That had all of their attention.
Glancing over, she pointed. The sun had gone behind a cloud, and there was a mist rolling across the massive lake, heading right toward them.
Graham’s heart began kicking up in his chest.
“Oh, no,” he said, toeing off his shoes. He was getting ready to dive in if Michael began having issues.
Gryphen was ready too.
In the water, Michael was sinking lower, and when his feet touched the ground, he heard something around him.
Turning, he saw nothing but some fish, some debris, and sediment.
And it was rising.
It looked as if someone had stirred it up violently to blind him.
Well, shit.
This didn’t bode well for him.
Looking up, the water was murky now above him, and he suspected that the shit was about to go down. He’d removed about five decent-sized bones like last time, and now, the evil in the lake was stirred up.
Going flat, he moved closer to the lake bottom, and that’s when he started shoveling any bones he could into the catch bag.
When he saw the pelvis, he reached for it, and as soon as his fingers touched it, the bones began sinking as if they were being pulled into the water.
And he couldn’t stop them.
Each one, one-by-one, disappeared, ending his chances of bringing them to the surface.
Then, he heard the laughter, and he tried to differentiate whether it was male or female.
And he couldn’t tell.
It was garbled by the water, distorting it so much that he couldn’t decide.
As he fought for another bone, one that looked like the collar bone, he couldn’t budge it.
The whole time, he was careful not to touch the bottom of the lake. Last time, he swore a skeleton hand reached up and grabbed his ankles.
This time, he was not taking that chance.
As he pulled, he saw the fingers coming up through the muck and mire, and he immediately released the bone. Using his air to help him float up, he moved away from the ground and through the water.
When he broke the surface, they didn’t have to say shit to him. Michael began swimming through the water, using powerful strokes to get the hell out of there.
When he reached the shore, Graham reached for him, and he locked Michael’s wrist with his fingers to pull him out.
And pull him out, he did.
Both he and Gryphen dragged the man onto the shore near where the bones were lying.
And he laid there catching his breath.
“It got misty,” Graham said.
Michael laughed.
