by E. Van Lowe
Chapter Thirty
“Fun-keee,” Lara said, fanning her nose, as we entered the booth.
“Sorry. The geek squad is a bunch of guys.”
“Don’t they ever shower?” she asked.
“Umm… one of them does,” I said.
That brought a smile to her face.
“Lara, I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you that day in the meadow.”
She was eying me with the sweetest, heart melting look in her eyes. “I know you are,” she said. “I knew you didn’t mean it, but that didn’t stop it from hurting.”
I located the key, placed it in the lock and turned it. The gym floor responded, starting it’s slow but steady opening process.
After the floor started opening, I turned to Lara. “I’m kind of embarrassed to say this, but I wanted to hurt you.”
Upon hearing my words, she winced as if in pain. “Why?” she whispered.
“I don’t know. I was hurting so much that day, I wanted to spread it around, I guess. I know that doesn’t make it better, but that’s the truth.”
She stared at me for several moments, willing the tears not to fall. “You do understand why we can’t be together, don’t you? That kiss we shared earlier, if we’d shared it in a more intimate setting, it could have ended your freedom.”
“I know,” I said, my voice soft, and tinged with embarrassment. “You’re right to be protective of my freedom, and I love you for it.”
“Oh, please!” she said, a sudden, mischievous smile forming on her lips. “You’ve got to come up with a better apology than that.”
“What?”
“You’ve always loved me,” she said, and I realized she was teasing me.
I grinned back at her as the tension between us began melting away. “That is true. I have always loved you, even when I didn’t know it,” I said, my own smile now shining through.
It was then I realized the background music playing in my mind wasn’t sad anymore.
“The song I said,” pointing to my head. “Can you hear it?”
She nodded, her smile widening. “It’s no longer sad,” she said.
“It must know something I don’t.”
“It knows the worst is behind us. You’re not going to die,” she said.
We stood there, grinning at each other for several moments. I again wanted to take her into my arms, but I knew I had a job to do. I looked through the Plexiglas window, down onto the gymnasium floor, and could see that Alan was talking to someone.
“Who’s he talking to?” I wondered out loud. I leaned forward toward the window, getting a better view of the gym below. No one else was there.
“I suspect the Lycorian is communicating with him telepathically, and he’s responding,” said Lara.
“What’s he doing now?” I said, alarm creeping in.
The floor had opened three feet across the entire surface of the gymnasium. The magnificent pool beneath the floor was slowly being revealed. As the floor peeled away, it was becoming more difficult for Alan to reach the creature who was dangling over the pool, and yet he strained to reach him. He stood on his toes, and reached across the breach in the floor up to the netting, where he began fiddling with one of the bands on the creature’s claw.
“It looks as if he’s trying to release him,” Lara said.
“No, Alan!” I cried out. I began pounding on the Plexiglas window. “Alan, stop!” I called. The sound of my pounding on the Plexiglas reverberated throughout the tiny booth, shaking the walls, but he didn’t look up. I stopped pounding on the window, and sprinted from the booth.
“Alan!” I hollered as I arrived back in the gym. I was breathless and wild-eyed.
Alan stopped what he was doing and faced me. His eyes were glassy. There was a far-away look in them.
“What are you doing?” I called out.
He shook his head, and I could see the fog lifting. “I’m watching the creature, Dipstick. What do you think I’m doing?”
I gazed past him to the creature suspended in the air, and could see he’d worked one of the bands free from his claw, and was starting to slice through the net.
“Conner, release him now!” I cried out, hoping Conner could still hear me.
The creature had carved a hole in the net. His free claw was pushing through.
“What’s the matter with you?” Alan asked.
“The creature is escaping!” I called, pointing.
Just then, the net released, and the creature went plunging into the swimming pool.
The floor gym continued to open.
“Get a grip man,” Alan said. “It’s all good.” He offered up a smile.
“You released one of his bands, Dude.”
“No, I didn’t,” Alan replied, yet the moment I spoke, his smile began to fade. He turned to the pool, moved to the edge of the parting gym floor and peered in. “He’s struggling down there,” he said. He turned back to me. His smile was returning. “He’s secure. Our part is finished. Where are the two satyrs?”
“They’re on their way,” I said. I was trying to relax, but I couldn’t. I had the sinking feeling our plan was heading south.
“Relax. Stop looking so worried. The Legion of Doom has saved the day,” Alan said, and laughed light heartedly. “Didn’t they have a handshake?” he suddenly asked.
“Who?”
Just then, the creature’s claw emerged from the pool and latched onto the coattails of Alan’s duster.
“What the…”
Before he could turn and see what had gotten hold of him, the creature gave a powerful tug on the tail of his coat. Alan took two teetering steps backwards, then toppled over and through the parting gym floor. He fell into the pool, disappearing beneath the surface of the water.
I ran to the edge of the still parting gym floor and peered wild-eyed down into the churning waters. “Alan!” I cried out.
Something was wrong. I could see Alan struggling in the water, but I couldn’t see the creature. “The enchantment isn’t working,” I mumbled.
Alan was thrashing about. He peered up to the surface, the bright beams of the high gymnasium ceiling lights reflecting off of his eyes. The fear of death was in them. One moment my friend was patting himself on the back over our heroics, and the next, he was in the clutches of a creature, wondering if he was going to die.
Blood began spilling into the water from a wound I couldn’t see. It came suddenly, and yet there was so much of it. It clouded the water of the pool, and I lost sight of my struggling friend.
A grouping of air bubbles rose to the surface. As the bubbles burst, the smell of death wafted up from the pool and into the air. I’d never smelled death before, but I knew the odor, foul and ancient, and filled with fear.
I looked around for help, but Petros and Rive still hadn’t arrived. I was alone. I looked up into the booth, but Lara was no longer there.
“Someone! Help!” I cried out, my cry drifting up to the high gym ceiling. Like hot air from a big balloon it dissipated in the atmosphere, a fruitless effort. No help. No one to save my friend.
I kicked off my shoes, sucked in a lungful of air, and dove through the parted gym floor.
There was no decision to dive into the pool. I did it without thinking. One moment I was standing on the edge of the gym floor, peering into the murky waters, and then, I was in.
I kicked down toward the commotion in the deep. The water was cold, even for a hot summer’s night, and I felt a shiver ripple my belly.
The weight of my water logged clothing dragged against the buoyancy of the water, preventing me from going down. I kicked harder, pointed my head like a projectile, and I finally got moving.
I didn’t see the creature, but I could feel pressure from the churn of struggle beneath me, and after a while I saw the eyes, just as I’d seen them skulking in the drain of Alan’s backyard pool. They were emerald green, and they were angry.
I swam toward the angry eyes, and my struggling friend
came into view. I arrived, and latched onto the claw that was clinging to his side. The claw was hard like a conch shell. I wrapped both my hands around the pincer, and yanked on it with all my might, expelling a tiny bit of air as I did. After several moments of struggle, the claw reluctantly released, and I was able to pull Alan free.
I corralled him in my arms, spun him around, and pushed him up toward the surface. He began rising slowly like a figure in an underwater dream sequence. He wasn’t swimming. There were no arm movements, no leg kicks. Still, he was rising, a foot or so every few moments, getting closer to the surface.
Swim, I thought. Swim, dammit!
Something latched onto my ankle from below.
I peered down and could see the creature in all his hideousness, pulling me into the depths of the pool. I tried to kick, but all that got me was searing pain in my right ankle. Fresh blood appeared in the water.
Mine, no doubt.
The creature continued pulling me down, trying to drown me. The pressure of the water pressed against my chest. I needed to get free. I needed to get to the surface. I needed to breathe.
The worst is behind us. You’re not going to die.
Lara’s words erupted in my mind as I realized there was no song playing. No music in my mind. Not happy, not sad, not nothing.
My lungs were starting to burn. The breath I’d been clinging to was turning stagnant. Now more than ever, I needed to breathe.
I kicked at the creature with my free leg. He ignored the kick, maintaining his grasp on my ankle, and more blood spewed forth. He yanked me down.
Ohmygod…Ohmygod… Ohmygod!
I need air. I need air, and I need it NOW. My lungs were on fire, no, worse than fire. I felt as though I was being scorched alive with molten lava from the inside. I had to let something in—air, water, anything to stop this incredible pain.
Just then, something exploded into the water above me. Someone had dove into the pool, and was knifing through the water toward me.
Sorry. Too late, I thought.
I opened my mouth, and breathed in. My breath hitched, and my eyes snapped open as if I’d been punched in the chest with a thousand volts of electricity. If I thought I was in pain before, the pain I felt earlier was nothing compared to the pain of my lungs filling with the one substance that was never, ever allowed inside—water.