Chapter 56
PANIC AND instinct had me clawing at the air.
If willpower alone could drag me to the pier, it would have.
Instead, a foot crashed down on the lake—
I bounced off.
My next foot came down.
I was stumbling, staggering, right across the surface of the lake, my feet moving barely fast enough to keep me from face-planting in the horrific green sludge.
My hand had come away clean.
It was like cornstarch! Stick your hand slow into a mix of cornstarch and water, it comes away gooey. Slap it quick—run across it—and you bounce right off.
My instincts told me to stop. Catch my balance.
Instead, I propelled myself faster across the uneasily, turgidly slow, shallow waves of Lake Huron, arms outstretched for the pier and the life-saving ladder.
The lake shuddered beneath me, turnin
