Touch by Jennifer Snyder Read Free Book Online Page B

with an equally pink leash trailing behind her. I began smacking the palm of my hand against my thigh.
    “ Come here, Fern,” I called. “Come here, girl.”
    “ She won’t come,” Isabel said, shaking her head. “I think she’s frozen.”
    “ I doubt that.” I chuckled.
    “ I’m serious; she hasn’t moved in a while,” Isabel insisted as sincerely as any eight-year-old could.
    I suppressed another chuckle and began smacking my thigh even harder. “Fern—come here, Fern!” I yelled a little louder and sweeter than before. Fern took two small steps and then stopped. “See, she’s definitely not frozen.”
    “ Good girl, Fern! Come on, you can do it, come here!” Isabel coaxed her, but Fern didn’t respond by moving, only by whimpering.
    I crouched down, resting my knees against the frozen ground beneath me for support. “Come on, Fern!” I called, losing my sugary-sweet tone and trading it in for a more annoyed one.
    Fern took a few sliding steps toward us before stopping about four feet away and hunkering down to whimper again. Her sad brown eyes met mine and they instantly melted my heart, making me switch back to my most sugary tone yet.
    “ Here, girl! Come on!” Isabel and I called out in unison while we both slapped our knees as hard as we could.
    “ Isabel… where are you?” Mr. Dover called from the back deck to their house.
    “ Down here, Daddy!” Isabel shouted. “Fern’s stuck on the pond!”
    “ Who’s that with you down there?” Mr. Dover asked.
    “ Rowan; she’s been helping me get Fern,” Isabel answered.
    “ Hey, Rowan! How ya been?”
    “ Fine, Mr. Dover,” I replied. “We’ve almost got Fern, now.”
    At the sound of her name, Fern took a few more slipping steps forward. I extended my arm out, reaching for her.
    “ Almost,” I muttered, wiggling my fingers. “If she’d only take a few more steps I’d be able to reach her.”
    I inched closer, until I could feel the cold wetness of the frozen water soaking into my jeans, but I still couldn’t reach her. I dropped my arm and let out a loud sigh. I hung my head as annoyance at Fern buzzed through me.
    “ Fine,” I mumbled. I stood and put one foot out onto the frozen water, tapping it to test its thickness.
    “ No, Rowan, don’t!” Isabel panicked.
    I shifted all of my weight onto the foot resting on the ice and held my breath. “It’s okay. This water is shallow, which means it’s thicker than the rest.”
    I put both feet on the frozen pond and stopped, praying I was right. It had been so long since I’d been to Dover Pond, I couldn’t remember how deep the edges were—two feet, three feet, four?
    “ Rowan, I don’t think that’s a good idea! Let me come down and get that stubborn-ass dog myself!” Mr. Dover yelled.
    I put a hand up and shook my head. “I think it’s okay; I’ll get her.”
    I slid my feet across the slick ice like I was skating, slowly inching my way toward Fern. I was nearly two feet away from Isabel when I heard the ice beneath me begin to crack.

 

     
    Chapter Eleven
     
    “ Rowan!” Isabel gasped from behind me.
    I couldn’t find my voice to answer her. With my heart hammering against my ribcage, I dropped my gaze to my shoes and stared at the thin line now etched into the ice beneath me. I held my breath and slowly slid my right foot backward an inch before doing the same with my left. I stopped when a new crack formed and then slithered away from me rapidly.
    “ Daddy! Daddy, hurry! The ice is cracking!” I heard Isabel scream hysterically over her retreating footsteps.
    As she darted away, Fern skittered past me after her, and the swift movement across the ice was all it took to send me plummeting through and into the dark water below.
    The icy water slipped over me, soaking my clothes and forcing panic to become my worst enemy. My arms and legs thrashed about rapidly, slicing through the frigid water surrounding me. Involuntary gasps escaped from my parted lips