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Theo says, "Yes," before she finishes the sentence.

I open my mouth, and Pepper gives me a look. "Do not try to flirt with the person who just watched you become a water mystery."

"I flirt with danger."

Theo's voice drops. "You're about to flirt with bedrest."

"Documentation," I say, then lift the camera with a hand that is mostly steady. "One look before we go?"

Theo looks ready to object.

Pepper touches his arm. "One look. From here."

I open the last photo.

For a moment, none of us speak.

The screen shows the spring from above, though I didn’t take a picture from that angle. Pepper stands at the open edge, one hand lifted toward me. Theo is behind her, close enough to reach. I am half in the water, half in light, my outline split by the clear current. Behind us, chalk curves across roots that are bare in real life.

Pepper whispers, "The camera saw something we didn't."

"Or something this place wanted us to notice," I say.

The words make the spring ripple.

Theo stands first and helps Pepper up. Then he turns to me and offers his hand.

We walk back connected. Pepper in the middle, Theo on one side, me on the other. The water tugs at my boots with each step. I do not look back until we reach the downed bridge.

The spring is hidden again behind cypress and fern. Only the narrow ribbon of current remains, slipping east where the map says no water should move.

By the time we reach the canoe, I’m shaking hard enough that Pepper climbs halfway into my lap while Theo steadies the boat. Her arms wrap around my neck. Theo's hand covers both of us, broad and warm between my shoulder blades.

"I can still hear it," I admit.

Pepper's mouth brushes my temple. "The water?"

"Maybe." I close my eyes.

Theo's thumb moves once against my back. "We go home."

Home. The word pulls me more surely than the current.

I hold Pepper tighter and look at Theo over her shoulder. He looks wrecked, furious, scared. Still here.

"I came back because I heard you," I say.

Pepper's arms tighten.

Theo's eyes burn. "Then we keep giving you something to hear."

The channel carries us home through sun and shadow, and my camera rests heavy in my lap, full of pictures none of us are ready to understand.

Chapter 19

Pepper Vines

By the time we reach the dock, Ezra has stopped making jokes. That scares me more than his shaking.