Chapter 18 #3
But the water looked clear, not a single fin in sight. “ I don’t see any fish. ”
“They hide in the rocks during the day and come out at night unless otherwise disturbed.”
Well, shit. My first thought was to use Soltum’s power to command the fish away, but I had no idea if I could communicate with more than one creature at once.
“I guess I’ll have to be fast. It’s at least a twenty?foot drop into the water.”
“ If you dive straight in, it’ll hurt less ,” Shera rushed out. “ Palms flat together like you’re making an arrow. Lead with your hands and keep your body straight. Your body probably remembers how to do it. ”
“How do you know how to dive like a human, Shera?”
“ I know lots of things, Ary ,” she answered sassily. “ I’m ? — ”
“ —an umbra, I know .” I chuckled out loud, prepping my body to dive as instructed.
My mind reeled with the number of things that could go wrong.
The rings could simply not be down there.
The fish could wake and devour me to the bone.
Would my body even be capable of healing itself after that?
I could hit the surface of the water wrong and get knocked out on impact, or worse.
Shera said she wouldn’t let me drown, but could she scale up twenty feet of rock on her own while dragging my sopping wet body behind her?
Breathe , I heard him say.
That deep, soothing voice sent warmth through my veins. He was somehow always here when I needed him. With his voice in my mind, I pushed off rock with my heel and dove in.
The freefall and the plunge knocked my held breath from my lungs. Once submerged, I circled blindly before finding my equilibrium and rising to the surface to breathe. The water was cold. Not enough to be dangerous, but damn, it was miserable.
“ You’ve definitely done that in your past life ,” Shera observed proudly.
“ Well, thank the gods for that ,” I answered before submerging again. I opened my eyes under the water and saw the lake floor was made of brown rock. Broken tree branches sat at the bottom covered in green algae. There were no other signs of life.
“ Still no fish ,” I told Shera.
“They’re asleep. My guess is they’re hiding inside the eastern wall below that grotto over there.”
The giant shadow would have been moving along that wall all morning and very well could be what Elias’s clues alluded to.
“ Wait… what do you mean ‘over there’? ” I resurfaced and looked up to the top of the cliffs.
“ Damn it, Shera! ” Bright violet eyes peered down at me.
Sunlight caused iridescent light to gleam off her silver fur.
Sometimes, at certain angles, I swore her ears glowed, too.
“ Are you out of your mind? We’re in broad daylight. Anyone could see you! ”
“ See me, maybe. Catch me, never. ” She sat back on her haunches. “ And I need to make sure you don’t drown. ”
I ground my teeth. “ The moment I’m out of this water ? — ”
“I’m gone, I know.”
I sent her a final glare of disapproval and swam toward the eastern wall, but I wasn’t very fast. If flesh-eating fish woke up and found me milling about in their territory, I’d be eaten alive. I just needed to withstand my fear long enough to find those rings.
Coming up for air when needed, I searched every inch of the ravine’s eastern wall. About two-thirds of the way through, I started to lose hope. If I wasn’t right, how much time had I wasted? What if someone else found the rings somehow?
But then my heart stuttered at the sight of glinting silver. And behind them, the black banner I needed to retrieve to win the challenge.
“ I’ve found them. ” I peered closer to confirm. “ I’ve found them. ”
The hole they were in was deep, but too narrow for anything larger than a petite arm. I wondered if Elias sent one of his female friends down here to hide the rings, because gods forbid his pretty face get chewed up by murderous fish.
I resurfaced for one final breath before diving back down, thankful these waters were still rather than flowing, or else the tiniest rip in the current would have my wrist bumping the rock.
The rocky outer edge of the hole swallowed my arm up to my elbow, blocking my view of what was inside as I felt around.
When my fingertips brushed metal, I snatched up the rings, chain, and a black banner before smoothly withdrawing my hand, barely brushing the stone.
I threw the chain around my neck where it belonged, memorizing the rings’ indent on my skin so I could never forget again.
After securing the banner into my belt loop, I searched the wall for any signs of life or movement, but there was nothing.
My shoulders relaxed in the silent stillness, and I began rising to the surface, wondering if these flesh-eating fish existed or if Shera was mistaken. I was halfway toward the other side of the ravine when I spotted a ledge just above the water’s surface. It wouldn’t be tough to climb onto.
But there was a shift in the water. A faint sound behind me.
And terror in my umbra’s inner voice as she shouted, “ Ary, swim faster! Now! ”