Page 86 of Forging Darkness

The plank is at least two feet wide, but there are no safety rails. There are a few gasps from the ragged group as he traverses the bridge, but he makes it across.

One by one the group crosses the shaky plank until only the mother and her small child remain.

“Hurry,” someone hisses behind me, keeping their voice low.

“We don’t have time to wait,” says a guy to my left. “Let’s get out of here.”

I give the dude the side-eye. I’m in no way the most compassionate person on the planet, but that was a bit harsh.

“We all leave together,” Andre snaps back before turning his attention to the terrified pair across from us. “Angeline, yourmamanwill be with you. You must come to us now though. We must go.”

Little angel. The irony of her name is not lost on me.

I can see the child shiver from the expanse between us. It’s obvious Angeline isn’t going to move, so her mother bends over and picks her up, holding her against her chest. The child isn’t large, but the woman is frail, and most likely starving and sleep deprived as well. She staggers under the additional weight, but makes it halfway across the plank bridge. I finally feel as if I can take a full breath when one of the water creatures crests the surface. Angeline squeals and wiggles in her mother’s arms, throwing their balance off.

It’s almost as if I watch both of them topple into the sparkling water in slow motion.

Cursing under his breath, Andre sprints forward. I follow without thinking, and the plank bridge swings wildly under our combined weight, throwing us both off balance.

Heat blasts my back and skin splits. My wings burst free, but it’s too late. I hit the water with a splash. My gilded wings do nothing to aid my non-existent swimming skills, and I’m dragged under the water by their weight.

I kick and flail, desperate to reach the surface. It’s a mercy only my wings emerged. If I’d fully morphed, the added weight of my armor would have sealed my fate.

My booted feet do little to propel me to the surface and after a few heartbeats, I’m no longer even sure which direction is up.

It’s bright under the water, distorting my vision. Dark objects snake back and forth throughout the crystal liquid bubbling around me.

Something darts at me, and I suck in a lungful of water on a gasp. It veers at the last second and circles me like a shark.

My body jerks reflexively, searching for air, my movements becoming less than useful to save myself.

I am going to die.

If only I could go back in time and take my swim lesson with Steel more seriously. I might have had a chance of surviving this.

Steel.

My heart doesn’t pang with remorse for what could have been at the thought of him, but the image of him yelling at me to fight does.

The dark water-serpent decides to strike, and I have enough presence of mind to grab one of the makeshift daggers hidden in my boot, and lash out. My underwater movements are painfully slow, but I manage to embed the jagged mirror-blade into the creature’s eye only after it latches on to my forearm.

Agony rips at me, but it takes a backseat to my need for air.

With a scream that vibrates through the water, that beast swims away, leaving streaks of black blood in its wake before disappearing from my fuzzy view.

I renew my desperate attempt to reach the surface, flapping my wings to move me, but with a lungful of water, energy quickly drains from my body. Only the angel blood running through my veins has kept me alive this long.

With a final jerk, I can no longer move my muscles, and my eyes begin to close.

I’m only half-aware when something latches onto my bicep and pulls me upward.

Breeching the surface, I gag when I try to breathe. Grabbing onto whatever I can, I barf out the water I inhaled before I take a staggering breath. The air burns as it fills me up, but it’s a welcome pain.

Andre yanked me up far enough so my arms drape over the plank-bridge. His eyes are wild as he takes in the top part of my wings. There’s no time for explanation. He jerks his chin behind me with the command to “get her” before dunking beneath the water.

Still hacking, I snap my gaze to the left, where I spot the child struggling to reach safety. Her slick blonde head bobs up and down in the water. She’s close, but I’ll have to leave the side to reach her.

I don’t let myself think of how close I came to drowning as I shove away from the bridge. Reaching the girl, I wrap one arm around her and furiously doggy paddle with the other to reach the ledge. A few of the braver humans crouch on the side, reaching for us.