Seizure(58)

Fifteen …

Sixteen …

Seventeen …

Panic threatened, but I shoved it aside. Dribbling air from my lips, I struggled on. Ahead, the channel descended even more sharply.

Twenty-two …

Twenty-three …

Twenty-four …

Desperate, I kicked harder, arcing the light wildly. Ten feet ahead lay another bend.

My lungs burned. I was out of time.

Primal terrors howled full throat in my brain.

SNAP.

The flare blasted through me.

I coughed out my last remaining oxygen. Gagged on seawater.

The walls closed in.

I was done.

Then I saw it.

Just around the bend, the roof of the tunnel bubbled upward.

Dropping my flashlight, I thrust with both arms. When I broke the surface, my head nearly slammed into the low ceiling.

Air pocket!

Thank God!

I gulped greedy mouthfuls of air.

Inside, my powers raged. Images flashed from some hidden corner of my psyche. Thoughts burned in my skull.

Somewhere, I knew Coop howled.

More images formed. Shelton. Hi. Ben.

Underwater. Gripped with panic. Losing faith.

As I gasped and sputtered, my brain fired a message.

Air pocket at the third bend! Don’t give up!

I could feel the thought knife into each of them. Their minds latched on and their limbs paddled madly.

Shelton’s head broke the surface. I dragged him to me with one hand. Hi appeared next, hacking and spitting. Then Ben’s face erupted from the liquid.

“Everyone okay?” I yelled.

The boys were too shell-shocked to answer. Only Hi still held his flashlight.

We treaded water, clinging to projections from the tunnel wall.

I noticed that none of the boys were flaring.

“What’d you do?” Hi backhanded water from his eyes. “I heard you inside my head!”

“You saved me!” Shelton said. “I was all turned around!”

“Later.” Ben was still breathing hard. “We have to get out of here.”

“Follow me,” I said.

We swam down the tunnel, using a stone outcropping to pull ourselves along. I thanked the heavens for our last remaining flashlight, and prayed it wouldn’t fail.

Then we hit another dead end.

“Oh no!” Shelton wailed.

“Shh!”

My ears picked up a familiar sound. My nose identified a familiar scent.

Waves crashing. Sand.

“We’re near a beach!” I said. “I can hear the surf!”

“Promise?” Shelton sniffled in the darkness.

“Promise.” I glanced down. The water seemed deeper, but I couldn’t tell how much. “Wait here a sec.”

Holding my breath, I sank to the bottom of the channel. Through the murk, my glowing eyes detected a diffuse light. An opening, several yards ahead. I rose to the surface.

“We’re going to have to dive again,” I said. “Follow my light. I won’t let you down.”

“Just get us out of here, Tory.” Hi was near his breaking point. “Now, if you don’t mind.”

“Will do. Ready?”

“Ready.” Times three.

Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale. Exhale.

Long inhale.

Splash.

I kicked forward, then through the gap into a murky sea cave. The others were right behind.

The surface was twenty feet above. Beyond it, moonlight.

Treading in place underwater, I pushed Hi and Shelton past me. Ben was just behind. We fired to the surface as one.

My head struck something hard. Light exploded between my eyes. I sank, stunned. The flashlight slipped from my fingers.

SNUP.

The power fizzled.

My mind drifted. The world grew fuzzy.

A hand grabbed my arm, yanked hard, dragging me upward. Lightheaded, I allowed myself to be pulled.

My head broke the surface. I took a giant breath.

“Tory!” Ben’s face was inches from mine. “You okay?”

“Fine,” I said. “Dandy. I bonked my head.”

Ben looked at me oddly. “Let’s get to shore.”

“Shore?”

Ben smiled for the first time. “Look around.”

I did. Knew the place.

We were floating just off the Battery, at the very tip of the downtown peninsula. We’d traveled roughly seven blocks underground.

Hi and Shelton waved from a staircase embedded in the seawall.

“An easy way up for once!” Shelton sounded ecstatic.

Ben and I paddled to the steps and slip-slid up to street level. The four of us crossed into White Point Gardens, found a park bench, and collapsed.

My watch was missing. I had no idea of the time.

But dawn was purpling the eastern sky.

Beside me, Hi broke into laughter, sides shaking with spasms of uncontrolled amusement.

“What?” The sound was infectious. I felt a smile tickle my lips.

“Say hi to our buddies.” Hi jabbed a thumb over his shoulder.

I turned, came face-to-face with a monument dedicated to Stede Bonnet and his pirate cronies. I nearly busted a gut.

Cackling, Shelton stumbled to the big hunk of granite. Kicked it twice. Hard.