Half the Power

Stuck (Amelia POV)

The fifteen seconds should've been plenty of time. 

When I dropped into the hole, I instantly saw what I was supposed to get. A tube floated a few yards away. There was a short tunnel leading to it.

I tried to walk to it, but it was like wading in water. My legs moved sluggishly, feeling heavy.

I struggled toward the tube, but that only made it harder to move. I looked down and, to my horror, saw a kind of quicksand devouring my legs, already up to my shins.

I had no idea what to do in quicksand, and the timer was already at "Ten."

My instincts all told me to yank my legs out, but I figured that I would just begin to sink again, and have wasted my strength. My strength. I concentrated on the air around me, trying to get the wind to pick me up, but I couldn't get it below my feet if they were sunk in the ground.

"Seven. Six."

I allowed my body to go slack. There's no way out, said part of my brain. No point in struggling.

I believed it. I just hoped that Ava and Ryan would be able to wake everyone without me. 

I listened to the rest of the count down. "Three. Two. One." A timer went off. Poison shot from the end of the tunnel in front of me. I blacked out.

***

I had dreams. That made no sense. Why would I be having dreams after death? I vaguely wondered about that.

Anyway, back to my dreams. I was first a bird in flight, my wings being burned by poison, and causing me to fall. I sank until I was in an ocean, but I seemed to be looking through a thin glass bubble. As it sank, I waited for it to shatter. It never did. I saw memories floating in other bubbles: the first time I rode a horse; me as a little girl, playing with Mary; Mary's dog, Leo, snapping at a passing chipmunk.

Finally, after watching what seemed like days of memories, my bubble hit the ocean floor. (I was now in the form of a human; I have no idea why.) It shattered at last, but I didn't get wet. Nor was I deprived of air. I could breath fine, in fact. I just sat in pain.

The back of my ribs felt broken. My right ankle was throbbing.  My left wrist was cut. I could only form simple thought like these.

My surroundings seemed to melt into a mix of brown, green, and blue. I blinked a few times, and everything came into focus a little more. Trees. Sky. Leaves on branches. Running water nearby.

Water. I suddenly felt dehydrated, and my throat was dry. I could see a girl looming over me, holding a cool cloth to my forehead. Who was she? Oh yeah. Ava.

A boy walked over with a water bottle. Ryan? Yes, that sounded right. Ryan.

I tried to sit up, but my ribs ached all around my right side. Ava tried to push me back down, but that hurt my ribs more. 

Ryan seemed to understand. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she took hers off of me. I tried to give him a grateful look without insulting Ava, but it probably just looked like a wince. He trickled some water into my mouth, then over my wrist. I noticed that I was wrapped in an Ace bandage, right above my gut. It seemed to help.

Then the shock hit me, and I nearly blacked out again. How was I alive? The poison should have killed me.

My eyes were wide, and Ava soothed me into laying back down. She draped a light blanket over me, despite the warm morning. I was still cold.

I remembered our mission. That led to everything flooding back. I remembered how I got here, hearing the count down in the tunnel, and Mary... Mary.

I had been trying to push down the grief since the monster died. Of course, it wasn't really her, but it shocked me that I was deceived so easily. Mary was at home, asleep. She wasn't really part of this mission.

My brain clouded with the memories and thoughts, and I couldn't think clearly. 

Ryan returned from another trip to the water. I tried to ask a question with my eyes, and he seemed to understand. What happened?

He sat beside me. "You remember being in the tunnel?" 

I nodded, and he continued. "It was part water. I don't know if you remember that. I was able to hold it off and form a little bubble of air around you, but the force pushed you back. By the time you hit the wall, the poison was gone. We--Ava and I-- figured out that if you block where the tree appears, it can't grow there. So we managed to get you out in fifteen seconds. Don't worry, you were only out for a few hours."

The last part came as a relief to me. It took me a while to process all of that, but I relaxed when I had it all understood. We hadn't lost too much time.

We talked about what happened in detail, and I thanked him. I noticed that I had been ignoring Ava, and I turned my attention on her. "Ava... thank you. I--"

I was interrupted by the tiger person lunging for me.