Chapter 16
Luna pushed away, screaming and holding her ears, her eyes clamped shut. Dan said, “Hey, I’m with—” Luna pulled farther away, her screams loud and terrible and terrified.
Dan clutched her shoulder, afraid she might fight or run away.
He yelled, “Beckett!” Footsteps thundered down the hill and splashed through the ferns.
Beckett dropped to his knees and grabbed her by the shoulders. Her screams grew louder and more frantic. “It’s me. It’s me Beckett.”
He tried to pull her toward his chest, but she sobbed and shoved and struggled, and frantically tried to get away. “Stop! I’ve got to go I have to paddle, I have to paddle — stop, you’re hurting me!” She swung wildly and scratched Beckett across the face.
“Luna! It’s me!” His breath was coming fast and shallow. He was close to panicking.
Dan said, “Jeez, do you see how much she’s shivering?”
“Yeah, I see.” Her arm swung out and Beckett dove under it, struggling to keep her close.
“Look man, try to hold her. Try and get her calm.”
“I’m trying, I’m freaking —“
Dan moved into Beckett’s focus. “Look at me, in the eyes—don’t freak, you can do this. I’m going for the blanket thingy and the kit.” Dan raced to the boat.
Beckett said, “Shhhhh, shhhh, Luna, shhhh.”
Her eyes were wild. “I have to go, I promised. I have to—” Her eyes fell on her broken twisted tent. She blinked. “I have to—” She looked over her shoulder in the direction of the water. “I have to get my boards. I have to — I need to—”
She collapsed and cowered, low and frightened, covered in mud from head to toe, twigs in her hair. Beckett reached out for her shoulder. “Luna, I—”
She screamed.
“Luna!”
“Stop touching me, I need to go! To Heighton Port, Beckett is meet—” She faltered and looked around confused.
Dan rushed into the clearing and dropped to his knees. He ripped a vacuum sealed bag with his teeth and a blanket erupted with a puff. Beckett scrambled forward, grasped Luna by the shoulders, and pulled her to his chest, “Shhhh, shhhh. Don’t be scared.”
Dan threw the blanket over Luna and wordlessly tucked it tightly around her body.
She stared around, blank eyed and trembling. “I don’t — I have to get to Beckett—” Suddenly, she pulled her head up. “Why are you here?”
“I came to get you, because—”
She shoved away hard on his chest, her eyes wild and confused again. “I told you I got this, I said I was coming, I promised, I said I got this—” She scrambled against a tree trunk, like she wanted to escape.
“I came because I was worried about the—”
“I — I — I don’t need to be rescued.”
Dan said, “Hey Luna, it’s cool, we didn’t come to rescue you, we just happened to be in the neighborhood. Checking to see if you wanted a ride.”
Luna said, “I have to pack up. I have to paddle to meet Beckett. I have to—”
Beckett crawled over and pulled her close. He rubbed the back of her head and down her shoulders. “Shhhh. Shhhh. It’s going to be okay.” He draped the blanket and tucked it around her body.
She said, “It’s not — it won’t.”
Dan pulled a package out of the medical kit and unwrapped a syringe.
