"Teacher—something's wrong!" Miguel's shout cut across the hill before I could tuck the keys into my pocket. "Where?" I asked, already moving. "By the old bend! The water's bubbling!" He was breathing hard. His shirt was mud-smeared. His eyes were fixed on the river like he expected it to explode. I ran past the rusted school fence. Students clustered at the far edge, whispering, but they stepped back when they saw me. The river smelled of iron and rot. The surface eddied in a brown whirl and something pale bumped against a snag under the bridge. "Show me," I said. Miguel pointed. A pale arm banged against a root and floated a second, then slid back under. "Call the principal!" I told Miguel. "Call Dieter. Now." He fumbled his phone. His fingers shook. He kept glancing at me as if I might change my mind and walk away. "You can't leave her," I said. "You heard me." A woman in a gray shawl pushed through the kids. "Teacher, move away. This is not for you." "She's a person," I said. "She needs—" "Step back," said a man with a clipboard who must have been one of Dieter's deputies. He had the principal's smile, all white teeth and calm. "Do what we say, Miss Carvalho." I ignored him. "Miguel—help me pull her." He didn't move until I grabbed his wrist and slid into the shallow water. Mud sucked at my