A Fever Dream

CHAPTER 34. All the rivers flow somewhere

The down was up and up was down, and I was somewhere in between, flailing my hands through the vicious darkness.

I lost control over my thoughts, but one persisted above all else: how did I end up here?

Will you beleive me if I told you it's all your fault? Whispered the darkness.

Will you beleive me if I said it was someone else's? Whispered the water, as I tried not to inhale it.

Someone's hand stirred me forward, reminding me I wasn't alone.

I knew I have broke through the surface of the water only by the loud splashing sound we made. It was as dark above, as it was dark below. I clenched to the cold hand, grasping mine, and gasped for air. It has never had a better taste.

"Where are we?" I asked, spitting out water. And for a heartbeat, I felt a heart-wrenching suspicion no one would answer me. There was only darkness around me, and my eyes could not adjust, no matter how much I blinked. Alone in this place, where the thin line between water and non-water didn't exist.

"I have no idea. But it's not pleasant."

I let out a sharp breath. Right next to me, Elliot spat out water, gasping for air just as greedily, as I was. I clenched the sleeve of his shirt for dear life, as the echoes of our words carried on through the cavities overhead. 

But there was also this other sound. A muffled thud coming from somewhere far abowe, becoming louder and louder with every minute.

I turned to where I thought Elliot must have been. "Do you hear this too?" 

"We're not safe here."

He murmured something under his breath and twin yellow light specks materialized out of thin air and whirled high above our heads.

I trailed their path with my eyes, glad to finally focus on something, cataloging blurry outlines of rocky surfaces which they highlighted.

"A cave," Elliot voiced out my thoughts. "Obsidian."

I frowned into the darkness. A shiver broke through my body. The last time I've been to these caves was the last time we met.

"The castle bones?" 

Instead of answering, Elliot pried my hand off his shirt and stirred me left. "Over there. There must be dry ground. Don't let me go."

Believe me, that's the last thing I want, I thought, but held my tongue.

Swimming hand in hand was not an easy task, but it was better than getting lost in the black lake, I decided, as I dipped my chin in and out of icy water. We swam for a while, like a pair of eels, our breathing and the ripples of the lake the only sounds loud enough to overpower the dull background noise. It sounded like an earthquake far away.

Pictures flashed before my mind - people of Neversnow rushing out of their houses, frantic to search for shelter, cradling their children and their belongings to their chests. Big clock tower tumbling down. Stark green meadows withering and forests all yellow and castles in ruins. Dust in the air, clouding the skies.

"Phew," For a moment I forgot not to breathe and gulped in a mouthful.

"You're all right?"

"No," I mumbled, gasping for air. "I'm not."

"We're almost there." I knew it was a lie.

We swam in the dark caves for what seemed like an eternity.

Yellow lights danced on the stones, like fleeting ghosts, and that was it.

I tried to pretend the air was warm and that I didn't feel pins and needles in my feet, but that didn't work. It was cold and smelled like seaweed.