Read Storm for Free Online Page B

rescuer arrived, and the question was asked again as he strapped Andrea in with him.
    “A whole lot of prayer,” Andrea added.
    “Stick to surfing next time, okay?” the second man, a Hawaiian, said with a grin. Bethany looked at her rescuer again and then recognized him as a regular in one of the local surf spots.
    “No problem! Scout’s honor and all that!” she said emphatically.
    Her rescuer gave the chopper above them the “thumbs-up” sign, and suddenly they were wrenched out from the face of the cliff and immediately swung out over the precipice.
    By the time Bethany mustered the courage to look down again, Andrea and her rescuer looked like ants under the other helicopter. She gazed past them, then straight down to see ocean waves crashing against the vertical face of Na Pali a thousand feet below her. The view nearly took her breath away—would’ve taken her breath away if it weren’t for the two scruffy, mud-caked shoes dangling in her line of vision.
    I gotta get some new shoes,
Bethany thought with a tired sigh.
    Andrea had never seen her dad or her brother look so happy as they did when she and her mom stepped out of the helicopter. He and Mark ran toward them at breakneck speed.
    “What were you trying to do, give me a heart attack?” Mark said breathlessly as he hugged his sister tightly. He turned away to swipe his tears with the back of his hand. Andrea’s tears flowed freely as she turned to hug her dad.
    “Oh, thank God!” Her dad exclaimed, as he opened his arms to include them all in a bear hug.
    “That’s exactly who we should thank, Dad,” Andrea said tiredly. “I prayed that God would help us get down safely from there,” she said as they all headed toward the rental car.
    “I guess we were both doing quite a bit of praying up there, Darryl,” Andrea’s mom admitted, shocking them all into momentary silence. She bit her lip as she looked at her family, hesitated, and then plunged ahead. “I made a deal with God up there, a promise that I hope you all will help me keep.”
    Andrea’s dad drew back to look at her mom, a look of puzzlement on his face.
    “Can you do that? Can you make a deal with God?”
    Her mom laughed—a tired kind of laugh, but it sounded so good to Andrea.
    “Don’t look at me like that! I’m not going to become a nun or run off and join some commune.”She took a deep breath. “I had a lot of time to think up there. I couldn’t help thinking about Mike, thinking how fortunate I am to have you, Andrea, and Mark … and how quickly that could all go away.
    “I promised God that if he got us off that cliff safely, I would start going to church — to find out more about him. And I was hoping you and the kids would go with me.”
    “I’m so there,” Andrea said as she jumped in the car. Her brother took his turn at looking puzzled. She didn’t care. Something good was happening, and she didn’t want to lose it.
    “Dad, you and Mark should have seen it! We had been out on that cliff all night. We were so tired and feeling hopeless. Nobody could hear us or see us, and I was praying like crazy. And all of a sudden I heard these girls singing — like angels, but singing Christian rock. But that’s how I found them — how they found me! Then the one girl saw me slipping and started climbing to help me. She only had one arm! I was so scared for her, but then she started asking God to help her. I knew she was the answer to
my
prayer!”
    Andrea glanced at her brother who was listening intently, his iPod still in his hands.
    “Did you get their names?” Her dad asked suddenly. When he turned to look at her, she was surprised to see tears in his eyes. “I would really like to thank the both of them.”
    “The girl with one arm is named Bethany,” Andrea said and then frowned, trying to remember. “I think she called the other girl Holly.”
    “Well, it would be nice if we could find them before we leave,” her dad said casually, but his eyes