“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I cried as I realized what I was looking at.
It was a wave.
A wave, far larger than any of the others, rolling quickly over the water, growing larger and larger. Even though there was nowhere to go, I looked around frantically before spinning back to face the cliff and pressed myself against it, trying to find a place to hold on; hard-packed sand crumbling beneath my fingers.
The roar was almost deafening as the wave slammed into the cliffs above me. The water crashed down around me, throwing me painfully into the cliff, then dragging me away, I fought against it and managed to grab onto a root jutting out of the sandy cliff face – it wiggled, but the pull of the water weakened and as quickly as it had come, it was gone.
I was left, soaked from head to toe, standing back in the serene waist-deep water. I stayed there for a moment, trying to catch my breath.
“Where’s a… where’s a water elemental… when you need one?” I gasped.
With no other choice I kept going half-walking, half-swimming through the ever-deepening water. Once it was midway up my chest each little ripple started lifting my feet from the bottom and pushing me toward the cliff, before pulling me back slightly. The water was freezing, but at least the cold was making it hard to feel tired. Pretty soon I was going to be forced to just swim. I wished I were a little taller; being over six feet like Tethys and Danio would have been nice, hell at this point I’d take an even six. Anything to gain a few more minutes with my feet on the ground.
I wondered suddenly if I could go up. What I was doing certainly wasn’t working. I didn’t really have anything to lose at this point. I turned and reached up, trying to get a good grip in the cliff. They were made entirely of hard sand and instead of finding a handhold, I just dug my fingers in and made one. It crumbled as soon as I put my weight on it. I tried again. And again.
The water crept up to my shoulders, but with some practice I mastered jabbing my fingers and kicking my feet deep enough into the cliff to pull myself up, but not so hard that I broke through it.
Slowly, I started to climb. I was actually somewhat impressed with myself as I came completely out of the water. A couple more feet and I could reach a tree root. I grabbed it and tugged gently, it wasn’t a root, it was a branch and it slipped completely free of the cliff and I lost my balance, splashing back down into the water. I tried to stand up and ended up dunking myself. Cursing, I angled myself onto my tiptoes, keeping my face just barely above the water. Well, if climbing didn’t work that was it.
I took a breath, as deep as I could with my face half in the water, and glared up at the cliff. I was not going to let this stupid beach beat me.
I returned to my technique of punching the cliff and soon was back up. At least I was getting somewhere like this. Somewhere different anyway. This time, I skipped the roots and just stuck to making my own handholds.
A low rumble started echoing off the cliffs.
No.
I turned nervously and, sure enough, spotted another wave rolling across the water, gaining height and strength as it went. It was like something out of a nightmare as it drew closer, looming above me as it started to fall. For a moment it seemed to hang there, bathing me in foreboding shadow, then it crashed.
I rolled and tumbled under the water with no idea which way was up, I smashed into something, either the sandy bottom that was once beach or the cliff, I couldn’t tell; I fought against the current, even though I didn’t know where I was even trying to go, forcing my eyes open I looked around the water. There! That direction was brighter.
My lungs were burning and my head was throbbing as I kicked in the direction of the surface. I hoped. It seemed so far away, I could swear I wasn’t actually swimming at all. My shoes and jeans felt like they weighed a million pounds and my t-shirt was in the way as I struggled. Spots swam before my eyes and suddenly my head broke the surface.
I sucked in a desperate gulp of air, too soon. Water flooded my mouth and I coughed and gagged, nearly bobbing back under. Somehow, I was still near the cliff. My fingers scratched desperately against it until I came to my senses and punched a hole I could grab onto.
There I hung, choking and gasping for breath. I couldn’t tell if I was shaking or shivering; didn’t know if the water running down my face was just from the ocean or if I had started crying, I sure as hell wanted to.
“Now,” I coughed weakly. “Would be a great time to show up and rescue me, Danio.” I rested my forehead against the cliff, still breathing hard. “I’ll even let you make fun of me forever.”
But no, I was alone. Alone and trapped in an ocean that couldn’t possibly exist. If this was a dream, I was really ready to wake up.
I was going to die here.
This time, I knew the chill that went up my spine wasn’t from the cold water. I couldn’t keep this up for much longer. I was exhausted, physically and mentally. I didn’t often feel helpless as a vampire, but the rising water was something I couldn’t outrun or overpower. A few more of those horrible waves and I’d be too tired to fight my way back to the surface.
I was going to drown here. Not that I knew where “here” was. Or what it was. Or even how I ended up on this godforsaken beach. It wasn’t even a beach anymore, it was just an endless expanse of watery hell.
For a minute, I just stayed in place, clutching the cliff while the waves tugged at me, feeling sorry for myself. My lungs ached and I was pretty sure I inhaled some water. I strained my feet but couldn’t find the bottom anymore. Was this… it?
No.
I took a deep, determined breath. I was not going to die here. No.
I started up again, climbing the cliff even though I had no idea how high it was – assuming the damn thing didn’t go up forever like the beach seemed to – or what I’d find at the top. This time, I got even higher than before. I kept an ear out for the telltale roaring of another giant wave, instead I heard a different sound. I paused, frowning, unable to figure out what the strange creaking sound was.
Then, right in front of my face, a crack split across the face of the cliff with a loud pop. Then another creak, one that sounded like it was coming from deep inside the cliff itself! The crack popped again and jumped another foot across the cliff.
With a curse, I hurried to get to the side but when I punched a new handhold a crack shot out from the hole. The creaking intensified and several more cracks formed. With one last echoing bang, a huge chunk of the cliff broke away, tumbling down to the water below, taking me along with it.
All I could to was try to protect myself from the falling cliff as I crashed back into the icy water. This time it was like swimming through mud as the sandy cliffs broke apart. I opened my eyes and regretted it immediately; the water was so full of sand I couldn’t see and my eyes began to sting, even as I closed them again.
Exhausted, torn by frustration and helplessness and desperation, I swam back up. This time, I made sure my head was far enough out of the water before I took a breath. This was insane. The water around me was thick and murky from the sand. Smaller clumps were still falling, splashing around me. I looked up to make sure another large one wasn’t on the way and gasped; the falling sand had exposed what looked like solid rock! Unless it was my imagination, there was a ledge!
Something brushed by my leg. What the hell? I squinted down into the cloudy water. Was it a branch or something from the cliff? It wrapped around my ankle and tugged. Nope, not a branch!
“Shit! Sh-“ I gasped as I went under, kicking frantically, trying to hit whatever had me. My free foot connected with something, the grip loosened and I yanked my foot up and splashed back to the surface.
How could this situation possibly be getting worse?
I spun and tried to get back up the wall. One hand. Two hands. One foot. Reach… I raised my second foot and kicked it into the wall, but before I could pull myself up to get another foothold, the thing wrapped around my ankle again. This time, something like t
eeth sank in.
A scream tore from my throat as it yanked me off the wall again. I hit the water and something else grabbed me by the wrist. Pain radiated up my leg. Well, two could play at that game. I forced my wrist up and sank my fangs into whatever was holding me. A foul taste exploded into my mouth, but it recoiled and released me.
I couldn’t get back to the cliff fast enough. With each inch I gained on the wall I was sure I’d feel the thing grab me again. At last, I got high enough that I risked looking down. The water still looked infuriatingly calm. I heaved a sigh. My limbs were all shaking and my leg was killing me now and the air was thick with the scent of my blood, but I was in no position to stop and examine the wound. I had to get to that ledge. My next handhold gave out and I almost fell.
Nearly crying from frustration, I desperately clung to the cliff, breathing hard. My lingering hope that this was some sort of awful nightmare or hallucination was finally fading; surely I would have snapped out of it by now. This, somehow, was really happening to me.
Well, if nothing else, the thing in the water gave me the adrenaline boost I needed. Now to just keep climbing. Wait, adrenaline boost! Why was I such an idiot? I supposed I didn’t exactly do it often…
I tongued a gland in the back of my mouth and converted my saliva to a numbing agent, then carefully let go of the cliff with one hand so I could lick my wrist. I couldn’t afford to waste any time letting it get fully numb, so as soon as I felt a tingle I prodded a different gland, switching to a form of adrenaline. I waited long enough for the taste of my saliva to fully change, then with practiced eased sucked it up into my fangs before sinking them into my wrist.
Pain shot through me and I nearly let go of the cliff. I cursed silently as I forced myself to keep my fangs in place. I was not nearly as numb as I should have been. Judging from the temperament of the one blood wizard I had encountered, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that vampire bites were excruciatingly painful by design. I quickly injected the adrenaline, then converted my saliva to a healing accelerant. Since I already had two gaping holes in my wrist, I went ahead and injected that too; it wasn’t as if I couldn’t use it, with any luck it would help my leg.
Even as I licked the punctures closed, I could feel the energy coursing through me. Now that’s what I was talking about.
Feeling invigorated and more determined than ever, I dug another fist into the side of the sandy cliff and hauled myself up. Hand, foot, foot, hand, hand, foot. Up and up and up, pausing now and again to feel above me for the solid rocks I saw from the water. Just as I was starting to worry I had imagined the rocks, my fingers found something solid. I tugged carefully. Yes!
Hearts in my throat, I pulled myself up a little farther and grabbed the hard rock with both hands… it wasn’t a ledge; it was a tunnel! A laugh of relief escaped me as I scrambled into the tunnel, collapsing gratefully on the cool rocks.
For a couple of minutes I stayed there, finally allowing myself a moment to breathe, before examining my leg. Whatever grabbed me had slashed through my jeans and into my calf. I frowned at the wound as I converted my saliva to healing accelerant. The wound was a long oval made up of several deep puncture marks that looked more like they were from thick needles than teeth. Something about it was familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
As I studied the wound, my concentration was broken by a strange sound. Water? I sat up just in time to see some water splash around the mouth of the tunnel.
What?!
I rushed to the edge and bit back a gasp. The fucking ocean was here, almost all the way up to the tunnel! The damn water was still gently lapping as far as I could see, rippling in the bright sun, at least I escaped that. As I watched, a gentle wave streamed across the floor, brushing against the bottom of my foot before retreating out again. Another rolled in after it, coming up just a bit farther.
“Oh, screw this,” I groaned. This was impossible! Was I going insane?
Then, a roar.
“No, no, no!” I looked out at the water in horror. Just as I feared, one of the huge waves was towering in the distance, coming closer and closer.
I turned and ran.
My footsteps echoed down the tunnel as I raced frantically from the entrance, the roaring getting closer and closer. I slipped and slid on the uneven rocks, struggling to keep my balance in my wet shoes and heavy, water-logged pants. I heard a thunderous crash as the water hit the cliff. Everything shook.
I could hear the wave splashing and roaring down the tunnel toward me. There was no way it was faster than a vampire, was it?
I turned a corner, not caring where it led. I spared a glance behind me and gasped in horror as the water came crashing into view. I whirled, but it was too late. The wave slammed into me, throwing me off my feet and careening down the tunnel with me, bashing me mercilessly into the walls and floors and ceiling. I fought just to find a chance to breathe, forget trying to control where I was going.
At last, I was flung into the ground and everything was still. Groaning, I staggered to my feet and looked around.
What the hell?! I was in a room identical to the one I was in before! I spun around in disbelief. It was the same size; one small circle with several stone archways with spiral staircases inside. This time, I counted them. Seven. The number made me narrow my eyes; why did the phrase seven doorways ring a bell?
I glanced at the one I had come from and shivered. The stairs were slick with water, some still pooling in divots in the stone. I sure as hell wasn’t going back that way. I took a step forward and sniffed. Blood! I took another sniff and realized with shock that it was my blood, but older, not the fresh blood on my leg. I followed the scent and found a small stain on the ground that smelled like a mix of my blood and saliva. How… I suddenly remembered spitting after cutting my tongue, but that was…
It wasn’t identical to the place where I was before, miles and miles away. It was the same damn room.
This just kept getting stranger. But if I was back, that meant I could get out again! I crossed the room, sniffing, trying to figure out which one was the original staircase I came down.
A sound. I jerked my head around in time to see a shadow behind me. One of the puddles on the stairs was rippling a little. I probably could have easily taken down most magics, even tired and sore, but I really wasn’t in the mood to have to fight someone. I turned and ducked into the closest doorway, sprinting up the stairs and around the corner. I waited a couple of minutes, but heard nothing.
Carefully, I tiptoed back down the stairs and around… and around… and around. What the…
I broke into a run and went around several more times. Impossible. I turned and ran back up the stairs. Had I missed the doorway somehow?
I hurtled around spiral after spiral and nearly tripped over the threshold as I stumbled out… into a very familiar forest.
Chapter Seven
Mariana
“Dani, be careful!” Charlie said.
“I just want to see… It keeps curving. It’s like a spiral-stair—”
Just like that, his voice cut off.
“Danio?” Charlie whispered. “Danio?!”
Silence. My heart was in my throat as I leaned around Jen, trying to see. Charlie rushed down the stairs.
“Wait!” Jen cried.
She hurried after him. I saw her grab his sweatshirt and pull; for a moment I thought she had him, then they both stumbled around the corner and out of sight.
“Char!” TS snapped. “Jen!” He lunged forward with a curse. “Stay here!” he ordered, shouldering me aside.
But the stairs were too narrow. I gasped in pain as he crushed me against the wall.
“Fecking hell!” he spat.
We were both jammed together on the stairs, like something out of some stupid movie. People actually got stuck like this in real life? We wiggled for a moment, then I grabbed his back and tried to pull myself up. That worked. I fell sideways, clutching his fur, hiked up my skirt, and swu
ng a leg over him. The moment I was on, he hurried forward. I rocked wildly as he went down the stairs and around the corner after them.
“Charlie!” he called softly. “Jen?”
We went around another curve and I nearly bashed my nose into his shoulders as he leveled out onto flat ground. I sat up and looked around. We were in a round room with a bunch of archways with staircases in them. One of them was wet and the floor had a few small puddles.
But there was nobody else here.
“Where are they?!” I cried.
TS shook his head, shaking me in the process. “I smell them, but…” He went rigid and gasped.
“TS?”
“Shannon!” he cried. “I can’t sense Shannon!”
He whirled around and I twisted his fur in my fingers and tightened my legs as he hurtled back up the stairs. I started to get dizzy as he whipped around the spiral-staircase. We exploded out of the tree and he skidded across the ground, looking this way and that frantically.
Suddenly, he began to change. I cried out in surprise as he stumbled and fell off his back.
“Why did you shift?” I asked, climbing back to my feet.
“I didn’t mean to!”
TS looked down at himself in alarm, then around the forest. “Bloody hell, it’s daytime!”
“The sun’s up already?” Even as I asked, it didn’t make sense. It seemed way too bright to be close to sunrise. I could see the sun through the leaves, high in the sky.
“I can’t… I can’t tell,” he said, frowning. “I can’t sense it. That’s not what shifting at sunrise feels like anyway.”
“Are you… human?” I asked nervously. “Like, daytime-human or non-magic-human?!”
“I don’t know.” TS looked around again and I had a feeling he was on the verge of panicking, which did not make me feel better. “Everything looks normal… Have you got anything red?”
“Um…” I examined my clothes, then fumbled through my pockets. Oh! My MES ID was on a red lanyard. I tugged it out and held it up. “Here!”
Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 23