Chapter 24: First Light

The lake was white with mist at first light, and the dock boards were wet under my bare feet.

It was the same dock.

I stood on the exact plank where Fiora had stood with her hands out, and I looked down at the water.

The orange jacket with my name on it hung on the rail behind me.

I had put it there myself.

"You can keep it on," Remo said, from the ladder. "The first day. Nobody will think less of you."

"I would."

He stood chest-deep in the lake in his old gray swim trunks, with the scar down his side shining wet.

He held up both hands.

"Then come in."

I looked at the black water.

My heart was going very hard.

I thought of my father's letter, folded in the drawer of the drafting table.

It carries things.

I sat on the edge of the dock and put my feet in.

The cold went through me up to the knees.

"Good," Remo said. "That's the worst of it. Now slide."

I slid.

I went into the water with a gasp, and his hands closed under my arms before it reached my shoulders.

"I've got you."

"I know."

"Breathe out. Let your head go back."

"Remo..."

"Your ears under. Look up. Look at the sky."

I looked up at the white sky, and I let my ears go under, and the world went quiet.

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