Chapter 18 Hector #2
We became puppets to an uncaring master. Waters thrashed at our bodies, spinning us around until I had no concept of what was up or down.
And yet, no matter the force, Arwyn refused to let me go.
He forged his arms around my body, ironclad in his focus.
I’d clamped my mouth together just in time before the current pulled us beneath the surface.
My eyes closed too, so I didn’t know who we crashed into as our bodies were tugged and pulled.
Something hard cracked into my spine. Pain reverberated up into my skull, forcing me to cry out.
That was my grave mistake. Water filled my lungs like unwanted fingers forcing their way into my throat.
My instinct was to cough, but that only made it worse.
More water forced into me, drowning me from the inside.
The Drowning. It finally made sense.
So, this was what the trial really entailed.
It could’ve been hours or minutes that I was beneath the water, and all of it was pure terror. After what felt like years, the cool freedom of air hit my face, followed by the gargled demand of the man who still had a hold of me.
“Breathe, Hector. Fucking breathe!”
Water sloshed over my face, blinding me. I was vaguely aware of Arwyn wading in front of me, droplets caught in his dark lashes. The thing was, if I didn’t have water clogging up my airways, I might’ve told him that I was trying to breathe.
Every time I opened my mouth, salt water and bile forced out of my throat.
Arwyn dipped beneath the surface for a second, and my panic spiked.
When he resurfaced, his hand shot towards my face so fast I thought he was going to punch me.
Instead, firm fingers drew a symbol across my forehead.
There was so much noise around me that I couldn’t make out what he was mumbling.
I blinked away my terror and almost missed the moment Arwyn’s eyes glowed with a bright silver.
Arwyn held a hand out in front of my mouth, fingers pinching at nothing. He was weaving, drawing invisible threads and gathering them up between his fingers.
“Come on,” Arwyn hissed, bobbing beneath the water again. “Come. On! Fucking breathe.”
Slowly, but surely, the water receded from my body. Arwyn guided it out of my lungs by pulling on his threads with careful, practiced ease.
Fresh, glorious air flooded my body, clearing out all the way from my lungs in a single sweep. Magic itched through every vein and vessel, completing the spell Arwyn had just placed on me.
The moment he severed his ties to the old magic, I felt relief uncoil out of me.
“How… did you learn… that?” I asked, kicking my legs to keep me afloat.
Arwyn refused to look anywhere but at me. “It was a shot in the dark, and it worked. More time for explanations after we get through this trial.”
His closeness, my near-death experience, and the tickle of Arwyn’s magic use which lingered on my skin made me forget we were in the heart of a trial. As if the reminder snapped me out of my trance, I took in the change of details around me.
The stadium was filling from water which still poured out of the fake ceiling above us.
It was more akin to an Olympic swimming pool, the ground no longer visible beneath the murky water we waded in.
Around us, for as far as I could see, Hunters were crashing out of the surface, gasping for air.
I caught the familiar face of Romy in the distance.
She was alone, head snapping around her in search for something… or someone.
“Kai,” I gasped, noticing the lack of his presence. “Shit.”
My arms cut into the water, legs kicking behind me as I fought through the current to reach Romy.
I shouted to get her attention, but more water splashed up and into my mouth.
She must’ve heard my struggle because she finally stopped her search, fixed her eyes on me and all I saw in them was terror.
“He can’t swim!” Romy shouted, arms frantically cutting the water. “Kai… I can’t find him.”
Arwyn had given chase behind me, muscular body slicing the body of water until he swiftly overtook me. “I’ll look for him. You both stay above water. There has to be a way out of this, so find it.”
Romy’s distrust in Arwyn didn’t last long, because there was simply no room for it. Before either of us could refuse him, Arwyn took a hulking breath in and dove beneath the water. I turned my face as the spray from his hefty kick crested over me.
“I had him one minute, and then he slipped out of my hands,” Romy sobbed, water and tears mixing as one as I finally reached her. “I just let him go.”
“It’s Bahmet’s fault, not yours.” I positioned myself at her side so I could get a better look at the Hunters who continued popping up out of the water, each one in differing degrees of drowning. “Arwyn will find him.”
The more I waded in the rising waters, the weaker my body was getting.
“We trust him again, do we?” Romy asked, side-eyeing me.
“I don’t know yet,” I lied, when deep down I knew the answer.
Yes. We can trust him. He saved me, time and time again.
“The water levels are going to keep rising until we are out of air,” Romy said, looking up at the ceiling which was getting gradually closer.
And the closer we got I noticed that the view of the sky I had first noticed was a poorly painted mural.
“Somehow it seems too obvious just to survive drowning, when it looks like this place is going to fill up until we have no choice but to drown.”
Divine timing, because as Romy said that word a corpse floated in front of us.
Skin paled, eyes bulged and bloodshot, the Hunter was already dead.
Her hair floated around her head in wings of golden strands.
A sickly foam oozed out over blue lips, smudging across her chin and leaving a trail in her wake.
“Gross,” Romy complained, kicking her foot out and sending the corpse sailing in the opposite direction.
I pointed to our side, drawing Romy’s attention to the line of dead corpses that were resting peacefully atop the waters. There wasn’t time to count them, but I put the number close to ten.
Romy didn’t make a comment about the dead this time; instead she began swimming towards them, shouting out a name. “Kai, I swear to god if you are dead I will find your ghost and kill you all over again!”
I swam after her, not wanting to leave her side. As I did, a dark shape rose up and out of the water. I’m not ashamed to admit I screamed a little, considering we were around so much death and the jump scare was ill-timed.
Arwyn thrust himself out of the water, dragging a body up with him. Kai’s eyes were closed; water trickled out of his parted mouth. Before either of us could make assumptions, Arwyn forced out three words. “He. Is. Alive.”
Kai didn’t stay in Arwyn’s arms for long, because Romy snatched him out, dragging him into her embrace. She tilted his body so he was on his back, her hands positioned behind his head. Her legs had to work double time just to keep them afloat, but nothing could break her focus.
Warm, steady hands grasped at my waist. With a great tug, I found my body crashing into Arwyn, where he held me in place. “Any luck… finding a way out?”
I shook my head, overly distracted by his touch once again. “You were barely gone a minute.”
“A lot can happen in a minute,” Arwyn added. “Where is my… Where is Tomin?”
I hadn’t noticed Tomin or Verena, or paid much attention to anyone else since the stadium flooded with water. “I would say that I hope he is drowning, but we both know that won’t kill him.”
Arwyn paled.
“Again, we have much to discuss when we get out of this,” Arwyn reminded, his intense gaze fixed on me. “Which… I give us roughly two minutes tops until the water fills up enough that we hit the ceiling.”
“He’s breathing,” Romy announced, her fingers motioning above Kai’s parted lips. A seed of water hung in the air, growing larger by the second as she guided more of it out of his lungs.
“Good,” I said, scanning the view again, searching for a clue as to how we could survive this. “But it won’t matter if we don’t pass this trial. Time to get out of here.”
“Any bright ideas?” Romy shot me a look full of hope.
A shiver of something evil itched deep in my gut. “I have one.”
“Why don’t I like the sound of that?” Arwyn asked, fingers tightening his hold.
I ignored his justified concern, and got to explaining. “Bahmet creates these trials with his power, and I have a part of that power inside of me. Maybe I can use it… to find a clue, or a way out, or turn this fucking shithole against him. Either way, it is worth a go.”
The ceiling was gaining closer, the space for air running out.
“No, it’s too risky—”
“Do it,” Romy said sharply, cutting Arwyn off. “Quickly.”
Arwyn refused to make another comment. Either because he knew it would be worthless to tell me no, or because he understood our relationship wasn’t what it had been.
“Just be careful,” Arwyn added, drawing his mouth close to my ear. “Bahmet’s power is all about intention. As much as it corrupts, if you think you can use it, focus on what you want.”
We were so close to one another I could see the tracks the water made down his face. How it clung to the faint promise of a beard, and danced across his high cheek bones. “I forgot you were an expert for a moment.”
“What can I say,” Arwyn replied, regret overspilling in his eyes. “I’ve had some practice.”
I nodded, gritting my teeth and focusing on my one clear intention.
Get us the fuck out of here… alive.
It was easy to open myself to the darkness, considering I’d become well acquainted to it in the past months.
The shadows inside of me spilled out like ink, poisoning the water around me and spreading with vigour.
I was so focused on what I wanted, I barely noticed the distant popping sounds of bodies slipping beneath the water. There was nothing that could distract me from searching for a crack in Bahmet’s trial, something to get us out.