(I never thought I’d be in a place like this.)
Sheets of paper fluttered from the rift. Letter-sized, blank. Some flew into agents’ faces, but most went overhead, dancing down the street.
As Neven swooped, I spotted a head of tangled blond hair. Couldn’t miss it. I saw that same hair in the mirror daily. Hazel Four stood right behind one of the ballistics shields, and by her side . . . Was that Dad? He held one arm around her, tight enough for her to hunch under his grasp. He was talking to a nearby agent. His face was twisted into an uncharacteristic scowl, but the way he held her was protective. Fatherly.
Did he think she was me? Or did it not matter to him?
Hazel Four was crying. Silent, trembling. She didn’t take her eyes off the rift crackling a dozen feet before her.
“Move her closer!” someone shouted. “They’re detecting changes! It might be working!”
Another shout: “The dragon’s here!”
Several agents reached for their weapons. Neven veered sharply up, circling the area from a safe distance.
“What do we do?” I called at her.
“You tell me.”
I bit my lip, considering the situation. Agents gathered around Dad and Four. Past them, the rift sputtered. Fizzed.
And water came pouring out.
From one second to the next, it filled the rift whole, a waterfall yards wide and feet thick, gushing from the rift’s edges. It crashed to the ground, splashed up high, and flared out over the street in an eager rush.
Agents scattered. The formation at the front broke.
“Now!” I yelled at Neven. “Grab Four!”
However long this flow of transdimensional water would last, we could use the distraction.
Neven dove. Her wings snapped clean to her sides. Dad and two agents were ushering Four toward the vans, but other agents were in their way, and the water rushing all around them made movement difficult. Logs tumbled from the rift. Branches with fat green-blue leaves churned in the foam. I even saw glistening fish flash past.
The rift was dumping an entire river into the city. Already, the water reached the agents’ knees. They had to plant themselves on the ground with every step. Not everyone managed. The water had knocked down at least three agents, who were now getting dragged away, spinning and wild.
One of the agents holding Four spotted Neven as she dove. He braced himself against the pull of the water and aimed his weapon.
Then he crashed face-forward. The water sprayed up. Something had slammed into him from behind. Long-stretched, dark. A log? The impact sent it whirling through the billowing water.
Dad had just enough time to shove Four out of its path.
The log hit him instead. One end smacked into his chest. The roar of the water drowned out any sound the impact—or Dad—might have made.
He went down, and the water snatched him away.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“No!” I screamed.
Neven plucked a struggling Four from the water and landed on the roof of the nearby row houses. Red glided off her back to dash at Four.
“What’s happening?!” Four was shouting. “What are you—How is this—” She stared at us with panicky, uncomprehending eyes. Then she tore herself away and spun. “Dad!”
I searched for him in the rushing water. Waves crashed outward over the street, all furious spray and foam. Cold droplets hit my arms, even though we were two stories up.
The log that hit Dad had ended up stuck in a narrow V formed by the wall of a beauty salon and a van that’d crashed into it. No—it wasn’t a log. A canoe. Dad was half slumped over it. All I could see was a dark splotch on his face and black hair sticking to his skin. His face was above water, but only barely. He didn’t move except for when the waves pushed him.
“Dad!” Rainbow yelled.
“We have to leave,” Neven said. The rift was still spewing more water—more, more, wild and unruly. Another wave might tip over the van next to Dad. “Climb on my back.”
“No!” Four screeched. “What’s—My dad—”
“We’ll explain later!” Red said. “Trust us!”
Neven watched Four flatly. “Get on my back or I’ll carry you in my claws. Your choice.”
One of the agents who’d escorted Four was wading through the water. He’d spotted us on the roof, but scanned the street like he was looking for something else. Dad, maybe. He wasn’t even close.
None of the agents were.
“Neven!” I whirled on her. “You have to get Dad.”
“It’s not safe.”
“Get! Dad!” Tears filled my eyes.
“I don’t even have room—”
“Get him!”
“I can’t.” Her voice was so deliberate and slow, it made me want to scream. “There’s not enough space. I won’t fit.”
I bit down on my lip. Damn it, she was right. Maybe if she pulled away the busted van . . . No, that wouldn’t work. A streetlight held it in place. Wedging it loose would risk crushing Dad.
“What if we land on that van and you use your tail?”
She exhaled sharply. “On my back. Just you.”
I was barely sitting on her before Neven shot off. She dove low over the street and hovered. Nearby agents—the few who were still upright and hadn’t fled—struggled to approach us, weapons drawn. Debris carried along by the water slowed them down.
“Jump off,” Neven ordered. “Pull him into the open water. Then I’ll grab him.”
“I thought you were going to—”
“No telling how the van will shift if I land on it. Jump.”
I watched the street, frozen. I couldn’t do this. I’d screw it up. I’d risk endangering Dad. And maybe I’d be too slow, maybe the agents would catch us, I’d have failed before we even really started, I’d have caused Dad to . . .
I turned toward the agents far behind us. I bet they could do this. We should let—
“Hazel, don’t be a coward,” Neven snapped.
Coward?
But I wasn’t scared for me. I was scared for Dad.
“Hazel!”
I jolted from the frustration in Neven’s voice. I scrambled up, gauging the distance and depth of the water. Then—before I could change my mind—I jumped.
The cold of the water hit me hard. It was
