September Read Free

Cal,’ she said very seriously. ‘The river was too strong for anyone . You couldn’t have saved Gabbi. Nobody could have.’
    ‘But, Winter—’ I began, before being interrupted .
    ‘Cal? Are you OK?’ Gabbi’s voice called out from the darkness.
    Winter’s eyes opened wide. Surprise, joy and relief shone on her face, even though much of her was in shadow. Without words, her eyes seemed to ask me, Is it really her?
    I nodded.
    ‘I’m fine, Gab,’ I called back. ‘Just wait there for me, OK?’
    ‘OK,’ she agreed.
    Winter leaned in close to me. ‘She’s alive?’ she whispered.
    I nodded my head again and grinned. ‘She made it. I don’t know how she survived the fall, but she made it!’
    ‘And she’s awake!’ Winter cried.
    Winter leaped up and pulled me off the groundwith surprising strength. She started dancing me around in circles.
    ‘Boges!’ she shouted into the sky. ‘I found him! He’s right here! With Gabbi! They’re both alive!’
    My little sister crawled out of her hiding place and knelt there staring at the two of us, her eyes huge in her pale face, looking as if she was about to cry.
    ‘Who’s that?’ she whispered to me. ‘What is she talking about?’ she asked.
    ‘It’s OK, Gab. Winter’s here to help. She’s our friend,’ I said.

    We sat around a warm campfire defrosting our fingers and toes, while our clothes steamed on tree branches near Nelson Sharkey’s car. Boges had returned my backpack so I was able to change into dry clothes.
    Sharkey was recovering from his injuries. Boges had patched him up pretty well. They assured me the kidnappers were long gone. ‘What would they stick around for?’ Sharkey had said to me. ‘As far as they know there’s nothing left here for them to take.’
    The pre-dawn chorus of birds trilled, fussed and squabbled around us in the trees.
    Even though I’d had no sleep and felt totallytrashed, I wanted to sing with those birds. Gabbi was safe, Gabbi was with me. My friends were here, Boges and Winter. Winter had dived into the flooded Spindrift River to save me.
    The leather jacket was now wrapped around Gabbi who was snuggled up to me, with Boges close on her other side. She was napping while Boges filled me in on what had happened after I leaped into the river, chasing after my fast-vanishing little sister. In front of us, the small fire glowed.
    ‘After you jumped, one of them was really getting stuck into Sharkey, while the other one—the one who threw Gabbi off the bridge—ran back to the car. Before I knew it, Winter had dived into the river, after you . That girl is nuts. Then I yelled out that a cop car was coming, and that made both of the kidnappers abandon the scene real fast.’
    ‘Leaving Boges free to help me out,’ said Sharkey , indicating a bandaged arm. ‘I think I nicked my radial artery in that struggle. The guy had a knife. It’s a long time since I’ve had to do any hand-to-hand combat,’ he admitted with a shrug. ‘I’m a little out of practice.’
    ‘We watched them drive away,’ Boges continued . ‘I think the kidnappers just wanted to get out of there really fast. They took what theycame for and had no need for your sister any more. They thought they’d rid themselves of you too, dude.’
    ‘Wishful thinking,’ I said.
    Boges softly ruffled Gabbi’s drying hair—she was curled up in his lap.
    ‘How good is this?’ said Sharkey. ‘To have your sister back.’ From the way he was looking at me I could tell his words were about to take a more serious tone. ‘Enjoy it while you can, Cal. You know we’re not going to be able to stay here with her for long. We’re going to have to alert the authorities. She needs to be checked over by medical staff. And your mum and your uncle need to know she’s safe.’
    I nodded, sadly.
    ‘She must be really tired,’ said Boges. ‘Poor thing.’
    ‘No, I’m not,’ came her muffled voice. She lifted her head. ‘I feel like I’ve been asleep