Haunted Waters by Jerry B. Jenkins, Chris Fabry

the officers left us alone.
    “Maybe they just wanted to scare us,” Sam said.
    “They did a good job,” I said.
    After Sam called Mom, the officers drove us to a nearby hospital to get checked out. It was fun riding in the cruiser, and I expected Dylan to be all over the car. But he just sat next to Sam and held his hand.
    A nurse clucked her tongue and said, “You poor things,” then led us into a room to wait for the doctor.
    The doctor came in and looked at Dylan’s eyes with his light. He checked his ears and lungs, then looked the rest of us over and shook his head. “You guys are either very lucky or you have somebody upstairs looking out for you.”

Chapter 54

    When Mom got to the hospital, Bryce and I ran into her arms. The only time I’ve cried harder was the night of the plane crash. She and Sam hugged a long time too.
    Mom’s mouth popped open with each new wrinkle in the story. She put her hand on Sam’s arm. “They think it was the people who stole the gold?”
    “Had to be,” Sam said.
    The real miracle was that I had not had a seizure, even with all we had been through. The doctor found some medicine and gave it to me.
    A police officer came in and asked Sam to sign a couple of things. “Oh, and the local paper wants to talk with you and take your picture,” the officer said.
    Sam looked at Mom kind of funny and asked to speak with the officer outside. I was trying to think of what I would say to the reporter when Sam came back and told us we wouldn’t be doing any interview or pictures.
    “Why not?” Bryce said, looking disappointed.
    Sam sighed. “We’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
    I don’t remember much of the drive home except waking up once and hearing Dylan snore. Bryce slept against the other door. The dashboard lights lit Mom’s face, and I saw her wipe away tears as she and Sam listened to the radio. I usually gag when she turns on the Christian station with the slow music, but tonight it felt good to hear those old songs.
    Sam carried me to bed when we got home, and it felt so good to be held in his strong arms that I pretended to still be asleep. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I started calling him Dad too.

Chapter 55

    I got up late Sunday, even though I had wanted to go to church and tell all my friends everything that had happened. I could see Ashley and me standing with the pastor, telling our story, thanking God for saving us. Maybe next week.
    Leigh seemed amazed at all we’d been through. I was glad Sam had been with us, because I don’t think she would have believed it otherwise. She usually treats us as nuisances, but that day she kept smiling at us and playing games with Dylan, which she never does. I wondered how long that would last.
    I was feeling better until I noticed our ATVs in their stalls in the barn. We’d cheated death, but I still had to face Boo Heckler the next day.
    Sam and Mom subscribe to two newspapers— The Denver Post and The Gazette from Colorado Springs. Neither carried anything about us, but the report about the stolen gold was on the front page of each. The story said police were following several leads.
    I wondered why Sam hadn’t wanted our pictures in the papers. Did he really think it was too much for us? Or was he afraid the guys would find out where we lived and come for us? Something about it didn’t make sense. I kept looking at Sam, waiting for an explanation, but he seemed different somehow, like something was going on that none of us could understand.
    It was cloudy all day, and Ashley and I didn’t feel like doing much outside, so we stayed inside. I creamed her playing video games. Then she chose Boggle, Scrabble, and Battleship and beat me at all three.
    Dylan cried for his miner’s hat, monkey, and raccoon, and Sam promised he would get them back. The police called in the afternoon and said they had pulled the Land Cruiser from the reservoir and that it was totaled—ruined.
    Sam fixed dinner that