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Thicket’s body continued to quake. She crouched down, hugging herself as she fought off the chill seeping into her very bloodstream. She needed to keep moving. Needed to find a way out. But her body was no longer cooperating.

A series of chirps sounded from the center of the cavern. Teeth chattering, Thicket glanced over to see the otter had surfaced from the water.

“Y-ou… You c-c-came back.”

It swam over, hopping from the water to peer up at her. It squeaked, pawing at her shivering legs. She went to scoop it up but the otter danced out of reach, circling back into the water. It stared at her from its back, drifting towards the center of the pool.

“You w-want me to follow y-y-you?”

The otter chirped.

Thicket mustered all her strength to dip back into the water. She was numb to the cold now. The otter let out another string of chirps before diving into the water. Thicket made her way to where it had disappeared. When it didn’t surface, she sucked in a breath and put her face under the water. The otter hovered along the shallow ground. Its tail swished when it spotted her and it darted towards the wall where it vanished. She noticed another tunnel cut into the base of the cavern. A second entrance. She kicked her feet, swimming after the otter. Her lungs pressed uncomfortably as she darted through the narrow passageway. The otter was faster than her, racing around the bend and leaving her to push against the wall to change course. Her cut hands stung as she pushed through the water, lungs screaming now. She hoped the exit was close.

But as Thicket turned the next corner, she was greeted by a dead end.

And the otter, her only hope of making it out alive, was gone.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Thicket’s heart pounded against her constricting chest, squeezing tighter and tighter. She clasped her throat, wanting to claw at it and somehow get air inside.

Had it been a trap? Was this how Menheir would claim her soul?

She had no magic. No Aneuma. No one even knew she had come here.

And without the otter to guide her, she was stuck, completely and utterly alone.

The faces of her friends flashed in her mind. Bern, Alouette, Elian. She had promised them she would see them again. Had promised Elian she would talk to him and sort out the mess that had become their relationship. And Marcellus…

The last words she had ever said to him had been in anger.

Now, she was going to die before she could make any of it right.

The corners of her eyes dipped in and out of focus.

She should have never saved the otter… Never followed it down this tunnel.

No. No. She refused to let this be how she went.

She had made her decision, had followed her heart. And she refused to believe it was the wrong one.

She was the future queen of Vindrya. It was time she stopped relying on others. To accept her. To believe in her. To validate her choices.

She had braved through the wall of thorns, had woken herself up from the curse, and had beaten her malevolent older sister. It was time for her to trust in her own instincts and believe in herself with all the might her fiery heart could muster.

It was time to save herself.

Thicket scanned the cavern, fighting her wavering vision. In the furthest corner, she spotted a section that looked darker than the rest of the water. She swam towards it, letting herself slip into the darkness. This passage was narrower. She could feel the scrape of stone against her skin as she swam along its bend. It hugged closer and closer. There was a chance it would continue to tighten until it became yet another dead end, but she refused to believe it.

This was her way out.

White spots clouded her eyes. She couldn’t see anything anymore. Could barely even think. Her hands grabbed onto chunks of stone, propelling her faster, faster, faster.

Air hit her face in a rush. She gasped, letting it flood her lungs.

She clawed her way up onto the surface, skin scratching against the narrow opening. She hardly felt the pain or the trickle of warm blood as she collapsed onto the ground.

She had made it.