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"You won't like it, but everything down there is underwater." Sam scratched the back of his head.
Only now did I realize that our group was not complete.
"Where's Stephan?" Confused, I looked around and widened my eyes when Sam pointed to the hole.
"Don't tell me he went down there alone?" I asked in horror, following Tanael to get a better idea of the situation.
"We tried to stop him, but he was already down there," Aspasia said, and it was apparent she didn't like how much the demon was risking. Her blue eyes fixed anxiously on the passageway.
Sam had now relit the torch and held it down far enough for Tanael and me to see the water's surface, but Stephan was nowhere to be seen.
"It would be unwise for anyone to follow him. Let's rest a little while we wait for Stephan," suggested the God of the First Light, lowering himself to the ground with his back against the tunnel wall.
The others did the same. But instead of sitting with him, I looked for a seat next to Aspasia.
"How are you feeling now?" she asked me, exhausted, laying her head on my shoulder.
"Good. I feel fit again," I replied, without explaining the reason for my previous exhaustion.
"What's going on between you and Tanael?" she whispered. My gaze jerked to the angel, who was also watching me. I realized he had heard the Amazon's quiet question.
"Nothing," I said curtly, hoping she wouldn't discuss it further. But instead, she lifted her head from my shoulder and looked at me, puzzled.
"Nothing? A blind man can see that something's going on between you," she whispered, and I could see Tanael's eyes narrow on the other side of the tunnel.
"He loves another woman," I replied powerlessly.
"And you? What about you?" my friend gently asked the question I feared most. "Do you love him?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Tanael had leaned forward a little but without losing sight of me.
"It's freezing, and you must dive quite a way, but it's not impossible!" Stephan's voice suddenly echoed through the vault.
Everyone stared at the drenched demon who had just crawled out of the hole.
I hastily got up and went to him. I was relieved to be able to escape the conversation with Aspasia.
"What does quite a way mean?" I asked him. When a demon spoke of quite a way, it couldn't mean anything good for humans in case of doubt.
"Well..." he fumbled around and gave me a contrite smile. "About five minutes."
"What?" Aspasia exclaimed, startled, and Edward's face went pale.
"You realize we're not superheroes with supernatural abilities like you, right?" I crossed my arms in front of our former butler.
Suddenly, he leaned forward and smelled me. Just as he had often done in the past. I had always thought he was creepy back then, but now that I knew who he really was, I watched him without batting an eyelid.
"Yes, really human. Sorry," the demon stated the obvious with a wink, and I rolled my eyes in annoyance.
"You said five minutes?" Sam asked, who would undoubtedly have no problem with this dive.
Stephan nodded as he wrung out the front of his shirt.
"That should work, shouldn't it, Luze?" He observed the other angel questioningly, gazing at the three of us thoughtfully. What kind of plan were they devising?
"What do you mean? You look like you have an idea." Edward gazed uncertainly down into the hole and then back at the angels.
"We could wrap your heads in a protective shield. It should keep the water out for roughly five minutes." The God of First Light seemed less convinced than he sounded.
"Roughly?" I groaned indignantly. "You mean we're going to roughly survive or roughly die?"
