The lake closed over my head and swallowed me whole, and panic slammed into my chest. My arms flailed uselessly as my heavy skirts dragged me down. Water filled my nose, my lungs, my brain and I ridiculously, horribly thought,

"Really? First I die choking on a Dorito, and now I get the bonus round of drowning?"

Before I could process that thought, something wrapped around me and an iron-strong arm pulled me up with inhuman force, and my head broke the surface with a choking gasp as my ...