Liberator Read Free Page A

go!”
    The raft slid onto the slope and streaked down the rushing current. Bumping and bouncing, Koren clutched a side while Jason tightened his grip on her arm and Elyssa’s body. Water crashed over the front and splashed into their faces, veiling the path ahead and the sky above. As the raft rattled, the logs shook against the binding vines, as if ready to fly apart at any moment.
    A boulder protruded straight ahead, only seconds away. Still clutching both girls, Jason lunged over the edge of the raft and slammed against a flat stone just inches below the river’s surface. The force ripped Koren from his grasp. With Elyssa clutched tightly in his arms, he tumbled down the slope, turning somersaults in the shallow water and bouncing against the riverbed again and again.
    Finally, he slid to a stop on his bottom, Elyssa in his lap, and the water beating against his lower back. While thrusting on her chest with one hand, he pinched her nose with the other and blew into her mouth, once … twice … three times.
Come on! Breathe!
    Still carrying the supply bags, Koren sloshed toward him from downstream. With every step, she teetered back and forth, and water dripped from her hair and her sagging cloak.
    Jason pressed his lips over Elyssa’s once again and blew hard. She coughed, sending a stream of water into his mouth. He pulled back a few inches. A strand of saliva still connected their lips. She spat, breaking the connection, then heaved in a constricted breath, making a wheezing noise as precious air squeezed into her lungs.
    Koren splashed to a stop at his side. “Give her room! Let her sit up!”
    Jason slid Elyssa from his lap and helped her sit in the water. While blocking the current with his body, he slapped her on the back. She drew in breath after breath, each one easier than the last, and each exhale finishing with another cough. Wet, stringy hair covered her eyes. Her head continued swaying as if she were bouncing on a stormy sea. “I think—” She coughed again. “I think we made it.”
    Jason swallowed a hard lump. His heart pounded, and his own breathing rattled. “I guess you could say that.”
    He rose to his feet and helped her stand in the calf-deep water. Pieces of the raft floated by—broken logs, some with torn vines still attached. Her clothes clung to her body, outlining her rail-thin frame, the result of weeks in the dungeon. “Good thing I found that lever,” Elyssa said as she pushed her hair out of her face.
    “Right.” Koren, her voice weak, arched her brow at Jason. “Good thing.”
    Elyssa glanced at Jason and Koren in turn. “You two look awfully worried about something.”
    Koren narrowed her eyes. “You act like dying happens to you all the time.”
    “Dying?” Elyssa blinked rapidly. “What do you mean? I just swallowed some water the wrong way.”
    Koren shook her head. “Your heart stopped for a long time. You weren’t breathing.”
    Elyssa’s skin paled. “Did you revive me?”
    “Jason did.” Koren nodded at him. “I helped, but he did most of it.”
    “Not really,” Jason said. “Koren showed me how.”
    Elyssa stared at Jason, tears trickling down her cheeks and blending with the river water. She threw her arms around him and held him close. Her body trembling, she whispered into his ear. “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.” He returned the embrace. With wet clothes pressing against his skin, the contact raised a chill.
    Jason pulled back and brushed a wet strand of hair from Elyssa’s eyes. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
    “I’m okay.” Offering a weak smile, she grabbed a fistful of hair and began wringing it out. “I mean, I nearly died. Give a girl a break.”
    After tossing her wet hair over her shoulder, Elyssa took one of the supply bags from Koren. Water streamed from the bottom. “I guess the food will be all right. Just soaked.”
    “Probably.” Jason looked at his boots through the river’s clear water. “While you two get