over and over again to call Jack back when Adam was missing.

The phone rings once, twice, and then—

“Hello?” Jack’s voice comes through the speaker with so much static, I’m not sure he’s really there at all.

“Jack? Jack, are you there? Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I’m here, Orca. What’s wrong?”

“It’s Papa,” I say in a rush, tears welling in my eyes. “He’s collapsed, and I don’t know what to do. He’s not moving. You’ve got to help me.”

“Wait, what? Okay, hold on. Just… stay calm. We’re coming.”

The call disconnects.

I race back to the kitchen and crash to my knees beside Papa, taking his shoulders. “Papa, can you hear me? Papa…” My voice struggles out between sobs until I am gasping for breath, my hands shaking uncontrollably as fear takes over, wrenching my strength away from me. I crumple against Papa, my tears rushing faster.

“Please don’t leave me, Papa… I need you.”

Though his heart is still beating and his breath is still coming in weak and shallow puffs, I can feel the loss of him like a shadow looming over me. It is a terrible, suffocating feeling—an angry tidal wave, building and crashing, holding me down in the depths.

A rumble of thunder rattles through the sky, vibrating in the walls. Then comes the rain, a deafening woosh that cocoons the house and veils the world beyond the windows in a blinding rush of gray.

Will Adam and Jack even be able to fly out here in this storm?

What if they can’t see well enough to navigate?

What if they crash because of me?

Papa’s hands are growing colder by the minute. I fight back tears as I rub his fingers briskly, my heart breaking at the sight of him so helpless.

“Stay with me, Papa… Stay with me.”

56

The Rescue

ADAM

“This is insane,” Jack says from the copilot’s seat, his foot tapping nervously on the floor. “Every station is telling pilots to return to safe harbor immediately.”

My heart thuds in my chest as I look out at the dark sky ahead, flashing and moaning with distant thunder.

Jack shoots me a look. “Think we should call the coast guard?”

I shake my head. “No. Orca’s father might not have much time. We’ve got to fly out there ourselves.” I reach over him to shut off the radio. “It’s risky, I know. I’m going to have to fly straight towards that storm and hopefully skirt around the worst of it. Maybe you should stay here—”

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