Revealed in the Rain

POV: Valerie Thorne.

The torrential rain battered the flimsy fabric of my tiny umbrella the exact second I planted my boots into the rising floodwater. I tried to angle the pathetic shield against the gale, but the storm was merciless. A vicious gust of wind inverted the canopy within seconds, violently wrenching my wrist backward until the metal ribs snapped under the howling pressure. The umbre