Chapter 14
I sat on the edge where the shallow pool deepened into the tunnel that would be my only means to escape. I’d been right. The trees were packed too tightly to be natural, and would be impossible to navigate.
I triple checked my equipment and lied to myself about whether or not I was procrastinating.
Yep. Everything is secure.
Just like it had been the two times before that.
I stared at the clear, blue water that turned murky a few feet down, making it impossible to see. Not that the tears pricking my eyes helped, at all.
The water shook and for one second I thought I’d be caught red-handed trying to escape. Only to realize it was me causing the motion.
You can do this. You’ve survived worse.
I took deep breaths through my nose, trying to combat the sudden feeling there wasn’t enough air. I had to get my shit together.
If I was going to pull this off, I couldn’t afford to panic or to take my eyes off the goal for a second.
“You’ll be my good girl now, right?” A male voice hissed in my mind. Memories of a solid hand on the back of my neck, as water filled my nose, made a sob escape before I could stop it. I covered my mouth with my hand before any of the ugly sounds could embarrass me again.
Giving up wasn’t an option, but I couldn’t do this with my heart banging against my chest.
I remembered how calm I’d been when the monster held my head under the water. I needed that fucked up part of me again. How had he made me so docile in the face of my greatest fear?
His energy. It was warmth and safety, even though I knew rationally he was neither of those things. But that purr of his did something to my ability to think.
I closed my eyes, listening to the soft motions of the water. The thick scent of sulfur was present even in this beautiful place. It was too easy to imagine his deep purr.
My heart slowed and my breathing calmed to a rate that wasn’t normal, but I intended to use that weird connection to my advantage.
I grabbed the belt of rocks I fashioned together, wrapping it around my hand, and slid down into the depth. The light vanished from above me, and the water turned so dark I couldn’t see past my nose.
It was so deep.
Nope. Not doing that.
The soundtrack of his growls grew louder, as if I’d been defiant, refusing to go to him, and it soothed the edges that wanted to take over.
Once I touched the bottom, I released the rock and moved forward.
Now for the moment of truth.
Sink or swim.
I felt for the curve to enter the tunnel that the path led to, and once it evened out I swam forward blindly, relying on my memory. Which, if it served me, this part was a straight shot.
My luck I’d swim right into a cavern wall.
But I couldn’t waste time feeling the whole way, the breath I held wouldn’t last that long.
Efficient and calm. That was what I needed.
It was impossible to tell how long it had been when my lungs started burning. I moved high to the ceiling, looking for air pockets. Even a single breath would help.
I was past the point of no return. I knew I’d gone far enough that a return trip wasn’t happening. There was no choice but to follow through on my plan.
But if I didn’t find something soon, I was dead.
A trickle of fear made the blood in my veins speed up.
I couldn’t afford to let it take hold, but my focus was already broken. I couldn’t hear him in my head anymore.
Fuck. I made a bad call.
Right as the creeping thought settled in, I found a micro air pocket, not even two inches big. But it was enough to stick my nose and mouth into. Relief filled me as I inhaled.
I’m going to make it.
Methane hit my nose,
Damn it.
A cough wheezed through, and I sank back into the water immediately. It was too late. The damage was already done.
The coughing fit sent a flurry of bubbles around me. My nose and lungs screamed as they filled with water in the process.
I paddled with every ounce of strength, knowing the clock was ticking faster than ever.
My heart pounded as I realized that I’d made a bad bet. There was a reason Levicy Rinah decided she was dead, whether the monster guarded the door or not.
Because it was impossible to get out without him anyway.
Don’t think about that. Eye on the prize.
The mouth of the tunnel widened just as the edges of my sight began to blur. The alligator family we passed on the way in, rested beneath me.
Alligators weren’t deep sea creatures. I was close to the surface. I refused to die right under the finish line
Air. I need air.
Flailing wouldn’t get me air quicker. I’d die quicker.
I used that reminder to use slow movements, with only my arms, directly up. Every involuntary instinct inside me begged me to inhale, but I kept the course.
Just a few more feet.
I didn’t actually know that. There were stories of alligators resting as deep as sixty feet below, but I wouldn’t let that little fact ruin the fragile composure I held together.
My sight grew dark in a way that had nothing to do with the murky water.
I was losing consciousness.
I went back to full speed knowing time was up, and hoped I was up high enough to not get the alligator’s attention. Either way, I was dead if I didn’t reach the surface now.
Panic, that wasn’t mine, thrashed through my mind like a wrecking ball. It shook me to my core, and I exhaled whatever tiny bit of air I maybe had left.
It wasn’t much. The water barely bubbled.
He was going to be the reason I died.
Terror flooded me, making my limbs flail. I wasn’t even sure if it was in a productive motion to get me closer to the surface. Everything was spinning and growing dark.
Was I even going in the right direction anymore?
This was it.
Fuck you, Defect #3. Suffer in hell.
My head broke the surface and I took a greedy inhale that hurt more than anything.
But I must have gotten something out of it, to where I gathered myself enough to cough out the water from my nose and mouth.
The hacking fit hurt my chest. Drowning was just as painful as my dreams had told me.
As if it was something that I’d experienced first hand.
More water left my orifices than I could ever think possible, and it took longer than I thought it would to get a steady inhale and exhale rhythm. Almost as if I’d forgotten how to breathe for a moment.
I floated on my back, so I could rest. Part of me expected an alligator to snap me in half, but nothing ever came. That would be about right for me though.
The bright stars above my head shone like tiny beacons of freedom. Welcoming me back and celebrating that I’d made it.
“Take that, Asshole,” I whispered breathlessly, letting the sounds of native crickets and frogs fill my ears.
The wilderness was more comfortable than a man-made oasis any day.
Quiet shock I didn’t feel resonated through me. He was louder inside me now. It probably had something to do with the magic his master used to make him.
Just the thought that magic might be real made me want to laugh, but his very existence gave that explanation more plausibility than my scientific mind was comfortable with.
Memories of crawling though my house, and a shadow on the wall that didn’t make sense, filled my mind. What was I trying to remember?
Then my mother’s screams made my next breath shake. I locked the memory back down inside me, where it couldn’t hurt me.
I didn’t make it through that underwater death trap to lose my grip once I made it out.
Water nearby moved and three alligators came into view.
Time to go.