Focus on Solveig. She’s all that matters now.
The guy mutters something, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Are you waking up?” she asks over her shoulder. “Good, because I can’t hold you much longer …”
The guy doesn’t answer. He’s still leaning against her. But now he’s tilting to one side.
“Hey! Sit upright, or you’ll fall!”
Liv eases off on the gas but can’t let go of the handle. She holds on tighter to his hands, but he’s still slipping, muttering in her ear: “Cut that out, Jennie …”
“No, you cut that out!” Liv tells him, wriggling from side to side, trying to shake him awake. The movement doesn’t wake him up, though, and now he’s leaning out over the water, threatening to fall in. Liv leans to the other side to counter the balance. “Hey, you! Wake up, damnit!”
Still no response from the guy. Liv’s grasp on him is slipping, so she pinches the back of his hand with her nails.
“Ouch!” he cries out, jerking his hand back and finally coming to. He sits up straight, and Liv looks back at him. He stares around in confusion, blinking and clearly trying hard to remember how he ended up on a jet ski in the middle of the ocean.
“You awake now?” Liv asks.
He looks at her, then nods. “Yes.” He looks down at his hand. “Did you … pinch me?”
“I had to. You would have fallen in.”
He looks down at the water, then seems to suddenly recall what is lurking down there, because his expression changes. “Holy hell … I almost drowned …”
“Yeah,” Liv nods. “You almost did.”
“They were down there,” he goes on. “In the water. I felt them grabbing my—” He cuts himself off with a gasp, then bends down to check his ankle. After a few seconds, he sits back upright with a sigh of relief. “I’m not hurt.”
“No, you would have been dead by now if you were.”
“It can take up to several hours.”
“They said on the radio it’s more a matter of minutes.”
“Well, I’ve seen it go both fast and slow. Depends on the wound, I guess.”
There’s a moment of quiet between them. The jet ski drifts softly along on the waves.
He looks at her in earnest. “Wait, so you saved me?”
Liv shrugs. “I guess so.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Sorry for passing out like that, by the way. I haven’t slept well for days.”
“Me neither. Look, mind if we get going? I don’t like sitting still out here.”
“Sure.”
“You okay to drive?”
“I think I would prefer waiting a little, if that’s okay. I feel pretty groggy.”
“That’s fine. I can go another ten minutes. Just hold on to—”
He slips his arms back around her waist.
“—the handles on the sides,” Liv finishes.
“Oh, sorry,” the guy says, taking away his arms again.
“No, that’s okay. Whatever works for you.” Liv feels the heat rise to her cheeks and feels stupid. She keeps looking ahead, making sure the guy can’t see her face.
He wraps his arms around her again, and Liv speeds up.
“I had no idea they could live under water,” he says in her ear. “Were they, like, swimming?”
“I think they were walking on the bottom. I’m sure their lungs are filled with water. If that’s true, then they wouldn’t be able to float.”
“I guess that makes sense.” A moment passes, then he suddenly asks: “Wait, are we going south?”
“Yeah. I’m headed for Denmark. I’m sorry, but that’s not up for discussion. If you want off, I can pull over anytime.”
“No!” the guy says. “No, that’s perfect. I’m going to Denmark, too! I just thought you were lying when you said you were going there.”
Liv glances back at him. “You are going to Denmark too? Why?”
“That’s a really long story.”
“Is Jennie there?” The question slips out before she can think it through.
The guy doesn’t answer right away. “How do you know Jennie?”
“I don’t. You just mentioned that name in your sleep.”
“Oh. Right. I remember now. I had a dream.” His voice trails off.
“Is Jennie your girlfriend?”
The guy scoffs. “No way. She’s my sister. Was, I mean.” Those last three words are so full of pain, Liv regrets she asked.
“I’m sorry.”
The guy doesn’t answer.
“I’m going back to find my sister,” Liv tells him. “She’s still in Denmark. At least she was when I spoke to her yesterday. I haven’t been able to get hold of her since then. I hope … I hope she’s okay.”
“I’m sure she is,” the guy tells her.
Silence for a moment, except for the hum of the engine and the rhythmic sounds of the waves hitting the jet ski.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?” the guy asks.
“I didn’t tell you. It’s Liv.”
“I’m Dan.”
“Right, you said that.”
“How long will it take us to get to Denmark?”
Liv glances down. “We’re going close to sixty-five miles per hour, so I guess that’s five or six hours.”
“That’s a long ride. You got enough fuel on this thing?”
“There’s an extra tank at the back. My Grandpa made sure of that. So we wouldn’t have to pull over and find more gas.”
“Great. So, we’ll reach Denmark at around, what, midnight?”
Liv glances down at the dashboard again. “It’s only six o’clock now. We should be there at eleven.”
“Where exactly is your sister?”
“We lived in Viborg.”
Liv can feel Dan jump a little. “No way, that’s where I lived! And that’s very close to where I’m going. Sounds like we might as well go together.”
“Sure.”
Another pause.
Dan breaks the silence once more: “You want to tell me how you ended up in Norway?”
“I was visiting Grandpa when this … thing happened.”
“I see.”
“How about you?”
“Well, we were trying to get away. Originally, we were headed for the Faroe Islands.”
“You and the woman back there?”
“No, I just met her this morning. I was travelling with a group of people from Denmark. We, uhm, split up.”
Liv glances back at him. “Creative differences?”
Dan snorts. “I suppose that’s not a bad way of putting it. I was the one who wanted to go back to Denmark, and the others wanted to
