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Bellamy shot up, shaking the water from his eyes and hair. “There’s definitely a passage there. But once we go in, there’s no going back. It’s tight. If we run out of air, we’re screwed. I don’t know if the whole ‘mermaid’s kiss’ rule applies indefinitely.”
My thoughts shuffled. “We have to find out somehow.”
“I’ll go check it out. If I don’t come out in five minutes, don’t follow me.”
“I’m not agreeing to that.”
“Of course you won’t, golden boy.” Bellamy mocked. “But if both of us are dead then who will be there for the girls? Do what I say. I’m the captain, remember?”
“Alright, fine, Calamari.” I shook my head.
Bellamy vanished beneath the seawater once more, and I began the countdown. Like hell I wasn’t going to go in after him if he didn’t resurface. I counted the minutes down to the second, uneasiness rattling my nerves like the waves rattled the loose rocks around my feet. When Bellamy didn’t come back up at the four minute mark, I refused to wait any longer. I went in after him.
The water shocked my system as I plunged down, taking a giant gulp of air with me. I found the tunnel entrance rather easily, though it was clearly eroded far from what it was originally meant to be. Claustrophobia gripped at me as I squeezed through, but I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself calm and focused. This place kept out all light, and the pitch blackness smothered me as much as the flowing water around me.
Of course I didn’t see Bellamy. He would’ve been much farther ahead by now. But the passage was so narrow, I wasn’t even sure what ahead could’ve looked like. I squirmed my way through the small tunnel, jagged rock surfaces scraping against my skin as I wedged between them. The way ahead was dark as night, and the burning feeling rising in my lungs was a constant reminder of my time ticking away. And a reminder that a mermaid’s kiss only worked for a little while. And I didn’t have any recent refills.
I bumped into something, hoping it was Bellamy, but the feeling of human bone in my hand told me otherwise. With a shudder, I kept squeezing through, unsettled by the nothingness around me and the growing fear that I was going to stumble across Bellamy’s lifeless body jammed in between some rocks. But then I felt the rock edges curve upwards. There was no more going backward. I wouldn’t be able to make it out in time. My only hope was to follow the path. I crawled up, pulling myself up along the stone walls as they closed in on me further. I just wished I could see an inch in front of me.
My hands ran along the stone, and I felt where the opening curved above me, and there was air. I just had to find the strength to pull myself up. But the water was crashing around me every time a wave crested and filled the space. If I could just wait until the next swell, I could reach up and pull myself over. But as my lungs protested in pain, I didn’t think I had quite that long.
I reached up, and a hand clasped over my arm, dragging me up just enough to get me out of the water and into the tiny crawl space higher than the rest. My feet scrambled as much as they could to boost me up the rest of the way where I caught glimpse of Bellamy pulling me up. My neck and shoulders scraped the top of a stone ceiling as I worked my way through the cramped nook. I breathed out my relief with a handful of coughs mixed in.
With just a bit more wiggling, I worked myself out the other side, where the tiny space dropped off into a full size tunnel, plenty tall and wide enough for standing. Bellamy stood with his arms crossed. “I told you not to follow me.”
“After all this time I thought you’d know me better than that,” I flashed a half-grin, pushing back my wet hair out of my eyes. The space was lit by a torch in Bellamy’s hand, casting our shadows along the tunnel walls.
“Well now I’ve saved both you and your lass from drowning at some point or another. So you owe me.” Bellamy turned around, shining the torch light down the black abyss of a path.
“How about I’ll make it up to you by getting us out of here,” I said, stepping forward, compass in hand. “Because God knows you’re not going to be the one to do it.”
“Would you shut up?” Bellamy groaned as I took up stride beside him. “Let’s hurry before Katrina and Serena walk right into Bastian’s hands.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “They know what they’re doing.” I did my best to put him at ease, knowing it frustrated him to not be able to know the girls’ plan. We’d both agreed that it was for the best that I didn’t share it with him in case Bastian was listening. But I knew that didn’t make it any easier for him.
“I’ll get us there.” I looked ahead, merging the map in my head of the watchtower’s location from the outside and the direction of the compass needle. “It won’t be quick, but I’ll get us there.”
We stepped forward into the darkness, our path barely illuminated by the glow of Bellamy’s torch. Of course I’d never tell him, but I was aching to find Bastian and the worry was beginning to set in. Even if Bastian fell for the girls’ plan, I didn’t imagine it would take him long to realize it. I knew we didn’t stand a chance at killing him. But we sure as hell could go down fighting to slow him down. And if that’s what it took to get Katrina out alive, it was good enough for me.
46
False Goddess
Katrina
We crept forward, sneaking our way back through the tunnels that my friends had already mapped out, using our cell phones for light. I still hadn’t gotten used to the fact that we were walking with two versions of Serena, and I tried not to think about it too hard. From down here, the glimmering sheen of water over McKenzie was no longer visible without the sunlight, making them the perfect spitting image of each other.
“McKenzie, when you found the hideout, could you see the Crown?” I asked, running over the plan in my head a million times over and then some.
“No,” she sighed. “But he was sitting in a big chair surrounded by all kinds of things, like ocean knickknacks and just weird stuff. He has your mom in a tank behind the chair. The Crown has got to be somewhere in that collection.”
“Why does he always have a big chair?” I groaned.
“It’s his own personal throne where he can guard his toys,” Serena rolled her eyes. “His ego’s got to have somewhere to sit.”
We neared a section where the tunnel widened, signaling our nearing of Bastian’s new hideout. We came upon stone steps that spiraled upward, much like a tall tower of old—a watchtower. Between the watchtower entrance and the corridor we’d just come from, a door stood in plain sight, though it was more of a stone slab.
“This is it,” Noah uttered, shoving the stone out of his way with all his might. I tried to look for a quick exit, some way we could leave without subjecting ourselves to being trapped down here. But I knew we wouldn’t have that luxury in this winding system of tunnels and stone corridors.
