Jyn shakes her head, holding up the scrap of talisman she took from me earlier. She walks to the water’s edge and sets the paper down on the surface of the pool, giving it a light push so that it floats to the center. I watch quietly as the paper moves, carried by an invisible current. It goes in circles until it’s finally dragged under and pulled through a crevasse in the cavern wall.
“That’s our way out,” Jyn explains, already slipping into the water.
“W-wait!”
She sighs, now thigh-deep. The glow of the water makes her look otherworldly, caught between twilight and this mortal plane. “What now?”
I exhale shakily. “I don’t know how to swim.”
“Another of your jests? Now isn’t the time, Sai.”
“I’m serious, my lady. I… I’m terribly afraid of the water.”
“Why?”
My cheeks heat with embarrassment. “When I was a little, I was playing too close to the river. I couldn’t have been more than five. My mother had warned me to be more careful, but I didn’t listen. I slipped in. Nearly drowned. Ever since, I’ve tried my best to avoid deep water.”
Jyn doesn’t laugh at my inability to swim, nor does she grow frustrated and angry. Instead, her expression is marred with something that almost looks like…guilt, though that makes no sense—Imust be misreading things. After a moment, she simply nods and holds out her hand to me. The gray thread of fate between us goes taut, its middle gleaming with far more intensity than I’ve ever seen before.
“I understand,” she whispers. “But this is the only way out, Sai.”
“We have no way of knowing how long this underground river is. What if we don’t find air in time? What if the river only runs deeper underground?” My heart thuds frantically at the thought, my lungs preemptively beginning to burn. I would absolutely prefer to die of starvation than suffer a watery death. My palms are clammy, my skin covered in goose bumps. “Please, Jyn, is there no other way?”
“There isn’t,” she says firmly, but not unkindly. “Do you trust me?” she asks.
I swallow.DoI trust her? Though she may be my Fated One, she has done nothing but keep secrets from me. Jyn refuses to let me in, has told me so little of her past. Every time I attempt to bridge the gap between us, she pushes me away. The little progress I have made to get to know her hardly seems like progress at all.
My stomach churns. I know she’s right. This may be our best chance of escaping this forsaken place. I can’t count the number of times death has nearly claimed me this past week. At this point, I see no harm in tempting him again. Slowly, I reach out and take Jyn’s hand.
The water is distressingly cold, though that makes sense. The water runs deep underground, where the sun cannot bless it with warmth. Nevertheless, the sudden drop in temperature makes me shiver.
“Hold on to me,” Jyn says, placing my hands on her shoulders. “And whatever happens, donotlet go. Do you understand?”
I nod before I have the chance to fully process her words. Within a matter of seconds, Jyn begins to shift. She’s no longer awoman, but my serpentine dragon, her long, winding body stretching out beneath me. I grasp onto her soft mane, careful not to pull too hard. She twists her long neck to look back at me, her elegant features a sight to behold. I love that the shade of her eyes is the same as that of her scales; the strength in her graceful movements; the power radiating off her from fangs to tail. Our gaze connects, and I can almost read her thoughts.
Prepare yourself. You can do this.
I take a deep breath, then another. I hold my third deep inhale, my chest full to bursting with as much air as I can carry.
We dive below the water’s surface.
She moves quickly, faster and more lithely than in her human form. Her magic buzzes over our bond, setting off an almost electric crackle across my skin. I hold on for dear life as she slams her body through the crevasse and breaks into the strong current of the underground river. It hits us unrepentantly, the sudden force of water sweeping past my body and nearly causing me to lose my grip.
It’s not a straight path, but a river with sharp bends and sudden dips. As fast as she may be, she struggles to keep us steady. The waters are rough and unforgiving, hurling us into the cave walls and dragging us along without remorse.
My lungs are searing hot.
I’m running out of air.
But I keep holding on, because this is the moment I realize Idotrust Jyn. She will see us out of this. I cling tightly to this hope.
And then I see it. A distant light.
Jyn flicks her tail, surges forward with twice the effort.
We’re almost there now. We have almost made it—
The mouth of the river spits us out roughly, throwing us into a marshy oasis overgrown with weeds and teeming with biting bugs. I land on my side in the mud, hacking up mouthfuls of water as Idraw in a fierce breath. The afternoon sun beats down on me. I didn’t think I would be so happy to once again know its unforgiving rays.
