Waking the Dead by Jane Davitt, Alexa Snow Page B

good idea.
    Caitrin’s fingers caught at his; they were cold and wet and stronger than they looked when she was panicking, which seemed to be now if her rapid breathing and frantic thoughts were any indication. Her ankle hurt, too; Josh could hear her thinking it. “I’m stuck,” she gasped. “Josh, I’m stuck. The rocks shifted when I stepped down.”
    She was freaking out enough that he could tell she believed it, but he didn’t. “Relax. Here, stand with your weight on your other foot. Jesus, it’s cold.”
    “Tell me something I don’t know.” Caitrin’s teeth were chattering, but she was making an effort to keep it together, which was good.
    Josh felt down along her leg, trying to figure out how she was caught. As he reached her ankle, he encountered rough stone, and what felt like a large slab of it. Maybe she’d stepped into a depression with this foot and knocked the rock with the other. “You know, if you wanted to me to touch you, all you had to do was ask. You didn’t have to get all dramatic about it.”
    She made an affronted sound, but her hand was clutching at his jacket. “Get me out.”
    “I will.” He couldn’t get at her boot laces to untie them, which had been his first thought. Losing the boot would have been a small price to pay. “Here, I’m going to try to move this. When I say, pull, okay? As hard as you can.”
    “All right.”
    Josh couldn’t get much of a grip on the rock -- it was too rounded by years of salt water moving across it -- but he did the best he could. “Okay -- now!”
    He heaved; the rock slipped against his fingertips, not seeming to have moved at all, and Caitrin made a strangled sound between her clenched teeth. “Bloody hell,” she gasped. “Ow. Did it move?”
    Josh was almost afraid to tell her it hadn’t. “Maybe. Try again.” The results were the same, though, and he realized the water was already higher than it had been a few minutes before.
    They were in trouble.
    “Get me out ,” Caitrin said, with more desperation than before. “Josh, please.”
    “I will.” He straightened and touched her face. “I promise.” It was rash, he knew, but he had to do whatever it took to keep her calm, because if she was freaking out it was just going to make things that much harder and there was no way he was going to get her out of here without help. If someone didn’t come, she was going to drown as surely as the
Lennox
brothers had all those years ago, and he didn’t think he’d be able to bring himself to leave her.
    “Be quiet for a few seconds, okay? I have to try something.”

Chapter Nine
     
    “Nick? Love?”
    Someone was touching Nick’s face -- it had to be John, of course, but it was so hard to drag himself back to awareness. They’d been -- and then. There was the taste of salt water at the back of Nick’s throat, and the sensation of choking -- he rolled suddenly onto his side, gagging, and John’s warm hand settled on his shoulder.
    “I’m okay,” Nick gasped, turning his head to meet John’s worried gaze. “It’s Josh. He and Caitrin are stuck in one of the caves -- I think her foot’s caught -- and the tide’s coming in. We need to go now.”
    John stared at him for a heartbeat, his eyes wide with shock, and then he nodded. “You can tell me all about how you know later.” He rolled off the bed and began to drag on his clothes, his movements quick and efficient. “Here,” he said, tossing Nick his shirt. “And I’ll get blankets, rope, and a torch.”
    Nick pushed his arms through the sleeves of his shirt as he scrambled off the bed, his awareness split between the familiar surroundings of their bedroom, lit and warmed by the late afternoon light, and the cold, dark cave. “Something to move the rock with. We’ll need a -- a --”
    “Crowbar,” John supplied. “Aye. I’ll get it. I’ll meet you outside.” He left, fastening his jeans as he went, and Nick didn’t allow himself even one deep