Nico patted my knee. “That means the vial is probably there. In a short while, this will be over. Hopefully, that damned thing will be in your hands within the hour.”
I nodded. He was right, of course, but that didn’t make things any easier. Biting down on my fear, I tugged the thick, stretchy hood up over my head and tucked my stray hair inside it. This was it. Now or never. I couldn’t keep letting my fears get the best of me. We were finally on the brink of a breakthrough. It was the first time we’d had the upper hand against the royals. I gritted my teeth and pulled my goggles down, stuffed the air regulator into my mouth, then flipped backward into the ocean.
We all surfaced and floated while Nico tied the guide rope to his wrist. Each of us grabbed the rope at our assigned spots, then Nico gave the signal to dive. Even though the regulator was in my mouth, I still sucked in a deep breath of air before going under. It took a moment before I could breathe normally again. As a group, we all swam forward deeper into the water.
The sea was clear and calm. Diving was the closest I’d ever come to being weightless, and I barely had to work to paddle toward the cliff wall. All I could hear was the steady in-and-out hiss of air from my regulator and the faint murmur of bubbles sliding around my face and up toward the surface. Nico led the group and moved up and down the surface of the stone, patting it with his hands and searching for the opening. Sebastian and Tiago swam forward to help, and Felipe and I hung back. Withthe way they were scouring the stone, there wasn’t room for us anyway.
It didn’t feel right. Something deep inside me knew we weren’t in the right place. My eyes drifted away from the men as they went inch by inch across the stone. Calming my racing heart, I let instinct take over. Whatever genetic memory lived inside me needed to wake the hell up and tell us where to go. Soon, my gaze was drawn lower, far lower than Nico and the others were searching.
I glanced back up and saw they were still moving along the wall, almost like they were looking for a hidden latch or switch that would open a door like in some adventure movie. Looking back down into the dark, murky depths, a feeling of assurance filled me. It was down there. The knowledge was like a heavy weight pressing into me. I was sure. One hundred percent.
Grabbing the rope tighter, I tugged at it. The rope barely budged. Felipe waved at me and made the universal shrugging sign that could only meanwhat the hell?I pointed down, then at my eyes, and again back down, finally tapping my temple. I didn’t know how else to sayI know it’s down there, let’s go.Thankfully, Felipe was bright enough to get what I was saying. He and I both tugged at the rope and nearly yanked it out of Tiago and Sebastian’s hands. The three men turned in surprise, checking on the two of us.
Felipe and I both pointed down, trying to instill our urgency by how vigorously we pointed. Nico and the others swam down. Nico made the same shrugging gesture Felipe had. I pantomimed again that the opening was lower. Nico tapped the side of his head and pointed at me. I gave a thumbs-up and tapped my own head. He nodded and then, surprisingly, untied the end of the rope and secured it to my wrist. He was basically telling me I had to take the lead. I hadn’t expected that butcouldn’t argue. All I could do was wait for him to finish and then start swimming.
I led the team down deeper than any of us had anticipated. The sea level must have been even lower than we thought three hundred years ago. Either that or Edemas’s emissaries had had to swim a bit too, which honestly made some sense. There was no way he would have wanted this vial to be found easily. Under the lip of a huge outcropping of rock, a ragged opening became visible. It was hazy, though. The depth and early hour meant the sea was nearly pitch black.
One by one, we all clicked on our dive lights. When I switched mine on, I nearly screamed as a massive four-foot-long eel slithered out of a stone recess less than three feet away and swam straight toward me. It was all I could do to keep the regulator in my mouth as I panted and tried to swim out of its way. The thing seemed wholly uninterested in me and swam by, but not before its slimy tail slid across my shoulder. I shuddered and tried not to retch. I was not a fan of snakes, and even though in my head I understood that eels were actually fish, it didn’t sit well to have something so long and slithery rubbing against me.
I glanced back at the others and saw Nico holding up the okay sign. I nodded and swam toward the opening. I was more careful, wary of what other nasty things might be down in the depths with us. The lights revealed an inclined pathway that led deeper into the cave. I tugged the rope for them to follow me and swam forward.
Thankfully, the tunnel was more than wide enough., I’d already had to deal with my fear of snakes. I didn’t need claustrophobia to go along with that. The cave angled up until it was almost vertical. Then it abruptly opened into a massive chamber, free of water. My dive light reflected off wet stone and stalactites. As soon as we surfaced, my wolf started to whine. The magic in the cave was almost palpable.
Once I swam to the edge, I climbed up onto the big shelf of rock. Like a whale beaching itself, I rolled out of the water and struggled to my feet. In moments, our gear was all piled on the ground beside the pool. Each of us had brought a dry bag with clothes and shoes to change into once we were inside. The men all turned while I stripped the neoprene suit off and dressed. I was glad I’d brought jogging pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt since it was cool in the cave. Goose flesh erupted across my arms, legs, and breasts before I could get dressed.
Ten minutes later, we were dressed, and Nico had handed out flashlights from his own dry bag. “Okay, we don’t want to get lost. As we get deeper, we need to be very careful to remember any turns or corners we take. That way, we can reverse it and get back. Cool?”
We agreed though I was barely able to concentrate on what he was saying. Magic billowed through the cavern. It was similar to what I’d felt when I was near the vault. It terrified me, but it also called to me.
Nico aimed his flashlight toward the only tunnel in the room. “At least we don’t have to figure out where to start. That’s the entrance. We start there and see where it leads.”
“I’ll go first,” I said, surprising myself.
“Are you sure?” Nico asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I… I can feel it, if that makes sense. I’m pretty sure I can lead us right to it.”
“Okay.” Nico glanced at the others. “Let’s go.”
As I walked toward the cave door, I could almost visualize the waves of power coming down the tunnel. I was three steps into the passageway when the sound of Nico cursing echoed behind me. I spun around and saw him on his ass, staring at me, panic in his eyes. Sebastian and Tiago were pressing their palms against… thin air? The skin of their hands was pressed down andflat, almost like they were pushing their hands against a plate of glass. I stepped back over and looked at them in confusion.
“Maddy?” Tiago asked.
I reached my hand through the barrier and took Nico’s hand in mine. When I tried to pull him forward to join me, his knuckles came to rest on an invisible wall of air. No matter how hard I pulled and he pushed, I couldn’t get his hand through. Finally, I let go and withdrew my arm. “Should we try something else?” I asked.
He shook his head and gave me a worried look. “This is a magical boundary. It was in the scroll. Only one of Edemas’s descendants can get through. I really hoped it would be closer to the vial, but…” He shrugged helplessly. “I think you’re on your own from here.”
Eyes wide, I looked down the dark tunnel. “By myself?” I asked, swallowing hard even though the answer to that question was obvious.
Nico didn’t look happy. “I’m afraid so. Look at me,” he said, locking his eyes on mine. “If you feel or see anything that looks like trouble, you run your ass back here. You understand?”
I didn’t bother nodding. Instead, I leaned out through the barrier and kissed him, then I turned away and walked into the darkness, the beam of my flashlight bouncing along. I glanced back once and saw all four men leaning their hands on the magic barrier. Each one watched me go with a different, worried expression on their face.
The dark tunnel only extended thirty feet before opening into another massive cavern. The thing was huge. I turned back and called to my friends. “Big room here. Looks like no more tunnels.”
“Can you tell where the vial is?” Nico yelled back.
I felt a hard tug, like when you put your hand over the tube of a vacuum, except it was tugging at my entire body. It pulledme… to the right. When I looked that way, the tug grew stronger. It was dark, but in my mind, I could see a glowing pillar of fire in the corner of the room. Was this what it was like for moths—inexplicably pulled toward the flames that would consume and destroy them?
