Page 43 of Truth
It was obvious we couldn’t go the way we came, that’s where the water was pouring out of, barreling toward us at rapidly increasing speeds. But where did we go? I didn’t see any other option. I opened my mouth, about to say as much when Liberty interjected, “We need to search around. Use whatever skills you have to search. Feel the walls. Look for the hum of magic.”
No one questioned her order, it’s not like we had other options. If we didn’t do something and fast, we would die. Did drowning kill vampires? Honestly, it wasn’t on the list of known facts, but that didn’t make it any less of a discomfort. But the fairy and our girl? Those two could definitely drown, and I absolutely couldn’t let that happen.
The water rose around our feet as we strained our eyes in the limited light, feeling the wall, looking for a crack, a crevice, anything that might be pried open to another cavern, but there was none. I felt no magic humming behind the wall, only the pull of the water licking its way up my thigh. It was rising. It was rising fast and rapidly, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
It rose past our hips, slunk up our torsos until it danced against our shoulders. “We have to swim.”
Michelle and Liberty both looked to me, but it was Liberty who spoke, “We are a good foot shorter than you. We’ve been swimming.”
As if to emphasize the movement, Michelle did a dramatic arm stroke in front of her. Well damn, I hadn’t even notice. I was preoccupied trying to find a magic savior before we all drowned. My feet left the floor as I stroked my arms, my head bobbing above the water as I swam in the opposite direction of where we were looking, trying to find something new. Nothing. I found nothing. No one did.
The water rose and so did our bodies, until our headspace was a mere foot and panic was beginning to tease everyone’s nerves. I strained my neck, unwilling to admit defeat. I would fight for Liberty until my last breath, it’s a promise I refuse to let lapse.
Michelle’s lights flickered, the water leaving hardly enough room for her to hold her hand above and breathe at the same time. We had no other choice, “Tilt your head back, stay above as long as possible!”
My shout was barely heard over the rushing sound of water. I searched out Liberty, finding her fingers and lacing them. The irony of the movement not lost on me. In times of needing comfort, she sought me out. And here I was, about to let my lungs explode as I breathed in water, and it was me seeking her comfort.
The distance between the rock ceiling and the water was two inches now, and a sudden calm washed over me. Maybe it was what happens when one dies? The resignation made the act of your last breath peaceful. Or maybe it was a mindset? Knowing that in my last moments, I did all I could and there was nothing more. Absolutely nothing fucking more left for me to do but accept that this is the end of my story. Of our story. And that if we were lucky, and I fucking prayed that we were, maybe Justice, Lenin, or Ellis would pick up where we left off. That maybe they were more successful in their mission than we were in ours, and that someone got rescued from their prison. The salvation of one person makes the thought of my death worth it.
But Liberty? My stomach tightened, and I squeezed her hand. Her death would be painful. She would be missed, and I hoped that her other men would sing her name loud with praise so that everyone knew why they got rescued. Why they cared enough to go into danger and make it happen.
The water covered my eyes, and all I had left was a tiny pocket to breathe. “Liberty. . .”
“Oak.” She paused. “I think –“
I didn’t want to hear her regrets in my last moments. She should have none. I didn’t want to hear the acknowledgement of what was about to happen. We all knew it was inevitable. “Finding you in the alley was the best thing that happened in my entire existence.”
“Oak-“
I spit out a mouthful of water, “I hope I can love you in the next lifetime.” The words were a struggle to speak, “The way I never fully got the chance to do in this one.”
Then my entire body was under water and despite my best efforts, the requirement to breathe was strong. I couldn’t fight it longer, though I tried. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, despite everything inside of me screaming that as my life faded away, I wanted Liberty to be the last thing I saw, then let myself float away.
Chapter 21
LIBERTY
The water was rising quicklyand the pure adrenaline I was feeling as it got closer to the top of the cavern was clouding my ability to think. The water had almost reached the top when I first spotted the crawl space. I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing was real, and it was nearly impossible to concentrate on it with the water rapidly rising. I tried to tell Oak, but then we were underwater, and our time was up.
I opened my eyes under the water, fighting past the sting as I tried to see in the murky blackness with no light. I searched out anything to let me know where Michelle and Sterling were, but as I searched, I refused to let go of Oak’s hand. He was my last link to the living and if I let go, I’d already be dead.
As I fought not to open my mouth and breathe in the water, as I tried to ignore my lungs burning and the dots I saw dancing behind my eyelids, my power pushed at me from the inside. It begged to be released, urged me to let it go, but how I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t pull from the elements; the water blocked my links to the earth. I couldn’t blast a hole in the wall or create an ice bridge to the crawlspace I thought I saw.
But –
The thought of ice nagged at me just under the surface but was overshadowed by my panic. I squeezed Oak's hand, then urged myself to calm down, to slow my heart rate enough that I could concentrate. Once I did that, I broke down my thoughts realizing that if can control ice, there is absolutely no reason I shouldn’t be able to control water. After all, aren’t ice and water practically the same thing?
I squeezed his palm with mine again, before I called for my ice magic. It came to me quickly, happily dancing along my spine and making my fingers tingle. I let it go, releasing it to freely do as it pleased. It whipped out of my fingertips, pulling at the water and pushing it back out of where it flowed, until all the water reversed, flowing in the opposite direction.
We all burst through the water at once, gasping for air and coughing. When we finally caught our breath enough to speak, Sterling asked, “What the fuck just happened?”
I wiggled my fingers in the air for a moment, “Ice and water. I think I saw a crawl space in the cavern's ceiling. It will be hard to make it through, but I think we can.”
Everyone looked up at once, “I think you’re right.” Oak spoke as he swam to the other side of the cavern, off to the side of the corner. He looked up, “I think we can do it! Can you create maybe stairs to get up to it?”
We all followed him and gathered next to him, staring up into a two-foot wide opening, with what appeared to be grooves cut out for climbing. “I think I can.”
I concentrated on the water, pulling some back toward us before picturing stairs formed from ice. The power reached for my vision, making it happen with little effort. The more I used it, the easier it became, and now it seemed flawless. Something I could use without a thought or care. The stairs formed upward toward the ceiling's opening.