Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles #2)(48)

Jack brushed his knuckles along my cheek. His skin was shockingly cold. “Listen to me, bébé, it’s just like a swimming pool. You were a terror in the pool, non? As soon as you’re across, coo-y?n will be clamoring to follow you.”

Matthew had been traumatized just weeks ago. Now we were expecting him to swim in a dark mine with rising water?

Lark said, “Look, I’ll go first.” She bounded into the water, diving in an arc like a porpoise. Her rats were dislodged, paddling in her wake. When she surfaced some distance away, I saw her cutting through the water—until she disappeared into the murk.

Moments later, she called, “I’m here. On the other side. Yawning.” Even her echoing voice conveyed her impatience. She’d made it look so easy.

I turned to Matthew, peeling my hand from his. “I’m going to follow Lark. And then you and Jack will swim after me.”

“NOOOO!” he howled, the sound paining my ears.

“Coo-y?n, listen to me. It’s not far. How about I swim with Evie, then come right back for you? I’ll be beside you the whole way.”

Matthew seized my shoulders. “Dying! Dying! Death!”

With a muttered, “Screw this,” Selena eased Finn down to a sitting position, then jogged off to scout the way back.

Jack tried to pull Matthew off me. “We’re running out of time, kid!”

“Nooo, Empress!” Matthew thrashed, accidentally clocking me in the face.

My jaw sang. I reeled, dizziness and another tremor almost sending me onto my ass. “It’s o-okay, honey, just calm down.”

Selena returned. “We’re blocked. Trusses fell, tangling up like pick-up sticks. There’s only one way to go.”

“Calm yourself, coo-y?n!”

Matthew’s long arms connected with Jack, battering him. He was like a drowning man on land.

“Sorry ’bout this, boy.” Jack drew back his fist and popped Matthew in the face.

Matthew lurched, flashed a wounded expression, then went limp.

“Jack!”

He caught Matthew, laying him on the ground. “We doan have time! I’m going with you first.”

“No, you have to stay with Matthew! Make sure he gets across. I’ll be fine—just like you said, I’m a t-terror in the pool.”

“No way, Evie.” He curled his finger under my chin, lifting my face up.

“Stay with him, Jack. Please!”

“We’ll swim together, Matthew in tow.” He pressed a brief kiss to my lips, then reached for my pack.

I shimmied away. “I can handle it. You’ve got enough to carry.”

After a pause, he nodded. “Then in you go, bébé. You can do this.” He turned to Selena. “You got Finn?”

She helped him to stand. “We’re right behind you, J.D.”

I hurried in, the shock of the cold water hitting me like a blizzard’s blast. At the drop-off, I treaded water, startled by how much my clothes and pack weighed me down.

I aimed my light back at the shore, saw Jack dragging Matthew’s lanky frame into the water. After maneuvering the boy onto his back, Jack looped one arm around Matthew’s chest and started after me. “Doan look back and doan wait for me! Just get to the other side.”

Teeth clattering, I started across, holding the light with one hand. Farther out, the water was rougher, waves battering me. The chill temperature numbed my limbs, but I was able to make headway.

Jack was determinedly following.

The quakes continued, rocks falling. A softball-size one struck me square on the head. Pain erupted, faintness almost overwhelming me. I’ll heal, keep swimming! I breathed in water, coughing on it.

The mine rocked harder than ever before. Boulders began plummeting from the ceiling, roof trusses stabbing down into the water. “Jack!” I shrieked.

“Keep on, Evie—”

An entire shelf of rock landed behind me with so much force, the percussion was a punch to my stomach. A wave surged, whipping me up and toward the opposite shore. I felt weightless for a brief moment. . . .

“Ahhh!” I slammed into the shallowing water, the force flinging me forward, far into the shaft. The ground was a washboard of grit and rock scouring my face.

Over my heaving breaths and coughs, I heard Jack yelling from what sounded like miles away. The wave must’ve hurled him and Matthew in the other direction. The quakes kept rumbling. So dizzy. Wait, where was Lark?

—I’LL MAKE A FEAST OF YOUR BONES!—

Ogen’s call. Close. Panicked, I scrambled up; my arm bent at a weird angle. Broken? I collapsed right onto my wasted face.

Selena screamed, “Evie, they’re here! Watch your six!” To Finn, she snapped, “Light it up now, Magician, or she’s done!”

With a yell, Finn threw a beam of light from the opposite shore, illuminating the shaft in front of me. . . .

Death.

He was just there, terrifying in full black armor. I shrank back from him, knowing these were my last moments alive. His tableau—the mounted Reaper wielding a scythe—looked less horrific than his actual appearance.

Selena launched a volley of arrows, one after the other, what must have been an entire quiver.

He batted them away like flies. “Come with me, Empress, if you want them to live,” he said, his starry eyes aglow behind his visor. “Ogen’s striking the mountain, you see.” The Devil was causing the quakes? “If I do not stay him, this mine will collapse.”