Mina crosses her arms over her chest, shuddering lightly. “As soon as magic is fixed, and it’s safe to teach you to fly—we will.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, my eyes on the path before us. The water ripples, a tiny wave raising the water’s level against the stone floor as I take a step in. There’s something on the other side of this water, something tugging me along, urging me to hurry. “Looks like we’re swimming for now.”
Warm water rises to my ankles, then my calves, before stopping at my mid-thigh. I hand Mathilda her torch again, and they follow with trepidation behind me. Mina has a death grip on Mathilda’s arm as they walk arm in arm.
“It doesn’t look too deep,” Mathilda calls ahead to me. Looking side to side, I can see straight through the water to the stone floor below. But further to the left, the floor slants downward, dropping off completely, the water as black as the shadows beyond our light. There’s movement in my periphery, though, like something is there, lurking in the darkness.
“As long as we walk straight, we should be fine,” I point to the deeper side, “it’s a drop off over there.”
Something moves.
It’s shrouded in shadow, so I can’t make it out, but something was definitely there.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I take a deep breath before opening them again—to nothing. The dark is playing tricks on my mind. I continue walking forward, one slow step at a time.
Mina groans, and Mathilda snickers, but suddenly my feet halt. A prickling sensation washes over me, reminiscent of a long-ago day when a raven watched me from a tree. I scour the water and the path on the other side, but I can’t see a thing outside the torchlight. Water laps at my thighs, causing a shiver to walk down my spine.
“Lena? Is everything okay?” Mina asks, as she and Mathilda close in on my location.
A loud plunk echoes through the space. We freeze, still as statues.
“What was that?” Mathilda whispers. Mina breathes sharply through her nose, the sound whistles as her breathing speeds up.
“It was probably just water dripping from the ceiling.”
Mathilda slowly turns her head towards me. “That was quite a large drop of water.”
I grimace, looking sidelong at Mina. She squeezes her eyes shut and balls her hands into fists.
“Let’s move. Quickly and quietly.”
The water rises rapidly aroundus, almost to our chests, before dropping back down to our thighs, as something massive moves close by.
“Move. Now.” I grit out between clenched teeth.
We sprint. Water splashes up and soaks our necks and faces as we hurtle across. With each step, I prepare for something to pull me under the clear surface. Ice-cold fear surges through my veins, quickening each step. My chest heaves as I breathe in through my nose. Mina flings herself out of the water and onto dry stone. Mathilda and I—right behind her.
“I am NEVER following you two ever again!” she yells, bending over at the waist to catch her breath.
Mathilda and I look at each other before bursting out into laughter.
“It is not funny!” Mina slams a foot down on the ground, leaving a footprint against the stone. “You two are crazy!”
Mathilda slaps my back as she laughs. “Ach. We’re fine, see?”
I throw a wary glance at the water still sloshing from our run through it. “Yeah. Totally fine.”
Mina rips the torch from my hand and stalks off down the path. Her waterlogged boots and leathers squeak with each step.
We walk for what seems like forever, the pathway turning this way and that. Sometimes it feels like we’re going farther down, but it stays relatively easy with no more passes through water. The stone, however, turns a glittering onyx, so I can assume we have made our way even farther down.
A light appears way off in the distance, and Mina pauses. But there’s a tug again on my chest, urging me forward.
“Do you guys see that?” she whispers, as if a loud noise will cause it to vanish.
Mathilda slams into my back and curses. “Why did you—what is that?”
“That’s what Mina asked,” I giggle. “So we all can see the light. Great.”
