Thorn rolled his eyes but nodded before he gripped my hand.
Stepping off the hard mud and into the drop off of the lake, the ice water submerged us completely. I opened my eyes and took a small breath. Water didn't go down my throat, instead, it was oxygen.
“This is incredible,” I said, realizing that I was actually speaking underwater and breathing.
“Magic is incredible.” He winked.
I let out a gasp as I saw his hair floating around him. He looked like a water nymph, and I swam forward to press my lips against his.
“I could kiss you all day, but we have to get that crystal.” He groaned, and our hair tangled together, almost reaching for each other as we pulled back.
We swam all the way to the bottom of the lake, the water’s icy hold clutching us in a frozen embrace.
My muscles stiffened from the cold as we reached the mouth of the cave. It was straight down toward the same side that we came in at, but underneath where the rest of the guys were standing. I could sense them through the bond even with how deep underwater we were.
“It’s in this cave.” Thorn pointed toward the opening of the rock side.
The water wasn't clear this far below, but it wasn't murky either. Little wisps of magic lit up the cave before I realized they weren’t wisps at all. They were crystals. They glowed brightly within the cave, illuminating the area with different colors.
“Which ones are those?” I pointed below us to the few scattered dark green crystals embedded in the bottom.
“It's terlivine. A poison crystal. The one that made us sick.”
My stomach rolled. “I remember you telling me about it. There aren’t that many of them. Probably for the best.”
“Unfortunately, there’s more in the center.” He frowned, kicking his feet and propelling himself into the cave, and I followed. “The Hailtz crystal is black. It’s in a smaller cavern to the right.”
The cave opened into three different tunnels, straight ahead, right, and left. It had been so long since I had been swimming somewhere, but I managed to keep up with him.
We swam all the way down the right tunnel until it narrowed and stopped. To the left was a smaller cavern.
Thorn moved his hand over the rock and paused. “There should be a chamber on the other side of this opening that houses the crystal.”
I kept kicking my legs and moving my hands to keep myself from acknowledging how cold it was in here. My muscles were so tight. “Have you ever actually seen it?”
“No, but I read about it in a few journals. To be completely honest with you, from what I’ve been told, it's not a legend, but I've never seen it with my own eyes.”
“It has to be real and in there, Thorn.” My eyes widened, and he nodded.
“I’m sure it is, Kit. I’m just worried.”
“Don’t be. I’ll go incorporeal to get inside the chamber then grab it and come back.”
He grabbed my waist and floated closer before pressing his lips on mine. “Safely.”
“Give me a couple of minutes.” I went incorporeal and moved through the thick rock into the chamber.
The chamber was small. Very narrow, and I had to be sure to keep my limbs close as I went corporeal and swam to the top. The crystal wasn’t glowing, and I couldn’t see anything but blurs.
Reaching my arm up, I felt along the jagged edges of rock above me. My fingertips slid across something smooth, and I felt the magical energy within it.
“There you are.” I gripped the top part of the crystal with my fingers and pulled, but it didn’t budge.
“You okay, Kit?”
“I’m getting it.” I huffed a frustrated breath and used two hands. I squeezed my knees to my chest, hating how tight the walls were together and flipped upside down, placing both of my feet on the ceiling before pushing and pulling the crystal off. My head smacked into the wall, and I yelped as it broke off.
The entire chamber shook, and I gripped the large crystal in my hands as my head healed.
