AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe it’s as simple as water can be,” Livia comments, looking between the levers and back to us. “I don’t know, but we need to pick before we drown.”
“We should vote,” Arty quietly suggests.
Hope rolls her eyes. “Fine. I pick left.”
“Right,” Arty and Livia say at the same time.
“Right,” I breathe out, hating that a decision so simple could kill us all, but we have no choice but to take it.
“I swear to the dragons, if you all get me killed, I’m haunting you all,” Hope snarls. “Especially you, purple.”
I narrow my eyes at her, but she turns and pulls the right lever. A large creaking noise echoes before the wall drops away and water floods into the room, pushing us back a few steps. Arty cries out, clinging to my arm, and I barely manage to stay standing upright as the cold sea water fills the room right up to our shoulders. The water doesn’t stop coming.
I look up at the ceiling, noticing it’s not far away and the tunnel behind us is completely gone. It’s so dark in here I can barely see the edges of the walls anymore. Yet the moss glows brightly, shining green light around the room. We all swim to the nearest wall, Arty letting me tug her along. The vines are thicker here, easier to hold onto as the water rises slowly. Slowly but deadly. It only takes a trickle of water, built over time, to kill us all. I desperately look around for a way out, but there is nothing. Just nothing.
Arty latches onto my arm tightly, and even though her nails are hurting me, I can’t feel anything but terror. Hope shouts over the sound of running water. “Leave her and swim with us. She’s just dead weight at this point, and we need to find a way out.”
I’m surprised she gives a shit if I’m coming with her or not. “Just go and find something. I’ll look after her.”
Livia gives me a sympathetic look, but part of me wonders if she agrees with Hope. I look at Arty. “I’m not leaving without you.”
I watched Katherine die in front of me. I watched Finley die in front of me. I’m not having anybody else I know die. Especially not Arty. She’s too bright, too nice, too lovely to die here like this. The dark, fucked-up world definitely needs her as one of its queens, even if the idea of her being with any of the dragon kings makes me feel sick to my stomach. The current picks up, threatening to tug us from the wall.
The fear that I see shining in even Hope’s eyes tells me enough. We are screwed. I search the room again and I pause, seeing something deep in the water. A glowing white light. “I see a light. It’s right at the bottom!”
They all look. Hope shakes her head. “There’s nothing but darkness.”
The light gets brighter…but they can’t see it. I wonder if this is Lysander helping me in this test. He said he would help me, and it would make sense that they can’t see the light that I suddenly can. It has to be the way out. I wonder for a second why his girlfriend can’t see it. Talk about being a douchebag. “It’s there. You’re going to have to trust me.”
I look at each one of my roommates, searching their faces.
“I think we have to swim down to the bottom,” I carry on. “They are always saying the dragon queens need to be brave and good with the elements of the court they’re in. They want us to be good swimmers and brave.”
“Okay, I’m with you, purple,” Hope states.
“Me too,” Livia agrees. “Better than drowning up here.”
“I can’t—I can’t,” Arty cries. “I can’t do that. I can’t swim down there. I can’t even open my eyes underwater.”
She starts panicking, clawing at the moss edges of the wall like she can crawl out of here. The water is so high now; it is tipping into my mouth with every word, and I can barely hold onto the moss wall to hold myself up. We don’t have time for this. I grab hold of her chin with my one hand, turning her face to me. “Look at me. I’m your friend and I’m not going to let you die. So, you’re going to be brave and you’re going to let me pull you down. I can do it. I can pull you down with me, and you only need to kick your legs.”
“But—”
“I’m a damn good swimmer. I’ve always been a good swimmer. My grandmother was adamant about mastering the skill of swimming. We lived so close to the sea, and she was always worried about me falling in and drowning. She probably had a point, and now all those lessons that I detested growing up, now they might actually be useful. Trust me, okay?”
Her eyes meet mine. Something I can’t read flashes in them. “I trust you.”
“We’re following you,” Livia states.
Hope is staring at the water. “Why can’t I see a light?”
I don’t say a word. Lysander must not like her all that much, and I don’t know why I feel a mixture of happiness and disgust at the thought. Surely, he’d want to save his girlfriend rather than letting her drown if he had any intention of her becoming a queen at the end of all this. But then again, he is a psychopath. So perhaps he was actually quite happy with her drowning. I take hold of Arty’s hand.
“On a count of three,” I shout. “One, two, three!”
I dive into the water, pulling Arty with me as I hold my breath. She struggles for a moment before latching onto my arm, keeping at my side, kicking her legs as hard as they can go, but she doesn’t open her eyes. The salt stings, and I briefly look back to see Livia and Hope following, swimming as fast as I am. I turn back, focusing on the light right at the bottom, getting closer and closer to me. The current is stronger with every inch I swim down, pushing against me, making it difficult to swim through it. I push through, swimming down towards the light with everything I have, feeling my lungs burn and itch with the desire to open my mouth and breathe.
Finally, the light is close, and I stop, pulling Arty closer. Hope swims past me, reaching for where I point, and she disappears through the light. Livia goes next and I’m still weighed down by Arty, but I don’t give up. My lungs burn. Every inch of my body hurts from the exertion of pulling her through the water. I’m just about to push her into the light when she suddenly lets go of my hand.
