Waiting For Sunrise - The Books Of Beginning AU

50. Heroes Of The Day

Emma's ears rung, her ankle throbbed, and she was shivering violently as a result of being completely drenched. All around her, huge plumes of water shot through a crack in the side of the dam. The rushing sound it created was all-encompassing. She blinked rapidly and looked around for the monster, but couldn't see it. Was it possible the explosion had killed it?

The dam groaned, more boards cracked and splintered, and Emma realized the creature was, at the moment, the least of her problems. She had to get herself and Gabriel out of here.

"Gabriel!" She shook him by the shoulders. "You've gotta wake up! Gabriel!"

His eyes opened and she breathed a sigh of relief. Her friend wasn't dead. She'd have wept with joy, had it not wasted valuable time, time they needed to spend on survival. 

Gabriel sat up, cradling his injured arm to his chest. Pain was written all across his face, but he soldiered through it and spoke steadily to her. "How did I get here?"

Emma replied, "you were fightin' that monster; only 'e musta been fightin' dirty or something, because you fell on that." She pointed to the catwalk above them, then, after a moment's pause, added, "but you bounced real hard an' landed down here." If he didn't remember that she'd pushed him off the catwalk, she saw no reason to remind him.

"The mines..."

"Yeah, one of 'em exploded," she confirmed. "The monster was standing right beside it when it happened. Now c'mon, we gotta get out a' here."

They each struggled to their feet and began limping, arm in arm, down the catwalk. The river was pouring in, filling up the hollow center of the dam. By the time they made it to the stairs, the water was already sloshing around their ankles. Once it filled fully with water, Emma thought, the pressure would become too much. The dam would simply collapse apart and be washed away by the current. As would the Countess's boat, killing everyone still on it.

But Dr. Pym, Kate, and Michael would've made it off by now, and got all the kids to safety too, Emma reassured herself. Kate and Michael were smart, and Dr. Pym, he was a wizard. A powerful one. What good was all that magic if he couldn't do something as simple as moving some children from the boat to the land?

She let her strong opinions about magic distract her from the pain in her ankle. It provided her with strength to draw on as she ascended the stairs. She'd made it halfway up when Gabriel suddenly stopped.

"Gabriel, what are you doing! We-"

She stopped cold as she spotted it. The monster. It had survived the mine detonating and was now climbing through the ribs of the dam, jumping from one beam to the next, heading straight forward. Her stomach lurched with a mixture of fear and frustration. What would it take to kill the creature, if such a massive explosion hadn't done the job?

"Your brother was right," Gabriel murmured thoughtfully, and Emma looked up at him with confusion. "It fears water."

It took her a moment to understand what he was referencing. Then she remembered the breakfast they had all shared at his cabin. It had only been a few days ago but it felt as though a lifetime had passed since. While they talked, Michael had suggested the Countess was keeping the monster on the boat because it feared the water. And now, as a new fissure split open in the front wall of the dam and a jet of lake water burst through, Emma watched the creature yowl and jump clear of its path. 

But even that was not enough to stop its climb. 

"We gotta hurry!" She shouted. "It's gonna beat us to the door!"

Gabriel nodded, and, without so much as a by your leave, grabbed her with his good arm and swung her onto his back. He took three stairs at a time, dripping blood into the water the whole way. As they ascended higher, the dam began to sway and shudder fiercely. Timbers snapped and walls groaned, and all the while, the monster kept pace with Gabriel and Emma. It repeatedly tried to lunge closer, to attack, but the constant plumes of water breaking through the splintering dam held it at bay. Emma clung tight to Gabriel, urging him silently to move faster.