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“This isn’t going to work,” she said after dragging me a few feet. “The water’s hampering me, and you’re dead weight.”
Go,I tried to tell her with my gaze.
She’d done everything she could. I’d have to wait for the spell to wear off.
Denise glanced up again. The ceiling was now brushing the top of her head. Soon, there wouldn’t be enough room for her to breathe at all. She barely had time to get herself out of the cave even if she left me right now.
Go!I thought again, my gaze brightening with urgency.
A look of obstinance crossed her features, and she hauled my face close to hers. “I know what you’re thinking, and no, I’m not leaving you behind. You’d never do that to me—”
A new surge from the tide swept water into her mouth. She spat it out, coughed, and tilted her head all the way back. It was the only angle she could now use to get a breath in.
Just go!I mentally roared. Both of us don’t need to be stuck here, and I’m the only one who doesn’t need to breathe!
“That hurt,” she said in a hoarse voice, and then choked out a laugh. “Don’t know how fish stand breathing that…”
She stopped speaking. I was terrified that she’d lost the remaining scant space she needed to breathe, and I couldn’t angle my head in order to see. Her grip had loosened, and the currents from the incoming tide now had me facing away from her.
“This’ll be weird,” I thought I heard her say, and then her grip on me vanished completely.
Without it, I sank to the bottom of the cave. I tried to see where Denise was, but the green glow from my gaze barely cut through the water. Then, a tremendous thrashing turned my limited vision into nothing but movement and bubbles.
Pain ripped at me. That must be Denise, drowning. Oh, God, she’d suffer that horrible death over and over because she’d refused to leave me, and there was nothing I could do to help her! How many hours until low tide…?
A large shark suddenly filled my vision, mouth open as if grinning while it swam straight at me. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! I’d never wanted to move so much in my life, but I could do nothing but stare as rows of knifelike teeth sank into my arm.
Agony shot through me, and inwardly, I screamed. In my darkest wonderings about how I’d die, and I’d had many of those, getting eaten by a shark had never made my list. Guess I hadn’t given Fate enough credit. Good one, you sick bitch!
The shark bit me again, this time catching my upper shoulder. Amidst the new burst of pain, an image of the last time I had seen Bones flashed in my mind: his deep brown hair, creamy alabaster skin, high cheekbones, winged brows, full mouth, and eyes so dark brown they could have been black. And Katie, my beautiful little girl, standing next to him, watching me solemnly as I promised that I’d be back soon—
Red light suddenly suffused the shark’s black eyes. Shock numbed me for a few seconds as to what that meant. In that short amount of time, the shark swam us out of the sacrificial chamber and into the cave’s winding tunnels. There, its sleek body easily maneuvered around the bends and turns. I was the one who hit every protruding wall. Those hard jostles caused the shark’s serrated teeth to tear deeper, but aside from holding me in its jaws, the shark didn’t bite me again.
Red eyes. Only demons had those…or people whom demons had branded with their power, thus transferring some of their supernatural abilities to the branded person.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I thought with awe this time. You have outdone yourself, Denise!
