Spirit World Adventures

Chapter 15 - A Deeper Dive

We decided the next most obvious item on our scavenger hunt list was the water. Though it was the most confusing, it seemed obvious that water would be found, well, in water. Quickly, not wanting to lose any unnecessary time, we dashed over to the river beside the Institute. The boys were there, too. Damn it, we had to hurry.

'Don't worry about it, we are far smarter than they are,' Acacia said, before looking at me and Thomas, 'Well, half of us are.'

I glared at her, but Olivia shook her head, so I held myself back.

'Now I don't know if you realise it, but most water will slowly leak out of your hands so to find water that doesn't seems preposterous to me, but there must be something to it. I don't think there's any point in us all trying to grab as much of the river as we can...'

We looked over and saw Wallis doing exactly that. Acacia rolled her eyes.

'Why don't we speak to the water nymphs?' I said quickly, remembering their help from before when we built the trench.

'Water nymphs?' Olivia asked.

'Yeah, they're these nice spirits that come from the river. I bet they could tell us or at least help us a bit,' I shrugged.

'Good idea, Tenaya,' Thomas said, 'but how do we find them?'

'I don't know, they just showed up before. Let's go by the river and see if we can find them.'

We went a little way down the riverbank to get out of earshot of the other group, before kneeling beside the river. It was a near-clear emerald colour with a gentle current. As I peered in, I saw things moving about inside and it went much deeper than you would think at first glance. I tapped the water and it felt like jelly under my palm. There was no ripple against the surface.

'Wait a minute,' I said, 'Why is the water acting funny?'

Acacia came to inspect it with me, and she realised it was doing the same for her. But for Thomas, as he tried to pick it up like Wallis, it fell through his hands like normal water.

'I don't think we can grab it, but maybe we can...go in?' Acacia ventured.

'I've been in water more often than I'd like in the last few days. More often than ever before in my life!' I groaned. 'But I agree...'

Olivia and Thomas nodded. And so, we timidly took off our shoes, rolled up our trousers and slowly stepped into the water. It felt thicker than water, perhaps more like custard or porridge (things I'd had for the first time at the Institute, and oh my Gods, they were delightful!). From here, we tried to pick it up, but it fell through like water should. Well, I was stumped. But I could see the cogs in Acacia's brain going around and around. Olivia and I just stared at her while Thomas kicked and tried to catch the water in his hands – as if he could catch it off guard or something.

Acacia spoke slowly, 'Let's go under.'

'Erm, what?'

'Under the water, let's go under it. I don't know why, exactly, but I think that's the point. The water is inviting us in. We can't come along and disturb it, but we can go inside...'

'Acacia, we're not fish! We can't breathe under there!' I protested.

'Yes, but this isn't normal. This isn't some normal river, in a normal place, right? Master Jack would go under. That maniac Ko would go under!'

I peered across the river and Ko was indeed in the water while the boys were arguing on the bank none the wiser.

'So, are you guys in or out?'

I hadn't drowned so far, so I decided to give it a shot. Hopefully the nymphs would save me if I did start to die. Hopefully, hopefully...

We walked a little further into the water where it was deeper and then one by one allowed ourselves to sink underneath it. The water was perfect. Not hot, not cold, just in perfect harmony with my body temperature. Holding my breath, I looked around and saw, well, everything. That was the odd part. You know how usually, if you're under water, everything seemed blurred and fuzzy? Not this time. I could see everything as clearly as if I was standing on the bank still. But my throat felt thick and my chest heavy, as if it was weighing me down. I needed to breathe. I wasn't used to holding my breath for so long. I kicked me feet and pointed at my throat but none of the others were looking my way.

'Just breathe...'

The voice came from all around me, but when I turned around, I saw Enyo, one of the water nymphs. She was swimming towards me, grinning with pearly white teeth. Apprehensive but daring, I opened my mouth and breathed in the water. But it came like air. That's it, I thought, I don't get this world at all. Was it really happening, all these strange things, or was it in our heads?

'This is so cool,' I said to Enyo, then laughing and holding my mouth when I realised that I was speaking clearly through the water.

'You just talked!' Acacia said, swimming towards me.

'So did you!'

'This is preposterous,' she said, but she wasn't frowning disapprovingly; she was grinning in awe.

We were in an underwater paradise. As we followed Enyo down and around and through the water, we saw that it was like a city. Tall seaweed grew up from the waterbed like trees swaying in the current. We swam over bridges that connected buildings of stone covered in green moss and flowers and tiny fishes. Enyo beckoned us to stand on one of the bridges, beside a tree where a creature slept. It's body was like a dog or a wolf, but its tail turned green at the ends and looked like it was a part of the landscape itself.

'What is your purpose in my home?' Enyo asked, smiling with curiosity.

'We are doing a scavenger hunt and we are looking for water that you can hold in your hands,' I said.

Enyo squinted, 'That sounds odd. I know not of what that could mean. But feel free to explore the depths, I'm sure you'll find many great things down here that you have never seen before...'

And with that, she flew off. Swam off? Whatever!

'Maybe we're in the wrong place,' Thomas ventured, 'Perhaps it's a different river we're supposed to go to.'

'No, I think it's this but it's just about thinking outside the box,' Acacia said, looking around her. 'Trouble is, this place is clearly huge. This isn't a river, it's like the whole ocean.'

'Well, isn't every body of water supposed to connect in some way?' Olivia said, 'I mean, I'm not sure, and it's definitely not the case in our world anymore, but wasn't that how it used to be?'

Just then, the wolf-dog-sea creature jumped up and sprang off into the distance. The random startled behaviour worried me, and she reminded me so much of Kya that I followed after her. Acacia yelled for me to come back but they all followed me, too. We were in a tangle of tight forest, many things moving and weaving around us. But then we came upon a clearing, opening out into dark empty waters. Looking up, I saw pieces of something floating in the water. I swam up with ease and took a piece in my hands. It was plastic. Perhaps an old water bottle. Fragments from our world.

'Master Jack said the worlds are connected but...' I shook my head.

For some reason, this made me mad. Things like this didn't belong here. Not in this lovely paradise with these innocent creatures. The air (or rather, the water) felt thinner here. But it was a little harder to breathe, suddenly. And then I saw a massive shadow coming towards us. I suddenly realised why the wolf-thing had been scared.

'The Nayslayer!' Thomas cried, running to hide behind a tree.

Olivia and Acacia tensed up.

But then the thing revealed itself. It wasn't moving but drifting, taken along by the current. It was dead. It was just bones held together loosely by muscle and half-eaten meat. I held my mouth, a sickness rising. Whatever it had been, the sea had killed it. We had killed it.

We heard a scream behind us, so we ran to find Thomas on his back, bent over something on the ground. He rubbed his bum before getting up and revealing something shiny.

'A pearl!' Acacia yelped, 'Thomas, you've found something!'

'I did?'

'That's the second thing on our list, yes!' she fist-pumped the water.

We put the pearl gently into our backpack and decided to leave, before wasting any more time. But I couldn't get the image of the carcass out of my head.