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I blow out a breath as I walk over to her side. “I’m guessing we have a choice. Left or right?”
Arty glances at me, her face pale. “I’m not choosing. You choose.”
“Why do I have to be the one to choose? For all I know, this whole room could flood with water and drown us if I choose the wrong one,” I mutter, still rubbing my cheek. “In fact, I’d bet that’s exactly what is going to happen if we choose wrong. It’s the water test, after all.”
Arty is silent as I continue. “I thought this one would be easier because I’m a good swimmer, but now my decision-making skills are being tested. I’m screwed. I can’t even decide on my favourite pizza flavour.”
“Mine is pepperoni with pineapple,” Arty nervously replies, her cheeks brightening so she has some colour to her other than her hair. “At least you can swim. I’ve actually always had quite a bit of crazy fear of water, so I’m probably going to die here. If I do die here, then I’m really glad that we were friends for the short time that we got to be friends, and that you didn’t kill me for my endless chatter. Like now. I seriously can’t stop talking when I’m frightened or excited or—”
“Just being you,” I sigh. “Arty, come on. I’m not going to let you drown.”
“Really?” she questions, her eyes wide.
I shake my head at her, not answering that one. I look back at the levers. “Let’s go for the right. I don’t know why, but it’s a fifty-fifty chance, right?”
“Together?” she asks, picking up my hand and linking our fingers together before placing them on the right lever.
I nod and together we pull it down. The same soft creaking echoes around the room before the floor and walls begin to shake. The walls rapidly slip down, and there’s nothing on the other side except for more walls—and more water that fills the ground halfway up my boots. Two more levers appear on the other side of the room.
We walk over, silently agreeing to get this over and done with as soon as possible. “Left?”
“What if it’s always right?” Arty nervously replies as we stop in front of the lever. We both put a hand around the left without another word. My heart feels like it is beating a musical as time slows down to a stop as we pull the left lever. This time the wall doesn’t go down. Instead, the floor underneath us disappears and we fly down into a water tunnel, plunged deep into cold water, my hand slipping from Arty’s. I gasp, only to have a mouthful of water threaten to drown me, and I search for the light above. I spin in the water, looking for Arty. She can’t swim. Oh my god, she can’t swim. I look around desperately, twisting in the water, feeling my lungs burn, but I can’t see her. I swim up to the surface, knowing I need to get some air before I dive again. Gasping, I scream. “Arty!”
“I’ve got her!” Livia screams back at me. I twist in the water again, following her voice, barely making out two figures in the water nearby.
“I’m going to drown! I’m going to drown!” Arty screams over and over, and Livia tries to calm her down. When I get closer, I see Arty’s arms waving about in the water as Livia is struggling to hold her afloat.
Hope is swimming nearby. “She’s going to drown you, dumbass. Let her go.”
I’m glad Livia doesn’t respond to Hope as I swim towards them all, hooking my arm under Arty’s, and she instantly calms, bursting into tears. Livia nods at me from her other side, and together we start swimming, pulling Arty between us. Hope is long gone, swimming straight ahead in the distance towards the only light source in the room. We both swim faster towards it, even pulling Arty between us, who is still crying. It takes us a while before we find a way out, a stone ledge with a tunnel behind it. We pull ourselves up onto the stone ledge, and Arty lies on the ground, breathing heavily.
Livia meets my gaze. “Thank you for saving her,” I say.
She looks away. “It was the right thing to do. I’m guessing you picked the wrong lever like us?”
“Left was wrong. It must have always been right,” Arty coughs out.
Hope is pacing behind us, but she stops, sneering down at Arty. “Can you not swim? Seriously? You knew this test was coming. Your parents never thought to teach you to swim? Did they hate you or something?”
I stand up to get between them as Arty sits up. “They did try once, but I have a fear of water.”
Hope rolls her eyes. “Aren’t you scared of heights, too? What’s wrong with you?”
I step between them and shove Hope’s shoulder, making her stumble back. “Don’t pick on her, you bitch. I get it, you’re as annoyed as we all are, but I’m not letting you speak to her like that.”
Hope sneers at me before turning away. “She isn’t worth bothering, anyway. The pair of you are weak.”
Livia steps to my side. “We need to figure out how to get out of here. The water is rising.”
We all look down to see the stone ledge we’re on has disappeared underneath our feet, and we all stand up, looking down the tunnel behind us, knowing it’s our only chance out of here. We’re all soaking wet, scared, still in our pyjamas and royally pissed off, but somehow Hope makes it a million times worse by just being here as she glares at us all and storms off down the tunnel.
Arty is shaking as I hook my arm through hers and guide her down the tunnel. I lower my voice. “Don’t let her beat you down. Shine brighter than her. I know you can.”
She gives me a shaky nod, but she goes silent as our makeshift group heads down the dirt tunnel, Hope leading the way. It spirals around into another large stone room with mossy walls. This one is also filled with water, but this time it’s up to our waist. Two more levers appear on the opposite wall, moss wrapped around the handles. I get the feeling, if we fail at this one, the water is going to be up to our shoulders or higher, or another drop we might not survive.
“We can’t pick the wrong lever,” I say. “Maybe we should pick right this time.”
“It’ll be too obvious for them all to be rights,” Hope mutters like we are stupid.
