The Crescent Hour ✓

Chapter 15. Sanctuary

Clara screamed and screamed as the abyss swallowed them whole. This was it. The end of her short life. To die so far from home, so terribly far. When her back hit something icy and slippery and her breath punched out of her lungs, she stilled. This wasn’t death. This was water.

She kicked her legs and thrust her hands in swift strokes. The cold water chilled her to the bones. When her head broke through the surface, Clara gulped a lungful of air. A shiver trekked through her spine. Tamer had surfaced beside her.

We’re alive. Alive!

He held her shoulder to keep her steady. “Mecha, see if you can find a way out.”

A spot of purple light lit up as Tamer extricated the crystal from his drenched pocket. She had dropped hers. Mecha left its spot from her head and flew around in circles, its dome-shaped body lighting up in a topaz glow.

He moved back. “I’ll check underwater.”

As Tamer sunk back into the water, the pit grew dark. She followed Mecha’s glow when it soared higher and higher towards the crevice from which they had fallen. She couldn’t tell how deep the pit was but the fall had felt endless as though they were descending to the bowels of hell.

A grimace crossed her face. She swam away from the center of the pool and ran her hands along the coarse walls. There were no steps out of the pool. If they couldn’t find a way out, they would be trapped in the pit until they starved to death or succumbed to hypothermia.

Don’t think of death.

Mecha returned to her and tried to settle on her head but she grabbed it. “Did you see anything?”

It gave a prolonged chirp that ended on a low pitch.

No way out. We’re stuck here.

She sighed and let it sit on her neck. Squeezing her hand into the pocket of her trousers, she pulled out one of the magical shards and traced the Smog symbol with her thumb. The crystal provided a source of light but it was too dim.

The water stirred and Tamer rose to the surface. He breathed in the cold air and spat water. “I found a tunnel but I couldn’t follow it to the end because I ran out of air. We’ll need to swim through it.”

She returned the crystal to her pocket. “Let’s go.”

Clara inhaled and then dived inside the pool. She followed Tamer into the tunnel, using his crystal as a beacon. They swam until her legs ached and her lungs begged for air. Memories of her near drowning experience materialised in her mind, driving fear into her heart. Thunder roared in her ears and water pressed into her ribs. She shoved the images away from her thoughts.

The underwater passage rose upwards as they neared the end. When she saw flashes of light, she swam faster until she reached the surface. Her chest heaved and her eyes stung.

Mecha squealed and fluttered away. Clara took in the surroundings once her eyes had adjusted to the light. Stone steps dipped into the pool and pale blue light streamed from an arched passageway to the far side of the cave. Dragging herself out of the pool, she sat on the ledge and squeezed her clothes dry.

“I thought I was going to drown,” she said.

Tamer held a hand to her. “I wouldn’t let you.”

She put her palm on his and he pulled her up. His wet shirt clung to his frame. He wasn’t bulky but she could see lean muscles outlined by the clothing. She lifted her gaze to his face, at the three-day stubble that gave him a sharp warrior look. Her gaze went higher.  He had caught her staring.