Pack Trip by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online

mischievously. She crossed her heart, just as she had when promising Eli she wouldn’t dive, andwithout further ado she jumped high off the rock, tipped forward, touched her toes, straightened out, and dived straight into the water.
    “Amy!” Seth shrieked.
    Nobody else spoke or moved. They waited. Although the water was clear, the sun sparkled on it, making it difficult to see below the surface. There was no sign of Amy.
    Seth ran for the water, ready to jump in after his sister.
    John grabbed him. “You can’t dive in after her,” John reasoned. “Then we’ll just have two people to rescue.”
    Lisa could barely believe the scene that was unfolding before her eyes. She’d been counting silently since Amy’s dive. It had been almost a minute, and there was still no sign of her. Now even the bubbles from her dive had dissipated.
    Without thinking Lisa dropped her towel and hurried to the edge of the pond. She didn’t dive in, but she lowered herself into the cool water quickly and swam over to the place where Amy had disappeared.
    Lisa looked around in the water below. She didn’t see anything. She also couldn’t see how deep it was. She would have to go down there herself.
    She took a deep breath and went under. When she opened her eyes under the water, everything was fuzzy.She could make out a few objects, like the large boulders that cluttered the bottom of the pond. There were stalks of pond grass growing at the floor. There was some movement that might even be fish. There was nothing that looked at all like Amy.
    Lisa pulled herself as far down into the water as she could. The water was deep where Amy had dived. Lisa couldn’t even reach the bottom on one breath. It didn’t make sense that anything would have happened to Amy.
    Lisa searched frantically, aware that her lungs were aching for fresh air. She tried to fight the urge to return to the surface, certain that if she could just go a little deeper, swim a little farther, maybe she could find Amy. Maybe she could save her.…
    Lisa couldn’t hold it anymore. She fled to the surface and gasped for breath when she reached it.
    “I didn’t see anything,” she said, panting. “I’ll go again!”
    She filled her lungs with air and went down again, this time searching to the left and the right, her eyes straining with the discomfort of the water. But there was still no sign of Amy. Once again she returned to the surface.
    “Nothing,” she said. “There’s nothing there at all.”
    “Oh, no, Amy!” Seth cried out.
    “
Moi?”
a voice answered from the cattails. It was followed by a familiar giggle.
    “Amy? Is that you? Are you okay?” Seth ran around the edge of the pond in time to see his sister stand up in the middle of the reeds.
    “I’m just fine,” she announced cheerfully. “I’ve always liked cattails. Haven’t you? I’d like to pick a few, but the stems are so tough. Did you bring your knife?”
    Lisa felt a tremendous rush of relief. When she hadn’t been able to see anything in the water, she was sure of the worst. Now she could hear the brother and sister chatting in the cattails, and she was so filled with relief that there wasn’t room for anything else in her heart.
    Stevie, Carole, John, Kate, and Christine stood stunned on the edge of the pond.
    “Come on in, the water’s fine,” Lisa invited them. They stared at her in surprise, expecting her to be at least a little bit angry. Lisa shrugged in answer to the questions in their eyes. “Amy’s fine, so am I. No harm done.”
    “Maybe she’s right,” Carole said to the others on the shore. “Besides, it’s still hot out here and cool in there.” One by one they dropped their towels and joined Lisa in the water.
    Later Lisa pulled herself out of the water and lay on her towel in the sun to dry off. Kate and Christine joined her.
    “Wasn’t that wonderful?” Lisa said.
    “Part of it,” Kate said. “I mean the part where we were all swimming carefully and