Chapter 41 - Julian
A hard pull on my ankle yanks me under the water without warning or a chance to take a breath.
I thrash and kick, trying to get free, but whatever has me in its grip just tightens and pulls me deeper.
I make myself slow down, think, and then bend at the waist to try and see what has a hold of me, forcing my eyes to stay open in the saltwater.
The sun is bright enough through the water to show me that there’s a loop of cable or wire around my lower leg.
My eyes follow it away from my body until I see it is attached to some kind of pole that’s being dragged by the current.
I jackknife at the waist and dig at the cable, trying to slide it off, but there’s too much tension in the line.
I swim down, trying to get ahead of the line to ease the tension, but don’t make it very far.
Black spots start to dot my vision and my chest is so fucking tight with the need to breathe.
Panicked rage takes over and screams in my head that this can’t be the way I die.
I’m Julian fucking Stillwell the Third and I DO NOT ACCEPT THIS!
A buzz runs down my body over my skin and for a beat, I think I’m being electrocuted by the wire but then the water starts circling around me in a funnel.
It moves faster and faster and then starts to widen - pulling that water away from me.
I sink down to the wet pavement of the street as the water spins even faster and pulls away wider and wider until I’m standing in a tunnel of air.
I look up in disbelief as I drag in heaving gasps of air.
I have no idea what the fuck is happening but I’m not going to let whatever this is go to waste.
I drop down onto my ass and start yanking on the wire.
It’s pulled so fucking tight I can’t feel my foot anymore.
“Jules! Julian!”
I look up to the sky and see Reid circling the hole I’m in, caught in whatever this is.
A water tornado? Fuck! I throw up a hand like I can grab him and pull him to safety.
My eyes flare wide as he pops out of the rotation and slides down the funnel straight to me.
He hits the pavement beside me with a grunt of pain but quickly scrambles up and looks me over from head to toe, looking for damage.
“What the fuck! What the fuck? Jules?” He pants in a panicked voice as he spots the wire around my leg and drops to his knees again.
All four of our hands are now trying to pull the wire to get some slack, but it’s too tight.
Reid gives out a scream of frustration, grabs the wire a few feet away from where it’s connected to my leg, and roars as he pulls with all he’s worth.
We both have to duck down as the pole the wire is connected to cuts through the water, the open air, and comes flying past us and sails over our heads.
His hands are on my leg again in moments, loosening the wire and stripping it away, all while chanting, “What’s happening, what’s happening?
” Over and over again. He drags my jeans high enough to see an angry red circle around where the wire was wrapped but I’m distracted when I see bright red blood soaking into his jean leg.
“What happened to your leg, Reid? How bad is it?”
He shakes his head distractedly. “I don’t know, it’s nothing. How are we going to get out of here? What the hell is this thing? It looks like a tornado that we’re inside of!”
I look up to the circle of sky above us and study the sides of the funnel, the current of water that is still spinning around us.
I don’t fucking know. Maybe if we jumped into it, it would pull us back up to the top?
I shake my head. The water is moving too fast. It needs to slow down and…
as soon as I think it, it happens. Water from the top of the funnel on the surface starts to spill down. It’s going to collapse!
I reach for Reid’s arm and yell, “Take a deep breath and hold on!”
He turns and throws his arms around me just as water crashes over our heads.