In that moment, their youth came back, and he missed every single second of it.
How desperately he would have traded places with D’Artangnan to be the one who had been at the bottom of the lake.
Whatever was down there was vengeful and incredibly angry. He was willing to bet, it hadn’t died accidentally down there either.
That was one hell of a rage in it.
Pulling off his own clothes, he grabbed the feather blanket, and wrapped it around them as he put D’Artangnan between his legs to share his body warmth.
The fire was going, and his skin was not nearly as blue as it had been. He took his hands, one-by-one, and blew warm breath onto his fingers.
What he did know was that it had been a close call on this one, and that the lake was a nightmare.
First it tried to take Gabby, and now, it had nearly taken D’Artangnan.
“C-c-cold,” Michael whispered.
Graham held him tighter.
“It’s okay. I have you. We’ll warm you up, Lad. You’ll be fine. Just give it a few minutes, and you’ll feel better.”
Would he?
He wasn’t sure.
Michael was shaking like a leaf, and all he remembered was fighting for his life, but the skeleton hands around his ankles…
Had he really seen that?
Had he been hallucinating?
Did something really hold him to the bottom of the lake?
Yeah, it was all coming back to him now.
There had been panic, and then, the air had begun running out. That’s when he’d begun fighting to break free, but couldn’t fight against what he couldn’t see.
The laughter and sick words…
At that moment, he knew that he was dead.
Until he woke up, coughing up water.
Graham had saved him.
“Tha-thank y-y-you,” he said, his teeth chattering out of control as he was between his legs, and the man’s hands were moving up and down his arms to share warmth like they’d once done during battle in the cold desert.
Honestly, Graham was just grateful that he had woken up and gotten to him in time.
Oh, call it what it was, but he was rattled. He’d almost died in that lake, and that freaked him out to no end.
Why?
Because it was okay for him to die, but he couldn’t let D’Artangnan die.
He was the good guy in their story.
Graham was not.
