by Ryals, R. K.
I don't release Emma's hand as we move. It's a comforting weight in my palm. She's grieving. I can feel it even without the power to sense emotion, and it hurts me. I'd never been a fan of the drex, but Emma's love for it was unconditional despite its Demonic history, despite the fact that it fed off flesh. Albeit, animal flesh once it was bound to Emma.
"This must end eventually," Bruno says, his voice low, even.
We are all worn out now, emotionally stretched to our limits. I think at some point we have all faced death, but for some of these hybrids, this is the closest death has come to effecting them personally.
Gwenyth is still frozen in her own grieving world. Letting Hesther go had taken all the strength she had left. Fiona, Deidra, and Lyre are silent, their faces drawn. Bruno and Gray are both stoic, but I know they maintain their calm for the sake of the group. I have mastered calm in unspeakable situations. I've seen and caused too many deaths.
"It's not a maze," Gray says. "So we just keep walking."
Bruno looks over at the rest of the hybrids.
"I know we're past the point of wanting to try, but do any of you sense anything?"
The hybrids slow, and I know they are using whatever abilities they have to search the darkness ahead. I reach out and let my free hand slide against the stone. The rock is quieter the further we go, almost as if it's pain has lessened. I think back on the biting sensation I'd felt earlier, and I know it was the gates.
"I don't want to keep going," Deidra says shortly.
She stops walking and we stop with her. The imp looks so very young in the dim light, her eyes wide and scared as she peers up at us.
"We have to, Dee," Emma says gently, her voice so hoarse and strained I know she wants to cry, but fights it. "We're trapped now. There's no turning back."
The imp shudders. "There's something terrifying ahead," she mutters.
Bruno kneels in front of her.
"What are you sensing?"
His words are gentle, and I realize as he looks fondly at the dark-skinned girl that the other hybrids are starting to see the imp in a different light, a more affectionate light. Maybe it was her fearless duck into the fallen stone to go after Hesther, but I honestly think it's more than that. I think they feel her loyalty, sense her desire to belong. Maybe once it would have put them off, but now belonging and loyalty mean everything.
Deidra's eyes go wide.
"Something fast, deep . . . " she says. "Something imps fear."
Fiona kneels next to Bruno.
"What do imps, fear?" she asks.
Deidra doesn't get a chance to answer before my head suddenly snaps up, my eyes on the tunnel.
"Water," I say.
Bruno looks up.
"What?"
"Water," I repeat. "And lots of it."
Bruno stands.
"What do you mean water? Here? In the labyrinth?"
Even from far away, I can hear the roar, feel the water in my bones.
"Grab a hold of each other," I order.
Deidra squeaks.
"I can't swim," she says frantically.
Emma grabs one of Deidra's hands and Fiona moves to take the other one.
"Is it deep?" Gray asks, and I nod.
I pause suddenly, turning on my feet to face the path we'd just left. I can feel the water now as if it's inside my body running through my veins, and I stiffen.
"It's coming from the way we came."
"That's impossible!" Lyre says.
I shrug, my eyes meeting hers.
"Maybe, but it's water, Lyre. I know water. "
She doesn't argue with me. She simply nods, and I find myself surprised by her sudden subdued nature. It hits me that she hasn't argued, hollered, or snorted since our run in with the wolf. My apology is a weight between us. Accepting it is up to her.
"Hold hands and keep walking," I order. "If it's coming, it's coming. Maybe we can ride it farther into the labyrinth."
"Easy for you to say, Gargoyle." Bruno grumbles. "You can hold your breath for hours."
The hybrids are stiff, fearful, but they move forward. There is a crashing roar from behind us, and we start to run. Deidra is crying.
"I won't let you go," I hear Emma tell her.
"Neither one of us will," Fiona promises.
The words are enough to calm the imp, but I still hear her hiccup.
"Deep breaths!" I yell. "It's here."
Those are my last words before the wave hits.
Chapter 23
Emma
I am cold.
I can't breathe.
I am scared.
I have been here before, in this muted, wet world. Its darkness is confining, murky, suffocating. My hand tightens on Deidra's and Conor's, and I try to open my eyes.
There is no sting when my lids slide open, just pressure from the water, and I know this water is fresh, salt free.
I look toward Conor, and breathing, though difficult, seems less important suddenly as I watch him. He is home in the water, his eyes open with no misgiving, his body strong, buoyed by the water's force. He even breathes in the waves, and I watch in awe as he uses his body to propel the hybrids forward. But even with his strength, the water is a force to be reckoned with, and I see him use his hands to keep us from hitting the wall. On my other side, Deidra is beginning to struggle, and I panic as I hold her more firmly.
Even further down, Gray, who is on the farthest side of the hybrids, hits the cavern wall hard, his head slammed against it. I know he blacks out when I see his body slacken, but Gwenyth squeezes hard, her hand keeping him tied to the group, her face determined.
I cry out under the water, my eyes on Gray and Deidra. Conor's hand squeezes mine, and I know he's heard me. I wonder suddenly if gargoyles can hear under water, and I make the last minute decision to waste precious air.
"We can't last!" I mouth into the wave.
Other than the feel of my lips moving, and the feel of cool water entering my mouth, I hear nothing, but Conor jerks, and I know I've succeeded. The move was a foolhardy one. I have no more air left, and my chest burns with the effort not to breathe. Is it better to let my lungs stay empty in death or suck in the water and die filled full of fluid?
My eyes move down the line of hybrids. Deidra has quit struggling and I watch as her eyes close, passing out against the lack of oxygen. Gray is still slack and Fiona, Bruno, and Lyre are struggling now for air. Gwenyth doesn't fight. She just looks sleepy, relieved. Maybe she hopes for death.
I feel the pull of darkness, and my gaze moves back to Deidra, her beautiful, curly black hair floating behind her slack face. I've lost too much. If Deidra is gone, I won't be able to go on. Darkness seems the better ally suddenly, and I let it take me.
Oblivion.
Sweet oblivion.
Chapter 24
Conor
I feel Emma's hand go slack in mine, and I turn to see her fading away. Beside her Deidra is gone. She hasn't been without oxygen long enough to be dead, but I'm not sure it will matter now. Gray is in even worse condition.
I scream into the wave, using every bit of gargoyle magic I know to call to the water. My magic surges forth, and I revel momentarily in the power before showing it all forward.
"Go, seep into the stone, into crevices, anywhere but here," I say, my mouth moving urgently.
The water seems to pause as if listening. I keep moving forward, screaming. I am not struggling for air. The water makes me stronger. Gargoyles don't breathe water, we absorb it into our bodies. Our lungs expand, the air in it trapped for as long as we need, protected. Any water I breathe in absorbs and then releases through my skin. It comes nowhere near my lungs. I've heard of gargoyles dying of a lot of things, but fluid build up in the lungs is not one of them.
My magic hits a barrier, and I realize someone else is controlling the water. Our powers collide, and I recoil. A Demon? I reach out again, my power slicing through the waves. When it hits the foreign magic, I don't wit
hdraw, I force myself forward. I won't let the hybrids die. I won't let Emma die.
"Water, be gone!" I order.
My power surprises the user who controls the wave, and I feel the water lowering, easing to the cavern floor. I push upward, dragging the hybrids with me until my head breaks the surface, the space between the cave's ceiling and the floor minimal but doable. Fiona, Lyre, and Bruno break the surface sputtering.
"Get the rest up!" I yell, and they weakly obey.
Fiona pulls Deidra close as I gather Emma in my arms. Neither one of them move. No breath escapes their lips.
I scream furiously at the water, my anger too powerful against the mysterious user in the cavern for him to maintain his control. Gargoyles are barriers against evil, a friend of stone and water. I use that because I know I will succeed if I do.
The water obeys, lowering quickly this time, seeping away in whirls as if a stopper has been jerked out of a drain. We all slam into the floor, the breathing hybrids bracing the ones who do not move.
"Damn it!" Bruno and I yell simultaneously, and our eyes meet, both of our gazes full of determined anguish.
It hits us both at the same time.
"Do it, Gargoyle!" Bruno orders, and I focus my powers on Gray, Gwenyth, Deidra, and Emma, forcing the water from their lungs as Bruno gathers his power over air.
Fiona and Lyre turn the hybrids over on their sides as water seeps from their mouths, and Bruno forces oxygen into their lungs.
Gwenyth coughs first, gasping as her body arches off of the ground, and Lyre wraps her arms around her chest, squeezing as Gwenyth vomits. It makes the corridor smell sour but no one cares. It's the sound of life.
I kneel next to Emma.
"Come on, Em!" I urge desperately.
There is more vomiting but when I look up, it's Deidra instead of Gwenyth, her small body curled in the fetal position as Fiona rubs her back and encourages her to breathe.
I let my head hang.
"Emma," I whisper. "Please."
I can't lose her now. I can't lose her when we haven't even had a decent start. I can't lose her.
"Pump his chest," Bruno says, and I glance at him as he and Lyre begin CPR on Gray. The water is out of his lungs, but he still isn't breathing.
"Come help me," I tell Fiona, and she nods, settling next to Emma as I roll her onto her back. We're all reverting to basic first aid. I was trained in it long ago, and the hybrids were trained by Marion.
I breathe into Emma's mouth as Fiona pumps her chest, counting. I wait and breathe again.
"Come on, Emma! Dammit! Gray needs you! Hell, I need you!"
I know how she is about helping others, and I use that. No response.
I look up at Fiona.
"Again!"
She nods, and I breathe. Fiona pumps.
I am just about to breathe again when Emma coughs, and I move aside just quick enough to miss her vomiting on the cavern floor, the exact spot where I had been sitting. I smile because I know it would mortify her to know that.
"Emma?" I say.
Her water-reddened eyes open, and I place a hand against her head.
"Emma, are you okay?"
She nods against my palm, rolling to the side with her hand against her chest. I lean over her, my hand running down her body. Emma. Beautiful, practical, caring Emma. She is the total opposite of me. I run from emotion, she stays and embraces it the best she can. I need her. In many ways, I love her.
Bruno swears from behind me, and I look over my shoulder before turning back to Emma.
"You've gotta get up, Em. We need your help."
She moans just as Bruno walks over, his head shaking.
"Gray's breathing, but his head injury is bad, and I think there may be some damage to his lungs. His breathing is not normal."
I look back down at Emma. "We're all alive. Do you hear me, Em? We're all alive, but Gray needs you. Please."
She rolls back over, gasping, and I support her back so she can sit up, my lips pressing against her forehead, my eyes meeting hers. We can do this. Together we can do this.
"Deidra?" she asks.
"Fine," I answer, and I move her head to the side so she can see the young imp curled on the floor, her breathing steady. Lyre is next to Deidra now, and her gaze meets Emma's.
"She's fine," Lyre says, but then she moves aside and Gray is suddenly in view, his face pale, his breathing too deep, hollowing out with each gasp, to be normal. His head is a swollen mess. "But he's not."
Emma struggles to stand, and I pull her to me as she stumbles.
"Let me," I say, and she doesn't argue.
I half carry her to Gray's side, and she falls to her knees, her hands coming to rest gently against his head.
"Can you help him?" Bruno asks.
Emma looks at him.
"I honestly don't know. It might help if we pool our powers."
All of the hybrids, even a crawling Gwenyth and Deidra, move to Emma, their hands coming to rest on her back and shoulders.
"Do it," Bruno says.
He speaks for all of them and Emma leans over Gray, her eyes closed. I see nothing other than Emma's hands against Gray's brows, but I know she's doing something.
She pulls away suddenly and dry heaves, but the other hybrids don't remove their hands, and she quickly returns hers to Gray. The swelling in his head seems to be going down, and I near the group slowly, hopefully.
"Come on, Gray!"
Emma's words are high, frantic.
Gwenyth slumps, her hand falling, too weak to hold on to Emma, her sobs obvious.
"No more," she says. "We can't lose any more."
I kneel beside Gwenyth, taking her beneath the armpits to prop her up against my side. I lift her hand and place it back on Emma.
"No more," I agree.
The tears she cries are steady, and I feel the way Emma stiffens as my hand covers Gwenyth's on her back.
Emma looks over her shoulder, her eyes bright.
"Can you place your other hand on me too?" she asks.
I want to make a lurid joke about hands and bodies, but I don't have anymore humor left in me. I nod instead, shifting Gwenyth so that she leans against my chest, my arms on each side of her. I keep one hand over Gwenyth's, but I place the other fully against Emma's back.
Emma's eyes redden.
"I can feel your power," she says hoarsely. "It can help. Don't block any emotions from me."
I nod again, and she turns away, her hands on Gray as she peers closely at his face. Her eyes close once more. I don't block my emotions, and I send the confusing whirl of feelings at Emma. After a moment, Bruno relaxes.
"It's working. He's breathing easier."
Gwenyth's crying has stopped now, her eyes on Gray. His breathing is more even, less labored, and the swelling on his face is almost gone.
"But is it helping?" I ask.
Emma doesn't answer. She simply continues to lean over Gray. Her eyes are open now, red and determined.
"You can do it, Gray," she whispers.
The words seem to be enough. One moment Gray is unconscious, the next he's staring at us all, his eyes wide and full of fear.
He starts to thrash, and we all quickly move to restrain him. Out of all of the hybrids who've suffered most from our under water jaunt, Gray vomits the most, his body wracked with heaving spasms even after there is nothing to throw up.
"Gray?" Emma says gently.
He looks up, his wild eyes meeting Emma's.
"Do you know where you are?" she asks.
He nods. "Labyrinth . . . gasp . . . water . . . gasp . . . dreams . . . "
His head rolls to the side, and Emma sits up, her eyes skirting the group. Gray is alive. Traumatized, his mind probably seeing things the rest of are missing, but he's alive. Gray starts dry heaving again, and Emma rubs his back.
I settle Gwenyth against Fiona as I stand up, rubbing the back of my head irritably. There's a nagging pain just above my neck, and I walk
away from the group, moving to the cavern wall so I can touch the stone.
"Are you alright?" Emma asks, and I look up to see her standing not far from me, her own hand on the stone to keep from falling. We are all weak, tired.
"I'm fine," I say just as another wave of pain hits me. It almost forces me to my knees, but I fight it, standing straight, my narrowed eyes on the tunnel in front of me.
"Who are you?" I ask, the question loud enough to echo.
The hybrids stiffen, the strongest ones among them supporting the weakest as they all fight to stand. Only Gray remains on the cavern floor, the hybrids standing in front of him defensively. Emma scoots closer to me, and I hold an arm out to her. She takes it without hesitation and steps into my embrace.
"You foil me, Gargoyle. Honestly, it was a little surprising."
The man that follows the voice isn't intimidating in the least. He is only a little taller than Deidra, maybe five foot even, with a rotund belly and a round face. When he smiles, he even reminds me of a beardless Santa Claus, the same one on the Coca-Cola cans at Christmas, but I'd felt his power under the waves. He is the antithesis of Santa.
"How's the head?" the man asks.
I grimace as another sharp pain slides through my neck and travels up the back of my head. I feel Emma put her arm around my waist, and I realize I must have faltered some with the pain.
"Kunopaston," I say through gritted teeth.
This Demon I know. I know him because gargoyles are required to learn the Demons who may effect them the most. Kunopaston has as much of an affinity with water as gargoyles. He's a powerful Demon with a mischievous nature. He plays games with men at sea, capsizing ships even in the midst of calm waters. The gargoyles even suspect he has something to do with most of the disappearances over the Bermuda Triangle.
The Demon's eyes widen.
"Ho, but you know me, Gargoyle? Call me Kunos then. A shorter name among friends."
Another pain hits me, and Emma almost falls as she braces us both against the wall. I place a hand against my forehead. There is sweat there now as I try to fight his power. We are in Hell. This is Kunos' domain.