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A huge wave hit the wall in front of me. As it bled away, it revealed another Annwfyn. Its thin lips peeled back from its mouth, revealing double rows of needle-sharp teeth. Then, with a sharp clicking sound, it leapt.
I dove under it, raised a knife as it flew overhead, and gutted it from neck to genitals. As blood and gore rained around me, I scrambled upright once again and ran on.
I wasn't far away from the tunnel when I heard the footsteps behind me. The thick air stirred weakly, containing the faintest of warnings. I ducked and swung around. The claws that would have ripped through the back of my head flew inches above it instead.
I lunged forward and slashed at the Annwfyn’s bony legs. Dark purple light rolled down the fullers of the two blades and seemed to add extra force to my blow. Their razor-sharp edges cut through flesh, muscle, and bone as easily as water, and the Annwfyn fell backward, its body totally separated from his limbs. Black blood sprayed across my face and hair, and I gagged, but once again turned and ran on. More water splashed, this time behind me. Multiple pairs of feet slapped wetly against stone. I didn’t stop, didn’t look around. I just kept my gaze on the tunnel entrance, determined to reach it before any of them could grab me.
As the air stirred again, I scrambled into the tunnel, then wasted a precious second to sheath the knife in my right hand, even though it meant slicing through multiple layers of protective material. It wouldn’t matter; not if I didn’t get the fuck out of here.
I wrapped the rope around my right wrist and screamed, “Lugh, get me out of here! Now!”
I was immediately dragged forward over the slick ground but had only gone ten feet or so when something grabbed me and I stopped abruptly. Pain flashed, red hot, through my foot and knifed up my leg. I screamed, the sound echoing all around me.
“Beth?” came Lugh’s shout. “What’s happening?”
“Caught,” I somehow replied. “Wait.”
I looked down my body. In the headlamp’s pale light, the Annwfyn who filled the tunnel seemed huge. He had one claw lodged deep into my foot and his lips were already retracting, his sharp teeth luminescent. Panic surged and I twisted toward him, trying to reach him with my knife, trying to slice its hand or its face or do something—anything—to get free. But my shoulders hit the side of the tunnel and no amount of shoving, twisting, and cursing could get me close enough. So I did the only thing I could—I drew back my other leg and booted his thin features with every ounce of strength I had left. The blow was strong enough to shatter teeth and snap its head back, but his claw remained. If I didn’t dislodge it, I’d be in trouble. I kicked the Annwfyn again and again, desperate to get free. Every hit had the claw in my foot moving, causing waves of nausea to roll through me. I bit my lips in an effort to hold back the screams, the bile, and the pain, and kept booting the bastard. Blood dripped from his shattered face, and he was making a series of gargled clicks, but that claw remained in my foot.
Then a sinewy arm shoved past the waist of the first Annwfyn and, with a sharp downward motion of its needle-sharp claws, severed the lower part of its companion’s arm.
I was free.
“Go,” I shouted.
The sudden upward movement in the rope had it briefly slipping through my grip. I clasped it tighter and slid through the dark and narrow tunnel with dangerous speed, but the relief that had briefly flared just as quickly died. The Annwfyn whose claw remained in my boot was torn from the tunnel and another appeared, scrambling swiftly after me.
It was fast.
Fuckingfast.
I twisted around, preferring to see what I was careening toward rather than what careened after me. The tunnel was narrowing, the walls becoming sharper and much rougher, but there was nothing I could do now other than hang onto the rope and hope like hell Lugh could pull me up faster than Annwfyn could scramble.
But it was now so close I could hear the rasp of its breath.
Damn it, I didn’t want to go out like this. Didn’t want to go down without a fight. But there was no room to move, let alone fight, in this goddamn tunnel.
Then, with a roar that sounded almost human, the tunnel walls began to shake violently. The amount of water running down them increased, splashing almost eagerly onto the tunnel’s floor, deftly splitting around my length before rejoining just beyond my feet and rushing on.
Only it wasn’t water. It was stone.Liquefyingstone.
Cynwrig.
I’d obviously reached the “live” portion of the tunnel.
I glanced down again, and saw in the headlamp’s weak glow the dark wave hit the Annwfyn. It swirled up his arms and across his skeletal features, solidifying almost immediately, freezing him in place even as it turned him into stone. Making him a statue that totally blocked the passage.
Relief hit so hard, it left me shaking and weak.
I took a deep, shuddering breath, and then shouted, “Ease up. I’m safe.”
The frantic upward pace immediately slowed, and my shoulder felt better for it.
“What happened?” came Lugh’s question, still sounding far too distant for my liking. “Cynwrig said it felt like Annwfyn.”
“It was. There’s a gate under the water.”
“They were aquatic?”
