“I’ve got you. Relax. I won’t let anything happen to you, do you hear me? I love you, Romiette.”
“What did you say? The thunder, the noise, the water!”
“Te amo. I love you! You’re not going to die.”
With a crack that split the heavens, a huge bolt of fire was spit from the sky. It arced, twisted, and with vicious rage, the lightning stabbed the small wooden boat. The air smelled of charred wood and the harsh chemical odor of fire between water and sky. Flames, which were quickly extinguished by the driving rain, rose from the gaping hole and tried to spread along the bottom of the boat. Both Romiette and Julio could feel the electricity of the lightning bolt as the small boat was incinerated and crumpled. Her hand was wrenched from his, and he was alone struggling to find the surface. Julio reached for Romi in the darkness, but all was fire and acrid smoke and swirling water. He searched the area, fruitlessly grabbing broken pieces of wood from the boat, hoping that Romi was somehow clinging to one of them. He shouted her name, went under again and again, but Romi was deep within the thing she feared the most—the dark, cold water.
51.
The Reality Is the Dream
Romi tried to think, to scream, to remember. The water seared her thoughts. Thinking became a dream, and remembering a painful reality. Was this reality or a dream?
The thunder roared, the lightning flashed, then thunder exploded once again. She smelled the water then. Deep, evil, powerful. The water had been their only hope, their only chance, their leap into faith, into death. She had screamed. Then all was silence as the water thundered into her ears, forced itself down her throat, and burned its way into her nose, her lungs, her brain. This water was fierce and deadly—no cool, gentle waves, but hot, choking, liquid flames, sucking the breath of life from her. She struggled, searching for air, for land, for something to hold on to. But there was only the water, pulling her into its depths. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t swim. She could no longer scream. The fire cooled, the terror ebbed, and the dark shadow of death embraced her.
She drifted then—in a haze of colors and swirls and black, frightening void. Voices? Could she hear voices? One voice? Maybe it was a song. No, all was silence. Thick, enveloping quiet that led to despair. No reason to care, to breathe, to live. So easy to let the silence swallow her. But the voice pierced the darkness. It was calling her name, grabbing her thoughts, and making her remember the fear, the pain, the cold, clammy water. The water! She gasped, and the water grabbed her once more, viciously dragging her to its depths. But that voice. It floated down to where she lay, cradled in the arms of the victorious water. The voice called her one last time. It was Julio.
52.
Romiette and Julio—Fire and Water
Julio swam to the surface once more and breathed deeply. It was still raining in strong sheets of water, but the fury of the storm seemed to have subsided. He looked around frantically for Romiette, but he could see so sign of her. He knew she was terrified. This was her nightmare, her fear dream, and he was unable to help her. He plunged beneath the water but, except for the diminishing sound of the thunder as it retreated into the distance, he could hear nothing. He shouted her name, half praying, half pleading to the hidden stars to help him find her.
“Romiette! Romiette!” He dove under the water again, reaching for her, feeling for her, sensing her closeness. He knew he only had a short time to find her. He let himself drift to the bottom of the lake where the darkness of the water was total and complete. The only thing that led him was his heart, his knowledge that he would never leave that lake without her. His lungs were burning fire, about to explode, when he touched her arm. She was floating facedown, her hair caught on a jagged rock. He touched her face, gently freed her, and swam with her to the surface.
He gasped frantically, and let her face feel the night air. The rain had stopped, the lightning was merely a distant blink, and the air was clear and cold. But Romiette floated in his arms, not breathing, unaware of the life it offered. Julio shouted her name again. “Romiette!” Silence, except for the echo of his voice on the water. He could see the shore now, and swam as swiftly as he could, calling her name, the only raindrops now his tears of fear and anguish. He knew that they could both die of hypothermia if they didn’t get out of that water right away. It seemed like hours, but only a few minutes had passed since they had lost each other in the storm. He reached the shore, half lifted, half dragged her from the water, and laid her gently on the ground. He forgot about the pain in his arms and back and head. He forgot about how cold he was. His only thought was to make her breathe, to make her live. He tried to remember all the steps of CPR as he breathed into her mouth and compressed her chest. He couldn’t tell if she was dead or just unconscious. She lay in the mud, unmoving, and Julio shouted curses to the stars.
The wind blew hard, much colder now that the rain had stopped, and Julio knew he could do no more. He shivered uncontrollably in the darkness and looked for shelter. He was dizzy, weak, and was starting to fade into unconsciousness himself. He picked up Romiette’s cool, damp body and stumbled as far as he could into the woods. He tripped over a huge tree that had fallen many storms before, and almost dropped Romi as he landed in a hollow under it. He gently placed Romi on the spongy pine needles and leaves, then squeezed himself into the shallow hole next to her. He pulled Romiette as close to himself as he could. At least there was a bit of shelter from the wind, he thought vaguely. He tried to concentrate, but he was so tired, and the air was so cold. It was easy to rest for a bit. Julio shivered, hugged Romi closer to him, and faded into sleep.
53.
Police Investigation—5 A.M.
Captain Escaluski frowned and scratched what was left of his thinning hair. He didn’t like this one. His men had been out all night, tromping through rain and mud, but able to do very little. All of the gang members except for the girl refused to make any statements at all—their code of silence, he assumed. His thoughts were interrupted by a call from Will Spear, his chief field investigator.
“Captain, this is Will. We found something, and it’s not good.”
Escaluski braced himself. “What is it?” he asked quickly.
“We found pieces of a boat, broken and floating, out here on the far end of the lake. It was charred and burned—a big hole burned right through the center of it. Looks like it had been struck by lightning.”
“Any sign of the kids?”
“No, Captain, just dark, stormy water.” Officer Spear paused. “Sir, I think you better order the lake-dragging equipment.”
Escaluski sighed. “Already done, Will. You don’t think they tried suicide like in the Shakespeare story, do you?” He was trying to cover all possibilities. “Maybe they were scared of the gang and tired of all the opposition to their relationship, and they decided to off themselves. It’s happened before. Any sign they were in that boat, Will?”
“Nothing yet, but if they were in that boat, we might have a case of murder instead. I sure hope not. They seemed to be nice kids.”
“Nice, yes; but stupid, maybe.”
“Either way,” Officer Spear summarized, “we’ve got a big thunderstorm, an unsearchable lake, two missing kids, and no bodies.”
“Yet,” added Escaluski, who had seen far too many unhappy endings to stories such as this one. He sighed again. “Thanks, Spear. Stay on it. Report to me anything you find.”
“Yes, sir.”
At that moment another officer knocked on the captain’s door. He was young, had only been on the force a few weeks, and was just one-quarter of an inch taller than the minimum requirement to be a police officer. Escaluski chuckled as he watched the new guy walk—it seemed as if he tiptoed everywhere—trying to make himself look taller. “Excuse me, sir, Officer Balzar here. I found something, sir, that I think might be important in this investigation.” He was almost trembling with excitement.
“What have you got, Balzar?” the captain questioned, smiling at his youthful
enthusiasm.
“I went back and searched the trunk of the car once more, sir,” he explained. “The one that the alleged gang members were arrested in?”
“Yes, I know the car,” the captain said impatiently. “What did you find?”
“I crawled into the trunk, uh, since I’m gifted with small stature, sir, and I found this in the back.” He handed the captain a tiny video recorder, the one that had fallen from Julio’s pocket when they tossed him in the trunk.
Captain Escaluski looked at the camera and heartily thanked the young officer. “I think you’ve found the key piece of evidence, Balzar! Great detective work!”
Balzar beamed. The captain hurried to the lab to see if his men could run the tape. Perhaps this would help them find the missing teenagers.
54.
Ben and Destiny—5 A.M.
Destiny and Ben tromped through the mud and diminishing rain, searching, but having no idea where to look. They looked under branches, in shallow caves, in all the picnic areas, even the trash Dumpsters. They could tell when the police had been through an area—it was well worn and flattened by several pairs of boots—but they never came into direct contact with the small police search team that worked through the storm and the night. Ben made Destiny rest back at the car a couple of times, but they spent most of the night searching for hope, and finding very little.
Destiny had called her mother on the car phone a couple of times, so they knew the police had found the key chain at the boathouse, and that the Devildogs had been arrested. A dull gray dawn was beginning to appear.
Destiny stretched and said to Ben, “Let’s check near the boathouse one more time, now that we can see a little better.”
“What do you think we can find that the police can’t?” Ben grumbled.
“You’ve been watching too many TV shows, Ben.” Destiny grinned. “Maybe they missed something.” She beamed the flashlight toward the bushes on the walkway that led from the boathouse to the water.
“See anything?” Ben asked, without much faith.
Destiny screamed, “Ben, com’ere! Where’s the other flashlight?”
Ben ran to her. “Hey! What’s this?” Ben held up a brown shoe, caked with mud, that was lodged behind a bush.
“It’s Romi’s shoe!” screamed Destiny. “No, it’s my shoe—I loaned it to her. Gee, that seems like so long ago. Oh, Ben, they were here! Do you think they’re in the water? Maybe they drowned. Romi can’t swim, Ben!”
“We’ll find them,” he soothed her. “Now, don’t start crying. I can’t deal with it.”
“Wait! The shoe feels cold and damp! I’m getting psychic vibes!”
“The shoe is talking to you?”
“Yeah. You know I’m psychic, don’t you?”
“That’s what you keep telling people. What does the shoe say? You know it could be just the fact that the shoe was in the mud that it feels cold and damp to you.”
“No, it’s more than that. Let’s go down to the water. I sense fire and water.” Destiny walked down to the edge of the water, the place from where boats were launched.
“When that storm hit, there were lots of lightning strikes, so you might be right. Let’s start walking around the lake and see if we can spot anything,” Ben suggested. “Shine the flashlight on the water. Do you see anything, Destiny?”
“No, let’s keep walking.” She sighed. “Wait, what’s that?” She pointed to a dark shadow on the surface of the lake.
“Just a tree branch in the water—probably broke off in the storm,” Ben said.
“I’m hungry,” exclaimed Destiny after a few minutes of walking. “That fruit was gone too long ago.”
“I thought you were starting a new diet,” Ben teased her.
“You remember I said that?”
“I remember everything you say, Destiny.”
“Why?”
“No reason. You tired?”
“No, but we’re not going back until we find them,” she said firmly.
“Goes without saying,” agreed Ben. “Let’s keep walking. Let’s use both flashlights. We’ve got to spot something.”
“I feel so helpless, Ben,” moaned Destiny.
“What happened to your psychic vibes?” he asked, trying to cheer her up.
“They fizzled. We’re probably too late anyway.”
“Quit talking like that, Destiny. What time is it?”
“Ten minutes to six in the morning. I’m tired, and hungry, and scared. We’ve been here all night long!”
“So have they,” Ben reminded her quietly.
“I’m so afraid the morning will bring bad news.”
“That was some storm last night, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, I’m glad I had you to share it with. I wasn’t even scared.” Destiny smiled at Ben with honest appreciation.
“Talk about percussion! Wow! How mighty is the power of nature!” Ben raised both his arms to the sky in exultation.
“Now, don’t you go telling people we spent the night together!” warned Destiny, laughing.
“Well, we did.”
“Yeah, but …”
“Destiny! Check it out. We’ve caught all five! What do you call it—the Fantastic Five?”
“Oh, my goodness! I almost forgot! We got 1:11 and 2:22.”
“Then we remembered 3:33 and 4:44.”
“And now it’s almost 5:55!”
“Wish, Destiny, wish!”
“You mean you believe that stuff now, Ben?”
“I don’t know what I believe. All I know is that you made me wish four times in a row and I’m not going to miss this last one—especially if it means that our wishes will come true. Now, shut up and wish!”
“Wishing!” Destiny exclaimed with a big smile.
“We did it, Destiny! We wished on five in a row. So what does that mean?”
“They say that—”
“Who are ‘they’?”
“Smart people, probably women, Romi says,” explained Destiny. “Anyway, they say that if you catch five in a row, your wish is guaranteed to come true, and you get an extra wish granted as a special bonus prize.”
“Can you tell your wish now?”
“I think so,” Destiny frowned, trying to remember the rules. “What did you wish, Ben?”
“I wished that Romiette and Julio be found safely, of course. What about you?”
“I wished the same thing. Do you think this will work?” she asked hopefully.
“What happened to your faith in the universe?” he teased.
“It got cold and hungry and scared in the darkness of the night.”
“I still believe in you, Destiny,” Ben said, looking directly in her eyes. “And in the universe and magic wishes too.” He looked away quickly, and threw a rock in the lake.
“You’re something else, Ben,” Destiny remarked, pretending not to notice his look. “What was your extra wish for?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“I think you’re dynamite, Destiny.”
“Do I have to dye my hair blue if I hang out with you?”
“Only if it matches your outfit.”
“Hey, I like your style!” They grinned at each other as the sky became brighter with the morning sun.
In the distance, near the boathouse, they could see movement as the police and other search teams began for the day. “Let’s go see if anyone else has had any better luck in finding anything,” Destiny suggested.
“Maybe they have some coffee back at the boathouse,” Ben added. “Are you still cold, Destiny?”
“Much warmer now,” she said quietly. They marched back along the shore of the lake. Destiny carried Romi’s shoe in one hand. Ben held her other hand.
55.
The Parents—6 A.M.
Lady Cappelle stretched and yawned, then woke up suddenly. The horror of last night engulfed her as soon as she opened her eyes. The parents had spent most of the night at the station calling friends
and organizations who could assist in a full-scale search as soon as the day would allow. They had made and copied posters, which were ready to be distributed to stores and nailed on telephone poles in the community. Keeping busy had helped keep the fear at bay for a while. Romi’s mother had only dozed a minute, but she felt guilty for sleeping even one second while Romi was lost. She glanced at Mrs. Montague, who slept fitfully on the other bench.
“Maria, it’s almost dawn,” she called. “Wake up.”
“Did they find the children, Lady?” Maria replied, startled.
“No, no new word yet,” sighed Romi’s mother. “I just wanted to be ready for … for whatever may come today.”
Maria nodded. “I can’t believe I fell asleep on those hard chairs. I didn’t think I could sleep at all. Where is my husband?”
“He and Cornell went to get some coffee. They are finally speaking cordially to each other.”
“A night in a police station worrying about the lives of one’s children erases many foolish notions. Luis loves Julio. He is our only child.”
“You know I understand. Romiette is our only daughter.” Lady picked up last night’s coffee cup and sipped the cold, tasteless liquid.
The two fathers returned with fresh coffee. Captain Escaluski walked with them. He was not smiling.
“Mr. and Mrs. Montague, Mr. and Mrs. Cappelle, as you know, our search last night was frustrating. As much as we could in the storm and darkness, we combed the woods around the lake and found nothing. Our investigation has also turned up another important piece of information, however,” he added. “We have located the video camera that the young people mentioned.”
Luis gasped. “You have found the camera that was in my son’s pocket, but not my son? How can this be?”
The captain explained, “It was found in the trunk of the car that was used in the kidnapping.”