Chapter 19
THE COFFIN LID
RUNE
Of course this gods-forsaken place would be filled with mechanisms of self-destruction should someone take the temple's prized possession. I should have guessed it from the start, but I’d been too busy trying to keep me and Odi alive.
Or perhaps I’d been too distracted trying to keep my hands off her.
Her heartbeat pounds against my chest. Ba dum, ba dum, ba dum—solid and unrelenting. I don’t blame her for being afraid, I am too. Not for myself, I was born in water. No, my fear is reserved for my crew. All I can do is hope that they all made it out before the water began to rise.
The tunnel opens into another room, and Odi’s breath catches beside me. “Rune . . . the water—”
My gaze flicks to the floor as I release the grip I have on her waist. The salt water is up to our knees now and quickly rising, pouring in from the top of the room as well as seeping in from somewhere underground.
I turn to her, searching for her face in the dark.
My vision isn’t quite as good as it might be underwater, but I know she can’t see a thing.
Her eyes are unfocused, her brow creased, teeth catching on her lower lip as her gaze flicks desperately around the room, searching for light.
She can’t even shift—her deer form would be more hindrance than help here. I have to get us out.
“We need to work together. Hands on the walls. You go left I’ll go right, yell out when you find something,” I call above the rising waters.
“But Rune—” Odi hisses, not bothering to mask the panic on her face now.
I lay a hand on her arm gently and squeeze, trying to offer her some sort of reassurance. “Stick to the walls. If you feel anything unusual, call out and I’ll find you.”
She nods, her unfocused gaze resting a little too far to the left of my face, then begins to move away, running her palms over the smooth stone surface.
I move right. The walls are dripping with water, and all I can hope is I don’t come across one of those lizard-like creatures we’d encountered earlier.
It feels like we search for hours, but I know it’s only been minutes, if that. The water rises to my mid-thigh now, which means it will be at Odi’s hips soon. We need to find a door.
“Anything?” I yell across the room as I keep searching.
“Nothing!” Odi’s voice is muffled by the sound of rushing water.
Shit.
This can’t be the end. I didn’t come all this way, risk so much, just to live the rest of my days inside a maze of water.
Worse, I’d have to watch Odi drown.
I can’t let her die. Not when she and the map are the only link I have left to my mother.
“Rune, there’s something here!” Odi cries out.
I spin around, searching for her silhouette in the inky shadows. She’s across the room.
Her dark brown eyes look towards my face as I wade towards her, and even though I doubt she can see me, I offer a smile. “What did you find?”
She runs her hand over the wall. “It's a perfectly cut stone sticking out. It seems to be the only one here.”
I lean over her shoulder, feeling for it. “How do we know it won’t open a trap door and release a whole bunch of flesh eating piranhas?”
Her shoulders lift and fall, brushing my chest. “Do we have a choice?” The strain in her voice is evident. As the water rises, so does her fear, pronounced in the whites of her eyes.
“I’m willing to risk it if you ar—”
She doesn't even let me finish before she slams her hand against the stone. It gives way with ease. At first nothing happens, we just stand there, both of us holding our breath. I almost suggest searching again, perhaps it’s just a loose stone.
Then a vibration tingles my hand that rests on the wall, and travels up my arm. My shadowed darkvision allows me to catch the wall to the left of the stone shifting sideways. “There’s a crack here,” I call to Odi. She grips my arm as I lead us to it.
The water is up to her chest, which is rising and falling with intensity. “Will we fit?”
I measure the gap by fanning out my arm. It’s going to be a tight squeeze—for me at least, but we have no other choice. “I’ll go first.”
Odi steps in behind me so I reach back to grab her hand. At first it’s stiff, but then her fingers relax, curling around mine. Her touch sends a ripple of pleasure up my spine and my mind drifts back to that moment when I was on the ledge—fingers aching, holding on for dear life.
She’d cried.
In the dark, when she thought no one could see, she let it spill. Quiet, raw. And I can’t help wondering what else she’s wept for in the shadows, when the world’s back was turned.
Something in my chest had cracked open then, sharp and deep, and I knew—
I never wanted to be the reason her tears fell.
We leave the roar of water behind us, but its absence doesn’t mean it’s stopped—only that it’s climbing unseen, in the narrow crack we’re wedged between. The stone presses close on either side, forcing me to shuffle sideways, shoulders scraping, careful not to let the jagged rock snag my clothes.
Odi squeezes my hand. “Can you see anything up ahead?”
“Not yet.” I can’t even turn back to her or risk scraping my nose.
Pear and honey wash over me as she presses closer into my back. “I hate wet wraps in my boots,” Odi mutters.
A chuckle escapes my lips. “As soon as we get out of here we’ll dry them by the fire. Then it’s off to the next island.”
“I never want to see the ocean again.”
This time the laughter that bubbles up erupts and echoes off the walls, ricochetting between us. “Probably should change job titles then. Perhaps something land based?”
Odi doesn’t answer, but it’s too narrow for me to face her so I keep my focus ahead, and the grip on her hand firm.
The space seems endless, and the monotony of our steps allows my thoughts to dance across my mind.
She’d moved so effortlessly when she shifted into her deer form, but her animal took over—controlled her, causing her to bolt.
For a moment I wondered if I’d be able to keep up with her agile twists and turns, or if I’d lose her for pushing her to that point.
I’d meant well. I thought inexperience had stifled her confidence. I’ve met plenty of shifters, and no one has ever talked like that—She won’t like it.
She.
It sits in the back of my mind. Gnawing. What in the savage seas does she mean she’s not her? As if her beast is a stranger she’s forced to drag along.
Over the trickle of water seeping down the walls, I hear Odi’s sharp intake of breath. “I swear something just touched my leg.”
Heat washes over me. The last thing we need is some creature taking a chunk out of our flesh. But I still don’t see where the tunnel might open ahead. Her grip in mine is squeezes tighter, and my own concern manifests as it always does—distraction.
“Sorry, I can’t control where it goes, these pants are too tight.”
“Rune—” Odi hisses, but there’s a little less strain in her voice.
I squeeze her hand back, and hers loosens, like she only just realised how hard she was clinging.
A faint flicker of light winks at me through the black. Finally. It could be the main tunnel. Could be the crew, or a way out.
“There’s an orange glow up further.”
Odi’s warm, relieved breath brushes my arm. We push on, shuffling through the narrow throat of rock until it finally spits us out into open space. My boots slide on slick stone as we spill into the chamber.
I suck in a breath and release it, along with the tension in my shoulders. The glow is brighter now, licking shadows up the walls above us, but it isn’t sunlight, or the crew. “Fuck.”
Odi whirls to face me. I can see her clearer now. “What is it?” she asks, her brow pinching.
“It’s the torch we dropped earlier. We made it back to where the floor dropped out, but we’re further down.” I mutter.
She twists, turning her attention to the glow that rests on the thin ledge halfway down the far wall. It’s only slight, but I catch the way her shoulders drop in disappointment.
Not an exit.
The orange light’s enough to see the rest—the dark water creeping higher, kissing the edges of the rock floor, inch by inch. The sound of it is slow, deliberate, like it knows we’ve only got so much time.
I finally release her hand, moving across the room towards the flame. The absence of her warmth doesn’t sit well with me. I want to spin around and find my place beside her again, but I won’t let this room be our coffin. “We need to get up on that ledge.”
The water ripples, and then Odi is beside me. “But we’ve already been up there.”
“Exactly, it will take us back to the main chamber,” I say with as much confidence as possible.
She shakes her head. “It’s the first place anyone stuck here would try to get out. You really think they didn’t design this place with a trap for that? That passage is probably sealed by now.”
I fold my arms across my chest, glancing down at her. “And what if it’s not?”
Her brow lifts, her arms mimicking mine. “And what if it is? We waste time, we burn what air we’ve got left, and we’re right back where we started.”
I don’t have the answers, but I don’t want her to think I have doubts. There’s no room for that here. Doubt will get us killed. “Then we'll have to come back this way?”
“And hope the temple hasn’t decided to slam that door in our faces too?”
A gentle sigh escapes my lips. “I’m not asking you to like it. I’m asking you to trust me.”
Odi runs her gaze over me, lingering on my mouth before she spins on her heel and walks towards the torch holding ledge. “How are we even going to get up there? Not even you’re tall enough.”
I glance about the room assessing my options, which are next to none. I hadn’t noticed it when we first came in but now my eyes land on some thick roots growing from the cracks in the stone wall like bones from a giant tree. “We will climb them. You can get on my back.”
She shakes her head. “This is a bad idea, Rune.”