Servants of the Living Forest Read Free Page B

looked down again, the darkness was gone.
    "What the..."
    Her confusion was forgotten when she heard inelegant splashing behind her. She turned and saw Cameron steadily approaching, typically awkward. At that moment, her heart warmed. Cameron was a beauty like she had always dreamed of, wet and fit and perfect—and hers.
    "Is everything all right?" Cameron asked.
    Jocelyn smiled. "Everything's fine," she said. "Come on, let's play!"
    They swam alongside each other for a while and then hand-in-hand, and splashed each other and raced across the lake, anything they could think of to enjoy themselves.
    "I wonder if I can make it all the way to the other side and back," Jocelyn said. "I'm going for it!"
    "Just don't tire yourself," Cameron said.
    Jocelyn snickered. "You know I don't tire out easily."
    She raced ahead, fast and strong. Cameron stayed behind and watched, admiring her while drifting nearer to the beach.
    Jocelyn slowed at the center of the lake, floated in place. Then, everything seemed to shift under her, and the water filled with swelling darkness. Before she could react, she was pulled under with a hard and sudden tug.
    "Joey!" Cameron called.
    Jocelyn burst from the water with a loud gasp, thrashing as she fought to escape the force beneath her, but its grip was too tight and kept pulling her down. It crawled over her body, between her skin and the lake. She sputtered and choked, unable to stop the water from entering her mouth and powering down her throat with each attempt she took at taking a breath.
    Cameron swam toward her as quickly as she could. "I'm coming! I'm coming!"
    She got alongside Jocelyn and helped her above the water. They steadily swam back to the beach together and clambered across its surface until they were under the trees again.
    "Are you all right?" Cameron asked.
    Jocelyn nodded, coughing harshly. "Yeah." She coughed more. "I don't know what happened. Something just..."
    Then someone shouted, "Excuse me!"
    They both looked back and sprang up, dripping wet. A lank man dressed in pine green approached them, wide-eyed and smiling. The patches on his uniform indicated he was a forest ranger.
    "I heard some shouting," he said. "Is everything okay here, ladies?"
    "We're fine," Jocelyn said, sounding hoarse. Cameron's worried expression, though, signaled otherwise. "We were just fooling around. I'm Jocelyn and this is Cameron."
    "Hello," Cameron said, giving him a small wave with a weak smile. She cradled her soft, pale body, feeling naked in front of the stranger.
    Jocelyn, in contrast, stood confidently, with her hands on her hips, despite her ordeal.
    "Nice to meet you," he said to them. "And who is this fellow?"
    The man bent down and scratched vigorously behind Sancho's ears. Cameron marveled at how calmly the Labrador behaved.
    "That's Sancho," she said, quietly. "I mean, that's what we call him. We found him this morning. Do you know if anyone's missing a dog? He has a collar, but there's no tag or anything."
    "No. Nobody I can think of," he said. "But we get campers and weekend hikers up here all the time, so who knows? I'll put up a post at the office and call the animal warden. He can come up and take this guy off your hands for you."
    Cameron shook her head, horrible images of doggie prison filling her mind. "No, that's okay!" she said. "He's fine here. Honest."
    "That's good, too. Good protection, aren't you?" he said to Sancho. "Are you two staying at the cabin on Quiet Ridge?"
    Jocelyn and Cameron exchanged uncertain looks.
    "Um, yes?" Jocelyn said.
    "I saw a blue van there, about a quarter-mile away."
    "Yes, sir. That's ours," Cameron said.
    The man laughed. "Oh, I'm not a 'sir.' I'm James. Ranger James, if you like," he said. He stood, smoothed his uniform. "Anyway, I left my card at your cabin. It has all of my contact info on it in case you need anything. Cell, radio, office. The works! And there's a service station up the road, too."
    "We stopped there this morning," Jocelyn