Chapter 6
Zoe
V odyan’s arms tightened around me so much, I couldn’t take a deep breath. He whipped around, and I didn’t understand why until a gurgling, low sound reverberated right behind me. Something was there.
With one, powerful push of his tentacles, Vodyan shot up. Bubbles foamed as we swam, faster than I thought possible. I actually felt the friction of water moving past my suit at great velocity.
When we turned and dove back again, I squealed. This was like a rollercoaster ride, only infinitely scarier and yet safer, too.
He held me so tightly, I wasn’t afraid I’d fall, even though my ribs could use some room to expand.
I still didn’t know what it was we fled from and I couldn’t look. Vodyan held me so close, I couldn’t properly turn my head. Yet when another vicious sound tore through the water, I shivered, my insides twisting with primal fear.
That thing sounded like a predator. A very angry one .
With one powerful flip, Vodyan turned until we were horizontal with me on top of him. I felt rather than saw his tentacles shoot out, water moving against me jarringly.
Something tugged, something struggled, moving us a bit, and I understood Vodyan caught the attacker. I felt the vibrations and tension in his muscles that bulged against me with his effort to keep still as the creature thrashed against his tentacles.
His entire body was so hard with coiled power. I felt the creature trying to get free, but Vodyan barely moved. He was obviously stronger, and all that strength now pressed to me through his scales and my skin.
It was a shocking sensation. I’d never been so intimately close to such a primal force.
Something tugged sharply, and Vodyan rumbled in displeasure, twisting again until he was on top of me. I felt the pull of the depth underneath, yet he held me so securely, I wasn’t afraid of falling.
His voice sack, which was right by my face, expanded and lit up with a beautiful, green light.
“You should have known better than to come after me again.”
I flinched. He sounded so cold and beastly, his voice a sharp blade. It was accented in a harsh, biting way, and when a whimper of pain followed from somewhere close behind me, I whimpered, too, pressing closer to my bodyguard.
Now his ribs were probably squeezed tight, too, because I clung to him with all my fear and confusion. What was that thing?
“You want to lose another piece of that tail?” Vodyan asked with a snarl. “One wasn’t enough for you?”
I trembled, his voice sounding so horrible, I had to keep reminding myself it wasn’t directed at me. The one sentence he spoke to me earlier had been so much softer and huskier, and I clung to the memory just as I clung to him, desperately needing this ordeal to be over .
Another whimper came, and then words.
“Let me go, let me go, let me go…”
That voice was so pitiful and filled with pain that I jolted with sympathy. The creature could speak. That meant they were sentient.
Vodyan growled with anger, his muscles bunching as he moved with a jerk. His victim released a loud gurgle, and I winced. They were probably in great pain.
“If I ever see you again, you’ll die,” Vodyan threatened, his voice so cold, it made me shiver.
I loosened my hold around him, suddenly craving distance, but he pressed me instantly closer.
“Let go! Fine! Let go,” the creature pleaded, their voice breaking on another gurgle as Vodyan’s body jerked with violence.
“I know I have a reputation for letting lamias live,” the vodnik added with menace. “But I’ll make an exception for you. In fact, anyone who dares attack me from now on will die. Tell your friends if you have any.”
Lamias. That was what the giant water snakes were called.
Vodyan tugged sharply, making me shudder, and then the power coiled in his limbs released as he pushed away and turned, swimming fast. I understood he let the lamia go, but when I raised my head to peek over his shoulder, all I saw was dark water. The lamia was gone, and I still didn’t know what one looked like from up close. The pictures I found online had been blurry and taken from a distance.
Lamias were said to be unfriendly and wary of outsiders. Yet, I still had no idea why one attacked us, which I assumed was what happened.
I only knew Vodyan was ready to kill them, and I fully believed his threats.
We sped ahead, dark water rushing past as the vodnik took us gradually deeper. I found myself in a rare predicament. Namely, I didn’t know what to say .
I badly wanted to ask who that lamia was and if Vodyan actually cut off a piece of their tail, but I was afraid of his answer. In my post-panic state, with my body growing more and more jittery after everything that happened, I wasn’t sure I could handle that.
So I stayed silent, doing my best to breathe in a calming pattern. Vodyan’s hold on me loosened enough to let my ribs expand, but I was much less relaxed about being so close to him now. His harsh voice played on a loop in my head, making me shiver.
It was so cold. So utterly devoid of mercy.
After some time, he made a low sound, his voice sack flashing bright. I knew the light was an evolutionary feature that vodniks developed to communicate better. Thanks to the light, they could instantly see who spoke and locate them in the dark.
“Are you well?” he asked after making a few more guttural sounds. I wondered if they were something akin to clearing one’s throat.
I sighed in relief. His voice was softer, deeper, and completely unlike before when he addressed the lamia.
“Yes,” I answered. “Just a bit jittery.”
His head dipped in a curt nod but he didn’t say anything more. I chewed on my questions, wondering if it was even appropriate for me to ask them. That fight had nothing to do with me from the looks of it.
And yet, it also affected me. After all, I was there.
I argued with myself, grappling with those thoughts while Vodyan swam fast, taking us deeper and deeper. At a few points, my ears popped, and I had to swallow and yawn a few times to adjust to the pressure, but otherwise, I was fine.
The suit really was marvelous. And yet, it felt like such a flimsy barrier between me and the dangerous, lethal vodnik who carried me. I couldn’t help it—I felt uneasy in his tight hold, my heart beating faster than normal as I tuned into the play of muscles under his scales .
Lamias were dangerous, and I’d been the most afraid of them before I submerged in the lake. Yet now, I was also aware the giant snakes weren’t the only deadly predators in Lake Superior.
Vodniks were, too.
Finally, I decided to just ask him about the lamia when he landed on the lake bottom, sending a small cloud of sand up into the water around us. Apprehension gripped me and the question died on my tongue.
We had to be very deep, even if this was one of the shallower parts of the lake. If Vodyan left me here, I would never make it to the surface on my own. I pushed that thought aside, my heart fluttering madly in my chest.
It was dark here. Still. Thanks to my goggles, I made out vague shapes that looked like nothing in particular. Maybe discarded crates or simply trash.
Vodyan’s voice sack lit up. “We’re here,” he said curtly before slowly releasing me.
I gasped when his tentacles pressed to my sides and slid along my legs after he put me on my feet on the sandy bottom. I suspected it was to steady me, but the slithering sensation felt a bit like a caress, and it sent tingles up my thighs. Vodyan averted his eyes, his mouth pinched, and when I stood firmly, he let go and turned away.
His tentacles reached out, brushing through silt. They did something I couldn’t see, making the ground vibrate gently under my feet. A low clang came from below, like a mechanism falling into place. Next, his limbs grabbed something and turned. Through the cloud of sand, I made out the shape of a large metal wheel that he turned a few times seemingly with no effort, even though it had to be difficult, and then pulled a door open.
It was a trap door. At the bottom of the freaking lake.
“Awesome,” I whispered.
Vodyan glanced at me, the corner of his mouth briefly pulling up. “This is the MSA’s safehouse. ”
I nodded and slowly walked toward him, clenching my jaw when it proved more difficult than I expected. It was just a few steps, but the water resistance slowed me down, and yet I didn’t dare exert too much force. I felt weightless, as if I would float away if I moved too abruptly.
When I glanced at Vodyan, I just caught the way he pursed his lips, watching me with his arms folded on his chest. He tapped his fingers against his bulging bicep with clear impatience.
“Bet I could outrun you on dry land,” I muttered under my breath, defensive in the face of his judgment.
He didn’t reply, but when I finally reached the open trap door, his face was schooled into a more neutral expression.
“That was a joke,” I clarified, a part of me itching to get a reaction out of him. He was too much of an enigma for my comfort. “I know you’d be as fast as a gazelle if we raced. You’d leave me in the dust.”
He blinked, looking confused, and then pointed at the large, circular hole the trap door revealed. His mouth didn’t even twitch with a smile.
Maybe vodniks were incapable of smiling. Somehow, that thought made my overstimulated heart squeeze with pity, which was so out of place.
God, I was so hungry.
“We should go in together,” he said curtly.
I waited a beat for an explanation, and when it didn’t come, I shrugged and nodded. After all, he was in charge here.
“Okay.”
His voice sack glowed with a low hum before he leaned in and picked me up until I was pressed to his torso. I wrapped my arms instinctively around his neck, just in time to feel a faint tremor running up his spine.
“Is this uncomfortable for you?” I asked before I thought better of it. “Because I can…”
“Hold on tight. ”
I clamped my mouth shut when we gently floated into the dark hole, Vodyan’s tentacles shooting up to clamp the trapdoor shut and turn the wheel. There was a clang of a mechanism locking in place, and then a few more reverberating sounds as he secured other locks.
In a moment, a faint blue light flooded the space, revealing bare cement walls of the cylindrical space. A mechanical rumble came from below, followed by rhythmic whirring. The water around us moved, whirling faster and faster as the pump worked, and I dug my fingers into Vodyan’s nape, feeling a little claustrophobic even though the lock was a large space—large enough to fit a vodnik with all those robust tentacles.
I pressed instinctively closer. He shivered, and I relaxed my grip with a frustrated sigh.
All this physicality got to me. After the ordeal of today, my inhibitions were gone, and I shamelessly sought comfort through touch. It had to stop.
The pump was powerful, and soon, all water was gone from the lock. Ahead of us was a door with a glowing control panel. Vodyan reached out with a tentacle and punched in a long code. Something clanged and whirred, and the door swung open.
He gently put me down on the floor, and I realized he’d held me even though he didn’t have to. He could have put me down as soon as the water level lowered enough for me to stand, but he didn’t.
My stomach rumbled and I abandoned that train of thought, not even knowing where I wanted to go with it.
“Wait here,” Vodyan said, his voice low and hoarse. I did a double take but he was already through the door, moving just as fast as he did in the water. I realized he must have spoken using his above-surface organs.
I stood in the lock, growing colder by the second. No longer submerged, my suit lost power, and soon, I shook and hugged myself as water pooled at my feet. I longed to take off my mask, which pressed uncomfortably into my skin, but waited for the green light from Vodyan. For all I knew, the life support system had to be turned on manually or something.
Soon, light flooded the space beyond the door and the vodnik came out a moment later.
“All clear. You can breathe here.”
I tried to nod, but I wasn’t sure he caught it, I was shaking so hard. I lowered the part covering the lower half of my face with trembling fingers and took a wheezing breath through my mouth.
Vodyan gave me a long look and turned away. “Follow me.”
For a moment, I had the stupid urge to ask him to carry me, but he already moved down a narrow corridor, so I hurried after him as best I could on my freezing legs. He went through another door into a well-lit room, and I followed. My jaw dropped when I stepped inside.
It was a large, posh living room with a sprawling couch, a big TV occupying a wall opposite it, and really nice furniture including a couple bookcases and comfortable armchairs. There was also a pull-up bar affixed to a wall and what looked like a slim walking pad. I narrowed my eyes at something that suspiciously resembled a minibar when Vodyan pointed at a door to the left.
“This is your room. Everything inside is at your disposal. You can change.”
I’d barely nodded when he headed for the door opposite mine. It closed behind him with a soft click.
I stared without comprehension, my teeth chattering. He didn’t come out. The safehouse was perfectly quiet.
“Wow,” I muttered under my breath, annoyance shooting through me with a pang. “Incredible.”
More like incredibly rude , but I didn’t say it out loud. I knew myself enough to realize my irritation stemmed from the combo of the cold, hunger, and all the pent-up anxiety coiled in my gut. It would be unfair to take it out on my introverted bodyguard who had been forced to carry me around for hours while fighting water snakes and threatening to cut off their tails .
I shuddered violently at the memory, which only added to my discomfort. So I took a shaky breath to calm myself down and trudged to my room, undoing my suit on the way. The first thing I did was take off my mask and unhook my air tank the way Agent Beck taught me.
Peeling off the suit was a challenge, though my skin was dry underneath. I took in my new living quarters while I wrestled with the tight fabric that clung to my naked body. My room was spacious and pleasant, with warm lighting, light gray walls, and a bed large enough to roll around all over the mattress. Once my suit fell on the floor with a wet slap, I swayed into the en-suite bathroom, praying for hot water.
My prayers were heard by whatever genius had designed this secret bunker in the bottom of the lake. I stumbled under the spray with a moan of gratitude and swore I wouldn’t come out until my skin was all wrinkly.
Hot and clear, this was the kind of water I loved.